Mable: Here is the next chapter! There is an important author's note at the end that I hope you read. I guess it's not too required, but it will keep you to speed. Also, unlike what I said in the last chapter, I will only be able to give Natalie's description… Not because Fredrick's looks are a secret, because, of course at the last minute, I suddenly had the epiphany to change what I had in mind and now I don't know which of two ideas I want to go for. I'm hoping to have a plan by the next chapter and, if not, I'll go back to the old design.
Natalie has sandy blond hair and is of curvy build, and is shorter than Mike by three or four inches. Her face is dotted with light freckles and she usually keeps her hair back while working. She has a tiny butterfly tattoo on the back of her left shoulder, but it's usually not visible.
I hope that you enjoy the chapter!
Can't Go Home Again
Chapter Eleven
It was tinged with brown and smelled like metal, but it was still water, and it was better on his hands than the smell of decaying flesh. Mike took an extensively long time washing his hands off. This was mostly because his hand was hurting and he was afraid to jostle it any more than he had already. He was going to have to get it looked at; there was something certainly wrong with it visibly. He washed his face as well and hoped nobody could see that he had a small breakdown. He then checked the dusty mirror and stared back at himself with an empty expression.
"And I look like corpse, of course." He continued to rub at his face, trying to get back the normality on his face. Once he decided that he was as good as he was going to get, he staggered back into the hall and into the dining room. Sam and Foxy were both gone, but Marionette was sitting in one of the chairs against a table. He seemed to be moving fine now and looked back to Mike when he entered the room. The human noticed that the cracks on his face had started to grow thinner by now. "You look how I feel," Mike remarked matter-of-factly, leaning on the doorframe.
He then dragged himself forwards and lifted a chair off of the ground, going to sit in it. "How do you-?" There was a crunch the second Mike sat on the chair and he began to plummet, barely able to grab onto the table at the last moment. Marionette stared at him as he casually stood once more. "…So yeah, I think I'm just going to stand." The Puppet chimed in amusement and the human took this as a sign that the other was a little better. "How do you feel?" Marionette gave a teasing reply, resting his head on his hand, "About as good as you look." Mike fought the urge to roll his eyes.
"…Is it done?" Marionette then asked in a quieter, much more serious tone. Mike gave a slow nod, "Yeah… Don't worry about it. I don't want to even talk about it." The black and white animatronic nodded slowly in understanding. Of course he probably did understand; perhaps he even somehow knew what the man had did. They were interrupted by the sound of footsteps as Sam entered back into the Pizzeria. Relief filled his face as he saw Mike unharmed, "There you are. I was wondering when you were coming out of the bathroom."
"I had to get clean. The stuff on my hands… I rather have literal blood on my hands," he shivered, then glanced at his hand. "And I think I broke one of the bones in my palm. It's not too bad, but I'm going to have to get it looked at." Marionette reached for his hand again, looking it over like he had in the office. "Maybe you should take a trip to the emergency room. I already have Foxy in the van and Jeremy's in your car. I'm sure he'd be willing to drive you." Mike stared at him, "…You actually got Foxy in the car? And wait, what about you, you were practically punched in the chest."
Sam rubbed a hand over the sore spot, "I'll live. It didn't feel like anything was broken and it's not like they'll do anything for a big, fist shaped bruise." This made enough sense and Mike looked to Marionette. "What do you think? Or are you doing the mute thing because Fritz is in the room?" He was just joking and didn't actually expect a response, so it surprised him when Marionette actually gave one. "I'm wondering whether or not this would count as a slap on the wrist," he teased back. "Trust me, a slap didn't do this much damage," Mike responded and looked to Sam.
Naturally Sam was just standing there, awkwardly watching as the two conversed, and then coughed. "I'm guessing everything back there was taken care of… I'll take Foxy and Bonnie back to the warehouse and try to get Foxy's arm reattached. Then I'll figure out what the plan is with him… I should probably shut off the electricity too while I'm here." Mike agreed and added, "And I need you to take Mari back to the house." Marionette's head snapped to attention. "I don't know how long it's going to take so I can't leave you in the car, and going inside with me just won't work."
"You're right. I hate hospitals," Marionette replied in defeat, look away once more. He then fell silent and it was obvious that he was upset, though not at Mike. "Can you move again or should I carry you? I'm good for it," Mike offered and the Puppet made an attempt to stand. This was the first time he had actually seen the animatronic try and use his legs for holding his weight. It was clearly obvious that there was a struggle; like without whatever bit of the levitation remained, the legs would simply collapse underneath him. He then managed to get an inch off of the ground.
