A/N: Welcome back everyone, thanks for you patience. Hopefully this chapter's length will make up for the wait.

As for this chap, I have to warn you that it's very different from previous ones. It's not really as dramatic or fast as previous ones, but it's necessary to set everything up for the finale. As always, please let me know how you like it, and happy reading!


Chapter 50: Old faces, new lives.

Lying in bed, a woman stares idly at the white ceiling of her modest apartment. Her tired, yet restless eyes inspect its small imperfections in pure boredom. She knows them by heart: the light-brown water stain, the slight bump in the corner, some dark scratches made by the previous owners' cat, and the inescapable grime. It's a complete waste of time, but that's exactly what she needs to numb her brain into something similar to sleep. According to her psychologist, her insomnia would disappear as soon as she abandoned her obsession with her father's mysterious death.

She scoffs at the thought. More than thirty years later, and the ghosts of Freddy Fazbear's still haunt her.

A soft buzzing startles her out of her trance and shatters the room's silence. The bleary woman blinks a few times to start up her brain, before rolling to her bedside table and grabbing her smartphone. She sighs when she reads the caller's ID on the screen, but she doesn't hesitate to answer.

"Peter, for Christ's sakes, it's 5:30 AM." she mutters as greeting, "And it's Saturday. Do you even sleep?"

A grave, warm masculine voice chuckles at the other end of the line. "My dear Evie, let's admit it: we're both terrible at sleeping."

Despite the untimely call, Evelyn Hobbs can't help but smile. This man, Peter Roper, has always been the lawyer of her family. He was the one who arranged all legal issues surrounding her father's death, and pressured the Freddy's franchise for answers. In those troubled months, he quickly became a father figure for the little girl and an anchor for her widowed mother. And those bonds only grew stronger after the unexpected death of Evelyn's mother, Laura Hobbs. Now the little girl was in her mid-thirties, the man was pushing to seventy, and they still didn't have answers surrounding Dave's disappearance. After Laura's funeral, they agreed to bury that unpleasant past with her.

They never did.

"You could leave a message." continues Evie, feigning irritation. "I'm sure you know how to do that. You're not that old."

Peter huffed in amusement. "I don't want to bother our dear assistant DA with more messages, but this is important. It's about Laura."

Evie's smile disappears immediately. For a couple of seconds, the room is submerged in silence again. She then whispers flatly "Mom died two years ago. I thought it was all settled."

"Legally speaking, yes." Pete's voice becomes slightly unsure as he tries to find the right words. "But I… I was searching through some old papers of mine, really old papers, and I found an envelope addressed to you in case something happened to her. Evie, believe me, I'm sorry. I don't know how I missed it, but your mother left you something."

"Didn't she write a will after Dad disappeared?" asked the stunned woman.

"She did. But this is different. It's a letter to you and a deed of personal property. I haven't opened your letter, but the deed describes an old safe kept in a self-storage facility that would become your property in case something happened to her."

"Wait… wait a minute." Evelyn rested a hand on her forehead, trying to process everything. "Why would Mom want me to have an old safe after she died? We never had anything like that."

"I don't know, and the deed doesn't specify where it's from. But we can guess."

Those words made everything clear to the woman. It was taboo to mention Freddy's name between them.

"The self-storage with the safe opens up at six o'clock." continues the man, "I have the address right here, and I can get there by 6:30. Shall we meet there at that time?"

The woman's lips draw a listless smile. "Do you think I have a choice?"


True to her word, Evelyn pulls her modest sedan into the facility's parking lot at the agreed-upon time. She buttons up her coat and clutches her large coffee thermos like a life saver before opening the car's door, just to be greeted by a gust of chilly November wind. The massive grey building and overcast sky don't offer her any kind of welcome, unlike the robust man waiting for her by the facility's main door.

Peter leans against his battered station-wagon and waves at the woman, who returns the greeting with a broad smile. Evie speeds her pace, and soon finds herself enveloped by the man's arms.

"I brought you some coffee." she says, slowly pulling herself from the embrace before offering the thermos.

Peter takes it with a grateful smile, which soon disappears as he feels the thermos' light weight. "Evie, how much coffee did you drink on your way here?" he asks in slight concern.

"A little." was the woman's evasive reply. Peter then raises an eyebrow, and Evelyn simply sighs. "Okay, a lot."

The man shakes his head before taking a small sip. "Thanks. Now, before anything else, here's what we came here for." He buries his hand in his coat's pocket, pulls out a medium-sized envelope and handles it to the woman. Evelyn opens it and lets its contents slide down to her hand. The refolded, typewritten deed doesn't have much new information to offer, except the unit where the safe is stored. As expected, it's nothing more than a formal document without any real message from her diseased mother.

