Mable: To think that tomorrow, tomorrow, is the release of Sister Location… This is either going to go great for the story or leave me juggling. XD Still, going along with the plan, so I'm very excited to see the game and experience what it has to offer. The last day is always the longest, so hang in there! Enjoy!

Can't Go Home Again

Chapter Twenty-Five

Morning came way earlier than Marionette could've ever expected. He hadn't slept, just laid their dismally in the bed and waited for the sun to rise, and eventually it did. Soon after, Mike got out of bed and went to take his shower. The puppet had faked being asleep and covered himself entirely with the blankets, so Mike hadn't even noticed that he was awake. Then for what had to be at least an hour and at most two, Marionette had laid there in the bed and simply soaked in the warmth that he could. He felt too lethargic to do much more than that.

Once he decided he was finished laying around, Marionette forced himself out of the bed and down the hall. He knew he had gotten too used to sleep by the way he reacted to the loss of it. Back in the Pizzeria he rarely needed to sleep, though this was possibly because of the music box keeping him dormant for so long. As he peered into the kitchen, he could see Mike on the phone, eating a cupcake. He raised the dessert in a greeting before responding to the person on the phone, "And you told her that the place isn't finished, right?"

Marionette raised a hand back and silently headed over to the living room window. He used his fingers to spread the blinds and stare out at the sunny day outside. "You mean a miracle, actually," Mike cynically remarked into the phone. He then sighed, "Alright. I guess we don't really have a choice. Hey, this is what we're planning on doing, right? I'll run it by Mari and come down to help out. Try not to lift anything heavy until I get there." Mike ended the call abruptly afterwards and exhaled, leaning back in his chair.

"Is Fritz already calling you back to work?" the puppet asked in a slight playfulness. He was still a little too sluggish to completely return to his playful demeanor. "You don't even know the half of it," Mike muttered. "We've got a gig." At first Marionette didn't understand what he meant. It could've been him being slowed down from weariness, but it took a few seconds for him to inquire back. "…What?" The security guard continued, "Apparently word has already gotten out about us and there's someone wanting us to do their kid's birthday on Friday."

Marionette actually chimed in amusement, "And how exactly are we supposed to do that?" He waved his arm, "Poof! We're all ready to go!" It was a mocking gesture and showed that he clearly wasn't convinced in what Mike was telling him. That was, until Mike added in with, "She's on the board of education. It doesn't apply to us, but Fritz is pretty sure that this could give us some attention before opening day, so he gave the go ahead. We've got a birthday party on Friday." Mike gave a playful smirk, "Or you do. We're going to have to overcompensate."

The puppet wasn't sure if the excitement in his chest was from fear or happiness, but he reacted positively. This completely pushed every other issue or worry off the table; he and Foxy were finally going to entertain for children once again. It had felt like it had been years, years waiting to be let out of his box to gift and perform, and it was suddenly only a few days until he would be at work again. "This is wonderful!" he gushed and Mike kept the playful smirk, obvious cynicism still oozing out of every gesture. "Except that we're not ready."

"We have days to spare; that's plenty of time!" Marionette insisted. "It doesn't take much to make children happy on their birthday." Mike was almost willing to agree. There was still doubt in on his face, but it didn't look like he planned to turn the offer down. He stood from the table and slid his cell phone and keys into his pockets. "I'm heading over there to start working again. You can come or stay here; you might not want to see this disaster in person." Marionette agreed, "I need to do some planning around here. I'll flicker over later." With that, the plan was made.

For a few days, the routine was very strict and similar. Mike and Marionette had both dedicated their free time to getting the Pizzeria ready for the birthday party. Mike would go over early in the day and would only stop to head in to work. Marionette was the opposite, usually working at home in the morning and heading to the Pizzeria a short while before Mike would head in to work. A few days in and he had been tasked with cleaning and mending some old Foxy plush toys to be given to the kids, as their own merchandise had yet to be produced.

