It's the final chapter... dododo do... dodo do do do.


Mike continued to stare at the door after Evan had left.

He just stared.

And stared.

He couldn't get their conversation out of his head.

"You've made it clear that you don't wanna spend any time with me."

He hadn't realized that he'd been neglecting his brother like that… well, sure, he'd been avoiding Evan a little bit, but he genuinely thought that that was what he wanted. He'd noticed the way Evan looked at him when he was spending time with the other kids- he assumed that Evan didn't want him to hurt them or something, the way he'd always hurt him. It never dawned on him that Evan had been wanting to spend time with him, too.

He finally looked away from the door, his eyes moving to the spot where he'd been hiding Fredbear. Honestly, he almost missed the stupid thing… he'd been carrying it for so long, it felt weird not having it anymore.

But… he'd promised himself that someday, he'd give it back to Evan.

And he had.

…he still missed it.

He groaned and shook his head, rubbing his eyes.

Eyes…

He stood up and left his room, wandering around until he reached the performance area. There were a bunch of mirrors in there. He didn't know why.

He walked up to one of them and studied his eyes, curious. Were they really changing color? He knew that they'd been purple after he got scooped, but he could have sworn he willed them to be blue now that they were in their Hellspace.

He frowned at the mirror. No, his eyes were blue. Maybe Evan was just pulling his leg, or maybe the others had been messing with him.

"I didn't believe them at first."

That implied that Evan believed them now… but it didn't make any sense. Why were his eyes changing color? How did he not notice?

He thought about the way Evan was looking at him during their conversation: tentative eyes. Relaxed posture that grew more and more stiff the longer they talked. Then, when he'd started walking out, there had been a brief moment of hesitation. He'd seemed… shocked. Then, he'd admitted to being upset. And then…

Mike shook his head.

"How am I going to figure this out?" he mumbled to himself. The kids had noticed this weird thing going on… for all he knew, they were trying to figure it out.

He didn't want them to figure it out. He wanted them to focus on themselves, not on him. They had their own issues to deal with, they didn't need to worry about any of-

His eyes widened in shock. He watched the mirror as his eyes darkened, going from blue to indigo. He frowned slightly.

"...ok, that's unusual."

He continued to stare at his eyes. They didn't deviate between either blue or purple… just indigo. He kept thinking about Evan's face, the way his eyes had widened… had Evan figured out what this was? He studied every second of that conversation-

"You've made it clear that you don't wanna spend any time with me."

Mike frowned at his reflection when he saw his eyes shift into a more dull shade of purple.

"I don't know how to take care of them… I don't know how to make them happy… I want to be able to help them… I wanna go home."

His eyes darkened, his chest suddenly gaining pressure. An idea was forming in his head, and he suspected that this was what Evan had realized while they were talking.

"The best part of baking is watching everyone else enjoy what you made… at least, that's what my mommy told me…"

He watched his eyes get darker.

"I miss my parents…"

"I just don't want to annoy anyone by playing…"

"Deep down, I know it's not my fault, but…"

"I feel like I'm drowning."

Mike found it rather difficult to breathe now, but at least he could see it- his eyes were, indeed, purple. And they grew darker and darker with every depressing thing he remembered the kids saying to him. His frown grew deeper.

If they turn purple when they say something sad… how do I stop it?

He shook his head. He couldn't ignore the kids or avoid them- for one thing, that proved to be a mistake regarding Evan, and for another thing, they were still KIDS who had some surprisingly adult issues to deal with- so he wasn't even going to consider that option. The only other thing he could think of was constantly forcing his eyes to remain blue.

Trying it now, he discovered that he couldn't command his eyes to change color. No amount of hard thinking or silent pleading would do it- so it wasn't really a thing he was doing to himself subconsciously.

He bit his lip, letting out a small sigh.

Maybe Evan has an idea…

He shook his head at the thought. No, it was enough that Evan had pointed it out to him. He could solve this puzzle on his own. All Evan should focus on is himself and his friends.

He jumped when there was a knock. He turned around quickly, hoping no one had caught him staring at his eyes- that would be awkward to explain and, quite frankly, he didn't want the kids to know that he was worried about it. Thankfully, he'd had the foresight to close the door behind him when he entered the practice room.