The sealed letter, on the other hand, shows Laura's handwriting on the yellowed envelope: For my dear Evie. Swallowing the knot in her throat, the woman hesitates to open the letter just long enough for an employee to walk up to the pair. Evelyn quickly hides the letter in her pocket as the middle aged man in a drab uniform approaches them.

"Can I help you with anything?" he asks in a monotone voice, hiding a yawn.

"You actually can, my friend." replies Peter with his characteristic gentleness, "The young lady has come to possession of a certain object stored in your facility; an old safe-box if I'm not mistaken. We were wondering if you might take us to it, and if necessary, help us open it."

Evelyn immediately shows the written deed to the man. With a small nod of acceptance, the employee gestures the pair to follow him to the front doors. He then pulls his smartphone from his pocket as they enter the building, and types a quick message. "Our locksmith will be meeting us there in a moment." he says.

The woman can't help but feel slightly unsettled as they pass by dozens of storage units. She doesn't want any stranger to see the contents of the safe, whatever they might be. A lingering anxiousness conflicts with her sense of duty as the three adults enter an elevator at the end of the hallway. The man then presses the button for the fifth and last floor.

As the elevator's doors shut in front of them, Evelyn feels the letter itching in her pocket. She barely resists the temptation of ripping it open in front of the two men for the rest of the ride. As the doors open again, Peter and her meet with an unexpected sight. Instead of the usual corridors lined with identical roll-up doors, a large open space, similar to an unusually disorganized warehouse, stretches out before them.

"I thought we were looking for a storage unit?" asks Peter.

The employee raises his shoulders indifferently. "This is the largest unit of all. People who only have a few objects and don't want to pay for a regular unit can bring them here. It's much cheaper, too. Sometimes people pay ahead for years and leave their stuff to be inherited with us, so that it can be claimed in case something happens to them." He then turns to Evelyn. "Maybe that's what your mom did. She was your mom, right? The title only said names and…"

"Yes." interrupts the woman, stopping the man abruptly. The last thing she wants is revealing her life to a stranger. "Where's the safe?"

Raising an eyebrow in slight annoyance, the employee starts walking to the farthest corner. They arrive after a few minutes. "Here's where we keep the smallest, individual objects. So it should be around here…"

The uniformed man scrounges around the corner, hoping to find something resembling the stereotypical image of a safe-box. Peter only stays back and watches the man work, still holding Evelyn's thermos. Meanwhile, the woman scans her surroundings keenly, in the opposite direction of the employee digging through years of dust, lint balls and random objects. It doesn't take her long to spot a smooth, black metal object under some empty cardboard boxes. She quickly lays them on the floor next to her, finally revealing an old safe-box covered in dust.

"I think I found it." she calls to her companions in a flat tone. The object in front of her seems strangely inviting, and she runs a finger along its dusty surface. However, that dim feeling of angst still persisted in the pit of her stomach. A small sticker with a series of handwritten numbers above the handle calls her attention.

"There should be another series of numbers on that deed of yours." says the employee, approaching the woman with Peter. "Do they match with the numbers on that safe?"

Evelyn checks her deed and inspects some numbers in the upper left corner. "They do." is her reply.

"Then it's yours. I'll go see if our locksmith is here." And with that, the employee turns away and walks back to the elevator.

It's only after its doors are closed that the woman dares to pull out her letter. She holds it in her hands for long seconds, running her fingers across her mother's handwriting.

"It was hard, wasn't it?" she says softly as Peter comes beside her. "And I was getting over it too. Finally trying to move on with my life. Maybe do all that stuff you're supposed to get done when you're 35. Get married. Have children. Grow fat. Move to the suburbs and spend 700 dollars on a damn Labrador puppy…"

"Evie, you should know that there's no 'right' way to live your life." Peter lays a hand on her shoulder softly. "We're just mortal humans, doing our best with what we have left of time. And the fact that you've come this far with all those things holding you back is quite remarkable."

The woman only looks up to the aged man, lips drawn up in a grateful smile. She then allows her eyes to fall back to the letter, and with little hesitation, opens the envelope and extracts the note inside it.

August 12, 2007.

Evelyn,

I hope this letter finds you in a good moment of your life. A few hours ago we waved goodbye as you took a bus to your first day of college. There's not much to say that I haven't said already: you know you have my whole heart and love. But I'm sure you're confused, as I was when I first received this safe many years ago.