Much of the time in which Mike saw Marionette, he was fast at work on the toys, so in the beginning Mike didn't notice that the puppet's behavior had started to change. The security guard was a little overworked as it was; between moving arcade cabinets during the day and tending to disgruntled office workers at night, he needed all the sleep he could get. It was actually the night before the last day that Mike noticed it. Firstly, he awoke in the middle of the night and, while heading into the kitchen, noticed that Marionette was still awake.

This didn't seem too weird. Mike was groggy and only gave a passing mutter while Marionette chimed back with a friendly tone. The human went back to sleep like it was nothing. It wasn't until he woke in the morning to the blare of his alarm that he realized how odd it was that the puppet was still awake. Marionette's routine was very predictable and he usually sought the comfort of his box in the early hours of the morning. With a guilty conscious, Mike suddenly remembered that he had not wound the music box that night.

It then hit him. He suddenly remembered that Marionette had not asked him to wind the box. He hadn't in days and it wasn't as though the puppet had been staying with him in the bed. Somehow it took until this moment for Mike to suspect that Marionette had not been sleeping. He left the bedroom with suspicion on his mind and went to find the animatronic. He was right where he had been hours before, stitching a Foxy plush, not paying much attention to anything else. Usually he greeted Mike, but this time he didn't notice him until he was at the back of the couch.

"Good morning," Marionette greeted. His voice was pleasant, but surprisingly muted. Maybe it was because of Mike's suspicions, but he swore he could hear tiredness on his voice. "How many days has he been pulling nights like this? Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe he's sleeping during the day." Mike leaned over the back of the couch, watching his movements. In the time he watched, the puppet made two stitching mistakes and had to redo them both. This was the first time Mike had ever seen Marionette make a mistake stitching.

"Yeah, no. He's not sleeping," he mentally confirmed. He paused for a few minutes, watching Marionette and considering how to approach the subject. Eventually the puppet realized he was still watching him and looked over curiously. "Is something wrong?" Mike denied it by reflex, "Not really. Just preparing to get going." Marionette looked down at the box of plush toys. "Most of these are finished if you want to take them with you. I don't know if they're ready for the crane, but they could be handed out to the kids."

"The birthday girl will get one. The others are going to have to work that monstrosity on their own," Mike joked back. The claw machine was actually from Glenn, who was either feeling guilty or still trying to cover his backside through bribery. It worked well enough, but it was old, and quite empty. It was virtually unimportant, now considering that this new problem appeared. Mike decided to be blunt, "Mari… You've been sleeping, right?" Marionette didn't respond for a few seconds, then answered, "Of course I have! You've seen me."

"But you didn't sleep last night," Mike clarified. "…No, I didn't, but I needed the time. We only have until tomorrow," Marionette reminded. "Right… But you didn't sleep the night before either, right?" Mike asked again. "No, I didn't." Mike asked this question a couple more times and, every time, the response was the same. He didn't even try lying and soon set the plush down, frustrated after making another stitching mistake. Eventually the man had a good idea what was going on, "So you haven't slept in days and you just don't think it's a problem."

"Mike, I'm an animatronic. We don't have to sleep. We just rest at times, and I've rested quite enough," Marionette insisted. He looked back to the security guard. He didn't buy it for a second. "If that was true then you wouldn't have been sleeping at all. Don't you have a night mode or something?" There was a chime of amusement. "You know by now that we don't have 'night modes'. That servos excuse is not true either; it's just for them to explain why they can't shut us down." By now, Marionette was practically babbling, clearly unfocused.

"How exactly are you supposed to perform for kids- I'm not arguing with you," Mike flatly stated. "You're getting some sleep today, alright?" His voice eased enough to be more supportive in its firmness. To his surprise, Marionette reacted with sudden defensiveness. "I'm fine. I don't need to sleep, I need to get back into the pattern of work. Tomorrow everything changes; I'm an entertainer again. I can't go in unprepared," he answered before staring towards the floor. Mike leaned over further and muttered.

