Author's Note:

Trigger Warning: Child Abuse, Some Graphic Violence. This is a particularly depressing and violent chapter.

Also, after some thought, I've decided that the Side Stories will be released after the Epilogue to Dark Rebirth. Think of them as like Prequel DLC to the Main Storyline and, unlike the main chapters, will only be released once a month or two months instead of one a week.

10 chapters left. We are so close and yet so far to the end of Dark Rebirth. Thank you all for supporting me for this long. I wouldn't have gotten this far without your likes and comments. Admittedly, my mental health has been suffering lately and I think I may need another hiatus but will let everyone know when I'm taking it.

Lastly, new chapters will be uploaded every Sunday from now on instead of Friday due to said mental health reasons. Anyway, enjoy.

Location: Mazercise

Time: 5:45am

Micheal Afton can't remember much about his childhood anymore but he definitely does remember the amount of physical and mental trauma he endured from his William.

There were many beatings, bruisings and lockings in closets but the worst of it had to be the time he was forced to eat dirt from the woods. It poisoned him so badly that he was sent to the hospital and stayed there for a week.

"Tell your mother I did this and –"

"You'll kill me." Mike finished for him as he coughed weakly on a white hospital bed.

"Good boy".

Years passed and the loathing he felt towards his Father grew like a parasitic plant within Mike more and more until it ultimately cultivated in him bullying other children and siblings as he had no other healthy outlet to release his rage on. Evan was a particular favourite for him to bully, mainly because he was so easy to frighten and drive to tears. Elizabeth…not so much as William was very protective of her and rarely let her go near him.

However, before the tragic Bite of 83 incident, something else terrible had happened to Evan years ago:

One night, Mike had entered Evan's bedroom and, full of rage and envy, he put a pillow over his head and tried to suffocate him. Evan was panicking as his face was smothered and Micheal screamed, "Why? Why doesn't he love me? Why is it always you who gets his attention?! I hate you!"

Those were hateful words he'd learn regret eventually but at that moment, he was blinded by rage to think rationally. He'd snapped and hadn't thought about the consequences of getting rid of him. However William immediately heard the ruckus and had to pull Micheal away, kicking and screaming.

After that, Mike was sent to a mental institution and luckily for him, his stay lasted only for a few weeks. The reason being that he showed 'stabilised and good behaviour' which impressed the nurses. His father wanted him in prison but his mother was a little more lenient, reasoning that Mike wasn't evil, just a mentally unstable and jealous child that needed help.

She wasn't sure why Mike was mentally ill (and Mike wished very much he could have told her why) but she loved her son nonetheless and hoped that he would be less of a violent troublemaker in the future. She was the kind of person who could see the good even in the worst of people which is what attracted her to William. To her, William had good qualities despite his occasionally terrible behaviour and believed that over time, she could "change him for the better" but dismally, she found that she was incapable of doing so. William wouldn't change his terrible ways and they were all imprisoned by his abuse as a result.

Mike wanted to tell someone, anyone, that William wasn't a Saint but it's not like anyone would believe him considering his father was beloved by the town while he was the local, unfriendly bully that lashed out at others.

In a darkly ironic way, even though his father threatened him with death constantly, his younger brother and sister were the ones to die by his Father's hands. Not directly of course but they were killed by his inventions. After that, Violet and Henry left and all that remained in Hurricane was him and his father.

Mike had nothing left to live for and only despair and hatred filled his heart. Then he died too, in that basement, and all that despair he felt was shifted entirely into hatred as he skimmed through his father's journals and learned of his crimes. On that day, he vowed to put an end to his father and then himself, for they were both guilty murderers whose place was in the pits of Hell.

The hatred of his father kept him going, drove him to pursue man for years and years until they perished in the trap that William's former business partner laid for all of them. After he died, Mike thought he would have gone to Hell with William but instead, found himself stuck in another version of Freddy with Henry. Nonetheless, despite being unable to move on, Mike finally felt at peace as since His father was dead and gone, he could let go of that hatred ….and then 'Gregory' showed up.

