A/N: Welcome back guys! For the ones that are going through finals season (like me), I wish you the best of luck. We're almost there, just one last push...

Also, and I know I've said this before, I kinda really appreciate your reviews. If you liked a chapter or like the story and you let me know I'm thankful for that and it means a lot to me, it does. But if you didn't like something for any reason, then a review telling me why is even more welcome! After all, feedback is the key to become better at what most of us are doing: writing. So don't be afraid to give critique where or when it's due... if you want to, off course. Anyways, happy reading and I'll see you at the end of this chap!

Chapter 10: Awkward reunions

The man smiled at our confusion while he buttoned up his purple jacket. "Tattooed with ink mixed with my own blood." he boasted, "Got a double dose of needles, but I think the result was worth it."

"If we break the seals on our bodies," asked Ferny with a thin and broken voice, "will we be… free?"

Our killer looked at him with eerie compassion. "Why would you do that to yourself Foxy? You looked very happy last night!"

Ferny turned his head away from him, shaking it slightly.

"But," continued the man, "since the second set of seals bind the souls to your bodies, I guess that if you break them those kids' souls would be freed…"

My ears perked up as he said this. We all looked at the man with anticipation.

"…and stay in this world forever, just to wither away. You know how a body rots without a soul in it? If a soul stays outside a body for too long, without moving on to I-don't-know-where, it will rot just like a corpse. It will become a half-dead soul, devoid of any human memories of emotions. They're not ghosts; that would be fantastic compared to what they are. After a few years in this world, the only things that will be left of those souls would be darkness and pain. So I like to call them Shadows."

The man paused for effect. "So be happy!" he said while putting his arms in the air, "There is no way OW!"

Our killer rubbed a side of his head as the loose screw that Sean threw at him bounced on the floor. All our eyes looked at him with fear and surprise at his brave stupidity.

"I just wanted to remind you," he scoffed against the angry gaze of the man, "that I've been called stubborn by many and stupid by a few, but never a quitter. So please forgive me if I don't believe any of your nonsense."

"Oh, really?" said the man, "You think I'm kidding Freddy? After all that you did last night, after all of the pain you caused, you're still smiling. You weren't so heartless the last time I saw you." My brother seemed to be taken aback by his words.

"See?" continued the man, "I told you that your true self will grow with time. You seem a bit too cheery compared to your friends. So, let me ask you this: do you even feel any remorse?"

The fiery gaze in my brother's eyes faded away to an idle glow as he looked away from the man.

"And you broke one of the rules that we agreed on last time!" called out the man energetically as he pointed at the screw, "so I'm gonna remind you what happens when you, or any of you, do that."

Sarah, Ferny and I looked on in shock as Sean started to twist and squirm on the floor, groaning agonizingly as the man's seal once again glowed in a soft red.

"AAARGH! It... It HURTS!" roared my brother as he blindly punched and kicked the floor, "GODDAMMIT… IT HURTS!"

"STOP IT!" I shouted, facing the man, "Just… do it to me if you want!"

"Shut up Don!" huffed Sean, "Don't… argh… be stup… AARGH!"

The man laughed sickly at my brother's pain before stopping suddenly as we heard the sound of the front doors opening. My brother now lay panting on the floor while he recovered. I looked at our killer: the faintest glow had gone from his chest.

"Hello, hello?" called out the not too unfamiliar voice of the head security guard as we heard him close the door.

Our killer bent over in laughs, slapping his knee. "Man oh man! Is that who I think it is?"

"Uh, hello?" continued the guard, "Caleb, uhh, shift's over buddy; sorry I'm late. Where are… oh, no."

Once again a smug and satisfied smile appeared on our killer's face. "I think he saw the little mess that we left!" he said, sprinting to the door. "Dave!" he shouted out friendly as he stopped leaned against the doorframe, "Long time no see!"

"WALTHER?!" shrieked Dave.

"Sorry about the mess!" replied our killer teasingly. "Seems like there's a bit of mopping ahead of ya!"

"You freaking animal!" cried out Dave furiously, "You killed Caleb!"

"I didn't Dave! My new friends did! Come here; I'm sure they want to finally meet you properly!"

Walther rubbed his hands in excitement as we heard Dave slowly coming towards us. As soon as he peeked into the maintenance room he let out a yelp of terror at the sight of the bloody Freddy suit. Our killer let out a roaring, mocking laugh as Dave clutched at his chest, trying to steady his breath.

