Mable: Okay, so… You may notice that this chapter is late. I was actually halfway through writing it when my Microsoft Word crashed. This shouldn't have been a problem, as I was saving the file frequently, except that Word randomly decided to devour my file. It was just gone, not in the recycle bin, not in the temp files, I just lost the chapter. Rewriting the chapter actually made it a bit different that in was originally, but I hope it is still worth the wait! Hopefully Word doesn't eat any more files in the future. -.- Anyway, enjoy!
Can't Go Home Again
Chapter Sixteen
It had been a few days and finally the day had arrived for the auction. Mike was not looking forward to it, but still participated in what he could do to help. Even with his arm in its current state he managed to help Jeremy and Fritz set up tables on the emptier side of the warehouse. They then separated the items onto the tables for the silent auctions while they left the large items in the back for the actual auction. There weren't many large, actionable items so the silent auction method seemed like the best solution instead of auctioning every little thing.
Jeremy had also decided to put out a jug for possible donations. His theory was that more people would donate if they could give a dollar without thinking. Mike and Fritz agreed and thus the jug sat on the first table. The location required that they did move Foxy's temporary cove, which had been a chore. Foxy somehow knew they wanted into his curtain and had become a bit more threatening, standing his ground and staring the group of humans down, and it wasn't until Marionette stepped in that the curtain was moved. Foxy would only let Marionette take down the curtain.
Marionette had recovered from the nightmare well enough. He hadn't given out any more intimate details concerning it, but returned to his normal behavior. This was a good thing considering that they ended up needing his help with Foxy. The Puppet was able to instruct him to move the stuff inside of the curtain into a back room. Now they had set everything up back there somewhere, which would hopefully keep the animatronics content with staying there.
It wasn't as though Mike thought either would want to come out and explore when there was so many people out, but he wanted to make sure that nobody stumbled upon anything. That was the last thing that they needed. The security guard currently was staring down the box of parts that held the head that had tormented him. What happened less than a week before was still clear in his memories. The feeling of being followed, of being threatened, had stuck pretty close to Mike. Yet he hadn't noticed anything since he and the others came in to work.
The warehouse felt like it was normal once again. "What about these parts? Are we selling these?" Mike called over to Fritz as he watched the empty head. Part of him expected to move at some point or fly out at him. It did neither and Fritz headed over, "What parts?" Mike pointed out the box and lifted the head out. "Balloon Boy? Uh…No, I guess not."
"Are you sure? I'd love to get rid of this thing. It gives me the creeps," Mike admitted. Fritz seemed surprised at his reveal, "Really? I didn't think anything creeped you out." Mike exhaled a bit, somewhat ashamed by his admission. He preferred not giving the impression that he was afraid of anything, and usually he wasn't. "After the other night, this thing- this is the head that kept following me around. I don't know what was going on." He cut off as he noticed Marionette hovering beside them, suddenly appearing to listen in. Fritz hummed and looked to the head.
"Maybe it's the ghost of Balloon Boy, but he was never really aggressive. I don't know, Foxy's the one whose been giving me trouble," Fritz explained before getting called by Jeremy. The technician headed off after him to assist with what he needed. Mike looked to Marionette who held out his hand. The human raised a brow quizzically and handed over the head. He watched as the Puppet seemed to silently study the head, feeling over it, and finally speaking. "There's nothing here," he explained. He then chimed, "Then again, it was Balloon Boy. There might have never been anything here."
"There was something there the other night. It was following me all over the warehouse. I don't know what Fritz was seeing, but there was something paranormal going on." Marionette looked upwards at the human curiously. "Did you see it? Or hear it?" Mike shrugged, "I sort of heard it breathing. It was this deep, heavy breathing down my neck, but there was nothing there. I'd see nothing and I'd be hearing it right beside me." He was becoming worked up once more about the memory. It was almost as though none of the others believed him.
