Almost Feels Like Home
Chapter Ninety-Eight
Scott trusted Ennard with his life. Maybe he didn't want to go on Ennard's opinion alone for every decision, but in situations like this where he wasn't capable of thinking straight and lives were on the line, he knew he could count on the amalgam. Yet he found himself second guessing this decision once he was staring down into the abysmally dark manhole. Even though Ennard went first to prove the ladder would hold, Scott still felt just as uneasy to climb down into the dank pit.
The smell of stagnant water wafted up from the hole and yet Scott knew it probably wouldn't have smelled that tolerable if it wasn't still raining. Though he could already guess the tunnel would be flooded, which wouldn't be good for Ennard. He had to be extremely careful about how shallow water was and then get dry quickly to avoid rust. He was assured some liability just climbing down into the tunnel.
Because of this, Scott couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure about this?" Ennard looked up from the sewers. His blue and yellow eyes glowed from the darkness curiously and he noticed the man's distress.
"Don't worry! I know it looks scary, but I've been through these tunnels dozens of times! There's nothing down here, trust me. Not even rats… Watch, I'll say that and then suddenly some funky rat robot will crawl up looking for a fight." Ennard giggled, trying to be convincingly carefree to ease the man's mind, and reached up towards him. "Come on down. I'll make sure you don't fall."
Scott took a deep breath and looked around to make sure nobody was there to see. They had gotten too lucky with the lack of cars tonight and he knew he was pressing that luck by waiting. He tried to still his nerves as he started to climb down into the sewer, only pausing on the ladder so that he could pull the heavy manhole cover back into place. Halfway down the ladder, his good foot slipped on the slick metal and he nearly fell. He caught himself, but so did Ennard who was still guiding him down.
"Careful! You don't want to lose your step and fall into any of the gunk down here, ha ha! That's an easy way to catch the plague, rats or not," Ennard teased as he helped coax him down.
"Thanks, uh… I think I rather not," Scott agreed as he stepped down. He turned towards the clown but seemed to avoid looking directly at him, almost uncomfortably. Ennard had noticed that he had been acting a little strange but assumed it was anxiousness and was somewhat assured it was when the man started looking down the tunnels with seeming paranoia. "Are you… Sure you know where to go?"
"I'll figure it out pretty quick! Don't you worry about a thing. Worst case scenario: I do get lost and we're forced to peek out up top to see where we are. Isn't like I'm gonna get us trapped down here," Ennard tried to comfort. He patted the man's back soothingly as he began to lead him down the tunnel. Thankfully, even with the heavy rain there was only a few inches of water in the section of tunnel they were in.
As they made it to the larger tunnels, where cement walkways allowed them to avoid wading in the water, Ennard noticed out of the corner of his eye that he was being watched. Scott had been doing this since they left the van and the clown was starting to become a little uneasy from it. He was looking at him like he barely knew him, just like he had after the van wreck, just after his possession.
The thought that he was still under someone else's control disturbed Ennard. He kept his cool and covered up his suspicions as he decided to do some tender prodding.
"Scooottie, you're staring again,~" Ennard teased in a singsong tone. He gave a playful wink. "So, I'm guessing you dig the new color choice. If I knew it'd get ya this spellbound, I would've switched eyes ages ago!"
"J-Just as long as you didn't have to get yourself shot to do it," Scott tried to joke. Though his concern still crept through. "Speaking of which, does it still hurt?"
"Nah! Feels good as new!... Just having a little trouble keeping 'em lined up, so if I start drifting you're gonna have to tell me," Ennard joked. Scott gave a strained chuckle and there was an awkward silence that followed. It was quiet save the dull sound of rushing and dripping water echoing down the cement shaft. It sounded at least like Scott was acting normal, so Ennard's concern was minimized enough to return to the task at hand.
It felt like they walked halfway across the city but considering that Mike's house wasn't too far away it couldn't have been much over a mile. Though it was hard to judge in these shifting tunnels. Scott was just as uneasy. He would stay close to Ennard and when the amalgam would touch him or brush him, trying to comfort him, the man would seem a little more hesitant than usual. Finally, he had to address it.
"Hey, Scott… You trust me, right?" he asked, preparing to lead into further questioning.
"Sure, I do. I wouldn't have come down here if I didn't," Scott pointed out. The sentiment almost took the clown off guard and he gave a light giggle. "…Why?"
"Ha ha, don't worry about it! Just noticed you were looking a little nervous… Buuut I guess that's, you know, pretty understandable considering what we're up against…" Ennard's voice started to fall as he slowed to a stop. "I couldn't even protect you in the van… How am I supposed to keep you safe down here?" He stared distantly into the darkness as the realization sunk in. It had possessed Scott out of nowhere; it could again.
"I… I can't," Ennard said quietly as his guised voice crumbled. "I c-can't keep you safe…"
Scott's face fell immediately. This was not what he had wanted at all. It was hard enough keeping his compositor with all that was going on- with what he was seeing- but now Ennard wasn't handling it well either. He took a deep breath and swallowed his dread. He knew what he had to do.
"Ennard, can I just… Can I ask you something?" Scott cautiously asked. Ennard turned to look at him and he forced himself to keep eye contact. "This is going to sound strange, but… What did you look like when you were a human?"
It threw Ennard through another loop. He got a slightly confused look on his face, as much of one as he could with his mask's permanent smile. "What? What's got you thinking about that?"
"It's just, I mean, since the accident…" Scott realized quickly that he couldn't tell him the truth right now. Not while he was so worried about everything else. "…Springtrap's been calling you Ben and I guess sometimes I wonder what Ben looked like." Ennard tilted his head slightly and the man rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just so weird for me… I always knew that you were human, but to think of you as a human… I kind of have to suspend my disbelief. It's like learning about a completely different person."
"You kinda hit the nail on the head with that one, Scott. I'm not exactly the same person anymore," Ennard said with a touch of amusement. "Believe me when I tell you that 'Ben' doesn't feel natural. It's just good having a name Michael feels happy with, cause I remember him. I just don't remember me… Any of me," he clarified. "I don't have the foggiest idea what I looked like."
"Oh, uh… Right…" Scott said awkwardly.
