Authors Notes

Let me tell ya, sleep issues are a bitch. I got heavily inspired to write this chapter in the middle of the night while attempting to fall asleep and it looks like I'll have another sleepless night.

This chapter will start a few arcs and I'm super excited to be writing them to completion.


The End of the Beginning

The alarm on Evan's phone sounded out, breaking both the silence of the chilly morning and Evan out of his deep sleep. He groggily slapped his hand on the bedside table a few times before reaching for his phone and pulling it closer to his barely open eyes. As Evan swiped the alarm off, he noticed a few messages on his phone. Seeing as the man rarely gave out his personal info to others, there's a good possibility these messages were important so he pulled himself out of bed as carefully as he could to not wake the sleeping Chara and headed into the kitchen.

While Evan made his way into the kitchen, he realized he wasn't alone as Mangle had been sitting at the kitchen table with an assortment of materials like thread and ribbons. She looked up as she heard him approaching, smiling at him.

"Good morning, Evan." Said Mangle. Evan smiled tiredly and yawned. "Still not awake from your adventure around the pizzaplex?" He shook his head.

"Remind me never to spend the night over there again." He said with a bit of a scowl. "There was a psycho clown over there last night and I'm not exactly trying to see it again." Mangle put a hand to her chest and acted surprised.

"Wow! I never thought you'd think of my sister like that." She said, teasing the man.

"I'd never and you better be lucky she's asleep in there now." Chara hated being called a clown and wasn't particularly nice when people called her that. "I was talking about the Daycare Attendant with many personalities." Mangle realized it wasn't a joke and genuinely looked concerned. "It had attacked Michael and Roxanne while Chara and I had been trying to fix a generator that thing messed with. If it wasn't for Michael's quick thinking, he would've probably attacked us, too."

"Oh gosh. Was it trying to kill you like-" Mangle had been shortly cut off.

"No, hold on. It wasn't like any of the animatronics from the past pizzerias but apparently a mischevious animatronic who watched too many scary movies and had too much time on his hands." Mangle had calmed down a bit with a sigh.

"Don't scare me like that!" She said, scolding the man. "We love our life living with you. You treat us like actual people and care for us like we're family. If something were to happen to you, I'd…" She trailed off, both of them knowing the horrors of trying to survive without a place to go and losing those they cared for. Evan patted her shoulder.

"It's okay. It would take a lot more than that to kill me, frankly. Not that I'd like to try it. While I may be nearly unkillable by design, getting hit still hurts." Mangle pinched Evan in his arm, causing him to flinch back. "Owh! What was that for?" She shrugged.

"Wanted to make sure you were telling the truth." Evan chuckled and scowled, moving over to the counter nearby to make some instant coffee.

"Do I ever lie to you normally?" He said as he put his cup under the coffeemaker.

"No, but it doesn't hurt to be sure."

"It hurt me!" Mangle got up and hugged him, patting his nappy hair.

"Awwh, poow wittle Evan got huwt. Want me to kiss it and make it better?" She teased. "Perhaps I should get Chara to do it for me." Evan rolled his eyes.

"Scared that your sister will get jealous?" Evan teased back, making Mangle cross her arms and look at the man.

"You couldn't possibly be trying to sleep with both of us, are you?" Mangle said with amusement.

"First off, the way you say it and the way that saying is meant are two different things. Secondly, I never suggested anything of the sort." Mangle was confused.

"What do you mean? All you're doing is sleeping, right?" Evan chuckled as he brought the piping hot cup of coffee close to his face, blowing softly at the surface.

"Oh, poor innocent Mangle." She looked at him pleadingly as he checked his phone finally, seeing the messages. One had been from his brother who had messaged him around 8am saying that his manager wanted Evan to call him along with a number, probably his managers. Another was from his business partner giving a follow up report about last night's business at the pizzaplex, requesting that he come in for a bit to finish up some business. Evan knew it was coming and had been prepared for it. Normally if anyone takes an overnight job, they'd get a day or two off afterwards but seeing as Evan is one of two owners of the small business as well as the person who did the job last night, getting called in to finish up the after report was inevitable.

He sighed and took a sip at his coffee, which had cooled just enough to be bearable. As Evan looked at the last message, he realized that he didn't recognize the number. It had been a bunch of numbers and dots without much context. He frowned, unsure how someone could have possibly gotten ahold of his personal number and marked it as spam. He had heard a yawn come from his side and turned his head, seeing Chara sleepily making her way over towards him. She leaned up against Evan, who had been leaning up against the counter with coffee in one hand and a phone in the other, and yawned again with a look that made it seem like she'd sleep against him.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Said Evan softly, putting down his phone and rubbing the side of her mask. She held her mask against his hand, enjoying the touch.

"Mmh…" She said, not fully awake. "What's for breakfast?"

"Well, we could always get something off a breakfast menu." Said Evan, who really didn't feel like doing anything today. Mangle turned from what she was doing at the table with an excited smile.

"Ooh! Could you get that egg, bacon and cheese sandwich from that restaurant again?" Mangle had tried a breakfast sandwich from MacD's and loved it. He nodded his head.

"Sure. I have some business at the office today anyways." Chara had buried her face in Evans' chest by then, seeming to be falling asleep. He rubbed her small, thin back as a question came to mind.

"I'm unsure why this question is only coming to mind now, but what exactly were you doing there at the pizzaplex last night?" The puppet had seemed a bit extra clingy recently and while he didn't mind it, it normally meant something happened. She shook her head in his chest, basically showing she didn't want to say anything about it but Mangle answered in her stead.

"My guess is that she got paranoid and jealous about you seeing another girl." Chara took her face away from the man's chest for a moment to look at Mangle with a mixed face of upset and disappointment. "What? You can't hide these things, Sis. It'll only ruin your relationship. Chica said so in her last Q&A." Evan looked down at the puppet.

"Is that true, Chara?" She didn't respond for a moment as she put her head into his chest, looking downwards.

"Foxy mentioned you'd been talking fondly about a girl you work with." She admitted, not sounding too proud of it. "He said that you planned on getting dinner with her soon." Evan sighed a bit, regretting ever telling that loose lipped pirate fox anything.

"Foxy doesn't know what he's talking about. The dinner I had been talking about is a company dinner and she told me she'd be there. Besides that, she's just a friend, Chara."

"So are we…" She mutters, not looking up at him. He felt a bit guilty and patted her back.

"You're more than just a friend. You're the most important thing that's ever happened to me and I'd be a mess without you."

"Awwh!" Said Mangle, looking at the pair as Chara hid her face back in Evans' chest.

"Anyways, please try not to do that anymore. You have my phone number so please call me. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you on the way there." She nodded slightly, hugging into him. "Also, I should probably go get dressed. I oughta get this business done so I can enjoy my days off. Want me to tuck you back in bed?" Chara nodded again and with that, Evan picked her up and took her back into bed, tucking her in after getting her order for food. He changed quickly and made it back into the kitchen to finish his coffee as Mangle spoke up.

"Evan, why don't you date Chara?" She asked, curiosity getting the best of her. He hesitated and shook his head.

"I… just can't." He said finally, sounding a bit defeated. "As much as I'd like to explain further, I don't think this is a good time." He finished his coffee, grabbed his phone and keys and headed towards the door. "I'll be home soon." He rushed out of the door and into his car.

Evan set his head against the steering wheel, thinking about Mangle's questions. He thought about it a lot whether he should tie the knot or call it off. It wasn't as if he didn't care about the puppet, because she truly was his life's greatest treasure but he couldn't shake the haunting feeling that he'd truly never have his own kids if he settled down with her. One of Evan's goals was to raise a child better than his father did, but he can't have a kid with Chara and the possibility of someone with a very shady background adopting a child wasn't very good. He sighed as he beat himself over letting this get in between him and Chara, but he just couldn't allow himself to forget his dream. Not that he wanted to have anyone else as his partner, but the fact still stood.

Evan picked his head up, started the car and made his way over to the office. Something told him that today was going to be a long day.