As we all know, Freddy's closed at the end of 1994. Few things were recovered, and I don't find it unlikely that documents about the death of those children, your father and other employees were destroyed by someone. They were tough times for everyone connected to the tragedies of that place. I remember talking to a young man, brother of one of the victims. He seemed completely unwilling to accept that this was it, and that there would be no answers for anyone. The poor kid was in denial.

A few months after the closing, I received a call from a man you might know of. Erik Grant, your father's manager and supposed friend, said he wanted to give me something. I sent him to hell and almost hung up, when he mentioned that it might contain answers. He also apologized profusely for the death of your dad, something he had never done before. I reluctantly agreed to meet up with him in a self-storage facility, where he showed me the safe. He told me that it might be empty, or might contain the answers we seek, and it was all mine. I was baffled; why would this man risk ending up in jail for me? I guess guilt finally got the best of him.

I could've opened the safe right there and then, finally learn something more, maybe even have the final answers, or leave in disappointment with an empty box. I could've ended it all. But I didn't; a new kind of fear took hold of me. What if I learned something I didn't want to know? What if, instead of honoring your father's memory, I corrupted it? I would never be able to overcome my grief if I found something proving he had covered or destroyed evidence. Evie, please don't be mad at me. It's a hard pill to swallow, and I like to think it's a small possibility, but it is there.

At the end, this fear killed my desire for knowledge. Ignorance truly is bliss. I write this letter so you might receive it after my death, since I'm afraid you'll hate me for choosing not to end our uncertainty. Years after that, at the end of '98, I tried to get in touch with Erik again, only to find out that he had died of lung cancer. The only hopes of finally bringing the truth to light are in that box. I was too much of a coward to open it, but I know you're braver than me, Evelyn. You always were.

With love,

-Mom.

The woman's hands tremble around the paper, clamping on it like a vice. A bitter taste fills her mouth and she closes her eyes forcefully, before releasing a heavy sigh. "Mom… why did you leave this to me?"

Peter clears his throat as he carefully approaches her, and whispers "Evelyn, the locksmith is here."

She was so engrossed by the letter, that she had ignored the newest presence completely. The small man with blue overalls and greasy toolbox stares back at her with an uneasy smile.

"Are you okay, Evie?" asks the older man in concern.

"I've been better, to be honest." she says flatly, "But I've been worse. I just need something to drink." Peter reluctantly hands her over the thermos, and she savors the last ounces of smooth black as they roll down her tongue.

"Are you sure you want to open this now?" Peter stares at the box with slight disdain. "I mean, there's always another day. We can wait."

Evelyn shakes her head. "Thirty years of waiting is more than enough. I just want to get all this over with." She then turns to the locksmith. "Sir, you can begin. We'll stay here."

Armed with a surplus of instruments, the man doesn't need too much time to unlock the old safe. He's about to open it for his clients, when Evelyn quickly stops him, saying: "I think those contents are private." He then leaves her alone with Peter again.

"Here goes nothing." Evelyn kneels down in front of the object, trying to keep her excitement and angst under control with limited success. As she opens the heavy iron door, she expects and even hopes to find nothing but air inside of the box.

Instead, she's greeted by three cassette tapes and a small red book.


COMING SOON!

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Local amusement park is getting ready to scare your socks off with a new attraction based on the unsolved mysteries of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

Featuring actual relics from the decades-old pizzeria, this new attraction is guaranteed to bring back your childhood in the worse possible way!

"You have to be freaking kidding me."

The man groans in indignation as he tosses the newspaper on the dining table, takes off his reading glasses and runs a hand through his dark-grey hair. "They actually did it." he mutters lowly, closing his blue eyes as he shakes his head in bafflement.

"What's wrong, Mike?" a woman's voice calls from the kitchen, her back turned to the man.

"They're actually going on with it."

The woman walks speedily to the table, picks the newspaper and scans the small add rapidly. Despite being in her mid-fifties and slightly older than her husband, it was Mike who usually received the teasing jokes and compliments for marrying a younger woman. Only a few wrinkles around her eyes and some stray white hairs betray her age.

She lays down the newspaper on the table, eyes beset with slight worry as she turns to her husband. "I don't like it, but maybe you could take the chance to see them again and warn them. It's been quite some time."

Clearly doubtful, Mike returns her stare. "Yin, there's not much left to see. If Jack's right, I really don't know if we can help them anymore. Even I could barely recognize them. They're forgetting everything they were, everything they went through."

She stuck her hands in her pockets, shrugging. "I still like to believe we can save them. Even after all this time."

"I like to think that as well." replies Mike, "But we can't do anything without that book."

