Can't Go Home Again
Chapter Ninety-Nine
It was too much to take in at once.
Marionette was slumped over the table, covering his face and trying to keep his emotions intact. He didn't want to lose control in front of Scott, and especially not in front of Ennard, who was now peering in through the kitchen door with the comforter still wrapped around his shoulders. Apparently, he too had heard Marionette's reaction and had been curious enough to come see. All the while, Scott also looked just as apologetic as he looked down at the Puppet.
"I'm… I'm so sorry you had to find out like this…" Scott apologized. "But I'm also sorry I didn't tell you for so long. Honestly, I was just… Afraid… And ashamed…" Though considering how Scott believed that the information was the reason he was nearly killed, it made sense that he kept silent. Normally Marionette would've pulled himself together enough to assure Scott that he was fine, but he needed to just control himself. He didn't want to cry, so he wouldn't, and he instead just pulled himself together.
He could handle it; he had dealt with worse. He just usually didn't do so without Mike.
The phone started to ring, and Scott stood to get it. As he passed by Ennard, the clown stepped further into the kitchen and looked down at Marionette. The clown slowly dropped the edge of the comforter over his head and shoulders in a sort of comforting motion. Though he doubted that Ennard understood the gravity of what Scott had told him, but that was almost better. He would rather than nobody else knew the severity of the truth until he could tell Foxy what he had discovered.
"What do you mean? Where is Mike?" Scott asked. Marionette perked at the question and looked back towards the living room. "Can't you just… Unlock the door again?... Oh… Oh wow." That didn't sound good in the slightest. Marionette's eyes widened, and he looked upwards at Ennard, who shared a look of confusion, then rose from the chair and hurried into the living room.
"Okay, uh, Marionette's here, so I'm just going to- Hold on," Scott finished. He held the phone away and looked to the Puppet. "It's Fritz. Something happened down at the warehouse." Marionette could feel the horror beginning to well inside. "It's Mike."
"Hello, Mike."
Something about how concisely Golden Freddy greeted him made Mike extremely uneasy. He tightened his grip on the crank and stared ahead at the bear that loomed before him. He forced himself to breathe even though he was struggling to. Like he was almost too shocked to take in air properly as the animatronic stared him down. It wasn't like the others; Mike somehow knew that Golden Freddy could easily kill him.
"I don't know if you remember me. It doesn't matter if you do, because I know he's told you about me," Golden Freddy continued. "You probably don't know who I am. Maybe that's for the best."
Slowly, the golden bear started to walk towards him, and Mike responded by taking a few steps back to counter his approach. They moved out of the room and a few steps down the aisle. Golden Freddy fit himself through the doorframe, now looking bigger with his metal parts ticking and clicking on the inside of his suit. He was much more intimidating than Mike could've ever imagined.
"We have unfinished business, Mike," Golden Freddy rumbled. "Don't walk away from me."
"Why did you follow me out of Afton's?" Mike demanded. He started to barely regain his nerve. "You've been watching me this whole time. I know you've been following me. Why?"
"I think you know why. I don't think you want to admit it to yourself, but you know what I'm here for. You know why I haven't moved on," Golden Freddy partially accused and partially hinted. Mike glared at him and gripped the crank tighter, growing weary of the vague answers that he was being offered instead of something concrete.
"Why don't you enlighten me, Goldie?" Mike spat back. After Chance's similar speech, Mike was tired of the sense of déjà vu. "How about you tell me how terrible I am?"
"That's not my name. You know that is not my name," Golden Freddy corrected as he came to a stop. It sounded as though he was offended.
"Yeah, I know," Mike remarked. He swallowed thickly, "It's Henry, isn't it?"
Apparently the animatronic hadn't expected Mike to call him out on his real identity. He stared Mike down, processing the response for a few moments, and took his time to formulate what he would respond with. Mike knew his guess was right the moment that 'Goldie' spoke with the voice of an adult human. Too old to have aged like Marionette and knowing too much to be an innocent.
"…You're a clever one, Mike. I can see why William took such a shine to you. He admired a worker who could think for himself," Henry murmured. His voice grew darker, "And one who could never ask questions, and you never did. You just went along with what he needed you to do. You're a good successor. Better than his real son would've been; same name, different uses."
"Yeah, you'd sure know a lot about that, wouldn't you? Using his son," Mike accused. "Mari's told me all about you. He might think the world of you, but it doesn't take a genius to see that you were using him to do your dirty work. Mari might want to believe you were his friend, but I'd bet my life on the fact that you didn't befriend him for his wellbeing."
"You don't know anything of what happened," Henry accused in a booming voice. There was a distant popping as one of the lights blew and left a section of the warehouse in the dark. Mike tensed up and waited on edge while Henry trembled and shuddered. The golden bear only waited a few moments before he began to explain.
"I opened the pizzeria wanting to bring joy to children. To my children, to families, to make and invent these contraptions to make life better… But William wanted something much darker, and I never knew it until it was too late." Golden Freddy released a mechanical rattle in his chest. It was almost akin to a growl, but there was nothing natural about it. "The way he looked at children- at my children. He watched my children, Michael. He watched them and plotted something foul and disgusting, and I couldn't let him do that."
Golden Freddy stepped closer, but this time Mike didn't step back. He didn't want to give the bear- the man- that much power.
"So, I decided to catch William in the act. I put cameras in his house, planted recording equipment inside of toys, and waited for him to slip… And I would've caught him. I would've stopped him before he could've gotten started… I have no doubt in my mind that he's the reason my suit failed on me that day. It wasn't supposed to be me dying in a suit in the backroom. I don't know how, but I know that it wasn't supposed to be me… I was supposed to protect my family and instead I was just William's pawn."
"And Marionette? Was he just your pawn?" Mike spat out, thinking only less of the golden animatronic, and the man inside of it.
"Marion was my only chance. I needed someone to help me and the bear he had was still capable of recording… I guided him, I protected him, and I knew that eventually he would see something and would be able to tell the authorities. In the meantime, I stayed close, watching William, waiting for him to strike. As soon as I was out of the picture he began to stalk my children, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before he hurt someone else… But I also knew that eventually he was going to slip…" There was a lingering pause.
