Mable: Due to some questionable plotting on my part, I have decided to bump chapter ninety to eight-nine. Thus, the fun gets started a chapter earlier! ^-^ Fun for us, not so fun for some of the parties involved, but I digress. Also, the poll has swapped again. The answers were actually rather diverse this time around, which is nice to see. Something different is always fun, yes?

Now it's time to begin the chapter. Enjoy!

Can't Go Home Again

Chapter Eighty-Eight

Mike roused slowly and could instantly feel how stiff he was. He shifted in place and stretched out further, and his feet hit the wall on the other side of the office's couch. It was only now that he realized he was asleep on the office couch and not on his own. He had come in here with Foxy and Marionette while they were fiddling with the computer and had collapsed on the couch for only a moment before nothing.

Apparently, he had fallen asleep in the process and, looking around the room and seeing it empty, Foxy and Marionette had left some time earlier. The main light had been turned off as well, leaving only the lamp on to illuminate the room. Mike sluggishly sat upwards and checked his watch.

"Two-thirty…" Mike exhaled slowly. "Need to get home." He stretched and stood from the couch, then shuffled out into the hallway. He could hear quiet talking from the kitchen and wandered into the vicinity. As expected, it was Marionette and Foxy's voices. As he moved closer to the door he could hear them clearer.

"I can't help but worry about the lad! He spends too much time with dolls an' animatronics," Foxy remarked offhandedly. He almost gave what sounded like a huff, "He needs ta do more than spend all his time with a bunch 'o robots."

"Except for you?" Marionette playfully inquired. It sounded like he was standing near Foxy. "Jeremy just wants to spend some time with his Minireenas. There's nothing wrong with that!"

"Have ya been 'round those things? They be lil bilge rats in dresses!" Foxy affirmed right back. He hesitated before his voice grew quieter, "…Besides, who wouldn't want to spend an' evening with their Captain? He gets to see all the stuff that the fans wish they could see! All the nitty gritty in the galley and the skeletons in the brig- And he gets to be me first mate!" As though immediately realizing the gravity of what he admitted, Foxy defended, "But the point is that the Lad needs to get out."

"Foxy, we both know that Jeremy doesn't stay the night here just for your sake. He stays here so much because he wants to," Marionette began to explain. Mike started to lean in to listen and lightly nudged the kitchen door. "Jeremy's doing just fine, so you don't need worry about taking too much of his time."

"Did ya hear that?" Foxy asked in a lower tone. "Sounds like somethin' moved."

"It's probably Mike." Mike had no doubt that Marionette probably 'felt' him outside the door and knew he was trying to eavesdrop. The security guard briefly adjusted himself before pushing the kitchen door open.

Foxy and Marionette were standing by the pantry door, with Foxy standing still and Marionette carefully wiping him down with a wet wipe to get the chocolate off of him. While Foxy was capable of keeping himself largely clean, save the stuff that he left on for Jeremy to clean, Marionette wanted to tend to him. Foxy turned to look over while Marionette merely glanced over.

"And here he is now," Marionette playfully added. "Good evening, Mr. Schmidt. How was your nap?"

"About two hours too long," Mike answered as he stiffly rubbed his neck and crossed to the fridge. "It's late, Mari, are we going home?" He retrieved a bottle of water out of the back and took a sip of it. While Marionette answered and continued to clean, he noticed that the previously talkative Foxy had become completely silent. Though Mike didn't think it had to do with the question of them leaving.

"Yes, of course. You start heading home and I'll follow after I finish with Foxy. Don't worry about Moppet, I visited her an hour ago and she's fine. So, you can head straight to bed," Marionette offered. All of this seemed normal, if not for the barely audible noise that followed the statement. It sounded almost like a dull ringing that one would hear in their ears and seemed to be coming from both Foxy and Marionette. Mike quirked a brow at the unexplained noise, but shrugged it off.

"Sound's good to me," Mike answered as he crossed over. He looked between Foxy and Marionette; the former was eyeing the ground and the latter was still cleaning over the chocolate that had seemingly coagulated around his teeth. Still weary, the security guard reached out and went to pat Marionette's back.

"I ain't worth it."

