A/N: Hi guys, welcome back. I wanted to apologize deeply for the massive delay with this chapter. Unfortunately, I came down with a nasty case of writer's block, but I finally managed to get back into the fic. Thank you very much for your support and patience during this time, and I hope you enjoy this very hard-to-make chapter.

In other news I'll be starting college once again soon, so remember that while I want to give you all frequent updates, sometimes it's simply not possible. Please, bear with me. (Pun intended)

Since it's been so long, I recommend giving a quick recap to your favorite parts of the story so far, just to get back in touch. But, off course, that's up to you ;) In any case, happy reading!

Chapter 28: Wrath and patience

Without hesitation I lunged myself at the night guard, eager to finally satisfy my burning desire to kill. My metal hand was inches away from the stunned young man's throat when I felt someone kick my ankle, making me trip over and fall flatly on the ground. Growling with anger, I looked behind me to see Chica standing next to Freddy and Foxy; her purple eyes reflected regret as they looked down at me.

"What are you doing?!" I snarled, trying to put myself on my knees. Without saying a word, the three figures walked towards the guard while I stumbled and fell, mentally cursing my terrible state and the animatronics standing protectively in front of the guard.

Foxy turned around to look at the confused human, and pressing some buttons on his cassette recorder, said flatly "Jeremy, you need to run away from us now. Brandon lost control and soon we will too." The fox barely had time to say these words before falling unto his knees, grunting as he held his hook to his chest. With an expression of doubt and pain, the guard looked at me one more time before turning around and dashing away from the kitchen.

Snickering softly to myself, I finally managed to stand up and slowly walk towards the yellow and brown animatronics, who watched helplessly how Foxy twisted painfully on the floor. "You stupid, stubborn brats." I chuckled, "Can't you see that this is who we were meant to be? You're just delaying the inevitable."

Chica looked at me sadly and whispered "We're your friends Brandon, and Jeremy is your family. Please, I know you can hear me."

I stomped my way towards the chicken, feeling my anger flare up with every step. "I'm not in the mood for this tonight." I muttered furiously, "If you don't get out of my way now, I'll rip off that broken jaw of yours so slowly and painfully that you'll be begging me to turn you off completely. Am I clear?"

A few seconds of tense silence passed, before she raised her defiant purple gaze to me. "Go on." she hissed, "But I'm not moving from here."

"Don't talk like that Sarah!" whispered Freddy nervously behind her, "He will do it. Don't…" The bear's voice cut off as his chest began to glow red, and with a loud clang he too collapsed on the floor.

Chuckling mockingly, I slowly walked towards Chica, who stared nervously at the red and brown figures twisting on the floor. "Poor little birdy," I teased, "all alone with no one to help her." I stopped when she had her back against the open doorway. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear." My playful tone went down to a furious growl, "Move out of my way."

Her only answer was a silent head shake.

I shrugged. "Don't say that I didn't warn you." With a lightning fast motion, I grabbed Chica's jaw with my only hand. She twisted and shook her head desperately; but my grip was hard as steel. Forcing her roughly to look up into my eyes, I whispered "Now, you will learn to follow the rules and play along with me."

The yellow animatronic groaned and whimpered in pain as I started to slowly pull her lower jaw from her face, causing the metal to dent and stretch. An excited giggle escaped my throat when her soft cries turned into hopeless wails. "Look at the bright side" I laughed, "You won't have such a big mouth after this!"

"STOP!"

I raised my head in the direction of the unexpected human scream, and saw the guard standing in the desolate Game Area, a few feet behind Chica. His expression was scared as much as reproachful. Taking advantage of my distraction, the bird managed to turn her eyes at the human. "Jeremy, don't…" she croaked, shaking her head slowly. "Don't do this."

"Well, seems like our knight in shiny armor finally came to the rescue!" I scoffed, tossing Chica aside before taking big strides towards the terrified human. "How sweet."

