Chapter 7: Dream-filled Night

Tyler groaned as he woke back up slowly, feeling unable to move his body how he wanted to and something blocking places he didn't want blocked. As soon as he woke, his hearing picked up the sound of beeping for some reason, but his mind still felt fuzzy. Was he in a hospital of some sort? He couldn't swallow, something stopped him, and he kinda wanted to move but his hands felt numb and his body felt tired and stiff. Everything hurt but didn't, it was…a feeling that Tyler wasn't sure how to feel. He needed to go, he needed to move!

"Easy, easy!" Tyler heard someone tell him as he could only make out a lab coat of some sort, "Someone get the sedatives!" He heard the doctor-person shout out before he could truly begin, "You'll feel better here soon, but you need to calm down." The doctor tried to reassure him, but he needed to go! Aegis, Aegis was waiting for him! That drive filled him, but he couldn't move an inch and soon felt a prick to his left arm before it all faded away again.

"Dad! Story Time was a lot of fun!" Tyler ran up to his father with a bright grin alongside Kyle in his hands. He noted the weird flinch as he was picked up.

"That's sweet!" Dad smiled too widely to be natural as Tyler shifted his head in confusion, "But we have to get going, the main show is about to begin!" Dad said, before quickly adding in the latter half when Tyler complained.

Tyler merely sighed at the end as Dad walked towards the main hall where the other cowards were. Foxy looked so cool as he went through each one of them! Was this his way of telling the story of going through all of the enemies on the ship lines!? That was so cool! They ripped and tore like it was nothing! Why would people be scared of that? It was just an actor, right?

Tyler shrugged, still grinning despite the bits of fake blood that went on his face, it looked so real! He was even terrified for that poor actor! He saw the three animatronics on the stage as Dad put them in a seat. Tyler hummed happily before looking up towards the stage animatronics doing a standard song. They looked alright, but Foxy was so the best! It was a bit weird that they were staring right at him, but Tyler didn't mind. Maybe they were in on the story!

After the song ended, Tyler looked up with a smile, "That was such a good song!" He stated without a care in the world as the animatronics looked towards him, "Is there going to be another one? Where did everyone go?" Tyler asked before looking around and noticing the lack of people, "Guess they got scared off by the story!" He said aloud to himself, still feeling on top of the world.

"Scanning…" Tyler blinked as he looked back at the animatronic's bright blue eyes, "Blood detected." Tyler immediately grinned.

"Oh this? This is fake! That guard actor was so cool! Looked really life-like!" Tyler explained as he placed a finger on the sticky fake blood on his face before holding it out towards the animatronic.

"Scanning…. Blood detected." The animatronic repeated as he reached to grab Tyler, but Tyler merely moved backwards.

"Woah! Is this part of Story Time? This is so cool! Kyle seems to be having a blast too!" Tyler had his grin, but he couldn't help being a bit scared as the eyes turned red.

"Child resisting. Using force." The animatronic's robotic voice stated as it leapt at the two.

"WOAH!" Tyler said as he struggled to keep Kyle in his arms and ran, the robot being a lot faster than he was and catching up before he even got to the first turn, "W-What is this about!?" Tyler couldn't help the fear that was filling him, was this why the people were so scared!? He felt himself being picked up as Kyle started crying in his arms, "T-This isn't funny!" Tyler tried again as he squirmed in the robot's grip, feeling his collar tearing more and before he pushed away enough to have it snap completely. He kept running before turning the corner twice into a bathroom of some sort. Great! He had cover! That'll work, right?" Tyler thought to himself with a grin as he locked the door before going into the only open stall and locking that as well. He waited patiently as he tried to calm Kyle down.

They were going to get caught in an action chase scene! That was so cool! Just like before, it felt so real that Tyler got into character without even thinking about it! He couldn't hold that excitement back…well, until he thought of his crying little brother. He probably was just hearing loud noises and being thrown off at that, but Tyler didn't know why they brought him here. Something something -dition? Tyler didn't know nor care, but his little brother was killing the mood a bit. He looked behind him as he spotted one of those giant thingies, but thought better than to try opening it. It was taller than he was! Not even mentioning that Tyler was in an action scene, splitting up would be bad!

