Authors Notes
Hey, another chapter is out and, frankly, I am excited for it. Like I said at the end of the last chapter, now we're truly getting into the meat of the matter so things are going to ramp up quickly.
Also, another announcement for our discord. If you haven't joined, what are you doing? It's probably the most fun discord I've had in the past few years, but don't take it from me. Find out for yourself!
Anyways, shameless promo over and time for another chapter. Enjoy!
Things We Can't Let Go Of
"We're still family, right?" Said Gregory, the voice of the boy echoed in Evan's head.
Evan had found himself inside of the underground bunker that held Gregory once again, stuck walking down an endless hallway, attempting to save Gregory. The fresh, light gray concrete started to fade the farther down the hallway he moved, allowing rebar and cracks to show from every side and, eventually, old and crumbling brick walls. Out of curiosity, the man stuck his face closer to a gap in the wall, gazing directly into the abyss.
He could hear clicks and tapping of something metallic from these holes but they never came from a specific direction. It was as if the noise came from inside his head and not something that was inside of the walls. The noises became louder, echoing off the walls and back into the abyss until all noise finally stopped. Evan couldn't even feel himself breathing and he couldn't move.
It wasn't until something appeared in the gap in the wall that Evan regained control of himself. A pair of hazel brown eyes glowed from the darkness, staring directly into the man's eyes. He felt his heart and his soul burn and a guilt like no other overcome the him.
"We're still family, right?" Said a voice from the gap, belonging to a small male child. It had been Gregory's voice, Evan realized, that permeated from the dark abyss with his eyes focused on the man who stood still in front of the brick wall. The man's legs wobbled and his throat was parched. He swallowed and steadied himself before opening his mouth to answer.
"Y-yes, I-" Said Evan before getting cut off immediately after answering.
"If we're still family, then why didn't you save me?" The voice of Gregory asked, making time stop for the technician as he was startled by the question.
"Wha-?"
"Why didn't you save me, Evan? You told me we'd be a family, so why didn't you save me?" The voice asked, disappointed and somber. The man was unsure how to answer, nor could he, for that question echoed in his head, drowning out the answer he thought up. Why couldn't he save him? Thought Evan, who was stuck in his tracks, unable to come up with a proper answer. There could have been ways to save the boy if he just thought hard enough, if he just tried harder, if he just came a bit quicker. No, surely Gregory wouldn't blame him for his inability to save him… right?
"I… I tried." Evan finally managed to squeak out, his throat feeling like it was being held on tightly and the atmosphere feeling hot. If he could move at all, he would've attempted to clear his throat or cough, but his body wouldn't listen. Instead, he simply kept eye contact with the brown eyes in the gap and attempted to power through his feelings.
"No, you didn't." Accused 'Gregory', anger building up with each word. "You didn't try or I would be alive right now!" The voice practically screamed at Evan, making the man flinch and he felt his guilt growing and his confidence wavering.
"I-I did try, I promise," Said the technician as his voice cracked and weakened under the pressure. "I just-"
"You just what? Admit it, Evan. You were just too weak." The man's face was hit with the sudden thought, realizing the boy might be true. It couldn't be true, could it? He had been built like a machine in mind and body, there was no one stronger than him but no matter how much he assured himself, the words came back up into his mind, sickening him like a plague.
"You're worthless." Said another voice like Gregory's from behind the man, making him snap his head back to look and see another pair of eyes look down upon him.
"It was wrong to put my trust in you." Another pair of eyes appeared from another gap in the bricks and he looked around and realized every gap had been filled with a pair of eyes and the voices started rolling over him.
"You killed me…"
"I hate you! I hate you…!"
"Why did you lie to me…?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry please don't leave me here!"
"It's because of you that I'm dead. It's' because I trusted you…"
A multitude of voices washed over the man as she fell to his knees, taking in all the words like they were bullets riddling his body causing him intense pain. Evan rolled up on his knees into the floor, his hands covering his ears as he put his forehead to the broken concrete floor, but he couldn't drown them out. He couldn't even hear himself screaming. Tears started flowing out of his eyes as he realized the amount of wrong he did to this child. He couldn't save him and he led him straight to his death.
He remembered the faint sound of Gregory's voice laughing as they enjoyed themselves in Freddy's room. He remembered the smile that the boy gave him before he fell fast asleep again Evan, feeling safe enough to allow the boy some sleep from his long and tired journey. He remembered the way the boy looked up to him when he realized they both had the same passion and the way the boy excitedly talked about his projects he wanted to work on when he got time. He remembered the way the boy looked at him when he attacked that woman, asking if they were still family and the smile he had when Evan agreed. He remembered how the boy sacrificed himself to avenge his parents and save someone who he didn't know much about.
And now he was dead because of Evan's weakness.
Evan felt the room begin to spin around him as the accusations from the 'Gregorys' became louder, their voices pounding on the man's brain. He felt himself feel ill and dry heave as his skin lit on fire from the hot atmosphere, his blood literally boiling inside of his own body. He cried out in pain loudly and wished for it all to end, begging Gregory for forgiveness for his weakness before suddenly everything stopped.
Evan felt his body return to normal and he no longer felt physically ill, but mentally he was drained. He understood he did wrong and he felt it etched deeply into his brain as he took deep breaths, pushing himself off the floor and looking around.
He no longer was in the hallway, no eyes were staring daggers into his soul and the air around him was crisp and cool the way it would be in a cellar during this time of the year. As he looked around, he noticed everything was dark nearby other than two lights: a dim one above himself and one directly in front of him. The realization hit him like a truck as he figured out where he was.
The hole in the unstable ground was still there as he peered into the room Gregory led his parent's killer into and dropped them both into their demise. Evan couldn't believe what he was seeing in front of his eyes, the same hole that took Gregory away from him had been left in front of him like a sour joke, something that someone somewhere was laughing at. He refused to believe that this was real and he crawled his weak, shivering body over to the hole and looked inside.
The hole hadn't been nearly as deep as it once was as Evan peered into it and saw the bottom quickly as well as something else, to his horror. Gregory's still body was lying on the dusty concrete floor, surrounded in rubble. The boy's body had been contorted, his knee had been broken inward and his hands had been rubbed raw and eviscerated, as if he tried to stop his descent with his hands before his fingers were broken, some no longer on his hand. A pool of blood came out from around Gregory's face, eyes and mouth open with tears streaming out of them. It was if he was still screaming even while dead, perpetually falling towards his grave.
His unnaturally still body made Evan queasy and he looked away for a moment as he dry heaved to his side. He had never seen anyone die firsthand, much less it being a child that he promised to take care of, and it was taking a toll on his body. He felt like he was going crazy, his mind tearing itself apart between his self-blame and his reason. As he looked back towards Evan again, he realized the body was gone, leaving nothing but a large pool of blood with a few smaller ones nearby. The room became a bit colder and it was then he felt it.
