BIG SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ UP TO CHAPTER 99 OF MABLE'S CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN THEN DON'T READ THIS! IT IS AN ALTERNATE ENDING!
Mike closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the teeth to clash into his skull. They never came. Instead, a bundle of wires collapsed on his head and pushed him down, Mike looking up to see Golden Freddy tumbling down from his only support
falling, and the wires pulled Mike aside so he wouldn't be crushed by the massive form.
As the wires pulled Mike roughly away, trying to avoid the fight, Mike grabbed Marionette's lifeless form and held him close to his chest, allowing himself to be dragged away. He heard the screech of anger from Goldie before hearing him speak to himself. "He'll have to live without his lover... that's better than death in itself."
The sunlight burned his eyes and he blinked away tears as Ennard shoved the door closed and propped a plank of wood, which Mike never even saw him grab he was so numb, under the doorknob so Golden Freddy couldn't get out.
Fritz and Scott, who were both pacing nervously, ran over to greet them. Mike stayed silent and looked down at Marionette's face, too much white without his purple tear tracks, and caused the two males to fall silent and Fritz gasped as he saw Mari's mask.
"What happened?" Fritz asked and Mike shook his head and gripped his lover tighter, allowing his legs to collapse with grief as it all entirely sunk in: Marionette was gone and wasn't coming back.
Ennard caught Mike and seemed to be the only one who fully understood what was happening. He held the male to his chest as he sobbed, Scott placing a hand on his shoulder. Ennard slowly helped Mike slide down to sit and made himself into almost a chair and Mike only dropped his head onto Marionette's chest.
He couldn't help but feel a little bit angry at Ennard for saving him. He knew the bite would be painful, but would be over quickly. He just wanted to be gone. He didn't necessarily want to die, but he just wanted to not even exist. He wanted to be with Mari, wherever he was.
Mike didn't even hear as Ennard explained that Mari had moved on, but none of them knew he'd been forcibly removed from his body. He looked up and saw their looks. They looked apologetic, and Mike put two and two together and realized they'd been told. He cleared his throat and spoke in a voice so distraught it couldn't have been his own. "He... he forced Mari to move on. He forced him from his body..." Mike traced a finger lightly where his purple markings should have been.
"What can we do to help?" Scott asked. Both males were clueless on how they could comfort him. He clung to Marionette's lifeless body as a scared child would after a nightmare as he looked directly into Scott's eyes and said with no hesitation and no joking, playful tone that Mike always had in his voice. "Kill me. Let me die."
"Wha- no! Mike, no! We aren't gonna let you die!" Fritz choked out and fell to his knees beside Mike, grasping his shoulders and forcing him to look towards the older male. "Mike, I know this is hard... I have no idea how it feels, I'll be honest. I'm not the best person to be a comfort, but here... look, it'll get better. Mari was practically murdered, you have a right to be angry..." Fritz said softly, and Mike looked back down towards his lover's lifeless face, forever set in a smile too wide for what was happening, open eyes looking blankly ahead into the sky, cherry red lips that Mike wished he could just kiss and make this all go away. His cheeks which once held such a power to touch now had no reaction as Mike laid a single finger on the red circle.
"I feel... empty. There's no reason to be alive. Mari... Mari was my life, and he's just gone. He's gone and if I'm gone then we can be together... if we'd just let Goldie kill me to, we'd just... Have no problems..." Mike trailed off and traced down Mari's neck, circling his fingers around each of his buttons. He'd never thought of caressing his buttons and now wondered if he'd have a reaction similar to if he'd press his thumb lightly into his painted cheek. Now he'd never know.
"Mike... you still have us, you have Foxy... you have your mother, your family, think of what you'd leave behind." Scott had no idea of Mike and Marionette's relationship. The handicapped male fell silent as Mike laid a soft kiss against Mari's forehead as he understood what was happening. He'd lost his lover, his other half.
Scott put himself in Mike's shoes. If he had lost Ennard and knew he wasn't coming back, he'd be a mess. Scott now pondered if his closeless with Ennard was less than innocent as Mike's display with Mari. He now wondered if his fondness of the wire animatronic was more than just friendship.
"Let's... let's get you to Foxy's, alright? Maybe... maybe we should let Foxy know. He loves Mari too, he'll be a much better comfort. As you can tell, we aren't the best at helping people with their problems, we only know how to create them." Fritz tried to work in the humor, but the smile Mike gave was hollow as he nodded and clutched Mari back to his chest, letting the silent Ennard help him up and into the car. Mike saw no reason to hide a lifeless animatronic and just laid Mari on his lap, resting his legs upwards against the window so he had better access to his face. Maybe he would paint Mari's stripes back on and puppeteer him around... no. Mari wouldn't want him pulling his strings without his consent.