Marionette did believe him though. "But it didn't follow you home," he clarified and received a nod. "No… And it's not here now. Maybe there's too many people or something… It didn't seem to want to get close to Foxy." The Puppet tilted his head and Mike waved it off. "Don't worry about it. We'll worry about it when it pops back up… So what are you doing? I thought you were going to stay with Foxy." The aniamtronic's smile seemed to slightly twitch into a slight smirk, then returned back to its standard smile. "Making sure that you aren't lifting anymore boxes."
He was answered with an unimpressed look. "You're so close to not needing that cast. You shouldn't overdo it now," Marionette insisted with slight concern. "I'm not going to break anything else. The last thing I want is to keep this on longer," Mike absentmindedly rubbed the cast. It certainly was irritating to wear; rubbing at his skin and itching in places that he couldn't touch. Some nights he considered cutting it off in frustration, but he never actually went through with it. "Just know that the longer you keep that on, the more I'm going to be tempted to draw on it," Marionette pointed out, as though it was a threat.
"I'd love to see you try," Mike murmured and looked to his watch. "We're opening in a minute. You should probably head into the back before someone sees you and you turn into a statue." He then let a smirk return to his lips. "Then again, maybe you should come out to the tables. I think we could probably get a small fortune for you. Who wouldn't want their own, personal nightmare fuel?" Marionette seemed amused as he tapped his fingers on the head in his hands, "Of course you would be the one to take advantage of my inability to move."
"I'm waiting for the 'pulling strings' pun," Mike coaxed and Marionette chimed in amusement. "I'm sure you are. I'm waiting for the day that we find a better thing to bat back and forth, but that is my cross to bear." He eagerly awaited a reaction, which was Mike's brief chuckle. The striped animatronic continued to toy with the head in his hands. It didn't bother him seeing it; Balloon Boy never acted fully like he was awake and, if he was, he probably moved on with the others who already had. Besides, Mike was enough of a distraction.
"And besides, if someone bought me then who would be here to take care of you?" Marionette playfully replied back. "I don't know. Maybe I'd get sock monkey and stick it at the foot of my bed. At least it would have better jokes," Mike answered back and looked down the aisle towards the tables. "But seriously, you need to get going. I don't want you put on the spot by anyone. We're probably going to get a lot of people asking a lot of questions that I'm not going to want to answer." Marionette didn't disagree with him and put the head back in the box.
"How long will this be? It's not that I have absolutely nothing to do with Foxy, but I just don't want to give him that impression," the animatronic asked in a forced bored tone. He wasn't exactly looking forward to what could possibly happen between Foxy and himself in that room. Everything could get really uncomfortable really fast and, after the nightmare event, he preferred to not have to worry about it. "A couple of hours at least… There's a pack of colored pencils in the office if you want to grab them." Silence. "That's all I've got."
"Then I'll make do with it," Marionette murmured and headed towards the office. He followed with a call of, "And don't lift any boxes." Mike shook his head to himself and continues down to the tables, carrying a cardboard box of masks. A few people had already arrived early and were browsing around the tables of items. He laid down the masks and filled out a paper for their silent auction, then wandered to the side to keep watching. Fritz was talking to a middle aged couple near the entrance while Jeremy watched the tables.
Mike's goal was to watch the donation jug and to make sure nobody took something out the door or snuck into the back while they weren't watching. Most of the people were the standard suburban couples who were probably parents. Most likely they were snooping for answers more than anything else. There were a few teenagers who Mike watched suspiciously, but he let them off the hook once he saw them bid on an old Chica cut out. Though it was while looking at them that he noticed a familiar woman entering the warehouse. She was dressed casually, but it was definitely Natalie.
He decided to leave his 'post' and headed in her direction to greet her. She noticed him and gave a small smile, "Hey. Just came to see how everything was working out," she explained in a slightly awkward tone. The fact that Natalie was there though made him feel a little more confident about how comfortable she was with what he told her. "Trying to make a living. You know, the usual," Mike remarked in return. Natalie looked at the tables, "You've got a lot of stuff. I'm sure you'll get something out of this… So, uh, if all goes good then how long until opening?"
