"I'm not sure how different my life was from yours," Michael said with a small frown, not even willing to try and debate whether or not he still counted as a kid and taking the first sip of his hot chocolate. Michael took a moment to savor the sweet taste before continuing, "I don't remember a lot from before the fire. Just the big things like the bite…"
Both Michaels glanced up towards the ceiling as if to remind themselves that Evan was fine.
"The missing children's incident," Michael continued to list off as he mentally went through what little he knew. "Ennard, vague memories of various night guard jobs before it was finally supposed to all end."
"It's probably better if you don't remember most of it," Mike said sadly, tapping his fingers on his empty mug. "You don't need that burden anymore."
The decades had been long lonely years, filled mostly with grief, guilt, and a good amount of spite. His now technically a teenager once more counterpart didn't need all that weighing him down once William and Vanny were taken care of and he'd be able to fully embrace his second chance at life.
"I was just so tired by the end," Michael admitted, needing this chance to share what happened with someone that would understand in the way only someone that had been through similar experiences would be able to. "Years and years of trying to clean up father's mess were finally going to come to an end. I only felt peace and contentment as the fire destroyed everything, myself included. I was so ready for it to be all over I didn't even remember who I really was when I first woke up inside an animatronic."
"Of course, we became an animatronic," Mike sighed into his hands. Mike wasn't surprised his counterpart hadn't been able to escape the fate that had cursed the rest of their family. Technically Mike hadn't even been able to completely escape that fate as he was half animatronic himself. "For the love of what little sanity we've managed to cling to over the decades, please tell me we didn't become a Bonnie!"
Mike already had enough similarities with William that he didn't want to have possessed the same kind of animatronic as him as well.
"No, I became a Freddy instead," Michael said with a small smile as Mike groaned dramatically, deciding not to bring up the fact that he had actually become good friends with Glamrock Bonnie. "It wasn't that bad. The animatronics had a lot more advanced AI so I had a lot more freedom than any of the others ever really had. And even when I started gaining my memories back, I preferred being Freddy rather than being Michael Afton. It was so much simpler to just worry about entertaining kids. I liked making them happy and I thought the darkness of my past had been put to rest…"
"But then this Vanny entered the picture?" Mike guessed.
"I didn't know who was behind it at first, but kids started disappearing," Michael admitted quietly. "I wanted to help but my options were pretty limited as an animatronic. Doesn't help that I learned later that I couldn't even see Vanny for some reason. But then I woke up with Gregory in my stomach hatch-"
"WHAT!?" Mike demanded, barely keeping his voice down.
"It's not what you think," Michael quickly assured, just now realizing that he probably should have worded that better. "My chest compartment was designed to store cakes and presents for me to pull out during parties, not for capturing and storing kids."
"Good… that's good…" Mike replied, calming down from his near heart attack. "But why was Gregory in there then?"
"He hid in there when I had been shut down for repairs when he was running from the night guard," Michael explained. "Believe me though, as soon as I realized where he was I got him out from inside me as soon as I could. I tried to get him out before the Pizzaplex shut down for the night but failed in that endeavor. I was guiding him as best as I could to other exits or at least survive until the doors opened, but there was very little I could do personally most of the time. And in an ironic twist, often the safest place for him to hide ended up being tucked within my stomach hatch."
It didn't mean Michael hadn't been secretly panicking every time Gregory had been curled up inside him, terrified that something horrible would happen if he moved the wrong way.
"This just keeps getting better and better," Mike muttered, easily guessing how Michael felt about everything. "Do you think William had something to do with your Vanny?"
"I can't say for sure," Michael replied with a shrug. "We were still piecing together the mystery when we ended up back here, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was involved somehow. I survived the fire when I shouldn't have after all…"
"So that bastard probably came back as well," Mike concluded with a grimace.
Mike had hoped that Henry's fire would finally be enough to finish off William for good and technically with all the dimensional differences, it was possible Mike's William was gone forever. But Mike had never been able to fully believe that, even before this little adventure, and had still periodically checked for any signs that William was stirring in the shadows once more.
Honestly, this just made Mike feel justified in his paranoia.
"Well now we can make stop him before he can get that far," Mike said with dark determination, before switching to a lighter topic. "So how did you end up back here anyway? If you had just followed Gregory through the ball pit, I'm pretty sure you'd still be an animatronic rather than having been reunited with your younger body."
"I have no idea how I came to be here," Michael replied honestly with a confused shrug. "I had been searching for Gregory as he had sent me an urgent message that Vanny was chasing him. I was desperately looking everywhere, but my battery ran out of power and I was forced to shut down. The next thing I know, I'm waking up back in my old body with Gregory and Evan having befriended each other."
"That must have been an overwhelming shock," Mike said sympathetically. "The only reason I didn't immediately freak out, at least not for very long, when I was first resurrected was because there were a lot of more pressing issues that I needed to focus on."
