When the boys got home- luckily, they got the elevator to work as expected- they rushed to bed without another word. Mike tried to discuss what they saw and heard in the facility with Tim, but it was clear the younger brother was far too shaken to say much, and it was clear that mental fatigue was catching up to him.

Despite Tim's tiredness and the late hour, however, sleep did not come easy. He found himself nearly drifting off several times, but then his eyes would reflexively open again with a start, as if his senses were telling him that he needed to stay alert, or else.

When exhaustion finally caught him off guard, Tim found himself in a dreamscape- not in the restaurant of his nightmares, for once. He was in a large children's bedroom, but not one he immediately recognized. It was dark, but he could still see fairly well. On one end was a closet, its shuttered doors half-open. On the other side there was a large bed, and on one side of the bed, holding a Freddy Fazbear plushie, there sat...

"Lizzy!"

Tim hurriedly rushed over to her. She turned to him- she actually responded this time!- and gave him a small smile. It took Tim aback a little. On the surface, Lizzy did not look a day older than the day she died. But her slow mannerisms, the weary look on her face, the dullness of her eyes, which ones shone with youthful exuberance... What had happened to her?

She patted the bed beside her as she set down the Freddy plushie on the other side, inviting him to sit. He quickly obliged.

"Hey, Tim." Lizzy ruffled her brother's hair. She was only older than him by about a year, but she always tried to act like she was a wise, responsible big sister to him, especially since Mike was usually just mean, and Dad was... Yeah. Tim was always a little annoyed by it then, because Lizzy was hardly any more mature than him, but now he didn't mind at all. He was just happy to see her again.

"Lizzy, I... It's been so long since I got to talk to you, I don't..." Words dried up in Tim's throat. He could feel his eyes prickling again, the now overly familiar feeling of tears welling up returning, but this time they were happy tears.

"I know. That's what happens when you're dead," Lizzy replied in a half-joking, half-melancholic tone. Then she turned to him and gave him a sideways hug. "I've missed you too, Tim. I've been lonely."

"Lonely? Don't you have any friends where you are now?" Tim asked. He didn't want his sister to be lonely.

"Oh, yes, I have a few... friends, kind of. But we're all lonely together. It's so bleak where we are now. We don't get to see people very often, and there's nothing much to do." Lizzy looked down, a sad smile on her face.

"Is there... anything I can do to help you?" Tim cautiously asked.

Lizzy gave him a hard-to-read look. "Help me? Maybe... I don't know. You'll have to figure that out yourself."

"What do you mean?"

Before Lizzy could reply, a cacophony of sound erupted from the hallways. It sounded distant at first, but it approached steadily. Scratching noises, growls, roars, whirring and clicking sounds, the groaning of metal. And heavy footfalls.

Tim dared to look through one of the ajar doors and immediately regretted it when he saw cold, predatory eyes staring back at him. He immediately flinched and covered his face with his arms.

"Don't be scared. They're not here for you. They've come to take me back," Lizzy calmly said. She hopped off the bed and slowly walked a few paces away from Tim.

"What? Lizzy, wait! They're dangerous!" Tim cried. To his relief, Lizzy did listen to him and turned around, but her pitying smile did not bode well.

"They won't hurt me. I'm not like you anymore, Tim. I'm one of them now."

She walked to the center of the room, then sighed. "I know we only just met again, but this is goodbye for now. I have to go. I hope we get to see each other again soon." Her eyes overflowed with sorrow, but her smile remained on her face, unmoving.

"No!" Tim overcame his apprehension and jumped off the bed too. He wasn't going to let them take her away again, not this time!

"Stay back!" Lizzy told him, and he immediately obeyed. Something was wrong with her. It was like somebody had tied her limbs and back to invisible boards so she couldn't move them properly anymore.

"Lizzy...?"

The poor girl looked like she was going to be sick, but that did not happen. Instead, she rapidly turned unnaturally pale as her skin split open in even slits across her body, but not a drop of blood appeared, as if she was hollow. Her hair, meanwhile, became a glossy red color and seemed to retract into her scalp, locks fusing together into a single mass. Her eyes widened further and further, far beyond human capabilities, and sunk a little into her face, becoming glassy as they did. She staggered as she gradually grew taller, soon dwarfing Tim, who stumbled back in shock.

Her skin was now divided into segmented plates, most of them off-white, with the occasional metallic light gray plate. Bolts and pins dotted the connecting joints, as if keeping it all in place. Her clothes had turned the same red color as her hair and reformed to leave her waist bare, but her navel had been replaced by a hole with plastic, fan blade-like objects sticking through it.

Her head had swollen considerably. The 'hair' was now the same consistency as her 'skin', the only difference being the red paint, and now featured two pigtails on the sides of her head. Her now-useless nose had a clownish pink color, as did her cheeks; a sick, failed attempt at forced cheer. Her ears had vanished entirely, while her still-smiling lips were parted slightly- But there was no mouth behind them anymore, only metal teeth.

