A/N: Welcome back guys, thanks for being here once again and for your support since the last update.

Now, I really enjoyed this chapter, since it contains multiple scenes that I've been wanting to write since the start. It is also the last chapter of tape 3. This doesn't mean that it's the end of the story, however: I have something much different planned for the final chapters than what the fic has been so far. Right now, I believe this story will end with 52 chapters and and epilogue.

Thank you so much for sticking with me through all this time, and of course, happy reading.

Chapter 48: The last tape

Backing away slowly, Walther raised his opened hands in a calming gesture. "Let's not get too anxious now." His nervous smile quivered. "I'm sure…"

I swung the axe at his head wildly and clumsily. He barely managed to dodge it, and the weapon's edge cut through the air with a sharp whistle. The man stumbled back as he tried to regain his footing. Taking my chance, I lifted the axe again and brought it down upon him, only for him to back away even more. We were now close to the wall separating the twin corridors, opposite to the show stage.

"Bonnie, stop it!" he ordered, gasping for breath. I answered with a bestial growl and another strike at his chest. He leapt back towards the edge of those long tables. "Stop it or you'll regret it!"

"No." I hissed, lifting the axe over my shoulders. At the same time, Walther desperately grabbed one of the dinner chairs and raised the heavy object over his head. I brought down the weapon upon them with all my strength. The axe bounced as it hit the metal backbone of the chair, but the strike was enough to crack the piece of furniture in two. My whole body shook from the impact that pushed the man on the floor. He was laying on his back, letting out ragged pants. Growling like an animal, I brought the weapon upon him. Walther quickly rolled to his side, avoiding most of the strike, but I still managed to carve a deep horizontal gash along his lower back.

Baring his teeth in pain, our murderer pulled himself up as quickly as he could, stumbling back until he was against the wall. He pulled a hand behind his back and brought it back to the front with barely any blood, as if his deep injury was nothing more than a little cut.

"What the hell did you do?!" I shouted in fury, "You shouldn't even be able to stand up after that!"

Wheezing like a dog, he showed off that arrogant smirk. "Don't you… remember? I'm harder to kill… than the average guy… because of my blood seal." He swallowed and took a deep breath. "Freddy had that same stupid look in his eyes seven years ago."

I tightened my grip on the weapon and swung it at the man against the wall, who threw himself to a side and narrowly escaped being decapitated. The axe's head buried itself into the hard wall at the same time that Walther fell on the floor. He struggled to get up with his aching back while I struggled to pull the axe from the concrete. The storm was worsening with each second; nothing could be heard outside the building except the pouring rain and frequent thunders, both growing louder as time went on.

Suddenly, as I was tugging furiously at the axe's handle, I heard a distinctive and familiar voice shout my name.

"Brandon?! What's going on?"

I finally managed to free the weapon and turned around hastily to a tall figure between the dining tables, right next to his broken body. His black and dark-red silhouette was now slightly translucent, his back was bent to a painful-looking angle, and although his eyes were now eerie and ghostly white specks, I recognized my surprised friend in them.

"Ferny?!" I shouted with that same bewilderment.

Unsure and confused, he nodded slightly. "Yes. I still know who I am, but I guess that won't last for long. Still, I feel very… different." Fer raised his hand in front of his eyes and moved his fingers, as if testing them. "I'll be a Shadow soon, but for now I guess I'm more like a regular ghost, or phantom." His white pupils suddenly widened in an unnerving way. "Brandon, the book!"

I was so engrossed by Ferny's sudden apparition that I forgot all about Walther. The man took advantage of my distraction to run as fast as he could to the table with the red book. I followed him with axe in hand, ignoring the couple of cold water drops that fell on me from the leaky ceiling.

Our murderer snatched the red book off the table, not stopping for a moment. Ignoring the pain from my battered body, I tried to catch up with him as he went to the broken wall. The desperate man began to squeeze himself through the crack in the thin plaster; his effort and fear only grew as I approached him with a raised axe.