Back at the pizzaplex, Mike was exhausted. While both him and Roxanne ended up going to bed immediately after Evan left, it had only been a few hours from opening making the little amount of sleep they got feel scarce. As he had been patrolling the halls, watching a few kids run by, he saw something strange. There had been a kid, no older than 9 or 10, who had been picking up concession baskets with nacho chips in them, emptying them out in the bag slung over his shoulder. He wore khaki shorts that had been a darker color than they should've been due to the dirt covering them and a dark blue shirt with a single white line across the chest.

Mike had been unsure why a kid was here picking up leftovers from the tables but from the looks of it, it seems that this kid's parents more than likely were not taking care of him properly. He headed over to the boy, calling out to him. "Hey, kid! Come here for a moment." The boy's head snapped over to the night guard before the boy started sprinting towards the exit. Mike watched as he jumped over a table and slid down the escalator's railings and dashed out of the door. Michael sighed as even if he wanted to stop the boy, he didn't have the energy. He knew he'd seen this kid somewhere previously, but couldn't put his finger on it and instead shrugged it off and went on about his day.

A kid over to the side had fallen, dropping his food and getting himself messy. The boy cried as his mother tried to calm him down, looking for help to clean up the mess and spotting the night guard.

Michael sighed. He knew it was going to be a long day.

After a short drive, Evan made his way to work. The building had been a bit tall and large, but most of the space had been used for storage and a few isolated workshops for in-house repairs. He parked at the front and walked in, a face behind the counter obviously happy to see him.

"Mr. Nafto!" Said the woman at the counter who waved at him. A blonde tall lady with a large smile and green eyes greets Evan on his way in. She's in a button up shirt that looks like it can barely hold her chest in, a black undershirt and black dress pants. "It's pleasant to see you in. I thought you'd be off today." The man walked behind the counter and into the backroom, the woman in tow.

"Well, Vandana, I have some work that couldn't wait until I came back so I'm here to finish it quickly before catching up on sleep." He looked back at her. "Where is Mr. Koch?"

"He's in work station #2 and he told me that the door will be unlocked for you when you arrive." Evan nodded and made his way back towards a door, shutting and locking it behind him. As he made his way into the room, the technician saw an older man bent over the table, working on something small. The man, Trevor Koch, turned around, smiling towards Evan.

"Evan." He said with a smile, hugging the man, who reciprocated. He ended the hug and put his hands on Evan's shoulders. "How was it? The pizzaplex I mean." The man looked to be in his mid 60's with a balding spot on the top of his head and wasn't much shorter than Evan himself. His blue eyes sparkled as he waited for the younger man's response.

"It was… It seemed fine." Responds Evan, who looked the older man in the face. "The animatronics seemed alive but I didn't get a chance to see whether or not they were victims but… they looked happy and very sentient, unlike the ones from the past." Trevor nodded a bit.

Normally, Evan wouldn't speak about this to anyone. There were way too many things that shouldn't ever see the light of day again and Evan had felt he was one of those things in the past. When he, Chara and Mangle were escaping ARI, the reason that Evan was able to join society again was because of this man. He had been his savior and more a father than William could ever be.

Months after escaping ARI, Evan had been working wherever he could to make ends meet. With his identity being very ambiguous seeing as he was pronounced dead decades ago, his options were limited. Chara and Mangle had both been waiting back in the ruined home they found at the edge of the older part of the city so at least they had a place out of the elements, but it was starting to get cold. Soon enough, they'd need blankets and a storage of food items to pass the winter out.

There had been an ad for a job in the newspaper he delivered this morning, showing that the company was in need of mechanics and technicians of all kinds because they were severely short on staff. While he wasn't sure why, he had knowledge flowing in throughout his head on how to do everything from repairing small parts in a toaster to reconstructing an entire endoskeleton from practically scratch. He could also see what was broken just by looking at something and the knowledge fed itself into his head. While he thought it weird, he realized it was incredible enough to outweigh any cons that may come with it.

As Evan made it closer to the location he had written down, he realized that this place gave a sense of familiarity. It had been a small, one story building with a sign on the front. 'Koch Mekhaniks" it had said, with the 2nd 'K' turned backwards. As he stepped inside and sounded off the bell that was tied to the inside handle, he could tell that this place had been old. There had been cracks along the walls, going into more than just the chipping white paint. There were cobwebs in the corners that were so thick, you couldn't possibly see through them. The counter at the front of the building had a thin layer of dust on it, like it hadn't seen action in at least a week. Evan kept looking around the building as an older man came from the door behind the counter, wiping his hands on his rag.

"Can I help you?" The man said, looking at Evan weirdly. It was a natural response, after all. Evan had been wearing worn down jeans and shirts that were dirtied up making him seem, well, homeless. Not that they'd be wrong to assume that but this wouldn't dissuade Evan. He straightened out his back and put on a smile, moving up to the older man and sticking out his hand.

"Hello. I'm looking for a job and I saw that there was one posted in the papers this morning. My name is Evan." The man took the younger man's hand, shaking it and looking into his eyes before donning a deep frown.

"Wait, you're an Afton." The man said, letting go of Evan's hand with a scoff. "Those damn eyes, I can't forget them the hell do you want? Tell William I ain't coming back." The older man's eyes were fierce and his look was one of disgust. Evan shook his head quickly.

"No no, sir, I… I am an Afton, but this has nothing to do with my father. I…" He looked away briefly before continuing on. "I haven't seen my father in a very long time." The older man stared at Evan for a long moment before sighing and rubbing the back of his head.

"Is that so? My apologies, then. I had been around for when William was doing shady things, especially after the time his youngest boy died." The man looked down with a solemn look. "Poor Evan… wait… Evan…" The man looked back up at the younger man standing in front of him wildly. "Evan Afton?" He said, sounding like something between a question and an unbelievable statement. Evan nodded a bit.

"Yes, that's my name…" He said and the man grabbed his shoulders.

"Boy, don't fool around with me now." The older man said with a dangerous tone. "That boy is dead n' gone. I went to the funeral myself and saw the body so you can't be him." Evan looked at the man with a bit of fear, but feeling that, somehow, it was alright.

"I won't lie, I don't know exactly how I'm alive either." Admitted the younger man. "When I woke up from that long nightmare after getting bitten, I was alive and my father was there, telling me he'd make me better." The older man shook his head.

"No, then you'd remember me. You remember me, right? Trevor Koch, the guy who looked after you while you were crying in the pizzeria. You've gotta remember, boy." Evan attempted to remember, but it made his head hurt as he cried out in pain, cradling the spot he had been bitten at before.

"I… I'm sorry. A lot of my memories are fuzzy, but I can maybe prove it to you." The older man slowly let go of Evan. "Can I have a few magnets?" Trevor looked at him funnily but turned to go back through the door towards the back of the store.

"Okay. You stay right there." The man quickly left and came back with some decently strong magnets. He handed them to Evan, who proceeded to bring them up to his head where he had gotten bit at and stick them there, showing that part of his skull was made from metal plates. The man just looked at Evan strangely and in a bit of awe.

"My father had somehow revived me and replaced a lot of my bones with metal parts, including my skull." Trevor simply stared at Evan, mouth wide open in astonishment. He slowly closed it and moved around the counter to the younger man before he hugged him.

"Evan, I… I'm glad to hear you're okay. You know, I spent most of my time watching over you in the pizzeria once you started to come by often because you'd end up getting lost and crying yourself to sleep. You told me that something was wrong and I didn't listen to you and… I'm sorry you had to go through all of that." He pulled back and looked at Evan. "So, where are you staying now?"

"Uh… I'm… I'm staying in an abandoned building. It's quite hard to find work but I can't just live anywhere because… I'm staying with a couple of animatronics from a pizzeria after Fredbears Diner." This caused concern to jump onto the face of the older man, but Evan continued before Trevor could get the wrong ideas. "They're victims just like me and they need a place to stay, too. They can talk and sympathize and… they're just like people."

