Epilogue

Four adults stare intently at a blank wall of a regular basement. Painted in the same color as its surroundings, and with the help of a wooden shelf in front of it, it's impossible to guess that there's a small room sealed behind it.

"What do you think?" Yin asks, putting her hands in her pockets as Mike stares at his guests expectantly.

"It's pretty good." says Evelyn earnestly. "You did this all in a week?"

"That's right." Mike beams with pride, "Although Yin tried to sabotage me more than once." He grins as his wife assaults him with a playful nudge.

"I don't think. Anyone will ever. Suspect anything." Jeremy adds, leaning on his cane thoughtfully. "So… they're both. In there?"

"That's right." Yin turns to the wall, eyeing it thoughtfully. "Even though they're not their real bodies, I think they'd be pretty happy. They're together now, both down here and up there."

"What did you do to the red book?" Evelyn asks somewhat sharply "You didn't put it in there with them, right?"

Mike scoffs at the idea. "That thing's buried in a metal chest with two padlocks six feet underground. We were going to burn it, but maybe the souls still depend on it. Even though I really wanted to destroy that thing, it's better to not take any chances."

Jeremy nods in agreement, as a satisfied Evelyn replies "I agree."

"We should probably go upstairs." says Yin after a few seconds, "The boys will be here soon."

Evelyn takes Jeremy's arm, who leans heavily on his cane as he climbs the stairs in front of Mike and Yin. The sexagenarian smiles with gratitude as Evie helps him get settled on the dining table, laying the cane next to his seat. Mike and Yin conjure up some hot tea for themselves and Jeremy, some coffee for Evelyn, and biscuits for six in record time. After a few minutes, the four friends are immersed in a casual and tranquil conversation, sharing their experiences of the week as they sip on their steamy drinks.

"What happened after the fire, Evie?" asks Yin, looking at the younger woman. "You simply told us that the police never suspected anything."

"That's right. They ruled out arson after two days." replies Evelyn with mild pride, before taking a sip of coffee. "The burned wires fooled them completely."

"And they never. Suspected of you?" adds Jeremy.

She shakes her head. "They came shortly after you left. I simply told them that I left the building as soon as I saw smoke coming out of the switches, and that the fire broke out shortly after. The only thing that made them suspicious was the lack of cars in the parking lot, but I just told them that you dropped me off."

"Yeah, we drove you there, ran away and left you alone." interrupts Mike, remembering the events more clearly. "And then they came knocking at our door, asking if we had left you there."

"Exactly. You just said yes and they went away. That, along with the burning wires, was enough for them."

"What about that. Mark guy you mentioned?" asks Jeremy, "He didn't threaten. To sue you or anything?"

Evelyn shakes her head once more. "Believe it or not, he managed to get the building assured against fires. Of course they didn't give him that much for it, but it's still enough to cover most of his losses. And if he still tries to sue me, well…" Smirking lightly, she raises her shoulders. "I have a pretty good lawyer waiting for him."

It's in this moment that the household's doorbell rings through the room, prompting the four to instinctively stare at the door. Mike is about to get up from his seat, but Yin is faster; she's already opening the door before her husband can protest.

Two identical young men with casual outfits and loaded backpacks smile warmly at their mother, who soon traps them in a powerful hug. "Oh, I'm so happy you're both home!" exclaims the overjoyed woman. "Mike! Come say hello to the kids!"

"Mom, I think that's enough." mutters one of the twins, his cheek squished against his mother's shoulder.

"Come on Jack, don't be such a killjoy." replies the woman sharply, before turning to her other child. "You too Brandon. Now come in, you must be starving!"

The twenty year old twins manage to free themselves from the hug, and soon enter their beloved household. The relaxed, familiar feeling in their hearts falters slightly when they see a scarred man in his early sixties and an unknown woman in semi-formal attire. Perplexed yet still happy, they look at their smiling father for answers.

"Jack, Brandon, I want you to meet Jeremy Fitzgerald and Evelyn Hobbs." says Mike, gesturing at the two adults, who greet the twins with small and friendly smiles. "Jeremy's actually a really old friend of ours, but we lost contact until recently." An innocent lie: they had kept in touch for all those years, but decided to leave the young twins out of their affairs with the Freddy's franchise.

"We met Evie just last week, actually." continues Mike. "Her father helped me a lot in my first job when I was your age."