He slipped through completely just when I had arrived. With a triumphant smirk on his reddened, sweating face, he mocked "What's wrong Bonnie? Not slim enough to fit through?" Laughing, he added "Must be all that pizza!"

His laughter was immediately silenced when I began to hack through the wall, growling like a possessed beast. The weapon's metal sliced though the plaster like butter, and with each chunk that fell to the floor, a small cloud of fine white dust rose up around me like smoke. But it was exhausting; I felt my limited energy leave me with each strike, and this was made worse by the torn wires in my damaged face.

Panting, I took a step back before I heard another voice say: "Don't stop you doofus!"

I turned my head to the second figure next to Ferny's new form. Just like him, Sarah had those same unholy white eyes, embedded in a darkened face. Her head was twisted to a side, her bib was barely legible, and it was clear that she too had become an interim shadow: a phantom.

"Sarah, is that you?" I wheezed out.

"Yeah, for now." she replied with concealed sadness. Her gaze dropped slightly for just one moment, but then she quickly focused her sharp eyes on me as she added sternly "We can talk about that after you're done with this! Come on Brandon, you're the only one left. We're with you."

I answered with a firm nod before charging against the dust-covered wall. With a final hack of the axe, the whole thing came crashing down around me. Fragments of plaster stuck to my body, and I wiped away that annoying dust from my remaining eye as I stumbled into the exact place where everything started and everything ended.

Walther was standing firmly at the far side of the room with the red book in hand, glaring at me with an expression of fear and anger. I began to see more details as my eye adjusted to the darkness. The three arcade cabinets that were supposed to entertain me on my birthday were covered in dust, and one of them still had small dark stains on the screen and buttons: Ferny's dried blood. Sarah's crayon drawings still hung proudly on the wall, along with dozens from several kids.

Accompanied by an old safe, a cardboard box filled to the brim with yellowed papers and opened letters lay in the corner next to the arcades, dangerously close to a few puddles of water. However, the most striking detail was the abandoned mechanical suit next to Walther. Spring the golden rabbit was sitting on the floor, slumped forwards slightly like a dead body. Some kind of old wind-up crank was laid next to the hollow suit. Through the years, I had listened to Dave, Erik and other employees enough times to know how the springlock suits work. I knew what would happen to the wearer if some of those locks came loose, and I knew what could do this.

A small piece of paper at my feet suddenly stole my attention. Despite everything, something forced me to pick it up from the moist tiles. The letters on the small ticket had faded to the point of being barely legible, but I could still make out every single one: Private Party. Guest of honor. Paid. Date: 8-8-86. Access to all entertainment facilities.

"Time flies, doesn't it Bonnie?!" said Walther with a raised voice as I laid down the ticket. "More than eight years since that day, and it still feels like yesterday!"

"Maybe for you." I hissed through clenched teeth, "Because it feels like an eternity to us."

His smile widened again. "You still remember that, don't you?"

"Every single second."

"And now we're here again, and you will kill me in the same place that I killed you." He let out a short chuckle. "Fate just loves irony, doesn't it?!"

"Works well for me." My hand tightened itself around the axe's handle. "I wish I could say that I won't enjoy this, but I'd be lying."

Walther's eyes shone with content. "Then I've won. You've become a proud murderer, just like me."

"No." I answered firmly, "I will kill you because I have to. You killed us because you wanted to. That's what makes us different. That's why I'll never be like you."

The man shrugged. "Fair enough. Unfortunately, no one will kill me tonight." His hand went to his right pocket and pulled out a piece of folded paper. With a flick of his wrist and a smirk on his face, he showed off my blood seal on the ripped page. "Putting your page in my pocket after erasing the Toys is certainly coming in handy right now."

For a few seconds, the only sounds in the room were the distant ticking of raindrops and the occasional thunder. I remained silent as I pondered my options. Walther's message was clear: if I went to him, he'd break my seal and would probably do the same to my friends' stored in the red book. If I stayed were I was, he'd live.

The sound of dripping water in the room caught my ears' attention and my eye immediately flicked to its source. A few feet to the right of Walther, I saw a small crack in the ceiling lined with water that was on the brink of falling down.