"The place we'll be buying just needs some appearance work. It's all already there, so it won't take too long." He sent her a smile, "So does that mean you're taking the job?" She gave a shrug, sticking her hands in her jacket pockets, "Eh, put me on the payroll. I need the money anyway… I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, but as long as it doesn't involve sticking my hand into any robots then I'm good to go." Mike exhaled slowly, "No, that would be my job. It's the hands on experience from-." He cut off at the sound of a banging noise through the warehouse.
There was a little quietness amongst the room and Mike felt the need to do damage control. "Fritz, I'm going to go see if Jeremy needs help with the boxes," he called over the crowd, hoping it was loud enough that everyone could hear and think it was nothing. He then looked to Natalie, "Would you mind watching the donation jug? I have to go check on that." She gave a nod and he thanked her before hurrying into the back. Jeremy was actually currently in the office and the noise clearly came from the back aisle where the he found an out of place box.
It just sat there on the ground; not tipped over but set down, as if it had been pulled off the shelf and dropped. Mike now looked towards the doorway very close to the box and had an immediate suspicion. He stepped in and then stepped in again through the curtain. At first glance everything seemed innocent enough; Foxy was sitting there to the left, leaning against the wall with a red guitar on his lap. It didn't seem to be a functioning guitar as Foxy plucked at the strings but it didn't make any sort of tuned noise. He partially acknowledged Mike by looking over.
"Welcome to Pirate's Cove! Pop on your peg legs and steer yer 'aye' towards adventure!" Foxy advertised before looking back to the guitar, as though uninterested in actually entertaining Mike. Marionette was on the other side of the room, drawing with the colored pencils but looking towards Mike. "Yeah, thanks. So did either of you knock that box down back there?" Neither responded. "Foxy, I notice you clearly have a prop that you didn't earlier." Foxy didn't respond. "Just keep in mind that there are a ton of people out there buying stuff."
"Aye aye, Captain," Foxy clipped out of nowhere and raised his hand in a stiff motion. Mike stared for a few moments and then turned to head back out, "Alright… Yeah." The second he was gone Foxy lowered his hand and looked towards Marionette. "He- Landlubber- be a few teeth short of a Bilge Rat," Foxy now clipped and then continued to fiddle with the guitar. Marionette chimed in amusement; though he had no idea what exactly the other animatronic meant by that comment. At least it broke the somewhat awkward silence for a few moments.
As Mike started out to the front, Jeremy appeared by his side. "Mike, uh… Before you leave, we're going to have to talk, alright?" It was shockingly direct for Jeremy. Mike nodded and didn't ask, because he knew something was off when he noticed the solemn look on the other man's face. There was no way he was going to let that go, but right now they really didn't have a choice. Instead they headed out into the main room to continue working. What followed was another hour of people filtering in, signing the silent auction sheet, and the actual auction finally beginning.
Halfway through bidding off an old Bonnie head, that was practically gutted and had little value, Mike was approached by a random man. As Mike was the only one not needing to participate in the auction, instead watching the tables and the donations, it made sense that someone asking questions would come to him. The man looked to be only a little younger than Fredrick had been and scanned the room with an unreadable expression. Maybe one of suspicion, but Mike couldn't help but return it with a mostly quizzical but unconcerned look.
"So you're reopening Freddy's," the man started and Mike corrected. "Sort of. Except without Freddy. We're calling it Foxy's Pirate Pizza Place as a working title." The man stayed quiet a little too long. "Are you bringing back the old animatronics?" Mike couldn't resist, "Sort of. Except without Freddy. We're calling him Foxy as a working title." He gave a small smile to show that he was joking. Instead, the man seemed to suddenly grow firm, "Let's stop playing around with each other. Where's Fred? I know he's got to be involved in this."