"Just a second!" he called. He turned back to the mirror in a panic, rubbing his eyes so hard that they were starting to hurt.

Turn blue, turn blue, turn blue… DAMMIT, why aren't you turning blue?!

He heard the door open and turned away from the mirror, shaking his head. He'd just have to hope for the best, that was all he could do.

He smiled at the person who had entered the room.

Evan.

"Hey, Evan," he greeted. Evan stood there, eyes shifting back and forth. Mike tried to fill his mind with positive thoughts- Evan wants to spend time with me, the kids trust me, do they trust me?- but he had the feeling that it wasn't working. He took a deep breath instead, opting to ignore how purple his eyes must still be. "What are you doing here?"

Evan's look told him that he wasn't fooling anybody with his nonchalant act. Thankfully, it was just him, so Mike saw no need for excessive concern.

"I wanted you to come with me," he said. Mike thought he heard a trace of hesitation in his voice and felt a pang in his heart. Evan was probably expecting him to say no…

Stupid. Of course that's what he's expecting, you're the idiot who's been avoiding him this entire time.

He watched Evan's eyes narrow. Great. The purple in his eyes had probably deepened at the thought.

He nodded at his brother, forcing a smile on his face that he knew was obviously fake. Evan was no idiot, he'd see through it instantly.

"Sure thing, Ev- um, Evan," he said. He ignored how Evan's shoulders seemed to deflate slightly, but he inwardly shook it off. He gestured vaguely with one hand for Mike to follow him.

He did so.

They walked through a bunch of winding hallways in silence. He hadn't really done much exploring of their Hellspace. He preferred to spend his time in his room, the main room, or the kitchen. Or, on occasion, this special room that Evan had created just for him.

They turned a corner and Mike's eyes widened. It seemed that his special room was where they were headed.

Evan opened the door, stepping through. Mike followed him silently, looking around the room.

It wasn't much: just a four-walled room with one door. One of the walls served as a giant window. Mike could go over there at any time and watch his dad. Sometimes, he'd feel a touch of sympathy towards the man and give him a little gift- something for his troubles. He'd sometimes cool the office down to 50 degrees before the night started, or spared pulling DD on him.

Mike looked over to where a red couch and a green chair usually sat; they had been pushed against the wall, replaced by blankets. On those blankets were the kids and a bunch of plates loaded with all sorts of delicious-looking foods and desserts. They looked up as Mike and Evan entered, waving excitedly to them. Mike raised an eyebrow at Evan.

"What's all this?" he asked. He looked to the opposite wall, where a Tv had been mounted. Evan put that up there so that Mike could watch Immortal and the Restless. He saw that the show itself had been pulled up.

Evan shrugged, moving to stand beside his friends and crossing his arms.

"You've been doing a lot for everyone lately, and…" he paused for a second, staring right into Mike's eyes. The former guard knew what he was staring at.

My eyes must be William-level purple by now, if not darker…

"...well, we wanted to return the favor," Evan finished. Susie and Jeremy stood up, grabbing Mike's hands and gently tugging him towards the blankets.

"We couldn't find the whole show," Susie admitted. "But we still found a lot!"

"Yeah," Jeremy said. "We found everything up to season 8- "

"Minus seasons 3, 4, and 6," Cassidy interjected, wincing slightly. "I hope those weren't plot-relevant…"

Mike shook his head, confused and, quite frankly, shocked. There were a thousand thoughts and feelings racing around inside of him, not all of which he was sure how to phrase. For lack of knowing how to express most of them, he turned to Evan.

"I thought you hated this show?" he asked. Evan shrugged.

"Again, you've been doing a lot for us," he said. Mike felt a burning sensation building in his eyes.

Don't you DARE, Afton…

"...besides, I never finished watching the season 8 finale."

Everyone but Cassidy turned to him, faces frozen in shock. Mike was the most shocked of all of them.

"...the season 8 finale?" he asked. Evan cleared his throat, averting his gaze.

"One of the guards… started watching season 8… and I may have peeked at their screen…"

Cassidy lightly punched his shoulder.

"You should've seen it! At first, he wouldn't stop complaining about 'I can't escape this show!'"

She put on a fake accent, which made everyone laugh. It was really, really bad. Evan glared at her.

"I do NOT sound like that," he said. Cassidy completely ignored this, eyes shining.