When she finally stopped changing, Tim felt a nauseating combination of horror and confusion as he recognized the towering form of the animatronic before him.

"See you, Tim," Lizzy's sorrowful voice came from Circus Baby's unmoving mouth. Then the robot turned and carefully shuffled her way through the (to her) narrow doorway.

The terrifying eyes that still stared at Tim from the darkness produced one final threatening snarl, then disappeared as well, leaving the stunned boy behind in the now lonely room.

All Tim could do was sink to his knees and bow his head, but no tears would come this time.


When Tim awoke from his dream, his thoughts felt like they were going a hundred miles an hour. Once they eventually settled down, he was left with a truly unbelievable conclusion; the undeniable, but also impossible revelation his subconscious mind had produced. He had to talk to Mike about this as soon as possible.

Tim was roused from his thoughts when he heard the sound of Mike and Dad talking. It occurred to him that they might have been found out, and that would mean Dad was here to punish them. Anxious fear gripping him, he stepped out of bed and shuffled to the door as quietly as possible, then listened in on the conversation through it.

"Are you sure?" Dad asked. It sounded probing, as if he was trying to gauge if Mike was lying.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Mike replied coolly. His voice had an 'I don't know what you're talking about' tinge to it. Tim knew his brother well enough to recognize when he was feigning ignorance. He hoped that Dad was not as perceptive.

"I just had a feeling something happened while I was gone last night. But I suppose I must have imagined it after all." Dad sounded like he was saying one thing while he actually meant another, but Tim did not know what that could mean. He just hoped it would not spell trouble.

"Putting that aside, I have somewhere to be at the moment. Busy as always. Remember to keep an eye on your brother, Michael. And don't get into any trouble," Dad warned. Tim then heard his footsteps leading away, pausing near the front door, then a few moments later the sound of it opening and closing.

Tim hurriedly got dressed, then walked into the living room, where Mike waited. Now that they had both had a not-that-good night's rest, they needed to talk.

"Well, good news," Mike said. "Dad has no idea what happened as far as I can tell. He did ask if anything happened last night, but I think he was just bluffing. I managed to convince him there's nothing to worry about. And he said he has to work late the next couple nights, apparently, so we can take our time."

Tim didn't reply, but he did breathe a sigh of relief. It would have been bad if they gave Dad a reason to be mad at them.

"Now," Mike continued, "I think it's time you told me what happened last night. You left me waiting for a bit at the end there, then you came running all spooked."

Tim uncomfortably rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah... I wanted to ask Baby something else, but then her stomach thing opened." He swallowed. "It was just like with Lizzy. She tried to lure me closer with ice cream, but I ran."

"She tried to kill you?" Mike frowned. He never would have believed his brother before, but now that he knew there was reason to be afraid...

"Well, that's just it. I don't know what she was thinking. There was still the window between us, so I couldn't have come closer if I wanted to," Tim muttered.

"Even so, if what she told us is true, then she's dangerous," Mike said. For once, he took what his brother said very seriously. "I don't think that window will stop her if she really wants to get us."

"But we need to go back!" Mike was taken aback by Tim's sudden conviction. "Lizzy- she-" His words failed him. How was he going to convey his insane thought to his ever-skeptical brother?

"Elizabeth? Do you want that robot to pay for what she's done to her?" Mike guessed.

"No, no!" Tim cried. "I think- I think that Baby might BE Lizzy!"

Mike blinked twice, processing what he was just told for a second. "What."

"Well, only kind of," Tim tried to backtrack. "I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out-"

"What," Mike repeated, his tone a little sharper this time. He shot Tim a look that communicated "if you're trying to be funny, then it's not working in the very slightest".

"Please, Mike! I know you don't wanna believe me, but you didn't believe me last time either, and I was right then!" Tim argued. "Listen, I think Lizzy's spirit is still around. She might be inside the robot that killed her, but she doesn't remember who she is!"

"I should've known," Mike rolled his eyes. "It never ends with you. You've finally convinced me with your killer robot story, and now you come up with ghosts. What's next, zombies? Aliens?"

"But Baby knew who I was, even though I don't think she ever saw me that day. And she said you looked familiar! And she knew we're Lizzy's brothers, and, and!" Tim had to stop, out of breath and too far ahead of his own thoughts.

"I still don't see how that makes any sense," Mike frowned. "How does that prove she's actually Elizabeth?"

"Well, she might not actually be Lizzy, exactly, but..." Tim took another deep breath. "But her eyes were blue when I saw her on the day Lizzy died. I'm sure of that. Yesterday, though, her eyes were green. Lizzy had green eyes," he said with conviction.

Mike let out a "tsk". "There's like a hundred different reasons why that doesn't mean anything."