"…And then Marion died. And suddenly everything changed." Henry's voice lowered in somberness. "William never got my daughter, but suddenly I had his son."
"So, it was less of an act of love and more of an act of desperation," Mike accused him. "That's disgusting. And you're here preaching about me being so terrible-."
"You're like William, Mike. You somehow manage to make the whole world about you," Henry scolded with a low growl. He took another step closer and it seemed to vibrate through the room. Mike took another step back, unwilling to let Golden Freddy get close, and continued to glare. "But I don't think you're truly as evil as William was. I don't think you realize that you weigh him down. He was supposed to move on, but you've held him back, and you've held us back with him. I needed Marion to help me, but everything I asked from him was in his best interest."
"That is an amazing way to excuse using Marionette to do your own deeds for you," Mike spat back. "And let me clear the record on me being just like William. I stopped William!" He became more riled. "When everyone else couldn't, I convinced William to give himself up. Sure, I can't fix the past, but I stopped that dry rotten rabbit from coming back again! Maybe I didn't use your tactics of stuffing literally everyone into a suit, but I got something done!" There was a pause of cold silence.
"…You really don't know, do you?" the golden bear asked, his voice low. "I thought that you were playing dumb, but you really don't know the truth, do you?"
"Well gee, everyone at Fazbear's hides it so well, how was I supposed to figure out the truth?" Mike asked with a sarcastic shrug. "And you didn't have the guts to tell Mari any of the truth, so he couldn't tell me."
"William wasn't in the rabbit suit, Mike. He never was," Henry clarified.
Mike felt a cold sensation spread down his spine. "…Oh yeah?"
"Did you really think that William would die in his own suit? I'll admit, I was foolish enough to believe it, and if Marion would've moved on then I wouldn't have been here to see the truth. Michael was a lot like you, Schmidt, blind and stupid. Would've done anything his father asked of him if he thought that William really needed him, and William was an excellent liar." He moved like he was shaking his head, "All of the Afton children were toxic, except Marion, but not even Michael deserved to pay for the sins of his father."
While Mike heard the insult, he was paying more attention to the fact that Henry had just admitted that Golden Bonnie was Michael Afton and not William, and that only raised a few more lingering questions. Yet Henry wasn't yet done.
"Did you really think that there was really some mysterious man pulling all the strings and had all the answers? That some third party magically appeared and picked up right where William and I left off, running the business, living our lives?" Henry demanded as he moved in on Mike, looking down at him. He watched the blue eyes, waiting for that moment of realization. "William never got the vengeance he deserved. He died, yes, but he died with all his plans set up. He died with his replacement set in place."
"You mean me," Mike said doubtfully.
"You were always there for him, Michael. Just like the son he never had, you were always there when he called on you. When he needed someone to watch the business, he called on you. When he needed someone to do a job, he called on you."
"Okay, I didn't even know William for one," Mike snapped, interrupting the golden bear.
"You did. You knew him so well that he would choose you to continue with what he left behind," Henry revealed. "And he knew that eventually he wasn't going home again, so he made sure that you would be."
"…Wait, what are you saying?" Mike asked. His anger started to slowly soften into confusion and mortification. Henry couldn't be implying what it sounded like he was.
The golden bear too a step closer and stared down at Mike. His yellow eyes were cold, and yet they burned into Mike's skin. The room was just as icy, and the clouding of his breath returned as the bear moved in closer.
"William gave you everything you have," Henry revealed. "He even gave his home to you, so that you would tend to the only person he had left to leave behind."
It was only then that it started to click together. Mike's eyes now widened, "Oh God…"
"After all that you learned about William's deception, did you ever really think that Fredrick Fazmann existed?" Henry asked with a cock of his head. He then leaned in closer as his voice quieted. "It was William who got the lucky chance of dying an easy death in a hospital. It was William Afton who set you to inherit his home, and his son, and set you down this path."
"Mike, I want you to have this." Mike was originally unenthused, considering that he was being let go again, but then paused in surprise when a metal badge was placed in his hand. "You've done well for me and this establishment. I want you to keep this." At some point he had put an arm around him. Mike felt a growing warmth; it was as though his father was looming over his shoulder and not Fredrick. "You're a good kid."
"Oh… Oh God!" Mike broke out, sincerely panicked as he stumbled back away from Golden Freddy. His arm bumped the edge of the tool locker and he stopped beside it. He held onto the handle to keep himself up as his vision began to waver at the growing panic.
Fredrick Fazmann, his boss and nearly his mentor, had been William Afton, the Purple Man, the murderer.
"Don't act like you're too surprised," Henry spat after him. "You had to have noticed all the pieces lining up together. Didn't you think it was strange that you could recognize 'Fredrick' in the photos, even after you knew it was William's house? Didn't you think it was peculiar that Fredrick Fazmann was able to fully integrate into William's life?"
Mike knew it all made sense. It was as though the last piece of the puzzle was suddenly jammed into place and now everything was laid out before him. The truth was all out in the open and, for once, there were no other questions. He now knew everything. He had been searching out the answers and now he had them, like it or not.
"I don't think he realized how much attention was going to fall on him after my death. He went dormant, he hid away, tried to erase his past crimes because he knew that he was the only one left to take the fall… But he didn't pay for the pain that he caused, and he lived long enough to pass on his work," Henry said, "and you've done a good job living up to his legacy."
"What are you talking about?" Mike snapped back. The defensiveness kicked in immediately. Suddenly the man who was like a father was a murderer; Mike found himself jumping to disassociate himself as fast as possible. "I never killed anyone! Maybe I live in his house, maybe- maybe I helped open Foxy's, but I've done none of the garbage that he did!" He was panting. "Everything I did, I did for Marionette and I."