Turns out, his father had the gall to not only remain alive but also create a clone of himself to possess and further his ambitions in a new era. Hearing this, his Hatred re-awakened. Mike would have none of that. He'd kill them both. He had to or else he would have failed his goal in ending the fucked up Afton bloodline forever.

As time passed throughout the night, he'd entertained the ways he would make 'Gregory' suffer. Perhaps he would make 'Gregory' do what he did to him: Force him to eat something disgusting, burn the palms of his hands, drown him in a chlorine filled fountain, lock him away in a dark room until he starved or maybe carve ugly wounds into his body with a knife so that he'd die from blood loss.

However, none of those options satisfied Mike. He wanted his father to truly suffer and so, he felt like the best way of doing so would be to beat William's clone to death with a blunt object while his Father watched in horror from behind the screen as his "useless son" killed his only shot of returning to life leisurely and excruciatingly. He could imagine it now: Gregory screaming like a girl, the item in his hands violently hitting flesh and bone, breaking and bruising the boy's body until it turned blue and purple...Mike wouldn't stop bludgeoning him until he was permanently dead and he'd relish in the boy's tears as he died from internal bleeding!

However, Mike's violent plans were slowly derailed after more interaction with 'Gregory' as he seemed …different somehow. Parts of him were like the man he despised but there was…good (?) in him as well. Mike still wanted him to die but now, he didn't want him to have such a gruesome death. He had to kill him swiftly but he wasn't sure how he would do it. Perhaps a nice and fast stab to the heart or throat would do?

"We're here Mike." He heard Freddy announce.

Mike opened his eyes and saw the void of darkness around him. This was the place he and Henry would come to when they needed a break from reality. They weren't sure what to call it really but Mike named it the 'hibernation space', a pocket dimension where ghosts could freely enter and exit, often retreating into it to rest until they were re-awoken by someone or something.

As far as Mike knew from William's research of the supernatural, each ghost had their own hibernation space and this was simply theirs (Also, his Father hadn't bothered to give it a name which was why Mike did the honours of naming it).

Teleporting out of the hibernation space, he manifested back in reality where he saw Gregory in front of them, seated at a two-person dining table. The duffel bag Gregory carried was placed on the ground next to him as he ate a large cheese pizza by himself. Chica was in Standby Mode at a nearby Recharge Station a few feet away to their right.

Mike couldn't fathom why or how his small boy could eat so much in one night. He knew his father could eat a lot as he was a…large person but learning that eating heavily without abandon was a habit his father had since he was a child felt freaky to him.

"Hello Gregory." Freddy kneels down and hugs the boy tightly, "Are you alright? I was unable to reach you for a while".

"Oh that's because William cut off power from the West Arcade." Gregory says as he holds the pizza slice he was about to eat above them, "Luckily, Chica saved me and got us out of there".

"That's excellent news. I should thank Chica once she finishes charging".

"Anyway, did you get the pass? Find out where the children were?" Mike questions rudely while Freddy stops his hug, "I'm honestly shocked you're still alive and a little disappointed that you didn't escape as it would be easier to get rid of my Father faster if he was in your body. Kill two birds with one stone".

"Micheal. Don't." Henry highlights sternly while manifesting back to reality.

Gregory frowns but dismisses the anger he was feeling, placing down the cheesy pizza in his hand. "Umm Mike, about that…"

Gregory rapidly reveals that the William who was chasing them the whole night wasn't the real William but rather…a copy like him.

"So let me understand this," Mike takes a deep, frustrated breath in, "Before my Father was thrown into Hell, he got his Springbonnie suit pregnant and it gave birth to a digital clone of him? Using Remnant somehow? Do…do I have that right?"

"That's a gross way to put it but … yes." Gregory cringes.