"Why?" Ennard pressed. "Why's that important now?"
This wasn't where Scott ever thought he was going to do something like this. Stuck in a sewer system trying to outrun a threat he couldn't see while his friends were all in jeopardy; it wasn't the ideal place to spill his guts and try to sort through the gory details afterwards. But if the incident in the van showed him anything, it was that his time was finite.
"It could happen again. I could be possessed at any moment. I could die anytime! A-And nobody would find me. Only Ennard, but he- what would he even do?" The thoughts were painful and just what Scott needed to swallow his fear. "I can't keep putting this off. I can't keep pretending it's not happening. I'm lying to him every day. That's… That's worse than any sin I'm going to commit. I'm going to die anyways."
Scott steadied his breath and looked up to Ennard. So inquisitive, so curious and concerned, so human and it was only now confronted with it that he finally realized what he had to do. "Ennard, I love you."
"I love you too, Scott," Ennard chirped quickly to ease him. Scott ran a hand through his hair anxiously.
"No, that's… That's not what I mean…" He slowly let his hand drop to his side as he confessed. "I mean I love you. More than just… I'm in love with you, a-and it's been so long since I've ever felt something even close to this, and I've just been so afraid to say anything because then it's real and then… Then it might hurt… Again." Just saying it out loud seemed to make it all too real. Overwhelming, really. "But I can't… If I die tonight, I can't die knowing that I never told you."
He wasn't sure what he expected from Ennard. The initial staring in shock was sort of a given, but from that point could go anywhere. It didn't matter how much affection Ennard through on him, how many playful flirtations he shared, if he was just pretending that to go along with his carefully crafted character then this would be the end of the game.
"…Do you really mean that?" Ennard asked. His voice was quiet and low. "Think about it, Scott. Is this your fear talking, or do you really mean it?"
"I'm not going to pretend that I'm not afraid, a-and I'm not even going to act like I would've got up the nerve to say any of this if we weren't looking at impending death, but, uh… Yeah." Scott met his gaze again and assured with the same sincerity. "Yeah, I mean it."
Another long pause. Then Ennard slowly reached forwards and laid his hands on Scott's shoulders. He was just as slow and cautious as he gently guided him closer. Scott knew what was coming and felt a tingling prickly of excitement along the back of his neck right before the mask's mouth pressed to his. He couldn't understand why he had such an instant, pleasured reaction from what was such an abnormal kiss.
His hands were shaking as he reached up to touch over the mask. It was so much more intimate than any light kiss beforehand. He guided open one of the lower plates of the clown's mask and pressed his lips against his metal teeth, under his mask, where he wasn't supposed to touch. Then again, he wasn't supposed to touch anywhere. Arguably everything he was doing was wrong in some way or another.
But Scott was tired of restraining himself when the world continued to batter him. Maybe he earned that much.
Ennard held him securely, almost like he was afraid something would rip him away and rested his head atop his. "I love you too, Scott. More than anyone else ever could, human or not, cross my heart," Ennard said. His voice lowered to a whisper. "And I'm going to keep you safe. I promise." Scott was somewhat surprised at how easily he believed him and closed his eyes as he hugged back.
Because when he closed his eyes, he could feel his wires and ignore the hallucination of the eviscerated human smiling at him. Human or not, it was still Ennard, and he still felt the same.
Unfortunately, it wasn't able to last long. Eventually Ennard was forced to draw back and with a much lighter tone encouraged, "Come on, we're almost there! We keep moving like this and we'll be there in no time." Scott chose to believe this too and allowed Ennard to lead him by the hand through the tunnels. It was easier to ignore the hallucinations now.
When they did finally make it to the hatch that led up into Mike's basement, Scott was exhausted and Ennard was becoming more wary. He shuddered as he opened it, which looked like it had once had a padlock.
"Ugh, you hear that? I can hear it from all the way down here. That… Buzzing noise," the amalgam complained in distaste. He started to climb into the niche, which was tighter than any of the vents from today. Scott followed behind once the clown bellycrawled far enough that he could follow. "I hate that noise. Sounds a lot like that thing that they had at the fake Freddy's, except instead of making me want to come look around it makes me want to hightail it as fast as I can. Wonder if that's on purpose."
The tunnel ended in a vertical shaft with a flimsy looking metal ladder bolted to the wall. Ennard shook the bottom rung to make sure it was sturdy before beginning to climb upwards. He was only a few rungs up before he stopped in place. "Hey… Something's up. Literally."
"What? Do you see something?" Scott asked in paranoia as he tried to look past. "Please don't be bodies. Please, please don't be bodies…"
"That noise… It's different," Ennard said with a wince. "Still giving me one heck of a headache, but that's something else. Not doing anything to me but if I start acting goofy smack me around a bit."
"That's going to be a little hard from down here," Scott lightly joked. The clown giggled and continued up to the hatch. He opened it and met the wood of the dresser on the other side. Not detoured, he began to pushing against it, working his legs up to press against the other side of the shaft to get more leverage. The dresser began to slowly scrape along the floor as it pushed away and he was able to look into the room.
It looked like it was hit by a twister.
The worktable against the back wall had been knocked over and pushed out away from the wall, sending a mess of papers, blueprints, tools, and whatever else onto the floor. Much to his surprise, some of the paneling on the wall underneath where the table had been looked almost ripped out, revealing a large dark square in the wall.
Ennard crept out of the hatch and kept knelt to the ground as he did a quick once over of the room. There was nothing else here clearly, but he did notice some suspicious claw marks on the open door. The sound from the basement was wearing on him but he held out long enough to reach into the shaft. He caught Scott's hand and helped him climb out and only dared to stand while Scott was closing the hatch.
"What happened in here…?" Scott asked uneasily. His eyes landed on the opening in the wall and he felt an uneasy feeling crawl up his spine. When Ennard took a step towards it, he tried to stop him. "Wait, don't."
"It's okay. If there's anything in there it wouldn't be this quiet unless it was dead," Ennard assured.
"That's what I'm afraid of…" Scott kept his worries to himself and the amalgam patted his arm before continuing over. He crouched before the opening before starting to lean in.
