Greetings everybody.

I've been debating on whether or not to do this for some time, but given the feedback and suggestions that I've received throughout this story as well as some new revelations to official FNAF lore from Scott, I figured it might not hurt to clarify a few things about my story. After all, I'm not Scott Cawthon. Although I certainly wanted to challenge myself as a writer with this story, my end goal was just a better sense of closure to the series, not to make things even more confusing by getting mixed up in all of the confusing aspects of the lore. Hopefully, I succeeded, and you were able to follow the story okay without getting too confused, but for those who have questions about where I stand on certain controversial aspects of the lore or why I wrote something the way I did, please allow me to explain my thought process as best as I can. There are also a few other things I wanted to address. *Also, for those who maybe haven't read any of the books or played all of the games, SPOILER ALERT.*

First of all, my story assumes that the novel trilogy is a standalone series as advertised, meaning even though it may still be a FNAF series that shares ideas with the games, it is set in a different continuity than both the games as well as the newer Fazbear Frights series. When the first novel came out and was met with some disappointment over not being directly tied to the games, Scott clearly stated that it was intended to be enjoyed as a separate continuity. In some of the Game Theorists' more recent FNAF videos, MatPat has noted many similarities between the games and novels, which makes sense given that they're both created by the same person. However, despite these shared ideas, it still stands to say that the books are indeed separate from the games, with The Fourth Closet being the official end to this particular storyline with nothing planned to continue it on Scott's end.

That said, my story also assumes that William Afton and Circus Baby are both, in fact, dead. I'll say upfront that I was never too fond of the idea of making Afton immortal and somehow surviving the blaze. In the final book, we see the trapped children being freed and Afton burning in flames, very similar to what we see in Pizzeria Simulator, which I think is a fitting end to the game series. In my mind, this perfectly symbolizes Afton finally meeting his fate in hell, and having him somehow survive even that makes any other attempted ending to his story pointless as there would always be doubt over those alleged deaths, too. The exact same goes for Elizabeth. While having both her and Charlie still be alive might make an interesting fourth story, who's to say any other way I or anyone else finds to kill her off would be permanent? She and Afton may both be fierce and powerful villains, but not unkillable. As Jessica reminds us in the final book...everybody dies.

Which brings us to Charlie. Figuring out what to do about Charlie was, without a doubt, the most challenging part of the story, as well as the most controversial, given some of my reviews. I would have loved to have Charlie live again in the flesh. In fact, one of the early story ideas was to actually have both her and Elizabeth survive the incident with Henry's suicide robot. Charlie would meet John and they would perhaps go into hiding together while Elizabeth, fueled with anger and hatred, would try to lure her out of hiding by somehow tracking Sam down, and this would eventually lead to their meeting. An interesting idea with some potential, but I ultimately decided against it for the aforementioned reasons.

*Also, on a quick technical sidenote, I am aware of the discrepancy between Charlie's birthyear being 1980 and her age of seventeen in the first book, which is supposed to take place in 1995. As a quick fix, I simply set everything two years later, with the first book taking place in 1997. I realize the significance of the year 1985 from Fazbear Frights, but I figured it would be more familiar for fans of the games if the restaurant actually went out of business in 1987 instead.*

The way I see it, Charlie needs closure, too. Personally, I actually find it difficult to buy Elizabeth's line about the Charlie we know being nothing more than a robot with no soul. This is a fictional world involving human souls being trapped inside lifelike yet still lifeless bodies. Remnant, Scott's newest addition to the lore, may be able to provide the animatronics themselves with a certain type of power (though I'm still not sure exactly what in this confusing universe), but I think that it would still take an actual soul to actually bring them to life the way that they do. The main animatronics seen in the first book had souls, which carried over into the third book. Circus Baby had a soul herself, making her a combination of her raw capabilities (the rage she spoke of) and the little girl trapped inside. After much self-debate, I eventually decided that my running theory was that the real Charlie's soul was indeed residing in her robot bodies, alive yet connected to her fake bodies in such a way that she was still limited in certain ways, mainly her memories. The idea was that the form of remnant used on her the night of her kidnapping was an inferior, early version that didn't work as well as it was supposed to, and since she didn't actually die from impalement, her soul wouldn't necessarily latch onto the nearest animatronic suit (Afton's) but rather found its way home and into another. While Scott more than likely thought differently, I was never really a fan of the idea of the Charlie we know from the books not being authentic. As a result, this story assumes that even though Charlie and Elizabeth's robot bodies may be alive and sentient to a certain degree, whether from love, desperation, or rage, there is still a soul inside, hidden so deeply that even Henry and Aunt Jen didn't fully understand what was before them.