A small hand grabbed his shoulder, gripping his deltoid with an iron grip. The hand had been cold and, whatever it was behind him, didn't even take a breath. Evan struggled hard to turn and see who or what it was behind him that took his shoulder, but he couldn't move. His breath became ragged and shallow and his mind turned blank except one thought. He knew exactly who it was behind him. He wanted to deny it with every fiber of his being, but it couldn't have been no one else.
The body behind Evan came into the light, blood dripping from the crushed part of his skull from the impact with the floor. Its skin was pale, paler than even Evan's, minus the veins being visible through the skin. Tears still flowed from the bloodshot eyes, but not a single sob came. It wore a large smile, one too big to fit on a tiny body. It leaned in, closing in on Evan's ear before stopping inches before it. Its whisper was hoarse and ragged, like it had been crying out pleas for a long time.
"Evan…" The young familiar voice said, sounding a bit too happy. "Why Evan? Why didn't you save me?"
-SB-
Evan couldn't even scream when he woke up, his eyes glazed over from the lack of sleep and he pushed the covers off of himself, crawled haphazardly out of bed and stumbled his way into the hallway. Chara, who had awoken when she felt Evan getting up, groggily watched the man move towards the door in his night suit like he had somewhere to be.
"Evan…?" Chara weakly called out to the man and realized he didn't hear him. The technician grabbed his keys off the counter and unlocked the door before stepping outside, not even bothering to put on his shoes. Chara had followed him long enough to see where he went and understood what was happening, preparing herself for the worst.
Evan stumbled out towards his car, falling once before making it there. He unlocked it and sat in the driver's seat before trying to start up the car. The man couldn't see straight as his vision had been swirling and tilting from the lack of sleep he had and his hands shook violently, making him struggle to put the car keys in. His stomach turned, but he held the contents in with sheer determination as he knew he had somewhere to be. The technician nearly put the key into the ignition before he saw, and felt, a black fabric-like hand touch his. He looked up towards his passenger side seat, startled, and saw the Chara had been awake and sitting next to him. The look on her face was one of sadness in a way that hurt him to see.
"Sweetie…" Chara said softly, her hand grasping his shaking one. "Let's go back to bed… please…" Her voice sounded sad and pleading, striking a chord in Evan's heart.
"But…" Evan's raspy voice said, sounding in pain and sorrow. "W-we have to go save him, we have to go save Gregory, he's still down there and I can't leave him!" His voice sounded panicked, his eyes moved around erratically. The desperation in his voice hit Chara, choking her up for a moment before she responded to him.
"Evan, Gregory's dead. You can't go save him." Evan stared at Chara like she just told him something impossible, his face looked questioning at her.
"No, no! He's still down there and we can go save him we just-" Chara finally broke, unable to handle seeing her human like this.
"He's dead, Evan!" She shouted, her voice ringing in the small space of the car. "He's dead and I know you miss him but you can't bring people back to life once they're gone." Evan looked at her for a moment, deafening silence hanging in the air. He finally nodded, agreeing with her and looking away with his face looking down.
"...You're right, Chara. You're right. I just…" He fell silent again as tears started to fall into his lap, his silence turning into a sob. He laid his head against the steering wheel as he began to heavily sob, feeling the guilt crush him alive. Chara understood that she stopped Evan and moved over to hug him, her practically crawling onto him to embrace him fully.
"It's not your fault, Evan. You did everything you could and I'm certain that Gregory doesn't blame you." She held him tightly, rubbing his back in comfort as she felt her own tears starting to fall down her mask. I shouldn't be crying now. Thought Chara as she tried to stabilize her emotions. I need to be the one to help Evan out from this hell he is living in, so I need to be strong. She kept telling herself that as she comforted the man who was stuck inside his own head.
The guilt was eating Evan alive. He told himself that it wasn't his fault that he couldn't do more and couldn't save Gregory, but somewhere deep, deep down, he blamed himself and he truly believed it was his fault. His body felt numb and his mind had been blank. It wasn't very long until he stopped crying, but he didn't want to move anymore and Chara didn't force him to.
Evan pulled Chara onto himself, wrapping her into a hug against his chest. He felt helpless as his nightmares played again into his head.
-SB-
It had become sunrise by the time Chara woke up in the car, her body pressed against Evan's. Last night had been a wake-up call for the puppet as she realized that Evan still held resentment for himself for what happened to Gregory. It wasn't the first time she had seen this happen with him. When he had horrible dreams about his father, Evan thought he needed to get back to the room under ARI to obey his father or else he would get punished. He had been groomed from much too young to obey his father's will without question.
This incident had happened a few times over the span of the years they spent together, once she had to make her way to the other side of the city where ARI had been to to begin with. She found him in his car, struggling to figure out what exactly was going on and having a mental breakdown. She could only try her best to calm him down, but it had been one step up from the normal nightmares he had.
Chara knew that she'd need to call him out for work today, knowing that Trevor would be quite understanding of the situation. Even if Trevor had to hold down the fort by himself, he would be fine. He could always close down the shop for the day if nothing too important was happening. She caressed the man's sleeping face before warping herself back into the house and heading for the landline. After a few rings, the line picked up with an older man speaking from the other side.
"Hello?" Said Trevor who sounded like he just woke up.
"Hi there, Trevor. It's me, Chara." She tried to make her voice sound normal, not wanting to alert the man that the news she carried was bad.
"Oh, it's nice to hear from you, Chara. Did you get bored of waiting for Evan to wake up and need to talk to someone?" Chara chuckled at this, remembering how she did this a few times back when they first moved from the older man's house into the one they live in now. Trevor, despite their differences and wariness of each other when they met, had been like family to her. He had been the grandfather that Chara had never had.
"No, unfortunately, I need to call Evan out of work today." This brought some concern to Trevor as these words almost never meant anything good.
"Why? What happened? Is he okay?" Trevor had been many things, one being that he was quite protective over Evan. When Evan had died the first time, it really stuck with the man for his entire life. He was supposed to be watching the kid and, if he did so properly, maybe he could've prevented him dying the way he did. So when Evan came back into his life the second time around, he swore he would try harder this time to protect him.
"Uhm…" Chara hesitated, caving in as she decided to explain what happened. "Don't tell Evan I told you this but… he's… feeling guilty about Gregory's death. It seems to be so bad that it's polluting his dreams." Chara could hear a concerned 'hmm' from the other side of the phone.
"Well, there isn't much we can do about that other that be there for him and help him in any way he can. Okay, we'll be fine here for the day so make sure to treat him well and hopefully let him get some sleep. You, too, missy. You're sounding a bit tired as well." Chara felt a bit surprised that he could tell. Maybe her emotional voice control had been getting a bit rusty.