"I see you're not so eager to kill me now, huh?" teased the man, smiling with content as he stored my seal in his pocket again. I stayed silent. "That's what I thought." His triumphant expression suddenly morphed into bewilderment as he stared at something behind me.

I followed his eyes and saw the three ghostly figures of my friends and my brother. Just like Ferny and Sarah, Sean's silhouette was streaked and stained with darkness, as if someone had splattered him with black ink. His left arm was gone, his right shoulder wore the axe's dent, and there was a distinctive tear on a side of his chest.

"Don? Can you hear us?" he said, turning those unnerving white eyes to me. Swallowing down my discomfort, I nodded at him.

"No… this is wrong." grumbled Walther in annoyance and slight fear. "You shouldn't know who you are! You shouldn't be helping him! You should be gone!"

"Not yet." answered Sarah with determination.

Walther was shaking his head in denial, when suddenly a wide smile appeared on his face. "Of course… of course!" He chuckled, clearly losing what he had left of composure. "The third special seal! Bucky's safe somewhere, and he's keeping you as sane as he can!" Another crazed laugh left his mouth. "Now I'll have to find him as well, and get rid of that brother and him."

"I won't let you hurt Jack again!" I shouted in alarm, taking a few steps towards him.

He immediately pulled the book in front of him. "Don't get closer Bonnie, or your friends will be gone. Then I'll erase you as well."

Growling in frustration, I stayed in place. However, Ferny wasn't as patient. He went over to the man slowly; his steps didn't make any sound. "What are you doing?!" demanded Walther, glaring at him. Sarah then did the same, slowly creeping to the man. "Stop!" he shouted, "Stop! You can't hurt me anyways, you're not Shadows yet! Stay back!" Walther quickly flipped through the book and held a page in front of him. "See this?" he yelled in panic, glaring at Ferny. "See this?! I'll break it if you come closer." Both Fer and Sarah stopped their advance midway to the man.

"It looks like someone is afraid of ghosts." whispered Sean next to me. I realized that he was right; as defiant as Walther was towards me, he was terrified of the phantoms that my friends had become.

He can't stand the sight of ghosts. I thought. Despite all he's done, he is afraid of something. And he once said that fear makes men blind… My eye darted to the murderer, the phantoms, the cracked ceiling and the abandoned suit.

"Brother, go to the Spring suit!" I ordered in a raised voice, making sure that Walther heard me. "There's no one in there! If Jack can keep you sane, maybe he can use his seal to let you possess that body!"

"I don't think that's possible Don." said a confused Sean, "We need a blood seal to…"

"Just do it, brother! Believe me, I know it's possible!"

I did feel slightly guilty for lying to Sean again, but he did what I wanted. With silent and ghostly steps, he neared the springlock suit.

"What are you trying to do?" demanded Walther in panic as the phantom neared the suit. "That's impossible! You can't! And you won't!" The man dashed to Spring, laid the book on the floor next to it and grabbed the crank hastily. He then stuck it in a small opening on the back of the suit, and wound the crank as fast as he could. The springlocks clicked in unison like a hundred clocks as they pulled the robotic mechanisms of the suit to its sides, whilst the back of the mechanical rabbit opened up like a sliding door. As soon as this opening was large enough, Walther squeezed himself into the thing, stood up and pulled out the crank. With a loud snap, the back of the suit closed again.

Sean stopped in his tracks when the suited man picked the book of the floor. "Too slow, Freddy." he teased with a muffled voice, caressing the book's red cover with furred metallic fingers. "Too slow."

Taking some steps forwards and to the left, faking hopelessness and defeat, I asked "What will become of my friends?"

Walther laughed as he took a few steps to the right. "What friends? As soon as I find Bucky and break the seal on his body, your so-called friends will become Shadows. They'll hunt you down like rabid dogs and make you one of them. Then I'll find that Mike Schmidt and gut him like a fish." I could see his perverse grin under to suit's fake smile. "As for you, Bonnie… Oh, the options are endless!"