What Ennard found was strange and slightly disturbing. There was another room hidden behind the opening, perhaps only as big as the other basement room was, but it looked like it was completely empty except for some boxes in the corner. Almost like something had been hidden away in here. When Ennard looked at the wall above the opening he realized it was actually a sealed-up door, except the upper portion had been boarded up securely and the lower portion seemed barely covered with paneling.
"O-kay, I'm just gonna get out of here…" Ennard pulled back out and winced as the buzzing hit him again. He then pointed to the modem in the corner. "That's it right there. That's what's making that noise."
"What did you see?" Scott asked uneasily.
"I know what you're thinking, and no. It was practically empty. Unless Willie was keeping his victims in itty bitty cardboard boxes, that wasn't what he was keeping in there," Ennard remarked. He then hesitated for a long moment before pointing to the door. "Which is now upstairs somewhere and is probably the reason Mike's not answering his phone."
They both were getting a picture of what was happening in the house and it was a disturbing one. Ennard started to head to the door and Scott followed along. This time their roles were reversed, and it was the amalgam who stopped the man at the door.
"You're probably gonna want to stay down here while I go check this out. If there's something out there then it's probably gonna get hairy," Ennard tried to direct him. He leaned forward and pressed the mouth of his mask to Scott's cheek. "And if anything happens to me… Drag the remains home. I'll put myself back together later."
"Don't joke like that, Ennard."
"I'm not?" Ennard was beaming as best as he could, Scott was completely unamused. "Alright, alright, I'm just gonna look around. You just stay here, okay?" Scott reluctantly agreed and watched from the door as Ennard climbed the stairs and peered out of the open trapdoor.
From the state of the kitchen it was clear that whatever it was had come through here. Listening closely Ennard could tell right where it went too, the hallway. There was a dull scraping sound and only once he was halfway out of the trapdoor did he hear a strange, moaning, sobbing sound. Or perhaps just a slow, labored laugh. He couldn't really tell. He cautiously stepped towards the hallway and looked down it.
That was when he first saw the nightmarish Fredbear. Even from behind he could recognize the shape as being like the ones they had seen in the facility, save that it was older and more worn. Like it had crawled its way out of that secret room. Ennard crept a little closer and got a better look at what it was doing, realizing it was fixated on the door to Charlie's room. The others had to be in there.
It was then that he heard something creeping up behind him. Ennard stayed still and stared up ahead as he listened to the footsteps of something that was clearly an animatronic and not human. Then felt a hand grab onto his arm and reacted instantly, grabbing its wrist with the other hand and delivering a jolt.
It was only when he heard the garbled cry and heard the painful clattering of springlocks that he realized his mistake and looked back to see Springtrap.
Ennard let out a mechanical choke, horrified at the accident, and Springtrap recovered enough to glare at him. The clown gave an apologetic shrug and the rabbit gave him a brief punch in the bicep, showing his annoyance while keeping the noise minimal. Except that neither were taking into consideration that the noise during the short controlled shock had been much louder. Anything could've heard it, but Springtrap had seen earlier how fixated Fredbear was on getting through that door. It was willing to ignore everything else it had seemed.
Or, at least, it had seemed that way. Until they heard another long groan from down the hallway. Except this wasn't the bellow of its voice, but the guttural scraping of metal as the massive bear turned its head and body to face them. Its dull eyes suddenly illuminated in bright red as it changed focus and then began to pound down the hall after them.
It was moving slow and both animatronics were quick enough to get back into the living room and kitchen. Springtrap was quick to snatch up a kitchen chair and kick the front door shut, readily preparing for a fight, while Ennard hurried to the pantry where Scott was still standing on the stairs looking out.
"Did you see it?" Scott asked in growing dread. He got his answers at the heavy footsteps closing in. "Oh geez, what do we do?"
"Mind moving back a bit?" Ennard asked. Scott took a step back down the stairs. "Thank you!~" the clown chirped before quickly shutting the trapdoor over him. He turned back to Springtrap. "What's the plan?"
"Take down the bear…" Springtrap answered as he hoisted the chair. "And make sure it stays down."
Right on time, Nightmare Fredbear came around corner to the hallway and began to close in. Its eyes were stuck on Springtrap, its claws raised forward in a grabbing motion, and its sharp teeth spread wide as a flurry of horrific noises echoed from its depths. Springtrap swallowed any fear and took his first swing…
Mike was becoming more antsy as the minutes ticked on. So, when Baby suddenly raised her head to look at the door, he noticed and looked over as well. "What's up?" he asked.
"I heard something…" Baby listened closer and soon she heard something else. This time she was able to pinpoint what it was. "Freddy's leaving… It sounded electrical, the first noise. Freddy's going after whatever it was… Maybe it was a taser?"
"Then it might've been Scott or Jeremy. Or someone found my taser. Don't unblock that door until we're sure," Mike said. Baby didn't intend to and so didn't argue it. This didn't make the security guard feel any better and he started to pace again, only to stop when his eyes landed on Marionette. The puppet hadn't moved an inch since he began to attempt the possession and Mike was starting to become uneasy. "What do you think, should I play it safe and try to wake him up?"
"But he hasn't fixed Charlie yet. Is that not the whole point?" Baby asked. She could just tell from how twitchy Mike was getting that he wasn't listening to her. "There's not even been any signs that anything is wrong."
"I don't like this silence. I don't like how… limp he looks," Mike pointed out. Baby turned back to the dresser to prop herself up once again, much less concerned and clearly still disagreeing. It made Mike wonder if he was overreacting and looking for a reason to pull Marionette back out. "She's right. He's doing this to save Charlie. If I pull him out too soon then I might blow the whole thing," he mentally warned himself.
Mike exhaled wearily as he resolved himself to holding out longer. Marionette needed him to do that much, so he would, and reached out to lay a hand gently on the puppet's back to perhaps comfort him through.
Suddenly the world distorted into a melted mess of colors, sounds, and a piercing headache like a knife through the skull.
Mike yanked his hand back with a swear and staggered away from the bed. His hand clutched his head as the pain slowly receded away. By time it was under control enough for him to question it, Baby had turned around and was now looking at him, but he barely noticed. He just stared at the limp puppet in disbelief.
