Mari paced in the hallway of his and Mike's house, running his hands across his face then moving his hands to rub at his arms, then tightened his fists and banged them against his forehead for being so stupid. He knew, he knew he shouldn't have let Mike go on the roof to hang the Christmas lights. But even when his instincts said no, his heart said yes because he wanted their house decorated for the holidays and if the neighbors saw a mime floating up above the roof, stringing Christmas lights, it may look suspicious. Of course Mike could pretend to puppeteer him, which had him on the roof anyways. When Mike's leg got tangled in the stand and caused him to slip off the two story roof onto his head, Mari should have been there. But the Puppet had been too busy knitting a new Christmas blanket to give to Mike that he wasn't there. Now he anxiously waited for the phone to ring with good news from the hospital.
He continuously looked over at the cord phone, often checking for more messages in case it had been muted. It had only been ten minutes since he'd been loaded into the ambulance, but it felt like ten hours. Marionette ran a hand across his face with the other on the phone, about to dial Jeremy but deciding against it at the last second. He didn't want to bother him. But after a few moments, he quickly dialed the number anyways and put it up to his mask.
"Hello?" A groggy voice came through the phone. It was obvious the man on the other line had just woken up, but he couldn't have known before he called as it was late afternoon. He heard quiet giggling on the other side of the phone and knew instantly that the Minireenas were there too.
"Hey, sorry to wake you up, but Mike's in the hospital and I need you to go there and check on him. Long story short, he was stringing lights and fell on his head, and I am so worried for him. Please, I don't know if they'd call me or not even though I called 911..." Marionette trailed off and felt the mechanisms under his buttons tightening as he waited for what seemed like minutes for Jeremy to respond. "Hello?"
"Hey, sorry, I'll be right at the hospital. I was grabbing my coat. Bye." Jeremy rushed to hang up the phone and left Mari to his thoughts. He was so worried about his Mike, that he wasn't okay. What if he got amnesia and forgot all about Marionette? The Puppet began to worry even more and paced again, looking towards the coach and seeing a purple bundle. More specifically, Mike's old Freddy's jacket. In an attempt to comfort himself, he tugged the slippery fabric around his shoulders and sat next to a pile of old plushies he was mending again. He hadn't realised it but the project he'd started so long ago had never been finished, so when he wasn't making something for Mike or one of the Foxy's gang, or maybe baking a couple dozen cookies, he was slowly sewing each one up. He picked up an old Bonnie doll and stitched up the neck slowly, his threading shaky and uneven. The Puppet quickly disowned that idea and stood up again, pulling the jacket tighter around his shoulders. The plushies could wait, Mari was too much of a mess. He was to the point he wanted to sneak into the hospital just to see Mike, but trusted that Jeremy would call him quickly with news on how his human companion was doing.
It was then Mari decided he would blow through his cookie dough. At the pizzeria you could never have too many cookies, and he figured it might get his mind off of it. For a bit of background noise he contemplated on turning on Fazbear and Friends, but decided against that as Bonnie and Freddy would remind him of Mike and himself. He settled on some sitcom about a man talking about stupid things teenagers did and interviewing some mother who'd lost a son from one of them and opened his bag of flour and mixed sugar and salt and milk and eggs into the mix. He then preheated the oven as he mixed the softened butter into it. Lastly, he poured vanilla into the mix and began to roll the dough into a sheet, cutting each one into an individual tree or Santa head. He then stuck the pan full of cookies into the oven and grabbed a few tubs of icing out and his bags to prepare them for when the cookies cooled, then made two more sheets of his cookies. He made dough for a fourth before realizing that he only had three cookie sheets so he had to wait.
Mari took out the cookies and put in the next sheet. He always was firm about only cooking one at a time. If you made two at a time, he was afraid they wouldn't cook as evenly. If he had a bigger oven and could fit two sheets on a rack he would, but the cookie pans were too big. He didn't want one being underneath another pan and not getting baked just right. He sighed as he realised he needed to let the one sheet cool before he could start icing them and floated towards the couch, alone with his thoughts again.
He soon was interrupted from his misery from a curt knock at the door. His interest peaked and he hovered over towards the door, peeking through the eyehole and seeing Isabelle, Mike's mother, standing there and smiling. He hid behind the door and opened it, letting her know she was welcome to come in. She did and immediately hugged Mari, but drew back when she noticed his entire lack of smile.