"Are you sure?" Said Trevor, still looking in concern. "I figured they would have broken down by now if any of them survived."

"They were breaking down but I, uh, I fixed them."

"You WHAT?" Yelled Trevor who had worked on some of the original animatronics and even the Toys before and knew exactly how much they did not like to be worked on. "And they just let you?!"

"Well, yes. They were in bad shape and didn't seem to see me as a threat so… we just all live together in a run down house about a mile away. They saved me and I trust them." The older man looked at Evan incredulously before sighing and dropping his head.

"Look, kiddo. I'll tell you what. If you'd like, I can give you a job here and house you for a while. Hopefully that'll be enough to get you on your feet" Evan smiled for a moment before asking a question.

"Chara and Mangle, too?" He said, thinking about his two companions who were waiting for him. This made the older man flinch as he really didn't like the Mangle but the new name got him curious.

"I'm afraid to ask, but who is Chara?" The fact he made when he found out was nothing less than priceless because the only animatronic that he disliked more than Mangle was none other than the puppet herself.

The rest had been history. Despite his wariness versus the two animatronics, he took them all in and eventually Evan and Trevor made a business together, racking up more money than the business the older man owned before would've ever dreamed of making. This was mostly due to Evan's keen insight on what truly was wrong with products that their customers would bring in, making even Trevor, who had been in the business for over 30 years, jealous and awe-struck. Trevor had nodded, understanding Evan's report.

"Did there seem to be anything shady or perhaps they are cutting corners or.." He trailed off, looking for some dirt on the company, but Evan just shook his head.

"I spent almost a full 12 hour period inside of the pizzaplex and nothing stood out other than how much better the animatronics acted than the ones previously, so perhaps they weren't made by killing children or Remnant?" This put Trevor in thought.

"Well, I suppose that's good… It's good to have a place for kids to safely go and enjoy their hearts desires." As the older man was about to let go of the topic, something did pop up into Evan's mind.

"My brother works there." He blurted out suddenly, getting a strange look from his business partner.

"Michael works there?" He said, confused. "I thought he died in that fake pizzeria you were telling me about."

"I thought so, too, but he seems to be just like me in the way that we don't die very easily. He doesn't know it's me but he knows that I'm involved with Freddys." Evan quickly recalled the events from last night, getting many different emotions from the older man especially around when Sun and Moon had been mentioned. At the end, Trevor had noted that, in fact, none of them seemed to be like any animatronics he had met before but something did feel off. He took a swig of the coffee next to him before continuing.

"Anyone still sharing hands with Fazbear Entertainment has nothing but bad intentions." The older man said after a moment of thought. "Did you ever end up meeting the head honcho?" Evan shook his head.

"I met the manager, but the CEO wasn't present. They mentioned something about him drinking and running around while sending money to my brother in drunken stupor and digging deep into the history of Fazbear Entertainment. I don't remember the name, though."

"Well, we'll keep our eyes out for now." Trevor said, patting Evans shoulder. "Are you still coming to the company dinner this weekend?" Evan nodded.

"Yeah. Are you sure I can bring the girls?"

"Of course. They're family, too. We may not have started off on the right foot 5 years ago, but frankly that's all in the past. Besides, perhaps Chara will get to meet Vandana and sooth her jealousy." The older man nudged Evan in the side with a wink.

"Alright alright… I'll let them know. I'm sure they'd love to get out of the house. Let's get to work so I can go back to bed." And so they did just that. For the next hour, they got on the phone with Arin, the manager of Freddy's Pizzaplex, and discussed numbers. He had been very gracious with the amount he offered for the repairs seeing as it was quite important and had insisted that we take the cash in open arms, but Evan turned it down. He had turned it down, mostly due to morals, but he remembered something Michael had briefly mentioned during the time he was there.

"Is your business not receiving issues with the old Freddy rumors and the investigation going about?" It had been on the news, which Evan always tried to catch up on, and it seemed they found a lot out about what went on down there. He had even seen the room he was held in, but they were unsure what it was and some important things did go missing, such as the large amounts of Remnant being stored and used when he was trapped there. It had been more concerning than the actual investigation, but he hadn't been able to find the culprit with the police snooping around the place. Arin's voice had cut Evan out of his train of thought, answering his question.

"Well, we do have some rough spots here and there but things do seem to be picking up relatively well." He answered, sounding a bit tired from talking about this subject. He proceeded to continue as if he rehearsed the entire speech many times a week. "Though, the amount of concerned parents barging me and my staff for answers on safety never seems to end. I can assure you that our pizzaplex is different from the other places from the past because we've taken every possible step and never shied away from doing things the right way in order to make our pizzaplex the safest for the kids and their parents."

"I understand. I apologize for bringing up the topic."

"It's perfectly fine and I can understand why you'd be asking questions. Feel free to ask away if you have any doubts or concerns." More talks of business went on, including an agreement to come by regularly to maintain certain aspects of the pizzeria, but now that Evan thought about it, it seemed a bit suspicious.

"If I'm not prying too much, may I ask why your establishment doesn't have its own maintenance workers?" Asked Evan. There had been a bit of hesitation in the form of silence from the other side of the phone as Arin had thought of how to answer this question properly.

"We, uh… They formally quit but without much of a reason why." He said slowly before suddenly picking up the pace of his speech. "Not to say there might be something wrong with working here but when asking for the reason, it had been left vague or simply unanswered. You, having stayed here for nearly half an entire day, should know that there isn't anything apparently wrong with working here so no matter how hard I think about it, I can only chalk it up to personal business." This didn't sit right with the young technician and he received looks from his business partner, who was simply sitting there and allowing the conversation to pass by and only saying things when need be. They felt as if something was going on there, but Arin had been right. They had gone all over the pizzaplex and seen just about everything that had to be seen but there wasn't a single issue anywhere.

"Well, we can work with you until you find yourselves a replacement. While it may not be me, please do understand that our small team is made up of the best around so don't worry about their quality in craftsmanship or etiquette." Arin seemed to like this for he gratefully accepted the offer in open arms, but pushed that Evan should still come back to watch shows from time to time. As everything wrapped up and the call ended, Trevor had finally spoken what was on his mind.

"There's something fishy, I'm tellin' ya." He said, scowling as they walked out of the workshop room. "I can't put my finger on it but there's more going on behind the scenes than what they're telling you." He turned back around to look at Evan. "Boy, are you sure you haven't seen anything suspicious around there?" Evan shook his head.

"Nothing overly suspicious except the CEO and the sudden quitting of those workers." Trevor sighed, hand sliding down his face.

"Look, be careful when you go back over there. I don't need to lose you for a second time." Evan nodded, understanding.

"I'll probably take Chara and maybe Mangle with me when I go since they've technically been invited. Not sure how well it'd go over with Arin if he knew but from what Mike told me, he's pretty chill as long as it doesn't involve destroying property."

"Then make sure that girl of yours doesn't have to meet that Moon guy again." Trevor chuckled.

"Oh, trust me. It would be in everyone's best interest not to see that guy again." Shortly after Evan left his shop, waving goodbye to Vandana on her way out. As he was stopped at McD's right before breakfast was done for the morning, he received a text message from none other than his brother.

"Are you coming to see the show today? It's a fall festival celebration today and I'm sure the crew would love to see you again." Evan received a follow up text right after. "Chica and Monty practically begged me to ask you to come." The technician smiled and quickly responded.

"Of course, though I may try to go for a later time. When are the shows today?" Shortly after, Evan got the food, paid for it and started making his way home. As he got into the driveway of his home, he checked his phone again.

"There's one at 3pm and the last one is at 8pm. We close 30 minutes after the last performance, clean up and start having a party afterwards so feel free to bring Chara if you come to the 8pm show." Evan smiled at Michaels thoughtfulness. While he still made Evan uncomfortable, it was obvious that the night guard had no ill will towards him and, if anything, the complete opposite.

