Mable: So August 16th was my birthday. ^-^ I had a pretty quiet day, ate some cake, the usual. There was a little bit of stress, but that's sort of expected when someone turns a year older. That's… Really the only thing I have to post in this Author's Note, so I'll just move on with the chapter. XD Enjoy!
Update: I'm not 16. I had it typed weirdly and everyone thinks I'm 16 now. XD

Can't Go Home Again

Chapter Seventeen

Early calls weren't preferable to Mike. He was always groggy in the morning, as he was now as he forced down a mug of coffee to wake quicker. Frankly, Mike probably could've slept for a few more hours, but his determination to keep his sleeping pattern on track made him stubborn. The second his cell rung he answered it, not wanting to listen to the ringing very long. "Morning," he croaked out with a yawn. "Morning Mike, it's Jeremy," an equally tired voice answered him. "I know it's early, but can you come over after you wake up? We have a problem."

"You sound exhausted," Mike pointed out. Then it suddenly sunk in what the male said. "Wait, what? What problem? Someone isn't trying to return something are they?" The dry laugh on the other side gave away more than an answer ever could. Jeremy was clearly exhausted and sighed, "I… I wish… We got it on tape, or something on tape. Things were moving and- you have to come watch it for yourself. I don't even feel safe talking about while I'm still here." Mike flinched inwardly; he hadn't expected the tape to see anything. "Are you okay? Did it do anything to you?"

"No, not me, I'm fine. I just came over here too early. Fritz called me at five to change shifts; he seemed pretty shaken. I'm going to call him when I get home… I don't want to leave Foxy alone for too long." Mike exhaled and responded, "Head home and get some rest. I can head on over there and see what's going on. Did you see any of what was going on yourself?" He could hear Jeremy moving on the other line, as though getting ready to go. "No. Everything I saw was on the tapes. I think Fritz might have seen it, you wouldn't believe how unsteady he was when he walked out."

"That can't be good… Alright, call him, I'll head to the warehouse. Once everyone sleeps we'll figure out what to do," Mike finished and the two ended the call. He stood from the table and headed to get dressed. On the way back he stopped by Marionette's room, considering waking him or not, and then finally stepped into the room. He crossed to the box and tapped on it. "Mari? I'm heading to the warehouse. I shouldn't be gone too long, but Jeremy's half asleep and he doesn't want Foxy to be left alone." He turned to walk back out again.

He was interrupted when the animatronic opened the lid of the box, raising some of his body out. "Foxy? What happened to Foxy?" Mike shook his head, "Nothing, don't worry about it. Foxy's fine, he just wanted me to keep watch in case something happened." Marionette face betrayed his concern, he hadn't even had a smile first raising out of the box, and the security guard insisted. "I need you to stay here, alright? I don't want you getting involved." The Puppet didn't seem convinced, "Mike, I can handle myself. Usually I do it well enough."

"I know, but I still want you to stay here. If you want I'll wind you again or something," Mike was still rather firm. "I want you to stay here. Please." He could see when Marionette caved, because he seemed to slouch and then lowered into his box slowly. "Maybe two turns," he suggested before closing the box behind him. Mike did as asked and wound the music box, then headed out of the house. It was a quiet morning and there weren't many people on the road surprisingly enough. He got there quickly and entered into the office, looking around.

Jeremy obviously left in a hurry. He had left some fast food wrappers on the desk along with a half empty drink, the monitor was still on, and there was a tape left on the chair. He guessed this was for him, but before he played it he looked into the warehouse. It was quiet and Foxy was nowhere to be seen. There weren't any foreboding feelings, no sound of breathing, Mike felt entirely alone. Part of him thought that this was a good sign out of anything so he returned to the desk and started the tape. He turned to the monitor and began to watch the night before.

The video started shortly after Fritz and Jeremy had fixed the recording system. He had to fast forward through the beginning of it, watching as virtually nothing happened. It was about ten o'clock at night when things actually started to happen on the tape. A box flung itself off of a high shelf and dropped to the floor. Silverware and cooking utensils spilled out of the cardboard and across the floor. A few seconds later, seconds for Mike and minutes on the tape, Fritz appeared from the hallway and looked down at the box. He then crouched down and started to put it away.