I took two more steps to the left of the suited man, and he once again stepped to the right, keeping a safe distance between us. "I could just leave you here and let you go insane." he continued happily, "Your old mind will rot away soon enough, leaving away something beautiful: the real you that's growing as we speak. I don't even have to do anything! Hey, maybe I'll bring Bucky to you, and you can destroy him for me! You'll love it, I'm sure of it! I was going to break your body so you'll be a Shadow, just like your friends, but it'll be more fun if they get you first! What would you like more: destroying the ones you love, or being destroyed by them?"

"We're never going to hurt Brandon!" shouted Sarah, "And I'm sure he won't hurt us!"

"We're friends till the end, all of us." added Ferny.

The distracted man laughed heartily once again, shaking his head as he pretended to pinch a tear off the suit's face. When I moved to the left again he automatically went to the right. Finally, he was where I wanted. "You're not fooling anyone here. Brandon and his friends died eight years ago in this room. Look at yourselves now. Look at what you've become, all the pain you've caused, all the people you've killed. Didn't you love it? Isn't this life wonderful? I can't wait to find more stupid little brats. There are so many blank pages left in this book, and I want to fill every single one." His mocking laughter echoed through the room. "Didn't I tell you from the start?! I always win! You couldn't even use this suit!"

"Who said that I wanted Sean to possess that suit?" I replied defiantly, earning confused stares from everyone in the room. "You should watch your steps, Walther." Trying hard not to smile, I turned to the nearest wall and raised the axe as high as I could. "Especially when you're wearing a springlock suit!"

I slammed the axe into the wall with all my strength, breaking the wooden handle off the metal head, and felt the room vibrate around us. Right above the killer, the crack on the ceiling finally released its pent-up water. Some fat drops fell on the suit's exposed shoulder, and almost immediately I heard a few springlocks ticking away like a countdown timer.

I couldn't help but smile when I saw Walther's terrified gaze behind Spring's translucent and grey eyes. "No…" gasped the man as the ticking went faster and faster. "No… no… no…" Despair took hold of him when he began to pull at his shoulders, which only loosened more springlocks. "NO!" He turned to the crank on the floor and began to walk as fast as he could towards it, when a small click stopped him in his tracks.

For a moment, nothing happened. Time seemed to stop when my doomed killer turned his eyes to me. In that single eternal second, I could see every thought in his chaotic mind through his eyes. There was no room for anger, only pure, unmasked panic. I'm sure I had that same expression when his knife entered my chest. I wish I could say that I pitied him, that I didn't enjoy the sweet taste of revenge in my mouth, that I regretted giving him a death far worse than mine.

But I'd be lying.

There was a sound like gunshot when the first springlocks snapped into Walther's skin. The man groaned in pain, stumbling back as he tugged at the suit, when the loosened animatronic parts started to drill into his flesh. Howling as thick streams of blood oozed from his shoulder, he tried to pry off the suit's arm hopelessly. But there was no way to stop the chain reaction: the blood from his shoulder leaked down to his sides, loosening the locks there. Another piercing bang filled the room, right before the second set of mechanisms began to crush his chest. The man's loud screams became low, visceral growls, blending with the sound of his ribs breaking; they sounded just like snapping twigs.

"You…" Walther managed to growl out as he turned his furious, blood-shot eyes at me. "You! You damned braAAARRGH!" He finally dropped the book as the suit's arm pulverized his own. Strips of muscle and flesh dripped from Spring's elbow and wrist and fell next to the book. With a single crunch, the suit's whole hand then snapped back into place and macerated Walther's fingers. The man fell to his knees, wailing and crying while the ground remnants of his hand were squeezed out of metal digits.

He was now desperately gasping for air as he slowly stretched his other hand to the book, when another gunshot filled the air: his bleeding chest had triggered the springlocks around his stomach. Dark and viscous blood began to leak out of the Spring's underbelly, accompanied by the squelching sound of his punctured and twisted organs pouring into the suit's hollow stomach.