"Don't say that."

Mike's hand recoiled immediately at the sudden invasion. Suddenly voices poured into his mind, just like back at the carnival, and the familiar effect of a budding headache began to bloom. Both voices at once had suddenly appeared and it became very clear that the humming noise was some sort of communication. They were talking privately, which he had unintentionally stumbled on. Marionette looked back to him in concern, "Are you alright?" Even he noticed how quickly Mike yanked back his hand. The humming noise had stopped as well.

"…Yeah, just," Mike raised his hand to his head and pressed into his temple. The headache quickly waned away and didn't leave any lasting sting. "Just stiff. Alright, I'm taking off. Don't stay awake too late." As he dropped his hand back onto Marionette's back, Foxy bellowed out a bark of laughter.

"Yeah, yeah! Sure, mate! Bedtime's at six or so, yeah?" Foxy joked as he eased up once again. "Go get some sleep, Mike. Yer slippin'." Mike would've said something witty in comeback but couldn't think of anything. Apparently Foxy was right about him slipping. He waved it off, kissed Marionette's cheek- which silenced Foxy's bellowing laughter immediately- and headed out of the kitchen.

Mike stepped out the back door, down the steps, and strolled to his car. Once inside, he slipped the key into the ignition and went to turn the car on. There was a brief revving, but the car refused to effectively come on. With an exhausted and frustrated huff, Mike continued trying to get the car to turn over. "Come on," he muttered. "You did this earlier and you came on." Not that talking to his car would really help, but it was out of reflex and exasperation. He resisted the urge to thump his fist on the steering wheel and instead continued trying to turn it on.

"Course this happens after Fritz and Jeremy are asleep. Maybe Phone Guy can give me a jump… Or maybe I'm getting stuck sleeping at the pizzeria. For the love of…" Mike was almost at his wit's end when he trailed off. He paused midway through his babble, blinked in confusion, and tried to figure out what it was that had just struck him. Some sort of odd sensation had crept onto his back and now lingered there, like the intense gaze of a dangerous animatronic. In fact, it felt like he was being watched.

The sensation slowly grew heavier, along with what seemed to be an odd smell. This mechanical, semi-decaying smell was familiar and, while he had never smelled it in the car before, he had smelled it in Afton's. It took him only a heartbeat to recognize that this was the same sensation he had gotten when he had felt that thing behind him. That thing being the wiry bear, which he only now remembered that he had also seen outside of Phone Guy's house. Obviously, it was here too, and Mike was overwhelmed in paranoia.

The car wasn't safe. Mike didn't know how he knew this, but he climbed out of it as quickly as he could and walked swiftly to the backdoor. He didn't run and he didn't look back as he tried the door. It had locked behind him and he fiddled with the keys to get it open. Behind him, he heard something breathing nearby, and smelled the pungent odor of stagnation. The breathing noise got steadily closer as Mike tried to fumble the key into the lock, even though he couldn't tell which key fit the back door. It inched closer to him until he could feel the breath on his neck.

In an instant, Mike grabbed his flashlight and spun around. The beam of light clicked to life and fell on…

…Nothing. There was nothing there. The parking lot was empty, the car was untouched, and Mike himself seemed entirely alone. He doubted it was a coincidence that both the sound and smell of whatever it was had vanished right after he turned around. Paranoia wrapped its fingers around his throat as he tried the keys again. Though this time he kept himself only half turned, so that he could see behind him as well to make sure that nothing got too close. He finally slipped the right key into the lock and stumbled into the backdoor of the pizzeria.

Though he felt somewhat safer, Mike couldn't shake the growing unease and anxiety that started to spread through him. He stayed in the hallway for a few moments to try and slow his heartrate down. He hadn't even seen what it was that was out there, but something about it told him that it was dangerous. He couldn't even tell if it was a hallucination or not. Though if it was a hallucination, Mike would've started to suspect that he was more sleep deprived than he expected and would've promptly questioned his sanity.

"Mike?" Marionette floated over to the entrance of the hallway and looked down at the human in concern. "Is everything alright?"