Mike makes a hurling noise, "Oh God if I weren't a ghost right now, I'd be feeling the urge to throw up. I'm sorry. I need a minute…"

Mike goes back into the hibernation space to scream into the empty void, "What the fuck? What the actual fuck! Why are there three of them! Like this couldn't get any worse!"

"Calm down Mike." Henry follows him inside, "This bad but at least one of them is in Hell. We just have to deal with the other one here and we can rest again".

"And what about the boy? Can we deal with him too?"

Henry gives him a silent glare. Mike was starting to go too far with his hatred against Gregory and it was starting to worry him…a lot. Furthermore, was it him or were his eyes developing a … slight purple tinge to them?

"Right, sorry." Mike sighs, "Let's go back to Gregory".

They teleport out of the space to face Gregory who's still eating Pizza and Freddy standing across from him, lecturing about the importance of eating healthier foods once he's out of the Pizzaplex. They stop their conversation upon seeing the two spirits appear.

"Has Mike finished venting?"

"Yeah Thanks for asking Freddy".

"I actually had more to talk about before you both ran off." Gregory looks away sadly, "I just thought I should have us all together before I told Freddy about this".

"Told me about what?" Freddy asks, concerned.

"Freddy, I know about Bonnie. I discovered what happened to him".

"What do you mean? What did you find out?" Freddy demanded to know more but pressed his questions in a gentle manner.

"Bonnie's torn apart body was rebuilt by William and he's using it as his transfer device. He has Springlock parts in him but only the hooks and no animatronic portions." Gregory's body shivers in terror, "If he gets me, he's going to put me in your friend's body and I'm going to suffer as I'll die and get replaced by that Fake William".

Mike's eyes widen at the new information but he remains silent.

"How awful." Freddy looks traumatised but that trauma soon shifts to righteous anger, "How dare he do this to him and You! Can we save him?"

"I don't know if that's even the Bonnie you know anymore Freddy." Henry responds, "There was no life in the animatronic, only a body puppeteered by that Fake William."

"Henry's right." Gregory supports Henry's observation, "Bonnie didn't say anything and when he did speak, the only words that came out were His".

The boy then sighs, reclining forward in his stool seat, "I should have known better. This conversation he wanted was all a trap to get me. I couldn't get any answers out of him nor the Monty pass".

"That's okay Superstar. You felt like he was the only lead to find the children and save Monty." Freddy goes up to the boy and pats his head, "Even though you failed, you at least got some answers out of him. Even if it weren't the answers you wanted".

"So what now?" Mike asks impatiently, "What's your next brilliant plan?"

"We find another way to enter Monty's room I guess. There should be another pass somewhere and we still have less than an hour to find one before anyone else enters the Pizzaplex." Gregory tries to suggest with confidence.

"And the children? How do we find them?"

"I…I don't know but William did say they were within the walls and below –"

"Damn, you wasted time trying to 'converse' with my Father!" Mike grumbles, furiously interrupting the clone, "We should have just asked ourselves where a psychotic, murderous, loveless piece of human slime would hide them! Better yet, Let's ask you Gregory!"

Gregory loses his temper. "What the Hell Mike? Am I never good enough for you!"

"Yeah, because you just admitted earlier to enjoying murder and hurting people!"

"I can control myself".

Gregory's hands don't shake this time.

"But for how long, How long until you snap and murder more people?" Mike retaliates, "A week? 2 months…"

"Look! Let's just find another way to get to Monty's place." Gregory tries to change the topic, "Once we free him and we have all the animatronics together, we kill William and I'll be free right?"

Audio emerges from the speakers. It's Charlie's voice from earlier. She was in a conversation with Mike that neither he, Freddy or Henry heard.

~"So if that boy is that horrible monster," Charlie's rage began to boil, "why are you and my Father helping him?!"

"We don't want to." Mike explains, "We're just using him until we can find the children. Once that's done, we will kill him along with Father. You can restrain him and I'll land the killing blow."~

The recording finishes. Henry angrily stares daggers at Micheal while Gregory retreats away from them slowly in fear.