This was a sudden change and Mike blanked for a second. He eventually managed to get out, "He's not here… Not with us, I mean. You didn't see it in the paper?" The man looked confused at the comment. "Fredrick passed away of a heart attack a while back. In fact, that's some of the reason why we're doing this." The man didn't seem very convinced by it. "Come on, kid. Fred's 'died' more than once. Where is he?" Mike stared back blankly. "…Fredrick died before?" He caught on to what he meant and rubbed his face.
"And another thing to add to the list of 'Things I don't want to know about my Boss'." The man seemed to start to catch on that Mike wasn't covering and looked surprised. "Wait, Fred- Freddy's…? He can't be! How'd-?!" He cut off with a sputter and Mike broke in to answer. "It was a heart attack." This caused the man to calm down again, "I should've figured. He always was a little high strung…" He exhaled and stood there. Mike stood there. The auction nearby ended the bidding on its current item and moved on to the next one.
"Freddy reopened the old location more than once under shady reasoning, claiming it was someone else opening it. It might have been; by then we weren't working together anymore." This comment caused Mike's interest to pique a bit, "You and he used to work together?" The man nodded, "Yeah, back at the old location. We went our separate ways around the time that Fredbear's Diner closed. You probably don't know anything about that place, but it was the restaurant before that Pizzeria in town. He might've mentioned me, Glenn Voronoff."
"He didn't… But Fredrick didn't let me in on even half of what he was doing," Mike admitted pitifully, letting his disappointment slip through. "I mean, I was close enough to inherit his house, and yet I know barely anything about him." The man, Glenn, gave a dry chuckle. "Don't take it personally. Freddy has his own problems." He pulled out his wallet and fished out a business card and a couple of dollars. "But if he trusted you then I'll go with his gut. Here's my card if you need anything." He dropped the dollars into the jug.
"Chipper and Son's?" Mike questioned as he read the card. The location was unknown to him, but the names were familiar from the Fredbear and Friends cartoon. "It's an animatronic showroom, but it never really took off. I'm wasting more cash keeping the lights on then I'm taking in… Hey, but don't let that get you down. This has always been a better area for this sort of stuff." This didn't exactly reassure the security guard, but he was still thankful. "Thanks. I might call you if anything comes up." The conversation died off and Glenn left shortly later.
The rest of the afternoon was rather uneventful. Things were sold, money was made, and a few stray questions were answered, but nothing of major significance. Mike was relieved when he was able to finally roll down the metal door and get ready to go. He called back through the warehouse, "Mari, come on! I'm taking off!" Marionette appeared immediately beside him, clearly eager to leave the warehouse. In the background Mike could hear Foxy's 'good bye' recording playing from somewhere in the aisles.
As the guard expected, Jeremy appeared rather quickly. "Before you go, we need to, umm…" he lost track just a little around Marionette, but recovered. "The cameras are glitching out. I don't know why, but the prerecorded videos are all seriously scrambled." Mike didn't like the sound of this at all, "Is it the cameras?" Jeremy shook his head, "I don't think so. Like, everything recorded this morning is fine, but all the stuff at night starts running together. It's like something in the cameras themselves are destroying the tapes and we need these tapes."
"Is there any way we can, I don't know, double record it? Or record it to something separate from the camera? If it is the equipment, then we'll still have a salvageable copy." Jeremy shrugged at the suggestion, "Sounds like a good idea… I'll run it by Sam once he's done stashing the cash." Mike gave an amused smirk, "Or putting it right into his 'blow in Vegas' fund. One of us is going to do it." Jeremy headed off to either go try it himself or directly get Fritz while Mike didn't follow. Sure, he was concerned about the cameras, but not too concerned.
Nothing had disappeared out of the warehouse in the last few days or misplaced, so as far as Mike was concerned it wasn't a big deal. Especially since he still had to go to work in a few hours and… Regardless of the lack of activity, didn't feel safe leaving Marionette at the warehouse. If that thing did become aggressive then it could spell disaster that Mike didn't want to deal with. He waved Jeremy off and turned to head out the door. There was a note taped to his car that he glanced over and slipped into his pocket, then left the parking lot.