It's in this moment that a soft buzz interrupts the couple's conversation. The man's smartphone drones on top of the dining table, its screen flashing as if begging for attention. Mike grabs the object and tries to read its display, only to see a blurred out version of its numbers and letters. He quickly puts on his reading glasses and scowls at the sight: Unknown number. With a swipe of his finger he dismisses the call.

"Same number?" Yin asks.

"Yeah, same number." A hint of annoyance appears on Mike's voice. "It must be a scammer. Then again, most scammers aren't stupid enough to call someone at 10 at night." He looks back at his wife. "Let's go to bed, it's been a long day."

The doorbell then rings loud and clear through the household, practically mocking the tired man as he stands up. "Who the hell is it?"

Yin simply raises her shoulder. "The boys aren't coming until next week, so I have no idea."

Mike shuffles himself begrudgingly to the door, sighs in frustration, and swings it open. Of all the people he expected to see, from a girl scout to an overtly-passionate evangelist, he meets a regular woman in semi-formal clothing with a large handbag.

"Michael Schmidt?" she immediately asks, eyes beaming with excitement and restlessness.

"Uh, maybe." The man squints in surprise and confusion. "I'm sorry ma'am, but who are you?"

"My name is Evelyn Hobbs, and I have something urgent to tell you. Actually, I have many urgent things to tell you, and I was hoping you might let me in."

Mike raises his opened hands, as if trying to hold her back. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until next week. It's Saturday night and I just want to spend a relaxing evening with my wife, call my boys in college and rest."

"Mr. Schmidt, it's about your brother and his friends."

The man's tired expression quickly morphs into displeasure. "Look ma'am, I don't know who you are or how you know my name, but if this is some joke I'm gonna ask you to leave. My brother was murdered almost forty years ago and I was his only friend. If you're serious, you're probably confusing me with some other guy. Have a good night."

He's about to swing the door at her, when she quickly pulls something out of her handbag. The man's body turns to stone as Evelyn shows him the red book. "Mike, I know that wasn't the end for your brother or those other kids." she says in a gentle, calm voice. "I'm an ally. Freddy's also took away someone that I loved. We both want the same, and I think I can help. Now, may I come in?"

Around an hour later, the three adults are sitting around the dinner table, each one with a small mug in front. The three tapes and the red book are displayed in the middle, oddly placed next to a bowl of plastic fruit and a napkin holder. Mike and Yin look at each other and at their lukewarm tea as Evelyn finishes the contents of her mug. "Are you sure you don't want more coffee?" asks the man.

Putting down her mug, the younger woman shakes her head. "Thank you Mr. Schmidt, but I'm good."

The man grins, and his light wrinkles suddenly become more visible. "I asked you to call us Mike and Yin, didn't I?"

Evelyn flashes an apologetic smile. "Sorry, just old court habits." Her tone becomes more serious as she adds: "Like we were saying, it's pretty clear what happened to Brandon. Considering the position he was in when he finished recording, I'm almost sure that Walther, or the thing he was at that point, broke the page he found in his pocket."

"We agree." says Yin, "It's awful that he can't be with his friends, even in that state. If Mike hadn't done what he did before that night, things wouldn't be the way they are."

"Completely right." continues the man, "It's a shame. I really thought I was doing the right thing by not telling them about that, even after it worked out. Brandon must've been really scared during that, assuming he didn't figure it out at the end." He sighed and looked at the unlabeled tapes. "I'd apologize to him right now if he were here with us."

Evelyn's eyes also fall to the tapes. "I listened to those three things from start to finish, so I know most of Brandon's story up to that point. But I don't know what happened after that, and Brandon didn't get the chance to know you better."

Mike purses his lips. "Things happened, but not as many as I would've liked. Sarah, Ferny and Sean are still there to this day, but they can only appear between sunset and sunrise. We tried to visit them, but they're… losing themselves."

"What do you mean?" asks Evie.

"Sometimes they're normal, sometimes they act like they're taken over. But over the last few years or so, they're spending more and more time out of their minds, even with Jacob's help. Ferny actually lunged at me the last time I was there." Evelyn's eyes widen with surprise, and Mike adds quickly: "But nothing happened! They can't really harm anyone. Curiously enough, Mangle and Balloons are there as well. They found their way back somehow. Sean once told me that Marionette's there as well. I've never seen those other three, but I don't think they're as friendly as the kids. Then again, the kids haven't been that friendly either…"

"Then we're running out of time." says Evelyn with urgency.

"Definitely." resumes Yin. "Ever since Mike told me these secrets we've been looking for that book. Now that we have it, there's a chance to finally save them. Thank you, Evie."

Both women share a small smile. "It's nothing."

"No Evelyn, it's a lot." Yin insists firmly, "We owe you one. Is there anything we can do for you?"

