A/N: Hey, guys. Decided to update earlier than I planned, since I'm going out with my mom and brother for the weekend, and won't be back until Sunday night. So here's the next chapter. Also, I'm only going to say this one more time for the people bitching about me making 'mistakes' and whatever-THIS. IS. A. FANFIC. A fanfic I started writing BEFORE the fourth game came out. Of COURSE everything isn't going to be the same-it isn't supposed to be! I have my own ideas, and I'd thank you not to tell me how to write my own story! *Sighs* Well, I hope you guys enjoy this chappie-though fair warning, you'll get some feels at the end. You've been warned.

Disclaimer: If I owned FNAF, this is probably how it would've been from the start.

Once again, Ian had to save my life. He zipped over and knocked Golden Freddy off me with his hook. I could've sworn I heard a low growl in his throat as he said

"Get away from Mike." I looked up at him in surprise. He actually sounded…vicious. Before I could say anything, however, Golden Freddy raised his paw in a gesture of surrender.

"Wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" Both mine and Ian's mouths fell open at the same time.

"That voice…" I started. Me and Ian shared a look, then turned to the golden bear.

"Phone Guy?!" We chorused, and a sheepish look seemed to cross his (or was it Golden Freddy's?) face.

"Unfortunately." He tried to pull himself up from the floor where Ian had knocked him, only to stumble a little. Ian ran over to help support him, and I stood up, grabbing his other arm.

"Easy there." I said.

"Thanks." Phone Guy answered. "You should look out for the animatronics, though."

"Right…" I looked out both doors. The east one was clear, but Bonnie/Tricia was standing in the west one. I shut her out and checked the cameras. Chica/Hope was getting closer, and Freddy/Travis was just looking in the camera.

"You were able to go in Golden Freddy?" Ian asked Phone Guy.

"Yeah." He answered. "I wasn't ready to leave just yet…not when I had a pregnant wife to go home to."

My head shot towards him.

"Oh man. Phone Guy…"

"Call me Sal. Sal Cawthon."

"Sal…I'm so sorry." I said sympathetically.

"No, I'm sorry." He looked at Ian. "Sorry I didn't trust you. I might've lasted longer if I had."

"It's okay." Ian told him. "I mean, I'm pretty scary-looking…"

"Yeah, but you tried to warn me about the others again and again, and I kept locking you out whenever you got close. Wasted a lot of my power." He chuckled sheepishly. "And now look at me."

"Wait a second…" I said. "So, if you're still here, then all the previous night guards who've died here, the ones who got stuffed into Freddy suits…"

"A couple of them stayed behind in the past, but I'm the only one recently." Sal answered. "That little girl inside Chica, what's her name? She told me." Ian's eyepatch flipped up in surprise.

"Hope?! She's talked to you?!"

"Yeah." Sal answered. "The night I died, in my last few seconds of life, she came up to me while I was in the Freddy suit and started crying, saying how sorry she was. Her eyes looked different-more like yours."

I walked over to open the door, and was relieved to see that Bonnie/Tricia was gone. Satisfied, I checked the cameras again. To my surprise, all of the animatronics were back on stage. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

What's your angle, Melody?

"Y'know, out of all of them, Hope has the most moments where she's back to being herself." Sal continued. "I've watched-sometimes when she's in the kitchen at night; she starts spazzing, banging pots and pans together. I was also there that one night where she was begging not to kill you." Ian's ears flattened against his head sadly.

"Poor Hope."

"Does Melody know you're in Goldie?" I asked curiously.

"I don't think so." Sal answered. "I've been able to keep an eye on everything that's been going on here-and I pretty much figured it all out." He looked back at Ian sadly. "You and your friends-you're good kids. I know you wouldn't hurt anyone if it was up to you. But that little girl…she's got a lot of anger and hatred stored up. I don't think she sees how much she's hurting all of you by making you hurt people." He sighed sadly, looking down at his body.

"Boy did I pick a poor body. I can barely move in this thing. And even if I could…well, I don't think Janice would want to see me like this."

"I think I can help you." I said before I could stop myself. "Free you, Ian, and the others, stop this whole nightmare once and for all."

What was I saying?! I had no freaking clue what I was doing. There I went again, thinking with my heart instead of my head. But at the moment…it seemed like the right thing to do. I looked seriously at the two souls trapped in animatronics.

"If I figure out how to break Melody's hold on the others, get all of them back to normal, then…" I just barely felt Sal's hand over my own.

"That's noble Mike, but it's just wishful thinking. You should've just left after your first night, when you saw what you were up against…to make sure that you didn't end up like me."

"Hey, I tried to get him to leave!" Ian told him.

"There's got to be SOMETHING I can do." I insisted, pacing. I looked at Ian. "You were able to get your sanity back, I can't believe that there's no way to save your friends."