"Mari, Baby, what's wrong?" Isabelle questioned softly before glancing around the house. "Where's Mike?"
"Mike's in the hospital... he fell off the roof when stringing the lights. I'm waiting to hear from Jeremy if he's okay..." Mari looked over at the phone, as if that would miraculously make Jeremy call. "Only my son could accomplish getting hurt by Christmas lights." Isabelle added in before narrowing her eyes slightly. "Are you... crying?"
The Puppet brought his slender fingers to his face and felt the wetness, nodding slowly. Isabelle wordlessly brought Mari into a tight hug and Mari eagerly returned the affection, only jumping from the embrace when the phone starting ringing and raced over to it. "Jeremy?"
"Hey Mari, I just got into the hospital room. Mike's alive, he's not awake, but not in a coma either. They said he should wake up within a few hours hopefully. They don't think there'll be any lasting damage, though he somehow broke his leg. Or something's wrong with it, at least. I'm not sure, I heard something about his leg. I'm sure you'll be fine toting him around a few weeks." If Marionette could blush, he would. Man, Jeremy had no idea how true that statement was. "Do you need anything Mari? He's okay, I'll have him call you as soon as he can, but I know..." On the other line, Jeremy didn't know how to put it into words. He knew about Mari's romantic feelings to Mike, saw them kissing, but wondered if he should say something about it. He decided against it: he didn't want Mari any more upset.
"Thanks Jeremy. I'm fine, Mike's mom was coming for a few days before Christmas. She and her family were having a party on Christmas Eve, but it's not like I could go..."
Jeremy smirked over the phone. "Sounds like somebody forgot about an important commitment." His voice sounded singsongy and completely cocky. "Maybe.." was his embarrassed response from the riled Puppet.
"Anyways, I'm gonna go. I'll have Mike call you. They said that they'll do a few more tests when he's awake then most likely he'll be free to go. Bye." The Puppet placed the phone on the receiver and looked back to Isabelle, who was looking at him in questioning.
"That was Jeremy. Said Mike will probably be released tonight. He'll have him call when he wakes up. I'm gonna go ice some cookies, want some?" Marionette pulled out one sheet of cookies and switched it for another in the kitchen and Isabelle watched from a distance as Marionette put some more dough on the now cooled pan after taking off the uniced cookies and began to decorate them with skill at the table, Isabelle watching him. Finally, she grabbed a cookie and began to squeeze a thin line of icing around the perimeter, getting a chime from Mari. The two sat there for twenty minutes, filling the dozen cookies with frosting. Mari put them on a plate and switched the cookies from the oven to the stove to cool, putting another batch of dough on the now cool sheet and putting one in. He sat down with Isabelle and decorated the cookies, putting the fact Mike was lying in the hospital in the back of his mind as he happily spent time with this mother-like figure.
Mike washed into consciousness, but kept his eyes pressed closed and suppressed the urge to gasp. He remembered. He remembered everything before the accident three years before. The accident where a car rammed into him and caused him to lose all his memories. Of course, he had his sister to fill him in on how they'd run away to get away from a 'monster', which Mike figured she meant his mother, that she was his little sister, and that his father was a monster too, just like how he'd apparently labelled his mother. He now remembered that after his father got arrested, because of Mike himself, his mother began to drink and between their father and mother, and the fact that Isabelle had been rendered unable to raise Macy and Mike became her legal guardian, he'd ran away. He told his 'Uncle Fredrick and Uncle Scott', who really were just co-workers with his dad for so many years that calling them uncle was just out of respect, so they wouldn't worry.
Not only did he remember that, he was now forced to remember his childhood. He remembered the attack, the Bite of '87, and three months later being brutally attacked by a 'purple monster', which was really a man who was completely stained purple. He remembered seeing his sister's mangled body when he was sixteen, murdered by Ballora. He remembered his older sister being shoved into the Chica suit on Halloween night when he was eleven. He remembered being kidnapped when he was only nine years old. He remembered the songs he would write in an attempt to forget the world, and finding out that humor made everything better.