"I will. Thank you a lot for being understanding."
"Naturally. You guys are like my children, tho maybe you'd be my daughter-in-law." Chara chuckled a bit, enjoying the thought.
"Maybe. Either way, thank you." They both said their farewells and ended the call, leaving Chara with a task at hand. She needed to get Evan back inside the building and into bed, but she didn't want to wake him up. She did have an idea and she knew she'd be plenty tired after the fact, too. She headed towards Mangle's room before executing her plan.
-SB-
It had just hit 6am as both Vandana and Michael headed out of the pizzaplex with Roxanne eyeing her from the door. Roxanne really didn't like the girl hanging around Michael, but she had been fun to be around and Michael needed to keep an eye on her, so she tolerated her existence in the pizzaplex and Michael knew it.
He knew that she would get jealous, but it was his job he was doing and they rarely stuck around her while playing Hide and Go Seek Tag, so it didn't seem to be all that big of a deal. As he and Vandana walked side to side, they made some small conversation as both of their vehicles were parked at the corner of the pizzaplex, which was a bit of a walk away from their current position.
"I had so much fun playing with yall!" Vandana exclaimed a bit tiredly, but her spirit burned fiercely nevertheless. "I can't wait to come back! Oh, if you don't mind, that is." Michael shook his head.
"I don't see any problems with you being here and if Evan trusts you, I'm sure you're the perfect person for the job." She smiled brightly at the compliment.
"Thank you very much, Michael. You're such a nice guy." This comment confused the man as it came out of nowhere.
"Uhh… thanks?" Vandana nodded as they got to their vehicles. "I hope you sleep well when you get home. You don't gotta go back to work today, do you?" The girl shook her head.
"No, our company allows us to take a day off after if we work overnights. Though, I need to stop by the store and get some supplies. I thought up this idea while here and I want to start working on it as soon as I get home, but no spoilers!" She put a finger up to her lips, saying she won't tell him what it is.
"Well, I wish you the best, Vanny." He started walking off and she waved at him. He realized he enjoyed hanging out with Vandana, even though she was a bit much at times. She could talk about anything to anyone it seemed and the talking was hard to stop. Though Sun wasn't much better and, after spending half an hour running away from him during their game, he realized he much preferred the woman to the sunny clown.
Though, Roxanne felt like everyone should stay away from them being the possessive wolf she was. He wasn't sure if it was nerves or her just wanting to spend more alone time with him, but he just tried to do whatever she wanted, as long as she wasn't trying to bully him into it. Michael smiled as he remembered their joyride on the raceway last night, feeling really happy and admitting to himself that he truly did enjoy his time with Roxanne.
At the end of the night, they spent time together in her room, panting from the amount of exercise they experienced that night. To calm down, they sat together and surfed the web, seeing something that caught Roxanne's eye. It was a big deck of cards with both black cards that were prompts and white cards that were answers. After reading up on it, she wanted to try it badly and Michael would readily admit that he found himself curious about it, too. He thought he saw them at the store before so he might as well pick them up now before he forgot about it.
When Michael arrived at the nearby supermarket, he noticed a familiar vehicle sitting in the semi-vacant parking lot. It had been Vandana's who had mentioned something about going to the store before making her way home. He made his way in and beelined to where he thought he saw the card pack before. Mike made his way down the main aisle, looking up smaller ones and their section names. As he did so, he saw Vandana in one of them and stopped.
She had been picking out fabrics, seeming to like a particular color that he couldn't see from where he was at. He moved up behind her and immediately started speaking.
"I didn't know you liked sewing." Michael said, startling Vandana and making her look behind herself. She hid whatever she was holding behind her back.
"O-oh, Michael! I didn't know you were here!" She said, seeming to be more nervous than normal. Maybe it was because he had startled her that she had become so timid, but he was curious about what she was doing. "Uhm, I don't actually. I just thought I wanted to start and had a great idea on what I wanted to do!"
"Oh nice, what do you plan on making?"
"Uhm… it's a… secret! Yeah." Michael frowned at the poor answer, rejudging the situation. Maybe it was something embarrassing that she was making, but he couldn't think of what it could be, so he simply shrugged.
"Okay, well I came to pick up a game that wolfy was eyeing last night."
"Oh, nice well I hope you two have fun! Though, I want to ask… are you two… dating?" This question threw Michael off so hard as it came out of left field and hit him directly in the face. He literally had to physically recover after hearing that question outside of the pizzeria.
"Uh… no, no. We're just really close friends. I don't know if you hear the names she calls me on the often, but they don't exactly give off the feeling of endearment, ya know?" Vandana nodded her head.
"Oh, good! I mean, no. I just meant that it was good that you two were friends. Not that there would be anything wrong with it if you guys were dating but uhm…" She stayed quiet for a second before getting an idea. "Oh, uhm… I had a lot of fun with you last night so I was wondering if maybe we could get something to eat sometime?" Mike had kinda stared at the girl for a moment before realizing that she was genuinely asking him out to eat somewhere. Well, it's not like he had any reason to decline and he did like going out to eat. Maybe he could bring something back for Roxanne. He nodded to her, making her light up.
"Sure, but what did you have in mind?" Michael asked, unknowing that Vandana had thought of this as a date. The girl pulled out her phone and typed on it a bit.
"Uhm, can I get your number?" Vandana asked, holding out her phone which was open to a new contacts page. He nodded and started putting in his info before realizing it said that his name was already taken in the phone.
"Uh… I guess I can't put my name into your phone." She looked at him confused briefly before lighting up with an idea.
"Oh, I have two uncles named Michael and Mike, so choose to put yourself as whatever you want in here." Michael nodded at her, but drew a blank. He wasn't good at naming anything, his friendoskeleton at work proved that much. He sat there and thought up a clever name to put in her phone before getting an idea, allowing him to type it in and handed it back to Vandana. She looked at it with a raised eyebrow.
"Eggs… Benedict?" She asked, with a bit of amusement in her voice.
"It sorta just sticks with you." Michael said, not giving an explanation at all. She chuckled a bit, putting her phone back into her pocket.
"Well, thank you very much. I'll see ya tomorrow at 8?" The night guard nodded.
"Sure. I'll see ya then." Michael walked off, feeling as if that strange interaction he had with Vandana got much easier quicker than expected. He had a funny feeling about getting food with the girl, but it's not like it was a date or anything, right?
Michael had made sure to grab the deck of cards he found a few aisles over before buying them and heading home. He would need to take a nap seeing as he planned on going back up to the pizzaplex later on to help out with Halloween decor.
Maybe he could figure out what he'd wear for Halloween with Roxanne. Perhaps he could be an animal control worker, the thought making the man snicker as the image of him putting a leash on Roxanne was hilarious.