"I'll talk to the girls and let you know by text as soon as we figure it out." He sent that final text and headed inside, meeting the girls who had been waiting with the door opened for him. As he thanked them and headed inside, he laid out each one's orders on the table and they grabbed it greedily.

"Oh, I've been waiting for this all day!" Said Mangle as she gobbled her breakfast biscuit sandwich down. Chara looked at her annoyed.

"Say thank you, Mangle." Chara said sternly. Mangle looked up at Evan with a mouth full of her food and swallowed it.

"Thank you, Evan!" Mange said with a smile. Evan returned it, opening his food.

"Of course. Sorry, I was late. We got a little carried away with business." He took a bite into his mini breakfast burrito before continuing. "Michael has offered for us to come and see the last show of the day at 8pm and possibly attend a party afterwards if you girls are interested." Mangles eyes lit up and she nodded her head vigorously, not talking because of her mouth being full of food.

"Is that alright, Evan?" Chara asked, excited but wary. "Won't that be troublesome for you?" Evan shakes his head.

"No, I am happy to help you two experience new things and-" He was abruptly cut off by Mangle suddenly throwing them into a hug.

"Oh thank you thank you THANK YOU!" She squealed in excitement as she jumped up and down with the poor man in her arms. Evan patted her head with a smile, stopping her movement and eliciting a new question. "Chica is gonna be there, right?" Chara snorted a bit at this question, laughing.

"Where else would she be? It's not like she can fly away just because she looks like a bird, calm down."

"I gotta get ready and-" She kept talking to herself as she ran back to her room and closed the door only to reappear again a moment later, grabbing her breakfast sandwich before disappearing once more.

"You know that the show doesn't happen for another 7ish hours, right Sis?" Chara called out to her, but received no response. She sighed and looked up towards her human with a smile. "I'm happy you're doing this for us."

"Of course." He said, smiling back to her. "When I told you guys I'd help put you back together and give you a better life, I wasn't joking. You all are my greatest life joys and I can't wait to experience more of this world with you." She came over and hugged Evan, who gladly reciprocated.

"Make sure to take time for yourself, please." She looked up at him with a serious, but gentle face. "We had our lives robbed from us, but so did you. We're all in the same boat here and at least we had a chance to move around and entertain kids but you were in a coma nightmare and locked up in that horrible place for decades. Please, at least let me know if there's anything I can ever do to make you happy, okay?" Evan smiled down at her and rubbed her cheek with a thumb.

"Okay, I'll let you know first but something you said has me wondering… do you ever miss entertaining kids?" Chara stayed silent for a moment, thinking, before she responded.

"I… I didn't do much entertaining, honestly." She said, sheepishly. "I will say the joy from handing out prizes to kids and watching over them was enough for me and, while my programming is practically something I have full control over now, I still feel myself counting children nearby and making sure that they are all safe." She blushed a bit. "Is… that creepy?" Evan shook his head.

"It's wonderful, actually. There would be no place safer than near you, Chara." She chimed, happy to hear this compliment from her human.

"Maybe you should ask the others what they think about trying to entertain again. While they may not show it, I'm sure they think about it a lot." Mike nodded, keeping that in mind. Perhaps he could start with Foxy since he needed to work on him anyways. He would do so after he enjoyed a bit more time with his favorite puppet.

As the 3 o'clock show was about to start, Michael Afton spotted what seemed like the same boy from earlier sitting in the corner of the showroom, munching on chips and avoiding others. The night guard had felt something off about the boy, but not in a threatening way. He reminded him a lot of Evan the way he was positioned out of sight from everyone as if he was hiding from something or someone. In all reality, that someone is probably me. Mike thought as he stared at the boy from afar, waiting to close in on him. Before he could do so, an older woman stepped up to him in a fashion of something like an old school nun.

"Oh, young man," She said to him with a weak and weary voice. "Have you seen a small boy with brown hair and hazel eyes? Perhaps this short and about 11 years old." She gestured the boy's height with her hand and his mind went back to the boy in the corner, turning to look in that direction just to see no one there. He turned back to the lady and finally responded.

"I have, actually." Mike said, watching the woman's eyes glow with happiness. "He's around here somewhere, but I cannot tell you where since every time he sees me, he runs away." She grasped Mike's hand out of nowhere, raising it close to her face.

"Oh, praise be in the name of the Lord. I'm just glad to hear he is safe. He ran away a few weeks ago and we've had a hard time finding him." This news was concerning to Mike.

"A few weeks? Have you not called the police?" She shook her head.

"The police will no longer come out to retrieve him due to how often he runs away. He is such a sweet boy and a smart one, too. I just want the best for him." The night guard nodded.

"I'll let the personnel here know and if we do find him and catch him, we'll let you know."

"Oh thank you!" She quickly gave him a piece of paper with a number on it before moving away from him. "This is the number for the Daylight Orphanage, the organization I belong to. Thank you for your help!" She smiled and moved on, continuing to look for the boy. For Mike, it was a lot of information to take in at once and there were immediately some red flags. First off, the Daylight Orphanage was not within walking distance of the pizzaplex and, in fact, was in the next town over. On top of this, why was this boy, who was now apparent to be an orphan, so fervent on running away from that place? He wanted to make a comment about the police, but they really don't do a whole lot around this area. If children could disappear multiple times all dealing with places Freddy Entertainment was at, then I don't think they'd be too keen on trying to find a singular kid who can't stay home.

The most eerie part of this whole ordeal was the fact that he felt something was off. He couldn't put his finger on it, but his intuition was very rarely wrong so he planned on taking this slowly and gathering as much information as possible. For now, he was going to watch the show and enjoy it and think about that kid later. Perhaps he was wrong.

Michael had never prayed to any god before, but if he did, he would pray that he was wrong.

Evan looked back next to Chara at his handiwork with a smile. While he was good at many things, one of them was not creating new legs out of wood. Even with that being said, the new leg he had made for Lillie had been a marvel in itself. It had been a project he was working on for a while and was unsure if he was qualified to do so, but it seemed to turn out well. Her new leg had been almost indistinguishable from the ones she had been made up of, other than a few marks here and there, and the polishing job was phenomenal. She strutted around Foxy's head with her new leg before going back to her remote, pressing a few buttons on it.

"Question. Good. Me." She pointed at her new leg for Foxy to see, wiggling it around a bit with excitement.

"It be a mighty fine peg leg, lass." He said, happy for the wooden doll animatronic. She rapidly nodded and jumped up and down on it. Evan moved over to the desk, bending down to get a closer look at her.

"How does it feel, Lillie?" She ran and jumped on Evan, attempting to give the man a hug and he picked her up off of him, putting her back on the table. He lightly patted her head with affection, receiving something like a coo from the small animatronic. "I'm glad you like it."

"While I'm happy n' all fer ya, lass, Aye'm not sure whether or not this'll spell the end of yer ol' captain 'ere." Foxy said, which made the doll look back at him with glee. She ran towards his head and climbed on top of it, posing as if she had just conquered Mt. Everest. Chara giggled a bit at their charade. Evan started cleaning up and putting things away as he spoke.

"Foxy, I'll hopefully be getting more parts for you soon enough." He said, placing his tool kit into a large, red tool box nearby. "I know you'd like to get out of this dark room soon, but please be patient. While we found schematics for how you were made, finding people to make your parts wasn't exactly a quick or easy job."

"Aye, I reckon." Said the pirate as Lillie continued to make poses atop of his head. "I 'ave to thank ye fer yer hard work. Without ye, aye'd have been swimming with the fishes a long time ago. Waitin' a bit longer fer a body I can live me life in is nothin' to sweat over." He smiled as much as he could, being just a head.

"I'll make sure to call them in the morning and see about the parts, Captain." Lillie had now been sitting on Foxy, patting his head to try and comfort him.

"Awwh, that be real sweet o' ye, lass. This be why yer me first mate." She stood to attention, saluting him. The two continued their banter as Evan looked at the time on his phone. It had started to get late and it seemed he had received another text from his brother, but the content of the text was the weirdest part.