"Just… Here," he laid a hand on Mike's arm. "There we go! Just lead me out, I can handle the rest," he chirped confidently. His hand clamped onto Mike's shoulder as they headed out into the parking lot. Mike led Marionette to Sam's van, opening the passenger door, "I'm not even going to try fitting you in with Foxy and Bonnie. Just make sure to keep your head below the window… It shouldn't be that hard; I've seen you fit into that box." The Puppet moved in and stared at Mike. He didn't say anything as he watched the male shut the door.
Mike then shuffled to his car and called in to Jeremy, "I need you to drive me over to the hospital." Jeremy jumped out in horror, "You're okay, right? What happened?" Mike vaguely explained, "I got a slap on the wrist and need to go sit for an hour so I can get it wrapped up." Jeremy opened the door for him and let him in, then hopped in the driver's seat and drove off. Marionette watched them go as Sam secured Foxy in the back and climbed in. He sent a look to the Puppet of concern, "Umm… I think I could take a look at those cracks if you need me to."
Only now did he remember that Sam had heard him clearly speaking earlier. No doubt this meant that now couldn't do the silent treatment. Or perhaps he could, but it just seemed awkward. As much as Marionette didn't want to talk, not when he was worried about Mike who seemed to leave so quickly. It was obvious when Mike came out of the back room that something was wrong. He could just feel it radiating off of him. A sort of somberness radiated off of him that he didn't expect from Mike, and then the male acted… Too normal. It concerned Marionette.
But Sam was waiting for an answer so Marionette gave one to him. "It'll close on its own eventually. If you're going to worry yourself, worry about Foxy," he gestured back towards Foxy in the back. Sam stiffly nodded, "Uh, okay…" They sat there uncomfortably as Sam steered the van out of the parking lot. Marionette slowly slid down to the floorboards, easily managing to fold himself in like fitting into the box. He then rested his head in his hands, elbows resting against the seat, and looked to Sam with a playful glint. Since he was stuck here anyway…
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" Marionette asked in a falsely innocent tone. As expected, Sam reacted with a slight tinge of nervousness, "Uh, yeah. You saw me outside probably." The Puppet let out a chuckling chime, "Are you sure? I think I've seen you somewhere before..." Once he was certain that Sam was properly uneasy, he found that he wasn't as entertained that he thought he would be. His thoughts kept going back to Mike. "…If you wouldn't mind, I would prefer to stay with Foxy until he's back together again." He didn't want to go back to the house alone yet.
"That's fine by me. It might keep Foxy a little calmer… Then again," he glanced into the mirror at Foxy's unmoving body. He grew slightly concerned about the animatronic not moving in some amount of time. "…We're almost there. I think we can all last until then." Marionette chimed again in amusement, but it was slightly force. He could only hope that Sam was as reliable as Mike seemed to believe he was.
The building was suddenly so cold after everything. It could be the rain slipping through the ceiling, but Marionette believed that it was instead from what had happened. There was a sort of joy that remained as well. He wanted to laugh, but it didn't seem appropriate, so he just continued to smile. It emotionally, not physically, wavered as he saw the scattered parts sitting out in the middle of the room. Seeing the empty faces of the decapitated heads made him feel uneasy. He forced himself to keep in mind that anything could be put back into place. They would be all better soon.
"Mari…" The weakness in the usually booming voice sent a shiver down his back. The Puppet was quick to hover over to the only intact figure amongst the limbs. There was a slouched bear animatronic who he had knew well, who he had once feared, and who now he worried for extensively. The golden colored being was slouched against the wall, unmoving as it spoke. "Mari… I'm sorry." Marionette said nothing; he already realized that something was terribly wrong. He stared at the unmoving figure. "I guess I lied to you. I didn't mean to, but I still lied, even if I didn't know it."
The being's voice grew a small bit quieter at the end of the comment. "Look at us, Mari. We're broken beyond repair. There's no coming back for us… We're free." There was joy in his voice, but it scared the black and white animatronic more and more. "We will always be your friends, but we can't be here any longer. Our time is done. The others are already gone and I'm next… I always wanted to protect you. I always wanted to be by your side. Even after everything… I never wanted it to come to this. I want you to know that." He didn't move, but his voice sounded choked, sounded sad.
