Mable: Sorry that this chapter is so terribly late, but I didn't want to wait until tomorrow evening to post it. Not when I've actually been on a decent schedule until now. So… I'm still counting this as a Wednesday posting, but an extremely late posting, and I'm sorry for that. Anyway, Enjoy!

Almost Feels Like Home

Chapter Fifty-Three

The silence was almost unnatural. As though Charlie expected the rabbit to be breathing as heavily as he was the night he stole her twin away. He was still and quiet, staring her down with those lifeless looking suit eyes, teeth bared and clenched, and only interrupted by a twitch of his damaged ear.

Golden Bonnie's body was excessively damaged. There were tears and scuffs and it vaguely looked like it had been in a fire, but it was alive and aware. That frightened her almost as much as its frozen, grisly grin did. She pushed back further against the door as she stared up at it. In the back of her mind she had the foggiest memory of similar helplessness under the piercing gaze of the same character. It hadn't ended well then and she was certain that it wasn't going to end any better now.

It was then that the Bonnie took a teetering step towards her. Its ears twitched and its hand flexed as it stared on with that predatory look in its eyes. She felt like prey as it slowly started to close the gap between them. She wasn't going to let that happen though. As soon as it began its approach, she immediately turned and forced the door back open. Charlie staggered upright while trying to fling herself out the door and landed heavily on the ground outside. But she didn't stop there; she clamored to her feet and broke into a sprint out of the yard.

Home, she had to get home. Her mind was a mess as she threw herself over the nearest fence and ran blindly towards the direction of the house, or where she thought it was. She could just imagine those heavy footsteps thundering behind her when they really weren't there. Golden Bonnie hadn't followed her outside and certainly wasn't chasing her, but that didn't stop her mad dash. She was running from her life and all she could imagine were those empty eyes like darkened headlights following her.

"Oh no, no, this can't- it can't- it can't be here! Why was it in the house?! What was it- Oh God, was it looking for me?!" Charlie thought in a frenzy as she stopped at another tall fence. She tried to calm herself down as she looked back to see no sign of the golden rabbit. "Okay, can't panic. Can't get caught. Get back home and I'm safe. Should be almost there." She started to climb over the next wooden fence before stopping and staring at what lay past it. "…I don't remember a church being here."

On the other side of a fence was a church and its parking lot. There were a few lights still on inside, but the parking lot was cleared out. Still, walking across empty terrain without shielding was concerning, not that the church itself was what scared her. What scared her was that she thought she knew where she was and yet here she was, without any clue what direction she needed to go in.

"There wasn't supposed to be a church here. The only church is up past… Where am I?" She looked around in growing dread. "I'm completely lost and that thing's out here… I've got to get home." A strange, pathetic whining noise squeaked out of her chest as she took the plunge and climbed over. Staying close to the fence, she continued around the parking lot and in the direction of where she thought she was supposed to go. She couldn't be that far away from where she was supposed to be.

Charlie didn't have a phone, she doubted she could find a payphone, let alone get close enough to use one, and she was starting to find more houses with their lights on. Now she was back at risk of being seen, and her hood did nothing to cover the rest of her. The distant sounds of the world seemed distorted. Dog barks, voices, car sound; it all melted into footsteps. She swore she could hear them. But right when she was about to break into a run, she noticed a playground further down the street.

There were plenty of small parks littered around town, but this one Charlie recognized specifically. It was small with its grass growing too high for comfort and only a few pieces of old playground equipment. Seldom did children play here, or at least, she never saw them playing here when she had a chance to look out of the car. Which she had a few opportunities to do so as the park was just down the street from the house. Just seeing it assured her that her journey was almost over.

Relief rushed over her as she broke into a desperate sprint along the sidewalk before climbing over one last fence. Then it was all a matter of running across the grass before making a leap through her still open bedroom window and falling headfirst onto the floor. She lifted herself up just in time to see that she wasn't alone.

There was Mike and Marionette standing in her bedroom and now staring back at her in equal shock. Naturally, they had found out that she had left and seemed to be trying to figure out what they were going to do.

"Charlie?!" Marionette asked in surprise. She used the bed to pull herself off the ground and hurried to them. They could tell that she was scared from the fear on her mask and her frenzied motions. Pointing back towards the window, she tried to explain the horror she had witnessed inside of Henry's house.