"What… Was that?" Mike asked slowly with dread.
He knew what it felt like at least. The pain was like the ache he used to have when Marionette would communicate with him telepathically, except much more painful and intrusive. The vision- whatever it was had been too blurry to recognize- reminded him of the one time he had been shown the memory of Henry and Burke. Except it wasn't the gentle guidance of Marionette this time, but something more intrusive and overwhelming.
"What happened?" Baby asked as she looked between him and Marionette. "I didn't see, what happened?"
"I put my hand on him and suddenly I just…" He made an explosive gesture at his head, trying to somehow describe the sensation. He stared long and hard at the kneeling puppet and realized his earlier suspicions were right. This wasn't a normal possession. "…Something's wrong."
"…Is he possessed too?" Baby asked. Her voice sounded surprisingly worried as she began to feel concern towards her slumped sibling. "Wake him up. We can try again; wake him up now."
Mike was very much considering it at this point, but he wasn't even sure how to accomplish that without touching him. One touch and the headache, blurry images, and noises would return, and he wasn't exactly confident in his ability to continue maneuvering while bombarded by that. Right before he was about to go ahead and grab for the puppet, he had a thought.
"Wait a minute… This happened before," he realized. "Yeah, wait. That night when Marionette woke up panicked. I grabbed him and could hear the programming. "Give Gifts, Give Life"… Is this something like that?" That, mixed with the vision the puppet once showed him, suddenly made him a lot more curious. "…What if that's what he's seeing?" If it was then maybe Mike could see it too. He made up his mind and reached out. His hand hovered over the puppet's back as he took a deep breath. "I'm going in."
With that he clasped his hand back on Marionette's back and tried to withstand the headache. Except it was more than that. All at once all his senses were washed out. Blurred, blinded, and deafened, his hand slipped and fell onto the puppet's leg where he reflexively held on as the color distorted his vision and his own legs gave out. The last thing he felt was a falling sensation and his cheek hitting the comforter.
…
And then Mike was standing in the bedroom alone. He blinked and shook his head, the headache having faded strangely quickly, and looked down at the bed. Both Marionette and Charlie were gone. He looked towards the bedroom door to find that Baby was gone too, and the dresser was back in its normal position.
"What just happened?" Mike asked out loud. There was no answer. The room and house were deathly quiet, and even the sound of rain on the roof had faded out to nothing. He also noticed something seemed off about the coloring in the room. The lamp seemed tinted and only lit part of the corner beside it instead of the entire room. When Mike took a step forwards, he noticed that something felt fuzzy in his movements.
"What did I get myself into this time?" he muttered as he headed for the door. He opened it easily and stepped out into a hallway. Not their hallway, but a hallway that stretched long past where he could see. It was nearly pitch black in the hall with small glimpses of light from unknown sources. "…Apparently the Twilight Zone. What the hell?"
Mike lifted his flashlight- he couldn't remember how long he was holding it- and shined it down the hallway. It was now that he noticed that the floor was a black and white checker pattern, matching the floors from Freddy's. He sobered up quickly as he realized something was terribly wrong here. This hallway was a dead ringer for the ones down at the Freddy's he had worked at. Slowly he started to walk down it, scanning the walls and noticing a couple of doors.
At the end of the hall was a closed security door. The one that would normally lead into his old office. He looked in the window and shined the light inside, and sure enough it was an exact replica of his office from when he was working there. The fan was even on and everything, though the monitors weren't throwing off any light. The other security door was also closed tight.
"So, wait, this is a Freddy's," Mike clarified as he stepped back and looked around. "Or part of a Freddy's. I was trying to see- so if I'm seeing what Mari's seeing, then he's seeing this Freddy's, and that's what Charlie's seeing too?" It all seemed so confusing and he started back down the hallway towards the other doors. "Am I even awake anymore?" He tried to pinch himself and felt very little. "I don't know, maybe."
Now he had two options. Two identical doors sitting opposite from each other in the hallway. They looked almost identical, and uncomfortably like bedroom doors instead of pizzeria doors. He looked between them, then shined the light in between them in a quick game of 'Eenie Meenie' before deciding on the door on the wall across from the office. Just in case the other just led to the other hallway. He opened the door slowly and let the light enter the room before he did.
"Hello, hello?" he called. His voice echoed into the next room before seemingly being absorbed by the darkness. He sent one last wary look at the door back to Charlie's bedroom before continuing through.
The next room was odd. It almost looked like another Freddy's hallway and office, except this office had an open entryway that led directly into the hallway. While he couldn't recognize the room outright, he had a suspicion that it was the Freddy's that Fritz and Jeremy worked at. He slowly walked past more doors and into the office, around the desk, and looked at what laid out on top of it. Monitors, another working fan, a phone, the controls to the monitors, just the things expected to be on the desk.
The phone had a tiny flashing light signaling that there was a message left on it. Mike considered whether it was worth risking it before exhaling with a huff and pressing the button. There was a static sound for a few seconds before the phone clicked and began to play its message.
"There's a music box over by the Prize Counter, and it's rigged to be wound up remotely. It doesn't seem to affect all of the animatronics, but it does affect… One of them." That was Scott's voice on the line, but Mike knew it was a recording from the tone alone. There was a clicking sort of noise and a stutter as the phone seemed to suddenly switch recordings. "I'll be honest, I never liked that puppet thing. It's always… Thinking. And it can go anywhere…"
"Including the Nexus of the Universe," Mike muttered under his breath. The tape skipped again.
"I don't think a Freddy mask will fool it so just don't forget the music box. Don't forget the music box. Don't forget the music box," the recording continued to repeat. It was only after the third time that he realized the tape was skipping and that Scott hadn't just repeated himself that many times. The recording shifted again and with it so did Scott's tone. Those false assurances and fake optimism was suddenly stunted as the next words came out. "I think he knows that I know… I think he knows I saw, and… I'm going to have to quit. I just- I hope he lets me go."
There was something hopeless in his voice. Then, right on cue, it switched to the worst possible recording that could've followed. Mike physically winced when he heard it start up.