Marionette agreed without a visible or audible response. He knew that the golden bear would simply know. He knew that something was going terribly wrong. This wasn't how it was supposed to be; they were supposed to be happy after the Purple Man was gone. They were supposed to finally be free, but this wasn't the freedom that he had wanted. "I can't stay here any longer, Mari. It's out of my hands. After all of these years… I finally feel so light. This heavy burden doesn't hold us down anymore. We can finally move on and be free of this place."
A soft light glowed in the form's eyes and it finally moved. It leaned upwards and stared above itself, as though looking into something that couldn't be seen. Then the animatronic collapsed and the light died, its body beginning to fade after it. Marionette knew that he was gone. He could feel it; he was alone. All of them had moved on without him. They were free and he had never felt so trapped. He dropped to the marble floor and hunched forward, trembling as he rested there. This had been his prize for completing his goal. His prize was being alone.
Just thinking about it made him realize how quiet the house was. Marionette stared at the carpeted floor of the hallway and let his mind wander. He wasn't sure how long it had been since Sam had left him here. Foxy had been fixed, though was set into a sort of sleep mode in the warehouse and thus left with Sam. Marionette didn't know if Foxy could handle being back at this house. Just because he remembered him didn't mean that he remembered before being an animatronic, Freddy and the gang never really had, and it was probably best that it was just him.
Mike should've been home by now. It had been hours. Marionette looked upwards at the grandfather clock in front of him, checking the time once more. He had already done so numerous times since he had gotten home. It didn't make sense that it would take him this long to get home from the hospital, unless it had been worse than he though. Mike had been thrown around a bit so it wouldn't have been too out of the question if he had an internal injury. Maybe he could have even suffered a heart attack.
And Marionette had let him do it. He let that monster damage Mike, Foxy, and himself. He knew he was out of practice, but that had been embarrassing. He felt over his face to check the barely visible cracks on the porcelain. By tomorrow they would be gone, but Mike might be as well. That is what terrified him so much; he didn't think he could handle Mike disappearing too. Not after how well he protected him today; Mike saved him from any more damage and complete humiliation. Yet as he rolled on his side to stare down the hallway, he felt confused.
He held himself and attempted to enact some sort of self-comfort. Right when he thought that maybe he could calm down, he heard a familiar thump noise from outside the house. He perked with a soft gasp as he noticed that it was a car door. Either it was Sam or it was Mike, and he couldn't help but believe that it was Mike about to come through the door. He watched the door, starting to raise himself off of the ground. He was finally able to hover fine on his own, though leaned back on the wall cautiously, wondering if it would be an unknown man to tell him that Mike was gone.
Then the door actually opened and a familiar man stepped in, looking exhausted. Marionette was over to him in an instant, teleporting beside him. It got a jump out of Mike who then gave a small smile. "Glad to see you got back without any bloodshed." He raised his arm to reveal a cast around his wrist and hand, "Just bad enough to get stuck with one of these for a few-." Marionette leapt forward at this point, embracing him tightly in his striped arms, and seemed resistant to moving away. Thankfully he completely missed the cast and Mike rested his good hand on his back, "weeks."
He found a sort of relief being back and everything being alright. Marionette murmured a soft, "I'm glad you're home." The way he worded that felt purposeful, like he was accentuating 'home'. Right afterwards, the Puppet moved back at arm's length, his hands moving to his shoulders. "That was quite a long time for a cast. Did you get lost?" He teased and now looked to the cast. Mike groaned and looked to it as well, "I wish. I sat in the ER for at least three or four hours. There was some woman brought in with a blood sugar thing, and then her family camped out in the waiting room-."
He continued to go on about his experience, heading into the kitchen, while Marionette loyally followed and listened. He found an overwhelming delight in having the man back safe and sound. Eventually Mike seemed to notice his face, "…Did the cracks close on their own?" He couldn't imagine that he would let Sam that close. "They did," Marionette chirped in response. Mike stared at him for a few seconds, as though not fully certain how to respond, and then shrugged it off. "That's a relief. I wasn't sure if that could be something that could get superglued back together."
After that playful comment, Mike continued to explain about how things went at the hospital. Yet it didn't take too long for Marionette to realize that he was acting a little strange. He expected questions about the man in the suit, about the pizzeria, about anything involving what happened earlier, but there were none. Under any other circumstance, this would be a blessing. It wasn't like he really wanted to think about any of it again. This was Mike though, and Mike was notorious for wanting answers. He hadn't even asked about how exactly the cracks healed themselves.