It took a while, but Kyle did eventually quiet down while Tyler made sure to stand on the toilet seat like that one man did in the movies! He didn't hear anything, so he didn't know how long he had to balance on the seat, but he eventually had to step down given he didn't want to risk it any longer, not even mentioning that he was getting kinda bored.

Weren't the enemy supposed to walk in the room, go after them before something else happened to save them? Man, Tyler couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment, he didn't even try to lose him! Taking a peek under the door and seeing nothing there, Tyler merely got up and put Kyle on the toilet top before doing his business. After wiping himself down, he grabbed Kyle again and checked under the door again before leaving the bathroom.

Man, Story Time was so fun so far! It's pretty disappointing that the ending missed the mark! Oh well, it was still a lot of fun! Tyler casually opened the door before looking up to the bright eyes. Oh! So it went with standing there menacingly 'till I got fed up with it! That's awesome! Tyler couldn't help but think as he struggled to relock the door before having to scream and move out of the way as the door crashed down. As it did, Tyler did the only thing he could, run back into that stall and lock it before trying to crawl underneath the bathroom door thingies. It felt disgusting, but Tyler waded through as he made sure to keep Kyle off the ground when he was hearing the doors slam downwards one by one behind him.

The problem was that he had run out of places to go, and when the blue animatronic opened the door, Tyler couldn't stop the gulp that reached his throat. This was the part where the heroes had to wait for someone else to save them, right? B-But there wasn't anyone there! Tyler couldn't help but take a step back against the wall as the bright eyes continued staring at him in that bright red hue. It hurt to look at them, but it was almost as if he couldn't look away. He-He wasn't sure if he could do this anymore.

Tyler barely noticed the hiccup in his throat as he started wailing out of fear before turning around and trying to run straight past the slowly approaching animatronic, making sure that it couldn't go after his baby brother. No big bad villain was touching his brother! He'll be a hero like Captain Foxy was! Tyler declared to himself as he pushed those tears back down with a sniffle, but the animatronic was like a brick wall as Tyler couldn't get past him. He even tried going under the gap in his legs! Nothing! Tyler was terrified at this point as the animatronic brought him up to his face.

"Scanning…" Tyler gulped as he felt weird as the eyes seemed to act like that weird glasses guy from the comics and nearly blinded him with the blue hue his eyes had taken, "Blood detected. Do not resist." The robot seemed to ask as Tyler wailed in pure terror again. He had always heard to never show his fear and to do what he can to be a good older brother, but he couldn't stop the fear that rose up within him.

This didn't feel fun anymore! This wasn't a good end to Story Time! Ma-Maybe Captain Foxy will save them!? Tyler thought in a rising panic as he felt himself carried back towards the main stage, the other two animatronics looking at him as they walked on by to a weird red thing on the wall. Confused as he was set down onto the ground, Tyler didn't move as he brought Kyle closer to his chest in a vain attempt to protect him from the scary robot.

Dad said these were safe! Th-They didn't feel safe anymore! Tyler whined in his mind as the animatronic brought some weird white thing out of the red thing on the wall. He brought it closer to him with those bright blue eyes as Tyler whimpered in fear, "Do not resist." The animatronic repeated as Tyler felt himself shivering and wailing out again, wanting Foxy back. He was always brave, he would continue fighting back until the end! He wouldn't ever show fear! Tyler kept backing up towards the back of the stage away from the robot, but ran out of room.

"TYLER!" A shout came right before the animatronic could do whatever it was going to do with the white thing as Tyler ran to his safety like his life depended on it, the other two animatronics blocking escape as he cried out.