"You look like a weasel whose about to get popped. You're going to have to get some sleep or you're not going to be able to handle tomorrow," Mike stated matter-of-factly. Marionette responded with a surge of static and grabbed the Foxy plush again, attempting to repair again. Mike's blue eyes stayed stuck to his back, he knew they were, but eventually the human wandered off and the puppet eased a little bit. Though Mike didn't stay gone long; after standing in the kitchen for a few minutes he perked and then headed off down the hall.

By this point, Marionette stopped paying attention. He really was quite tired after the few days without any sort of sleep, but it wasn't as though he could stand sleeping again. It wasn't too difficult of an option though; as long as the music box was off and he wasn't in bed with Mike he couldn't exactly sleep anyway. Mike returned and dropped a pillow down onto the couch beside him. The puppet stared at it before Mike sat on the other side. "Here's the deal; I get that animatronics are different, so I'll get off your back if you rest."

"Mike-," Marionette began with a complaint on his voice. "You don't have to sleep. That's why you can just stay on the couch. I just want you to relax for fifteen or twenty minutes. It's not as much as I want, but you're exhausted and you need something," Mike laid out. He did look concerned and the puppet wasn't having much luck with the stitching. Eventually the animatronic gave in and set the plush aside again, the laid down on the couch with his head on the pillow. It was only in the middle of the couch, so his legs hung limply over the armrest.

He looked upwards at Mike who was now sitting there. Then caught a glimpse of a familiar black cross and shot upwards, "What are you doing with that?" He inquired as paranoia seeped into his voice. Mike gave him a clearly unenthused look, "I'm planning to puppeteer you into sleeping." Following the sarcasm was an actual answer, "I was going to try putting this thing on. You're resting anyway and I'm going to have to know how to make this look legit by tomorrow. We don't want those kids seeing you flying around."

"Are you sure? Because I was planning on that being my act," Marionette responded, a little playfulness returning. His guard dropped without care and he laid back down against the pillow. Mike felt over his shoulders until the strings slid out, or until Marionette let the strings slide out, and only worked with those as he attempted to string the Marionette cross. The puppet knew he couldn't exactly sleep like this, so he relaxed a bit more than he intended, letting his body go entirely limp for a few moments.

"I was thinking of cake," Marionette murmured out of nowhere. "I never was told her favorite kind of cake. That's the most important part of the party." His voice was a lot softer, more relaxed, and Mike propped the cross against his leg. "I'll call Fritz and ask, but I don't think they gave preferences," he pointed out as he leaned over the other arm of the couch. "Maybe the parent didn't, but something like that could be important to the child," Marionette insisted, looking upwards again. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Just grabbing something," Mike excused. The puppet now watched him a bit more intently, suspicion raising once again. Mike wouldn't dare… Then a familiar box came into view and Marionette was rising again, nearly throwing himself off of the couch. He broke into static and became frantic, anger clear on his face as he broke out in the occasional cry of betrayed words. Unfortunately, however, Mike had been a little quicker than Marionette had, and the puppet soon found that the cross actually was a trick.

Marionette strings really did confine him. Mike had secured them well enough that getting them detached from the cross by tugging wasn't going to happen. Mike had expected the puppet to try and leave. Though he had genuinely not expected the other to react so frantically, with such frustration and agitation, especially not when he had been going without sleep. "Would you calm down? I'm literally asking for you to sleep; that's basically the only thing you can do with zero consequences!" Even that seemed like he would be less reluctant to do.

It was only then that Mike realized exactly how strong Golden Bonnie had been. When he had gotten ahold of Marionette's strings, Mike had assumed that a hold on the strings had made the male easier to contain. This was entirely inaccurate; Marionette wasn't even very strong, but as he yanked back the cross almost flew out of his hands. The man tightened his grip on it and left the music box sitting there untouched, having not even attempting to wind it yet. "I don't understand why you're making this so difficult! It's sleeping, it doesn't require a temper tantrum!"

Yet Marionette was acting surprisingly frantic. It was as though all rationality had been thrown out the window. Mike hadn't expected this and, suddenly, decided to back down. It wasn't worth all of this and he was at the end of his rope. "Fine! Christ, you don't have to make such a big deal out of this!" Mike released the cross and it slid across the couch as Marionette retracted his strings. Mike set the music box on the side table. "There, happy? Just keep staying awake, but I don't want to even see-," Mike cut off when Marionette suddenly dropped to the floor.