"Have you heard of the Daylight Orphanage in the town over?" This was a strange question to text out of the blue, but perhaps it had to do with something important.

"Yeah. I pass it by when I go to that town for business, why?" Evan responded. A moment later, he received another text.

"I met some nun looking lady from there and something feels off about her. There's a situation with a kid who is running around the pizzaplex who ran away from there." At first, the technician thought Mike was joking.

"What, did he just hitchhike a ride over? That's not a feasible walking distance unless you were going for at least a week straight."

"That's the thing, that kid has been gone for the past few weeks so it's highly likely that he either hitched a ride with someone or he simply walked here." This immediately got Evans attention as red flags were shooting up in his head.

"Where is he now?" Evan texted back in an instant, face of worry. Chara picked up on this quickly and headed to his side.

"What's wrong?" She whispered, not wanting to alert the other two in the room. Evan looked at her and whispered back.

"I'm not totally sure, but there happens to be a runaway child in the pizzaplex. We can talk more about it when we get out of here." She nodded with a serious face.

Evan could only hope that this didn't tie in with his fathers legacy.

Around 6pm, Michael received a text from Evan, telling him that they would be heading in that direction within the hour. He had an idea of how to get them in here without too much of an issue, but that wasn't the problem that was on his mind. Since the 3pm show ended, he had been looking around for this orphaned kid who was so slippery that it seemed he was practically a ghost. In one instance, Mike had thought he cornered him in the bathroom, only to find the bathroom empty and his headache growing. I suppose you have to be that talented to ghost every search party that's come after you. Michael thought as he was heading down Rockstar Row.

That was when he saw him. Sitting down with Freddy in his room was the kid himself, who seemed to be explaining something to him. Mike walked in, hoping to catch that kid and get some answers.

Not too long before Mike walked into Freddys room, the same boy had been crawling through vents as shelter from that nun-like woman who had been following him. I won't go back to her! He thought angrily as he passed by Monty's room. The boy remembered the horrible things she'd make him do. I cannot seek help this time. I must escape her on my own. Even though he thought this, he knew it was virtually impossible. She knew where he was at all times and was always watching him. He had to escape.

The boy started moving down the vents with a bit more vigor before, thinking of ways to get out of this situation. As his plans hit a wall, he turned the corner in the vent and spotted Freddy, who was working on something briefly, when the boy was enlightened with a fantastic idea. What if the person helping me wasn't a person… but an animatronic? The saw the vent cover had been unscrewed and only fitted to the edges of the vent. With a kick, he knocked the covering off and dropped into the room, startling the poor Freddy who was just minding his own business. The boy walked up to Freddy as the animatronic attempted to pull himself together.

"Freddy, I need your help. I'm in trouble and there isn't much time." The boy said, further startling the poor bear.

"Wha-" Stuttered Freddy, trying to find his words. "What were you doing in that vent, Rockstar?" The boy rolled his eyes at the nickname.

"Rockstar, really?" He complained. "Look, someone is after me and they're not nice people. I can't allow them to get me." Freddy, who had finally put himself together, shook his head and put his hand up to the boy.

"Whoa whoa, there. I'm not sure if I understand. Who is after you?"

"Sister Helen." The boy explained, gesturing as he spoke. "She's this mean, old lady who acts like she's a righteous believer in God but she's just a terrible person. You have to help me." This explanation came completely out of left field, throwing Freddy from being startled to being simply confused.

"Rockstar, what are you talking about? I'm sorry, but we need to find your guardian-" Freddy said before getting cut off immediately.

"No!" The boy yelled, startling the bear into silence. "I mean, no. I can't go back. They hurt me." This grabbed Freddy's attention as the boy talked about being harmed. His eyes focused on the boy.

"What do you mean?" As Freddy checked over his body, a few bruises were apparent but as you looked closer to his collar, the edge of a nasty bruise was there and it wasn't likely to be small. Freddy reached for the child but he moved back, not wanting the bear to touch him. "Rockstar, we have places around here to deal with boo-boos like that." The child rolled his eyes again.

"Freddy, I'm not five." Freddy continued on.

"We also have personnel here who can keep you safe." The boy shook his head.

"She asked them to come after me, too." Freddy had remembered something Michael said and he checked his messages to see it.

"Ah, yes! I do see that. Our night guard has asked us all to keep an eye out for you." Freddy looked him up and down briefly. "You even fit the match very well. Perhaps we should call Mich-" The door opened behind Freddy, revealing the night guard from behind the door before he stormed in. "Oh, Michael! Good timing. This boy here said his guardian has been hurting him. Since we don't have any protocols for it on the database, I'll listen to what you have to say." The boy shrunk in front of the two as Mike came closer to him, kneeling down.

"Hey, buddy. I'm not going to hurt you. I believe what you have to say, but can you tell me how they hurt you?" The boy shook his head, moving away from Michael.

"How can I trust you? You'll just give me back to her and she'll end up taking us back home and hurting me all over again." He cowarded into a corner, balling himself up as Mike looked at him. The night guard looked over to Freddy.

"Freddy, I'm unsure what exactly is going on but I met his guardian earlier and I gotta tell ya, she gives me some bad vibes." He sat on the end of the coffee table near Freddy, who had been staring at him and glancing over to the boy from time to time. "Frankly, getting info from him or sending him back might be our only options at this point. As much as I'd like to help him, keeping him apart from his legal guardian would be considered kidnapping and I'm not talking about the type that Moon does when the lights go out." Freddy was not at all amused by this pun but agreed with what Mike said.

As they were talking, he saw that same old lady quickly walking by and spotting Mike. She made her way towards the door and knocked. Mike looked back at the kid, who was frozen in fear and had no way out of this room since all doors were locked by a special pass. He moved to the kid and whispered to him.

"I'm gonna save you now, but I need you to answer my questions after this, got it?" The boy quickly nodded and Mike moved a pile of Freddys bedding from his bed and on top of the kid. Freddy opened the door soon after, letting the older lady in.

"Hello, Sister." Said Freddy, who watched the nun walk in, smiling towards the pair.

"Greetings, Freddy." She looked back over to Michael. "Sir, did you ever find my poor, lost child?" He shook his head, faking sadness.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I haven't seen him since earlier. Are you sure that he's still here?" The nun nodded, giving a polite smile.

"Oh, yes I'm sure of it. While I don't know exactly where he is, I know he's around. I can practically…" She sniffed around before her smile widened briefly, her face giving off a sinister vibe before changing back to normal. "Oh well, I'm sure he'll show up eventually. He always does. I'll pray for your health, gentlemen." She half-bowed before leaving the room, allowing Michael to relax and drop into the couch next to him.

"What was that?" Freddy said, looking at the night guard with concern. The boy popped his head out of the covers he was buried in.

"I told you she's evil." Michael looked at the boy with a tired face. He didn't sleep too well last night and, after seeing that and realizing the situation he just got himself into, he felt like he might not tonight either.

"Boy, don't you think it's time you told us what's going on exactly?" The boy cleared his throat and Freddy got closer, intent on knowing the truth, too.

"Well, okay. First off, my name is…"

It had been a cool night outside the pizzaplex when Evan, followed by Chara and Mangle dressed in black clothing with long sleeves, arrived. In the dark, they look like they both could be angsty teens coming to see the show if you didn't pay too much attention to the floating pair of striped legs under Chara. As they made it closer to the door, Mike was waiting for them, ushering them inside.

"Quick, they're starting any moment now!" He said, moving towards the music before he even finished speaking. They sped through the pizzaplex and finally got to the auditorium when the music really hit them. While Evan had seen their performance before, for Chara and Mangle, this was like seeing magic for the first time. The lights from the stage shone in their eyes and the smiles on their faces showed it all. Chara grabbed Evans hand and pulled him close, hugging his arm.