"But then, when Clara's twin sister showed up, Evan was all like 'Oh my goodness! She had a SISTER ALL ALONG?!'"

Even Mike found himself trying not to laugh at her impression of Evan. The kid poked his finger into her chest, his face a little red.

"Hey! I'll remind you that before that guard showed up, the most I'd seen of the show was back in season 6 when Vlad kept claiming that the baby wasn't his!"

"The season 6A finale that led to season 6B," Mike said. Evan nodded at him.

"Yeah, that- wait," he said, turning back to Mike with slight confusion. "What does that mean?"

"Season 6 was split into two parts," Mike told him. "Season 6A and season 6B. The 6A finale was titled '0', and the first episode of 6B was titled '00'. They made it confusing for no reason… there weren't even enough episodes for it to be split into two parts."

He drifted off in thought. Charlie pointed at the screen, snapping him out of his daze.

"What did they do with season 8?" she asked. Mike shrugged.

"Not sure. As far as I know, they kept it in one part, but it's a long season."

Evan grabbed his brother's arms and stared into his eyes. For a second, Mike freaked out. Why was Evan looking at him like that? Were his eyes too purple? Were they freaking him out?

"I need to know- did Eleanor escape the fire? Please tell me she's dead so that Clara and Vlad can find out where she hid their baby."

Mike blinked at him.

"...I don't know," he said. "I didn't know that Eleanor got caught in a fire."

Evan's eyes widened at him.

"How did you not know?" he asked. "You were obsessed with this show!"

Mike shrugged.

"The last episode I watched was Season 8, episode 42- the 5th part to this one kind of annoying side story. It aired back in '93, but… you know, stuff happened, and I never really found the show again."

Evan pressed his lips into a thin line. Mike started shaking with the effort not to laugh at the look on his face, biting his lip to stop giggles from escaping.

"...episode 42?" Evan asked. Mike's shaking got worse, his eyes beginning to water with the effort. The other kids were giggling, some laughing, which did not help. "There are more than 42 EPISODES in season 8 alone?!"

Mike slowly sunk to the floor, unable to stop his laughter anymore. Tears streamed from his eyes and he couldn't breathe, but thankfully, that didn't affect him. Evan started shaking him slightly, trying to get him to stop laughing, but it just made it worse. He thought he heard the other kids start laughing.

"I'm tempted to just… put on a Disney movie now," Evan said. He sounded annoyed, but Mike could hear that he was trying not to laugh along with them. He eventually kicked Mike. "Come on, if you wanna watch this show, you're gonna have to stop laughing."

It took a while, but Mike eventually managed to calm down. The rest of the kids still had some giggles in their systems, but they seemed to be calming down too.

Charlie handed the remote to Evan, who turned on season 1 episode 1. Mike grimaced at the screen when the theme song started up.

"God, I forgot how bad the season 1 theme song is," he said. This made Susie giggle again, which threatened to send everyone else into another laughing fit. Evan shook his head slightly, a small smile on his face.

This was gonna be a long ride.


They were currently halfway through season 5. Mike had had to explain quite a lot of key plot points to the kids- they missed out on two of the key seasons of the show, after all. Gabriel was particularly confused on how Clara and Vlad managed to cure Vlad's insomnia before Dracula could drink Clara's blood. Mike decided not to go too into detail about how they fixed that… the show wasn't exactly aimed at children, after all.

Everyone had fallen asleep either leaning on Mike or cuddling with him in some way. The only ones still awake were Mike and Evan. Evan put another one of Susie's raspberry scones in his mouth, not even taking a bite first. Mike chuckled and shook his head slightly.

"You're getting obsessed with those," he said. Evan shrugged and swallowed the scone, barely chewing. He reached for another one and popped it in his mouth.

"They're good," he said. "I can't help it."

They watched Clara get her pregnancy test result. Mike frowned at the screen.

"...I haven't watched this episode in years," he said thoughtfully. Evan frowned at him in curiosity.

"Why not?" he asked. Mike's shoulders sagged, a tightening feeling starting up in his chest.

"...this was her favorite episode," he said sadly. Evan thought for a second, his eyes widening in realization as his head turned back to the screen.

"Our mum?" he asked. Mike nodded.