"Ha ha! Your… he he… face was amazing!" wheezed Walther as he pinched a tear from his eye. "You haven't changed a bit! You still have the uniform and all!"

Dave's eyes scanned the room nervously as he took some indecisive steps towards our killer. "What are you doing here?" he asked shakily.

"Oh, y'know…" muttered Walther as he shrugged nonchalantly, "Passing by to say hello to my friends." He cocked his head at us.

Dave shook his head. "I see you're still as obsessed with them as the day we fired you. Maybe that's why you did what you did."

Walther's expression suddenly became harsh and serious as he threw a hateful glare at the other man in purple uniform. "You say it like you don't have any blood on your hands. You were with me for all that time. Did you forget already? How you diligently cleaned everything up whenever I asked you to?

Dave took some steps forward as he pointed a trembling finger at our killer. "Yes, I did things for you I will regret for the rest of my life. I helped you get the job at the diner with me. I did the dirty job of cleaning up the mess you made. But I never hurt anyone. You really think I forgot about those three kids? I still have to see their little dead eyes whenever I go to sleep because you…"

Dave's voice went to a deep and hateful tone as he balled his fists, "…you lived in your little twisted fantasy, with that sick idea that you could play with life and death like you were God. I hate myself for ever calling you a friend."

Walther's face seemed to twitch slightly after hearing this. "You do have someone's blood on your hands, someone that was your loyal friend for very long." Dave took some steps back as Walther walked towards him. "My little brother was shot down like an animal because you betrayed him. Thanks to you and that filthy cop all the people I care about are either rotting in a grave or rotting in prison."

"Your brother was the worst kind of criminal." whispered Dave coldly as hate and fury oozed out of Walther's face. "He had it coming and you know it."

Our killer's face became pale after hearing this. He then turned around and walked away from Dave, back to the center of the room. "You know what?" he said with the back turned to the guard, his tone suddenly calm and carefree, "I'm winning! I got the cop and his kids, I will get you, and I managed to give life to my friends." Once again he cocked his head at us.

"Don't tell me that…" Dave's voice once again trembled as he looked at us, "It was you." Walther nodded with a satisfied smile on his face as Dave looked at him in disgust. "You killed those five kids. You did the same thing to them as with those other three a few years ago."

"You see," said Walther with excitement, "it worked Dave. This time it did work like it should've worked back then. They're alive!" He pointed at us with a confident smile on his face while we remained completely still, much to our killer's disappointment.

"C'mon guys!" hissed Walther angrily as he approached us, "Move, speak to me, do something!" Dave once again shook his head as he saw a grown man talking to four lifeless animatronics.

"So that's how you wanna play, huh?" whispered Walther calmly as he grabbed a large wrench from a nearby table. He pointed the tip at Ferny's petrified face. "After all I did for you, after all the joy and freedom I gave you last night, you're still gonna make me look bad, huh Foxy?"

"Don't even think about it." Dave's voice suddenly sounded brave and decided as he clenched his small fists.

Our killer let out a satisfied grin. "I see he's still your favorite." he whispered with cold empathy.

We knew that if we moved or talked we would give ourselves away to Dave. We knew that if we just remained still Ferny would have to suffer at the hands of our killer. These thoughts raced through our minds as Walther held the wrench on top of Ferny like he had done with a cleaver almost a month ago. We waited and hoped for Ferny to defend himself, to tell us with actions that he wasn't just going to give himself up for us.

But he did.

None of us moved as the wrench smashed into Ferny's upper chest. "I know you can't speak to Dave like you can to me Foxy!" blurted our killer as the wrench came down again, "But you can just move a bit?!" A cracking noise echoed through the room as Walther started to assault Ferny's shoulders and arms, tearing strips of red fur from them, "AT LEAST BLINK YOU DAMN FOX!" cried out the raging man as the wrench finally teared through a part of Ferny's torso with a final blow; but our friend just took the pain without flinching.

Walther panted as he threw the wrench aside. "You…" he wheezed, "ungrateful lapdog."

"That's ENOUGH!" barked out Dave furiously, "Tell me right now why I shouldn't call 911 right now and get you arrested."