"You…the both of you were never intending to spare me were you?" Gregory's voice trembles with fear combined with the sting of betrayal, "You weren't going to keep your promise at all. I should have known better than to trust any of you!"

"Gregory, that's not true. I would have let you go!" Henry pleads.

"But I wouldn't have." Mike bitterly confessed, "because let's face it, Even if you do last until morning and get out, the hunt for you won't stop! The fake or real William will escape and seek you for the rest of your likely short life! That or you will just repeat His mistakes when you get older. I mean you already have it: The bloodlust, the thirst for hurting others…It's only a matter of time!"

Before Henry can react to Mike's cut-throat statement, the ghost spontaneously moves into and takes control of Chica's body within the nearby Recharge station, switching her mode from 'standby' to 'active'. Opening her now glowing lilac eyes, The Bird Lady arose out of the metal capsule with a cold, intent-to-kill expression.

"Freddy, grab –"

Too late, Mike activates Chica's screech whose range is unluckily close enough to disable Freddy and causes Henry to vanish immediately.

Seeing that his guardian is down for the count, Gregory grabs the duffel bag and jumps off his seat, running away. Mike gives chase using Chica's body except this time, her movements along with her speed have increased!

The clone is uncertain whether this was the result of Mike taking control over Chica's programming, the bag weighing him down or the current exhaustion in his short legs but either way, Gregory wasn't able to get very far before Mike caught up to him, grabbing the poor boy by the right arm before thrusting him violently into a wall.

Gregory lands left shoulder-first, managing to avoid a broken nose but still, he gets badly hurt as the wind is knocked out of him. The panicked boy slumps to the ground, hyperventilating as Chica's shadow looms over him.

Suddenly, the boy feels a rough kick to his torso as the hard steel of Chica's leg impacts his stomach, the force slamming him back into the wall again before he could think of crawling away. And then, to torture him further and dissuade him from escaping his clutches, Mike kicked the boy two more times in the stomach and once in the ribs. Gregory yells multiple times from the intense pain he was feeling.

He hated it. He hated it so much. But he deserved it after all. He was a monster, an abuser that relished in the pain and misery of others. It was an awful idea really, to believe he could be anything more than a murderer but…he just wanted to be someone else so badly.

William kicks Micheal seven times before beating him with a belt, smiling gleefully at the sound of his eldest son in tears.

Once Mike was satisfied with Gregory being weakened, Mike takes the opportunity to sit on top of the boy, pinning him down with Chica's heavy body so he can't wriggle free.

"Stop it. Stop it!" the boy in the Foxy mask whimpers in distress.

"S-Stay away from me!" Gregory cries as he pulls out his dagger at Micheal and starts swinging it wildly.

However, Micheal simply grabs Gregory's small wrist with Chica's metallic left hand, making him stop his pathetic assault almost instantly. Then, Mike then uses his right hand to grab the knife out of Gregory's hands by the sharp end, unable to be hurt. Micheal smirks, the knife now in his possession.

"No!"

Mike holds the knife above Gregory as he struggles to crawl away by using his arms at the side (and even uses them to hit Chica's face) but in the end, he's helpless to do anything but scream.

"Oh how the tables have turned."Mike grins sadistically, enjoying the sense of dominance he had over the man who abused him for years, "Now you're the small and useless one and I get to punish you!"

Despite his harsh words, he tries not to let his sympathy show as he gazes into the boy's innocent brown eyes that were already forming tears.

"If this is about Evan. I'm sorry. It was an accident. I'm not a liar! I'm not a killer."

"Let me go! Let me go please!" The clone of his father begged like an actual frightened child, "I don't want to die! I promise I won't be bad! I promise I won't be like Him anymore!"

Mike recoils at such tear jerking statements but closes his heart and ears to it, pressing the knife above his chest. One stab to the heart and he'll die instantly. That's how it's meant to go.

"If this is about Evan. I'm sorry I took your favourite child away from you alright? Just please, don't kill me".