The guard walked backwards slowly as I closed the distance between him and me. "Stop this Brandon." he begged, "You don't want to do this." His tired eyes glistered with unshed tears. "I know you remember me. You always used to come here and play with your friends after I gave you discounts! You loved the shows, and the arcades! Y-"

With a loud clatter, the panel covering an air vent above him fell down, and a metallic claw came out of it to dig itself into the collar of the guard's uniform. In less than a second, the man was hanging from his neck while the disfigured white fox above him looked at me proudly with her dead yellow eyes.

"He was mine Mangle." I hissed angrily

The fox' confidence faded away. "Uh, I… I t-thought that…"

"That I wouldn't kill him?!" I demanded, ignoring the man that twisted and gagged uselessly as he suffocated. "Is that what you thought?!"

Shaking her head, she stuttered a nervous "N-No!"

"Good. I would be very angry if you doubted me." I slowly walked up to the guard as he struggled to breathe, and mumbled coldly "Let him go. This is not the way we kill."

Mangle obeyed and dropped the human on the floor. The young man barely had time to take a few breaths before I walked up to him and grabbed him roughly by his wrists. "Tell my counterpart that to meet me in Parts and Service." I continued as my voice filled up with excitement, "And tell him to get the suit ready."

"I know you're there Brandon."

Once again, I let out an annoyed huff at the guard's pathetic pleas as I dragged him by his wrists across the pizzeria's dirty floor.

"I know you." he continued with a broken voice, making me more and more irritated. "You're a good, strong kid, just like your brother. You're strong enough to fight whatever is making you do this, I know it." He paused for a second or two as we approached the service room, then muttered with more despair "C'mon, don't tell me you forgot who you are? Your father was a police off-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" I snapped, tightening my grip around his wrists until he let out a scream of pain, while I fought the temptation to crush his hands completely. We entered the room, where the eerie glowing eyes of Toy Bonnie and a slumped over, headless Freddy suit greeted us.

"It's time?" asked my overjoyed counterpart, light blue ears perked up in excitement.

I nodded, and replied happily "You don't know how excited I am for this." The Toy brought the empty animatronic suit to me as the guard tried to pull himself out of my grip, failing every time.

"Your father was a police officer, killed in a shootout with a criminal gang four years ago." resumed the man stubbornly, "It broke your heart, but you managed to overcome that with Sean, your mom and your friends. I'm…" His words turned into a painful groan as I squeezed his wrists to the point of almost breaking the bone, but he still continued in a weak hiss "I'm telling y-you this b-because, no matter what h-happens, you'll always b-be that brave little k-kid who never gave up."

"Shut up meatbag." I growled, knowing perfectly well he couldn't hear me. But I couldn't stand his words.

"You'll never s-stop being Brandon Williams to m-me."

"I said shut up."

"And you'll always be my f-family."

"SHUT UP!" I roared, hoisting the man into the air above the empty animatronic suit until his feet were dangling right above the neck opening. "YOUR FAMILY IS DEAD AND SOON YOU WILL BE TOO!" I let go of him and his right leg dropped into the suit up to his knee, while the other rested on the edge of the hollow neck. The guard managed to grab a hold of my chest plate before I rested my hand on his shoulder and started pushing him inside. Slowly, he sank further into the suit, grunting in pain as his leg was cut and crushed by the animatronic parts. When my counterpart started reaching out for the man, I ordered him to stay back with a snarl.

This was my kill.

Baring his teeth, the guard tugged at my chest until it swung open, while he slowly kept sinking into the suit. I was now pushing with all my strength, trying to get his whole body inside before he could try anything else. "I'm very sorry Brandon." he huffed, reaching deep in my chest with both hands as his left leg slipped off the suit's edge and fell into it.

"Stop it!" I grabbed one of his arms and pulled it out of me hastily when I realized what he was trying to do. But I only had one arm, and he had two.

Pushing himself up with his scratched legs, he thrust his other hand further into me until he found my battery. "I'm really sorry."

"Don't you dare..." Before I could swat away his arm a deep tiredness come over me when he disconnected my power cables. I stumbled back, releasing my grip on him before I tumbled to the ground. As my vision darkened, I caught a glimpse of him escaping the suit and crawling away from my counterpart towards an air vent. Then, with a bitter feeling of defeat and anger, I lost consciousness.