He remembered his best friend, who died when he was twelve. He remembered his sister's boyfriend, who died only months after she herself died. He remembered his Youtube channel his mom started when he began writing the songs. He remembered being the one to create Marionette's body.
The blue-eyed man forced his eyes open, peering around the room. He saw Jeremy in a chair next to his, seemingly texting somebody. He saw the pretty much empty room, aside from machines and glass windows, the curtains drawn up around them. Jeremy glanced over and saw he was awake.
"Hey Mike, how you feeling? You took a pretty hard fall." He blinked, remembering the crash. Remembering the screech from Marionette as he heard the yelp that Mike made as he tumbled off the roof.
"Could be better, you know? Maybe if I hadn't been attacked by Christmas lights, my dignity could've been saved." He replied, trying to keep the humor in there. He could do this, he could act normal. But he couldn't. "So Jeremy, you remember how I told you how when I was nineteen I got amnesia?"
"Yeah.." Jeremy eyed the dark haired man suspiciously. "So funny story, I think the fall reminded my brain to start functioning properly, heh." Jeremy just stared for a few moments before realizing his words. "You mean...?" "Yep." was the reply.
"That's great! Before I forget, call Mari. He's worrying about you so much that I'm getting worried for him." Mike took the phone from the bedside table and dialed the most called number. It hardly rang before a voice basically screamed into his ear, causing him to take the phone from his ear.
"Hey Mari. I'm back from the land of the Christmas light survivors." Mari chimed into the phone. "Mike, I'm so glad you're okay! Are you coming home?"
"I'm not sure, Mari. I just woke up, I haven't even- oh, there they are now. I gotta go, I'll call you back after they finish telling me how horribly messed up my brain is." The human decided to wait for the new information reveal until he got home. Mari could wait that much longer for the truth, couldn't he?
"Okay, be careful! Call me back right after they finish their verdict. Love you." Of course, the Puppet knew Mke wouldn't return those words for the meer fact that Jeremy was most likely sitting right next to him. However, he got a 'you too' from Mike, which caused an eyebrow raise from Jeremy on the other side.
Mike hung up the phone and turned his attention away from Marionette and to the doctor in the room, holding a clipboard and looking at him pitifully.
"Mr. Schmidt, how are you feeling?" The man asked Mike. "I'm good, my leg..." Mike responded before blinking in realization. He couldn't feel his leg. He ripped the sheets off and looked down at his left leg. Instead of skin and bones, there was a metal leg attached to his hip. The man looked wide-eyed to the doctor, who sighed. "I see you got your memory back. I feared this. You would be better off without remembering your childhood. You lost your leg when you were four, but this permanent fix became so natural to you and when you lost your memory, you believed it was normal. When was the last time you truly looked at your legs? Not glancing, but full on staring?"
"Never... my leg was ripped off by Fredbear, wasn't it." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Jeremy, who'd been rendered speechless from their conversation, looked between the two like they were speaking a foreign language. "His leg wasn't broken then... it's just gone?" Jeremy asked meekly, and the doctor nodded.
"Doctor," of course, his refusal to learn names came into play here. "Can I go home?"
"Yes, I was coming in here to get you unhooked off your IV. Surprisingly, you are scraping by with only a minor concussion. Just take it easy for a few weeks, drink lots of water, and don't drive for a week or two. Feel free to take over the counter medicines, such as Tylenol, for any pain. If there is any excessive swelling, come back here right away. I'm more worried about your mental health."
"I'm fine." Mike argued. He truly believed he would be, as soon as he could get home to his Puppet.
"Do you remember how to use your leg?" At a nod, the doctor unhooked the man silently. "You're free to go. Feel better." Jeremy walked Mike to the car, getting in himself and beginning to drive out of the parking lot before he spoke. "Mike... what was that?"
"You mean my memory coming back? I told you it did." Mike replied simply. "I meant Fredbear ripping off your leg!" Jeremy said exasperatedly, and Mike shrugged nonchalantly. Of course, it was crazy to Mike too, but he still expected to wake up in a coma. "I was the Bite of '87. Now what I'm curious to see about is why my 'Uncle Scott' didn't tell me anything." Jeremy thought it best not to even ask and drove him home in an awkward silence.