-SB-
Evan woke up with a massive headache, holding his head with a groan and rolling over to the other side of the bed before ending up in a face full of fur. A gasp came from above him and he could tell who it was immediately. Evan picked his face up and looked at Mangle, who was resting at the edge of the bed and he just got a face full of her tail.
"Sorry about that." Evan murmured out with a raspy voice, still not awake quite yet. Mangle smiled at him, moving her hand to his head and running her soft fingers through his hair.
"Well, if all you wanted to do was touch my tail, you could've simply asked." She teased him quietly, smiling down at him. "How are you feeling?" Evan quietly made a groan, showing that he was feeling extra horrible. He didn't actually verbally answer the question, making Mangle's smile thin. "Is everything okay? I only heard a vague explanation from Chara, but… I don't mind watching over my favorite brother." This made Evan smile a bit.
"Don't let Foxy hear you say that. He'll try to fight me for that title, I just know it." Mangle softly giggled at the joke before they sat in silence for a few moments. It wasn't until Evan spoke that any conversation happened. "I… keep feeling like I hear Gregory in my sleep. We didn't know him for very long but the fact that he had been distrustful to all other adults and trusted me, I feel like it was only my right and my duty to take care of him. He expected a lot from me, too. It really seemed like he wanted to be here and be a family, despite not being of the same blood. Yet…" His voice cracked and he put his face down into the pillow, making Mangle grab his hand and rub his shoulder softly.
"It's okay, big guy." Mangle said comfortingly, understanding that it's hard for Evan to talk about. Eventually Evan picked his head up from the covers, his eyes glistening with fresh tears, and he took a deep breath.
"God, I'm pathetic…" He groaned, planting his face back into the covers.
"No you're not, Evan. I can understand why it was hard for you. We all know how much family means to you." Evan picked his face out of the covers again.
"But he was counting on me and I just let him down… I let him die, Mangle. I keep hearing his last words to me and now, I'm hearing him blame me." Mangle frowned at this comment, realizing that he was going to work himself back into a rut.
"Evan, look up for a moment." Said Mangle, making Evan look up towards Mangle right before she flicked his forehead, causing him some pain. He held his forehead in his hands, groaning like the flick had stung.
"Owwh, what was that for?" She grabbed his hand and moved them, moving closer to the man.
"Awwh, you big baby. Let me help you feel better." Mangle kissed the man on the forehead and hugged him, sighing a bit. "Evan, you know very well that incident wasn't your fault and I really doubt he'd blame you for not saving him. As harsh as the reality is, he did it to himself and he knew what he was doing so there's no reason to blame you." Evan nodded a bit, but it didn't seem like her words truly changed his mind. Mangle had an idea of exactly how to get him out of his rut and staying here wasn't the answer. The pink fox let go of Evan and got up, stretching as she did so.
"Okay, let's go." Mangle said, walking around the bed and towards the doorway. Evan had been confused at the sudden command.
"Go? Go where?" The technician asked, causing the animatronic to look at him.
"It's a secret. Take a shower and get some clothes on." Evan still had been confused, his brain feeling quite foggy.
"Wait, but…" Mangle turned around at the doorway to stare at the man, hands on her hips.
"What? Can't shower alone?" Teased Mangle, making Evan roll his eyes.
"As if." There was a bit of silence as she expected him to take the obvious joke opener and make fun of her, but it never came. The pink fox simply sighed and turned back around.
"Just go get ready. You and I got places to be today." She didn't move quite yet, but she started tapping her fingers against the doorway.
"What about Chara?" Mangle's fingers stopped moving as she had to think of how to answer that question.
"Uhm… She needs some time alone so she left for a bit. She'll be back." This felt weird to both Evan and Mangle, but the latter understood that she had a job to do so if Chara said she'd be fine, Mangle could only trust her.
"And Foxy?"
"He also said he was working on something and didn't want to be bothered. I'm guessing he feels happy that he has a full working body now." That made sense to Evan, but still felt weird about Chara being gone. Not only was the situation weird in itself, but it was rare that they would go out and enjoy themselves without her. The technician sighed before sliding himself out of bed and onto his feet.
"Well, I don't mind having just some one on one time with my favorite fox." Said Evan, who was attempting to make a joke despite feeling like absolute shit. This made Mangle giggle a bit, making her turn her body around to see him with a smile.
"Don't let Foxy hear you say that."
-SB-
A few hours before Evan woke up, Chara had made another call. It had been a call that she didn't wish to make, but she was limited on the suitable candidates since her human was out of commission for Freddy knows how long. Even with her hesitance to call this person, she knew that he would, at the least, be reliable. It wasn't long until Michael had shown up in front of the house, looking as if he was woken up from a nap.
Chara told Mangle to watch Evan for the day and that she'd be gone. She had purposefully been vague about the entire ordeal because what she was going to do was a sensitive matter and if, somehow, news got back to Evan of what she planned on doing, it wouldn't turn out to be a pretty or easy to deal with situation. As she fazed into existence next to Michael in the car, you could hear the night guard sputter on his coffee a bit.
"Holy fuck, Chara." Mike said, putting his coffee down after burning the nerves on his lips with the coffee. "You could at least give me a warning before you suddenly materialize yourself in my passenger side seat." Chara rolled her eyes.
"What? You want me to put flashing lights wherever I'm warping to?" She said, laying on the heavy sarcasm.
"Would be cool if you could get a siren as well or even a nice 'beep' noise like the big trucks do when they're back up. 'The crazy puppet is incoming, wee woo wee woo.'" Chara stared at Michael with an absolutely emotionless face and Michael decided to clear his throat and drop the joke. "Geez, tough crowd."
Michael pulled out of the driveway, making their way out of the suburbs and onto the main road. It wasn't until then, and after a few drinks of his coffee, did Michael actually speak up again.
"So, where exactly are we going? I mean, I know the direction, but where and why?" Chara didn't look amused at all.
"From the looks of where you're driving, you'd think you had it all figured out. Though I'm pretty sure I told you where we were going on the phone, smart ass."
"No, pretty sure you said 'If you don't drive me to this very important place, I'm going to make that strangling back in the pizzaplex look like child's play' and seeing as you can literally just warp into my house and mess me up in my sleep, I chose the much more peaceful option." Chara looked up at the roof, as if she was in thought before she nodded.
"...Maybe I did mention that. Offer's still on the table." Michael shook his head.
"No thanks, this is my one day off from work and I refuse to turn it into 'Getting Strangled by a Sock Monkey Pt. 2'. So, where are we going?" Chara sighed heavily, annoyed at the man.
"Daylight City. I need to investigate what exactly happened with Gregory and hopefully figure out whether or not he died down there." Michael took a side glance at her, which she caught. "And, for your information, if I have to come over to your house whatsoever I'm going to light you on fire and roast marshmallows over your burning body."