"That's amazing dad." says Brandon Schmidt, stretching a hand to the woman. "Nice to meet you ma'am."

Smiling, Evelyn shakes his hand. "Just call me Evie, and it's nice to meet you too."

Jack takes her hand after his brother goes to Jeremy, and says somewhat timidly "Nice to meet you." He then breaks the handshake and goes to Brandon, who's already engaged in conversation with Jeremy.

Noticing her concerned expression, Mike goes to Evelyn and tells her "He's shy, just like his uncle. But he's not that shy."

The woman nods discretely, then whispers into Mike's ear "Even so, he reminds me a lot of your little brother."

"I agree." replies Mike lowly, a bittersweet smile on his face. "I agree."

The small dining room fills with chatter and human warmth. Jeremy asks Brandon how he's doing in college, and the young man happily tells him about his study and professors. Yin offers Jack some tea and biscuits, before asking pretty much the same questions. Her son whispers his academic accomplishments, knowing that despite his protests, the proud mother will soon tell their whole family about them.

Meanwhile, Evelyn talks to Mike of the last piece of unburied evidence from the infamous pizzeria. "I have the tapes at home." she says quietly to the standing man, "And I wanted to keep them, if that's okay."

"Sure." he replies in the same hushed tone, "But why not get rid of them?"

"There are still many families that haven't received any justice for those crimes. Those tapes are a treasure of information, and even though I can't use them as evidence, they might lead me to others responsible of everything that happened. For example, the three men that Erik hired to get rid of evidence. I also want to clear the name of the man that took the blame for Walther's murders."

Impressed by her perseverance, Mike looks at the woman questioningly. "You're not going to stop until you solve every secret, will you?"

Evelyn finishes her coffee and shakes her head. "Absolutely not, but there is another thing. Even though no one else should know what really happened to those kids, I don't want their story to die with them. Others beside us should know who they were, even if it's just their names and the official story of their death. That way, the ones that were lost will not be forgotten."

"We will help you in any way we can, I promise." says Mike solemnly. "But for now, let's just enjoy the peace."

The doorbell rings loudly once more, as if protesting this idea. "I'll get it!" shouts the man, before walking to the front door and opening it. However, he finds no one on the other side.

"Who is it?" Yin asks from behind.

"No one." answers a confused Mike, "Must've been a joke." He's about to go back inside, when he spots a small object in front of his feet, lain on his doorstep by unseen hands.

Smiling, he kneels down and picks up the frayed plastic rose.

The End

Author's Note: That's it guys. It's finally over, and it only took 2 years and 5 months, 53 chapters and an epilogue, 243 pages in my Word document, and 196K words according to this site (that's 180K according to MS Word, ignoring my notes).

There's a lot of people that I need to thank for making this possible, but above all, thank you. Whoever you are, wherever you are, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this story from beginning to end. My special gratitude goes to those souls who gave me multiple reviews and that have been following this story for a long time. In a few days I'll upload an afterword dedicated to them. I'll also clarify some questions you might have about the story, and tell you about my future plans. I'm aware that naming the second generation of kids connected to the pizzerias has become a common trope in many stories, but honestly it's a concept that I loved too much not to use.

It's not necessary for you to do this, but if you want to, I'd really appreciate it if you guys could answer some of these questions:

- What was your favorite thing about the story? Plot, characters, writing, or something else?

- What wasn't that good in your opinion? Perhaps a chapter felt unnecessary, or maybe you found a character annoying. I'm aware that despite my best efforts, there are errors in this story. Sorry about that.

- Who was your favorite character in this story, and what was your favorite moment?

- If you could change anything in this story, what would that be?

I'll share my own answers to these questions in the afterword. Again, I'd really appreciate it if you guys could answer them. I want to become the best writer I can be, and that'd certainly help a lot.

On behalf of Brandon, Sean, Jack, Ferny, Sarah, TB, Junior, Mini, Mangle, Balloons, Marionette, Walther/Springtrap, Mike, Jeremy, Evelyn, Yin, Erik, Dave, Fritz, Boris, Bonnie (Yes, I do consider him to be a separate character from Brandon), Freddy, Chica, Foxy, Bucky (Golden Freddy), the twins Brandon and Jack Schmidt, and everyone else, I thank you for reading this story until the end, and I sincerely hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing. See you soon!

Happy reading and happy writing,

-Harmonics

PS: I love talking and discussing with a reader, so you're more than welcome to PM me if you want :)