"You managed to thwart my efforts at every instance," Henry pointed out. "I'm trying to help move these animatronics on. We can't move on until we are all released from these binds, but you keep us stuck together. My father knew what he was doing, finally putting those souls to rest, but you stopped him… Which is why I have no choice but to now step in." The golden bear took a heavy step closer, approaching the security guard. Mike quickly moved off to the side, backing through the warehouse.
"Of course, he was involved with Chance! How did he even manage that?!" Mike started to take the turn and back further towards the aisle that would lead to the office. "Are you saying you would've rather let Mari die in a horrific fire than let him live as an animatronic? What logic is there to that?!" Mike doubted he could reason with Henry, but he had to vocalize his disagreement. "Yeah, I get it, freeing souls- But Mari's happy as he is!"
"But Marion forces others to stay," Henry forewarned. "Foxy didn't move on because he was here. He willingly agreed to save multiple, haunted animatronics from the release they need. He keeps me from fulfilling my mission here. I almost moved on once, Mike, but I came back for him. It's time for him to come, so that we may all sleep. So that this may all be over."
"…You know what I think?" Mike boldly asked, pausing in his retreat. He stared down the golden bear. "I think that's a lot of colorful, dolled up lies." He prepared himself for the reaction, knowing he was about to start running as soon as he finished this thought. "I think you just can't stand that Marionette's not on the end of your leash anymore. You just can't handle that your puppet- your revenge against Afton- has his own thoughts and feelings. He's not anyone's puppet anymore, Henry."
Mike's anger grew as he stood his ground and spat back an accusation much worse than the ones spat at him. "And do you know what else I think?... I think you bit Marionette on purpose."
Without warning, Golden Freddy's fist lashed out and slammed against the end of the shelves. The resounding bang seemed to echo through the warehouse and the shelves even shook under the force. Mike even flinched in response as the bear unleashed what was nearly a roar.
"I WOULD NEVER HURT HIM!" Golden Freddy bellowed. Anything human left in him started to melt away with a torrent of shakes. His metal creaked and his endoskeleton teeth chattered. Mike dared to take another step back and, suddenly, the bear's shoulder's slumped. It stared at the tiled ground emptily as Mike glanced down towards the office. He only had the crank, but maybe he could somehow still break off the doorknob and force himself through.
"Don't even think about it," Golden Freddy warned. Mike's head snapped back, and he stared at the animatronic. "If you really love Marion, then you will help me free him. There is an afterlife that he must be a part of, and if you helped him then there would no doubt be a place for you. It is the only way to make up for everything." Golden Freddy raised his head and golden eyes landed on blue ones. "Let Marionette go."
"Screw you," Mike answered. He then turned to run towards the office. He got only a few steps and suddenly he was blocked by Golden Freddy once more. The bear had easily teleported in front of him.
"This isn't a choice," Golden Freddy warned. "I'm not letting you run away again."
Mike was starting to become frantic but had no intention of giving up. He raised the crank threateningly as Golden Freddy started to step closer. "Stay back, Henry! You're not going to do this!" His hands were shaking in a mix of fear, anger, and adrenaline, but it was barely noticeable when he was holding the crank like a spear. "I've survived too long to have you take it all away from me!"
Suddenly Golden Freddy was upon him. He made a grab for Mike, who shoved the crank forward into Golden Freddy's mouth, to hold back his gaping mouth. He had a horrible feeling that the bear was intending to bite him. The bear grabbed the crank and tore it away from them both before tossing it to the floor with a clatter. By time he turned back, Mike swung his arm out and punched him straight in the nose. There was no squeak; the squeaker probably deflated long ago. It didn't do much to the bear either.
Golden Freddy was terrifying in how slow and methodical he was. He back Mike against the wall and shoved him harshly against it. His grip was strong enough that it could've easily broken Mike's arms, but Golden Freddy was surprisingly merciful. That, or he just didn't think it was necessary. One hand clamped down on Mike's throat and held him firmly against the wall. Mike responded by grabbing at Golden Freddy's neck with his free hand and tried desperately to reach the same place he had with Springtrap. The fingers tightened on his windpipe in response.
Then he felt it. Mike felt the familiar quiver in the air and was promptly wracked with both relief and dread at the same time. Golden Freddy must have felt it too, as his attention on Mike wavered. Slowly he turned to look back behind him and his vision fell on the source of the sensation.
There, backed by the light from the office, was Marionette.
Golden Freddy released Mike and turned fully towards the Puppet. The security guard gave a small cough and rubbed his neck, then shuffled to the side enough that he could see Marionette past Golden Freddy's massive form. The Puppet stared down the golden bear with a blank look, perhaps of surprise. If there was any chance of this ending peacefully, it would have to be through him talking the other animatronic down.
"Mari…" Golden Freddy started. His voice was somber, and he gave a winded sigh. "I had a feeling you would-."
He was cut off with the blaring of static. Marionette's blank expression slowly turned into a grimace as his eyes narrowed. Within a few seconds, his music began to ring out and his eyes glowed with dots of light.
Mike knew then that there would be no talking either of them down.
Marionette sprung at Golden Freddy who managed to partially catch him and stagger against the shelves. Though Marionette was undeterred and began to almost claw at the bear's suit as his strings tightened in. Golden Freddy tried to lift him off with little confrontation, obviously reluctant to fight him, but Marionette climbed over him and down his back like a spider. In an instant he had tightened his strings on Golden Freddy's neck. The animatronic tried to grab the strings with one hand as he used the other and the shelves to pin Marionette down.
"Damn it, Mari! Don't fight me!" Golden Freddy commanded. "Everything I did, I did for you!"
"You did it for you!" Marionette cried over the loud chimes of 'Pop Goes the Weasel'. The betrayal was clear in his tone. "You used me! You lied to me!"
Finally, the bear managed to get ahold of the puppet and turned around, pinning him to the shelves. He managed to catch the striped one's upper arms and shook him, as though to shake away the doubts that had been planted. "I was protecting you," he tried to convince further. "You weren't supposed to keep suffering. I never wanted you to have to know about this."