"I'm guessing you'll be fine with Mari?" Mike nodded and smiled at the man. "Yeah, thanks Jeremy. Sorry, tell the Minireenas that I'm sorry that I stole you away. And that I intend to steal my chauffeur again for the next week or so?" Jeremy smiled back in approval as Mike walked towards the house.
Meanwhile, while Isabelle continued decorating the cookies Mari hovered beside the phone, wondering why twenty minutes went by and still no word from Mike. He sighed and stared at the phone, as if it would suddenly make Mike remember to call back. What doctor would take for twenty minutes? Unless they were trying to hit on Mike. Before he could go any further down that jealous rabbit hole, he heard keys jingling and the door opening. He gasped in surprise and teleported directly at Mike, taking the man into his embrace immediately. Mike held him back eagerly, resting his face in the crook of Mari's neck, closing his eyes and soaking in the warmth. He jumped in surprise as a third pair of arms joined the embrace, but soon recognised the arms as his mother's and relaxed again, clutching Marionette tighter. Due to his abnormally clingy behaviour, Mari knew immediately that something was wrong.
"Isabelle, do you want to go take your stuff up to a room and get settled in?" Isabelle nodded, getting his subtle hint and scurried upstairs, without a suitcase in hand.
"Mike?" Mari cupped his cheek as he pulled the man away from his place. He wasn't ready for the tears and couldn't stop his gasp. Mike opened his blue eyes and just looked at him. Mari led him to the couch and pulled him into his lap, holding him as he finally broke down and sobbed.
"In our own little world, forever lost to passing time~" Mari sang softly in a lullaby, making Mike tighten his hold around the Puppet's slender frame. "No one knows what it's like to wear a mask that you are trapped inside~" Mari pet Mike's hair softly, leaning back into the couch and missing Isabelle leaning over the guardrailing upstairs and watching the scene, smiling at Marionette's song. She heard the singing and wanted to hear. "One day the purple clouds that hover over us will fade~ then we'll be free to cut the strings to wipe the tears, but now we walk in chains~"
Mari pulled Mike away from his pitiful motion to hide from the world and rubbed the tears away before leaning his forehead against Mike's. "Tonight we roam, and if they listen really close, they can hear us sing our song~ lalalala~" Mike returned his head to the Puppet's chest and closed his eyes, his tears gone but still needing the comfort. Mari didn't know what had happened, but knew his Mike needed him. "And I can't give you back the things you had, but you don't have to do this on your own, even if you're never coming home, you're not alone, you're not alone~" He trailed off, getting the slightest chuckle from Mike, who looked up at his porcelain face.
"You have no idea how relevant that song is to this situation... I got my memories back Mari..." Mari wondered what could have happened so terrible that it rendered Mike completely... in shambles.
Isabelle, who was walking down the stairs, blinked the tears out of her eyes. Her son remembered everything. She was glad honestly, when she got the call and heard her son had forgotten everything. He'd been too mentally scarred.
Mike looked up and saw her, though said nothing, his eyes still glistening with unshed tears. Isabelle came down the stairs and wrapped her arms around her son tightly, whispering, "It's going to be alright" over and over to her not so little boy. He refused to cry with his mother though, constantly blinking to keep the tears in his eyes. He felt way too embarrassed. When she finally let go, he forced a smile and put a hand tiredly on her shoulder. "Ca-can we catch up tomorrow? I'm gonna go to bed..." Mike's voice betrayed his inner emotions. The woman quickly nodded.
"Goodnight Mikey, goodnight Mari. Love you both. Sleep well." She grabbed her suitcase by the grandfather clock and took it into Mari's bedroom, closing the door behind her. Mari wrapped an arm around his human companion and led him slowly to their bed and shut the door behind them, laying down with Mke and holding him close. "Are you okay?" Mari whispered softly, gripping one of his hands. Mike began to nod against Mari's chest, but then changed it to shaking his head. Mari didn't know why Mike was so upset, but knew that he would eventually know. He only rubbed circles in his back as he allowed the human to sob, gripping his Puppet close.
He knew that Mike was hurting, and that in itself hurt Marionette to no end, but he had no idea how to help.