"Like what?"

"Well- Well, maybe they just decided to change it!" Mike yelled, frustration mounting. It was obvious he was just grasping.

"Why?"

"I don't know!" Came the reply, along with an annoyed shrug. "I still say it's stupid to think that means she's our dead sister! Where do you get off spouting that kind of nonsense?"

"That's just what I believe," Tim simply mumbled. "It's just a small part of her, but she's there, I just know it. And she's waiting for us to help her."

Mike sharply exhaled a breath through his nose as he rested his forehead on his fingertips. "Right. Okay. Fine. We'll go, then. I wanted to find out more about all this, anyway. But don't think for a second I'm buying this."

He stormed off, and Tim wondered for a second if Mike believed it more than he was letting on. Did he want to believe it? Tim knew it was a tough pill to swallow, but for him, there was no denying it. It had to be true. All the signs were there, but Mike wouldn't see them. So it was up to Tim to help his sister.


The day came and went without much incident; Dad showed up to check on them a couple times, but he did not ask anything that indicated he was suspicious of them. He had that look in his eyes that showed the gears in his head were spinning, though, and Tim hated that look. It never spelled any good.

The next day was more waiting. They would go back to see Baby again tonight, but they wouldn't have to plan anything this time- they already had a way in, after all.

As the hours crawled by, Tim began to wonder about Dad's role in all this. The robot he helped make could lure and murder kids. In fact, they did kill someone, and not just anyone either. Would Dad really make something so dangerous and let his children go near them? Tim had realized for a while now that Dad was... not the best dad. But would he do something so terrible? Was the man who raised them a murderer? Tim had a hard time imagining it. Even Dad would never even dream of something like that... Would he? And to kill his own daughter, no less. There was no way.

But then, did that mean it was Uncle Henry? That was almost even harder to believe. Uncle Henry never seemed like a bad man, not even remotely. But then again, what did Tim really know about Uncle Henry? He was a friend of Dad's, and he once had a daughter, and he designed characters, and he helped Dad with the animo- animati- the robots, and with the restaurants, sometimes... But if it wasn't Dad, then did that mean that he...?

Maybe it was just an accident? Was that possible? Probably not. Definitely not, actually, but Tim didn't know what to believe anymore.

It was as he pondered this that he heard a sound, and when he went to investigate it, he caught Mike in the middle of committing a cardinal sin. The older boy had gone into Dad's study- forbidden territory, the brothers knew all too well- and he was rifling through the desk drawers and cabinets, pulling out whatever sheets of paper he could find and scanning them at unbelievable speed before putting them back.

Tim cautiously stepped in too and looked at the display for a few seconds. Then he dared to ask, "What are you doing?"

Mike jumped, clutching his chest, then exhaled when he saw it was only Tim. "Don't scare me like that."

He immediately went back to what he was doing. Tim began to think he wasn't going to get an answer, but after a few seconds Mike began talking as he searched. "The whole thing with Elizabeth's death got me thinking. I've been kinda ignoring what Dad's been doing this whole time, too busy with school and friends and all. But now I gotta know... Ah!"

He looked at a small stack of sheets he had found, held together with a staple. "As I thought." He quickly wadded up the papers and crammed them into his jacket pocket.

He went on with rummaging a while longer. "So I'm looking for anything Dad wrote down about Circus Baby. He made her, so he's gotta have some sort of- Ah, gotcha!"

He evidently found what he was looking for, taking a blue sheet of paper out of a binder and slamming it onto the desk in a swift motion. Tim cautiously got closer to study it. There were silhouettes of what looked like Baby on a blue sheet. One from the front, one from the side, and one of just her head. There were all kinds of weird lines and shapes running through the pictures; Tim guessed those were her insides.

"Ah, look right there," Mike said. He pointed at the frontal picture of Baby, near her stomach. There was a white line that led to the letter 'B' there. On the side near the corner, next to another letter 'B', Tim read...

"Internal ice cream dispenser...?" He didn't understand what Mike was getting at.

His older brother just rolled his eyes. "Never mind." He took the sheet of paper again and put it back where he found it. "Dad will probably realize if this goes missing, so I can't take this with me. But I saw enough."

He quickly sorted the mess he'd made, taking care to leave the study as he had found it. Then he walked towards the door, tugging on Tim's arm, who just stood there in confusion. "Come on, we gotta get out of here before Dad comes back."

And so they left, Mike immediately taking off to do whatever he needed to do next, leaving Tim behind to wonder what that was all about. It frustrated him how his brother knew something that he wouldn't explain to him. Mike was always like that. Eventually, he reassured himself that if it was important, he would find out soon enough.


A/N: There we go. The next chapter is a bit of a struggle to write, but I'm looking forward to the ones that come after it, I think that's going to be the fun part. Hope you do as well, and I hope you enjoyed this. See you next update!