"Yeesh, who pissed in your cereal this morning? You've been attacking me since the moment I answered the phone and I don't appreciate it since I'm here helping you out." The puppet sighed again, rubbing her mask.
"I'm sorry, Michael, but I'm stressed and very upset today. It's not your fault, but you being yourself hasn't exactly helped either."
"Well, I do tend to have that kind of effect on people. What's the matter, anyways? I'm guessing it has something to do with Evan and Gregory."
"Evan had a severe nightmare about Gregory last night and it affected him poorly. He still blames himself for not being able to save Gregory." Michael said nothing for a second, allowing them to drive in silence for a bit.
"Well," The night guard said finally. "I can understand how he feels. I don't wish that burden on anyone." The tone in Michael's voice had changed, now being somber and thoughtful. "But, do you really think he's going to be alive down there? There's a good possibility that, after all this hard work, you're just going to see another dead, decaying child at the bottom of the hole he fell into."
"Then I'll… I'll do something. I can't let this get worse than it already has. Last time this happened, he had been calling out for his father who practically broke his existence apart and put it back together. I hope that bastard is burning nicely in hell." Chara rested her head on her hand before realizing she slipped up a bit and started looking towards Michael suddenly. Luckily for her, the small hint had gone right over his head as he was too busy thinking about his own father.
"His and mine both." Said Michael with a bit of hatred in his voice, his hand tightening up on the steering wheel and his knuckles became white. The car had been silent minus the sound of the tires picking up traction with the road outside. Michael sighed before loosening up on the steering wheel. "Well, I just hope we don't meet with any psychos this time around." At this mention of psychos, a question popped into Chara's mind.
"By the way, what did you do with that guy? What was his name?"
"Carver? I just tied him up, dropped him off by the police station here, called them up with one of the pay phones and watched him from afar until they took him away. I doubt he's getting out anytime soon seeing as he's known for many crimes, including mutilating his victims' faces." Chara found herself respecting Michael for the first time ever.
"Oh, you really did your homework." He shrugged.
"I saw it on TV." The puppet deflated at the news, losing the respect for him just as quickly as she gained it.
"Figures…"
"Sooo… what do you exactly plan on doing? It's not like you can fly down that hole exactly and you don't know how deep that hole is so warping is out of the question." Michael wasn't exactly sure how the puppet planned on getting down the hole to check in the first place, but Chara seemed to have an idea.
"Well…"
-SB-
Mangle and Evan walked into a thrift shoppe, the man at the counter politely greeting them. For most people in the small city, they had known about Evan and his animatronics he went around with because, years before, they moved around the city together for fun and helped all sorts of people allowing them to make a reputation for themselves even before Evan's business became as popular as it did. Rarely did Mangle or Chara ever deal with discrimination or hate so they were free to walk around and go wherever they pleased like normal people.
Mangle had been dressed up in a simple pair of jeans and a blue frilly shirt with buttons near the top, allowing her to give off a more human-like aura than normal. Mangle owned a few pairs of clothing and, when going around the house, didn't really wear much to begin with but it wasn't like they were considered naked.
They looked around the aisles, Mangle taking extra notice to the older styled ceramic art of animals as salt shakers or candle holders. They were some of Mangle's favorite things to see and she had a small collection of them on her shelf at home. One especially caught her eye and she picked it up, gasping as she did.
It had been a small pink fox and a small red fox together. It was obvious that they were modeled after Mangle and Foxy since the red fox had a small eyepatch and the pink one had the same color patterns as Mangle. She held them up to Evan, who had been looking at the shelf behind her.
"Evan! Look at these! Someone made small foxes that look like Foxy and I!" She held them up to the man, who grabbed and held them gingerly to see them while they sat on his hands.
"Oh, that's perfect." Evan said. "I'm sure Foxy will be happy to see art of himself, too." Evan reached back to grab something and handed it to Mangle. "Here, try these on." Mangle grabbed the thing Evan handed her and looked at them. They were small, white plastic sunglasses with the lenses shaped as hearts, the lenses themselves shaded in a reddish-pink. She smiled as she put them on, trying her hardest to keep them on her face. Eventually she got them to stay on and she looked Evan through the glasses and struck a pose.
"How do I look?" Asked Mangle as she kept making cute poses towards Evan.
"Like a superstar." He joked, rolling his eyes while he chuckled at her, smiling.
"Oh, then I'll make sure to give you my autograph when I make it big." She winked at him, making him laugh. They both were enjoying themselves very much. It had been a long while since they've been out somewhere with just the two of them and had fun since Evan had been working all the time. Evan did miss Chara, but he was happy in the moment. After looking around a bit more, they exited with only having bought the two small ceramic foxes and a sun hat that Evan would see if he could modify it to fit Mangle. As they walked out of the store, Mangle was excited for their next destination.
"Are you sure?!" Mangle said in absolute glee. "I mean, is it really okay to go to the Pizzaplex at this time?" He nodded, smiling at her reaction.
"I don't see why not." Evan said, checking his phone. "I messaged Arin and he told me it wasn't a problem as long as we make sure to not cause trouble. They're closed today and he did mention to me back during our company dinner and dance that we could come when everything was closed and they seem to be getting ready for Halloween." This intrigued Mangle as she had been to the pizzaplex, but never really got a chance to experience it fully.
"Well, maybe Foxy would like to come with us." Evan said, looking in thought. Mangle reached out to the technician, hugging his arm.
"Let's go with just us two… please?" Mangle said, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. Evan thought it was a bit rude not to include the pirate fox though, but it had been a while since it was just the two of them. He thought for a bit longer before nodding.
"Well, I suppose we can take him along with us next time we go." This made Mangle brighten up and she hugged him, head resting on his shoulder.
"Thank you… I missed hanging out with just the two of us." Evan smiled and patted her head.
"Same, Mangle. We should probably get going. We've already got onlookers." Mangle looked around to see people staring at them and taking pictures. She forgot they had just walked outside of the thrift shop and blushed madly before moving towards the car.
"L-let's go, then! The faster we get there, the more things we can do!"
Evan could only chuckle at her expression. He very much cared for the pink fox and seeing her happy brought a lot of joy to his heart. He briefly thought about the night before and it sent a pang of guilt into his heart, but he pushed it aside.
Now is not the time for this. Evan thought to himself, getting into the car and starting up the engine just like he failed to do this morning. He wasn't going to let his mistakes ruin his time with Mangle. Though, maybe a therapist would be a good idea.
Not that the things he has to say would be something he could just tell anyone.
-SB-
It had taken a while before Chara and Michael got to the abandoned warehouse. On top of stopping to the store for some exploration essentials, it had been so far away and unmarked that it took some time before they found the right place. It had looked just as they had left it except, as they made their way down the hallway, Chara felt that this place was a bit emptier than it once was.