"You kept it all from me!" Marionette cried out as he struggled to push back at Golden Freddy's chest. He turned his head away, unwilling to let his mask get any closer to the animatronic who he once trusted. "You didn't tell me the truth about him! You didn't tell me the truth about you! I wept for you and you made me your puppet!"
"Would you have rather I told you the truth about your father?!" Golden Freddy asked back. "You were a child, Mari! You would expect me to- Omph!"
The bear was cut off as the crank slammed against the back of his head, cutting him off entirely. Golden Freddy barely staggered, but in this moment, Mike tried to line up the crank into the back of the suit, where a shoddily cut hole in the fabric led straight through to the endoskeleton. He only could get it in a quarter of the way before Golden Freddy turned his body and reached for the crank again. He glared down at Mike and was prepared to grab him by the throat again. He was distracted by Marionette slipping from his grasp and climbing into an upper shelf.
Golden Freddy looked upwards for a moment after the Puppet before turning back on Mike. He growled through his teeth and wrenched Mike's shoulder forward to yank him closer. Mike locked eyes with him for a moment before looking upwards. Golden Freddy couldn't follow his gaze before a heavy carboard box full of parts landed on him. The bear grunted and staggered but didn't fall. Though Mike did manage to get free of his grasp and backed until his back struck the other shelf.
However, he was still significantly safer, as Marionette dropped down and came to hover in front of him. The Puppet fully blocked the security guard and glared down the straightening bear.
"Didn't eat my cake, did I?!" Marionette challenged the golden bear. "Making me think you were gone, then coming into my dreams and turning them to nightmares!"
"You couldn't actually think this could last forever, could you?" Golden Freddy asked. He clearly meant continued existence. "You're stagnating. You're risking your own afterlife to live a fleeting existence." He growled lower as he looked past to Mike. "You would let a strange man in a purple uniform keep you as his pet."
"Strong words from a man whose only angry because everyone didn't move on when he did!" Mike snapped back. "And what's this about nightmares?" he questioned Marionette, starting to remember more of Chance's writing and wondering if it was connected in some way. Marionette didn't have time to answer before Golden Freddy gave a weary exhale.
"You will keep fighting to protect him, won't you? You would abandon our friendship, all that we went through, to protect him, and for what? He will die eventually regardless. What then, will you move on finally or will you find another human to attach yourself to?" While he questioned this, Marionette reached back behind himself to grab Mike's hand. Mike clutched back as he tried to think of a way out. "…Mari, I can already tell that you will continue with this misguided defiance no matter what I say."
"Let Mike leave and disappear," Marionette offered back as his music came to a sudden halt. "I don't even want you back. You are not my friend."
"And you will use me to vent out all of the anger you have towards your father and your situation. You're not going to think rationally, and it's a shame, because if you were really considering what you are doing you would realize that this is a mistake." Golden Freddy took a step closer. "Marion, you know that you are not supposed to still exist. Us surviving in these bodies was already a crime against nature, but we did it to save children, and you did what you could… But your time is over. This is why I couldn't move on. I'm meant to bring you with me."
Marionette was silent with his head lowering so that he could stare at the floor. Mike looked warily between Golden Freddy and him. "He isn't believing this garbage, is he?"
"Was it truly worth all of this? You've learned that your life was a lie, that your father was a monster, that the world outside is a dangerous and corrupt place, and for what? For him? You only care for him because he gives you a taste of being human. What has he given you that I didn't? Yet you would trust him before you would trust me."
"…Before I would've believed you, Goldie. I… I would've believed anything you said…" Marionette spoke lowly. "Even if after all of this, if you came back I would've probably believed your words about me not needing to be here, and I would've willingly given myself up to spare Mike…" Then Marionette raised his head and the cold glare returned. "And then Chance trapped me inside that beartrap suit." His hands tightened. "And now I know what you really are, because if you were my friend you would've never assisted in such a fate."
"…Then you won't come with me willingly," Golden Freddy said. Marionette shook his head. "…Even if it means seeing the other children, or even seeing your mother again?" Marionette shook his head. Golden Freddy paused a moment. "…Even if it means seeing Mike again?"
Both Mike and Marionette went completely still.
"That is it, isn't it? You won't leave his side. The only way to get you to move on… You would force my hand… Then so be it." Golden Freddy's voice was cold as he lowered his head.
Marionette's eyes widened as a growing panic began to fill him. He knew that tone and only now remembered why he had feared 'Goldie'. Even when the animatronic brought him back and took him under his wing, Golden Freddy was always dangerous, and there was a part of the Puppet that had always been afraid of him. Especially now that he had a desired target.
Marionette turned to Mike with panic in his gaze. He whispered a desperate, "Run!"
Mike didn't need to be told twice. He turned and sprinted down the aisle. Golden Freddy went to teleport in front of him, and then was knocked back when Marionette sprung and tackled into him, causing him to fall back against the wall. Mike took the opportunity to turn to the left and start sprinting away.
Yet the bear wouldn't let him get away again. He yanked Marionette off and tossed him to the side. His strength sent Marionette skidding back, and he followed by teleporting behind Mike, who was about to pass the tool locker. Golden Freddy grabbed him by the back of the collar and Mike easily twisted out of his jacket, then continued to escape. The bear focused to teleport again but was cut off when something sharp suddenly stabbed into his arm. What looked to be a pair of fabric shears had flown out of the locker and impaled his arm.
If Golden Freddy still felt pain, then he wasn't showing it. He grabbed ahold of the shears and easily yanked them out, then dropped them carelessly onto the floor. Mike hurried down the aisle and disappeared into the once sealed door, where he shut the door and closed himself inside. In response, Golden Freddy simply gave a weary sigh, because he knew what he had to do.
Marionette hovered out behind Golden Freddy as the bear began to slowly walk towards the far door. The Puppet was confused at why the once determined bear would suddenly slow down to what was nearly a crawl. He didn't trust it though and he didn't trust the other animatronic enough to believe that he wouldn't just teleport in after Mike. He couldn't risk taking his eyes off him. In fact…
He glanced towards the higher boxes on the shelves. It was the only thing that made Golden Freddy stagger before and seemed to be the best bet at the same reaction. Pinpricks flickering back, Marionette raised his arm and used his telekinesis to focus in. Then, with one fell sweep of his arm, he pulled as many of the boxes off the shelf as he could. The boxes were heavy and crashed to the floor, eager to crush whatever hid underneath, but in the last moment Golden Freddy was gone. Marionette had a moment to realize that the animatronic had vanished.