As far as remnant is concerned, I have mixed feelings. This mysterious substance has been the cause of some confusion and debate among fans. While it's been given more backstory in the new Fazbear Frights series, it was first featured in somewhat vivid detail in the final novel. I admit I had no idea where to go with it and ultimately chose not to get too involved in the fine details that I leave to Scott. With most, if not all, of Afton's experiments involving heat, I chose to focus more on this aspect, using the symbolic and literary references to fire being both a creative and a destructive force, with the ability to destroy some things and purify others. That is why Charlie and Elizabeth's bodies were burned the way that they were. The intended image was that the same force that created their robotic bodies, fire and heat, was also what put them to rest and allowed the souls to finally be free, similar to how Pizzeria Simulator ended. From a suspenseful standpoint, simply burning their bodies so easily seems like a lazy way to do it, I admit, but as I previously mentioned, my story takes the role of simply being an epilogue to the main events of the novel trilogy. I realize that it's all a bit sketchy, but regardless of what I come up with, creating my own explanations in this crazy lore will always be questionable to some, especially since involving myself too deeply in the lore was never my intention.

As I've said, when I finished reading The Fourth Closet, my main concerns were (1) Carlton, Jessica, Clay, and Marla being left in the hospital with no closure on Charlie and (2) Sammy's absence from the story in light of his survival of the 1982 Halloween incident at Fredbear's. As such, I wanted to write something that focused mainly on Sammy, and how his presence in the story helps both himself and the others fully come to terms with everything, particularly with Charlie.

I'll admit, I'm nowhere near as creative in the science fiction realm as Scott is, so I took the story in a more familiar and realistic direction: battling with grief and depression, which, like Nightmare, can take on many forms. The games and books portray William Afton as this unstoppable and possibly unkillable mastermind, but I wanted to remind myself that he's still just a man and toy with the idea of something even more powerful being behind his insanity, one that fights its battles entirely in the mind and likes to hide and wait for the right time to strike. This was the idea that started it all: what if Sam finally got to meet this dark entity ultimately responsible for his sister's death and his father's demise? In order to fully capitalize on this idea, there has to be a temporary break of friendship and trust with a loved one and/or close friend, which is where Kyle comes in. When you really look at it, Kyle's the real hero of the story, intentionally created to be the underestimated comic relief with no prior connection to FNAF who ends up being the one to destroy Afton's final standing creations and save Sam's life. Of course, Nightmare doesn't just go away so easily after one battle, but now Sam has a new source of hope going forward, a promise that he and the others will get to be with Charlie again one day.

And on that note: I know that some readers still really wanted to see Charlie alive and actually able to be with her friends. Believe me, even as I was writing, I continued wrestling with the possibilities of bringing her back, but as I said before, given my belief that her soul really was inside that fake body, it's better this way in the long run. I think I speak for many fellow fans when I say that the twist about Charlie was both surprising and a little disheartening, too. The best way to have Charlie be alive is to actually rewrite one or more of the books like authors whitehandweasel and Fanatic97 are doing. However, to fully accept the novels as they are and continue from the ending as written, I think the best thing to do with Charlie is to let her go rather than try to hold onto her in her robot form. To me, it's basically another example of the "immortality is a curse" argument. If she were still alive as a fake, sure everyone would be happy now, but what about later when they grow up and leave her behind in her teenage body? I've re-read her final moments with Elizabeth a few times, and honestly, she seems pretty determined to end everything once she knows the truth, and I find it doubtful she'd want to continue living like that. At least this way, everyone can rest assured that they will be together with her again one day in a much better place, just like with the original victims from Freddy's. The goodbye is only temporary.

So that's my story behind the story. I know it's not what some people wanted to see from a continuation of the novels, but I hoped that at least some people would enjoy it. Not to be a broken record, but I would once again like to personally thank everyone who took the time to read this story and leave a review. As I may have mentioned in some of my author's notes, I actually struggle with OCD and perfectionism, which is another major reason why my updates began to slow down as the story got further along. It's amazing what motivation you can get from positive reinforcement. In fact, if there's a moral to end with here, it would be that sometimes the best source of power can be encouragement.

This story really was a rollercoaster for me. I hope you enjoyed it, and am completely open to any more feedback. The lore, while confusing, is still very interesting and I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks again, everyone, and take care.