A/N: Hey guys, hope you had a nice week hanging from a cliff ;)

This one was a very fun and exciting chapter to write. But before you begin, I highly recommend you to reread the last part of chapter 13, since a lot of info that's said there will suddenly become very important from now on. Also, this one turned out just a little bit shorter than what you've been getting lately. That's because there simply wasn't too much to say. This is mostly a way to clear the path for what's coming soon, now that we're nearing some important tipping points.

One last thing: You'll be getting the next chap in two weeks. My apologies, but the next weekend I'll have some family staying with me, plus this will be a pretty hectic week at college. Well, that and I honestly don't have a solid plan for writing what's about to come. But I do promise you one thing: the next few chapters will be... hmm, how should I say this...

Biting.

Chapter 22: Blood seals and phone calls

Taken over by panic I crawled on my back until I was cornered next to Jack. I turned my head frantically in hopes of finding something, anything, that could save us. A flashlight, a matchbox, a lighter... as long as it gave out light, it was welcome.

But there was nothing in the dark room besides old boxes, a dust-covered Spring, and the smiling Shadow that crept towards us.

"Wh-wh-what's wrooong friend-ds?" it asked with that same high-pitched and childish, yet at the same time grave and nightmarish voice, "C'mon, d-don't be shyyyy... we j-j-just want someone to plaaaay with!"

Realizing that there was no way out, I turned around to look at Jack, who was trembling with cold and fear. "Get out of here." I whispered sternly.

"H-How?" he asked, almost crying, "T-there's no way around h-him."

"Maybe not." I tried to sound calm and friendly as I whispered the next part. "But it can't break both of our seals at the same time, right?"

Jack's eyes immediately lit up with surprise and denial. "N-no…" he shook his head desperately, "You… you c-can't! Please…" he started to sob softly and trace X's on the floor, "P-please… don't d-do it."

The fact that the eagerly smiling Shadow was a few feet in front of us made it clear that both of us wouldn't leave that room. "If you hurry up, I'm sure you can get help on time!" I lied, knowing that everyone was still in the security office at the other side of the building.

"N-no." Jack's voice began to swell up with sadness; he was now tracing the X's on the tiled floor with enough force to crack it. "I w-won't leave you!"

When the Shadow was right in front of us, I roughly grabbed his hand that was hectically doing the X's. "You promised me," I reminded, "that you would do everything you had to do to keep yourself save, didn't you?" He nodded, and I did my best to sound calm. "Then, please go."

"N-no…" he held on to my arm as I stood up in front of the towering Shadow, "don't d-do this!"

"Hey, shadow me!" I greeted friendlily as Jack's hand slipped off, "I'm dying to play with you and your friend! Why don't you start with me?"

I once heard somewhere that if a trapped animal thinks he's going to die, he goes wild and crazy, trying desperately to save himself. But if he knows that he's lost, he suddenly becomes extremely calm, like he's at peace.

I was the trapped animal, and I was calm.

The Shadow's grin grew wide, too wide; its impossibly white smile literally stretched from ear to ear as it chuckled darkly. "Gl-gl-glad to hear tha-a-at!" I heard Jack crying behind me as the figure's smoky black fingers grew into sharp claws, "At f-first, it m-may feel VEEEERY WEIRD!" Walking backwards, I lured the Shadow a few feet away from where Jack was sitting before it pulled back its clawed hand, "B-but DON'T worry ab-about aaaanything!" Jack and I screamed at the same time in horror and pain as the freezing black hand lunged itself into my chest. "Soon-n, VERY soon, y-you'll ge-e-et USED to it! Then… YOU'LL LOVE IT!" Roaring with pain, I let myself fall on my back while those burning cold claws scraped against my inside. "You c-can help us then!" The overjoyed Shadow was now on top of me, its hand still trying to find the blood seal in my chest. "The th-three of us will g-go get the rest-est of your f-friends. Th-then, we'll ALL b-be together-er! It's gon-gon-gonna be AWESOME!"

Without any strength left in me I let my head roll sideways. Through a sight blurred by pain I saw that Jack was still in his corner, looking at me with pitiful eyes. "Leave him…" his soft whimper sounded faint and distant, even though he was close to us, "P-please, leave h-him."

"G… go." I managed to cough out, "Go away Jack, plea-AARGH!"

"FOUND IT!" announced the Shadow triumphantly, "We're almo-most done bud-d-dy, just relaaaaax…"

"Leave him!" called out Jack angrily, standing up quickly. "L-leave him alone, n-now!" I barely managed to see him clenching his fists at the shadowy monster before everything went black.

"So, that's it." I thought calmly, remembering my last year and few months of 'life'. Through it all, I only had one major regret. "I'm sorry Sean, I should have told you." Through the darkness that surrounded me, I saw Mom's smiling face for a few seconds before it melted away. "One day you'll find out, I'm… sure." Just thinking was getting harder, and I knew that my time was up. "And I hope… that maybe… you'll forgive… me…"

Feeling like my mind was about to break, I let go of everything.