It was then that a strong hand grabbed his arm and yanked him around. Marionette was pulled in and came face to face with the infuriated Golden Freddy. So long ago he would've appreciated the closeness, but now he was uneasy by the teeth so close to his porcelain. Golden Freddy knew all his weak points. His music wavered and his inner mechanisms screeched in uneasiness.
"Out of all the things I expected from you-!" Golden Freddy began, but then cut off. He fell silent, he shook his head, and those golden eyes were back on the Puppet. "But fine, if you insist to fight… Then you don't have to see what I'm going to do."
"Let go of me," Marionette snapped as he tried to yank his arm away. However, Golden Freddy only pulled him in closer. His free hand cupped ahold of Marionette's mask in a harsh grasp. His thumb was tight against the striped animatronic's cheek and he couldn't pull away. It was much more aggressive than any of Mike's touches, or even any of Goldie's old touches. The bear yanked the puppet in closer until his mouth was almost touching his mask, locking their gaze.
"I'm letting you go," Golden Freddy murmured. "I'm not going to make you see what I'm going to do."
Marionette felt a pang of panic, but it was immediately followed by a different sort of feeling. There was a strange, tugging sensation at his body. His focus faded, and his vision started to distort into static. Marionette tried to yank back as something was being tugged out of him. He started to feel numb, weakened, and he tried to teleport out of Golden Freddy's grasp, but he couldn't. He turned his mask, but the other kept yanking him back to face him. He struggled to fight, but even that started to falter.
"Don't fight this, Mari," the bear begged. "It's time to let go."
"What- Wha- Wh-t-re you…?" Marionette's voice was breaking down into a crackle of metallic noises and static. Just like the static overtaking his vision. He gripped tighter at Golden Freddy's arms, trying to keep himself upright, but slowly slipping as he started to lose control of his body. "Stop… St-t-p…"
But Golden Freddy wasn't going to stop. He overwhelmed Marionette without strings, as easily as the Puppet did to other animatronics with strings. Though he never did it so deeply. Golden Freddy wasn't just overwhelming his programming, he was forcing him out of his body. He was stealing full control out of him. Soon Marionette couldn't hover. Soon he wasn't even able to grab at Golden Freddy. His hands failed as his vision went out. He slowly went limp in Golden Freddy's arms, and the bear watched the final flickers of pinprick lights before it faded.
Then he could just stare down at the Puppet in his grasp. Any expression was unreadable, so any guilt or remorse wasn't seeable. He just stared down at the striped being in his arms, only looking up when he thought he heard something.
He looked up in time to see Mike but didn't have enough time to react before the sledgehammer crashed down atop his head.
Metal cracked and Golden Freddy's stumbled as his endoskeleton took the brunt of the blow even through his suit. Marionette dropped out of his grasp and collapsed to the ground, to which Mike decided to strike. He couldn't carry the sledgehammer and Marionette at the same time, so Mike was again stuck leaving the weapon behind, but he could care less. He pulled the Puppet into his arms and dashed past the bear. He sprinted down the way, took a turn, jumped over the crank left on the floor, and hurried to the office. He shoved the door shut behind him and looked frantically around the office.
"Oh, we are so deep in it, Mari," Mike muttered as he propped the Puppet against him to lock the door behind them. He leaned against it and tried not to panic, suspecting that Golden Freddy would teleport into the room and intending to run back out when it happened. "Okay, let's just figure this out. I've got you, so we're just going to… Hey…" He shook the Puppet. "Hey, Mari."
He assumed that Golden Freddy did something to weaken Marionette by how limp he had gotten. So, it was only now that Mike noticed what state the Puppet was in. No noise from his chest, not even a hum, but it was his mask that signaled something more was wrong. Usually when unconscious, Marionette's eyes would close, his smile would disappear, and he would look to be asleep. Instead, Marionette's eyes were open, and he had a vacant smile cemented on his face. It wasn't a cover to hide his pain; it was an emptiness devoid of any sort of manipulation.
"Mari? Come on, I need you to pull out of this," Mike coaxed as he lightly shook the slender body. There was no reaction to Mike's pleading. "Marionette?!" It was only at that moment that he noticed another change that hadn't been there earlier. It was also with Marionette's mask and- while it originally could've seemed so inconsequential- he knew it was a sign of something awful.
The purple tear marks on Marionette mask had disappeared.
Suddenly Golden Freddy was the least of his concerns. He was so slight, in fact, that Mike unlocked the door willingly and threw it open. Golden Freddy was waiting halfway down the aisle, watching the office door, as though no longer in a rush to get Mike. The security guard stepped out. He ignored the banging as the office door slammed behind him.
"What did you do to him?" Mike demanded. When the response took a few seconds too long, he lost his patience. "Answer me! What the hell did you do to him?!"
"He's gotten too attached to that body. This was the only option so that I didn't have to fight him," Golden Freddy explained. "He's no longer inside that vessel."
"Vessel- No. You're lying," Mike denied. "This is just some twisted mind game! Just like all that other garbage you were spreading! Wake him back up!" The bear stared blankly at him. "What kind of friend are you?! Wake him up! If you want to deal with me, then fine, but leave him out of this!"
"You don't understand, Mike. I can't wake him up. It doesn't work like that." There was a cold pause. "He's gone."
As much as Mike wanted to deny it, he knew that Golden Freddy was right. Something inside of him knew that the body he was carrying was lifeless, but it didn't stop the devastation from sinking in. He looked down at the mask. "No… No, wait, it can't end like this. You're wrong. He's still here," Mike protested against any sort of logic. "He's here." He shook the limp form again and watched as the empty mask failed to respond.