Unfortunately, all that came out was a frantic jingling in the tune of 'Ring Around the Rosie'. Alas, once it started it seemed determined not to stop either, even with her trying in vain to cover her mouth and thump a fist on her own chest. Both onlookers were torn between confusion, concern, and borderline amusement. Mike was the one to step in first.

"Whoa, slow down. We're not going to make out any of that," he pointed out as though the voice of reason. Then he promptly discredited himself with, "A pocket full of what's now?"

Marionette took the situation a little more seriously. "It's a reflex mechanism; it'll go off on its own. You just need to try and calm down." To which Charlie attempted to do as he reached for her arm comfortingly and started brushing dirt and debris off her jacket. There were so many questions he needed to ask, and the sudden addition of music made it a little harder to think rationally. He could just feel her distress in the song, even if it wasn't one that effected his programming. "What happened?"

"Gold-," Charlie finally got out. "Gold- bbit. Gold- Gold Rabbit- Gold Bonnie." She continued struggling as she shuddered and gestured back towards the window again. "It was in the house!"

"Golden Bonnie- You mean the springlock suit? You mean Springtrap?!" Mike nonchalant attitude dropped at the mere mention of the animatronic. He had always had a suspicion that he hadn't burned in the fire, but to spontaneously appear out of nowhere- the situation didn't seem to make much sense. "Where did you see him, outside?!"

"The house, my father's house! I unlocked the door to get in and he was just there!" Charlie yelled over her continuing music. It only tried to grow as her franticness did, until she was battling it to get her words out. It only made the situation go further out of hand. She covered her face to try and calm herself down. "I don't- I don't even know why he was there or how he got in. He was just staring at me and… I feel disgusting." It definitely wasn't from the dirt either. If anything, it was from how it had looked at her.

Upon hearing her retelling, Marionette looked to Mike abruptly with a wide-eyed look. The security guard got a feeling of dread; he knew that look. "Don't even think about going over there."

"If it's Michael-," the Puppet started before cutting off. He tried again with less desperation and more reason, even if it wasn't reason Mike would agree with. "If he's over at Henry's then I have to go see him. He helped us escape the fire. We're not enemies anymore."

"I'm not saying we are, but how many times has Springtrap attacked someone because he's 'confused' or 'disoriented'? If he was as banged up in that fire as I think he was- and considering that he's squatting in Henry's, I'm guessing he was- then chances are that little bit of rationality that told him we were better than death has probably burned up. If you go over there he could attack," Mike reasoned. The striped one looked down uncertainly and knew he was right. "Or let's at least go together if you're determined."

"If I wait then he might leave. He could've left as soon as he saw Charlie… And you are right about his rationality. It's not safe to have him roaming the streets," the Puppet said solemnly. Mike knew the finality in that tone and began to scramble.

"It will only take two minutes for me to drive you over there. I've seen Springtrap in person and he's not fast. He lumbers around like a guy in a springlock suit," Mike pointed out. Concern became more apparent the more he insisted, and he was seconds away from outright grabbing Marionette's striped arm to try and keep him in place. "He's still dangerous. Too dangerous for you to pop in on alone. If he cornered you, then you could be looking at a few cracks."

"That won't happen. He won't even know I'm there, let alone will I let engage in a fight with him," Marionette reassured. He got a slight smile for the security guard's benefit. "I'll be back shortly. Wait here."

"If you're not planning to fight him, then why am I supposed to- And he's gone," Mike said with exasperation as Marionette vanished before him. He gestured a hand towards where he once was. "You see, this is why we need one of those security bracelets for him. I wouldn't be able to follow him, but at least I'd know where he is." In the back of his mind he could already imagine the Puppet being injured and crawling into a drainage pipe somewhere to hide while he recovered. "I can't just stand here," Mike muttered. He turned towards the door before stopping, trying to figure out what he needed to do.

Marionette could protect himself. Springtrap wasn't trustworthy. Springtrap had protected them during the fire. Springtrap had savagely attacked Marionette and Foxy. Marionette could teleport away at any time. He wouldn't.