At first the Puppet assumed that maybe Mike just wanted to put it off. Yet as time ticked by and they attempted to return to normal activities, it started to bother him more and more, and Mike still didn't mention it at all. If anything, he was dodging any mention of it. He hadn't even, to the Puppet's knowledge, called to check on Sam or Foxy. It was starting to nag at him more and more throughout was left of the day. During some point, Marionette was forced to retreat to his room and just tried to make sense of what he was going to do. He paced without actually touching the ground.
The first thing that came to mind was that he had to confront Mike. This wasn't really Marionette's forte; as direct as he could be he didn't tend to seek anyone out and demand to know their inner thoughts. Never had he even wanted that much direct contact with humans, what with the risks of being seen. Even with Mike he hadn't expected it, as he seemed usually kept together fine. There was something off and they were going to have to address it now. He could hear the shower running in the bathroom and decided to corner Mike.
He appeared inside the room, arms crossed, and voice firm. "Mike, we need to talk." Mike's reaction was an immediate cry of alarm, glancing out from around the shower curtain. "What are you doing in here?!" He pulled in the curtain to shield himself. Ironically, it was now the Puppet who wished he could roll his eyes. "We need to talk about what happened earlier. Believe me, I don't want to, but we can't pretend it didn't happen." Mike was still clearly flustered and very uncomfortable. "Do we have to do that now?! I'm sort of in the middle of something!"
"I'll be in my room, then." That was Marionette's final answer before he left, not sure why Mike was so touchy about the shower. Mike, on the other hand, could currently care less and was more concerned about this 'talk' they were to be having. The last thing he wanted to do was discuss what happened earlier, especially with the reminder on his hand, wrapped in a plastic bag to keep it dry. He knew there was no point in avoiding the Puppet and made sure he was put together before heading to confront him. Hopefully he could talk him into a quick resolution.
"Alright, I'm here," Mike announced as he entered, shutting the door behind him out of reflex. He leaned on it and looked to the animatronic across the room. He partially mocked the human's posture by leaning against his box in an almost casual gesture. "I'm worried about you, Mike. What happened earlier was, let's say, a catastrophe at worst and a victory at best… And you've been extremely quiet on the subject." Mike quirked a brow, "I was there. I didn't think there was really anything to talk about. You saw what I saw." He sounded so unaffected.
For a second Marionette questioned his assumption. Perhaps his misjudged the change in Mike's usual patterns. "I suppose I did, but you've never been one to simply leave things as they are." His tone became lighter and a bit more playful. Yet suddenly Mike's tone changed too, but surprisingly in the opposite direction. "It was… Pretty intense. At least it's over." He noticed that the black and white animatronic was still staring. "I'm fine, trust me. I just a good night's sleep and a meal." He smiled to reassure his point.
"You are a terrible liar, Mr. Schmidt," Marionette answered. Mike became more defensive and insisted in his own, firmer voice. "Look, Mari, I don't want to talk about it, okay? I had a hard enough day- We had a hard enough day." He hesitated to let the annoyance drain from his voice. He didn't exactly want to snap at Marionette and decided instead to try calming himself down. "If I wanted or needed to talk about it, you would be the first to know. What I did had to be done and I don't feel any guilt for that, and what I saw… I've seen worse." The words seemed somewhat convincing.
"Then I'll take your word for it. You have had a rough day and I certainly owe your quietness." He turned towards his box, "Would you wind me?" Mike hummed in surprise, "It's a little early, isn't it?" The animatronic slid into his box with a slight shrug. "It's never too early to be exhausted." The healing had taken more out of him than the injury, but the last thing he wanted was to stay cracked for good. Mike held the music box between his casted arm and body while he wound it. "Alright. I'll be moving around for a while if you hear anything." The music box was set down to play.
Marionette disappeared down into his box, watching Mike until he could no longer see him, and then closed the box. The world faded away into the song of the music box. Sleeping varied for him; sometimes it felt like blacking out, sometimes it felt like actual sleep, this time it resembled more of the former. He was so tired that it didn't surprise him. What did surprise him was rousing when the music box went off. Usually he would just fall back asleep, still lulled by the music, and sometimes wouldn't wake at all. However, this time he could feel that he wasn't alone.