The ride to the restaurant was short but silent and seemed to drag on. Fritz forgoed his own car and hopped shotgun in with Scott, who was currently fiddling with the radio to listen to the news. The news that was currently giving details about the gasoline spillage in Afton's old building, causing a fire when a driver threw a cigarette butt out of his window. Mike didn't even make a joke.
He dragged his feet into the Pizzeria, making the fox animatronic who was standing in the middle of the room look up. Mike was too focused on making his way to Foxy, Marionette's limp body still clutched in his grasp, he missed Jeremy yanking himself from the fox's grasp and looking over nervously at Scott and Fritz.
Foxy saw Marionette was limp and quickly closed the distance between the male, immediately noticing the lack of tears and the smile too wide for him being asleep. He looked to Mike for an explanation and saw tears still making their way down his face as he replied, his voice cracking from his closing throat. "Goldie... he forced Mari to-" He was roughly pulled against the fox animatronic in a hug and more than once Mike heard Foxy whisper Marion's name, holding his brother's lover comfortingly.
After Foxy eventually released him, Mike silently walked into the office and shut the door, sitting on the office couch and resting Marionette's head against the armrest. He pulled at the porcelain, trying to close his eyes. Make himself believe Mari wasn't just gone.
How many times had he told the striped being he loved him? Not enough, he knew that much. He tried to push back his tears. He felt like a baby. The only other feeling besides numbness was anger. Anger in Mari for leaving, anger in Ennard for not letting him die, but most importantly, anger in Henry for forcibly taking his lover.
Marion's spirit, however, refused to move on. He hovered beside Mike, hating the tears rolling down his cheeks but not able to stop them, to wrap his arms around the man he loved. He wished Mike could see him, but he couldn't.
Goldie still had a hold on the body, not allowing the animatronic's spirit back into it. He knew it was only to torture Mike further.
Mike, on the other hand, had other plans. He went to the desk and rummaged through its contents, finding a bottle of over-the-counter pills. They would have to do. Marionette gasped as Mike unscrewed the lid and he knew what his plan was. In a flurry he attempted to smack the pills from Mike. He didn't touch Mike's hand, but the pill bottle flung from his hand and spilled the contents on the floor.
Natalie, who'd apparently heard the news from Fritz and flung over, raced into the room after being told Mike was left alone and saw Mike, standing there, numbly looking at the spilled pills around his feet. Natalie silently dropped to her knees and picked up the fallen pills, grabbing the bottle from Mike and dumping the pills into it. She then stood up and wrapped her arms around Mike gently and securely, feeling his arms wrap themselves back around the woman who was basically his sister.
"Don't be an idiot Mike. We all love you. I know it's hard and I can only imagine the pain you're going through, but it won't last. If you do this, it will Mike. It will last forever with us. We don't want to lose two loved ones today." If Natalie was going to say more, she was cut off by a voice that could only be managed by someone so distraught they'd given up in life. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
"It's okay, Mike. You're okay." Natalie soothed and held Mike tighter, but he let his eyes fall back to Mari, back to his vacant eyes, his smile that didn't fit with the situation at all. He pulled from the hug and gently grabbed Marionette head, sitting on the couch and laying his head on his lap. He then looked up and closed his eyes, desperately hoping when he woke up this was all a bad dream.
Natalie left the room to grab a chair and brought it back in, not trusting Mike enough to leave him alone. Eventually Mike's rough breathing, practically panting from the tears still rolling down his cheeks, softened as he fell asleep. Mike's hands clutched one of Mari's and Natalie fought back her own tears as her eyes fell on Marionette's free hand, scooting his chair closer and grasping the slender, limp hand in her own.
The second Goldie's grip on his body faltered, Marionette saw his chance and slipped wearily into the body, still fighting the pull to move on. He clutched the figurative balloon tighter, his hands clutching midair and for a moment he felt his fingers grasp Mike's, but then had the feeling of falling and let out a cry as he was shunned yet again from his body.
Henry was standing there at him, smirking. Marionette fought the urge to look at his human spirit as he glared at the man, who only crossed his arms smugly. "Are you missing your human? Well, I spared him for you. Oh wait, nevermind! I forgot, you can't be in your body anymore, can you?" Goldie cackled evilly as Marionette readied his legs to spring forward. "It's hard to watch, isn't it? The one you love wanting to die, sobbing over-" Henry was cut off by an angry puppet ramming into him, knocking him off his feet, if they could even call it that from the fact they were floating in a space-like way, and he dropped a few feet down.
"You shut up. Mike, I'm coming for you." Marionette vowed and attempted once again to get into his body, unable to yet again and giving out a cry of frustration as the feeling of slipping came back and he tried to grab onto something, anything, to keep him here.
Mike!