"You said… His name was Michael?" Charlie asked, dragging Mike out of his thoughts and pacing. He gave an impatient exhale.

"Yeah, Michael. William Afton's son. Stuck in his father's old suit, or at least that's our current theory. We know Michael's in a suit, we just haven't figured out which one," Mike explained. He gave a small scoff. "It doesn't really help when half of the animatronic don't remember their names and the other half are in extreme denial."

"And there was a fire? Wait, Mari mentioned something about that…" He had always been spotty with details on the fire, with Foxy only giving a few more. She was under the impression someone had tried to burn them. Mostly because both animatronics had warned her about getting anywhere near fire. "I guess that explains why he looked so burned."

"What were you doing out there?" Mike finally asked. His attention returned to the weird display earlier and the sneaking out. "You could've asked me to drive you. It's only ten; my animatronic taxi service doesn't cut off until six." Instead of humor, the Security Puppet got a look of guilt and unease. Her mask showed it better than ever and she had yet to develop any form of a poker face. He knew it was a bad sign. "…I don't even want to know what that look's going to mean."

"I made a terrible mistake and barely stopped before I got in too deep. Or… I stopped before they saw me." Mike's brows raised and Charlie knew she needed to come clean. "I've been sending anonymous messages to my old friends. I don't know what I was thinking. I just thought that maybe if I gave them a letter that they thought I wrote before my death, I could tell them all the things that I wanted to and can't now. I thought maybe it would finally give us all closure…" She shook her head. "I don't know what I was thinking!.. At least they didn't see me… Except maybe Jason."

"You've got to watch yourself around that kid. He flat out knows the animatronics are alive," Mike bluntly said. Charlie looked to him almost in alarm by the lack of an outburst or surprise. He just sounded almost resolved to it, with the worry for Marionette still there.

"…That's it? You're- You're not upset?" Charlie asked in disbelief. "Mike, I could've put the whole business in danger!"

"Charlie, a plethora of missing children didn't put this business in danger. I don't think a kid claiming that he saw a living puppet is going to come back to us," he pointed out. Though his face then became a bit firm. "But yeah, in case you're wondering, if I knew you were planning on any of that I would've put you under immediate house arrest and started confiscating all your pens and paper... You know that was a bad idea, right? You know that these things that Foxy and Ennard do, running out in public, is actually extremely stupid, right?"

"Yes," the Security Puppet said sheepishly. She turned her head down with embarrassment.

"Because your friends- I don't know your friends, I just know your one friend's psycho stalker dad- if they didn't handle finding out what you are well and did something crazy, like attacked you, that could end a lot worst," Mike insisted a little more firmly. "I mean, yeah, the pizzeria is our livelihood and any little thing could lead to another public disaster, but I'm much more concerned about some guy-… Okay." He pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. "Okay, we're going to talk about the fire now. What do you know about the fire?"

"Someone tried to set a pizzeria on fire with Marionette and Foxy inside… And apparently that golden rabbit suit," Charlie answered. "I'm guessing to try and destroy them."

"Bullseye. Some guy found out that the animatronics were alive and decided that it was best for everyone if he took them all out at once. So, he made this elaborate trap, going through the effort to build a fake pizzeria, and collected as many animatronics as he could. This included Mari, Foxy, Baby, Ennard, a bunch of those tiny animatronics that are over at Jeremy's, and Scott. Except he took one look at Scott's fake leg and decided he'd spare him, and there I was to replace him," Mike explained. He couldn't hide his bitterness. "And he rigged this whole place to burn because he figured out that fire kills animatronics."

"What?!" Charlie asked in surprise. He wasn't sure which part she was startled at but assumed it was the last point.

"Something about the heat forces animatronics out of their bodies. Normally, if there's something left, they can hold on, but not when fire's involved. I don't get it, but I don't want to get it." He just shuddered thinking about it. "But I'm getting off topic. The fact of the matter is that this guy had been watching and planning this without us knowing, and he did something so nonsensically crazy because he believed he was doing the right thing. I don't want you to live in fear, because Mari and I would never let anything like that happen to you, but you have got to be careful."

Charlie felt jarred by the display. It certainly made her reconsider it more, even if she was already aware of her mistake. If she had known any of that then she wouldn't have even considered it. "I will be," she said with solemn determination. "After that, after seeing that suit in the house… I might never leave home again." She rubbed over her face. "I'm so sorry, Mike."