"Uh, hey, listen. I may not be around to send you a message tomorrow. It's- It's been a bad night here for me. Um, I-I'm kind of glad that I recorded my messages for you… Uh, when I did. Uh, hey, do me a favor. Maybe sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits in the back room? I'm gonna to try to hold out until someone checks. Maybe it won't be so bad. Uh, I-I-I-I always wondered what was in all those empty heads back there. You know... Oh, no."
That was where it was supposed to end. That was where the tape shuts off and Scott's final call dies. Except, much to Mike's confusion and disturbance, it didn't end there.
The call kept playing and he heard the fighting and scuffling, banging as things knocked off the desk and an office chair tipped over, and eventually the faded pleadings as Scott begged for help, to be spared, but received no mercy. It was too much, and Mike quickly pressed the button to end the message.
"The tape was supposed to shut off. How is the rest of that-?" Mike's question was cut off by the phone beginning to ring. He paused a long moment wondering if it was worth taking the bait before he accepted his fate and answered the phone. He lifted the receiver to his ear cautiously. "Uh… Hello, hello?"
The noises on the other side of the line were no less than horrifying. It was a wheezing, moaning, gasping sound as someone struggled to breath through obvious damage. Scott moaning in pain from inside the suit.
Mike slammed the phone back down and stood there alone in the office. It suddenly seemed so much darker and more threatening in the office. The man ran a hand through his hair as he looked down at the controls again, wondering if he could turn the monitors on and if they would somehow tell him where to go. His eyes locked onto a button on the control panel that had a music note on it. Considering that the Phone Guy mentioned the music box numerus times, he assumed that was what it did.
"Huh… Wonder if this is a sign or something," Mike mumbled as he eyed the button. Cautiously, he pressed it and heard a cranking noise from somewhere. It would up until it stopped cranking entirely, there was a click like the sound of a door opening, and he released the button. Immediately the soft lull of a music box called into the office from the hallway, it sounded like Marionette's. "Did a door just open?"
Mike headed back into the hallway to find that one of the bedroom doors had been opened and that the music was coming from it. He slowly opened the door and looked inside. Another cramped room that looked like a mix of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and his own house. Swallowing any dread, he headed through.
Each room was slightly different but looked uncomfortably similar to the one before. There was no other sound except for the gentle trill of the music box calling for him. Once he found a short hallway full of doors that almost looked like the one in his home, trying each door until he found the one where the music was coming from. He stepped through and right into a breakroom that looked like it came from an older, nicer Freddy's. Occasionally he heard something like a creaking or a door closing behind him but saw nothing.
Finally, he found the source of the music. He walked through yet another door and found himself in a more spacious room. This one was more disoriented than the others. In one corner was a creepy looking merry-go-round, present boxes were piled up everywhere, and there were dining room tables shoved into the back. The walls were covered in various signs and streamers. Some reading 'Celebrate!' or 'Party Time!' while others read 'Do not enter' and Danger!', effectively cancelling each other out.
But the source of the music box noise was located in the center of the room. There was a large box that looked like Marionette's sitting out in the open, except it looked larger than his own. Immediately Mike approached the box and tried to open it.
"Mari? Are you in there?" Mike called. He tried to open the flaps only to find them stuck tight. Maybe he was trapped inside, forced inside of his box inside of what might've been a waking nightmare, unable to free himself. Mike tried to fit his fingers under the flaps to force it open to no avail. "Are you there?! Can you hear me?!" He pounded his fist on the box. "Marionette!"
"Mike!"
Mike stopped short as he heard the call back. It was Marionette's voice answering him, but it hadn't come from the box. He turned away from the box and looked to the far wall on the left of the room, barely glimpsing a metal door behind a table stacked with presents. He cupped his hands over his mouth, "Marionette!"
"Miiike!"
That was definitely the puppet. Mike was both startled and relieved to hear him as he called again. "Stay where you are! I'm going to come find you!" His back was to the box and he was no longer paying attention to it, so he didn't hear the flaps open past his yelling. What he did here was a strange, wriggling, watery noise that started to creep up on him. "What's-?" He looked back.
Out of the now open box flowed a tangle of writhing black and white striped tentacles. The seized him quickly, snaring his arms and legs and trying to yank him in. He fought back against them, ripping his arms away only to have them snared again moments later, and was dragged to the floor and towards the box. He continued to fight, catching his feet on the box to try and hold himself back as they continued pulling at him. He got his arm free again and smashed against the ones holding his other with the flashlight.
"Get off of me!" Mike yelled as he continued fighting. He crawled back on the tiled floor, kicking and struggling until he wormed himself free. He then rolled over, scrambled to his feet, and bolted just in time to feel the tips ghosting over his back. He leapt over a mound of presents and through himself through the next heavy door, slamming it shut behind him.
This hallway was different. Mike noticed this while he tried to catch his breath against the door. The floors were still tiled, but now just a simple faux marble white. There were still pizzeria posters everywhere and even a riding rocket laying uselessly on its side nearby, but the walls were a full green, and the dim, buzzing lights weren't indicative of a Freddy's. It was like he had just walked out of the pizzeria and into a hospital. Slowly he pushed himself up off the door and flicked off his flashlight, no longer needing it.
He decided to bite the bullet and called again, "Marionette!"
Once again, there came a familiar voice travelling down the hallway. "Mike, where are you?!"
"I'm coming! Stay put!" Mike yelled back. He then charged down the hall with a newfound purpose, ignoring the door in the middle of the hall and instead going through the double doors at the end.
They swung open to reveal a room bigger than the one with the false puppet box, but it was hard to tell with all the curtained off sections. Typically, they would be hiding hospital beds, but he was skeptical considering that they matched the curtains in pirate's cove instead of what would be expected from a hospital.
"Where are you?" Mike called. He approached one of the curtains and drew it back only to reveal blackness and was forced to use his flashlight since the dim hospital light couldn't reach past the layers of curtains. All he found was a hospital bed, as expected, but with a headless endoskeleton laying in it. "Mari?"
"…How did you get here?" Marionette's voice came from further back in the room and now its tone changed entirely. It sounded hesitant and suspicious, and Mike couldn't blame him after what he witnessed earlier. The puppet must've seen worse; he must've been terrified.