"D-DAD! I'M SCARED, DADDY!" He wailed as loudly as he could before some scary black wire stuff started surrounding him. He whimpered again as he continued holding Kyle close, wanting it all to just be a bad dream or something. Kyle cooed at something as Tyler hesitantly opened his eyes, flinching back as he saw those bright blue eyes again before looking back up through the weird darkness surrounding them. He looked towards where Kyle was trying to grasp, seeing something weirdly yellow in front of him. Confused, Tyler stopped crying out, looking at it as it made a silly face to make the two of them laugh.

"Come on, let's…" Tyler tried to hear more, but her voice started feeling drowned out by something.

Tyler woke up with a start, hand reaching out as if still in that weird memory. What…what happened? Tyler breathed a sigh of relief, he felt…himself again, with all the extra stuff out of him before looking up and seeing Charlie in front of him, "What happened?" Tyler couldn't resist asking when he saw her, noting that his voice didn't sound too hoarse and his eyes still felt a bit red.

"How the hell did you do it?" Charlie asked instead, looking more than annoyed. She looked angry for some reason, but Tyler's head felt like it was made of cotton and barely noticed it. Foxy…no, Aegis now, gotta get used to it, said that he had to try being nicer and caring for others again.

"Do…what?" Tyler asked, not trusting himself with not turning it into a joke or something of that line. Maybe he could be nicer when knowing she was mad about?

"The Building was able to catch that monster on the fifth night. It went without questions too! That's never happened before, so what did you do!?" Charlie demanded they heard knocking on the door.

"Well…I think we scared him more than he scared us." Tyler admitted, but Charlie didn't look impressed.

"And how the hell did you do that?" Charlie asked pointedly in a tone that Tyler couldn't help but flinch from.

"W-Well…he went through our memories," Tyler stated, "He was calling us even worse than him and we just annoyed him at every which turn." Tyler continued with a shrug.

"Tyler. This monster has gone after serial killers and hardened criminals. How the hell did you annoy him more than them!?" Charlie demanded as another knock sounded through the room. As much as Tyler wished he had the answers for Charlie, he really didn't and could do nothing more than shrug, "Ugh, fine. Be like that." Charlie dismissed coldly before disappearing. Tyler sighed, not entirely knowing himself why or how it happened. It wasn't as if he was a murderer…but then again, knowing the context a bit more now if that dream was his actual memory and not some twisted form of memory did help explain it a bit more on why he smiled back then.

"You can come in." Tyler said simply as the door opened up quickly, with Kyle and Mom rushing over to his side.

"Are you okay!? Are you hurt? Oh, Tyler, we were so worried!" Mom quickly panicked through a bunch of questions as Kyle and Tyler quickly reassured her, "You're going to give me a damn heart attack doing stuff like that!" Mom scolded as Tyler winced before sighing.

"Hey…Mom. I'm…I'm sorry for what I said about Dad," Tyler said, not missing how both Kyle and Mom froze in place before continuing on, "I…I know he meant well, but I just don't see why he left. It was still wrong of me to make you feel like I didn't love him at all and…I'm sorry. I know you still love him, but I just want him to come home." Tyler finished lamely as Mom gave him a hug.

"I know, Sweetie, I know. I forgive you," Tyler hugged her back as he tried to get out of bed, "But you are still on bed rest, Doctor's orders." Mom said as she pushed him back onto the bed gently. Tyler didn't bother fighting it.

"I was just trying to get comfortable, I…I got a lot to think about honestly, so I don't really want to get out of bed anyways." Tyler assured her, but Kyle probably noticed the flash of fear at the thought of his words being used to get something. Not again, not anymore.

"Hey, Mom, can I talk to Tyler privately? I won't take long." Kyle asked as Mom looked at the two of them.

"I assume this is that…'You can't tell me about it' topic?" Mom guessed as both of their eyes downpanned as she made to walk away.