"Uh… Yeah," Mike excused as he straightened and fixed his jacket and slipped his keys back into his pocket. "The car wouldn't start is all. The usual." He glanced back upwards and looked to Marionette. His shaken, obviously flustered look turned into a flatter one. "Don't give me that look."

"What look?" Marionette innocently asked. His mask looked a touch too smug to be that innocent.

"You know what look. The car's probably just too cold," Mike excused. That smugness continued to linger, so he gave up in trying to defend himself. "I'll just wait until morning and call someone to come give me a jump," Mike assured and went to approach the office. He then stopped at the thought of that thing that had followed him outside, of how it followed him inside and out of buildings, but always disappeared when others arrived. Hallucination or not, it was lured in by Mike being alone and disappeared when he wasn't.

"…Actually, you know, I'm not that tired. You and Foxy don't care if I sit out there with you two, do you? I won't eavesdrop or anything," Mike assured. Marionette tilted his head slightly at the sudden change of heart as his playful smirk returned to a neutral smile.

"I insist," Marionette reassured. He then offered his hand, guiding Mike closer and taking his once it was in reach. Marionette then turned to lead him into the dining room where Foxy was waiting. He watched attentively as Mike sat down at one of the tables and waited as Marionette eventually approached him. Foxy raised the tape he had shown Jeremy in response.

"Remember this?" He tapped his hook on the stage beside where he was sitting and signaled his sibling to sit down. "Ya better hope ya don't, because this be the one thing out of Freddy's that'll haunt ya fer life." Marionette took the tape and looked it over in his hands. Honestly, Foxy hoped that he didn't see it so that he could see a first-time reaction, even if it meant having to watch it again. "I showed this to Jeremy a couple of days ago, so if yer feelin' up to some self-hatred, I'll put it in fer ya." It would be the ultimate revenge for the board game.

Though in the meantime- Foxy checked to make sure Mike wasn't paying too much attention and was far enough away to not hear the low buzzing- perhaps he could bring something else to light. "He stayed the whole night with me. Even with his little dolls."

"Foxy, I've grin and bear-ed my way through much worse than this," Marionette quipped as he turned to smile at him and tapped his fingers on the tape. "I don't suppose you remember it, but there was an episode of the Fredbear cartoon where everyone used magical instruments to sing the villains into being good." He then gave a small chime at Foxy's quizzical look. "I'm not surprised. He's rather fond of you."

"Ain't that pretty much what you did with him?" Foxy gestured in Mike's direction. He then pushed off the stage, "Keep him awake and I'll get the TV." Before he walked out of range, he added in, "He's a good Lad."

Foxy, however, wasn't nearly as good. He willingly rolled the television out into the dining room and put the tape in even though he knew it was terrible. Marionette was much more amused by the video than Jeremy had been and had even partially recognized and asked about Foxy in the video. Mike made one or two ironic comments towards the beginning, but then faded out by the end. Though it became obvious why once the short film was over. Marionette gave playful applause as Foxy went to shut off the television and looked towards Mike to make a comment.

Alas, there was Mike slumped on the table, with his head laying on his folded arms. The less than stellar movie had put him right to sleep. Marionette gave a quiet sighing sound and headed over to him. "Oh Mike…" he murmured just low enough to not wake up the man. He looked down at him, confused to why Mike didn't just go into the office, and began to pet over his head. Apparently Foxy noticed some of this as he looked back over his shoulder at the scene and watched. It wasn't long before Foxy could no longer stand it.

"…Alright, let's go," Foxy suddenly announced. He stood up, pushed the television back beside the curtain, and beckoned the Puppet as he started to his hallway. "Get his light and keys."

Marionette wasn't sure what Foxy was expecting to do and yet did it anyway. He slipped around Mike and retrieved his flashlight and car keys, then followed Foxy out behind the pizzeria. Foxy pulled open the hood of the car and stared at what hid underneath. Marionette quickly flicked on the flashlight and shined it over the hidden pieces inside.

"Take the keys and try to turn it on," Foxy directed as he looked over the parts. As with Mike, the car wouldn't start and merely sputtered in place. Foxy flagged him to stop and gestured for him to come back as he searched over what he could see. He didn't need the flashlight to see in the darkness, but it did help him see a little better, even though there wasn't much that he could see. Eventually he settled on the battery connectors. "These might need a clean… Go get the brush. The one we used fer the mud." If it could get mud out of animatronic legs, then it could clean cable connectors.