'He's faking his sadness. Bring it down, what are you waiting for Mike? You've wanted this for years. Remember what he said to you.' His thoughts remind him, 'Remember that he blamed you for your brother's death, that he blamed you for the deaths of the children. Remember that he told you he never loved you or anyone in his life!'

"Hmm…I'll consider that. But in return, I'll always be here to remind you that you were a terrible and useless child that wasn't worth my time or your mother's. And Evan's death? It's all your fault…"

He whacks him.

"All Your Fault…"

He whacks him again.

"All Your Fault…"

And again and again and again.

"ALL YOUR FAULT".

Those words tormented him, played on loop in his head like a broken record, driving him mad for decades…

"YOU'RE SCUM!" Mike screams in an attempt to strengthen his conviction to kill the boy, "YOU DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE! YOU DON'T EVEN DESERVE THIS SECOND CHANCE! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT THAT WE'RE SUFFERING!"

Those words of course were meant solely for his father but they could also very well apply to him. Mike attempts to drive the knife further but hesitates when he looks into Gregory's scared face. Instead of seeing his father, he sees only Evan: The frightened child who would cry at the littlest of problems, the brother he tormented for days and nights, the boy who died in the jaws of –

'No no no. You can't think about your younger brother. He can't forgive you. He will never forgive you. You don't deserve to go to Heaven. That's a lie you tell yourself. Go down to Hell with him'.

Mike closes his eyes to stop imagining Evan's miserable face in front of him and, as he's about to plunge it down for good this time, he hears someone familiar screaming in his head. It's Evan, his voice sounding despairing and desperate.

"Mikey, stop! Don't kill him, Mikey! I don't want you to go to Hell."

The rage-filled ghost halts. There's a small bloodstain already pooling around Gregory's shirt where Micheal pierced his skin slightly with the tip of the knife.

Mike looked around, feeling slightly uneasy. Where did that voice come from? The ceiling? His own head? He must be going insane…

Mike shakes his head, trying to refocus and kill the monster in front of him.

"Mikey please…" Evan's voice permeates his every thought, "Don't".

His hands are hesitating. He can't let go of Evan's hallucinatory voice.

'I can't do it. I can't do it. But I have to. William must die.'

Mike decides to try a different tactic. He raises the knife above Gregory's chest, steeling himself to bring it down like a Guillotine. He had to plunge it straight into his heart with no hesitation this time. Mike swiftly performs the action.

SLAM

Mere seconds before the blade pierces Gregory, Mike and the knife are knocked aside and they both fall to the floor with a loud and soft metal 'clang'. Recovering from the fall, he blinks and sees who pushed him: It's none other than Freddy who scoops up the trembling boy in his arms….

'Wait…How? Didn't I disable him?'

Mike squints and looks closer at the Bear, noticing his eyes weren't their usual white but a bright orange in colour.

"William…No Gregory, Gregory…I'm so sorry…" Henry's voice emerges from the Bear's mouth, "If you need to cry, do it in my arms. Don't hold back please".

Gregory starts legitimately bawling, no longer able to bottle up the stress, fear and depression that had been accumulating in him throughout the night. In turn, Henry kindly cradles the clone of his former friend, stroking him on the back soothingly like he used to do with Charlotte when she had one of her crying fits.

'William is…shedding tears? Like actual tears?' Mike stares at the sight in bewilderment, 'No this…this is impossible and…really weird to see'.

Mike had seen William cry before but only a few times. One distinct moment was when he had to give a regretful speech about the Missing Children's Incidents that occured at Fazbears. However, he could always tell that all of his tears he shed weren't genuine. They were manufactured tears that he could shed on command. Crocodile tears. What he was seeing now however, wasn't fake. The clone's cries were far too realistic and emotionally driven. There was no denying it: This version of his father was crying actual tears that stemmed from physical and emotional pain which proved was definitely capable of feeling genuine emotions and for some reason, that frightened Micheal.