"This is… amazing!" As he looked at her smile and excitement, his heart melted a bit knowing that he could help his partner experience something new once again. As he held her hand back and they watched the show, he realized something was different. There had been a large banner with 'Fall Festive Bash!' written on it along with different colored maple leaves falling from the roof, giving off a feeling of autumn. The Rockstar gang was singing a rock and roll version of something that sounded remotely like 'Teddy Bear Picnic' and, to their credit, it had done the song justice. As Evan looked towards Mangle, he saw her jaw slightly open, mouth curved in a big smile, staring at the performance in front of them with utter glee. He reached over to her with his free arm and pulled her into a side hug, which she reciprocated. He wanted to say something, but he didn't want to ruin their moment.

As the show started, and eventually ended, the group realized they had a lot more fun than they thought they would. Mike moved back towards them right before the end of the show, ushering them out of the door before the stampede would happen. As they headed back towards Rockstar Row, Mangle and Chara excitedly chatted about the show.

"That was absolutely amazing!" Said Mangle who was practically jumping for joy, energetic more than usual. "The way they sang 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' really made me fall in love with their music and that piece they sang and made themselves? Awh.." She proceeded to spin around and pretend to faint for dramatic effect, allowing Chara to catch her. The puppet chuckled as she helped her sister up.

"It was amazing. It really made me feel alive again." She said before Mangle scoffed at the comment.

"Sis, we are alive." Mangle teased her a bit, making Chara pout.

"You know what I mean by that. It gave the same feeling as when we were entertaining kids ourselves." This made Mangle quiet as she had thought back to a simpler times.
"Well… You're not wrong." She thought with a bit of a smile. Before Mangle started getting pulled apart everyday by children, she actually used to interact personally with all the kids and sometimes sing with Foxy, dressed up as a mermaid to allure the pirate captain when he was talking of his adventures on the seas. She chuckled at the thought, missing the feeling of performing, her smile fading. Chara had been looking at Mangle and grabbed her hand, making her sister look at her. The pink fox quickly regained her smile.

"Sorry, I had been thinking of old times." She admitted with a bit of embarrassment. "I wonder… what it would be like to perform for kids now. I mean, we haven't done so in… what? 40 years or so." Chara playfully nudged her.

"You make us sound old. You aren't calling me old, are you?" Mangle smiled and shook her head.

"No, but frankly we are old." Chara jingled out a laugh before continuing to speak.

"Well, sis, even though we may be old, we're never too old to perform. Evan asked me earlier today if I had wanted to perform and I wouldn't mind putting on a show."

"But, how would we do that? It's not like we have our own audience." Chara lifted her finger to her lips, shushing Mangle.

"Oh, but my dear pink fox, we do have our own audience. Lend me your ear." As they continued their way towards Rockstar Row, Evan and Michael could hear them whispering. Evan cleared his throat as they saw their destination come into view.

"Thank you for offering this to us, Michael." Evan said, nervously. While Evan thought he had gotten used to his brother since he spent so much time with him last time he was here, it seemed that wasn't fully true as he was still nervous about speaking to his brother openly. The night guard looked back with a sleepy look and yawned, obviously tired from getting so little sleep on such a jam packed day. He nodded, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Yeah, of course. I figured y'all would enjoy the show. Though…" He brought himself closer to Evan, who flinched away in response, receiving a concerned look from Michael.

"Ah, sorry." Evan said with a smile and an embarrassed laugh before getting closer to Michael. "What's going on?" They stopped in front of Freddy's door as the night guard explained the situation with the young boy he met earlier, along with telling them about the reason for the random text earlier. As he finished his explanation, all of them wore faces full of worry. Chara spoke first with a concerned voice.

"Where is this boy now?" Michael pointed towards Freddy's door in response.

"Look, before we go in I need you guys to understand that this kid doesn't trust anyone and has a foul mouth. Personally I'd find this funny… if it wasn't for him being like 10 or 11 years old so prepare yourselves." They all nodded as Mike got out his card and proceeded to unlock the door, making his way through. The room had been a bit messier than Evan had remembered and, as soon as he stepped into the room, was immediately alerted by the presence of the boy laying on the couch. He had been playing on a watch like what Michael had on, tapping on it before looking up at us.

The first thing that immediately came to mind was that he looked strikingly familiar, like he had seen him somewhere before. The boy also stared back at Evan, squinting his eyes a bit. Mike walked forward and turned to face Evan and the girls.

"Guys, this is Gregory. Gregory, this is Evan, Chara and Mangle." He introduced the group of 3 from left to right respectively while they all just waved and smiled at him. Gregory had gotten up and eyed the three of them, but was especially interested in Evan himself. He looks familiar. Thought the boy as he moved up to see them closer until he saw that Chara wasn't touching the ground. This threw the boy off.

"What the fuck?" He semi-yelled as he backed away from Chara. "Why the fuck do you float?" This shocked everyone into silence as no one knew what to say until a familiar bear came through the door in the back of his room, raising his voice.

"Language, Rockstar!" Said Freddy with a scolding tone, making Gregory roll his eyes.

"I'm not a kid, Freddy!" He whined. He looked up at Freddy with his arms crossed, cheeks puffed out. They seem to have some sort of playful relationship going on evident from the banter and Freddy patting his head.

"Seems like he grew on you." Said Mike. Freddy nodded and looked up at them.

"He's a child in need and I am required to protect this child." He stated simply. "I see your friends have come back to visit us along with a new one." The group of three waved again, feeling a bit out of place.

"Yes, I talked to Arin and Cooper earlier and they agreed to let them join our party." Freddy smiled at the information.

"Well, I'm glad to have you all here again. We're setting up the party now and others are cleaning and ushering others out of the building. Mike, I believe you'd be needed with preparations as Roxanne was calling your name."

"Wait, but why do I need to-" Mike was cut off by the ringing and flashing lights coming from his watch, pressing a button to answer it.

"Corpse, where are you?" Said Roxanne, sounding annoyed.

"Faye, I'm in Freddy's room."

"Come to the main party room and help out."

"Why? Can't live without me for one moment?"

"You won't be living in a moment if I have to come and get you."

"You couldn't even catch me to begin with, Faye."

"Stop calling me that. Just come over here and help me."

"Say please."

"Now."

"That's not please."

"Mike, fuck you."

"Language!" Says Freddy cutting into their back and forth. Mike was quick to respond.

"Look, Rox. I'll be there soon, okay?"

"Hurry… Please…" says Roxanne from the other side. Mangle looks at Chara and Evan.

"Do they… flirt like this all the time?" They both nodded and an embarrassed noise came over the phone.

"Mike, who was that?" She asked in a desperate tone.

"It's a new friend of mine. Evan and Chara came back to join our party, so they're chilling in Freddy's room with the kid." Mike explained, making Mangle growl at him a bit. Mangle did not like Michael and wouldn't hesitate to show it, but because Michael asked her to be polite to him while they were here, but she did not enjoy being called a friend of his. Michael eyed the pink fox.

"Perhaps I'll come a bit sooner than I thought." Mike said. "I'll be there in just a moment." He promptly hung up and turned to Freddy. "Would you mind taking them to the main party room in about half an hour?" Freddy nodded to the night guard. He waved everyone goodbye and quickly left out the backdoor that Freddy entered from. Evan and Chara sat down on the couch, leaving Mangle to approach the child, who was practically hugging Freddy's leg, and kneeled down to be on the same level as him.

"Hey, buddy." She said with a sweet, soothing voice. "Your name's Gregory, right?" He nodded in response. "I'm Mangle, the pink fashion fox. If you don't mind me asking, where are your parents?" For a while, she thought that Mike could be his father, but they didn't exactly resemble each other. Gregory frowned as she asked him this question.

"Dead." He stated simply, shocking the pink fox into silence. She stuttered, trying to recover from the situation.

"O-oh… Where are you staying then?" The boy opened his mouth then closed it, realizing he didn't have an answer. Freddy put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"He can stay here if he has to. Though, I don't know if Arin or Cooper would allow that."