Once they reached the hole, they could tell that no one had been here whatsoever as dust was starting to accumulate on the surroundings, including the floor. Chara turned to Michael, who had been holding a bag.
"So, first off we're going to try throwing some glow sticks down there." Chara said while crossing her arms with intent to talk about the plan. "While the possibility that anything is living down there is virtually none, we don't know where this hole leads to and I've seen weirder things live in weird situations. Like you, for example." Michael rolled his eyes.
"Oh, gee." Michael said, annoyed at being the butt of the jokes again. "You really hold me in high regard… not that you have much room to be talking." Chara simply ignored his comment as the night guard pulled out a few packages of emergency glow sticks, which he proceeded to crack a couple and drop them down the hole. They dropped, making small echoed noises as they bounced off things in their descent before becoming small specks of light deep underground.
"Well…" Said Chara as she and Michael stared at the small green specks in the distance. "There probably isn't any water down there so that's something…" She sighed before looking at Michael. "As much as I'd like to think I can tie my strings to something around here and be secure, I don't like my odds. The floor gave out, after all, and most of this stuff has been rusted and worn to a point that any sort of pressure being applied to them would probably make it break instantly… so, here's the dilemma." She fully turned to Michael, getting his attention and putting on an extra serious face.
"I… I still don't trust you. I don't like you and I certainly don't want to rely on you." She looked at him sorta angry, arms crossed on her chest, before she softened up a bit. "But… Evan likes you and you've been helpful thus far. Maybe you did some horrible things in the past, I'm going to attempt to trust you this once." This surprised Michael a bit as the two of them have been near mortal enemies for as long as he could remember, both of them fighting at different locations and, sometimes, in between.
"Well, that means a lot to me, actually." Said Michael, who kinda was unsure what to say. "I'll try to meet your expectations. If I didn't, I'm pretty sure I know who Evan would go to first if you were to disappear." Chara laughed a bit.
"I feel like you should worry about the animatronic in front of you and the other one that would love to feel the same pain your brother felt." This shut the night guard up pretty well as, while he didn't know how she knew about what happened with his little brother, he knew very well that the threat wasn't an empty promise. He probably could fight them off, but what then? He didn't want to start another problem right after settling into a new life. He had his hands full making sure that no copycat killers came about.
"Alright, alright… What do you want me to do?"
"Well…" She pulled out two of her strings from her arms and handed them to Michael. "I'm going to go down personally and see what I can find. You'll need to hold onto these as I lower and raise myself to traverse through this hole." Michael looked at the strings and sighed.
"I never thought I'd spend my day off as a puppet pulley." Chara giggled a bit at this joke.
"You'll be fine. After fighting with you, I know well enough that you have the strength to support me properly." The puppet moved towards the hole and looked back at Michael. "You ready?" He nodded, seeming a bit hesitant as he wrapped the strings around each hand.
"As 'Freddy' as I'll ever be." Chara rolled her eyes as she started moving into the hole.
"Keep your night job, or don't. Maybe people will pay you to stop telling jokes at this rate." The puppet started lowering herself down, pushing up against the wall next to the hole until she couldn't any longer, relying on hanging by her strings and slowly lowering herself down. It took a while before she actually hit the ground but she made it down before yelling up to Michael.
"I made it to the bottom! Don't let go of the strings!" Yelled Chara, her voice barely reaching Michael at the top. She looked around at the bottom, seeing that the bottom had been some sort of old tunnel, maybe for a sewer system but she wasn't quite sure. On the concrete floor where one of the glow sticks landed, there had been a significant amount of blood, which was a very concerning and telling sign to start off with but the biggest issue of this was there were no bodies. The blood had trailed in a direction which was practically impossible to see even with Chara's exceptional night vision and it wouldn't be possible to move in that direction as her strings were practically on the end of the line as well.
Weirdly enough, she thought it was possible that both Gregory and the woman who attacked Evan were still alive. There was a chance that they collapsed farther on into the tunnel where the blood trail led to, but even if somehow they did survive the fall and moved on, the sheer blood loss alone would kill just about anyone. With more questions than answers, Chara pulled herself out of the hole and back up where Michael had been holding her strings. From the look on his face, it didn't seem like he struggled too much but he definitely seemed bored.
"Well?" Said the night guard, looking at Chara expectantly. "What did you find?"
"The better question would be what I didn't find." Said Chara, who retracted her strings back into her body. "There's nothing down there but a dried up pool of blood and a blood trail. There's enough blood down there to kill someone easily from losing so much, yet there are no bodies, no remains, nothing. It was a bit too dark to see too far into the tunnel and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to move to investigate." This put Michael in thought for a moment.
"You don't think something would've dragged their corpses off, do you?" The puppet shook her head.
"While I'm not entirely sure, the place had seemed pretty untouched and clean minus the blood and dust. If there were animals in the vicinity, there would be signs left behind." The night guard nodded.
"Well, there isn't much we can do from here on out unless you wanna climb all the way down there and go on a blind goose chase."
"The issue is that this doesn't solve all the problems like I thought it would have. Maybe if I had thought of this plan before when we were still here, I could've been more helpful to Evan."
"It's okay. This gives a bit of hope at least. Maybe he somehow survived and made his way out." They started walking out, Michael following the puppet with his bag.
"I'd hope so, but I don't think telling Evan right now would do much for him since it's just an uncertainty." The night guard nodded, both of them exiting the room from where they were at. While Chara was unsure what exactly transpired down there, she had a bit of hope that Gregory survived somehow. She didn't think it was quite possible, but she felt a bit of hope spring into her heart.
It wasn't the best answer to a question like this, but a bit of hope was sometimes better than none at all.
-SB-
It wasn't long before Mangle and Evan arrived at the Pizzaplex, entering in with the help of Arin and Freddy who were waiting at the door for them.
"Thanks for allowing us to be here on one of the off days." Said Evan, who shook hands with Arin. The tired man nodded.
"Of course." Replied Arin, leading them into the Pizzaplex. "I'll be here all day anyways since we're decorating the place from top to bottom in the next two days. Just waiting for the shipments to arrive and we can begin the makeover. Did your other animatronics not want to come along?" Evan shook his head.
"They have their own things that they do and today is just mine and Mangles day to hang out. I haven't had any free time between the business and fixing up another animatronic of ours. Finally, since he's finished, I have a bit more free time on my hands."
"You have more animatronics?" Arin asked with a surprised tone.
"Technically 3 more other than Chara and Mangle, except the smallest one has gone missing and the 3rd one isn't currently working right now… but the one I just repaired is an older version. One of the originals. You've heard of Foxy the Pirate, right?" Arin nodded.