Marionette returned and Foxy stepped out of the way. "It'd be better with two hands," Foxy pointed out. Without a word, Marionette proceeded to disconnect the wires and gently clean them with the wire brush.

"I didn't know that you knew about working on cars," Marionette remarked as he worked diligently.

"Eh. It's all vague," Foxy answered as he made a so-so motion with his hand. "I got into cars fer a while. A brutal shame I didn't keep kickin' long enough to get my own… But this old salt wouldn't be against takin' this one for a joy ride." He smirked, even if it wasn't an easy expression to exhibit. He eyed over the car; it wasn't much, but the idea was rather tempting. Though considering the state of the car and having to drive with a hook… "Meh. This thing's gonna sink at sea."

Marionette chimed in amusement as he continued working, but this faded to quietness. His worry returned, and he decided to voice it to Foxy instead of voicing it to Mike himself. "I've had this ominous feeling that there is something happening around us. I can't see it and I can't prove that something is wrong, but I just feel like there is… I worry that Mike is at risk." Marionette wouldn't say it out of risk of Mike somehow hearing, but he worried that Mike would sneak off to ARI without warning. Without Marionette being there to protect him. The thought alone made him want to slip back inside to check on the man.

"Lad, Mike's always at risk. Yer mate be shark bait," Foxy bluntly remarked.

"Thank you, Foxy. I feel much better now," Marionette flatly answered as he reconnected the cables. "Should we try it again?"

"Sounds like a plan. I'll keep watch over here," Foxy agreed. Though before Marionette could get around the car, the captain added in, "And I meant ya shouldn't worry 'bout him. He's gonna get himself in trouble again one of these days- that's a given- but that don't mean it's gonna be any worse than usual. We've been through worse."

"I hope so…" Marionette was slightly eased by Foxy's shrugging off of the concern. At least, it reminded him that they had been through much worse. The Puppet slipped back into the comfort of the driver's seat and turned the key.

The car revved, and he was met by a sudden yelp of pain outside the car. Foxy made a choking bark, shuddering and banging against the car in protest, and howled. Marionette shut off the car and sprung out to rush to Foxy's side.

But instead of finding a fried and smoking Foxy, as he expected, he instead found a bowed over Foxy bellowing out laughter. Marionette stared him down with a scolding glare as Foxy waved his hook towards him.

"Just-Just keepin' ya on the edge, Lad!" Foxy cracked out. "Ya be shivering to ya timbers, Marion! Wouldn't ya rather it be over somethin' foolish?" He hooked his hook onto Marionette's shoulder.

"Oh no, I agree. You're definitely foolish," Marionette quipped back and showed his less than enthused look. "Next time perhaps I won't turn the car off. Instead of the boy who cried wolf, we'll have the fox who cried relentlessly." Foxy only laughed at the mock threat and again shook his shoulder. Marionette didn't exactly find Foxy faking his injury amusing, but waved it off with a literal wave of his hand. "And the car?"

"Aye. Lemme check," Foxy offered as he fiddled around in underneath the hood. He readjusted the cords that Marionette had cleaned and set, then checked around to see if there was anything obvious. Alas, there wasn't, and he gave a weary exhale. "Try again. Keep goin' until I say." The Puppet did as instructed and began revving the engine. To both of their surprise, the car finally turned all the way on. "She be sea worthy!" Foxy exclaimed in a cheer as he nearly slammed the hood. "Go get Schmidt and I'll keep her goin'!"

Marionette didn't need to be told twice. He headed inside and gently shook Mike awake. The man jolted in surprise and the animatronic squeezed his shoulder apologetically. "I don't mean to wake you so soon, but Foxy got the car working and we should use it while we can."

"Foxy?" Mike asked in confusion as he sluggishly stood. His voice was groggy and he was clearly confused. "Foxy fixed the car?"