"…Mari?" Mike leaned over the edge of the couch, staring at the animatronic now laying limply on the ground. He was clearly unconscious, or in sleep mode, or whatever could be labelled for going completely dormant without the use of the box. "You see, this was why I was trying to get you to sleep," Mike pointed out, knowing good and well that the puppet couldn't hear him. He moved to his side and nudged him over; he was clearly not responsive at all. After sighing and running his fingers back through his hair, concerned once again, he moved him.

Unconscious, Marionette was much more easy to move, especially considering the fight he had in him earlier. Mike laid him back down on the couch, briefly checking to make sure he hadn't damaged anything in the fall, and then tossed a blanket over him to let him sleep. This would fix it, he told himself. This would fix these nights without sleep and Marionette would be ready for tomorrow's pressure. Yet he still felt a nagging concern overtaking him and decided to stay close by just in case.

Marionette stared blankly ahead at a deteriorating wall, unable to move. He could feel the cold hands on him; one on his arm and one on his shoulder. A heavy breathing was on the back of his head and he couldn't move away. His body was completely limp. "Hey," a familiar voice started. "Hey. Hey you. Aren't you that kid?" The voice wasn't like before. It was close, but it was gasping, choking. "Aren't you that kid who always hides under the table? Aren't you him?" A wheeze, a choke, a metallic groan, and the puppet didn't move. He couldn't move.

"And cries. Always cries. You always like to cry." There was a cold and stiff laugh. "No one else is scared! Why are you? Stop being such a baby!" The hands tightened their grip. "You can't ignore me." The voice grew deeper and louder against the back of Marionette's head. "They all forgot about me, but you can't forget. You can't ignore me." He started to try and pull away from the being, leaning forward and trying to drag out of its grasp. He pried further, feeling multiple arms holding him back.

A hand, cold and limp, suddenly flopped oven his eyes. Suddenly Marionette felt extremely claustrophobic and started to flail back. Panic rang through his chest and distorted chimes drowned out the voice of the thing that held him. He was trapped, he was stuck, and his reward for the struggle was the ability to wake. The hands were still on him…

Marionette continued thrash as he desperately tried to get the hands off of him. He could only partially tell that there was a static screech emanating from him and managed to somehow silence himself. His eyes focused and he suddenly saw that the being above him was very familiar. Instead of the boy who haunted his nightmares, it was none other than Mike himself, who was struggling to hold him down in his thrashing. He found his voice quickly, "Mike!" It was a choked gasp and abruptly signaled the end of whatever was happening.

The puppet went limp on the couch, his body trembling after the sudden burst of activity. The human released him and leaned back a little. "Are you okay?" The animatronic covered his face and turned over towards the back of the couch. He didn't even want to know what expressions he revealed while that mess was occurring. "This is why I didn't want to sleep. Five minutes of sleep wasn't worth that…" Marionette admitted, trying to cover his own mixed feelings with what could barely be considered a scolding.

"Six hours," Mike clarified. "And what exactly was that? Was that another nightmare?" Marionette stayed quiet for a few minutes. "…Six hours?" He sounded genuinely surprised; which he was as the nightmare felt to only last a couple of minutes. "Is this why you're not sleeping? Because if it is, I think I get it," Mike added in. Indeed, what had just happened had been extremely disconcerting. The animatronic had started to make odd noises, weird chiming tones, and he had made an attempt to rouse him.

That was when Marionette lashed out at him. He didn't seem to remember or realize it, but for a few second he had grabbed Mike by the neck. Mike had quickly gotten his hands off of him and tried to hold him in place, fearing he would hurt himself. Thankfully, he woke pretty quickly, but he seemed still disturbed. "What was it about? Was that kid giving you a hard time?" Mike reached out and rested his hand on Marionette's back. "Oh Mike, you… You have no idea," Marionette murmured back.