I don't know when I started smiling. At one moment, I heard Bonnie giggling gleefully in my head. It took me a while to realize that I was doing the same. Taken over or not, I admit that I enjoyed seeing my killer die. Whoever is listening can judge me as they like.

Walther eventually fell backwards in a strange sitting position, holding himself with both arms above a puddle of his own blood, as if lying on the floor meant giving up to death. A few seconds after the suit's calves touched the crimson liquid, his legs were crushed in pretty much the same way as his hands. As I saw his tendons dripping through the joints of the suit like wet noodles, I realized that any normal human would've died minutes ago. Walther's resistance had saved his life when my brother tried to kill him. Now, it was dragging out his suffering.

The phantoms of my friends were staring at the man in the same way as me: unmoving, wide-eyed and completely enthralled. There was neither pity nor joy in their luminous eyes, just relief.

Another snap, softer than the previous, rung through the room. The head mechanisms had finally loosened enough to fail. A few metal bars shot through the man's lower jaw, and he rolled to a side to avoid choking. Broken pieces of his teeth and tongue flowed out of Spring's mouth in a dark-red stream. Walther finally fell on his back, gurgling as his own blood filled what was left of his lungs.

"The book." I heard Sean say next to me, his voice devoid of any emotion. The object was at the edge of the growing pool of blood; Walther still had his arm stretched towards it.

My clouded mind needed a few seconds to process his request. I eventually replied with a wary nod, dropped the axe's handle, went to the choking man and slowly picked up the book. He lifted his crushed eyes to me with an unreadable stare, before finally letting his head fall. The monster that had murdered so many, including my father, my brother and myself, was dying.

"What now, Sean?" I asked, staring blankly at the book's cover. But instead of an answer, I only heard the ticking of raindrops. Desolation welled up inside me as I looked around the empty room, and called out to no one: "Ferny, Sarah, are you there?" More rain fell on the ceiling. "Sean? Brother, please answer me!" A thunder crackled in the distance.

Letting out a deep sigh, I stumbled my way to the giant hole in the wall, feeling completely exhausted. However, as I was about to enter the dining area, a weak groan from behind froze me immediately. I turned around slowly, just in time to see Walther dabbing his finger in his own blood and finishing up his blood seal on top of his chest. His hand then slid off his body limply and his head lolled towards me, staring at me with Spring's grey eyes. With his last breath, he let out a low, gurgling chuckle, and expired. I waited for a last sign of life that wouldn't come. Walther's dead body was now trapped inside Spring, practically fused with the metal creature. It was only a question of time before the same happened to his soul.

'He will come back.' whispered Bonnie in my mind as I stepped into the dining area. 'He always does.'

I continued down the west hallway, trying to ignore his words and the desolate silence that filled the building. My steps grew more laborious as I approached the office, until I finally collapsed in the small room. I was ready to give up, when an idea began to take shape in my mind. There's little hope for me now, and I accept it, but it's not too late for my friends. Maybe I could help them.

Inside the drawers of the office's desk I found what I was looking for: multiple blank cassette tapes and a large key; I'm sure it belongs to that safe in the hidden room. It's been ten hours since I started recording our complete story in these three tapes, and you've reached the end. I don't know who's listening to me right now, but you now know who we are and who we used to be. However, what will become of us now depends on you. Don't believe those stories about Freddy's evil killing animatronics. We're only kids who lost our way, but if we wait long enough, we will be saved.

Please, whoever you are, find Michael Schmidt and Jeremy Fitzgerald if he's still alive and give them these tapes with the book, but don't tell anyone else about us. My friends' souls depend on you. The clocks reads 5:30 AM and the rain has stopped. I will now hide these tapes and the red book inside that safe before Walther comes back.

But I think it's too late for that. I just heard a few heavy steps in the distance, and they're getting closer.

End of Tape 3

A/N: The next part will hopefully be uploaded in two weeks. Also, the credit for Brandon's sentence towards the end goes to NateWantsToBatle's awesome song 'Nightmare'. Thanks for reading, and take care.