"Wait!" Tyler asked as she walked back, "If…if we tell you, you have to not freak out, or get a heart attack, or anything like that. It's…the most shocking news you'll ever hear in your life," Tyler didn't dare underplay how insane the news was to her as Kyle gave him the stink eye, "Yeah, I know, Kyle, I know I said we couldn't risk it, but…I have a lot I need to make up for, and I want to start here." Tyler sighed while Kyle merely put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's fine." Kyle dismissed, but Tyler shook his head.

"No, it really isn't, I'm just better at hiding it," Tyler spat a bit as Kyle looked confused, but Tyler looked at their mom instead, "If we tell you, you have to see it for yourself since you won't believe it until you do. Kyle would have to lead you given that I'm here, but.."

"Okay, what the hell did you two get involved with? Is it drugs? The mafia?" Mom accused suddenly as Tyler let out a hollow laugh.

"You would certainly think so, but nowhere near." Tyler said as he asked again, "Are you sure that you're ready to hear it? We won't think anything of you if you say no, Mom." Tyler watched as Mom looked a bit scared before she went about pulling herself together.

"I…I want to know. You boys have been so secretive about it, especially with how excited that job makes you. I know that Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria is a special place, but… I want to know why you are always so excited to go back each time," Mom explained with an expression of pained desperation, "Please, please explain to me what…what brought you to be like this!" Mom pleaded as Tyler took a deep breath, looking at Kyle with an obvious question as he nodded.

" Mom…We met Tommy." Tyler ripped the bandaid right off as Mom's eyes widened, but he stopped Kyle from saying anything when he started leaning over to start explaining it with a shake of his head.

"W-What. The hell are you saying, Tyler? This isn't a funny prank." Mom said as Tyler's breathing picked up a bit before calming back down at how used to it she sounded. How much had he fucked up over the years? How much did he have to atone for?

"This isn't a prank, I was shocked to hell and back, but…he's there and you've seen him before too. Didn't you notice how the animatronics kept staring at us when we brought the families in to meet up?"

Mom's eyes widened as she clicked the pieces together, "No," She started as Kyle immediately went to get the doctor as a precaution, "No, no no no no no! Y-You're not telling me!?" Mom went into a full attack, but Tyler merely sighed.

"We're Hosts, at least, that's what Charlie calls us. She said that every one of us are bonded to the Building in some way, shape, or form. Well…that murderer was a psycho that wanted to permentantly bond people to their chosen…animatronic due to the Building asking him to and him taking it the wrong way or something. Tommy's…Freddy." Tyler flinched at the sorrowful scream from his mother, but panicked himself when he noticed her freeze suddenly before seeming to choke.

Thankfully, Kyle was right on time as the doctors were right there ready to help her out, "Jesus, no wonder you warned me against that," Kyle couldn't help but say while watching her being carried out of the room, "You sure this is what's best?" Kyle asked as Tyler was tempted to reply with a definite yes immediately.

But he stopped that with a tired sigh, "Not even close, honestly. I don't know what's best for her and that's why I gave her the warning beforehand. Now all we can do is see what happens, and hope that it was the right choice." Tyler admitted as Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell happened to you in there?" Kyle asked as Tyler merely looked up with what he assumed were tired eyes.

"A reality check, I guess. It couldn't show lies…and well, between that and what just now after that all went down really showed that…I need to improve myself, I…I've hurt too many people and maybe this is the first step I can take to atone for that. To make up for all the bad I've done," Tyler explained as Kyle merely stared, "I'm done with…with pushing people into stuff. I'm tired of accidentally manipulating others and…this general state of apathy I've had ever seen Tommy died. Kyle, I'm not okay, not by a long shot. I just…kept pushing it off since you and Mom already had enough on your hands, so I did the…absolutely bare minimum and just pushed the problems away."