"Well, let's have a fun time here tonight and we'll figure things out as they come, okay?" He nodded and was staring at the puppet, who was leaning against Evan, watching the child. She waved at him but he didn't wave back. He looked at Mangle.

"Who is that?" He pointed at Chara, who was still looking at Gregory. Mangle smiled.

"That's Chara, the marionette. She's my sister." Gregory looked at Mangle weirdly.

"How can she be your sister? She looks nothing like you." Mangle shook her head.

"Just because we aren't of the same blood doesn't mean we aren't family. Right, Chara and Evan?" They both nodded, smiling at the young boy. "Evan taught me that a long time ago." She told him but he was barely listening because the boy had remembered something he forgot from a few years ago. He had learned a lot of important skills and life lessons because of someone who he had a hard time remembering after his accident.

It had been the last day the man would be working in the building nearby the orphanage and Gregory hated it. The entirety of his life had been full of adults who didn't want him or couldn't entrust him anything, but this man had been kind enough to teach him the basics of creating and maintaining electronics and even gave him some study material to keep with him. He had treasured this man like he was family but now he was leaving, just like everyone else. He hated it, but he could never come to hate that man.

As Gregory was crying, sitting alone in an adjacent room of the building the man worked in, he heard footsteps make their way down the hallway and in front of the door to the room he was in, knocking lightly. Gregory wiped his tears and snot away, getting up and opening the door.

"What?" Gregory said in a grumpy tone. The man, who's face he could not make out, chuckled a bit.

"Cmon, buddy." The man said as he patted the young boy's head. "I know saying goodbye is hard but you don't have to cry over it too hard. I'm sure we'll meet again." Gregory didn't believe him.

"No, everyone just abandons me in the end! I…" The boy slumped down against the wall and curled back up. "I just wanted a family… " The man sighed and crouched down, hugging the young boy to him.

"Now listen, mister. You do have a family." The man pointed at himself with his thumb. "I'm your family." He wiped the tears off of Gregory's face as the boy looked up towards him. "Now remember this, Gregory. 'Just because we're not of the same blood, doesn't mean we aren't family'. Frankly, I have a few friends at home that I'd consider family more than anyone else in the world. You can choose who your family is, but make sure to love and cherish them with all your heart, got it?" The young boy nodded, sniffling away the tears. The man rose and patted the boy's head once more. "I've got to go, but I'll do my best to visit you from time to time. Keep strong and I'm sure someone will adopt you." As the man walked out the door, heading down the hallway, a question came to Gregory's mind. He ran out the door quickly and started yelling towards the man.

"You better keep your promise!" The man waved his hand back, fading into shadows of what was left of that fleeting memory. The boy never did end up asking if the man could adopt him, but he was sure that if he did want to, he would've done so already. Hopefully he could meet the man he looked up to once again in the future.

But that day never came. The man never came back to fulfill his promise and Gregory soon forgot about it, too.

"...ory… Gregory!" The calls from Freddy woke the boy from his sudden flashback, making him dart his head to look at the bear animatronic. He had been looking at Gregory with a worried expression and kneeled down to meet the boy. "Gregory, are you alright? You were looking pale and zoned out." The boy nodded and looked around, seeing that everyone had been looking at him. His eyes wandered to Evan and Chara, who seemed to be quite worried for the boy.

"I'm okay." Said Gregory. "I'm hungry." The bear sighed and chuckled a bit before responding.

"The food for the party should be ready soon. Why don't you sit down for a moment?" The boy nodded again, moving to sit on the opposite side of the couch from Evan and Chara. As he watched them all while sitting there, he listened to Mangle and Freddy talk about musical suggestions for upcoming performances while Evan and Chara stayed mostly silent, the man's arm wrapped around his animatronic companion, they made a few quiet comments to each other from time to time. The boy wasn't sure why, but out of everyone in this room, he felt no animosity towards Evan. He had never met this man before and usually never went out of his way to deal with adults, but this man had seemed quite comfortable to be around. The boy scooted himself closer to Evan, pulled on his sleeve to grab his attention and opened his mouth.

"Evan?" The man turned his head towards the boy, seeing him look up at him.

"Hey there, buddy. Gregory, right?" The boy nodded his head in confirmation. "What can I do for you?"

"Uhm… are you and Ms. Chara married?" Gregory wasn't sure what to ask, but he wanted to figure out what made him so compelled to be around this man so he asked the first thing that came off the top of his head. Chara had physically blush, becoming quite red on the cheeks of her mask while Evan rubbed her arm comfortingly, chuckling at the question.

"No, no. We're… just friends." He said, trying to calm down the overexcited puppet next to him. Mangle and Freddy looked over at them, the former smiling and gesturing with an "awwh!" face. "Why do you ask?"

"What do you do for work?" The boy said, completely ignoring the question. Evan blinked, realizing that he was being interrogated, but went with the flow.

"I actually own a company where we repair just about anything electrical and mechanical. Except cars. I'm not exactly fond of tinkering with them." The boy pulled out an object from his pocket and handed him what seemed to be a box with a lot of mechanical and electrical pieces exposed.

"This box has an issue with it, what's wrong with it?" The boy stared at the man intently, ushering the man to solve the sudden puzzle bestowed onto him. Evan picked up the box with his free hand and looked at it.

"Well, there's a wire on the inside that isn't connected. I'd solder it together and-" The man wasn't able to finish as the boy swiped the box back from him, annoyed.

"No, no. You don't know if that's the issue because you never opened it. Freddy, I'm right, aren't I?" The boy looked towards the bear, who wore a face of astonishment.

"While you'd normally be right, Rockstar, the man there was able to figure out the issue without even opening it up. I-" He hesitated before speaking. "It's quite impressive, Evan. How did you do such a thing?" The boy had been dumbstruck as he looked back towards the slightly sheepish Evan. This box Freddy had given him as something to mess around with since the bear had found out that the boy had a passion for this kind of stuff, just like the bear did.

"I just have an eye for these kinds of things." Gregory had been thoroughly impressed. Not just because he had figured out what was wrong with the box, but because he took the boy seriously. No adult would ever do that for him unless he said he was in trouble. As they sat in the room, making more small talk, Gregory felt his respect for Evan grow a bit.

A little while later, the group moved from Freddys room to the main party room where everyone was hanging out. There were a few tables full of food, drinks and sweets and a few games to keep people entertained. As Evan made his way in and saw Mike standing to the side with Roxanne, he felt an arm come over his shoulder, slightly freaking him out. An older man with a drink in his hand and a small bald patch in the middle of his brown hair held him close as if Evan was his long lost companion. The man smiled widely at the technician.

"It's good to meet you, Evan." Said the man slightly slurring his words. "I heard all about you from our star employee, Michael, over there. You did a fantastic job with all the repairs and I'm sure everyone here would love to thank you for making our place look good as new for the festival." Evan nodded, still confused but the man seemed to figure out his facial expressions. "Oh, I'm Cooper, the CEO here. I own this place, y'know?"

"Nice to meet you, Cooper." Evan held his hand out to shake the older man's hand who, instead, put his drink in Evan's hand. Chara walked up slowly behind Evan, staring at the situation with a bit of confusion. Cooper saw her and held out his hand, who she took without a thought.

"I've heard about you. Evan's partner in crime saving the day from the mischievous Moon. Y'know, I thought about trying to fix him, but I'm being told that reprogramming someone is a heinous crime around here." He acted surprised and laughed. Chara immediately felt very uncomfortable, but shook his hand anyway.

"Yeah it's nice to be here. Thanks for letting us join." The man waved it off, smiling.

"Oh of course. You're welcome here anytime!" As Chara was about to respond, Cooper followed up. "It's not like you attack people and since Mike vouched for you, I can trust that everything will turn out fine." This immediately shut Chara up, making her only nod. "Well, I have to get going before that silly manager of mine comes nagging again." As Cooper left, Arin showed up a bit later, looking just as tired as usual. He looked at Evan, who pointed in the direction of where Cooper went, and thanked the man before heading off towards Cooper. Chara held Evan's hand and pushed up against him.