"Everyone's allowed one or two big mistakes. At least you didn't try to kill one of us." Mike tried to reign the tone back in as he reached out to put an arm around her shoulders. "You're safe. That's all that matters."

"Will Mari be okay? If that… suit is as unstable as you said…"

"He'll be fine. Trust me, Mari's handled Springtrap before." But never alone, and he tried to not remember that. Though he tried even more so to not immediately run for the car. Marionette could handle this, and if he couldn't, well, then Mike knew exactly where Springtrap was going to be.

Henry's house was silent as Marionette appeared inside. He looked around Charlie's bedroom, where he had teleported in, and saw little difference from when they had been here last time. Everything was right where it had been, untouched, and he headed to the door. He silently nudged it open and looked out into the hallway. Still no sign of the rabbit animatronic, and he floated out silently, disappearing into the darkness as he listened carefully for any sign of the golden suit. Perhaps he had already fled, which was a terrifying thought.

It was only once he started to creep into the living room that he noticed things in disarray. A lamp had been knocked over and there were dirt stains on the floor. All the pillows had been pulled off the couch, which had dark stains on it. What was most concerning was the rearrangement of furniture. A bookshelf had been pushed in front of one of the windows and the TV stand and a few chairs had been stacked on the other. Along with the couch pillows to try and block the sun, as he now noticed. There was no doubt in his mind from this amount of progress that Springtrap had been here for a while.

"Could he have heard about what happened to Charlie and somehow knew the house was abandoned?" Marionette wondered as he looked around the room. He slowly turned in place as he looked over the walls of broken picture frames. Perhaps residual anger from Chance's attack, and Springtrap didn't even know how much Henry really was involved. "I don't think he would've left…"

It was then that he caught a small glimpse of something out of the corner of his vision. It was just the briefest shadow from the doorway and by time he looked over it was long gone. If not for a small 'thunk' following it, he could've believed it was a trick of the light. He cautiously moved over enough to see through the doorway and could see a kitchen and dining room past it. He slowly neared the doorway, weaving to the side to make sure nothing stood waiting on the other side. Once in the doorway he looked around to find the source of the noise.

Henry's kitchen was bigger than theirs was in sheer size. Against the right wall was another doorway to the hallway and between it and the doorway he was in was the table and chairs, which probably hadn't been used in years. There was a closet on the far side of the kitchen and lining up the left wall to it was the refrigerator, sink, and counters. The back right of the room had an indented corner and a china cabinet, but the sheer size of the rest of the space made up for it.

The source of the noise became apparent as soon as he noticed a small can of tomato paste wobbling on the tiled floor. From the ajar doors it seemed like it had fallen out of there and it occurred to him that Springtrap could be hiding in the closet right now. Slowly he started to float towards them, passing by a humming radio on the counter. Just loud enough that it was difficult to hear and gnawing at his audio receptors. He ignored it as turning it off could just tip off the other to him being there. He knelt and lifted the can before looking over it. It was just a can, nothing special.

Then he inched closer to the open doors. He tilted his head as he tried to look through the crack and started to reach for the doors carefully. It was just right as his hands reached the door that he realized he could see a washer and dryer inside, and no space for the burned rabbit to be. Springtrap wasn't inside, which meant he was somewhere else. He had a feeling that he knew where and why the can had just happened to roll out of nowhere to guide him towards the closet. Two could play this game.

Marionette threw open the doors and immediately teleported back to the doorway just in time to dodge a heavy toaster. It crashed onto the dryer and left a dent in the top. He looked towards the other doorway, where the toaster had been thrown from, and their eyes met. There was Springtrap, looking as broken and wild as ever, twitching madly.

The rabbit didn't even wait before he snatched up a chair and threw it at the Puppet, who dodged to the side easily. Unwilling to fight just yet, Marionette tried to talk him down, "Mich-." He was rewarded by a vase being flung at him next, crashing against the kitchen window and shattering both. There was that rationality that Mike tried to warn him about. "Michael!"