Two blurred shapes slowly appeared in front of me as I awoke from my deep slumber. As soon as it saw me, one of the figures left the other and went over to me in a slow walk. When I was more awake than asleep, I finally recognized his face.

"Can you hear me Brandon?" asked a worried Jeremy, "Are you alright?"

Seeing him alive and well filled me with relief as I nodded slowly. Meanwhile, Sarah walked up to us in a calm pace. I was about to press the play button to talk to Jeremy, when he held his opened hand at me in a 'Stop' gesture.

"Just talk." he said with a smug smile, "I already put a tape in your player."

"I need to press play before talking." I replied flatly, just as a soft whirring noise came from my side. With confusion I realized that it was my player. After two seconds of silence it stopped and rewound itself before parroting out my words through my voicebox.

"Surprise!" With an even wider smile and happiness in his tired eyes, Jeremy held up a little screwdriver. "I realized that it must be annoying to press all those buttons before talking to anyone, so I fixed you up a little bit. Now, you can talk out loud automatically as long as you have a tape inside of you."

"How?" I asked in excitement, before the words became audible for my cousin through my voicebox.

"The power of electrical engineering!" exclaimed Jeremy in a slow whisper of awe, looking up at the ceiling and tracing a little arc with his opened hand as if he was describing something magical.

"Doofus." snickered Sarah behind him as she shook her head. Moments after, her voicebox replayed her words automatically.

"A doofus that fixed you all up!" boasted Jeremy with a cocky smile, making Sarah and me chuckle more. It was after I was done laughing that I looked up at them attentively, and my happy mood shattered immediately.

Sarah's jaw was barely hanging from a side, twisted and dented in unsettling angle, while some of her yellow fur had been torn away by my rough grip. I slowly turned my head to inspect my cousin, and felt something cold go through me when I saw his scratched, oily and bruised hand that had disconnected my battery.

But that was nothing compared to his legs. Long, thin slashes covered most of the skin below his knees, clearly visible through the holes in the fabric of his pants, which had been darkened by his blood from purple to a near black. Some of the scrapes still hadn't dried, and most of the leg that wasn't cut was bruised.

I turned my face away from them in guilt and shame, before mumbling weakly "Why are you here?"

Sarah and Jeremy looked at each other in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Just look at what I did to you!" I cried out as I glared at their surprised faces, before an uneasy silence filled the room. Then, I turned my head away once more and whispered flatly "You… you can't be here with me, especially you Jeremy." My voice went to a near whimper as my ears drooped down. "I'm sorry. For everything."

My cousin stayed silent for a moment, before he knelt down in front of me and stretched his wounded hand for me to take. "There's nothing to forgive." he whispered softly with a smile, "It wasn't your fault. I know the leg looks bad, but it's no big deal."

I lowered my head from him as I let out a long sigh, and mumbled "I'm just scared that we will hurt you again."

"That won't happen." replied Jeremy calmly, "We will figure this out together, but you need to let me help you, alright?" He once again stretched out his hand to me with a hopeful smile, and after a few seconds I slowly wrapped my fingers around his, being careful not to press to hard.

"Thanks." I whispered, taken aback by his will to stay with us. He nodded purposefully.

"Just promise that you'll be careful Jeremy." pleaded Sarah behind us.

"Don't worry," he said with confidence, "I promise that nothing bad will happen."

"You should get some rest." she advised.

Jeremy chuckled. "Believe it or not, I'll sleep much better knowing that you're still here."

It was then that the door to the service room opened slowly, and Sean and Ferny crept into the room. "Hey guys," whispered the latter, "I think the coast is clear."

"Was that intentional Fer," began Sarah with a teasing voice, "or is the pirate speech finally getting to you?"

Ferny shrugged casually. "I just say what comes to me naturally."

"What happened brother?" I asked as he walked over to Jeremy and me.

"It's the Toys." he replied with a sigh, "Junior, Mini and TB took a few minutes more than us to fall asleep after 6 AM, but Mangle only lost consciousness a moment ago, almost an hour after the end of Jerry's shift. We couldn't get Jack out of the secret room because of that."

