Everything was dark. Mike looked around, "Hello?" he called out. But found nothing. He messaged his throat and cleared it, finding his voice to be much higher than it normally was. He looked down and looked at his hands.

Tiny. Tiny hands. He took a deep breath, and looked down at the ground, finding himself closer to it than normal and the clothes he wore was that of a five-year-old. He shook his head as realization hit him.

These were his five-year-old clothes.

He must've aged backwards somehow.

He shook his head again and regained his focus, looking around again, "Hello?" he called out, taking a step forward and gasping, watching grass spread from his foot. Trees sprung from the ground, giving his surroundings an eerie tone. He took a deep breath and started walking, "Dad?" he called out.

Faintly, he could hear footsteps. In the darkness, he could make out a light, "Dad?" he called out again. He started walking toward the light. The light bobbed up and down as the carrier took heavy steps, seeming to be surveilling the area several yards away. "Dad!" he called loudly, trotting toward the light.

The light turned toward him, blinding him briefly. However, instead of one light, like he thought there was, there were two. Like headlights. Or…

Mike squinted, "Dad?" he questioned, then he froze, realizing that even in his small stature, the lights were far too high up for someone to be holding a flashlight…

Or two.

The lights started walking toward him. It took about a second and a half for the lights to pick up speed and run at him. Mike turned and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. Suddenly he was grabbed and picked up, turned to face his captor, and was face-to-face with who he now recognized was Chica. She seemed to take a deep breath to scream, like Mike had grown used to working for the Fazbear Entertainment company, but instead she giggled, "Got ya!" she laughed, she set him down and ran off, giggling, "You're it! You're it!" she cheered.

Mike watched her in disbelief, watching Bonnie come out of hiding and chase Chica in a game of tag. Before he knew it, Freddy had joined them. "Wh-what's going on?"

Chica hopped up and grabbed Mike's hand, pulling him toward the rest of the animatronics. Something was… off… about them. He watched them skeptically. They were in perfect condition. No burns, the framework all seemed to be in place, all limbs accounted for…

It was like they were brand new.

Chica pulled Mike to a clearing in the middle of a circle of trees. She stood him in the center of everything and stepped back, prompting Bonnie, Freddy, and eventually Foxy, who hadn't been seen prior to this, to do the same. Mike looked around in fear, unsure as to what they were going to do.

Then they all knelt, simultaneously. Mike's stomach twisted. "W-What is this?" he asked shakily.

Freddy stood up, "A thank you." He answered, a child's voice emitted from the seven-foot-tall bear.

"A message." Bonnie followed suit, also voiced as a child.

"Reassurance." Chica did the same, a little girl.

"And an apology." Foxy stood.

Mike watched them all nervously. He looked at Freddy first, given he was first to speak.

"You put us all to rest." He said, "Instead of just leaving us the way we were… you gave us a proper burial… and the purple guy-"

"Gerald." Bonnie corrected.

Freddy shot Bonnie a look, "Gerald… won't be hurting anyone anymore. He was destroyed in that fire." He said. "And for that, we wanted to thank you, knowing now that we can rest."

Mike watched him with confusion, finding him surprisingly mature. He turned to look at Bonnie.

Bonnie took a deep breath, "But there is one more boy that needs to be put to rest." He said, "And with putting him to rest… hopefully, Ms. Annette, too." He said.

"Ms. Annette?" Mike asked.

"The ghost that's stuck with your dad. She was a mommy, angry that her son died." Bonnie clarified.

Mike nodded in understanding, "How do I find her son?"

"Ms. Reyes has him." He answered, "Talk to her."

Chica stepped forward, "You won't be seeing us anymore." She said, "And you won't be seeing Gerald." She said, "And once Benny is put to rest, you won't be seeing him or Mary anymore, either." She promised. She glanced up at Foxy and stepped back.

Foxy kept his eyes to the ground and very hesitantly stepped forward. "Mike, we also wanted to apologize to everything we put you and Mr. Fitzgerald through." He gently nudged the hat Mike had been wearing, "Especially you." He said, "I never meant to hurt you." He glanced at the others, "We… never meant to hurt you." He looked down. "It was the robots' programming… we couldn't help it." He said.

Mike furrowed his eyebrows, "H-How long have you guys been possessed? Or- possessing these suits?" he asked.