Springtrap came to an abrupt halt as though the name sunk in. His eyes opened more, he stared ahead, and it looked like he was starting to calm down. He grabbed ahold of the back of the chair beside him abruptly and Marionette braced himself, preparing himself for anything, but all Springtrap did was slump over the back of it. He looked exhausted and his twitching seemed less like a programming malfunction and instead like a short circuit somewhere. He really was broken somewhere.

Worse still, he had been broken and alone. He couldn't have been hiding here the entire time, which only concerned Marionette more. He could've been anywhere, and he could've sustained any amount of damage. The fire could've just been the beginning of whatever trials Springtrap had face. Marionette knew he had to help. The Puppet started to approach slowly and reached for what could've been his older brother.

Without warning, Springtrap spun around and swung the chair. It crashed into Marionette and knocked him out of the air and into the china cabinet. Plates and cups jostled and fell inside as the Puppet dropped to the floor, and Springtrap just watched him with the chair sagging in his grasp. When the striped one started to push itself upright, the golden rabbit readjusted its grip and raised the chair, prepared to strike again.

Marionette looked up with a glare and an unbroken mask. Above him the cabinet doors flew open with enough force that they broke off the small hook keeping them closed. That was the only warning before dishes started to fly out. Springtrap tried to shield himself before the chair but they kept coming, and they were coming fast. He backed up until he reached the doorway before he dropped the chair and bolted through. Large dinner plate smashed into the wall right where he just stood.

It was only once he was gone that the Puppet got himself off the floor. "That could've gone better," Marionette thought. His annoyance, mostly caused by his soreness, was quickly overtaken by regret. "And here is that fight Mike was worrying about… It's not too late. I'll just… I'll find a way to restrain him and maybe I can try to talk him down." Part of him knew this plan would backfire, but it was the only thing he knew to do.

If Springtrap wouldn't listen on his own, then Marionette would have to force him to listen.

Marionette entered the doorway before immediately darting to the side when the heavy television was thrown at him. Springtrap looked back to the other door in the living room just in time to see the Puppet spring at him. Pop Goes the Weasel blared as Marionette grabbed his shoulders, hooked his legs around him, and proceeded to start forcing his strings into the animatronic's body. The golden rabbit flailed back and fought with a grunt, running into the tower of furniture and knocking it over with a loud clatter.

As the strings wound into the endoskeleton underneath the scarred fabric the two began to fight for control. Springtrap could feel the possession beginning and grew frantic, stumbling around, and eventually forced the Puppet off just enough to grab the strings. Bundling them in his hands, he got a tight grip and swung the slender animatronic upwards into the ceiling fan, breaking off one of the blades. He expected the Puppet to fall right back down and strike, but instead he stayed on the ceiling. He positioned his limbs like spider legs, clinging to the roof, and prepared to strike.

It was at this point that Springtrap decided to get distance and made a break for the living room doorway while trying to yank out the strings. Marionette crawled across the ceiling after him and as soon as the rabbit stumbled into the hall he pounced. Springtrap was ready for him, turning and catching him at his middle with every intention to regain the upper hand. If not for him stepping back not against the wall but against the master bedroom door, which must've not been shut all the way. Both collapsed through it with Springtrap landing on his back and Marionette rolling off and back up in an instant.

Marionette was hunched aggressively, music still playing in warning, but with the brief pause in the fight he allowed the rabbit time to reconsider. Springtrap got up slower than expected and it was only when he swayed while standing that it became apparent that one of his legs was damaged. A pang of worry was swallowed by frustration; Springtrap knew who he was and had to remember what they went through, so his determination to fight was maddening. Marionette looked up from the leg and locked eyes with the golden rabbit.

Springtrap gave a violent seize as something inside short-circuited, tightening his fists and riding through it. Marionette stood his ground and stared back. Slowly his music began to wind down as he waited for the other to do something. Which he did, as he looked to the side and noticed a standing lamp right beside the dresser. He grabbed for it, fingers tightening around the pole, and was about to rip it toward him- no doubt this would trigger Marionette to defend himself- when a new noise started to grow.

Sirens quickly overtook the sound of the music box music. Springtrap looked past the Puppet and his eyelids raised in genuine alarm, for he could see the red and blue lights of a police car outside. Marionette spun around and saw it as well but looked back just as quickly when he heard the rabbit's thundering footsteps. Springtrap bolted from the bedroom and barreled down the hallway. Almost like he was heading towards the backdoor. If he ran out of the house now then he would surely be seen, and that was a horrifying thought.