"He did. I helped, but he was captain of the ship, you might say," Marionette answered as he took Mike's wrist to guide him out. "But I can't guarantee a permanent fix. For the moment it's more important that we get you home. You're exhausted." Mike tried to protest, but Marionette saw straight through it. Mike needed sleep and he wouldn't be able to achieve that full amount of rest here.

Marionette quickly scanned the parking lot before he floated out the door. Immediately, his eyes landed on the car. Specifically, the open back door and the fox animatronic trying to squeeze himself inside. After making sure the door shut and locked, Mike looked back at the car to see the scene and also stared. Then he glanced to the Puppet, "Was that the tradeoff for fixing the car?"

"Apparently so, but I wasn't aware of it," Marionette explained as he approached the back door. "Foxy?" Marionette asked, looking down at his sibling. "Are you coming with us?"

"Aye," Foxy answered with absolutely no continuation or explanation. Marionette shrugged and Mike silently went to get the tarp out of the van. By time he got back, Marionette was already slid down in the passenger seat. He threw the tarp over Foxy's awkwardly shifted body.

"Thanks for fixing my car," Mike began. "…But if you tear my backseat, I expect you to fix that too." Foxy raised his hand and pressed his finger and thumb together, as though giving a stiff sort of 'okay' motion. Mike then closed the door and approached the driver's seat, only to hesitate and look around the parking lot. Unlike earlier, he didn't have the feeling that he was being watched any longer. He should've felt safer now, and yet he didn't. He knew that something was out there and eventually it would be back. It was a mystery that Mike wasn't sure he wanted to solve.

He got in the car quickly and shut the door. With the car still on, he started to back out of the parking space.

"We left some of the lights on…" Marionette thoughtfully hummed. "And we forgot the game."

"Good riddance," Foxy quipped from under the tarp. Marionette sent a weary look back at his sibling before looking to Mike.

"Don't feel obligated to take him home on my account," the striped one off-handedly remarked. This got a chuckle out of the fox and confusion from Mike, who then shrugged it off right after. He decided not to ask if it meant not having to stop for the board game. He wanted to get back home as quickly as possible and away from the parking lot, and whatever had been in it.

As long as Marionette was at his side, Mike knew he would be safe. Foxy was just an added bonus.

"Don't fuss," Jeremy slightly warned and largely pleaded as he pulled the dress over the Minireena's head. As well as they did with wearing the dresses, changing them was a chore. Especially when they hadn't been wearing the dresses for a while. Tonight, he had just threw them in with a load of his own clothes and was moderately surprised that the toy dresses washed nearly like normal ones. Or at least, the scuffs and small stains had been dealt with. He continued trying to maneuver the blue, lacey dress onto her. "…Please?"

Forget-Me-Not was always the fighter of the group. Jeremy wasn't sure if it was just in her nature to be defiant or if she didn't like wearing the dresses. Though she never made motions to take them off, even though Jeremy knew they were capable of doing so. She didn't seem to care about the color of the dress either, so he just kept her in the blue one so that he could tell them apart. By now he probably could tell them apart from behavior alone, but he kept with the dresses. Perhaps because it allowed him to tend to them.

Finally, the blue dress slid down over the doll. He snapped the clasps in the back. "Alright, you're free to go," Jeremy sighed as he released her. She climbed out of his grasp and made a few hops across the couch before climbing onto the arm of it. Right as she was out of reach, Daisy climbed onto the couch with her dress in hand and eagerly offered it to him. Then she sat down on his leg and attentively raised her arms. She clearly wanted him to clothe her, in sharp contrast with her sibling. Jeremy smiled and eagerly slid the yellow dress over her.

"Aww, you look adorable," Jeremy complimented. She giggled and climbed up to hug onto his chest. She buried his face into him and eagerly accepted his affection. At least one of the Minireenas did.

Part of Jeremy wondered if they were still acting this way because of his absence. Though Max didn't seem to care. On second thought and after sending a second glance, Jeremy considered what Max had dealt with while he was away. He knew they climbed atop the magician and while Max managed to somehow get around the house, he didn't know if the magician could escape the dolls.

Max had always been a mystery. Even though he had lived here for about as long as the Minireenas had, he and Jeremy had little interaction. Occasionally Jeremy tried to reach out and Max would watch him, but Max never spoke back. So, over time, Jeremy had gotten into the habit of reaching out less and less. Now that he thought about it, it made him feel a little guilty.

