Luiginaryworker553: Thank you, thank you!
I'm glad you're still enjoying this…but I don't know how much I'll work on the series in the near future after this episode. I intend to at least let the series rest; I may continue after finishing certain other stories though.

Epilogue – Loose ends

Daytime

"So Griffiths lets you make calls now?" Douglas said to his phone.

"Yup," Spring chirped. "You should've seen his face when he brought the phone to our little room. Goldie gave him quite a scare when she teleported into his office to ask for it."

"Then tell her to not teleport into his office," Douglas grumbled. "She's scared me a few times now, and I let that slide. Griffiths can use his position to get revenge—and I wouldn't be too surprised to see that happen."

Spring giggled. "I'll tell her." She paused. "Hey…about Foxy."

Douglas remained silent. After sitting next to Foxy and Mangle for a while last night, the three of them had told the others the truth. Foxy herself never completely recovered; her energetic, mischievous demeanor had been replaced by a timid, downcast silence.

"She really appreciates your support. I just wanted you to know that."

Douglas paused. "We're going to have to choose our words carefully in any conversations we'll have with her from now on," he finally said. "She's not going to be alright for at least a while. Just don't bring up the whole…thing."

"We won't. But we will eventually have to face this. If we ever meet our predecessors—which we might at some point—things will get really bad for her."

"Yeah, you're right," Douglas sighed. "When that time comes—in whatever shape or form—I'll contact Bill. See if we can't soften the blow, somehow. He's got history with her, so he might be able to help."

"Gotcha." She paused. "Oh. Looks like Kyle wants his phone back. See ya tonight, Douglas!"

"Bye." The call ended.

Douglas stood up from his seat and put the phone down. Intending to get some groceries, he reached for his jacket.

The phone rang again.

With a frown, Douglas answered it. "Douglas Goodwin."

"Douglas," his father's voice greeted. "I think I found the perfect job for you. It's a part-time job that doesn't interfere too much with your college hours."

Douglas swallowed. Great. "I'm…not going to college again, Dad. I'm-I'm staying with my current job."

"I'm afraid that's not an option," Nicholas said, his voice suddenly low. "I already made preparations."

Douglas' eyes widened.

"You'll be rejoining Coldland University. I've made some beginnings to your application, but I need you to complete it. I have the necessary funds ready."

Douglas wasn't sure what it was that washed over him when he heard that. It was…some kind of emptiness. His father had prepared an application. His own father had told him to abandon his friends at Freddy's. Was that really what it took to gain Nicholas' approval?

Then he remembered something. Something Brunette had told him a few nights ago. Alright, I know this isn't my business, but it's not your father who's supposed to be controlling your life.

If you want to work here, then I guess that's something he has to deal with.

"No," Douglas said with an unusual strength in his voice. He suddenly felt enraged. "I'm not going back to college."

Silence. "You do realize that I'm still your father?" Nicholas finally said.

"A father who still thinks his twenty-year-old son is supposed to follow him without question. You don't get to decide what my job is going to be or who my friends are."

"I'm not proud of it. But if I hadn't done this—"

"Cancel it," Douglas blurted out.

"Did you just interrupt me, boy?"

"A friend at work is going through a lot right now. So far, she's been there for me—and now I need to be there for her."

"Douglas," Nicholas said, "I'm sorry to hear about your friend. But this is still no excuse to stay there; everyone goes through tough times now and then. If she wants to talk about her problems, she should talk to a psychologist. You shouldn't be spending time with this when professional help is a better option."

Douglas gasped silently. What was this monster he was talking to?! He'd never seen eye to eye with his father, but this was a whole new level. Nicholas must've been desperate.

That didn't excuse what he just said, though. Not by a long shot.

"I honestly can't believe you," Douglas whispered.

"You don't know the first thing about psychology. You shouldn't be wasting time trying to help someone you can't help."

Douglas clenched his fist. "I should end this call here and now, shouldn't I?"

"What?"

"Cancel that college application. Or don't. I don't care, I won't go either way. It's your money you'd be wasting."

"College is your future!"

"Before and during college, I was always brought down by the other students. Unlike them, the people I met at Freddy's are worth talking to. I'll let you guess which I like better. Now…" He looked at his watch. "I need to get groceries, if you'll excuse me."

Before Nicholas could retort, Douglas hung up.

A knock came at Griffiths' office door.

"Come in," Griffiths said, already suspecting who it might be.

The door opened and Foxy snuck in, looking over her shoulder to ensure no one saw her.

Griffiths put down his paperwork. "No one saw you?" he asked.

Foxy shook her head.

Good. Griffiths stood up and locked the door. "Have a seat, Foxy."

She silently obeyed. Griffiths sat back down in his usual chair.

"I've been thinking for a few hours if I should tell you this," Griffiths said. "And in all honesty, I am still hesitant, but I decided that you are entitled to know what I've found."

Foxy let out a chuckle. "A few hours, huh…"

"It's about…what we discovered last night. About your past."

"What is it?"

"I just read another document Bill Afton sent to me." Griffiths paused, looking Foxy straight in the eye. "As it turns out, those memories that were removed from you were never truly erased."

She stared at him. "What're you sayin'…?"

"I'm saying that we may be able to recover your old memories. Apparently, they were stored in some other computer or AI. Finding them shouldn't be too much of an issue. But whether or not this should be done isn't my decision to make."

Foxy fell silent. "I, ah…" she finally said. "Thanks for tellin' me this…" She hesitated for a good minute. "Uh…can I sleep on that idea?"

"Of course. Take your time."

"Thanks, boss." She stood up. "I…should get goin'."

"You can take a day off if you want."

She gave a small smile. "Thanks, but no. I'm alright."

She left the office. Griffiths only hoped he'd done the right thing.

"Thanks for everything, Henry," Bill said through his phone. Amazing that he had phone service in this remote warehouse.

"No problem, hoss," Henry said. "We should get a beer again sometime."

Bill smiled. "Yeah, we should. You're going to have to remind me sometime in the near future though. I kinda have my hands full at the moment."

"Will do."

When the call ended, Bill turned to the prototronics. "So. I told Griffiths about Foxy's memories. All we have to do now is wait and see what's going to happen."

Bonnie looked at him questioningly. "What do you think?" she asked.

"I think Kyle is going to leave the choice up to her. He seemed a pretty good guy to me. Scrapping plans aside."

"I just hope Foxy's going to say yes," Chica said, glancing down. "Then again, we can't really blame her if she doesn't. We never got our memories wiped."

"You got deactivated," Bill said.

"That's different," Chica said. "All we did was have a really long nap. Foxy just learned about a previous life she can't even remember."

"And now," Freddy softly added, "she may have to choose between two sides."

That drew the others' attention. "What're you talking about?" Bill asked.

"Come now…" Freddy said. "Befriending our successors would already be difficult enough. And even if we would manage that, there'll be a rift—one that Foxy would be stuck in. Do we really want to put her in that position?"

"She's already there."

"Not completely. Not until she regains her memories."

"Well, what else could we do? You can't distance yourself from you successors forever. You'll have to get along eventually. That rift will have to close at some point."

"I suppose…"

"Eh," Bill eventually said. "Doesn't matter now." He stood up. "You all stay here. I'm going to see if I can find something in this warehouse that'll help me remove the rust from your endoskeletons or something. No, I don't care if Griffiths sues me for stealing shit, I'll pay him back if I have to."

When he was off to the stairwell, Chica turned to the others. "He hasn't changed a bit," she said with a smile.