Namely, the end of the world and an Evil AI controlling his body and planning to kill the twins.
"It was only when everything was over that I allowed myself to fully process that I was alive again," Mike continued. "And if you're anything like me, which you are, then I'm betting you're currently pushing back you're needed and deserved meltdown in favor of dealing with everything else first."
"Pretty much," Michael agreed, knowing deep down it was true. Sure, he's accepted on some level what happened and what's going on, he had to in order to even function in any sort of capacity, but he's well aware that he's been ignoring most of his personal issues in favor of trying to figure out how to deal with William and keeping the kids safe.
"I'm not going to tell you to stop doing that," Mike said, knowing that doing so would both be hypocritical and pointless. "But when the time inevitably comes, try and at least lean on Henry for some support and help. He might not be able to understand exactly what you're going through, but he'll still be someone you can turn to when things get too much. That'll be important in the coming weeks as you adjust to your new start."
Mike knows he couldn't have done it without Stan there to help him and he wanted to make sure his counterpart had that same kind of support. And as easy as it was for Mike to relate to Michael's struggle and as willing as he was to help, Mike couldn't be there forever as he had his own home and family to return to.
Michael didn't reply, at war with himself overtaking Mike's advice and his unwillingness to become more of a burden to Henry than he felt he already was.
"I can't force you to follow my advice or believe what I'm about to say either," Mike began, drawing from his own experience to guess what Michael was thinking. "But from one Michael Afton to another, while we might not have felt we've deserved the second chances we've been given they aren't just for redeeming ourselves from the mistakes and failures of the past. We're allowed to find happiness for ourselves too, not just that of our family."
Mike didn't expect his counterpart to take his words fully to heart as Mike himself still struggled to believe that some days despite having his family telling him similar things quite often over the years, he knew how much hearing those kinds of things could mean, especially coming from someone who understands on some level.
Sure enough, Michael didn't realize how much he had needed to hear something like that until those words had been spoken. Some of the emotions that he had been bottling up began spilling over and he buried his head in his hands to muffle the sobs. Mike didn't bring attention to Michael's state, just moving his chair closer in a silent offer of comfort if his counterpart needed someone to cling to. Michael appreciated Mike's gesture but didn't take him up on it.
A few nearly silent minutes slipped by before Michael's tears came to an end and a yawn came out instead, Michael feeling both physically and emotionally drained by everything he'd been going through lately.
"You should probably get to bed," Mike said as he took in Michael's exhausted state. "It doesn't seem like you've gotten enough sleep lately, though I'm pretty sure I can guess why. If you'd like, I can make sure you don't have any nightmares tonight."
"That's something you can do?" Michael asked, not sure if he would have felt surprised anymore even if he currently had the emotional capacity to do so at the moment.
"Perks of being resurrected by a dream demon," Mike explained as he helped his counterpart rise to his feet. "I can manipulate and enter other people's dreams, though unfortunately, I can't control my own nightmares."
"That sucks," Michael replied, knowing exactly what kind of nightmares they had. With a teasing tone, he then said, "Think I got any cool powers by coming back to life?"
"Probably," Mike answered completely seriously, making Michael stumble in surprise.
"You've got to be kidding," Michael gaped at Mike, looking for any sign that Mike was joking.
"Trust me you definitely have the potential," Mike confirmed, thinking back to the way Michael's presence had surged during that first day in the pizzeria. If Michael had thought those teens had been serious threats, he probably would have discovered a power then and there. Mike continued saying, "I have no idea what kind of abilities you have as the circumstances are so different, but don't be surprised if something manifests in the heat of the moment."
"I'll keep that in mind…" Michael replied, deciding he'll stress and worry about that revelation when he was more awake. "But I think I will take you up on your offer to not have any nightmares tonight."
Michael did feel apprehensive about letting his counterpart have that sort of influence over him, but the idea of getting a decent night's sleep was too tempting to pass up. Mike just nodded to show his understanding and had Michael lie down on the couch. Once Michael was ready, Mike lightly pressed the tips of his fingers against Michael's head, his eyes glowing slightly more as he used his power. Now Mike couldn't fabricate a specific dream or bar specific bad memories from influencing Michael's sleep without actually entering his dreamscape and Mike didn't want to infringe upon his counterpart's privacy like that. So instead, Mike just insured that Michael would have a mostly dreamless sleep and left his counterpart to get some well-deserved rest.
After making himself some more hot chocolate, Mike passed the rest of the night switching between watching out the front window and checking on everyone else to make sure they were all okay. Thankfully nothing disturbed the peaceful night and Mike watched the changing colors from the window as the sun rose.
As everyone else woke up and began their day, Mike got an alert of another power surge coming from the ball pit. Worried about what could be coming through now, Mike immediately checked the camera feed, only to smile in excitement as he saw a grappling hook shoot up from amidst the plastic balls and lodged itself in the ceiling.