"Henry?" Mike gets up with Chica's body, "This is a surprise. How did you –"

"It was a bit of a risk but I teleported into our hibernation space before I could get struck by the screech. When I felt it was safe, I left and I'm glad I did because if I hadn't, I'd be cradling a dead boy in my arms right now!" He glared at Mike with an intense stare, "You should feel ashamed of yourself Micheal!"

He had wanted to kill Gregory seconds ago, he really did, but those brown eyes he looked into at that moment… those eyes weren't that of his soulless abuser. It disturbed him, made him hesitate.

The ghost in the purple shirt suddenly feels very guilty hearing the boy sob, now coming to the realisation that he was frightened of Gregory because the boy was a normal child. Not a murderer. And he had hurt him. Mike had hurt a child even though he promised never to do so again after Evan's death. He felt sick.

After Gregory cries a little more, he turns around, wiping off the last of his tears with his short blue sleeve.

"Henry. Thank you for your comfort but if you would now, let me go. Please". Gregory orders him coldly.

Henry is stunned at this scary shift of demeanour but does as he's told. After being put on the ground, Gregory then turns to face Mike.

Like Henry, the ghost was equally stunned at the definite change he was seeing: Gregory's expression was more stern, eyes having an eerily menacing gaze to them, and his posture was less slouched over. Additionally, at his sides, both of his hands were balled into tightly clenched fists.

Micheal knew what this meant. He would only see his father like this when would get serious about something or wanted to hurt him. However, Gregory didn't look as intimidating doing it because he was a baby-faced pre-teen who had yet to develop the sharper features of his older self but still, staring at it gave Micheal the chills.

"You know Mike, I know you like to think of yourself as the morally righteous person but in all honestly, you're no different than Charlie or the murderer you hate." Gregory calls him out, "You tried to kill me like He did to those children! Who's the real murderer here this time huh?"

"Gregory's right. I'm almost proud of you Micheal. You're just like Him and even me." Fake William mocks his 'son' from a rectangular, medium-sized screen behind Gregory, "However, I'm pissed that you had to take your murderous frustrations out on my Vessel as these injuries won't be ideal for the transfer!"

"I'm fine with that." Mike spits at the fake version of his Father, "It makes you angry and me, happy as can be".

He then takes a step forward to the boy and the former founder. Henry protectively shields him by stepping in front of him. Gregory reaches into his bag for the Fazerblaster and holds it in case he has to draw it quickly and fire.

"Get out of my way Henry." Mike demands, "Let me kill the boy. Let me do this for the greater good".

"Funny." William chuckles, "I said the same about those children. That they too would die for the greater good. Isn't that right Henry?"

Henry looks down at the ground in shame.

"I wonder Micheal…What would Evan think of you if he could see him now?

On the screen, the Gold rabbit conjures the illusory face of a disapproving Evan that had a portion of his head bitten off.

"You should have died Mikey." William mimics Evan's whiny crybaby voice, "If it weren't for you, I'd still be alive. If it weren't for you, those children would still be alive".

"SHUT UP!" Mike punches the screen with Chica's fist, leaving a sharp crack in its middle, "How dare you use him against me like this!"

"Ooh, seems I hit a sensitive spot, didn't I Michael?" Fake William lets out an evil laugh, "You're lucky no one else saw what you did or else Chica here would have been scooped. Then again, you don't care how many lives get ruined and lost … just as long as you can kill me … right?"

"What are you talking about? I do care about people." Mike protests, "I've been working with the missing children, Charlie and Henry to free all of our souls from your evil".

"And yet here you still are, having failed to fully kill William Afton." Fake William smirks, "It's funny, really: You can't get rid of me completely without killing little Will here as well AND if you do...you're certain to become Hell-bound with the real William!"

"He's far from innocent. He's you!" Mike accuses. However his voice isn't strong and it wavers, giving away Mike's truthfully conflicted feelings about the clone he tried to kill.

