Author's Note: Things are still nuts with work and COVID- I'm very sorry for the spotty updates. Your continued support is very much appreciated!
This doesn't make any sense. Charlie sat on a chair in the main control module, one hand covering her mouth as tears pricked her eyes. I should be dead. WE should be dead. Michael leaned against the glass separating the main control module from Funtime Auditorium, staring straight ahead. He hadn't said anything since they'd stumbled out of the dark recesses of the facility. Charlie studied him yet again, and all she saw was empty eyes and a blank expression.
"Michael…?"
No response. He just stared at her with those empty eyes.
"What happened?" She asked for the umpteenth time, praying for a coherent answer.
"It was there."
"What do you mean?" Desperation laced Charlie's voice.
"There. In the room. It was there."
"What was there?" Charlie stood up.
"That… thing. From the blueprints."
"That device?"
Another blank stare. Charlie's heart started to pound and she let out a shuddering breath. There was only one person she knew who could shed light on their situation.
"We have to go." She took Michael's clammy hands in hers.
"Where… where are we going?"
She ducked into the entryway vent and Michael followed, albeit reluctantly. The elevator ride to the surface seemed like an eternity. When the doors opened she was off like a shot, walking towards her car purposefully.
"Charlotte, where are we going?" Michael's voice was morose.
"Back." She unlocked the car and fell into the driver's seat.
"What? No."
"It's the only way." Charlie said shakily.
"No! You… you're crazy."
There was the distant sound of a car engine.
"Michael, we have to."
Her companion just stared at her blankly.
Headlights appeared in her rearview mirror and she huffed in frustration.
"Michael-"
"No." He said simply. Charlie leapt out of the car, causing her leg to smart.
"It's the only way!" She repeated indignantly.
"NO!"
She grabbed his hand and he pushed her away. She fell backwards onto the frozen ground, staring at him in shock. Michael stared back at her, but there was no shock or remorse in his eyes. He turned away and stumbled into the nearby field. Pain filled Charlie's chest as she stared after him. A car door slammed behind her and she jumped, but her gaze remained fixated on the field.
"Charlie?"
Chief Clay. She turned her head at last and watched as he approached with another officer. They stopped on either side of her and she just blinked. She couldn't cry out, as much as she wanted to. Her body was hurting. Her heart was hurting. She'd been abandoned, again.
The ride back to Hurricane was tedious for Charlie, but not nearly as tedious as having to sit in the police station while Chief Clay prodded her for every little detail. John had come forward with everything- William's attack, how they'd gone back to Freddy's, and how she'd run away with Michael. Chief Clay didn't use her ex boyfriend's name specifically- he cited an "anonymous source"- but Charlie knew better.
"This is a safe place, Charlie. You don't have to hide anything." Chief Clay said for the umpteenth time, folding his hands and resting them on the wooden table they sat at.
"I just want to go home." She whispered, her tears staining the wood.
"I know. I just have a few more questions, okay?" The officer put a box of tissues in front of her.
"I need to see my dad."
"He's in the lobby. You'll get to see him soon, I promise." Chief Clay shuffled some papers around and picked up a pen. "The anonymous tip we received stated that Mr. Afton has an alias. Is that true?"
"...Yes."
"Can you tell me what that alias is?"
Charlie looked up. She was shaking and her mouth opened and closed a few times before producing a sound.
"...He goes by Fritz Smith." She said at last.
Chief Clay scribbled on one of the papers in front of him.
"And you went with Mr. Afton willingly?"
"Yes."
"He didn't threaten to hurt you or anyone close to you if you didn't comply?"
"No! Stop trying to demonize him!" Charlie stood up, her hands pinned against the table.
"Charlie, these questions are part of our protocol. I'm not demonizing anybody." Chief Clay said calmly.
"He's not like William at all. I know that's what you're thinking."
"Charlie… please relax. I'm just trying to help."
The girl sighed and closed her eyes. She was exhausting herself more and more with every outburst.
"Sit back down. We're almost done."
Charlie collapsed onto her metal chair.
"You said that you and encountered William Afton tonight, along with a Ms. Elizabeth Afton. Do you know anything about their whereabouts?"
"No. They… they left after putting me in the suit I mentioned."
She'd told the whole truth, with the exception of Michael's current condition. She had a sinking feeling that the police would go looking for him.
The officer slipped his papers into a large manila folder and smiled sadly at Charlie.
"You can go home now, Charlie. Thank you for your cooperation."
"..Are you going to look for them? William and Elizabeth?" She whispered fearfully.
"Yes. I put out a bulletin based on the information we have. We know what his car looks like thanks to you, and a few other sources have come forward with other information."
"Thank you." The sinking feeling Charlie had eased up, if only a little.
"I'll take you to your dad now." Chief Clay gestured for her to follow him. The small police station's corridors were quiet and foreboding as the duo walked through them, and Charlie hugged herself. Henry sprung up from his chair when they entered the lobby, and Charlie's breath caught in her throat. He was just as exhausted as she was- she could see it in his eyes.
When she threw her arms around him, he shuddered. They both shuddered, silent sobs choking them. She was still angry, but all she wanted was to be protected. She felt like a little girl again, helpless. Her father let her go after several minutes and traced the scar on her forehead with a sigh.