"Yeah, but only by hurting Fritz!" Ian whimpered. "It's hopeless."

"Maybe not…" Sal said thoughtfully. "After all, Hope has moments where she's almost normal, like I said. She acts so kind sometimes…" My eyes widened as an idea came to me.

"Ian?"

"Yeah?" Ian answered, looking at me.

"Do…do you remember what happened when Melody made you do the bite? What was going through your mind?" Ian whimpered again, putting his hand and hook to his head.

"Mike, no…please don't make me think about it!"

"Mike-what are you thinking?" Sal asked me.

"Just...just work with me here." I said, trying to sound comforting. "What were you thinking? How did you feel?" Ian shook his head violently from side to side.

"Ian…"

"I didn't want to!" Ian finally answered, squeezing his eyes shut. "I just kept hearing Melody's voice in my head telling me to make Fritz shut up, over and over again…and I couldn't stop myself!" He sniffled, and his soul appeared above Foxy all of a sudden. "The next thing I knew, there was blood on my teeth, and everyone was pointing at screaming at me like I was some kind of monster! I was scared!"

"But you were back to normal, right?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level. Both Ian's soul and animatronic body opened their eyes.

"W-well, yeah." He choked out tearfully. "I was able to move on my own, and run into Pirates' Cove." Sal nodded.

"Your fear…Hope's kindness…I think I know what you're getting at, Mike."

"I don't!" Ian's soul faded as he looked between the two of us.

"Melody can control your minds, but not your strongest traits. The very thing that makes you human." I looked at him. "In this case, that may be a very literal case. Once your fear over hurting someone else completely took over, that broke Melody's hold on you. Basically, you got your humanity back. And Hope is able to fight Melody's control because of her naturally kind personality." I nodded, my eyes widening. "I think I get it now! If we can figure out how best to appeal to your friends' humanity…"

Ian screamed, and a half-second later I learned why. Bonnie/Tricia was back…and she'd grabbed me in a headlock. I grabbed her arm as she started to walk out with me into the hall.

No! I was so close! This time, I DIDN'T laugh as she started to drag me to my death. Before I could do anything else, however, I was aware of something large and yellow lunging towards us. Sal had lunged at the purple rabbit, and she screeched as she dropped me, trying to get him off her. Ian ran over and helped me up, both of us watching as Sal wrestled with Bonnie/Tricia. She grabbed his left arm and crushed it.

"NO!" Ian started to run forward, but Sal whipped his head around to look at him.

"Boys! Don't worry about me! Just get back inside the office! Run!"

"But…!"

"GO!" Sal insisted as Bonnie/Tricia kept tearing into him. "Figure out a way to stop this! Make sure that no one else has to suffer here ever again!"

"Sal!" Ian tried to reach out, but I grabbed his arm.

"Ian, come on!" Somehow, I was able to pull him into the office with me, and closed the door as Bonnie/Tricia finished tearing Sal apart. His soul materialized in front of the door, silvery like Ian's; with gray tear marks under his eyes. However, he was much older, appearing to be in his early to mid-twenties, with short curly hair, and wearing a night guard uniform, like me. Sal looked at me sadly, and before he faded completely, he mouthed two words to me:

Save them.

Ian collapsed to the ground and started crying like he had the other night, his soul visible once again.

"I couldn't save him!" He sobbed. "He died two times, because of me! Because I couldn't do anything! He never got to meet his baby!" He just kept crying, and before I could stop myself, I hugged him.

Both Foxy and Ian looked down at me.

"M-Mike?"

"I'm sorry." I said quietly. "Ian, I'm sorry for everything you've had to go through." He sniffed a little more before hugging me back, and the stink suddenly hit me. Blood. Death. His own corpse rotting away in that robotic shell. My hands clenched into fists.

Evil. This place is EVIL.I was suddenly filled with anger, as well as determination.

Sal's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. Now that I knew how to save the kids, I wouldn't waste any time. I was going to save them…and once I was done, Freddy Fazbear's was going up in smoke.

"Ian?"

"Yeah?" He answered, his soul fading.

"Tell me about your friends."

A/N: I got the idea for my Phone Guy's name from two places. The first part of his name comes from an old classmate of mine from my first college, Salvatore (Sal) Maroni. And as for the second part...well, you can probably guess. I couldn't resist XD And what he said about some of the other guards being possessed by animatronics-well, how do you think the Toys moved on their own? Let's just say that Mangle didn't JUST get torn up that badly because of the kids visiting Freddy's...

Well, now Mike knows how to save the kids! Maybe. I will tell you guys one thing though-pretty soon one of the other kids is going to be freed, though probably not the one you expect. Who will it be? Will Mike be able to save all the kids? And what about Melody? Stay tuned, and as always-review!