Kyle's eyes widened, but Tyler kept going, "I've not cared about almost anything since then, and if I'm being honest with myself, I didn't take on the Nightmare just to protect you all. I did it since…I wanted to be the hero for once. I envy you, massively, Kyle. You're always so…passionate with life, able to take everything that comes your way with a wide smile or open heart. You knew what you had to do to become better and actively exerted yourself into becoming an employee at Freddy Fazbear's to help yourself through your own trauma," Tyler couldn't keep his eyes on Kyle at that point, glancing downwards at his hands in shame, "Me? I just…went along for the ride after the initial shock wore off. I soon got sick of the monotony of it all and started taking it out on the kids in little pranks that probably went way too far in a vain attempt to try and feel something, but I felt nothing. I really am a monster. I can always act like I care, act like I'm nice and a hero, but the moment I am, I just fall apart like a castle of cards."

Tyler just kept staring at his hands as little drops stained onto the bed, "And?" Kyle said suddenly as Tyler looked up to see his brother look at him nearly unimpressed, "And? You're acting like you're some really horrible person for stuff that anyone else would just classify as goddamn normality. You fucked up, badly, multiple times. So what!?" Kyle's voice left no room for arguments as he rose in anger, "Just keep going! Keep living and keep getting better! Those are the words you would always give me when I was feeling down so maybe it's time I tell you that! You've fallen down and feel like you're about to give up, so learn from that! You feel like you wronged those kids? Apologize! You feel like you can't feel anything? Go to a goddamn therapist and we'll bring Foxy with you! You feel like I'm better!? THEN I'LL WORK WITH YOU!"

Kyle shouted as the doctors rushed into the room, but Tyler and Kyle both waved them back, "But goddamn it, Tyler, I'm right here! If you need help, ASK ME! No one is perfect, and you earned your spot at Freddy's as well! You've done everything for your own purposes too? So what!? Everyone has more than one reason for something and it doesn't make them any less of a good person! You are a good person, even if you mess up, even if you feel like nothing matters and you can't feel anything. Then I'll feel for you until you feel for yourself! Because you're goddamn lying! You're feeling that guilt eating you up inside, you're feeling that pain of the memories you got a hold of and you're deciding to ACT ON IT! That's not Apathy, that's Empathy! You care so damn much over those you love that you don't know what to do about it. Did you mess up!? SURE! But that doesn't mean you're bad for it, Tyler!" Kyle continued on with his rant, running out of breath at the end and panting like a dog, "So don't feel like you have to be perfect, damn it. No one is and I've never once thought of you as perfect. As you've always told me, people change and can always become better, so let's work towards that future together! So what do we say!?" Kyle asked as Tyler weakly chuckled.

"Just keep going, keep living and keep getting better?"

"I don't hear you!" Kyle grinned as Tyler smiled.

"Just keep going, keep living and keep getting better!"

"Yell it!" Kyle demanded as Tyler couldn't stop the grin on his face.

"JUST KEEP GOING! KEEP LIVING! AND KEEP GETTING BETTER!"

"Exactly! Now we are so going to tell Mom about this B.S. you were telling me, but for now, just get better and we'll work through it all together!" Kyle said as they finally looked towards the doctors, "Sorry about that-"

"It's fine, we've found that it can help patients when they have issues to yell it out or even being yelled at for it. It's not often, but we figured you were having a family matter," The lab coat man from earlier said, adjusting his glasses as he walked into the room. The matted black hair fluttered about with each step as he looked at Tyler, "I apologize for not introducing myself, my name is Doctor Mattison, it's nice to meet you." Doctor Mattison introduced with a bow of his head.

"My name is Tyler, it's…it's nice to meet you too."

"So…we weren't able to find anything too wrong with you after you woke up from your coma, but we will be keeping you for a few days to make sure we didn't miss anything or any symptoms pop up. As for your mother, she seemed agitated by some news that you both gave her. Next time, please let her doctor know when you're going to do that rather than the stunt you two pulled if you don't mind," Doctor Mattison scolded lightly, watching the winces both Tyler and Kyle gave, "It's nice that you cared enough to tell her in a hospital by people that could help her, she would have had a heart attack otherwise, but we managed to calm her down enough to prevent one from occurring. She'll have to stay in a few days as well, so…here's hoping you have good insurance." The doctor said with a sigh.