The younger woman stares back at the satisfied couple. In her world of formalities and bluffing, that was a common sentence rarely spoken with honesty. However, by the genuine tone of Yin's voice and Mike's silence, it's clear that they truly mean it. And Evelyn wasn't one to ignore an honest, friendly offer.

"It's kind of a big favor." she says, "And we still don't know each other that much, but I was wondering if I could see him."

"What do you mean?" asks Mike.

"It it's okay with you, I'd like to meet Jack. I just… need to know for sure that this is real."

The surprised couple exchange doubtful glances, and for one second Evelyn fears that she might have overstayed her welcome. But this worry soon disappears when Mike turns to her with trust in his eyes. "Well, it's been a while since my little brother met someone new." he says, rising from his chair. "He's downstairs, just follow me."

Both women follow Mike through a small living room next to the kitchen, to a narrow hallway with multiple doors. "Just the boys' bedrooms and ours." Yin clarifies, reading the questioning look on Evelyn's face. "But the place is a bit lonelier since they're in college."

"I can imagine." replies Evie in sympathy.

Mike opens an unassuming door at the narrow end of the hallway and flicks on a light switch, revealing a descending set of concrete stairs. Once again he leads the way, and the three soon find themselves in a small, drab and practically empty basement. A few buckets, some moving boxes and an empty wooden shelf add to the depressive air.

"Don't worry, this isn't Jack's room." says Mike immediately with an easing smile, feeling Evelyn's doubt.

"Then where is it?" she asks, "There's no second floor and no more rooms."

As if answering her question, Mike approaches the wooden shelf and knocks on its sides. "Jack, it's me!" he calls out, "There's someone new here that would like to see you! She's here to help!"

There's silence for a few seconds, and Mike knows that it's hesitation on his brother's behalf. The shelf then begins to slide to a side, seemingly on its own. A previously-covered doorframe comes into view, and Evelyn barely manages to catch a glimpse of the room behind it, when an unusual figure steps from behind the shelf and reveals himself to his visitor.

Even after listening to Brandon's tapes and talking with Mike and Yin, a small part of Evelyn still didn't believe the seemingly-impossible story of Freddy's. Ghosts, possessions, life-after-death… all things that belonged to fiction, not reality. However, a single stare from Jack's luminous eyes immediately shatters that notion, and the woman can't help but gasp in astonishment. The golden suit looks almost like it did over thirty years ago, only much better maintained.

"Hi Mikey." Jack says cheerily, "I missed you. Who is she?" He points a round finger at Evelyn, who's still too amazed for words.

A grinning Yin leans towards her, and whispers: "Don't worry; I had the same reaction when I met him for the first time."

"She's Evelyn Hobbs." replies Mike, "Her father was Dave, the guy who left me messages over the phone. And she finally found the red book."

"Really?!" An excited Jack turns rapidly towards the woman. He tries to look at her in the eyes, but soon finds himself staring at the floor between both of them. "Thank you very m-much."

"Eh, erm, y-you're welcome." The woman stutters back, before clearing her throat and regaining some composure. "I'm sorry, Jacob."

"You can call me Jack, i-if you want. I like it better."

"Okay, you just talked again!" Evelyn lets out a nervous chuckle, shaking her head in bewilderment. "This is really happening!" She takes a slow, deep breath, before looking back at the golden figure. "I'm sorry, Jack. I don't like being rude, but it's a bit weird to talk to someone who has the body of an animatronic bear. It's just one of those things you don't plan to do on a Saturday night, you know?"

"Don't worry Evie, you'll get used to it." says Yin casually, approaching the massive figure. "At the end of the day it's about what's inside. We're just another family; a very special one."

"So, your children know as well?" asks the newcomer.

Yin shakes her head. "We don't want them to be a part of this. It's hard to keep a secret from them, but it's for the best. These are things that people shouldn't know. That's why we've been hiding Jack with us for all this time."

"And that's why we have to solve this thing before Fazbear's Fright opens up in a week." adds a serious Mike, "Your friend Peter doesn't know anything about this, right?"

"I listened to those tapes alone at home and I haven't talked to him about them, so no." replies Evelyn. "It's only the four of us."

"Actually, there's five of us." The woman looks at Mike with questioning eyes. "I'm pretty sure that Jeremy would like to be a part of this. I'll call him in the morning. Is anyone feeling sleepy, by the way?"

Jack, Evelyn and Yin shake their heads almost simultaneously.

"Perfect!" Mike crosses his arms, blue eyes glinting with renewed hope. "We have one week to end this mess once and for all. Now, which one of us will be getting a job at Fazbear's Fright?"