Once he was finished with Daisy, she moved to the floor to dance and he scooted closer towards the magician. Forget-Me-Not, mistakenly believing that Jeremy was coming for her, hopped off the couch. This left him and the animatronic directly beside one another.

"Hey Max, thanks for watching them while I've been out," Jeremy thanked as he leaned forward to look at Max. Max's eyes snapped over to stare at him and showed that he was listening. "I've been spending more time at the pizzeria… Mostly to keep Foxy company. It gets pretty lonely over there after closing. I'd take you over if you want, but you… You never said if you were interested… Or, uh, we could use sign language or something, if you can't talk." By now Jeremy was rambling just a little, but Max continued to watch, so he didn't seem bothered.

"Foxy's mentioned you two talking once or twice. He never really said what about… I guess you two knew each other?" Jeremy half-asked as his gaze wandered. Past the television, to the dancing Daisy, to the floor, and then finally his gaze returned to Max. "But, yeah, that's where I've been… And I'm sorry. I'll be around more so that you don't have to watch them alone anymore… And maybe we could spend some time together. We haven't really done that…" He trailed off as he looked back to the television.

Some sort of sitcom was droning on. Jeremy wasn't preferable to it, but Max was basically the one manning the remote. Jeremy didn't even know where it currently was, but assumed it was nearby. He wouldn't argue with Max's choices when the animatronic enjoyed it so much. Instead, he truly did hope that he could somewhat bridge the gap between them. He still felt guilty that he had let them go this long without any sort of real break in their acquaintanceship. He couldn't imagine what Max thought of him.

"Gabe really likes you."

Jeremy did a double take and stared over at Max. The animatronic's eyes were still on him, but slowly drug themselves to stare at the TV. "Uh…" Jeremy stammered, "What?"

"Gabe really likes you," Max repeated. "I think he wants to keep you all to himself, but he'll have to work harder to get you away from the girls. Ha ha ha!" There was obvious amusement, but Max's voice was stiff, as though stuck in some sort of tick or not used to being used. Though it was what he said that was more surprising.

"Gabe? Whose Gabe, him?" Jeremy wondered. Another idea quickly settled in, "Wait… Does he mean Foxy? Is Foxy Gabe?" Come to think of it, he had no idea what Foxy's real name was. Foxy hadn't been too forthright with information on his human self, as they had discussed recently in the office, so he hadn't the foggiest idea what the name was. For the moment he pushed the thought to the side and addressed the fact that Max actually spoke by continuing to speak. Unfortunately, Max didn't speak again for the rest of the night, but he watched like he was listening.

In the end, Jeremy did feel like he and Max had bridged some sort of gap. At least now he knew that Max's silence was a largely chosen one and that communication was getting through even if it was one-sided. That made him feel better. It was only later that his thoughts returned to Foxy.

By the next morning, Jeremy decided to get answers. If Foxy wasn't going to give out his real name, he knew somebody who would. Once he was sure it wasn't too early, he made the call, and it was Mike who answered. "Hello, hello," Mike groggily cracked out. It sounded like he had a long night. Jeremy wasn't surprised considering that Mike had intended to stay late at the pizzeria.

"Hey! Sorry to call so early, but I was hoping I could talk to Mari," Jeremy laid out. He tried to hide his nervousness as Mike called for and handed the phone over to Marionette.

"Good morning, Jeremy," Marionette greeted with a polite chirp. "This is rather early to call, especially on your day off. I suppose you're calling about Foxy?"

"Actually, that's not too far from it," Jeremy admitted. He thought he heard a light chime over the phone, but he could've been mistaken. What was more important was the topic at hand. "I have a question about Foxy."

"Would you prefer to ask him directly? He's standing right here," Marionette pointed out. Jeremy didn't expect to hear this; that made everything much more complicated. "Even as we speak he's making motions for the phone… Or having a twitching fit. I can't really tell." Jeremy tried to scramble out some sort of excuse to not give the phone to Foxy, but it was too late as there was a brief shifting and scuffing on the line before a different voice came through.