"I'm not sure. I don't even know where here is," Mike admitted as he approached another curtain closer to the voice and opened it. Nothing in the bed this time. "I was back in Charlie's room with Baby and we were starting to get worried when you weren't waking up. When I touched you, I started seeing things, and I thought maybe it was the telepathy. So, I tried it again to see if I could see what was going on, and I think I passed out because I woke up here." Another bed, this one with an empty Toy Bonnie head in it. "Mari, where are you?"
"It really is you…" There was a shuffling in the curtains as Marionette began to hurry towards him. "Thank goodness! I thought it was another trick! I heard your voice earlier and it, well… It wasn't you."
"Yeah, I had a similar experience with a music box," Mike agreed. He even mustered a smile of relief as the curtain drew back. A smile that became stuck to his face as he stared in alarm at what stepped out from behind the curtains.
It wasn't a puppet. It was a gaunt, pale, and almost corpse-like human.
It looked emaciated. Not to the point of starvation, but definitely unhealthy, and the strange tinge to its skin reaffirmed this. It almost seemed to wobble out on unsteady legs fitted with nothing more than grey compression socks. A hospital gown hung off its form and its head was heavily bandaged, with brunette hair sticking out from between the layers of bandages. IV cords hung from its wrists, connected to nothing.
For a moment Mike thought this was another delusion from this place, but then the figure looked to him. Its eyes were half obscured by the bandages but they didn't hide the purple fluid leaking down from its eyes. They were stripes but natural tear marks, which only made it look uncanny. Inhuman, save the beaming smile underneath them as it looked at him. Mike recognized the face.
It was Marionette.
He limped over to Mike and quickly took him into a tight embrace. As shellshocked as Mike was, he pulled it together enough to hug back. Everything still felt numbed and yet he could feel the texture of the gown under his fingertips, feel the warmth coming from the human, but no breath. He noticed right away that Marionette was not breathing. He didn't have time to question it before the puppet- human- pulled back, hands still on his shoulders, and smiled once again.
"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," Marionette said. His smile started to falter but he struggled to keep it up. "... You really shouldn't be here, but… I'm glad you are. I could use your help. I haven't been able to find Charlie yet but I know she must be here. Somewhere in this labyrinth of memories." He was waiting for an answer, so Mike coerced himself to speak.
"Yeah…" Mike drew out. Unfortunately, not as convincing as he had hoped. The other slightly tilted his head questioningly but before he could ask, he noticed how the other was staring.
"You can see it too, can't you?" he guessed. Still smiling, but his tone already sounded exhausted.
"If it's you looking like a human, then yeah. I'm seeing it," Mike answered simply enough. Marionette dropped his head wearily.
"I might look different, but I assure you it's still me… Though to be honest, I never wanted you to see me like this. I definitely don't look…" Marionette turned his arm to look at the back of his wrist where the IV cables met his paled skin and grimaced at it. "…Right."
Maybe it was the situation at hand or maybe it was just because he had been afraid that he was going to lose his puppet, but Mike jumped in immediately. "Don't go saying that, you look fine. Just caught me off guard is all. But in a place like this, you could've come out looking completely normal and I'd still be off. You wouldn't believe what I ran into on the way over here," Mike assured.
Marionette cracked an amused smile. "Care to bet? Did it look like a hollowed out golden bear with blood all around its mouth?"
"…No, but thanks for warning me." As though it couldn't get any worse. "Guess it's a good thing I'm unconscious, because I'm not sleeping ever again after this," he muttered as he looked around and sighed. "What do we do now? I see a door back there, have you tried it?"
"That's where I came from. All the doors just lead back to the hospital room I woke up in. We're going to have to go back in your direction," Marionette said. Mike didn't like the sound of this but knew he was right, and the former puppet took his hand gently. "Let's go find our girl," he said with a small smile before guiding him back to the other door. It was harder for him to hide his unease.
Of course Mike noticed because he couldn't stop staring at Marionette. He wasn't sure if it was shock or what, but it just seemed so weird to see him as a human. Even that glimpse he had after the fire hadn't been this clear, and only now could he see the full resemblance with the pictures in their home, and even the family resemblance between him and Michael. As he opened the door, his hospital gown sleeve slid down slightly and revealed part of a black shirt, showing he was wearing some clothes underneath and made him feel less creepy in staring.
Marionette looked between the door in the middle of the hall and the one Mike had come through before looking back to his companion. "Which one?"
"The one down at the end but we're not going back that way. We'll have to take this one and hope it goes somewhere," Mike said. He then took a quick look at Marionette frail form and stepped forward. "Let me lead. We don't know what's in there," he offered. He opened the door a crack and shined the light through, revealing a dark stairwell waiting beyond. "Looks like it goes somewhere at least."
They cautiously stepped inside and looked around. It was the top of the stairwell so there was nowhere to go but down the steps, to which Mike continued leading the way. Marionette followed closely behind him and even hooked his arm around Mike's, keeping them as close as he could. Almost like he was afraid he would disappear.
"Doesn't this look familiar? It looks like the stairwell from Animatronicon… But I guess stairwells don't usually look that different," Marionette said quietly as they made it to the landing. It was only when they were at the top of the next flight of stairs that the flashlight's beam fell down the steps and revealed that the steps stretched on past the stairway and the walls narrowed in beside them, turning into a completely different style of staircase. "I take that back."
Neither of them wanted to enter the narrower space. It forced Marionette to walk behind Mike and it seemed to swallow up the light more. Maybe because the pale walls had now changed to a wood paneling, at least at the top. At the bottom of the stairs it opened into a room and Mike made sure to look around carefully before he stepped into it. It looked like it was someone's basement; the covered desk, file cabinets, tape collection, and corkboard suggested it was Burke's.
Marionette approached the desk and looked over the papers. There were dozens of blueprints spread out for numerous animatronics and he couldn't tell if this was a true to life picture of Burke's basement or something that the dreams manipulated. He noticed a tape player and reached for it.
"Before you do that, you might want to really think about it," Mike forewarned. "I found a message from Phone Guy upstairs and… It was bad."