"The one you repaired is Foxy? I remember him from a cartoon I grew up with. Unfortunately, the pizzeria that held the original Foxy wasn't around during my childhood."
"Mmh, it's probably better that way…" Said Evan, thinking about the many incidents that Chara told him about. "But it's fine. We fixed him up and upgraded him so he looks just as seamless as the ones here." Arin chuckled when he heard about that.
"Well, they're supposed to be life-like models, but it took us a lot of time and resources to get it going yet you're one man and you've already done it three times." The tired man shook his head. "You're quite incredible. Any intention of going into the entertainment business with them?"
"That'd be up to them. I may be the human out of us, but they're family to me. If they want to entertain kids again, I'm sure they'll bring it up to me." They group made it to Rockstar Row before Arin decided to separate.
"Well, this is where we'll part ways. I've got some things to finish up and I need to track down Cooper again. Just have Freddy message me if you need anything." And with that, the young tired man headed off, leaving the three of them alone. Freddy faced the pair before talking.
"I apologize, but you may find it hard to hang out with anyone today." Said Freddy, looking a bit sad and embarrassed.
"Is there something wrong?" Asked Mangle.
"Chica went home with Trudge earlier today and Roxanne doesn't tend to interact with others as much unless Michael is here." Hearing about Chica surprised both Mangle and Evan.
"You guys can just… leave the building?" Asked Evan, who had never heard of anything like this in the history of Fazbear Entertainment other than the time Roxanne left with Michael, but he had assumed it wasn't an 'official' leave.
"Well, Cooper had no issues with it so neither did Arin." Freddy explained to them. "Trudge said they'd go home and make plenty of food together. One said recipe, that I just cannot wrap my head around, is Spaghetti Tacos. I don't see the appeal of putting noodles into a hard shell."
"Well, that's okay. Some people just have a unique taste." Said Mangle, who enjoyed Evan's spaghetti tacos.
"What about you and Monty?" Said Evan. "Do you not want to enjoy yourselves with us?" Freddy nodded a bit.
"We would love to, but unfortunately, I am in need to help Monty with his Halloween costume idea and it will take every bit of free time from today on to get it finished in time."
"That's fine, I don't mind that." Says Mangle, who smiled suddenly. "Please tell Monty and Chica hi when you see them both. We may go see Roxanne ourselves later." Freddy nodded in acknowledgement.
"Thank you both for understanding. I will be in my greenroom if you two need anything. Otherwise, please enjoy your time at our Pizzaplex." Freddy said his goodbyes before leaving the two of them alone. Mangle still had a smile on her face and grabbed Evan's hand, pulling him towards the main rooms.
"C'mon!" She said, turning to smile at him. "We've got the whole place to ourselves! Let's have some fun!" And so, they did. First they had gone to Bonnie Bowling where they both, who had never gone bowling, made their showmanship with each other extremely embarrassing as they teasingly mocked each other for being horrible at bowling. After 10 rounds each of incredibly funny gutter balls and one blind roll from a pink fox that set their scores much farther apart, it was Evan who won barely at the end despite being the worst out of two. Mangle grumbled as they exited, Evan following the grumpy pink fox from behind, and headed towards the next game area.
"It was a risky strategy and it nearly worked out!" Evan reassured Mangle, who was sulking in her loss.
"Evan, I missed the entire lane!" She exclaimed, sounding a bit upset about the ordeal. "How is that supposed to be close?!" Evan was amused at his friend's negative feelings about the game and thought for a moment before answering.
"Well, if we were trying to score on the lane next to us, you would've had a strike." This made Mangle groan louding, cocking her head back and looking at the roof with her hands over her face. The man moved up and patted her on the back. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll do much better next time. It was both of our first times and we were bound to not know what to do." Evan's smile grew more as he teased her with an innuendo, something he had to explain to the fox not all too long ago after she told someone that they all 'slept' together. Mangle blushed madly and groaned even louder, trying to hide her face.
"Evaaaaaaaaaaan!" The pink fox whined, gaining a hearty laugh from the technician.
"Okay, okay. I think you did fine and it was only luck I beat you. After all, I've only once ever beaten you in any game we've both played."
"And you cheated to get that win." She turned to pout at him, her face still a bit redder than normal. Evan put a hand to his chest and gasped, feigning offended feelings.
"Ah! I believe a certain puppet only helped me out of the kindness of her heart! I would never tell her to do such a thing! These accusations hurt my poor heart!" Mangle rolled her eyes a bit.
"Awwh, and does the drama queen need a kiss on his boo-boos to make it feel better?" Evan nodded, sadness playfully in his eyes.
"Oh yes. I would like it if you could kiss right here, Ms. Mangle, and make it all better." Evan said as he pointed at his butt, setting off the pink fox. She turned around to face him, stalking up to the man as he backed off after figuring a chase was going to be involved.
"Oh-ho, soooo funny, Evan. I'll make sure to personally put a wound there myself before helping you out!" She jumped at him before a familiar voice had called out to them.
"Ew, do you flirt with every girl in your home?" Said a rude and disgusted voice from nearby. Roxanne had been leaning up against the wall near the entrance of Bonnie Bowl, arms and legs crossed. Mangle had been pressed up against Evan now, stopping herself by hugging into the man as he all but caught her. They both looked at Roxanne weirdly, confused on what she was talking about exactly, before realizing their conversation and position.
"Uh, hey Roxanne..." Said Evan awkwardly as he attempted to pull away from Mangle, only to get pulled back in by her arms wrapping around the man's upper body.
"And so?" Said Mangle bluntly, looking at the wolf with daggers coming from her eyes. "He's like an older brother to me and we've been best friends for a very long time. We can do whatever we want." Evan thought it was weird that she was so adamant on defending against Roxanne's accusations, but Mangle did have a point.
"Roxanne, weren't you all over Michael the night we had the joint company dinner?" Evan asked, trying to turn the conversation. Roxanne squinted at the technician, feeling like she was challenged.
"What did you say?" Said Roxanne, moving up a bit towards Evan. "What do you mean I was 'all over' Mike?"
"I mean what I said. I heard from Chica that you were found in your room on top of Michael in a very suggestive position, so I don't think you have any right to be judging us." Roxanne looked like she was about to pounce on Evan, her eyes shooting daggers at him before something unexpected happened. The wolf's body language changed and she looked away, her face full of a blush.
"No it wasn't anything like that." She said in a not very convincing way. This amused both Mangle and Evan, who were still against each other. "W-what would you know? Aren't you usually loving all over that puppet girl?" Roxanne smiled, thinking she had them. She'd blackmail the two of them and bend them to her will like she does everyone else in this establishment. Atleast, until Mangle laughed a bit.