"Tsk Tsk, that's not what you really think about Gregory now is it? You're just convincing yourself to kill him as you think that's what's best for your sanity".

"So what if I am? The world would be better off William in any shape or form!" Mike declares.

Gregory's heart shatters into a million bits at that moment.

"Well thanks a lot Mike, you've helped me come to a decision: This was a mistake. Helping all of you was a mistake!" Gregory's sarcastic words are extremely loud, spiteful and withdrawn, "When those gates open, I'll be gone and none of you will ever use me as a pawn or vessel!"

"Wait, what about the children?" Henry fearfully questions, "You promised to help us free them".

"I never promised anything. Go find and free them yourself Old Friend!" Gregory resentfully shouted at Henry, "It's not like they would appreciate being saved by the one who murdered them anyway!"

The boy is done with trying to atone for his past sins when all he got in return was still being hated by those around him. Then, at the worst possible timing, Freddy wakes up to a cold Mike possessing Chica, a terrified Henry and a furious, emotionally unstable Gregory about to storm away from them.

"Wha? What happened? Superstar? Why are you angry?"

"Stay away from me." The clone pulls out and aims the Fazer Blaster at the eyes of a puzzled Freddy, "You don't truly care about me at all! I'm not special to you".

"Gregory, I do care about you".

"Oh really?" Gregory lets out a laugh that's both sad and partially insane, "Tell that to those other kids that you called Superstar!"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about. But if you'd calm down—"

Grgeoy pulls the trigger, hitting Freddy in the eyes. Seeing his chance, Mike attempts to ambush Gregory again but the boy is intuitive enough (and high on adrenaline) to see his next course of action and so, he also hits Chica in the eyes with the Fazerblaster reflexively.

"Ah! No no!" Mike is now unable to move as well but he does witness the boy rush to take his knife back before sprinting swiftly into the dimly lit corridors with fat tears falling down his cheeks.

"Gregory! I'm your friend." The Bear rubs his eyes, stumbling after the boy even though he was struck, "Don't go."

"Goddammit Michael, look at what you've done! You've physically and emotionally damaged my Vessel!" William complained, "Fuck, I have to search for him now."

With that, the Gold Rabbit vanished, scurrying to keep track of his clone.

"Why? Why did Gregory do that to me?" Freddy's voice is absolutely distressed.

Henry pats the Bear on the back, "I'm not sure why he fired at you like that but…Gregory feels let down by all of us no thanks to Michael here".

"Pfft I'm glad that Gregory's running off to the outside world. He'll most likely die of starvation, food poisoning or dehydration once he's out there. Problem solved and one less Afton to deal with." Mike insensitively boasts.

"Quit lying to yourself Mike! You LOVE the boy and you want him to live but you're just too stubborn to admit it because he's a physical copy of Father." Henry sighed in frustration, "Had I known you and Charlie were plotting to kill Gregory behind my back, I would have said something about this".

"And I would have never let you possess me if I'd known that this was your plan all along." Freddy growls at him, "Gregory is a child, Mike. We do not harm kids in the Pizzaplex".

"But – but – Gregory–" Mike objected, his eyes once again flashing that purple tint which perturbed Henry.

"No 'buts' Mike. Stay in the hibernation space and sort out your thoughts while I look for Gregory with Freddy." Henry reprimands him, "I'm not going to fail another kid, William Afton or not, just because you can't move on from the past. Are we clear?"

"Whatever. Call me when you find him." Mike heads back into the void grouchily to reflect upon his life choices…or something.

—

Meanwhile, in the vents, Charlie had overheard almost everything.

Hmm…Mike's too weak to finish him off. I guess it's up to me then…

CHAPTER 31 END

CHAPTER 32 Title Preview: Tomorrow is Another Day Part 2

Summary: Feeling unloved and unwanted, Gregory runs to the entrance. Fake William attempts to locate him. Both end up encountering a mysterious but familiar voice that intrudes into their thoughts.