"Much longer than you think." Freddy answered. "Since the night before you were bit." He said. "This wasn't the first time these suits had been possessed."

"But it'll be the last." Chica said optimistically.

"We're sorry, Mike… for everything." Bonnie said.

"Tell Mr. Fitzgerald that we're sorry, too. We've caused him a lot of stress over the past twenty years or so." Foxy said.

Mike took a deep breath, just realizing his eyes were watering and that a lump had formed in his throat, "Okay…" he nodded.

The animatronics blinked. When their eyes opened again, they glowed much brighter. The intensity of the glow increased to the point where it was blinding, and that a white light was all that Mike could see.

..xxXxx..

Mike stared blankly at the ceiling, listening to the EKG next to him beeping at a steady pace, his stomach throbbed, but not as much as his head did. He had insisted that the nurses kept the lights shut off or at the very least dimmed down. At least they settled. He hated hospitals. He wound up in them entirely too often. The doctors knew him well as the 'kid who won't die'." He had the same doctor taking care of him since he was five when he was first bit. After that was getting the stitches removed, then he had gotten sick, he broke an arm, he was shot, he had internal bleeding, he was stuffed into an animatronic suit, and then nearly cut up at a mortuary. This time? Stabbed in the stomach with a rusted pair of scissors, strangled half to death and thrown into a pile of boxes in a burning building. He took a deep breath and winced at his stomach. He missed his dad. He wanted Jeremy to show him how to take apart and put together a computer again. He wanted to watch a terrible, cheesy horror movie again. He wanted Jeremy to play around with him and treat him like the little kid he took in seventeen years ago, playing peek-a-boo with the giraffe. Tell him that he and Stella got back together. Tell him he was alive… that he wasn't dead.

He was never dead…

Just like the giraffe…

Jeremy needed his giraffe. Just like Mike needed his Papa Bear... he chuckled. He wanted to watch Disney movies again.

He seemed to have no recollection of his meeting with the spirits of the animatronics.

There was a knock on the door, "Mike?" Olivia's voice called from the other side. She stepped into the room and smiled, "Morning." She greeted.

"Morning…" he slurred.

"How're you feeling?" she asked.

"Everything hurts…" Mike groaned.

She nodded, "I bet, you in really rough shape when I got you out of that building." She stepped into the room, glancing behind her. "Um… That lawyer's here. He wants to talk to you."

Mike took a deep breath and cringed, having stretched his stomach a little too much, "Send him in…" he said.

Olivia opened the door wider, letting Darrel step in, "Aw, Mike…" he sighed.

Mike squinted, "Darrel? No shit, you're a lawyer?" he asked.

"Just got out of law school in Colorado." He said, "I just won my first case yesterday."

"Oh… that's great, man." Mike smiled sleepily.

Darrel turned to Olivia, "Ms. Reyes, mind if I talked to Mike in private?" he asked.

"Oh- yeah. Okay." Olivia slipped back out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Darrel sighed and sat down next to Mike, "Holy shit, man, you look terrible."

"I feel terrible." Mike responded, "I don't even know what happened, I was stabbed, choked…" he furrowed his eyebrows, "And… after that I was waking up outside, then I was brought here." He said, "I don't remember much in between."

"Well, the building completely burned to the ground." Darrel said, "That place is completely gone."

"Good…" Mike exhaled, "Good, good, good…" he shook his head, "Is the animatronic destroyed?" he asked.

"Everything was destroyed." Darrel nodded, "Scared the shit out the firefighters too, 'cause when they were looking for a point of origin for the fire, they found it at what used to be Bonnie." He chuckled, "But Bonnie had been reduced to an endoskeleton." He furrowed his eyebrows, "But… they found another skeleton in there." He started, "A human skeleton." He said. "When they tried moving it, the whole thing just fell apart and crumbled to ash." He said.

Mike paused, then a smirk formed, "He's gone…" he chuckled.

"Who's gone?" Darrel asked, his eyebrows pulling together.

"It's a long story…" Mike shook his head. "Possessed animatronics, dead people, supernatural shit."

"What else is new?" Darrel chuckled. "Mike… I wanted to talk to you about your dad." he said.

"By all means." Mike said.

"First off, what are they charging him with?" he asked, "Murder, kidnapping?"

"Two murders…" Mike said, "One of them he had several witnesses to."