Then, like a light clicking on, Marionette suddenly had an epiphany. He slid back off of the couch and hovered in the air, regaining his bearings quickly. "Mike, that child continues to haunt my dreams. I thought before that it was me, that I was seeing him because of something inside of me, but I'm afraid that can't be the case any longer. What he said…" Marionette took a moment to remember exactly what it had said to him in his dream. For a few moments he stayed there like that and Mike stood, approaching him and grasping his shoulders.

"I think you need to sit down. Keep going, but sit down; you didn't see what you were doing a couple of minutes ago." Mike coaxed Marionette to sit back down on the couch. "Let's start from the beginning. Who exactly was this kid in the first place?" The security guard couldn't help but coax him further. He was concerned, but there was certainly a sort of curiosity there as well, and that was a part of himself that he had trouble fighting back. Naturally, Marionette went to explain the situation.

"He lives- lived nearby and was older than I was. I didn't know him well, expect the few times that I saw him and he teased me. It wasn't like he was the only one; he never really stood out. This… Moment I keep remembering was the last time I saw him before my accident. I don't even think he was at my birthday party…" Marionette now noticed that he knew virtually nothing about the person haunting him. He straightened and looked to Mike, "Remember that favor you owed me? I believe it's time that I used it."

"Oh boy, sounds fun," Mike dryly responded. It wasn't like he was turning him down or anything. "I need you to help me figure out where this boy is and what happened to him… I fear I already know that something terrible has happened," Marionette finished with a slight shiver. "I can try, but that's not going to be easy if you don't even remember his name. Still, Fritz might know something," Mike attempted, trailing off at the end. Fritz was basically his latching on point when he had absolutely no leads in mind. Thankfully, Marionette wasn't finished.

"I do remember where he lived. Someone who lives there might know what happened to him. If you can drive me by, I can point out the exact house," Marionette suggested. Mike gave a nod, "I think I can pull that off. Not tonight, I have to head to work, but maybe on the way back here after the party tomorrow? I just feel creepy knocking on doors asking questions about kids at Midnight." He stood from the couch and Marionette glanced towards the grandfather clock, but couldn't see it well from this angle. "…You have to leave soon?"

"Yeah, I have a shift… Are you going to be okay? I can stay. It's not like they'll care, what with how many hours of mine they've cut," Mike sounded more matter-of-fact than bitter about it. If anything, he was truly worried about the puppet, who looked away. "No, no. I'm fine now… I slept long enough to recover, so I should be fine on my own." Part of Marionette was embarrassed to admit how much he wanted Mike to stay with him, but he knew that he couldn't, that he needed to go to work.

"I won't be gone long. Fritz and Jeremy have the Pizzeria handled, so I'm not going anywhere else," Mike insisted, hoping to comfort him somewhat. As he said, he didn't have to leave right away, so Mike had time to get into his uniform and sit down for another ten minutes. Maybe it was because Marionette wanted to think of anything other than the kid, but his attention turned to Mike's uniform. "Do you still have the Freddy night guard uniform?" he inquired curiously. The answer didn't exactly surprise him.

"Of course I do," Mike answered with a small smile, almost sly in a way. As though he had smuggled out the uniform from the Pizzeria when, most likely, nobody asked for it back. "Does it still fit?" Marionette casually asked. Mike sent him a weird look, "Uh… I'd say so. It's not like I've changed that much in these long couple of years." Maybe he knew where the puppet was going with this. "Are you going to wear them at the new Pizzeria? The other uniforms can't be done yet, not if nothing else is."

"I wasn't thinking about it, but I don't know. I didn't think you were preferable to the color purple," Mike pointed out. "I'm not. I'm just curious. Besides, I would know it was you. I'm not blinded by purple," Marionette pointed out. Though he very well could have been; there was suddenly an interest in what it would be like if Mike started working in the old Freddy uniforms. It certainly took his mind off of the child, but at a price that Marionette was still quite uncertain about. The last thing he wanted was to see Mike in purple, right?