"You could've gotten out of there."
"No…I would've never left you."
The words came back to haunt him as looked down at what Marionette had become. He couldn't even plead any longer and submitted to the sting of unshed tears. In an instant, in a moment where Marionette was supposed to be protecting him, he was suddenly gone. He had been forced to move on, just as Golden Freddy had wanted. With a low choke, Mike gave up any attempt to suppress the emotion, and he cared little if Golden Freddy could see his tears.
He only noticed the bear approaching when he was only a step away. Mike backed against the office door and held Marionette's form tightly to his chest. There was no sympathy from the bear, who reached out and took ahold of the Puppet. He began trying to yank him out of the human's hands, even as he fought back, and wrapped his arms around enough to hold him in. But Golden Freddy wasn't on equal footing; Mike was suddenly shoved back against the door by an unseen force, and he knew that it was telekinesis. As much as he grabbed for his lover, he was trapped in the bear's grasp.
Golden Freddy turned and wandered down the aisle to a box full of abandoned parts. He then proceeded to unceremoniously drop the limp puppet onto the box, as though discarding the body, or as though getting it out of the way was just that vital. Mike gritted his teeth as he watched the callous display.
"You're a monster," he accused. He only was able to move enough to bring his fists down on the door of the office. "You're a monster, Henry! You're going to burn in hell for this! Right beside William!" The bear turned back to him as he panted and yelled through the tears. "I hope your kids get to suffer at the hands of someone like you! I hope your family falls apart and blames you, you son of a bitch!" Golden Freddy slowly started to approach him. "They're going to all know! You can kill me, but everyone else is going to know what you did to him!"
Soon Golden Freddy was boxing him against the wall. The telekinesis finally released, but only in time for a hand to reach out and catch Mike's neck. Mike tried to swing back, fighting more out of revenge than to save himself, but it was all in vain. It was a battle that he couldn't win. He couldn't save Marionette, he couldn't stop Henry, and now he would die here.
"I didn't want it to come to this. I didn't want to hurt anyone else…" Golden Freddy murmured. "…But you know what they say: you can't go home again."
Mike knew what he was going to do before he started to lean in. As the animatronic opened its mouth, Mike reached forward to shove back the massive golden head, trying to stave off the bite that was coming. Part of him still hoped that Marionette would come back. He could imagine movement from the box and could only believe that there were black fingers clawing at the tiled floor, and that they dragged a striped body just far enough to where they could wrap themselves around the metal crank.
He wanted it so badly and doubted it all, because he had become pessimistic, and his optimism had died when Marionette slipped away. Golden Freddy was about to kill him, and part of Mike wasn't even sure if it was worth fighting when he knew it was futile. The maw moved in closer until the outer fabric was brushing his hair. Any second now it would clamp down and everything would end. He almost wondered what it would be like; it was the one thing he never asked Marionette.
He only had a few seconds left. Three: Golden Freddy started to open wider and tug Mike further in. Two: Metal clicked and resonated through the endoskeleton. One: There was an enormously loud crack…
Then something dropped onto Mike's head, but it wasn't the teeth of the bear like he expected. It was a loose mat of wires.
Mike managed to draw back from Golden Freddy, who was no convulsing as his metal parts faltered. His eyes sunk into his head, loose wires spilled out of any free crack, and then his legs gave out and sent Golden Freddy to the floor.
And standing above him, standing on his own two legs with the crank still in hand, was Marionette.
For a moment Mike was stunned. Marionette stared down at the bear as purple paint spread down from his eyes and easily replaced the marks that had previously disappeared. Then he wobbled, unbalanced on his weakened and unused legs, and started to falter. "Mike… Help…"
Mike was on him in a second and caught him before he could drop to the floor. He clutched the animatronic tighter than ever, refusing to even question whether Golden Freddy would get back up or not. Honestly, he could care less what happened to the bear. Marionette gave a weary chime and leaned back against Mike. His arm that still held the crank dropped limply as the other reached over to grab ahold of Mike's arm, taking what security he could. He pressed his mask further against Mike and gave a light sort of gasp at the feeling of wetness.
"You're… You're crying," Marionette murmured. His voice was still weak and crackling, and it showed that he was still trying to recover from his brief stint out of his body.
"Yeah," Mike said. His voice cracked as he broke into a small smile. Though his recovery wasn't as quick. "I thought you were gone. You scared me for a minute…" He rested his hand on the back of the Puppet's head, then gently coaxed the mask in to kiss him. It was brief and followed by him resting his forehead on Marionette's. He still held him just as securely. "I was so close to losing you."
"Not close," Marionette reassured. "I wasn't… going anywhere." He reached his arm around to hug Mike, even though still holding the crank, which Mike could now feel against his back. They stayed like that for a while, but it couldn't last. There was still something left unfinished.
Marionette drew back from Mike and looked to Golden Freddy. The bear was still there, his soul still there, and if anything, he was only briefly stunned by the handicap that his physical form had taken. He was still dangerous, still angry and violent, and the Puppet had to handle him while he still could. He handed the crank to Mike silently and moved in. He was barely able to hover, with his legs brushing the floor and his body feeling heavier than ever before. Mike clutched the crank and watched as Marionette dropped himself into a kneel beside Golden Freddy's head.
As gently as he could, Marionette raised Golden Freddy's head and lay it in his lap. As much anger as there was before, he found it slowly slipping away as he looked down at the now empty eyes of the bear.
A low chiming began to come from him, in a tune that Mike now recognized, and Marionette silently spoke to the golden bear.
"… I can't forgive what you've done, and I can't forget what I've learned, but I know that this isn't you… Because if this hatred and anger is you, then you are not the friend I thought you were, but instead the monster that crushed my dreams beneath his teeth. You've let it overtake you, and I know it hurts but you must let it go. I know you want to move on and I know you're frustrated that we couldn't prevent more needless deaths, but I can't take that away. Controlling me can't change the things that we couldn't stop."
He continued to lightly pet over Golden Freddy's head. Even as the bear started to respond, the Puppet loyally tried to comfort him.