A different box fidgeted right above Fritz, inching towards the edge. Mike felt a slight jolt of alarm as he saw this and watched Fritz as though it was happening right then. To his relief, Fritz seemed to hear something and raised his head, then stood and walked towards the back. The tape only watched this one camera so Mike couldn't see what happened in the back. Eventually Fritz passed view again and headed back into the office. What followed was two hours of boxes falling, things moving around the floor, and the occasional blip of static.

At Midnight, Foxy barreled down the hallway in a frantic sprint towards the office. He was in there for about ten minutes before Mike could see him again, watching him wander back down the aisles. Until this point, nothing that he was seeing looked shocking enough to spur such a reaction from Jeremy. Though it was in this moment when Foxy stopped midway down the aisle, his ears sliding into their raised position, and he stared down the aisle. Mike had a clear view of where he was looking, but there was nothing there. The box that fidgeted before fell to Foxy's feet.

Foxy looked down towards the box before suddenly stumbling back. The motion was strange, as though Foxy had been struck by something, but nothing had moved. The animatronic headed back towards the office and for the next hour there was nothing except a little static on the edges of the screen. Then everything suddenly went dark. At first Mike thought it was a glitch or the tape ended, but the numbers in the corners of the screen were an obvious giveaway. Fritz suddenly sprinted by with a flashlight tightly clutched in his hand, heading back to the fuse box.

For a few more moments it was dark. This camera wasn't near the fuse box and, currently, Mike was finding the location of this camera being the biggest trouble he was having in actually seeing anything. Out of all the cameras though, this was the one saved on the tape; it had to have some sort of significance. Then the lights suddenly turned back on. In this time the warehouse had changed. There was scattered trash laying down near the end of the aisle and Foxy was back in sight, though he was in an unexpected position.

Foxy was crouched in the aisle in the lowest shelf. This shelf was large enough that he could fit in the space crouched and did so, facing a cardboard box still on the unit. It took Mike a few seconds to realize that Foxy was obviously hiding. Then he noticed movement and looked to the box of animatronic parts. An endoskeleton arm was dragging itself down the aisle towards the animatronic, using its fingers to drag itself along. "What in the hell…?" Mike muttered as he watched it get closer. Just when he thought it couldn't get any stranger, a yellow head rolled into and down the aisle.

The Fox animatronic continued to stay crouched there and didn't acknowledge the moving limbs. The Balloon Boy head suddenly flung itself and struck Foxy's back before rolling away. The animatronic didn't react beyond a twitch. Fritz came back down the aisle at a brisk pace, but suddenly was knocked forwards by an unseen force. It clearly wasn't him tripping; Mike knew he had been shoved by something. Foxy reacted immediately and came out of hiding, blocking the human with his body and staring down the aisle as though threatening something.

Fritz ran into the office and, after about fifteen fast forwarded minutes, Foxy suddenly started to run through the warehouse. He disappeared towards where he had his cove and things halted. Mike skipped through most of the video until Jeremy appeared, passed by after where Foxy had gone. He returned shortly afterwards to head back towards the office. Midway down the aisle he stopped and suddenly looked back in the direction of one of the spilled boxes, as though he had heard something. When he turned back Mike could see the horrified look on his face.

For the rest of the tape he didn't see anything worth mentioning. Nothing moved, nothing made static, and soon the video shut off. Considering that he witnessed this in person a few nights ago, Mike wasn't as horrified as Jeremy and Fritz seemed to be. Especially Fritz who had been physically attacked when Mike had not. Though this did show something that he hadn't realized before. This thing was targeting Foxy as well. The way he had cowered, the way he could clearly see something that wasn't there, Mike knew Foxy had faced this being before.

It was possible that Foxy had been this thing's victim on the nights when they weren't there. Immediately, Mike stood and hurried into the warehouse. He wasn't afraid of the unknown assailant, or he was but was too determined to admit it, and headed through the maze of shelves before getting to Foxy's room. Already it was obvious that something had happened here as Freddy was beside the door, standing prone. Mike wasn't sure how he moved, but he gave no sort of reaction that he was awake or alive so he slid by and into the room, then past the curtain.

"Foxy…?" Mike's voice was tentative as he saw Foxy sitting in the corner. He was slouched down and only raised his head when he heard his voice. Something seemed a little lethargic regardless. "Yar, welcome to Pirate's Cove!" He cut off his greeting there and watched as the human came closer. Upon doing so, Mike realized that Foxy's right ear was bending back a bit too far. "Hey, Captain," he couldn't even fathom why it was so hard to get this out. Just seeing the animatronic in such a state was hard to fathom.