"You go do that…" called out Jeremy, before letting out a yawn and stretching his arms after the words came out of Sean's voicebox. "Meanwhile, I'll stay here and get some shuteye before the place opens up."

Nodding, I replied with an "Okay" before taking the tape out of my player and leaving the room with Ferny and my brother.

As the three of us walked down the Main Hall, there was a strange mood of both enthusiasm and worry at Jeremy's decision to stay. We stepped into the lonely Game Area when the morning sun was just beginning to light up the floor and tables, and went to the kitchen.

"I'm sure the Toys are still unconscious." said Ferny as we stepped inside, "Maybe since they spent more time taken over, they have to rest more afterwards."

"Maybe." replied my brother, "In any case, let's get Jack out of here before it gets even later."

We managed to push aside the kitchen shelf to uncover the hiding room of the only one who couldn't be taken over by evil, and found him slumped down against a wall with a hand over his lap and his gaze focused on the ceiling.

"Jack?" I called out, "Are you alright buddy?"

When he turned around to look at me, I knew immediately that something wasn't right. The pinpoints in his eyes that always glowed in a bright, clean white seemed to be dimmed slightly; their feeble light reminded me of the time when he couldn't walk.

"Hey." he croaked out in a weak yet cheery tone, "I'm f-fine, just a bit c-cold."

My brother, Ferny and I looked at each with worry, before I walked up to Jack and pulled him on his feet. He had taken a few slow steps towards the door when he suddenly fell down one of his knees, panting as he held both hands on the floor to avoid tumbling down. "And a b-bit tired." he added calmly.

He leaned heavily on me while I helped him get back up slowly, then wrapped his arm around my shoulder. The four of us started to walk back to parts and service in silence, and I noticed that his body felt colder to the touch than usual. On top of that, Jack never said what was wrong with him, while previously he had no problem telling if something wasn't right. Even so, I decided not to push him to answer me.

We were entering the Main Hall, about to return to parts and service, when I spotted the familiar figure of TB sitting in front of the door. He was holding his rose loosely between his light-blue hands, staring at it with melancholy, when he noticed us entering the hall.

"Hey Mr. Freddy, Mr. Bucky." greeted TB in a flat tone as he quickly put his flower inside his chest. My brother tipped his hat at him while Jack stayed silent. "Morning cap Foxy." Ferny returned his hello energetically. My counterpart finally focused his eyes on me, just to let them fall down as he began to rub his elbow nervously. "Hi Mr. Bonnie." he mumbled, still not looking up at me. "Umm, c-can I please ask you a question?"

"Uh, off course." I answered quickly, surprised by his sudden apparition.

"It's… kind of a big question." My counterpart rubbed his elbow faster, seemingly more and more uneasy.

"Go ahead."

He sighed. Then, looking at me in the eyes, asked eagerly "Who is Brandon?"

For several seconds a heavy silence took over the dimly lit hallway. A feeling of uneasiness grew inside of me while I tried to think of something, anything, to tell him. I looked at my brother and Ferny, but they were both rendered speechless by TB's question. Finally, I asked him in an unsure tone "How do you know?"

"The guard was calling you like that when we… when we almost… killed him." His voice trailed off for a moment. "Why was he calling you like that Mr. Bonnie? Who is Brandon?"

When I thought about telling him the truth the image of Marionette appeared in my mind. I didn't know what he would do if I told the Toys who we really are, and this trapped feeling made my anger towards the lanky puppet grow. TB deserved the truth, but at the same I wanted to keep him safe.

"I don't know." I mumbled flatly, "I really don't know."

My counterpart looked keenly at me, clearly not buying my answer. "Then why was he calling you like that?" he asked again.

"I don't know!" I shouted, making him take a step back from me in surprise. More seconds of tense silence followed, before I repeated in a bitter and regretful tone "I… I don't know who Brandon is." Turning my head away from him, I quickly dragged Jack and myself to the service room.

"Promise me." I heard him call out behind me, clearly trying to hold back a sob. "Promise me that you're not holding any secrets."

I stopped in front of the grey door of parts and service for a moment, and without looking at him, mumbled a reluctant "I promise."