"I… s-said... LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Suddenly, the darkness was torn away. Once again I was laying on my back inside that dingy secret room. I looked up, baffled by what I saw.

Shrieking agonizingly, the Shadow had pulled its hand out of my chest and was stumbling backwards as its dark silhouette seemed to be thinning out. "Wh-what is-s hap-pen-pening?!" it yelled out in panic, holding a fading hand in front of its terrified face.

"Go. Away." I barely recognized that cold and decided voice as Jack's. I turned around to see his blazing and furious white eyes, his stretched arm and opened hand that were pointed at the flickering Shadow, and a bright red glow that was coming out of his chest.

"The third special blood seal." I whispered, "Jack can do things to souls."

The Shadow gasped and screamed hopelessly as little by little its whole body faded away. "STOP!" it begged, "St-stop, please! It… it… HURTS!"

"No." Jack's arm began to tremble slightly as the Shadow slumped down against a wall. "You're n-never coming b-back."

By now, nothing was left of the Shadow but a pair of weakly glowing eyes. For a moment, the floating lights seemed to beam at us peacefully, like a baby that slowly closes his eyes before he falls asleep.

Then, they vanished.

After a minute or two the last of that freezing pain finally disappeared. I rolled on my chest and tried to push myself up, only to realize how weak I was when my arm gave out and my torso fell to the ground again. "Well, ouch."

"Are… are y-you okay?" panted Jack as he slowly and tiredly walked to me. His eyes had once again dimmed down to little pinpoints and there wasn't any light coming from his chest.

"Better than I thought I'd be by now." I huffed. "That was scary." Jack gave out a tired little laugh before he too fell on the floor next to me. "Hey, you alright buddy?!" I asked anxiously.

He shook his head to wake himself up before nodding. "J-just a bit t-tired." he mumbled.

"How did you do that?"

Jack shrugged and sat back up. "I'm… I'm n-not sure." he whispered, "I j-just wanted him to g-go away, t-to leave you." He paused for a while. I knew that he wasn't good speaking for a long time. "Th-then, I felt something warm inside of m-me, and I f-felt like there w-was… s-something b-between it and me." Taking another pause, he pointed at the place where the Shadow had been a minute ago. "Wh-when I f-felt that, I k-knew that I could m-make him go away. I j-just did what I d-did, and it f-felt… natural."

"I understand." I didn't understand, I still don't. But then again, many things that should be impossible had happened so far. "How do you feel now?"

Jack sighed. "D-different. Not better… or b-bad. Just, different." He looked at me in the eyes for a long time, like there was something on me that I couldn't see.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You're a g-good person." he chuckled softly.

"Wait, you can see that now?"

Jack nodded. "There's l-like a thin, warm l-light around you." he explained, before his voice became slightly serious. "B-but, there's s-something around you, something d-dark, that's t-trying to get into you."

"I think we both met him already." I muttered, remembering last night's 'game'. It was then that we heard some distant footsteps coming our way.

"Don?! Jack?!" called out my brother worriedly, "Guys, where are you?!"

"Over here!" I replied, "In the secret room!"

The footsteps became quicker and louder, and soon Sean was stepping into the gloomy room. "Well?" he crossed his arms at us, "What happened here? You two had us worried sick!"

Jack stared at my brother for a while before smiling. "You're a g-good person t-too." he announced.

"Umm, thanks?" Sean turned his confused eyes at me.

"It's a long story with many questions." I dismissed as I slowly stood up. "But I'm sure Marionette has some answers. Is he with you?"

My brother nodded. "Yes, he came into the security office right after you left."

"Did he say where he was last night?" I asked. Sean shook his head.

We left the room after that and quickly shoved the kitchen shelf back in its place. As we stepped into the Game Area, I remembered the feeling of regret I had a few minutes ago. "Umm, brother…" I started as we began walking towards the security office.

"Yes?" The little courage that I managed to muster disappeared when Sean looked expectantly at me.

"You know what? I… I'll tell you later."

"…and then he said that Sean and you were good people, right Pizza Boy?" finished Marionette as he leaned against his box.

"That's what happened." I answered truthfully, looking how Jack idly traced some circles next to the door of Prize Corner. We had asked the Toys to wait outside for a while. After all, they didn't even know that they were dead kids, so there was no way they could understand what the blood seals meant.

"I really wasn't expecting him out of all of you to have the soul seal." said the puppet, "But I guess that explains why he can't be dominated as easily by his evil side as you; having that special seal inside of him must give him some resistance. Maybe Walther thought that out of all of you, he'd be the least capable of actually using it."

"Then we'll just have to proof him wrong, right Jack?" called out Sarah energetically. Without looking at her, Jack gave her a shy little nod before he silently kept on tracing his circles on the floor.