Mike woke up early, sunlight not yet pouring through the window but not knowing what time it was exactly. He was tugged against Marionette's chest, but Mari's grip was loose and he was obviously asleep. He felt embarrassed about the fact that he was so upset last night, but everything came to him at once and he couldn't help but rip apart. He pulled his Puppet tighter and closed his eyes, now remembering the good memories. Remembering dressing up in different costumes he made, almost all of them of the animatronics, and putting on shows for his sister Elizabeth, or going trick or treating with her in one of the well-made costumes.
He remembered the Christmas when his parents didn't put out their Santa presents, and so Natalie called their Uncle Scott and he came dressed up as Santa and apologised for running late and put their Santa presents under the tree and in their stockings, then went out to his truck and dressed in normal clothes and came in. Michael, being the gullible five year old in the situation, was going on about how he just missed meeting Santa Clause, and Scott told him how he saw his sleigh taking off from the roof. It took years for him to realise that it was just his 'uncle' who came over to cover for his parents, one sick and one hungover.
He smiled as he remembered making his first animatronic, a small Minireena, when he was eleven, for his little sister Elizabeth for her sixth birthday. He continued to make the ballerina three more of them over the years until she was killed by Ballora, created for her. By this point, Mike knew his father had something to do with his two sisters being killed by animatronics and him being attacked. He then proceeded to find enough evidence to send him to prison two years later. His mother then began drinking so much that she was deemed unable to care for her child, with the chemo already making her extremely close. She was put in eighteen year old Michael's care, who then ran away when the four year old was being reprimanded by both kids and adults in preschool. He let his 'Uncle Fredrick' know and told him to watch over his Puppet and make sure nothing bad happened to him, he was so proud of the Marionette but knew it wasn't fair to take him. He also told Scott, but more so he wouldn't worry. He then left and a year later got hit by a car saving a kid and got amnesia. Falling on his head triggered his brain in some way and he got his memories back.
Mari slowly woke up, basking in the silence for a few minutes before opening his eyes. He could tell immediately that Mike was awake from the awkward position he was in, and the fact that his eyes were open.
"You could've woken me up." Mari whispered, noticing his small smile. "What's up?"
"I remember the good times now... Mari..." Mike didn't know if Mari remembered him. When he was sixteen somehow he forgot, probably because that was when he became the Puppet. "I knew you. I knew you before you died." He stroked Mari's cheek and smiled softly. "Before you became the Puppet, we were best friends. When you became the Puppet, your memory... vanished. But we were best friends. I remember, you were xfive and I was nine and I just watched you for days, thinking of how to make you feel better. Finally I wrote a song called Crybaby (1) and sung it to you."
"I remember now... and you watched me for days?!" Mari laughed softly, and Mike smiled back. "Yeah... it sounds creepier now, but back then we were kids and it wasn't nearly as creepy when you are little, right? I felt bad for you but didn't know how to make you feel better." He grabbed his slender hand. "Do you remember Natalie?"
Mari gasped and began laughing. "Yes, I do! She was your sister and we literally got her and Gabe together, writing him a song called Treat You Better. (2) Remember when he nearly completely backed out but came at the last second, it was amazing! Then they got us back by saying 'you'd be family if you two got married' when we were all excited to be brothers when they got together." Mike couldn't help but laugh.
"It's better to remember times like this than-" Mari gasped as he seemingly remembered what happened to Mike as a kid and held him against his chest tightly, his words becoming muffled against his fabric.
"I'm so sorry." Mari whispered and Mike gave no answer, just burying his head deeper into the Puppet's front. Water didn't come through his eyes, but he had mixed emotions as Marionette pet over the human's head reassuringly.
Mike walked into the pizzeria embarrassedly, not quite sure how much Mari had told the others about his spell the week before. That and the fact he was injured because of a strand of multi-colored lights. Fritz and Natalie, not having seen Mike, raced towards him excitedly. "Are you feeling better? Obviously so if you could drive yourself!"
"Yes, yes, I'm better. Now I need to admit something to you all... sit down." Mike said. Secrets destroyed the old Fazbear franchise, and he didn't want to keep anything from his coworkers, no matter how horrible it felt admitting your father was involved in the murders of children, possibly including the ones you love.
This is a one-shot based off of Mable's amazing story, Can't Go Home Again. I own nothing from this.
I don't own this song. Also he probably sung the clean version, that's what I imagine. :D
I don't own this song either. I just am guilty of loving it.
Thanks for reading! R&R!