The box was slowly opened and revealed the dim bedroom. Then he slowly raised himself a slight bit out of the box to check. Mike was still in the room. Marionette didn't know if he left at some point, a few hours must have passed, but Mike was sitting on the bed with his head in his hand. The black and white animatronic raised further out of the box and was as silent as possible. He wondered if Mike was awake as he wasn't moving, but it seemed impossible for Mike to be able to sit like that if he was asleep. He tilted his head curiously and lightly tapped his fingers on the edge of the box.
He wasn't sure how to alert Mike he was here without startling him. Maybe it was best not to alert him at all. Before Marionette could make a decision, Mike exhaled and tossed his arms down tiredly. Now he was able to glance over and noticed that he was being watched. His blue eyes widened, he stared for a few seconds, and then he swore under his breath. "The music box…" Marionette tapped his fingers again in almost an agreeing response. "I'll take care of it…" Mike reached to the music box and set it in his lap to wind it. The Puppet didn't stop him.
He didn't have to. Mike stopped himself midway through the gesture and put the box to the side. "Wait… I need to ask you something." He dragged his good hand through his hair as he inhaled. "Mari, am I like him?" Marionette tilted his head again. "The murderer. That… That Purple Man." Marionette's reaction is instantaneous; his face couldn't hide his shock from the question. This wasn't what he thought he was going to hear. "It's been driving me insane for the last couple of hours. I just can't stop thinking about it. We were basically the same person."
"No," Marionette snapped, anger evident on his face. "You are nothing like him." Mike gave him a slightly weak look of exasperation. "Look at the facts. We were both night guards, we both survived multiple shifts, we both couldn't get away from the Pizzeria… I'm practically becoming him. Other than killing people, I'm already following his exact path." Black hands gripped the edge of the box tighter. "Don't say that. That's simply not true. That was a monster in that suit. You're not a monster, Mike."
"But I could be," he became a little more panicked. His breathing became quicker and he took shorter breaths. "He had to be just a normal guy at some point. If we're this close now, then whatever turned him into that… That could happen to me. I could become the same monster that he was. Aren't you afraid of what could happen? I'm not stable. I'm not even a good person." Marionette now struck the box's edge with his hand, "I'm not afraid of what you won't become, Mike! If anything, I'm afraid of you getting yourself killed!"
Mike seemed entirely unfazed at the comment. In fact, he sent Marionette a very unenthusiastic look. "I think me getting killed is the least of my problems right now." The Puppet clearly disagreed, "Well, it's certainly my problem! Do you realize how close-?!" Then in a second he managed to calm himself down, going quiet and forcing his voice to even out. The last thing he wanted was to get worked up, even though it was most certainly a touchy issue. "You could have died today, Mike. Then you would've been gone like all the others."
Mike paused to offer, "I wasn't going to get myself killed… What do you mean, the others?" There was actually that fleck of curiosity and the black and white animatronic found his voice slipping. Of course he couldn't exactly chastise the other for not wanting to talk and then shut him down. It wasn't like he didn't want to get this out anyway. He was tired of keeping all of this pent frustration inside and not having any outlet. He was just relieved that Mike was at least looking interested in something.
"Foxy wasn't supposed to be alive. I saw him and the rest of them slip away after the Purple Man's death. They all moved on… Even Goldie. I trusted and then where did it get me?" He gave a chime of forced amusement; it was out of tune. "He left me just as easily as the others did!... And Foxy left too. I don't know why he is back, I don't know how he's back… Isn't it ironic? Goldie was my best friend and left me; Foxy spent most of his life hating me and he was the one who came back!" That forced, out of tune chiming returned.
Mike furrowed his brows, "I'm guessing 'Goldie' was Golden… Fredbear?" The Puppet gave a nod, "He never liked that name. He wanted to make himself his own entity, separate from what he was… He was everything to me. When I needed a guide, he told me where to go. He fixed me when I was a broken mess. He was always there… And he's gone." His voice grew more depressed as he slouched just a bit. "And then Father-… I'm sorry." His voice began to drop into a crackle. He didn't want to think of his father yet.
"It's okay. I got it," Mike insisted. "With Fredrick too… Yeah." Marionette eased just a little bit. "I gave you the wrong impression of me a long time ago, Mike. I'm not a trusting person. I don't trust people unless they earn it, and those few are long gone now. Every adult, security guard or not, all have the face of the monster. I see him everywhere… Except for you." He was certain with his words, yet they still hitched. He wants to get this out, he knows Mike needs to hear it, but it's so hard to actually do it. "I trust you, Mike. If I'm taking a risk, then so be it."