Tyler and Kyle stared at each other and gulped. The manager was going to kill them for this. They abused the ever-living hell out of stuff given how many hours they volunteered, but the idea of losing him money? Were they getting fired for this one? Deciding to bite the bullet, Tyler looked around, wondering where they put his cell phone, "Let's call in and explain the situation, and hopefully it won't be so bad?" Tyler said meekly as Kyle handed him his cell phone.

It took a while to work up the nerve to press call, but Tyler eventually pressed it with a silent prayer that they weren't going to get fired or the animatronics be destroyed or something similar, "Hey, Tyler! What's up?" Their boss asked with a happy tone as Tyler chuckled mildly.

"Got placed into the hospital, woke up, but still got a few more days on mandatory bed rest, you?" Tyler tried informing as a joke, but could hear the groan from the other end.

"Really? That sucks to hear, is Kyle there with you?" Tyler looked at Kyle before looking at the phone pointedly as Kyle nodded.

"I hear you wanted to talk to me?" Kyle said as he picked up the phone before a long string of uh huh, yes, no but, etc started popping out as he talked to the boss. With only knowing one side of the call, Tyler usually wouldn't care and think twice about it, but Aegis' words were still ringing in his mind as he listened to the boring conversation without getting too sidetracked. It was beyond difficult for him, but Kyle merely looked towards him after closing the phone, "He said that he doesn't mind paying for us so long as we don't sue and that Mom's on our insurance plan. I'll still have to head on over later for the night shift, but I think I'm going to wait 'till visiting hours are over before I head out," Kyle shrugged before looking at Tyler, "So what do you want to do while we wait?"

"Well…I think I was actually wanting to sleep a bit more. How about you check up on Mom and help her out?" Tyler suggested as Kyle looked at him.

Kyle seemed to be gripping with himself over something, but Tyler decided to just wait and let him get his thoughts together. It took what felt like several minutes, but Kyle eventually turned back towards him, "Look, I'm not going to lie here. You did make a lot of people upset and…you have a bad habit of picking extremes or contradicting yourself. What you did to Mom? I get why you told her, but you really need to think through your actions more, Tyler instead of always having them be spur of the moment. But…even despite all of that, you're my brother. You've helped me through so damn much and I owe you too much to be mad at you despite your mistakes. Okay? I love you, Tyler, and I'm not going to say you're a damn monster of a person or whatever just due to your actions! So…don't do that again, okay?" Kyle begged before looking away.

"Alright." Tyler said with a smile as he watched his brother's back. Kyle nodded as he walked out the door, but it was all a blur to Tyler as he felt the tears return. When did Kyle's back get so big? So encompassing? Why did it feel like he failed as the older brother when his younger brother was the one that was comforting him? Why did it feel like…

Tyler shook that last thought away, not wanting to fall into his envy anymore. H-He had to be proud of his brother, not afraid or envious! Why was that so damn hard? H-How much more did he have to…no one said the right thing was simple to begin with. Tyler took a deep, calming breath as he stared at the ceiling. He couldn't stop the boredom that he was going to have, but he wasn't lying to Kyle either. He really did want to sleep again to see if he remembered what Charlie was trying to tell him back then or what else he had forgotten over the years.

He messed up badly, but…he couldn't regret anything that he did since he woke up today. He's moving away from that pit of plain apathy and maybe he's moving towards a better direction, maybe not, but he's moving again. It felt like he was just wading the water in place, unable to go anywhere for goddamn years and he's just been taking tiny little baby wades through the water until now. Now he was free of the water, he could keep going, see what's ahead.

Tyler couldn't help but smile as he felt that pulse in his heart where Aegis now was, he was home, he was complete. While only the future could tell what was going to happen next, he was taking that step, and he would keep taking the next and the next.