Walther chuckled and shook his head. "That's what I should ask you. Why didn't you do that three years ago in the first place? Why did you and Erik decide to shove everything under the carpet and play the fools?"

Dave's eyes trailed down as Walther walked up to him again. "We both know what will happen." he continued, "You will be Erik's loyal lapdog and make sure everything is nice and clean like it should be. You will tell him that I killed those kids, but he will make you not tell anyone because he knows that it will only bring bad press, and he will let an innocent man take the blame. Like three years ago, remember? Instead of bringing me to justice and getting slaughtered by the papers because a security guard killed three kids, you got rid of the evidence, tampered with the security footage to blame some poor random face in the crowd, and let me walk out as long as I promised not to ever come back again. You were so eager to get rid of me you even let me keep the uniform!"

Dave's face dropped to an expression of guilt and anger. "You will obey with anything," concluded Walther, "and as always, the only thing you will do is this: feel bad, and then repeat and repeat to yourself that you're still better than me. But we both know that you're not."

Dave remained still as Walther walked back to the table where he put the red book, grabbed it, and calmly exited the room. "Oh, and another thing!" he added as he stepped into the hallway, "The night shift is about to get much more interesting; so buy a lot of mops, and keep the numbers of Boris, Nel and Andy at hand. I'm sure they will be happy to lend their… cleaning… services to you again!"

"How… do you know?" asked Dave, but he fell silent as Walther shushed at him.

"Let's just say," he whispered, "that a little birdy told me."

Walther waved at us friendly as he speed-walked down the hallway. A few moments after the front door closed down again, Dave let himself fall down on the floor. He covered his eyes as he shook his head hopelessly, cursing himself out loud. He remained there for a minute or two, before he got up and took some deep breaths to calm himself down. But as he walked to the corner of the room, and grabbed a mop and a bleach bottle, we saw how his eyes welled up with tears.

By the time the pizzeria opened at 8:00 AM there wasn't a drop of blood anywhere, not even on Ferny's body; Dave took care of that at the last minute. He did leave the stuffed suit where it was and, just like Walther predicted, we saw three dark figures enter the maintenance room at night. The next day the brown fur of the now empty Freddy suit was completely spotless. Over the next few days we repeated our routine with the shows I once loved, but now hated, as we all felt that something bad was coming our way. After all, we had painfully learned that tragedies rarely come alone. But at least there weren't any security guards at night, meaning that we didn't have to worry about our evil taking over us… for now. Still, the horizon remained grey.

Ferny wasn't the same. He became quiet and retracted. Even his proud and sharp gaze disappeared from his eyes, leaving behind a pitiful sad light that seemed to be lost in the past. Since Walther damaged his chest so badly and there weren't any spare parts available for him he was removed from the show; meaning he had to stay alone in the maintenance room for most of the day like a played-out toy. Even though he asked to be left alone Sarah always stayed by his side whenever she could. We knew that it was her that kept him going, even if barely.

Jack wasn't the same. Once again he isolated himself from everything and everyone around him. He locked himself up in the bubble I thought I had finally broken through. Whenever I walked up to him, he walked out of the room, not saying a word. Instead of coming to me when the restaurant closed like he used to, he stayed in the storage room, lost in his world of circles and X's.

And off course, Sarah, my brother and I weren't the same. Arcade marathons, little pranks and games were replaced by long silences after closing time. We couldn't deny what we had done: the image of the guard begging for mercy while we happily tortured him wouldn't stop haunting us.

But through it all, we all still had high hopes in one thing: the tapes. They were packed in the boxes for spare parts, they had our addresses on them, and they were ready to go to each of our families whenever the mail arrived. Then justice would be served and once again we would be together with the ones we loved.

So all we had to do was wait until a mail van appeared in front of the building. And after few days of waiting, a van did come early one morning, right before the pizzeria opened. But it wasn't for the mail. It was a big white van with the logo of the health and sanitation department on it.

A/N: We all know what that means...

And yes, Dave is Phone Guy! And yes, he has a dirty past with Walther/The killer. And yes, I know that many people *cough* Game Theory *cough* still believe that the phone guy is the purple man. And no, I really don't believe that. I won't explain why I won't take MatPat's word this time, let's just say that in my opinion it makes much more sense that they're two different people.

Well, that's it. See you guys next week and good luck with your finals!