A/N: This chapter is definitely about more background on Mike.
On a different note, I feel really crappy after getting out of school, and I think part of my soul died. I may not be back for a while, especially being so busy with the holidays.
-{[(•)]}-
"Mike," a faint voice called to him. His head ached something awful, and he just wanted the voice to leave him alone. "Mike, please, wake up. I gotta make sure you're okay." His chest was compressed by a two ton weight. Why did the voice think he would be able to breathe, much less respond?
Dim blue eyes slowly opened.
Jeremy let out a sigh of relief. His head dropped, and his shoulders quivered for a moment before he managed to reign in his emotions. Looking up once more, he ran gentle fingers through the brunette's hair. The younger boy hummed slightly and faintly turned towards the comforting gesture.
"Daddy?" The question was a mere breath in the quiet room. Jeremy shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Mike. It's Jeremy. I found you, remember? There's three of us," the blonde encouraged. A spark of recognition lit in the eight year old's eye.
"Fritz?" He asked weakly before falling to a heavy coughing fit. The green eyes boy carefully helped his sit up straight, propping up their jackets behind him since they didn't have anything else.
"I... I told Fritz to run," Jeremy admitted softly, eyes downcast. Mike looked at him sharply, alarmed. "Something... Something came after us, something big and strong. I tried to distract it, keep it away from you, but it got me. That's- That's where we are. We're in it's lair."
"A man?" Mike leaned against the jackets. He looked extremely uneasy, and it did nothing for his pale complexion.
"No," the eleven year old shook his head. "A monster." The brunette gave him a questioning look, deeming his question too painful to ask. "It was way too tall, and a human couldn't have been that skinny- No, Mike. Don't worry yourself too much, you're really sick." The eldest boy pushed the smaller back again. "Fritz is safe, and no matter what happens, I'll protect you."
With a trembling hand, Mike grabbed Jeremy's hand in an offer of comfort and gratitude and squeezed weakly.
Outraged screaming filled the space. The brunette grabbed his head in pain, and Jeremy quickly stood to his feet. The monster from before pushed open the door and threw in a howling Fritz. The six year old landed safely on some kind of bear costume, but he continued to screech even after the creature left the room. The redhead stood on the thin soles of his sneakers, ran towards the door with all his might, and began to pound his tiny fists on the door.
"Fritz?!" Jeremy cried. He hurried to the other boy and cautiously reached for him. "Fritz, calm down! Fritz!" Livid brown eyes turned on him for a moment, before the youngest boy seemed to falter. His lower lip trembled precariously. Jeremy quickly pulled him into his arms, shushing him. "Aw, it's okay, Fritz. You fought really bravely, didn't you? We're so proud. Good job, kid. You did good." The blonde herded the shorter child to Mike's side and connected their hands.
"Hey," Mike greeted softly, turning his head more to see the boy better. Fritz sniffled noisily and wiped his face with the back of his wrist.
"The bad man got me," the redhead whimpered.
"It's okay," the brunette reassured. Weakly, he patted the space beside him, and the teary boy huddled against his side. "See, it's like Jeremy said. We're proud of you. You did great." He stroked the boy's hair as Jeremy had done before. Where Jeremy provided protection and supplied for their needs, Mike was the best comforter of the group. Fritz trusted both of them unendingly, but he gathered more affection and solace from the soft-spoken brunette.
"Jeremy," said brunette turned worried eyes to their leader. "What are we going to do?" The blonde looked around for a moment.
"We have to escape, just like before. It'll be harder this time, but we'll think of something," Jeremy stated plainly. He stood up and began to examine everything in the room.
"Mikey?" Fritz whispered. Blue met brown, acknowledging but not speaking. "I'm hungry."
"Jeremy?" Mike called faintly. The blonde glanced at him but kept searching.
"Yeah? Oh, these suits might be useful..."
"Do we have any food left?" The room was still. "Jeremy?"
"No."
Fritz closed his eyes quietly and sadly cuddled closer to Mike. The brunette looked more worried.
"Nothing? What happened?" His voice cracked in distress, and Jeremy gave him another glance.
"We ate the last of it two days ago. I wanted to find shelter first, and clean drinking water. I was going to do some more lawn work and buy something at the gas station we passed a few days back, but this happened," the blonde reasoned. Mike let his head roll back.
"When were you going to tell us this?"
"I didn't want to worry you. You were already pretty sick, and we've lasted longer. We had to get you somewhere warm," the eleven year old huffed and turned back to his searching.
"Okay," the brunette's breathy voice was back to a whisper, and his body sagged against the jackets. His hand stilled in Fritz's hair. He had fallen asleep once more.
"Is Mikey gonna be okay?" Fritz questioned, sleepily not moving.
"We'll figure something out."
-[]-
An hour later, Jeremy shakily sat beside his boys. Like before, they were safely unconscious and unaware of his emotional turmoil. Fritz had fallen asleep about fifteen minutes after Mike. It had been a while since they had somewhere warm to sleep, and the boys were out like a light.
Nothing.
There was absolutely nothing in this room to help them escape. Not even a measly screw. The thing that had taken them was not only strong and fast, but smart too. The most they had were the torn apart bear suits, and he was afraid to use those as blankets or something in case they had something that could make Mike worse.
Jeremy didn't know how long he sat there, thinking and pondering. There were too many variables for him to consider, Mike's condition, their respective ages, their resources, their knowledge. They had no idea where they were or what they were dealing with. Even if they somehow managed to escape, Mike was still sick, they still had no food, and they probably wouldn't even know where to go from there.