He felt a sort of relief once he finally arrived home. This was short lived as he was almost immediately forced back into his uniform for work. He could only take solace in the fact that every day at work would get him closer to what he actually wanted to do. There was that lingering doubt after what Glenn had said, but Mike was more than willing to shrug it off and put it out of his mind. He stepped out of his bedroom and into the hall, where Marionette was lingering. Mike assumed he was becoming clingy because he was leaving soon.
"I'm not looking forward to this," Mike wearily admitted as he passed the animatronic, who followed rather closely. "I shouldn't be gone too long. Just don't answer the door or anything. Should be a normal night." Marionette hesitated only a second before asking, "What was that note?" His voice sounded innocently curious above all else. As Mike hadn't mentioned the note after he saw it, Marionette assumed it was something bad, which wasn't the case. The man in reality hadn't mentioned it because he hadn't thought too much of it.
"It was just a note from Natalie. She was over at the warehouse; it's just a note saying she left. Nothing serious." He put on his hat and grabbed his things, not noticing the Puppet slowing slightly in his movements. "Oh, I didn't even see her! Of course, I didn't see anyone from the back," it was a teasing tone. If it wasn't for him crossing his arms, or digging his own fingers into his stripes, there would be no indication of any displeasure. "You two certainly spend a lot of time together, don't you?" Mike glanced back at him, "Are you suggesting something?"
"Not at all! I'm just moderately curious. I should probably know now if I should expect her around here more frequently or not," Marionette simply remarked. "If she takes the job then sort of. Then again, we work together now," Mike shrugged off. "But I get it and, no, there's nothing going on between Natalie and I. Even if there was, I wouldn't just start shoving her on you." For a few moments the black and white animatronic didn't seem to react. Then his body seemed to grow less tense, his grip loosened, and he looked off towards the kitchen.
"I know. I know you wouldn't do that," he was a bit more uncomfortable. "Stay safe tonight." Mike sent back a smirk, "I think I can manage. It's not like I'm sitting in a haunted warehouse with Foxy or anything." He headed towards the door, thinking that everything was fine. Marionette was still smiling as he followed him, after all. "I'll see you in a while," Mike finished and then shut the door, heading out. The Puppet briefly watched him from the window as his car drove off. He felt so helpless; he had been fine with everything until this new stranger got involved.
And he could get rid of her so easily. He didn't even have to use violent means; he could literally scare her off in one night of work. He knew that he could and that it was only a loyalty to Mike that kept him grounded. This was the first time that his connection with Mike had ever really held him back. It hadn't been until now, knowing that this stranger was going to be even more involved, that he felt even more trapped. Marionette took a step back and forced himself to calm down, reminding himself that there was no need to worry.
Marionette could only grin in delight at the thought that he wouldn't have to do anything at all. She would get scared and quit, he knew it, and he kept telling himself that. He moved away from the window and turned towards the couch. His Golden Freddy plush was waiting there, staring forward blankly. He could already imagine what Goldie would've said if he knew that he had allowed himself to get in this situation. Then again, Goldie would've probably just stepped in and dealt with it however he wanted it dealt with. He would've had the final say.
…But he wasn't Goldie, so he was going to patiently wait for this to sort out itself.
Mable: They already had Halloween Candy selling in the store by my house. That's about a month or so too early, or by my thinking it is. Regardless, it does bring up two topics that are worth bringing up. Firstly, there will be a sort of Halloween chapter, but I'm not sure if it'll be on the date or if it'll come a day before or after.
Another thing involves the upcoming Sister Location. This is more of a question than anything, but if it is possible to do, should I somehow fit something relating to Sister Location into the story? It would be at a later date and would sort of depend on time placement. By which I mean, if it took place thirty years in the future then I sort of couldn't. I just sort of wanted to ask now because this would be something that I would have to plan, but if it was wanted then I think I could manage. Just an idea! It wouldn't affect the main flow of the story.
So, again, sorry about the time this took to post. I'm hoping it won't happen again. The next chapter will be posted whenever I can finish it!