"Wait!" Marionette called. He floated down the hall after him just in time to see Springtrap bolting for the backdoor and fumbling with the lock. "I don't want to fight you. If you go out there, they will see you."

Springtrap opened the door and threw himself through without listening. The damaged rabbit ran around the back of the house with the puppet in pursuit and then threw open a couple of doors that looked like they led into a basement. The doors looked partially broken, almost like something had broken into them already. Or out of them. The animatronic dropped himself down on the stairs, landing heavily and staggering, and then disappeared into the darkness of the basement. He made no attempt to close the doors behind him even though he seemed to be hiding, allowing Marionette to follow.

Henry's basement was dark and smelled stagnant. It looked like there was an old workshop kept in it and a few unfinished endoskeletons and parts were scattered around. Blueprints littered the floor around a work desk, having been knocked off at some point. The dust on them suggested that it wasn't recently. Marionette focused in on one that looked like an early design of his own body but was stopped when he heard a heavy dragging sound. He headed further into the darkness, past a few tilted shelves and stacked storage, and eventually found an entrance into a crawlspace.

In the back of the crawlspace was Springtrap. He was knelt amongst boxes, stacked newspapers, flyers, and a heavy wooden chest that he had clearly drug out of the way. The Puppet watched in surprise as the suit suddenly pulled up a metal hatch from the floor and dropped down inside feet first. Marionette rushed forward and looked down into the hatch, catching one last glimpse of the broken ears before Springtrap disappeared somewhere underneath. All he could hear of him were footsteps that faded away. Springtrap had escaped down the rabbit hole.

Marionette decided not to immediately follow and instead looked around at the entranceway. There was a metal ladder bolted to the side of the shaft- he guessed that Springtrap just slid down it- but other than that there was nothing to explain the secret tunnel. Henry shouldn't have had something like this hidden under his house. It was only once remembering the basement door that Marionette made a startling revelation: "He used the tunnel to get inside… How many of these are there?"

Any further thoughts were dashed as he heard footsteps and voices from above. The police had entered the house and were now wandering around inside. Soon they would find the basement doors and even if he shut them, they would notice them being broken. Then they would find this hatch. As much as he didn't like to get involved in hiding things from Freddy's, they couldn't afford to know about this tunnel. Springtrap surely had another way out, so Marionette made his decision and pushed the heavy chest back over the hatch. He struggled with it only a little.

Then, while the unaware policemen continued looking over the scene upstairs, Marionette teleported back home. He appeared in Charlie's bedroom, where she and Mike were sitting on the bed waiting. As soon as he appeared, Mike raised his head and was washed in relief. He inwardly mocked himself for being so concerned.

"There you are. What happened?" Mike asked immediately. He looked over his mask. "No cracks, good. But no Springtrap either, so I'm guessing you couldn't find him."

"No, I found him… And admittedly, you were right. He was acting strange and we got into a little scuffle. I think he might've been injured; he was limping and seizing like it," Marionette explained. The human gave him a knowing look.

"What exactly counts as a scuffle?" he asked bluntly, flatly, already knowing.

The striped one was shamefaced and got a small smile out of awkwardness. He glanced towards Charlie apologetically and admitted, "We destroyed most of the living room… And parts of the kitchen."

"Thank God the bathroom was spared?" Charlie offered. She didn't seem concerned about it. It wasn't as though she still lived there, though she would've been more upset to have heard that one of the bedrooms had been damaged.

"How did you pull that off without a scratch on you?" Mike asked in disbelief. Marionette gave a simple shrug; he would rather not list the minor bumps and bangs. "And what about Springtrap? Is he still over there?"

"Right, well… The cops showed up. I'm guessing one of the neighbors heard us and called. So, he- No, they didn't see me. Don't give me that look. Springtrap escaped through a hatch in the basement. It was almost like an escape hatch, or one of the vents at Freddy's or ARI, and I think he might've used it to get to the house. I made sure to cover it so the cops wouldn't see." Marionette got an unnerved look as he squeezed his hands together in worry, wringing them. "But secret tunnels doesn't sound like Henry, does it? It sounds like something William made…"

Marionette gave a low and somber chime. "I hope Michael will be alright. I shouldn't have fought back."