"Well, well, Lad. Ya tracked me down!" Foxy jovially said over the phone. He followed with a rumble of a chuckle while Jeremy played with the idea of just asking him directly.

"Yeah, hey Captain. I… I was wondering if I could ask you something. I-I was going to ask Mari, but you're here anyway, so I guess… I guess I can just ask you outright," Jeremy meekly began. He knew that he was probably stalling, but the words were a little hard to get out.

"Sure thing, Lad. In fact, why not swing by here? Questions be best asked face to face," Foxy invited. While Jeremy suspected that talking face to face would be more uncomfortable, it did suddenly give him access to a new idea. He would be there to ask Marionette outright. Or better still, perhaps he wouldn't have to ask anyone, and could instead find something in the house with Foxy's name on it. By now, Jeremy knew that this obsession with getting a name was a little out of hand, but the curiosity was maddening. Perhaps Max knew it would be when he made the comment.

"Sound's good! I'll be right over," Jeremy agreed. Almost right afterwards he told the Minireenas and Max that he was leaving and drove over to the house. He was let in by Mike, who looked moderately better than he sounded on the phone. Before Mike could get more than a few words out- Jeremy heard maybe, "How's it-?"- Foxy swooped in.

"Welcome to the house, Lad!" Foxy greeted eagerly as he checked to make sure the door was locked and peeked through the dining room curtains with brief paranoia. "What did ya need to ask me?"

"It's… It's kind of funny, actually…" Jeremy began as he watched Mike walk into the living room. It looked like the Fredbear cartoon was playing, so he assumed that the Puppet was also in the living room. "…It's about your bedroom. I never got a real look at it," Jeremy excused. Foxy looked back at him with what was clearly a perplexed look. "I mean, you saw my bedroom. It's only fair that I see yours," Jeremy added in an attempt to make it all seem normal. Foxy tilted his head in consideration.

"Ya got a point…" Foxy remarked as he tapped his hook on his chin. "…I tell ya what, Lad. Lemme do a once-over of the room an' then ya can come see it. Just don't be expectin' anything as amazin' as the pizzeria." With that agreement, Foxy started to head towards the hall. It only took Jeremy a moment to realize that Foxy was going to hide whatever was left out in the room. If Foxy was purposefully hiding his name, then he would put away any evidence now while Jeremy was waiting. This wouldn't work.

Onto plan number two. Jeremy looked over the back of the couch and could see Marionette sitting on a pillow on the floor. "Mari!" he whispered loudly and beckoned him rapidly. Marionette looked back and stared at Jeremy's display. "I have to ask you something," Jeremy added in, continuing to beckon him. Mike, sitting only a few inches away from Jeremy, didn't look over when he decided to speak up.

"It's not like I can't clearly hear you now. No point in hiding what's happening two feet away," Mike pointed out with a playful sort of smugness amongst his tiredness. "You're about as subtle as Foxy is."

"It's not you, it is Foxy," Jeremy continued to whisper. He gave a few more rapid gestures and finally Marionette rose from the pillow and circled around the couch. As soon as he was in front of Jeremy, the human blurted out a quick whisper, "This is going to seem weird- Is Foxy's name Gabe?" Light surprise touched Marionette's mask. "Max talked about someone named Gabe, but he didn't give any context. I thought I'd be able to find something in Foxy's room, but he's… He's probably covering anything up right now."

Marionette hummed and tapped his cheek in thought for a moment. Then he straightened and, without a word, he turned to face the hallway. He gave a single gesture to signal that he wanted Jeremy to follow him. Jeremy followed Marionette down the hall and into the master bedroom. Then to the closet, which Marionette opened and slipped into, then rose upwards to and slipped through the attic entrance. He pointed down at the file cabinet, "Step on that. It's safe." After which he disappeared into the attic.

Jeremy was inwardly hesitant even as he did as told and climbed into the stuffy loft. The smell of the dust alone was almost overwhelming and the only light in the attic was dim light from the small, slated window nearby. Marionette knelt beside the attic safe and went through some of the papers inside. He could see easily in the dim light and only partially acknowledged Jeremy's slowness in crawling over to him. The human stopped beside him and rubbed at his eyes under his glasses. It was then that the Puppet found what he was looking for.