Mike glanced down at his casted arm, just so he could stare at something. He did believe what the Puppet was saying, but that didn't mean he was off of the thought of the Purple Man. "Mari-," he was immediately interrupted by the animatronic continuing. "Petty similarities; what similarities? A familiar job, the ability to survive- which is arguable in his case." Mike started to stand, not to leave but to fidget around a bit. "That's doesn't change some of the things that happened today. I killed him so easily. I killed him."
"And that is an issue how exactly? I killed him too, technically," Marionette shrugged off. Then he continued to protest, "I would rather to have you kill him then lose you too…" He suddenly went oddly quiet. He slowly pulled back on the edge of the box. Silently he dropped into the box, catching Mike's attention. "Uh… You okay?" Mike crossed over and looked into the box. Marionette was kneeling now, leaning against the front of the box. "So did you just pass out or give up?" he managed to give a slightly amused look. The animatronic made a crackling groan.
"You make me feel human," Marionette admitted. "Not even Goldie could do that." There were a few seconds of silence after this. Then the sound of footsteps. Marionette half-heartedly raised his head to see Mike leaving, then dropped his head forward again, determined to go limp. At first he assumed Mike gave in, though he did return a couple of minutes later, approaching the box and moving to crouch down outside of it. "I want to show you something. I think you'll get a kick out of it…" Marionette raised his head and immediately noticed the metal badge Mike was holding.
"Fredrick gave me this to keep after the last time I filled in for him. He actually told me I earned it. It's the most precious thing I own." He smiled as he looked down at it in his own hand. He hadn't had the badge out enough to really look at it or think about it recently. Its familiar weight eased his burden. "I survived so many nights at that Pizzeria that I can't even count anymore… Do you think some… Overgrown bunny with a bad attitude is going to take me out?" He sat down in front of the box, leaning back against it as he continued holding the badge up for the Puppet to see.
It was ironic, but somehow Mike found some reassurance from this inanimate object. Unless Fredrick was lying when he had given it to him, he was the only guard who had ever been presented with the badge to keep. The only one to earn such an honor from Fredrick. It didn't make all of the concerns go away, but it made it easier to push the overwhelming thoughts back for a while. "Pull yourself together, Mike. You can't be the same if you got this. It's not much, but it's something." Marionette affectionately wrapped his arms around Mike's neck, holding him tightly.
He could feel the other easing a little bit and knew he was starting to feel a little better. Before he could consider waiting for a better time, he suddenly requested, "Stay with me." Mike sighed a bit and glanced down at the striped arms, slightly amused, "Don't worry about it. I'm not going anywhere." Again, the Puppet request, "No. I mean that I want you to stay with me." Now the human paused before answering. "…On the bed? Fine by me, but I don't think I'll be able to fit in the box if that's what you want."
"No Mike, you don't understand," Marionette chimed. "I want you to stay here with me, in the house… I know you still have your other home and other things. You could bring them by and put them in the house however you like, it really doesn't matter to me, but you could stay with me until… You could stay with me." He didn't want to finish that one sentence. Anything he would end it with sounded surprisingly dark. The entire speech had taken Mike slightly aback though; he was still under the assumption that this was all a temporary arrangement.
"Are you sure about this? Trustworthy or not, we've only been staying together for a while and we've already become a complete mess. I can say confidently that both of us being this close is a danger in and of itself." As Mike said these words he realized how empty they were. He wasn't convincing himself; his answer was already decided by his natural instinct to shrug and say, 'Sure, let's try it'. At the moment it seemed smart; It would save him on rent, it would be easier to not keep going back and forth, and he didn't exactly want to disagree with the Puppet when its arms were around his neck.
"Sure, let's try it. Worst case scenario, you get bored and start trying to kill me. At least it'll give us something to do between Midnight and six."
Mable: So the original plan was to end on the next chapter, but I have so much stuff I want to do, and this is more of an 'end of Act 1' scenario… So, instead, I have a new plan. If you've read my 9 stories Souls Run Deep and Fabric Runs Shallow, you know that they are long fics with many chapters, but are broken into story arcs. Some lasting ten chapters, some five, some three, and even the occasional one-chapter story… I think I would like to do that here. I'm not sure if it will reach one hundred chapters, I had to plan those two stories far in advance for that, but I do want to see this story continue further. I am not posting the continuation as a separate fic; it will continue to be posted like this.
So, uh… That's all I had to say. The next chapter should be posted in the near future. I hope you enjoyed!