"You're subjecting yourself to more pain, Marion. I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to spare you the pain of seeing more death, the pain of betrayal, the pain of never being able to be the human you were supposed to be. Now you will face all of that. You would rather risk a lifetime of pain then move on with me. You would rather wallow in the constant misery of pushing onwards, of performing, of being someone's puppet-…"
Golden Freddy's voice started to falter. Marionette calmly continued playing his music as he listened to the hesitation of realization.
"…Mari, what have I done?"
It was in that moment that Golden Freddy was no longer a threat, because only then did it all sink in underneath the fabric and metal.
"I was just… So angry, and so tired of pushing onwards when something held me back. I thought it was you, but it isn't, is it? All this suffering that I put us through. I took our own pain and I spread it. I let my own need for vengeance poison us both. I ruined our friendship, something that kept us going for years, and I fouled it just as William would have."
"Maybe… But I think what you decide to do now means more than what you did then… I'm not like my father, Goldie. I'm able to forgive. I want to forgive you, but I can't unless you are willing to fix what you broke."
Marionette paused in his touches for a moment, music still playing, and Golden Freddy considered this. Then he made his decision.
"…You've always been the best of us… I'm sorry, Mari. I'm sorry I put you through this… Mike was right; I've been puppeteering you for too long. Your strings are gone now, you have my blessing to continue living your life. Whatever you decide and whatever you do, I will stand beside it, because you stood beside all of mine."
The rush of relief was instantaneous. Marionette leaned down to hug Golden Freddy's head. Neither cared about the purple dripping onto his yellow, dull fabric.
"All I ask is that you will do something for me. Please. I ask you as a friend, and this is the last time I use my friendship to help me."
Marionette silently nodded against him. Part of him was wary of what he would ask, but the other part didn't want to say no. He would let the anger go and would listen.
"Firstly, please apologize to Mike for me… If you are this devoted to him, then there must be something in him that I have overlooked… And apologize to my daughter. She is the only one left of my family who remains in the city. You know who she is; find her and tell her the truth about me. I don't want to hurt her, but she needs to know what happened."
Marionette silently agreed to all of this. He wouldn't argue with either request.
"And finally… I know you have dealt with so much in your life, Mari. Don't let what happened in the past do to you as it did to me. You can't change the past… But you do have a future. I'm letting you go."
There was little indication of what was coming next. It all sounded final, but only once the voice faded and sense of life inside the suit faded did Marionette realize that Golden Freddy was trying to move on again. He didn't know if he would or not, but he hoped that he did, because he knew that it was a willing passing. He had done terrible things, but in the end he had willingly left Marionette with the choice. He was still a friend.
Mike heard none of the conversation. If he had gotten closer he might've overheard it, but he decided that it wasn't something that he needed to hear. He instead just watched Marionette kneel beside the bear, resting its head in his lap, and petting it comfortingly as he chimed the same music from the file. The Happiest Day's song really was a song for mourning, because Mike knew that regardless of what Golden Freddy had done, Marionette was still mourning him.
Finally, Mike approached Marionette and knelt beside him. He set the crank aside and took the Puppet into his arms. Marionette's head slumped on his shoulder as he silently asked for the comfort. Mike knew that he needed it, and he needed it too. He needed the assurance that Marionette was still alive- regardless of what body he had- and safe in his arms. After what he had gone through earlier, he could imagine the pain of having someone fade away, but he wasn't afraid any longer. Neither was Marionette.
The music slowed to a stop. They stayed there long after it went silent.
"Shh, it's okay. I know you're scared, but you need to try and rest," the soothing voice of his friend comforted. Marion was having trouble pulling his vision together and when he did, he was almost terrified to see that he was draped over the lap of a slumped animatronic. It had to be the Fredbear that had bitten him. He swore he could see faded blood around the mouth that had been shoddily washed away. He started to panic and tried to thrash, but his body was weak and worthless.
"It's me. It's your friend," the animatronic comforted. "I put you all back together. You're not broken anymore… But you will be staying with me from now on." The voice sounded saddened. Marion didn't understand what he meant, but he recognized the voice and started to relax a bit more. His friend, his only friend, was somehow in this bear instead of in his plush toy. It was bigger and scarier, but it was still his friend. He was right too; Marion felt more put together than he had in a long time. There was no pain, no confusion, no beeping sounds.
A hand cupped the back of his head and lifted him just a bit. Marion decided to copy the gesture and maneuvered his shaky arm to raise. A hand that he didn't recognize rose instead. Long, black fingers were connected to a striped black and white arm, but they moved like they were his own, and he chose not to question it yet. Instead, he touched at the bear's face. He no longer felt afraid of it, but he wasn't sure what had changed. He believed his friend; he felt safe for the first time in years.
"Charlotte…"
The young woman roused almost immediately at the unrecognizable voice. That and the gentle tugging at the blankets. She opened her eyes and looked across the dim bedroom. It only took a second before she noticed that she wasn't alone, and the thing standing on the other side of the room, illuminated by the window, was not human. She recognized it immediately as she sat upwards and pressed her back against the headboard in alarm. Its masked face was almost illuminated in the darkened room.
"Don't be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not dangerous," Marionette whispered. He didn't want to frighten her more than he already had, but suspected she wasn't one who would frighten too easily. After all, she was one of the ones who had broken into the pizzeria some time ago. He suspected that she wouldn't be too traumatized by seeing him, but he didn't want to risk it. He stayed as far from her as he could.
"You're alive," she choked out, looking over him. "How- How are you alive? How did you get here?"
"I'm going to explain everything to you. I'm going to ask you not to tell anyone else what I am about to tell you," Marionette requested. He hovered a small bit closer. "I'm here to tell you the truth about what happened to your father…" And he knew from the way her eyes widened that it was long overdue. She was in dire need of closure and while he didn't know if it would give it to her he knew she needed the answers. He would've wanted to know sooner and now she would as well.
For a fleeting moment, Marionette swore he remembered her and her twin from the old pizzeria, when they were both children. That was something he decided not to tell her.