Shortly afterwards, Mike headed out for work, and Marionette was left alone. Marionette wasn't exactly scared to be alone. Given that the kid, or whatever it was, was limited to his dreams, the puppet wasn't afraid of it outside of the dreams. Yet he worried on it and felt surprisingly lonely being on his own after such an event. He managed in the beginning with trying to work, but once it became apparent that his mind wouldn't stay on one subject he moved into his bedroom to tend to his own collection of plush toys.

They were quite a comfort; they always had been. Maybe Marionette wasn't exactly a child anymore; age or body wise, but he still found that his plush 'friends' were able to comfort him well. Eventually this ended as he heard the front door shut outside his room. It had been shut a little more harshly than Mike tended to do, so Marionette headed over to the door and peered out. He could tell it was Mike, but all of his movements were extremely odd. He nearly tossed his keys down, opened the fridge, shut it immediately, paced in a circle, and then stopped.

At the back of the couch, Mike began to unbutton his shirt, revealing the white undershirt underneath. He fumbled with the buttons and glared at them as though they offended him. Already Marionette had figured it out; Mike was angry about something. Once the shirt was off, Mike left it on the back of the couch and sat down, yanking off his hat and tossing it on the table. Then he grew silent and stared at the floor for a few moments. Marionette approached in an almost timid manner. He didn't want Mike to think he had been watching his display.

Or reading him, of course. Marionette knew how uncomfortable it felt to be 'read' by someone else. With him looking so frustrated, the puppet didn't want to give him the wrong idea. He arrived at the couch, resting his hands on the back, and looked down at Mike. He needed just a few seconds to figure out how to verbally approach this. Before he had a chance, Mike glanced back and saw the animatronic standing behind him. He stared for a moment and then gave a small, strained exhale, "Hey." Marionette responded, "Welcome back."

Mike didn't immediately say what was bothering him. He seemed a little reluctant, like if he started talking that too much would come out. He was clearly frustrated about something and Marionette waited patiently. "You were okay while I was gone?" Mike asked and the puppet nodded. "Good. I was worried about you." He fell quiet again, but this time it was shorter. "Let's hope tomorrow works out, because if it doesn't we don't have anything to fall back on… They fired me. Or 'let me go', as they put it."

There was the explanation and the anger that followed. Though this confused Marionette, "Why did they do that? You do a fine job as a security guard." He had to if he was to survive Freddy's. It seemed insane that an office building that needed minimal security wouldn't keep a qualified worker. "Their excuse was that they couldn't afford us both, which I know was a lie. They said it was either me or Natalie and Natalie was doing way more overtime than I was… They made sure not to tell me until the end of my shift," he nearly growled the last part.

Marionette knew the severity of the loss of income. He knew it and still felt a random jump of delight at the thought of Mike not leaving every night, working exclusively in the Pizzeria with him. Reality balanced it out; Mike and he couldn't support the household without funds, so it was important to get the Pizzeria on its feet quickly, or Mike would have to find another job. Though Mike was more worried about finding a second job period with how long he had to search for the one he lost.

Marionette leaned over the back of the couch and rested his hands on his shoulders, almost mimicking Mike's actions earlier. "Tomorrow's going to be perfect and everything's going to fall into place. This is just a minor setback, trust me." His smile was honest and hearable in his voice, "All they did was spare you from having to quit once the Pizzeria is fully up and running." Mike gave a small sigh and responded, "Yeah… Wish I had the chance to quit before they threw me out on the curb." Marionette chimed in amusement at Mike's lament.

He was still upset, it was obvious, and it wasn't as though the money issue would just vanish. The puppet knew that tomorrow relied on both Foxy and his performance; this party had to work, the kids had to be happy, and the business had to succeed. "They will be regretting their decision soon enough. Until then…" He looked to the clock. It was already late and they would have to start preparing early tomorrow. He would have to be alert and he hated it. He hated what he was about to agree to.

"…Wind my box?"

Mable: The next chapter won't take too long to finish! I suppose everyone's pretty excited for Sister Location. ^-^ Here's to the game and what will inevitably follow!