"How bad?" Marionette asked as he looked back. Mike's face was stoic.
"…I think I heard Scott when he was inside the suit," Mike revealed. The other looked shocked and disturbed, both much more visible on his human face. "And before I forget, there's a box that looks like yours upstairs that's full of tentacles that'll grab you and try to pull you in. If you somehow find your way back to it, don't get too close."
By now Marionette was properly disturbed with an almost befuddled look on his face. He nodded and looked back at the tape record, considering the risks, and finally gave in and turned it on. The beginning few seconds were nothing but static and then there was a familiar voice.
"Hey kiddo. Freddy and the gang are having a special pizza party in the back and you're invited! Follow me, I'll take you to them."
Marionette's eyes widened and Mike's head snapped over. "What the hell, is that me?!" he nearly ran over to the desk. "I never said that in my life!"
"What's your favorite cake flavor?... Chocolate? We can do that." The voice on the tape chuckled almost maliciously. "We can do that."
"What is this?!" Mike asked in disbelief as he looked to his companion. "This has got to be some sort of trick. Like with the Phone Guy tape upstairs, it's this place twisting things."
"In Burke's basement… Mike, didn't Burke say he was having dreams of you committing the murders?" Marionette asked. He already had his answer even before he looked to Mike, whose defensiveness quickly fell. "And we're in some sort of dream, aren't we? This could be what Burke was hearing. I mean, not a literal tape, but this could be a memory of what he heard? Planted memories."
"That makes a little sense. About as much as anything does in here…" Mike muttered. He could still hear his own voice talking in that same, disgusting, predatory tone and snarled before turning the tape off. "I hope Charlie doesn't hear anything like this and start believing it too. I wouldn't put it past this thing to try and turn her against us."
"Charlie's too smart for that… But we still need to find her. Do you see any other doors?" Marionette asked as he turned from the desk. He noticed a dark corner of the basement. "Could you shine your light over there? I lost use of my night vision." Mike did without question and illuminated the other section of the basement. Three broken faces stared back at them.
Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica were all slumped in the darkened part of the basement. Most of Chica and Bonnie's parts had been removed or separated while Freddy's upper torso was fully intact. He was missing everything from the waist down. Mike carefully stepped over Chica's dirty legs as he shined the light into their eyes cautiously. There was no movement; they were either deactivated or faking it well. His light fell on a door half hidden behind Freddy and he knew they were on the right track.
He offered his hand to Marionette and guided him around the animatronics to where Freddy was sat. He then released his hand long enough to scoot Freddy to the side, causing the bear to fall over. It remained unresponsive as the two slipped through the next door.
Apparently, they were back in the pizzeria again, from the checkerboard tiles and posters along the wall. Mike half acknowledged them as he looked between the two doors on either side of him. The doors were practically identical with the only differences being that one had a poster of Chipper and Son's theater on it and the other had a poster of El Chip's.
"I'm assuming this is some sort of clue," Mike said as he looked between the two. "My money's on El Chip's. Less animatronics looking to kill us." Marionette agreed with a silent nod and Mike looked to him. "How are you holding up?"
"Better than when I was alone," Marionette said. It was a non-answer but Mike didn't feel willing to press.
"Same. Stay close, alright?" With that, Mike opened the door and they stepped through.
Instead of stepping into the Chipper's restaurant like both expected, what lay beyond the door was just a simple kitchen. In fact, Marionette recognized it as looking more like the pizzeria from the old Freddy establishments than the one from El Chip's. To the left was a large pizza oven and a warm glow came from its small window, while to the right there were a stack of shelves blocking another door.
"Looks like something's trying to slow us down," Mike remarked as he headed towards the shelves. He shook one of them and found it wobbly, easy to move, so he passed off the flashlight to Marionette and started sliding the first one out of the way. It rattled loudly as it scooted across the floor.
But even when the shelf was no longer being moved, the rattling hadn't stopped. Marionette started to look around for the source of the noise before realizing that it was coming from behind them, and slowly turned back to look towards the oven door. It was rattling and trembling, and the moment he shined the light on it the door swung open and revealed a raging fire inside.
A metal hand reached out of the flames and grabbed the edge of the oven before dragging out its body. It was the Lumberbot, its exterior melting off like icing as it clawed its way out of the oven. Its other hand reached forward, almost skeletal, melted down to an endoskeleton of tangled wires. Reaching out of the fiery abyss towards them.
Without a word, Marionette spun around and started helping Mike shove the shelves to the side. The man looked back long enough to see what was crawling after them but returned to the shelf with only a swear. They got the next shelf aside and Mike yanked away a chair that was stuck under the doorknob and threw it back at the animatronic crawling out of the oven. Marionette threw open the door and pulled Mike through with him. The Lumberbot suddenly broke into a much faster crawl and reached the door right as it slammed shut on him.
Both held the door shut, but it was as though the Lumberbot had vanished on the other side. It didn't even attempt to get itself through the door. It went completely quiet. With them seemingly in the clear, the two turned to look at where they were now. Another room that looked like a mismatch of various locations. Tables were spread out and covered in Foxy's own tablecloths, but the shape of the room didn't match anything from Pirate's Cove. Just a large rectangular room with a curtained stage in the middle.
"Doesn't look like there's anything to jump out at us yet…" Mike said quietly. He looked around carefully and even bent down to look under the tables. That was when he noticed the carpet design. "Hey, look at this," he said, tapping the floor. "This is the carpet from Magictime."
"Are you sure?" Marionette asked.
"Positive. I wouldn't forget carpet this ugly."
"Then maybe we're getting close to Charlie?" Marionette began to look around for another door. "It's no coincidence that I woke up in a hospital room. We could find her here too… Except… There's no more doors?" The walls were bare and there wasn't any furniture that could be hiding any. The only chance would be the stage, "Maybe behind the curtain. Let's go check."
"Hold on a second. Let's think about this for a second before we go running in," Mike interrupted. Marionette stopped and looked back at him questioningly. "I was walking around in circles until I called for you and you called back. Charlie could be two rooms away and we won't know, and every wrong door's going to send us further away. Simplest solution, let's just call for her and see if she calls back."