Escape could be futile.
A quiet knocking came at the door. Fritz startled awake, his hand tightening around Mike's. The brunette shifted weakly at the sudden uneasy atmosphere. The door knob started to turn, and Jeremy once again stood in front of the boys.
The door swung open.
Fritz whimpered and clutched Jeremy's pant leg. They were both staring at the pink and white metallic monstrosity in the doorway. A single yellow eye stared at them, and the robot's mouth began to move. The rest of it's body twitched jerkily as a creaky sound box powered to life.
"H-Hello, little ones," a female voice greeted them. It's head tilted to the side abruptly. "I-I-I am t-the Mangle."
"Yeah, well, we were kidnapped," Jeremy snapped. "Who the heck are you, and what did you take us for?"
"R-R-Re-R-Rescue," the mechanical voice shuttered in and out. It sounded like a drastically broken record. "H-He saved you f-f-f-from the streets."
"Listen, lady, if that's what you even are," Jeremy growled, stalking forward. "We didn't need rescuing. And even if we did, we might have come willingly if you actually asked us instead of having that monster thing snatch us up!" At that, the Mangle glared over it's shoulder at something unseen.
"I-I-I-I agree. B-But you needed help. The l-l-little one needs m-medicine," it explained. Jeremy glanced back at the smallest of the boys, his gaze softening at the wheezing breaths and sickly face. He hardened himself and turned back to the robot.
"And what do you want in return?"
The white machine seemed to hesitate at this, and it backed up into the hallway to talk to someone they couldn't see. It looked concerned- as concerned as a robot is capable of looking- and it nodded at something the other thing said. Slowly, the Mangle came back to the room.
"Stay," it said simply. "S-Stay with us. Let us f-feed you and take c-care of you."
Fritz began to cry.
-{[(•)]}-
Jeremy wandered around the city for a while, scoping things out. It was a much wealthier place than his hometown, with large business districts and towers that reached for the stars.
He made his first ten dollars going on a coffee run for a few people in a single building. With the way he rationed, it was enough to last him more than two weeks. He earned a reputation in a few buildings for always remembering orders and bring drinks back hot, and whenever he came in, he was instantly loaded with orders.
This city had a big industrial district too, and there were at least five abandoned warehouses. There were a few homeless men he had to share with, but the other bodies kept the place that much warmer.
Jeremy used the little spending money he had to buy a warm hat. The older homeless people treated him nicely (and always with varying degrees of concern). He had food and water and a warm place to sleep again. It was good for a while.
As he was walking through town one day, he heard a quiet noise. The faceless business men around him didn't seem to hear, but Jeremy had been living on the streets for at least three months now. You had to be constantly alert, and even such a small noise had instantly caught his attention.
Cautiously, he approached the alley the noise had originated from. The soft sound came again, and he followed it to a small space behind a dumpster. There was a brunette there, crying his pretty blue eyes out.
He looked pretty small and fairly young. He was clean too, so Jeremy came to a decently obvious conclusion.
"Hey, are you lost, kid? I can help you find your mom," the blonde offered. The younger boy looked up and let out an even bigger sob. Without saying a word, he tucked his face back into his knees. Jeremy looked around and shrugged to himself.
He had nothing better to do.
"It can't be that bad, huh? Where did you last see your mom or dad?" He asked as he sat in front of the boy. The younger child looked pale and too thin to be healthy.
"M-muh-my s-step-mom left m-me h-h-h-here," the brunette hiccuped out. Jeremy frowned and scooted closer.
"C'mon. I bet she didn't really leave you. Bet you she's worried out of her mind tryin' to find you too," he reassured.
"S-shuh-she tried to s-send me to b-buh-boarding school, b-but Daddy w-wouldn't leh-het her," the boy continued to sob. "She wants to g-get r-rih-hid of m-muh-me. She wants Daddy ah-hall to h-hur-herself. She s-said suh-ho."
Jeremy gave the child a pitying look and pulled him close. His hands rubbed over the boy's quivering back, even as hiccups wracked the smaller body. He wasn't so used to affection, but it felt like the nice thing to do for the poor kid.
"What's your name, kid?" Jeremy asked quietly. "Or am I just supposed to keep calling you kid?"
"M-Mike," the child finally identified and looked up with those crystal blue eyes.
"Yeah? Well I'm Jeremy." The ten year old couldn't help but puff up with pride, knowing his name meant 'strength.' "And I'm ten. How old are you?"
"T-today's my seventh buh-birthday," Mike whimpered. The blonde could feel his heart breaking as the little kid's eyes filled up with even more tears. "S-she said we w-were going to the park to c-celebrate, buh-hut Daddy huh-had to work. W-we drove for three hours, a-and I duh-don't know huh-how to get h-home!" He began to sob again, and Jeremy quietly tried to soothe him.
It wasn't going to work.
-{[(•)]}-
A/N: I have a few more chapters written out after this.
And if I don't post before then, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: What is a Christmas/holiday tradition you have with your family? Every Christmas, my sister and I wake up early to sit in front of the tree while it's still dark and to sing carols out of this big book we have. My dad always buys poptarts (the only time of the year we actually have them) and hot chocolate for breakfast. Then, before we open gifts, we sit as a family and read the Christmas story, a paraphrase of the one in the Bible. (Which I think is stupid, because astrologists have proven Jesus was actually born in late June, but whatever...)