"Charlotte, I…I have so much to..." He glanced at Chief Clay and then back at her. "...Let's go home."
Aunt Jen was pacing the living room floor when Henry and Charlie arrived.
"Charlie! Oh, Charlie!" The woman threw her arms around her niece, who gladly embraced her in return. "I was so worried…"
"Me too." Charlie admitted.
"Are you hungry? I made potato and leek soup."
"Yeah… that would be great, actually."
Aunt Jen scampered off to the kitchen, leaving Henry and Charlie alone. He sat down on the sofa and patted the cushion next to him. She was a little reluctant to sit down, memories of their last encounter still fresh in her mind.
"Charlotte… I'm so sorry. For everything." Her father's voice was raspy. He removed his glasses and she had to look away as he wiped his tired eyes. Seeing him cry felt… wrong. He was the strongest person she knew. Aunt Jen walked back into the room with a large bowl of soup and two slices of french bread on a plate. She gingerly set them down on the coffee table in front of Charlie and immediately retreated to the guest bedroom upstairs. Charlie dipped her spoon into the soup and slurped it up gratefully. She hadn't had a real meal since the Green River Diner.
"I hurt you. Not just a few days ago. I've been hurting you for a long time." Henry put his glasses back on and stared straight ahead. "You're right about everything. All I want is to get away from what I've done, but those things… the things I've done, won't go away."
Charlie put her spoon down and dipped a piece of bread into her soup, staring at her father and waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she took a deep breath and stared into her bowl.
"All I want to know is the truth." She whispered. She was tired of being angry and in pain.
"I know." Henry whispered back, "I just… I don't know where to begin."
"Something happened to Michael while we were down in William's warehouse. I don't know what, but it had something to do with that thing you invented. Can we start with that?"
"The Scooper." Henry clasped his hands together and rested his forehead on them. "Charlie, I need you to understand that everything I did, I did with good intentions. The Scooper was intended to fix the damage William caused, but it only made things worse, especially when he got a hold of the blueprints."
"What does it do?" The tips of Charlie's fingers slipped into her soup as the bread between her fingers disintegrated.
"From a technical standpoint, it disassembles animatronics. I intended to use that capability to remove the corpses William stuffed into my robots at each location." Henry tensed.
Charlie licked soup off her fingers then gingerly pushed the bowl away, her appetite suddenly lacking.
"I think William used the Scooper on Michael, but…"
"But what?"
"He was still walking and talking. If the Scooper was made to disassemble animatronics, he should be a mangled corpse."
Henry's breath hitched in his throat.
"Not necessarily. There's… there's a secondary function. Once the corpse is removed, something remains."
"...Remnant?" Charlie choked out. Her father looked baffled.
"Yes. How did you-"
"You won't believe me if I tell you."
The two stared at each other for several seconds before Henry spoke again.
"..The remnant remains. The machine collects it, and it can be injected back into the robot, or, in.." Henry trailed off and tilted Charlie's chin up with his fingers. "...Into a human body."
A single tear rolled down Charlie's cheek.
"I've done several experiments with the robots, with remnant. They all failed. I couldn't save any of William's victims except for…" He trailed off again.
"Me." Charlie whispered. "But why? What makes me different?"
Henry swallowed hard and released his daughter's chin.
"You have more than remnant going for you."
Charlie vividly recalled her conversation with the blonde woman in Michael's bedroom, but at that moment she desperately wanted it to be a fever dream.
"Charlie, I'm not going to treat you like you're stupid. You remember what happened the night I said you got into a car accident, I know it."
Some anger reemerged, but Charlie swallowed hard.
"I do. William and Elizabeth attacked me and left me to die behind Junior's."
Henry nodded.
"I found you, took you home, took you to the workshop…" He trailed off again.
"And you… you brought me back. But how?"
"It was a combination of remnant and… mechanical knowhow, if you can believe that."
"I do." Charlie's voice shook.
"I couldn't lose you, Charlotte. I've already lost so much."
"I know." She crossed her arms, feeling cold again. "Do you think William did something similar to Michael?"
No response. Charlie looked over at her father, who was staring at the floor.
"...I have something to show you, but it has to wait until tomorrow." He said finally.
"Can't we go tonight? I'm done eating." Charlie said quickly.
"No. You need to sleep first."
Charlie opened her mouth to argue, but she yawned in the process.
"I'll put your dishes away. Go take your pills and get ready for bed." Henry stood up. Charlie limped up the stairs with a sigh. She was incredibly grateful to be home, but the little things would annoy her once again. Her room was exactly as she'd left it- messy. The first thing she did was pull Theodore out from under the bed, hugging him to her chest. She took him to the bathroom and set him on the tiled floor while she brushed her teeth and took her pills.
Once back out in the hallway, she paused. The prospect of being in a bed by herself was terrifying, even with Theodore by her side. Her eyes filled with tears as she thought of Michael's comforting presence. She swallowed hard and ran to her father's room, where she jumped onto his bed and buried herself under his covers. When he arrived a few minutes later, she was just starting to drift off. The mattress sunk down as he sat next to her, stroking the scar on her forehead once again.
"No more secrets, Charlotte." He whispered. No more secrets. Her father's secrets were all Charlie had ever wanted to know, but deep down she wasn't sure if she was ready.