Mike was more than prepared to remind Marionette that it wasn't his fault, but it was then that he remembered something. Something about vents and tunnels, but instead of being from someone like Springtrap or Chance, or even one of the other workers, it was something that Ennard had said. The brief bit of the conversation came back slowly.

"Wait a minute…" the security guard began, slowly standing from the bed. "Ennard said something about secret passages leading into the sewer. That night that we were out driving he mentioned that there's one between the sewer and ARI, and he pretty much said there were more. If there's a hatch leading under the ground and it just happens to go to Henry's house, then it was probably something William was behind." It all clicked at once as he and Marionette locked eyes, mutually understanding the severity of this. "And chances are Michael would've known about them."

There were a few moments of silence before Charlie shuddered. "Which means William had access to the house the whole time… Is that why Aunt Jen didn't want me in the house?" They doubted that she had even known, and part of Charlie didn't believe it either. "What do we do now?"

"Tomorrow I'm going over to Scott's and grilling Ennard. That 'ha ha, don't remember!' thing isn't going to cut it either. He's going to talk one way or another," Mike said. He kept a straight face as he mimicked his voice and gave an exaggerated 'Ennard-like' shrug. Marionette could not, even in these circumstances. He barely managed to keep his smile small and pressed a hand to his chest to stifle any chimes. "Which means we might be looking at a bribe. I'm just going straight for the cupcakes smothered in ketchup."

"Oh yes, that will work," Marionette quipped playfully. He then sobered up a bit. "I don't think Ennard would cover for him so we shouldn't have any trouble. We should keep an eye out tonight. I don't think Michael would come here, but he knows the house is here and we haven't been keeping up on the crawlspace." They seemed to be in agreement with everything planned. With only one thing left unfinished.

"Mari, I'm sorry. This is my fault. I was out there because I was trying to take a letter to my old friends, and it all spiraled out of control," Charlie apologized. He looked surprised for a moment, but then, unlike Mike, he looked sympathetic instead of scolding.

"I'm guessing since you ended up at the house it didn't go so well?" The Security Puppet looking away and this answered his question for him. "I noticed that recently your friends were appearing at the pizzeria more frequently. I knew something was going on… They didn't see you, did they?"

"Jason might've," Mike offered. Marionette seemed largely unconcerned.

"Jason saw me when we rescued him from Magictime and didn't tell anyone. I think we can trust that he wouldn't do anything drastic," Marionette pointed out. He noticed Charlie's continued somberness and gave her an assuring smile. "I'm sorry it didn't work out, but at least you got home safely. I'm much more concerned about your wellbeing." Knowing what she did now, she could've honestly believed it too.

"Mari…" Charlie was going to apologize again. He knew it and didn't need to hear it. Before she could, he moved in and pulled her abruptly into a tight embrace. She was neither surprised nor upset by it and leaned into his grasp. "Mari, you don't have to try and comfort me. I'll be alright," she assured even though his hold was familiar and reassuring.

"I know," he said with a light chime and without pulling away. It just felt better holding her close and knowing at least she was alright, so he wouldn't dwell as much as the one who got away. If he could've taken back some of tonight, then he would've. He didn't have to ask to know she felt similarly.

Seeing that the two of them looked alright for the moment and needing something to do, Mike pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. "I'm going to go call Fritz and Jeremy and give them a head's up on all of this. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." He started to dial Fritz's number and soon got through to him to which he began explaining the events of the night. Charlie was half listening to him when Marionette gave another reassuring squeeze.

"You're safe now. As long as Mike and I are here, we're going to keep you safe. I promise," the Puppet said in a soothing and soft tone. Even with the events of the night, with seeing the horrible suit and confronting her old friends, Charlie didn't have trouble believing it. Or she just needed to believe it to ignore sinking feeling in her chest. Either way, she would be keeping close to Marionette tonight.

His warmth was needed after being under that cold gaze.

Mable: A good idea to stay home when you're contending with unpredictable animatronics. Anyway, sorry again about the late post, and I hope you enjoyed!