When it was over, when she was reeling from the information and needed the space, Marionette went to take his leave. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this… But your father loved you very much."
"I didn't know what happened…" Charlotte was staring down at her own hands, which tightened at her blankets. "I always just thought… I don't know what I thought…" She noticed the Puppet moving towards the window and looked to him. "You're leaving?"
"I have to get home," Marionette answered. "There's something I need to do." He had purposely waited for nightfall to come see her so that he wouldn't be seen, but he needed to get home. He could see Mike's car still parked outside and knew the security guard was patiently waiting. Any moment now he would teleport back and they would finally head back home. After the burning pizzeria, the party, the warehouse, back to the pizzeria, having to break the news to Foxy, and here, he would finally be able to return home.
"…Thank you," Charlotte said lowly. "I'm sorry about what we did. I just was looking for answers…"
"Don't be sorry. I know what it is like to be left in the dark. Maybe now it'll be easier to move onwards." Marionette looked back to her. His natural smile was a bit more real than it had been before. "Take care, Charlie. If you are ever in need then you know where I will be." With that, he teleported out and left the young woman alone with her thoughts.
Marionette appeared in the backseat and dropped onto the seat with a light thump. With a smooth tug, he pulled the blanket in the back seat over his head to shield himself from sight. He curled up to get comfortable as Mike looked in the rearview mirror.
"You could've grabbed the TV on the way out," Mike quipped. His playfulness was refreshing. "How'd she take it?"
"Considering everything? Rather well, I must admit…" Marionette lifted the blanket slightly to look at the security guard. "Take us home?" Mike didn't need to be asked twice.
It was a relief to get back into the house. Mike locked the door and started to shed his jacket and shoes while Marionette disappeared into the hallway. "Alright, first thing's first," Mike muttered as he dropped his hat on the table and made a line for the grandfather's clock. He looked over the clock with scrutiny. "Now where are you hiding that camera, Old Man?" The clock didn't respond. If it would've, Mike would've probably done a lot more than scrutinize the clock.
He opened the clock face and found nothing. Then he opened the tower, looked around the pendulum, and finally noticed a strange hole in the back. All he had to do was to touch the back of the clock to realize it was a false back. He hooked a finger into the hole and tugged the backing out, revealing a small camera underneath. It was quickly unplugged and set aside as he tried to follow the wires through the back of the clock. If he was going to take the camera out, then he wanted to make sure that he took out the entire thing.
"Mike?" Marionette leaned out of his bedroom. His voice was soft and troubled. "Can you come here for a moment? I know you're busy…"
"Sure. I've already unplugged the camera. If none of this is being recorded, I'm all yours." Mike stood and followed him into the bedroom. Even if he had been busy, he wouldn't have turned down his puppet. Not when his voice sounded so somber.
Marionette was standing in the middle of his bedroom holding the Golden Freddy plush toy that he had been so close with. Mike embraced him from behind and looked over his shoulder at the doll. "Everything okay?"
"…I think it's about time that I got rid of this," Marionette quietly said. "I've been so reliant on it for so long… And now that I have made my peace with Goldie, I don't need to cling to this anymore." Just looking into its dark eyes made him feel uneasy. Perhaps because of how many nights he wept on this bear as it watched him.
"You sure about that? I have no qualms yanking all the camera equipment out of it and whatever's inside other than stuffing, but you don't have to give it up. Not unless you really want to," Mike said. He wasn't sure exactly what to suggest, but he didn't want to push Marionette in any specific direction. "It's your choice and whatever you want."
"I'm not sure what I want…" Marionette admitted with a sigh. He wearily tossed the plush onto the bed before letting his arms sag. "Maybe I was giving it too much power over me."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a crutch as long as it doesn't destroy your life," Mike suggested. "Considering the hell we've been through… I think we both need some sort of security." Marionette responded with a chime and turned to embrace the man.
"But why would I need anything or anyone else but you?" Marionette asked. His chiming turned to a trill as he nuzzled into Mike's shoulder. "I just want today to over. Forget the clock, forget the doll; let's just… Let's just celebrate being together. I just want to hold you." Mike agreed by embracing him tighter, resting his head on Marionette's, but then remembered something that had gone forgotten.
"We totally missed the video store. If you want, we can drive up there. You can stay in the car," Mike suggested. Marionette's grasp tightened around him.
"No, no. It's fine. I'm sure we can find something equally terrible on television. Just as long as we're here together. I don't want you going anywhere." He was too weary to want to leave again, and he was even more reluctant to let Mike go alone. That was the security that he needed. As for Mike, he tightened his grip and held the Puppet firmer against him.
"I don't want you going anywhere…" For a moment, Mike's faux tone of confidence, his pretending that everything was alright, faltered once more. He wouldn't allow himself to come anywhere near crying again but showered the Puppet's neck in butterfly kisses. He could hear the soft chimes and trills from inside the Puppet's chest. "I love you so much it hurts, and I want to keep it that way."
"I love you too," Marionette warbled lovingly. "I've… I've never been so happy to be home."
It really was a miracle that they were standing in their home. Even though it seemed so unlikely that they were going to make it home, they had managed to do it. It had never felt so much like home either. It was their safety, blocking out the world and dangers outside, and finally gave them the opportunity to be alone with one another. Considering everything over the past two years, it was unbelievable that they were still even able to walk into this home together, alive and well, especially considering the nightmare that was the last twenty-four hours.
It didn't matter how close Mike had gotten to death; nothing had terrified him more than watching Marionette fade. It was a wake-up call. He wasn't taking another day for granted after this moment, and he was going to be happy with every day he got. There was no going back to those first few days, to the first moment when he reached out for the Puppet, but he didn't want to go back. It was time to move forward.
"Yeah," Mike agreed. "Who says you can't go home again?"
Mable: You're going to want to pop up for the next chapter. It'll be quite an event- along with a very important author's note at the end of it. Direly important, trust me. A new poll too, if interested. But without further ado, chapter ninety-nine has come to a close, and the final(?) will soon commence!