"Are you okay?" Evan said to his partner, who nodded.

"Yeah, I just… hope that's our last interaction with that man for the night." She said, looking at him before realizing they weren't standing alone. Next to Evan was Gregory, who had been standing and watching them with a large plate full of food.

"Where's Mangle?" Chara asked the child, who looked at them in curiosity. He pointed in a direction away from them.

"She met Chica and they started talking together. I didn't understand them so I came back over here."

"That's okay." Said Evan, who was eyeing the boy's food from being hungry himself. "Feel free to stay with us while we're here." He nodded, content with staying near the man. After both him and Chara got some food, they found a couch that wasn't preoccupied to sit on and they just chatted.

From time to time, people would come by and thank Evan for his work on the pizzaplex or meet Chara. It seemed that Mangle was a hit with the staff because of some fashion talk they had bonded over and Evan was glad to hear of it.

As it became a bit later, it was just him, Chara and Gregory in the immediate area. Chara was resting her head on her human's shoulder, seeming to be dozing off a bit while Evan and Gregory talked. Evan ended up becoming quite fond of the boy as he was smart and knew a lot about technical work, both of them speaking about projects that they wanted to work on.

"How many other animatronics do you own, mister?" Gregory asked innocently.

"I don't own any of them because they're their own people, but we have 3 more in our workshop basement at home." The boy was surprised, making a 'wow' quietly. "They're practically like family to me." The boy thought for a while before he spoke.

"I wish I had a family. Nobody back in the orphanage ever wanted me so I guess it would be impossible." The man patted the child on the shoulder in an attempt to cheer him up.

"Chin up, buddy. You'll find a family one day, I'm sure of it." Evan seemed confident, but the boy shook his head.

"Someone I cherished very much told me that years ago. He told me the same thing and promised to come see me and never came." The boy had become sad, looking down with a bit of tears in his eyes. Evan looked down at him and a simple thought came into his head. While it may not be much, he could hopefully help this boy out.

"Hmm… Would you like to come stay the night with us, then? Mike told me that you didn't want to go back to the orphanage and, while I don't want to be framed for kidnapping, I can at least let you stay with us for a small amount of time." This perked the boy up but it felt strange to him. Why am I so happy to hear that I can stay with this man? Even though I can tell that I can trust him, I don't know him. The boy stopped himself before he said anything and steeled his resolve.

"C-can I?" He asked with a bit of uncertainty leaking from his voice. Evan smiled at the boy.

"Of course you can. We even have an extra room I had refurbished a while back in case we had more people come live with us. You can have a room all to yourself for… well, as long as you stay there." Evan internally jumped for joy as he heard the amount of freedom that he was presented with. His mind clashed with the idea, half of himself not wanting to go and possibly putting Evan and the others in danger while the other half had wanted to grasp this offer with open arms. Eventually, he came to a conclusion. If, somehow, he ended up endangering them, he'd leave them once again. He couldn't lead another person to their death again.

While the boy was in thought, he casually ended up leaning against Evan while feeling sleepy. A yawn escaped from his mouth and he felt the man chuckle a bit.

"Go ahead and get yourself some rest, buddy." Said Evan as he looked down at the boy. "I don't think we're getting out of here anytime soon." The boy nodded as he pushed himself farther into the man's side, yawning again.

"I'm not… a kid." He said with the yawn cutting his sentence in half. His eyes did feel heavy and his body slow so maybe shutting his eyes for a moment wouldn't be too bad, right?

As Chara opened her eyes, she saw Evan look at her and put a finger up to his lips and point next to him. As she looked in between rubbing her eyes, she saw Gregory fast asleep, laying against Evan like a pillow. She smiled brightly, happy that they had bonded together. Footsteps had gotten closer as Chica, Trudge and Mangle made their way to the group of three.

"That's just the cutest thing I've ever seen." Quietly cried Chica who was following the pink fox, who agreed with her statement.

"We're planning on taking him home for a bit. I ended up talking to Michael about his situation earlier this morning and it would be best if he could sleep in an actual bed." They both nodded, agreeing with the man.

"You're a good father figure, Evan." Said Chica. Chara nodded quickly, agreeing with her.

"Myep." Simply said Trudge, who had been sitting there eating off of his plate. Evan could swear every time he saw the man he was eating.

"He's always been like this as far as I can remember." Said Chara, who bragged about Evan like she was a proud mother. "You should've seen him when I first met him. He barely talked until we encountered a kid who was scared of me. Those paternal instincts kicked in quickly and made that kid smile immediately." Chica aww'd as she heard the story. Evan looked at Mangle, who was wearing a cute necklace that matched the one Chica had.

"What are that you're wearing?" Asked Evan, motioning towards the jewelry on her neck.

"Chica and I made these for each other, solidifying our newfound friendship together." Said Mangle who made a pose alongside Chica, making them seem like they were long lost friends. Evan chuckled.

"I'm glad you finally got to meet your idol and make new friends. I hate to do this to you, but do you think you're about ready to go?" She nods her head and looks around.

"I need to say goodbye to everyone real quick. Be back!" Her and Chica ran off with Trudge following behind while eating, waving back at him. Soon enough, it had been time to go. Evan tried to wake up Gregory, who was snug up against him, but he refused to wake up.

"I don't wanna." He said like a child. This made the man and puppet smile, giving Evan an idea. He scooped the boy up into his arms and rested him against his chest to continue sleeping. As they moved to leave, Michael caught up with him.

"Hey, I heard you plan on taking him home?" He said, looking more exhausted than he did earlier. Evan nodded.

"Yeah. I figured it was only right since we have some space at home. Also, you should probably get yourself some rest." Mike tiredly nodded in agreement.

"We won't be open tomorrow as a break for all the staff, so I'll do it then. Make sure to keep in touch with me about him." They exchanged a few more words before they left on their separate ways, finally getting to the car. Evan sat the sleeping boy in the backseat and buckled him in next to Mangle before climbing into the driver's seat and heading home.

About 20 minutes later, they make it into the door with Evan holding the sleeping boy in his arms. He made it to the spare bedroom, laying the boy down and laying the covers over him, tucking him in snuggly. The man looked at the sight with a smile, hoping the boy would feel at home here in the morning. He thought about what exactly he should cook for him and perhaps where to get clothes but he ended up shaking those thoughts out of his head. It's just a temporary fix in our lives, I shouldn't get attached. He thought to himself before digressing. I wonder what Gregory likes to eat for breakfast? He prepared himself for bed and found Chara already on the other side of his bed, laying down and reading a book. She saw him come in, closed it and smiled at him as he made his way under the covers.

"I just checked him a few minutes ago, he's still sound asleep with a smile on his face. You're doing such a great job, Evan." She praised him and hugged his arm. He smiled at her, feeling a bit of pride in her words.

"I hope he enjoys it here… for his stay, you know." He quickly corrected himself and she giggled. As they laid down to sleep, Evan felt like he was happiest he had ever been. He hoped that this feeling would stay and he knew everything would turn out fine in the end.

Perhaps everything would be fine when he woke up in the morning. Unfortunately, when he woke up, it wasn't quite morning yet and there was a knock at the door. Chara had woken up alongside him, looking worried over at him and she followed him far behind into the living room and to the door where Evan would look through his peephole to see the last person he would have ever thought of.

It was a little old lady dressed up as a nun. The woman Mike had warned him about was on their doorstep and it seems that she wasn't here to talk about Jesus.

Maybe everything wasn't going to be okay.


Authors Note

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter because I wasn't exactly sure how adding some elements of this chapter would work. In fact, I scrapped a few ideas with some seriously dark themes in it. I was also unsure about how Gregory would come out in this chapter as he seems a bit weaker than he would being the "badass, robot slaying mothertrucker" you see in the game, but I very much enjoyed it.

With all that being said, I hope y'all enjoyed it and I'll see y'all in the next one!