He always saw Foxy as the strongest of the group, the leader who wasn't the leader, the one wrench in the works that could lead him to certain death if he wasn't careful. To see him after knowing what he did and knowing he had been targeted, knowing that there was so many instances that he hadn't witnessed and yet knew existed, it made Foxy look different in his eyes. For a moment Mike suddenly saw Foxy in a clearer light; the closest thing he could compare it to was the first time he realized that Marionette was sentient.

"Why don't you let me take a look at that?" Mike offered in an affectionate way. He moved in closer and knelt down to look over the ear. It wasn't bent, per say, but had been loosened and then lodged back in an awkward way. This would require more than just him moving it back into place. "Fritz-The technician's going to need to look at this. For now… Anything hurting?" Foxy didn't respond. "…Look, I don't know if you understand me or not, but I saw what's been going on at night and I know what's been going on with you."

Foxy didn't respond, but he did react. Slowly he dragged his hook along the floor, his other hand tightening, as though he was frustrated. Maybe Mike was projecting what he thought he would feel, but it made sense to him. Having to contend with something that you virtually couldn't fight, that kept coming back to torment, had to be especially grueling. "Can you tell me what it is?" Foxy did not respond again. He didn't even spout out a prerecorded line as he tended to do. He just stayed eerily silent and left Mike to think whatever he wanted.

"...Not talking, huh?... Yeah, you're pretty much just like your brother," Mike exhaled after he muttered this under his breath. Foxy shifted a little bit. "I'll just stay here and keep you company until the others get here." So he did. He sat with Foxy and waited. Eventually Foxy did return to playing out recordings, then started to wander around the room 'singing' like he had before, and seemed to be entirely oblivious to any danger. Mike wasn't buying it, but he played along well enough, keeping himself busy enough with things.

It wasn't until Jeremy appeared in the room that Mike realized an hour or so had passed. He didn't actual expect him to be back so soon, but after seeing the tape guessed that Jeremy was worried about him. He certainly looked uneasy as he slipped past the purple curtain. "H-Hey," he greeted, looking from Mike to Foxy. Mike gave a 'hey' and Foxy gave a, "Welcome, Landlubber! Are ya ready for adventure?" Jeremy gave a noise between a chuckle and a choke. "No, I uh… I think everyone had a little too much adventure last night…" He looked to Mike, "How is everything?"

"It's gone. I don't know why it's gone, but I haven't seen it moving anything and it's been leaving me alone. We're going to need to get Sam to look at Foxy's ear… Did you call him?" Jeremy nodded, "Yeah… I don't think he's coming over here today." Mike started to stand, "That's fine. Foxy's going to be over at the house." Foxy didn't give any reaction cues, but did turn his head slightly as though he was listening. Jeremy was more surprised and showed it on his face, "What- Really?" Mike seemed a little amused by his reaction.

"Unless you'd prefer to have Foxy crash at your place," he offered playfully. Jeremy blanched and glanced over towards Foxy, "That… I don't think that would work." The security guard stood confidently, "Well, it will for me… Or it will after I run it past Mari. I don't think he's going to say no though, considering… Anyway." He trailed off and looked around at the room in thought. "Okay, so… We need to get the Freddy van from Sam and we'll load Foxy into the back and move him to my place. I'm not seeing any activity so we should be safe for the moment."

"The van's out back… I think… I'll find it. It couldn't have gone far," Jeremy shrugged off and Mike started towards the curtain. "I'll run home again, run the situation past Mari, and if I don't come back then feel free to just let Foxy in. I'm pretty sure he'll know how to dispose of the body." He stepped out of the room and headed to his car, driving back to the house. It seemed like a little too much driving, but he needed to take care of a few extra things before Foxy got there; like moving the boxes in the hall out of the way and Foxy-proofing the house.

"If he starts running down the hall in the middle of the night, I'm going to have to start staying with Jeremy," Mike mentally noted as he pulled into the driveway. With an inhale to brace himself, he climbed out of his car and approached the door, letting himself in. Marionette was in the living room watching the Fredbear cartoon, but was immediately alerted to Mike's arrival. "I was wondering when you would get back. How did it go?" he asked curiously. At first Mike wasn't entirely sure how to begin this conversation. "Sit with me," Marionette continued and offered.