Then, Marionette stood up and walked towards him. "Hey little guy," he greeted softly as he lowered his mask in front of him, "can you tell me what happened and what you felt?"

Jack looked up at the porcelain-white face of the puppet for a few seconds before he quickly crawled away from it, apparently afraid. He shook his head erratically at Marionette.

"Don't take it personally Pups," said Sarah, "he doesn't have a lot of trust in anyone besides Brandon." That was true, but I still found it weird to see him suddenly so afraid of someone that he had known for months.

"No problem." sighed Marionette as he straightened up, "I didn't mean to scare you buddy, sorry." As the slender figure turned around and walked back to his box, Jack followed him with untrusting eyes.

"What more can he do then?" asked Ferny eagerly.

Marionette shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea. There's only so much Walther and me can do, so I guess he's not exactly Superman now. We'll just have to wait and see, maybe he'll surprise us."

"Do you think he might be able to free us?" I asked, not really hoping for a 'yes' as an answer. Back then, I still wasn't a hundred percent sure that I was ready to leave this world behind.

But that was years ago.

"Maybe." answered Marionette, "Or he could end up erasing all of you by accident. It's a huge risk."

"He can do it." I replied with confidence, "He managed to save me on his own, so I'm sure he'll be able to do big things."

"Calm down private." said my brother slowly, "I agree with you, but we have to think this through. What if something does go wrong? Maybe the only way to leave these bodies is to break Walther's seal inside that book. And we still haven't found the tapes; we can't leave without saying goodbye."

"Yeah, but the longer we stay in here, the more people might get hurt." countered Fer. "How long do we have before we kill again?"

A thoughtful silence filled the small room for a few seconds before we heard some rushed banging at Prize Corner's door. "Umm, friends?" said Junior nervously, "We're about to open."

We had completely forgotten that the pizzeria opened at 8 AM. Without as much as a 'bye', Marionette quickly crept back into his box while the five of us rushed out of the room. The three main Toys hastily climbed up the Show Stage as Mangle swung herself towards Kids Cove and Balloons took his place next to the carousel. We were about to go to the Main Hall, but the sound of a car engine going still in the parking lot made us stop in our tracks. Whoever opened that door would catch five supposedly scrapped animatronics running down the building.

"Err… let's take the vents!" suggested Ferny. We followed him to the vent that led to the security office, let him pull the panel away and crawled inside. Being the last one to enter after Jack, I put the panel back in its place right as the door of the Game Area swung open.

"Hurry up Sean!" hissed Sarah.

"Hey, you don't have a broken knee to worry about!" shot back my brother.

"No… but I don't have my two hands and I'm still faster than you!"

We scrambled out of the vent and into the office just in time to see how the lights of the Main Hall turned on at the other end of the corridor of the Party Rooms. This time, Sarah threw herself into the vent before Sean could protest. After a few seconds, the strangest caravan I never thought I'd take part in kept crawling as fast as possible to the service room.

A couple of minutes later, Sarah bashed opened the panel of Parts & Service with her elbow, and one by one we scrambled out of the vent. The doorknob of the grey door rattled as we sat down in our usual places, panting slightly. Right as I took my spot besides the door, it swung open, and once again two familiar figures inspected us keenly.

"See, I told you the kid was seeing things!" laughed Eric, shoving Dave's shoulder teasingly, "I was wondering what he was hiding inside that little backpack!"

The head guard's expression remained serious. "Something's not right." he told the manager, "He seemed so sure of what he saw."

"Oh, off course! Because our animatronics are a bunch of evil murderous robots!" Still chuckling softly, Erik shook his head. "Luckily for us he didn't have a week in the job, so he's not getting any paycheck from me. But we need another night guard as soon as possible."

"What about the guy that sold the tickets at the counter in the old place?" suggested Dave. "Do you still have his number?"

Erik nodded as he grabbed the big, blocky white… thing that was clipped unto his belt. "Yup. I needed an excuse to test this baby anyways." I discreetly raised my head to see how he pressed some buttons on the gadget before pulling it close to his ear, like a telephone. He waited for about a minute, and I could see that he had trouble holding the device with one hand.

"Kids nowadays don't pick up their phones!" he muttered with annoyance as he lowered the thing from his ear.

"Maybe he's at his parent's house." said the man in purple calmly, "Let me give them a call, I know the number."

The manager reluctantly handed the brick-like device to his employee. Dave looked at the thing for a moment with a confused expression before pressing the same buttons and raising the strange piece of technology to his ear.

"Hello, hello? Uhh... is this Mr. Fitzgerald?" A chill went down my spine at the sound of the familiar name. "Hi, this is Dave Hobbs, the head of security of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and…" The guard closed his eyes painfully as a voice shouted at him from the other end of the line. "Uhh, I know your son was close to the kids, especially the two brothers. We're… we're really sorry. We are." Erik rolled his eyes impatiently as the voice said something. "I know he quit after that, but I'd still like to talk to Jeremy. A position just became… uhh… available."