Author's note: After this chapter, be ready for an epilogue and a teaser for what's to come!

"The animatronics aren't just AI, but completely sentient!?" Fritz asked, this apparently the most shocking thing out of the entire story.

Faint sunlight bathed the outside hall in a dim, almost peaceful glow. Dust swirled with the trio's every breath, and Mike mused that if it wasn't for the black and white spirit floating in front of them, they would have all just fallen asleep right then and there.

Mike would have been proud of himself for taking the whole situation so calmly, but most of that was his absolute exhaustion.

"Where did the rest of the ghosts go?" Fritz asked, seemingly having just noticed the absence of the other spirits.

"Still here. It takes a lot of energy to remain visible. Before now, we never even knew we were able to…"

"Except for Cassidy…" Scott murmured, and Fritz jumped, startled. He hadn't known Scott was still awake, having been unmoving for the past hour, his eyes closed.

"In a way. Cassidy was only ever to 'show herself' as Golden Freddy. And even then, it would drain her severely."

Scott hummed in acknowledgment, before his eyes opened to peer down at his wrist, gaze still mildly unfocused. After a few moments, he spoke, brow crinkled.

"Fritz, what time does my watch say?"

Fritz peered over, making out the numbers.

"Almost 6."

Scott closed his eyes again, tipping his head back. He groaned, gesturing vaguely around the room. "How am I going to explain this?"

Fritz squeezed his arm reassuringly. "Just tell the truth… Minus the ghosts, of course."

"Could you please stop calling us ghosts?"

"Minus the… souls?" Fritz corrected uncertainly.

The Puppet nodded, before speaking again.

"You know what you have to do, right?"

"Make sure the animatronics are fixed, we know." Mike rasped. He wasn't exactly against the idea, having (sorta) made his peace with Foxy, but didn't quite understand how they were supposed to make sure the animatronics got fixed.

But Mike wasn't about to make literal ghosts angry.

"Yes. Like I said, we were thrown from the animatronics when they were destroyed. And we need them to be fixed so we may posses them again, even if temporarily. Without, we will fade away. I believe I can bond with the marionette again, being only minority damaged, but the others…"

"Will fade. And you all aren't ready for that yet…" Fritz gathered.

Puppet nodded, before disappearing.

###

Cade stepped into the building, no, jogged into the building.

The brick wasn't flipped. The brick wasn't flipped.

And worse, the second he stepped in, Cade was met with dismantled, destroyed animatronics. Freddy was right by the doorway, with Foxy not far from him.

Well, not all of Foxy. His head… his head was right by Cade's feet.

And there was blood all around Foxy's mouth… and pooled on the floor… and…"

Cade's voice shook as he yelled, worst case scenarios flashing though his mind like a bad slasher movie. "Scott!? Anyone?"

"Cade! We're back here!" Fritz.

Cade jogged to the righthand hallway, where the sound had been coming from, and stopped dead.

The wall was gone. Well, not gone, but certainly damaged, a 5 foot wide hole reaching from the floor nearly to the ceiling.

And inside, a dirty yellow rabbit suit, covered in blood. Scraps of purple fabric caught in the metal joints… along with bits of pale, blue tinted skin.

"What happened here…"

Cade had seen people get stuffed before, had cleaned the walls and scrubbed the floors clean of their blood. Had hauled black trash bags out of the pizzeria in the dim light, feeling sick to his stomach.

He had driven far out of town with the weight of the world in his backseat. Had created a bonfire far from the lights of the town, behind the mesa, a few miles from where the conifers and pine ended.

He had stood and warmed his hands by the unclean fire as he whispered a selfish prayer for his own soul, for his own sanity.

He had orchestrated, planned, attended one man funerals, scattering the ashes across the red dirt and being silently thankful that the desert was only an hour away.

No… seeing dead bodies was nothing new to him. That wasn't what rattled him.