"Here we are," Marionette announced as he handed over the paper. "No doubt it's been tampered with, but I think you'll see what you're looking for."

Jeremy took the paper and squinted through the darkness at it. It was obviously a birth certificate; the perfect evidence to answer his questions. He didn't have to ask if it was Foxy's because he knew Marionette wouldn't have handed him anything less. He had faith in the Puppet, even though he was currently putting back a handful of other papers that could've been other birth certificates. The striped animatronic then looked back to the paper in Jeremy's lap as the human tilted it towards the light.

There it was in black and white; Gabriel Fazzman. Keeping in mind that the last name could've been changed to Fredrick's own and knowing what he did, it seemed very likely that the name should've been Gabriel Afton. Whatever the case, Max had been correct about Foxy's real name.

"Does that answer your question?" Marionette asked with an assuring smile. "I could have just said it outright, but I thought that considering all we've dealt with that something concrete would be best."

"I would've believed you," Jeremy assured as he took off his glasses to clean on his shirt. Part of him thought back to Max again and his motives. He was drawn from his thoughts as Marionette took the paper and returned it to the safe.

"My memories could've been blurry, but thankfully we had the papers on hand." Marionette closed the safe and paused for a moment. He and Jeremy sat alongside each other for a moment, and then the Puppet reached out to lay a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "I know you're aware of how… Careful Foxy is with details about his past."

"I am…" Jeremy quietly admitted. For a moment he felt guilty about delving in without Foxy's permission. This guilt turned to dread as he looked up at Marionette. "Please don't tell him I know."

"I won't say a word, but only if you promise that when he does find out, I wasn't the one to tell you," Marionette agreed as he moved over to the other side of the attic by some stacked boxes. "I don't want him to think that I would give away he secrets without his consent, but being that Max already told you- My strings were tired. This way Foxy doesn't need to open up old wounds."

"Y-Yeah, that's… That's a good idea. I don't want him clamming up because of this," Jeremy agreed as he slipped his glasses back on. While doing so, he noticed Marionette going into a nearby box. He furrowed his brows at the motion. "What's that?"

"Our alibi," Marionette answered as he tugged out a box of old clothes and things. "This will have to do. You go down first, and I'll hand it down to you." Jeremy nodded and shuffled over to the attic opening, leaving Marionette to tote the box over. Jeremy carefully hung his legs down and started to lower onto the file cabinet.

It would've all gone so well if not for him lowering his head down and finding his gaze landing on Foxy himself, who was standing in the middle of the room. Jeremy's foot slipped, and he awkwardly fumbled around on the file cabinet before catching himself on the closet rack. He could only thank everything that the rack held or he would've been in a mortifying sort of accident. "Foxy!" Jeremy choked out as he straightened enough to step down semi-naturally. "Foxy, you're… You're in here."

"What were ya doin', Lad?" Foxy asked with slight suspicion on his voice. A weary sort of suspicion, as though Foxy suspected something much less serious. His arms were crossed as he stared the man down.

"Just helping- Just with Mari. Helping him bring something down from the attic," Jeremy answered as he pointed at the attic opening. To punctuate this, black and white striped arms reached to lower the box down from the attic. Jeremy was quick to reach up and grab it. "There we go! All done, just- Have to take this somewhere. Or just on the bed, I guess." Jeremy passed by and set it down on the bed. Foxy was none the wiser and perked again.

"Ah, great! Then yer ready to come see the captain's quarters!" Foxy offered as he headed to the bedroom door. He looked back to make sure Jeremy was following and stepped out of the master bedroom, "Just keep in mind that it's been plenty 'o years since Foxy was livin' in it. It all be outdated."

Jeremy followed along and kept the new secret to himself. He briefly glanced back at Marionette, who gave a wave of his hand before going into the cardboard box. Jeremy would have to thank him later.

As for Foxy, what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Not in this case.

Mable: Because of course Max would break his silence just to spite Foxy. He's really a great guy, isn't he? XD Or, at least, much more loyal to Jeremy than he is to Foxy's privacy. The next chapter will be posted sooner than expected... I hope you enjoyed!