Darrel cringed, "That one's going to be difficult." He said, "Can't exactly say he didn't kill somebody if a bunch of witnesses saw." He warned him.

"The thing is… I don't think Dad actually did it." Mike said.

"Witnesses, Mike." Darrel firmly reminded him.

"I know, but- it was him, but it wasn't him at the same time." Mike said, "Do you remember when Dad would defend me against anybody and his eyes would turn black?" he asked.

Darrel nodded, "Kinda, yeah. I thought that was bizarre."

"My dad's possessed." Mike replied, "You can talk to the family psychic, Lori, she'd tell you everything." He said.

Darrell nodded, "Okay- so what you're suggesting it that this other spirit or… demon- I dunno… made him commit a murder in front of a bunch of people?" he asked.

"I wouldn't put it past her, Mary has a temper." Mike said.

"Mary. This ghost has a name?" Darrel took out a notepad.

"Of course she does." Mike furrowed his eyebrows, watching him scribble down some notes.

"And the other murder… were there witnesses to that one?" he asked.

Mike shook his head, "Not- oh…" he paused, "Me."

Darrel rose an eyebrow, "You watched your dad kill somebody?" he asked.

"No- but I can prove he didn't do it, because I watched the other guy die and it wasn't because of my dad." Mike clarified, "He jumped into a spring-locked suit and killed himself." He said, "I was barely conscious, but I vaguely remember that."

"The courtroom isn't going to take 'vaguely'." Darrel said. "Or barely conscious." He added, "Any other witnesses?"

Mike sighed, "Maybe Mangle… but don't know for sure." He leaned his head back and stared back up at the ceiling.

"Who's Mangle?" Darrel asked.

"One of the other animatronics. She's kinda sentient and of extreme sentimental value to my dad, so I brought her home from work so I could clean her up. A surprise for when dad gets out of jail." He explained, "But I don't even know if she saw anything."

Darrel hummed for a moment, "Let's say that she did, for a second." He suggested, "How would we get her to prove it?" he said, "Can robots not lie? Does she have some sort of video feed? Recordings?" he asked.

"She might." Mike hummed, "Have video evidence, I mean. And I doubt she lies, she's programmed to call the police if something goes wrong- or so a coworker told me."

"Did she call the police?" Darrel asked.

Mike shook his head, "I have no clue, dude, I was probably unconscious again at that point."

Darrel nodded, "Okay. Have you talked to your dad at all? Trying to figure something out for his case?" he asked.

"He doesn't even know I'm alive." He said. "Wanted to surprise him with that, too."

Darrel watched him for a moment, "Wait- so he thinks you're dead right now?" he asked.

Mike nodded, "I wanted to save up some money and hire a lawyer before I told him anything. The less he knew the better, the less chance of him hurting himself or someone else if he tried getting out."

"What makes you think he'll try to get out?" Darrel asked, setting the notepad down and leaning forward.

"I know him." Mike said, "He'll stop at nothing and no one to get to me." He explained, "If not him, then Mary."

Darrel watched him for a while in disbelief, "Y'know, if you weren't lying in the hospital right now, I'd slap the living shit out of you."

Mike looked down at Darrel, "What?"

"Your dad thinks you're dead, right? Do you have any idea what that must be doing to him? IF he already blames himself for your head injury as a kid, can you imagine what he must be blaming himself for now?" he asked, "And you're gonna go on letting him think you're dead?" he shook his head, "Your dad needs to know you're alive." He said, "It's vital to his case. Besides, you can try and defend him in court as well." He said. "Think about it. I'm going to go see him." He stood up and walked out of the room.

** Sorry I didn't post last week, but I guess it kinda works out considering I posted two chapters the week before. I had a long stressful week last week (especially on the 4th of July), and this week wasn't much better. Only difference is I didn't cry this week. I had the- I think it's the alpha version- of The Joy of Creation in mind for the first half of this chapter. At least with the way Mike found Chica. That chapter had me scared of driving at night for a week. I'm sorry, but once again- I'm running out of steam for this story. I have a lot to focus on, but I will do my damnedest to make this story a priority when I type, because I want to keep these chapter updates a weekend thing. This was a much longer chapter, I think- yeah, like six pages on MS Word. Read, review, let me know what you think and don't hesitate to ask any questions. Stay awesome, folks!**