But Cade was sure that there had only been three people when he left that night…

"Scott, what's going on… who is that?" Cade looked down to the floor, where Scott was leaning against the wall as nonchalantly as he could manage.

"Oh nobody, just some… thief."

Cade kneeled down, ignoring the obvious lie, touching his fingertips to the side of Scott's head.

Scott hissed, wincing as Cade found the goose egg hidden under his shaggy, blood matted hair.

"Sorry." Cade mumbled half-sincerely, frowning.

"We got to get this checked out. Any dizziness, nausea?"

Scott rolled his eyes, gaze lingering on the ceiling as he sighed. "I'm fine Cade. I know the drill. Honestly, Mike's the one with the broken ribs."

Cade's head swiveled, taking in Mike's slumped form.

"That true?"

"Yeah, I guess. He- f*ck…" Mike hissed as Cade pulled the injured man's arm away from his chest. "… He hit me with the axe."

Cade groaned.

"What about you Fritz, any potentially dangerous injuries?"

Fritz shook his head.

"No, but ghosts are real and a serial killer named William Afton just trashed the restaurant."

"Excuse me?"

Cade glared at Scott, who gave a sheepish grin. Cade reached over to grab Scott's shoulder, pulling him up. His glare faded as Scott swayed, eyes rolling back at the sudden change in elevation.

He bent down to ease Scott back the floor, and Fritz reached over to help soften the landing.

Cade's chocolate hand closed around Scott's too-pale one, and he spoke with a shallow calm that was liable to shatter at any moment.

"Okay, be honest. Did he knock you out? Did you lose consciousness at any time?

Scott mumbled an affirmation, eyes shut.

Cade's face darkened. "ER. Now."

The janitor fumbled out his phone, pressing it into Fritz's hand.

"First number. Tell him the animatronics are trashed."

###

It seemed unreal how little consequence it had on Freddy's.

A terrified phone call, Fritz's voice shaking as he told the manager what had happened.

A series of swears and a loud thunk as the phone was thrown across the room, disconnecting.

A sly, whispered promise that he had "connections", and a week of the pizzeria being closed, before Freddy was fixed.

The manager had a concealed carry handgun that his hand hovered over, but greeted the shadowed figure that was his "connection" like an old friend.

They didn't talk cost, and a precise, new knife cut on the cheek would have been visible if you peered up into the "connection's" shadowed face.

A wad of cash was stuffed in the pocket and shaking hands were stuffed in there alongside it, counting the bills with sensitive fingers.

A mumble that they were lucky the data chips were intact.

Business resumed and hands were waved.

A blue tarp nailed over the hole in the wall, mumbles and unfulfilled threats about taking the expense of fixing the wall out of their paychecks.

Bonnie and Chica were fixed next, with the "connection" never seen, but the animatronics returned whole.

They tried to harm the guards again, halfheartedly making their way towards the office, trying to get in. But not when their eyes glowed black. Not when they paced and sobbed and didn't know what to do with themselves.

Foxy was the last to be fixed, and it took more persuading and begging and twisted little deals than was healthy.

He was shoddily fixed, but he was back to his normal self.

After that, the animatronics stopped trying to stuff the guards, and Mike knew why.

Mike would sometimes say something to Foxy, a one-sided conversation from behind the reinforced glass windows (he still wasn't ready to open the doors yet).

Scott was more open, introducing himself to foxy with an enthusiastic, albeit panic laden, hello.

Scott bought a picture book, a batch of plastic matchbox cars, and a cheap teddy bear from the toys section in the supermarket.

It cost 10.99.

The cashier gave him a knowing glance and asked what his child's name was.

Unthinking, he mumbled out the word 'Freddy'.

The second day after Foxy was fixed, everything went to hell…

Author's note: Epilogue time! I tried to make my writing style reflect the derealized blur of the two weeks after the incident. I hope I did okay. Prepare for some new major plot points to be introduced in the epilogue. *Evil laugh*