"She loved this show," he said. His eyes drifted away from the screen, moving instead to the floor. It was like he was back there now, sitting on the couch with his mom… they were both excited for the next episode to drop. His dad always complained about the show, but he would sit there and watch it with them anyway. Liz and Evan would be playing on the floor. They didn't care about the show.

Sometimes, Mike would grab a piece of popcorn and toss it in the air. Evan and Liz would climb over each other, ending up tied regarding who had caught more popcorn. And she'd laugh, and it would be an amazing sound.

"What about William?" Evan asked. Mike chuckled softly to himself.

"Oh, he hated this show," he said. "He would sit there and complain about everything… and mum would defend the show. I remember one time, she grabbed a pillow and chased him around the house, screaming that she would steal his blanket in the dark of night."

The two brothers laughed at the image.

"Did she?" Evan asked. Mike nodded, still laughing.

"He was so tired the next day," he said. He had to force the words out through his giggles. They sat there, giggling to themselves, trying not to wake the others up. Mike eventually let out a sigh, a sad smile on his face. "Every time there was a special episode, she and I would bake cookies together. We'd sit there and watch the whole episode, even if it was an hour long…"

"Sounds like she was more obsessed with the show than you," Evan said. Mike nodded.

"She was," he said. "Without a doubt."

They started giggling again. Mike shook his head.

"During the season 3 Christmas special, you turned around and asked father what was going on," he said. "Looking back on it, we really shouldn't have been watching the show- we were far too young."

He started cracking up, remembering the whole thing playing out.

"Y-you would've loved it. Father's face got completely red!"

Evan grinned at him, his shoulders shaking with slight laughter.

"Seriously?" he asked. Mike nodded, trying not to shake too hard.

"He couldn't talk!" he said. "And then m-mum said something and his face got even redder and- "

William buried his face in his hands.

"Oh my god, leave me alone…" he muttered. She just reached over and grabbed his arm. There was a mischievous glint in her eye. She always loved messing with her husband.

"Oh, come on, Will," she said. "It's such a simple question."

His head shot up. It was so, so red.

"How- how am I- he's…" he started waving his hands around. She laughed.

"Well… what were they doing?" Evan asked. Mike winced.

"Again… we were too young to be watching that," he said. Evan raised an eyebrow at him.

"Michael, I once watched a nightguard jam his- well, nevermind," he said, wincing. Mike shook his head, an uncomfortable look on his face.

"Yeah, I heard about that guard," he said. "Foxy beat him in court, right?"

Evan grinned at him.

"It was an… interesting day," he said.

"I bet," Mike said. "I can only imagine everyone's faces when an animatronic fox walked into the courtroom."

Evan nodded. Yeah, but Foxy wasn't the only animatronic who had shown up to court that day. He and his friends couldn't stop laughing about the whole situation for weeks. Mike sighed and shook his head again, a smile on his face.

"Anyway… imagine that scenario, but caught onscreen and they're both people, and neither of them were wearing anything- "

"Ok, I've got a basic idea," Evan interrupted him, causing Mike to laugh again. "W-we don't need to go further than that…"

"Fair enough," Mike agreed with a chuckle. They both turned back to the screen.

Evan glanced at his brother's face- his eyes were a bright, brilliant blue. It made him smile.

"Should we pause this for the others?" he asked. Mike thought about it, shaking his head.

"Nah," he said. "Nothing interesting happens for another five episodes- Clara spends all that time trying to avoid telling Vlad that she's pregnant."

"...why?"

"She's afraid he'll freak out," he said. "This leads into a rift forming between them that doesn't get resolved until the season 6B finale. Season 6 was only a couple of episodes long- it was mostly just Clara trying to convince Vlad that the baby was his."

Mike's eyes lit up when he started explaining season 6 to Evan. The younger boy would interject occasionally, asking a question or just making a comment. Mike would answer every time, his eyes becoming a brighter blue. The two talked for hours about the show, eventually falling asleep through the second half of the season 5 finale.

When the others woke up, they smiled down at the two Aftons. Mike was hugging Evan close to him. One of Evan's arms was wrapped loosely around Mike. Cassidy ran off to grab a camera, taking a picture of the two that was hung up on the fridge.

They missed their homes, their former lives. They missed their families and old friends.

But they had each other, and everyone else's bright eyes to light up the darkness of their lives.