Mike did so, waiting only a moment before getting to the point. "Foxy's going to have to stay with us until we get the new place fixed enough… Or actually own it." There, he took off the band aid in one quick motion, now it was time to ice the wound. He wasn't even sure why he was so worried about this. Foxy and Marionette were supposedly brothers; they clearly spent a little time together and were somewhat concerned about each other. There was just this feeling he had that something wasn't completely fine between the two. Something seemed a little too uncomfortable.

"…What happened to Foxy?" Marionette asked, his tone dropping to concern dramatically. It contrasted greatly with his default smile that he managed to keep on. "That thing that was bothering me the other night attacked Fritz and Foxy, so we're thinking that it's been there with Foxy on the nights when we haven't been there," Mike admitted to him. "I thought it was avoiding Foxy, but the tape showed it all. Nobody's safe at the warehouse at night, and I think it's night when whatever it is gets aggressive, so Foxy has to go somewhere until we can make a place for him."

Mike now looked to Marionette, "So I wanted to run this by you." The animatronic responded instantly, "Of course, bring him here. I wouldn't- I don't want- Did he say anything? Did he say what or who was doing this?" A growing franticness started to fill his voice. Of course he had been protective of Mike's experience too, but then it had been something he couldn't detect that seemed content to do nothing except scare. This was different, this was aggressive, and suddenly his suspicions did dip back to Mike. "Did it hurt you? Did it touch you at all?"

"No, I didn't see it. I showed up after everything went to hell. Don't worry about it," he reached out and casually patted the black shoulder. "Trust me, if that thing touched me I would be telling everyone." The Puppet leaned against him slightly. "At least there's that… Bring Foxy over here and this evening I'll go to the warehouse and see-." He trailed off when Mike suddenly interrupted, "There's no way that's happening. I don't care if you could take that thing; you're staying here. Alright?" He was determined that the animatronic wasn't leaving.

"Mike, it won't just vanish on its own. That's not how these things work," Marionette reminded. He was a few steps away from either blatantly telling Mike that he was going or just staying quiet and sneaking down there later. "Maybe it will. If its got nobody to haunt and nothing to do, why would it stay there anyway? Just… Promise me." Once again, Mike was stringing him along with a 'promise', the same tactic he had used on him earlier. He was half ready to refuse, but instead released a huffing noise and agreed. "Fine. I promise."

He then began to stare blankly at the television. Though now his mind was elsewhere and Mike knew it. He watched the animatronic for a short while, only standing and heading to the door when he heard something outside. The Freddy van backed into the driveway and both Jeremy and Fritz climbed out. Mike was actually a little surprised, "That was quick. How are you doing, Sam?" Sam was looking frazzled still and shakily crossed to the back of the van, opening the doors. "I'm alive. That's something, right?" The security guard crossed over and gave the technician a pat on the back.

"Yeah, that's something," he agreed. "I didn't expect you guys over here so quick." Jeremy offered a somewhat nervous chuckle. "Foxy wasn't too hard to coax into the van. So do I just toss a blanket over him or-?" Sam nodded in agreement, "We'll just move him in quickly with the sheet. Mike, if you can get the door it would be a lot of help." Mike agreed and headed over to the door, opening and allowed Sam and Jeremy to head inside. "Okay, Foxy, we're going to have to hurry." Fritz immediately regretted this comment as Foxy suddenly started trying to sprint.

The fox animatronic hurried inside the door blindly while the humans stumbled after him. Mike just casually shut the van doors and followed them in. "So where do we, you know, put him?" Jeremy asked Mike. Surprisingly to him, it wasn't the security guard who answered. "Just leave him here. He'll find his way around," Marionette answered from his position on the floor. He leaned back on the couch behind him and watched as the blanket was taken back off of the animatronic fox. "Welcome home, Foxy," Marionette quietly chimed, then fell silent again.

Foxy stared at Marionette for a few moments. He had been oddly silent for the entire trip and it didn't change now. "I'll get my toolbox out of the van. Is there anywhere more out of the way that I can work?" Mike directed him to the middle bedroom. It was still arranged like Fredrick had it; which was how his older son had left it. Marionette didn't seem to go into the room at all and didn't protest the motion. "I'll get the tool box, just take him back there. I don't know if the bulb in there works, but it's basically empty," Mike explained and stepped out.

