Afterword: some explanations, acknowledgments, and future plans.

(Plus some emotional rambling from a nostalgic writer)

"In a few days I'll upload an afterword…" That was me, five months ago.

For the truly last time in this story, welcome back guys. It seems that I can't get away from delays, even after finishing a fic. But I told you that I'd put on an afterword to clarify and say some things, so here it is.

First of all, I really can't stress how thankful I am for the support I've received on this story. Over a hundred people have marked it as one of their favorites, we have a total of more than 250 reviews, almost a hundred followers, and a pretty big number of views. When I first started to plan this thing almost three years ago, I never dreamt that I'd see these numbers, and it's all thanks to you. If it weren't for the support, I'm not sure that this story would've been finished in the first place. As happy as I am of the end result, this fic was a lot of work and took a lot of my free time. Reading your encouraging reviews gave me some much-needed drive in moments of stagnation, and in that aspect, this fic is a product of your dedication to it as well as mine.

I wanted to personally thank some users in this afterword, but mentioning them by name would make a lot of people feel left out, and that's the last thing I want to do. Besides, I'm thankful to just about anyone who has read this thing. So, once more, thank you very much for reading this story.

Now, in the epilogue I made four questions that were answered by a few reviewers (special thanks to the ones that did; it was a big help). Here are my own answers:

What was your favorite thing about the story? Plot, characters, writing, or something else?
I'm quite satisfied with the plot as a whole, but I've grown really attached to the characters. Personally, the character development of Brandon and Jack was one of my favorite things, as well as the relationship between those two. I also enjoyed dreaming up the whole thing with the blood seals (though that was mostly inspired by FMA), the evil side of the gang, and all death and murder passages. Yeah, I'm evil.

What wasn't that good in your opinion?
Looking back at tape 1, I must say I'm unsatisfied with lots of my writing there. Of course, I was starting and I don't really have any sort of proper training for writing fiction, so it's the best I could do. Still, I wish I could rewrite some passages, but to be honest that's not going to happen. Rewriting stories is like opening a can of worms, and it's really easy to lose interest in rewriting and in starting new projects once you're in it.

I also wish I could've given more character development and backstory to Ferny and Sarah. I willingly focused most on Brandon, Jack and Sean, and sometimes I feel like I left those two out. But then again, that would've made this story even longer. There are a number of plotholes and inconsistencies, and the ever-present typos and grammar mistakes.

Who was your favorite character in this story, and what was your favorite moment?
I really liked how Jack and TB turned out. Writing Jack was quite a challenge and required a bit of research into autism and similar psychological conditions. I highly recommend that you do some digging into it as well: it's a truly fascinating field, and it gave me a lot of respect for people with these conditions and admiration for those who dedicate their lives to help them and learn from them. My favorite moments were the start and end of tape 2 (particularly chapters 16 and 17, and 34 and 35), as well as the very end of tape 3 and the end of the story.

If you could change anything in this story, what would that be?
Where can I begin? I'd probably make all five main kids two years older, since they're often way too mature for their age. I'd try to make tape 2 shorter (for example, compressing/eliminating chapters 24 and 25 since nothing really important or necessary happens there), give the kids more backstory (especially Ferny and Sarah), try to make Mike and Jeremy less alike, make the kids more flawed… the list goes on.

A number of reviewers seemed reluctant to accept that TB, Junior and Mini were erased at the end of tape 2. As nice as it is to see people getting attached to them, I have to say that they were erased. Period. Sorry if that's tough, but it's a pretty dark story overall and it helped clear the way for tape 3. Fun fact: this was really hard on me as well, and for a while I seriously considered retconning the bloodseals so that breaking the ones in the book wouldn't actually erase the souls, but that created a lot of new issues that had to be solved and I generally dislike retcons.

So, what's next?

I'm working on two new fics that will focus on the backstory of William Afton and Henry. The first one, Henry's journals, will tell the biggest events of the current FNaF timeline through Henry's own journals, letters, and newspaper clippings. Besides, it will show the personality of my characterization of him and his daughter Charlie.

The second, The Afton Archives, is a collection of notes, journals and recordings from different members of the Afton family. It'll focus mostly on William, but we'll see some of Michael and Elizabeth as well. The narrative will be quite similar and both stories will complement each other, since they'll be taking place in the same timeline.

Fair warning: these stories will be quite different from The ones that were lost and anything else that I've written so far. As such, I can't promise you that you'll like them. They'll focus on the humans of the FNaF lore, while here I focused mostly on the animatronics (technically the children inside them, but still...) Nevertheless, I'll throw some of that FNaF goodness in there that we all love: child murder, supernatural possessions, plushies, animatronics, and William Afton/Springtrap, that now seems to be a British furry, dysfunctional father of three and mad scientist at the same time.

I'll post the first part of Henry's journals this Friday, and I'd love to see you guys over there.

There'll also be a number of one-shots coming sporadically over the next months, all FNaF related.

One thing is certain: this story is over, and I'm not going to do any sort of sequel. I'm deciding whether I want to keep working on Before they were lost, but I'm certain that I'll do a one-shot with Brandon and his friends in some moment in time.

A final thing

A story means different things for different people. For me, this story means a lot. Two years and ten months ago, I wrote my first notes for it. Did you know that the first title I thought of was The survivors, which really doesn't make sense at all? I was going to do a love triangle between Sarah, Ferny and Brandon; thank goodness I realized that was a TERRIBLE IDEA. Sean was going to cause the bite of '87, and Jack was going to escape the pizzeria to find Mike. Fortunately, those ideas never formed a part of this story.

But when I look back at those early days, I'm filled with nostalgia. Early 2015 was the golden age of FNaF, there was a lot of hate but also a lot of talent. There were amazing fansongs coming out every week, many of my favorite fanfics started at this time, this site was exploding with new stories, and I met and talked to a lot of talented writers. Although much of the activity has faded out, the fandom is still going strong after all this time. At the end, FNaF wasn't the short-lived fad that I thought it would be; it created a legacy and inspired a lot of people to explore and exploit their talents. I am eternally thankful to Scott and the community for giving me so many memorable experiences for almost three years. I don't think I'll ever forget FNaF as long as I live, and I'm not quitting the fandom any time soon.

As for this story, it's really hard to let go. I'm human, and over the years that it took me to write this story a lot of things have happened. I've had ups and downs, said goodbye to many things and experienced a lot of new stuff. I was finishing highschool when I started, and now I'm more than halfway done with college. But through it all, this story and its characters were always in the back of my mind. When I needed a break from real life, I could always turn to them. These characters are almost like real friends to me, and saying goodbye to them brings a tear to my eye. Nevertheless, life carries on, and it's pointless to live in the past.

With that being said, I say a final 'goodbye' to this story and with it a very important period of my life. Thanks for being a part of this journey, and I'll see you in the next.

Happy reading and happy writing,

-Harmonics Rioter