"…Aren't we risking drawing the attention of unwanted guests? Including whatever it is that has us trapped…" Marionette said with light warning, suspecting Mike would go for it anyways. The man arched a brow.
"Want to bet?" With that, he cupped his mouth and called into the abyss. "Charlie! Can you hear me?!"
There was a long pause. Marionette frowned unenthused and Mike gave a slight shrug, seeing little harm down in trying. But before they could exchange anymore words-.
"Mike?! Is that you?!"
Unbelievably, Charlie called back. Both were thunderstruck by the sound of her voice. It sounded distant but couldn't been muffled by the walls.
Mike nearly did a double take before calling again, "Charlie, stay where you are! We're coming to find you!"
"Where are you?!"
It was with this call that Marionette noticed the voice was coming from the stage. He ignored his weak legs and ran to the stage, tossing back the curtains and shining the light into the darkness. At first he didn't see anything at all and it wasn't until he scrambled up onto the stage that he noticed a trapdoor in the floor. "Mike, this way!" he called before starting to lift the heavy door.
"Charlie, we're coming! Just keep yelling!" Mike called before running after Marionette. He climbed onto the stage with a single bound and helped rip the trapdoor open to reveal a stairwell.
Marionette dropped down onto them and shined the flashlight around. He recognized the room they were in from the mattresses and the dirtied walls, it was where Dave had kept his victims. The only difference being that now the basement window was now in, squeezed up close to the ceiling and left open. He shined the flashlight up at it before calling out, "Charlie!"
"I'm coming! Wait!"
She was up there somewhere, and Marionette jumped up to climb out, except he was in for a rude awakening. He had almost no upper body strength and couldn't lift his own weight, even with how thin he was. He tried a second time to no avail, clawing at the wall desperately before looking back at Mike on the stairs. "I-I need help."
"Let me grab a chair," Mike offered. He hurried back up the stairs and bounded back onto the stage. He was just about to jump down and when he saw something by the far door and stopped in his tracks.
There was a bear standing there across from him. It stood fully upright and alert, but its body was ridged. Its eyes were empty and coppery stains soaked into the fabric around its mouth. It had to be the bear that Marionette mentioned, that had been following them, that had seemingly sucked all the sound out of the room except for a dull humming deep in his ears.
Mike took a staggering step back, refusing to break eye contact with the bear. Somehow, he knew if he did that it would vanish and he had a bad feeling it only planned on getting closer. He was careful as he backed down the steps, only pausing long enough to reach back and lift the trapdoor. He slowly lowered it down over him as he continued down the steps. The moment that the bear was out of sight, he let it slam shut.
The bang of the trapdoor seemed to knock him out of a trance and Mike turned and hurried back to Marionette. He knelt beside him. "Forget the chair. Here, I'll give you a boost," he offered and cupped his hands.
"I can't believe that worked," Marionette sputtered out as he stepped up and was lifted to the window. He started to climb through. "I can't believe that worked! Mike, you're a genius!"
"Thanks. A broken clock usually gets the time right twice a day," Mike answered. Marionette was too preoccupied to notice how shaky the man's voice sounded and instead reached back in and offered his hands. Mike got a small running started and jumped up to the window, then climbed through with the other helping him the rest of the way. He looked back in once he was out but saw no sign of the bear behind him.
"What are you looking for…?" Marionette asked in an unsettled tone. Mike just shook his head and stood.
"It's not important. Let's just worry about finding Charlie." He looked around at their surroundings and now recognized them in the alleyway behind Chance's false pizzeria. He could even recognize the familiar smell of garbage and heard the sound of rain, even though he couldn't actually feel any rain. He called for her again, "Charlie!"
This time instead of hearing a call back, they heard quickly approaching footsteps. The sound of boots against asphalt closed in on them and even though it could've been a trick Marionette started to hurry towards them, towards the end of the alleyway, with Mike following closely behind.
Suddenly Charlie came around the corner and both she and Marionette seemed to stop at the same time. Maybe shocked to see how they had each changed. Charlie was human again Like Marionette and looked almost exactly like she had before she passed. Save her scuffed up and stained clothes, spotted with coppery stains that looked very similar to the ones that had been around the bear's mouth. If her injuries were visible, then they were hidden by her clothes.
She took a step back cautiously. "Marionette? Is that… That's you?"
"Yes!" Marionette said with a bright smile. He would've been chiming if he still could've and he continued towards her slower, not wanting to scare. "We've been looking everywhere for you! I'm so glad you're okay!" Once he was in arm's length, and didn't think she was going to run, he wrapped her in a tight hug. She looked past him to Mike and gave him a questioning look, still stunned, and Mike gave her an amused smile.
"He's only exaggerating a little," he said as he came over. He gave her a quick pat on the back. "Seriously, it's good to see you. Are you okay?"
"I think so?" she offered with a smile. "Honestly, a lot better now that I'm not alone. I've been walking around in circles looking for a way out. Where are we?... Why are we like this?"
"Technically, we're all asleep on your bed," Marionette answered. He squeezed her again before pulling back, his smile fading away as he became more serious. "Charlie, after you went to sleep animatronics broke into the house. We tried to get you out but we couldn't wake you up… We think whatever possessed Burke is trying to posses you."
"What?" Charlie gasped. "Are- Are you sure?"
"Almost entirely. Mike was right about the possession. It tried to take over Scott too, and we found Burke's basement while we were looking for you and found… Very cryptic signs," Marionette explained. He almost forced himself to brighten. "But you're safe and we're together, and all we need to do now is find a way back out. We've come this far, we can do that."
"Easier said than done," Mike thought to himself. He took the flashlight back from Marionette and looked down both ways before turning towards the two. "Speaking of which, we should probably keep moving. We'll bring you up to speed on the way."
"Right," Charlie agreed and drew back from Marionette. She had to stop herself from staring; Mike was impressed at how quickly she pulled herself together. "There's a lot of open space back where I came from. Maybe we should go check that out."
Mike and Marionette agreed, neither wanting to return to the basement and back into the labyrinth of pizzerias. Being out in the open would feel better, even if they were under a starless and moonless sky. They headed back the way Charlie had come from.
It followed.