Jeremy watched Fritz leave and then looked down towards the Puppet on the floor. His mind went blanked as though he wanted to say something, but couldn't figure out what to. Slowly Marionette's head turned around to stare down Jeremy, still with that wide smile, and watched the man looking at him. "…So, uh, this was pretty sudden," Jeremy forced out in a normal tone. "It was," Marionette agreed. He was having just as much trouble, but not out of uneasiness like Jeremy. Marionette, instead, was fighting with his urge to go still and silent.

Jeremy was clearly not a threat. He wasn't a risk to telling anyone about what he saw, he wasn't a risk to becoming aggressive, and he wasn't a new face in the Pizzeria. Yet Marionette still found that he was lagging in loosening around him, so it was about time to start making a further effort. He had an urge to play with the male like he had with Sam, but he had a feeling that Jeremy would take it a little too hard compared to the technician. "I'd go see for myself, but my hands are tied. Mike has made sure of it," he pointed out to the human.

"It was a bad scene. I didn't- I didn't see much. I heard some stuff, I think, but it was pretty unbelievable, all of it," Jeremy rambled on. "How have you been since the accident?" Marionette asked. Only afterwards did he briefly consider that it might be a touchy subject, but Jeremy didn't seem bothered. "Fine. I was in the hospital for a little while, but I didn't lose the arm," he ran his hand over his shoulder. "Is… Is that accident what got the toys dismantled?" His voice grew quieter, but Marionette, like Jeremy, didn't seem bothered.

"Don't blame yourself for that. There were other incidents between that and then. Besides, Mangle made its own choices. I did pity it, especially considering what happened to it, but it knew better than to get caught acting out in the daytime. Again, though, there were other incidents," the Puppet explained in a somewhat casual fashion. Then Jeremy continued with, "By the way, I'm sorry about-." Marionette cut him off, "About bringing Foxy over here? It really isn't an issue." The human tried again, "No, I didn't mean Foxy." He gave up when the front door opened.

Mike then stepped back inside, saw Jeremy looking awkward and Marionette looking back at him, and quirked a brow, "Am I missing something?" Marionette responded by looking towards him. "You certainly are, but that's for us to know and you to ponder." Mike wasn't very enthused by the response and headed towards the hall, "Don't believe anything that overgrown Jack-in-the-Box says. I know you two were talking about me." If anything, both were more amused that he actually believed, genuinely, that he was the star of their conversation.

But the conversation trailed off and Fritz eventually finished working on Foxy and left. Jeremy was exhausted and followed suite, leaving Foxy, Marionette, and Mike alone in the house. To Mike's immediate surprise, Marionette and Foxy didn't communicate at all. Foxy stayed in the bedroom, unwilling to leave, and Marionette kept watching reruns of the Fredbear cartoon. They had absolutely no contact for quite some time; it was baffling. He could definitely tell that Marionette was avoiding speaking to Foxy, as he usually didn't only do one thing and nothing else.

Mike observed but resisted getting involved in whatever was happening. It wasn't until he left the house, even for a short while, that things suddenly changed. Only then did the seemingly unaffected Puppet decide to confront Foxy directly. He felt his hesitance grow as he stood outside the door to the bedroom. It had been so long since he had been home, since they had acknowledged what they were. Then again, Foxy hadn't shown any recognition to the home, so it was very possible that he still had no memories of this place.

That aside, Marionette could not just let this go. Whatever this being was it had attacked those closest to him. He needed answers and if he couldn't find them himself then he would have to rely on what he could get from the others. He would have to confront Foxy, he knew this. Silently he slipped through the door and into the dark room. He wasn't afraid of his brother; he was just afraid of what he was going to say. He wasn't a frightened child any longer, nothing Foxy could say would do more than help him figure out what was going on.

He kept telling himself that.

Mable: So I have decided to try and go ahead with the Sister Location idea! Though don't expect the chapters too soon. I want to be able to have Sister Location itself at my disposal before I integrate it into the storyline. And, again, if there's a big timeline issue then I'll have to either remedy it or- I'll figure it out by then. Anyway, that's just a little update. If you have anything you'd like to see in the story then I am up for suggestions, as well, and the next chapter will be posted as soon as I finish it! I hope you enjoyed!