"My sister?" Said Mangle, who was laughing while looking at the wolf in pity. "Yeah, of course she does. We share him after all." Evan looked down at the pink fox, seeing her sadistic face and knew exactly what she was trying to pull. Mangle didn't like people picking on Evan, even though Evan wouldn't give anyone a chance to do so, and picked on them instead. If the man didn't know any better, he'd say she was having more fun with this than normal and that's when Evan hatched his plan. He listened a bit longer to the two bicker before he launched his idea into play.
"You're just jealous that you can't even get one partner and my human here is good enough for two." Mangle smiled her smug smile, looking down upon the poor Roxanne who had been getting more annoyed the longer they bickered.
"Michael is not my partner!" Roxanne said, almost screaming at the foxy and Evan decided now was a good time to intervene.
"Hey, let's settle down for a sec." Said Evan, stopping both of them. "We were actually about to come see you, Roxy. We wanted to invite you to compete against us in Fazer Blast. Mangle always kicks my butt in every game, but we figured we could ask a real professional to show us how it's done." Roxanne looked at them like they were crazy.
"Why would I ever play with the two of you?" Said Roxanne, giving Evan all the bait he needed to bring this plan together.
"Well, I suppose you don't have to if you're… too scared to get beaten by a couple of first timers." Immediately as the man said this, Roxanne's entire posture changed as she went from annoyed to weirdly silent and composed. She started moving in a direction before looking back at them.
"Well?" Said Roxanne, looking a bit impatient. "I'm a busy girl, so let's get this over with so you can admit just how much better I am than you two." Both Evan and Mangle smiled, seeing that they had a new play partner. They both have competed against each other so often that it sometimes got a bit stale when it was just the two of them, but with an extra element at play, it would make things exciting.
They both looked forward to this challenge and they were determined not to lose to any lousy wolf.
-SB-
The sun had started to go down, casting an orange hue across the sky as Chara and Michael made their way towards Hurricane, the city they all lived in. It had been quiet between the two of them and the objective for the day was finished, but Chara hadn't been satisfied.
She had hoped this journey would solve some questions and maybe, hopefully, help Evan move on but the more she pushed for answers, the more she thought that Evan had been correct. Perhaps Gregory was out there somewhere and perhaps he was hurt, but they were in no way prepared for a potentially long adventure into the unknown. It had been nearly an entire month since the incident had happened, so anything could have occured between then and now. One thing Chara noticed was the lack of the extra entity in the building.
As strange as it was to think about, she felt intelligent beings up to a certain range with her powers while she kept connected to Evan. The hole and the room that Gregory fell into had been an exception with something blocking her powers, signaling something had been wrong to begin with. She was finding herself metaphorically digging her own hole as she asked questions in her head.
Where were the bodies? Why was there only one pool of blood? Why was the room blocking her energy? Why couldn't she stop everything before it ended badly? So many thoughts bounced around in her mind, some even harmful to her mentality that she was quite confident in. She shook her head, getting rid of the thoughts. She looked at Michael, who was busy keeping his eyes on the road.
Something that Chara didn't think would happen was Michael actually agreeing to help with her exploration. Perhaps she did give him a small reason to not deny her, but it's not like they haven't fought tooth and nail before. As far as Chara knew, the only way to permanently keep Michael down was fire and she wasn't about to burn him to prove a point, especially when Evan had been doing so well to forgive him.
Perhaps I've been a little hard on Michael. Thought Chara. He had made mistakes in the past, but it really does seem like he's trying to live past it all after putting his father to rest. Though, she couldn't ever forgive him for trying to destroy her friends and family.
Most of these children who were barely old enough to talk, some not even that far along, had been snatched up and robbed of any sort of future they could have as a human to be given life in a prison of metal and wires, belonging into a servitude for all eternity. Atleast, that's what she thought before she realized that it was another chance for life. She'd never condone the killing and force possessing of animatronic bodies, but if it was all they had left to cling to, why would anyone take away their only chance of salvation?
This was why she had hated Michael so fervently. In Fazbear Frights alone, Freddy and Chica weren't as lucky as Foxy and Bonnie, both of them having their souls smothered before they could even begin to recreate their lives. The puppet remembered how Chica always wanted to cook more food for others, making new recipes for her customers to enjoy while Freddy wasn't sure, he loved learning new things. To see those she loved and cared for die along with their dreams, her hatred burned brightly.
As Chara felt her temper heat up thinking about the past, a small alarm came from Michael's arm which startled both occupants of the car. With a small button press, a familiar face could be seen on the watch.
"Where are you?" Asked Roxanne immediately, sounding a bit upset about something.
"Well, hello to you, too, Faye." Said Michael, who decided to tease the wolf. She growled a bit, before continuing her sentence.
"Michael."
"Rox~."
"Ugh! Why do you ever just listen to me?"
"Funny." Said Michael simply, causing Chara to giggled at this. They reminded her of Evan and her little sister, Mangle.
"Fuck you." Said Roxanne, annoyed at the night guard.
"Over my dead body."
"That could be arranged."
"Much easier than you'd think…" Michael whispered, but was still heard by Roxanne.
"Are you admitting your weakness already, freak?"
"I was admitting that I could die at any time and it would be such a simple thing to do."
"What the fuck? What's wrong with you?" As Michael goes to respond, Roxy fires back again. "Actually, I don't want to know. I'm sure you're thinking dirty thoughts like those people who write doujin." There was a pause for a moment before Michael responded.
"...What have you been searching up on my laptop?"
"Nothing. Anyways, Evan and his pink thot are over here and we're about to play a game of Fazer Blast. Come join us." Another word caught Michael's ears, which made him shake his head in disbelief.
"When I get there, I think we oughta talk about your new vocabulary when I get there."
"Just get over here and bring that purple fizzy soda from last time."
"...Grape Fanta?"
"Are there any others, corpse?"
"Yes, a lot."
"Oh. Grab them, too. I'll see you soon." And with that, she suddenly drops the call, sending Michael and Chara back plummeting into a silence. It wasn't until Chara spoke up did the silence break.
"Could you take me to the Pizzaplex instead of home?" Chara asked the night guard, who nodded.
"That was what I figured you'd ask. I'm surprised that they're over there on a day where everything is shut down. Not even the day shift crew should be there until 6."
"Arin offered for us to come and play whenever the Pizzaplex was shut down while we were at the joint company dinner."
"That'd explain it. Maybe Cooper took an interest in Evan or something. Guy's extremely generous but… I have my doubts about him." Chara felt the same way, nodding as she heard the night guards opinion.
"The way he came off when we both first met him was… less than great. Perhaps it's because he was piss drunk or he's the owner of Fazbear Entertainment currently so I have some personal bias, but still…"
"Well, he's been nothing but a family loving, generous workaholic of a guy. While I did say I have my doubts, he's a good guy." While Chara had her doubts, she knew that Michael wasn't one to let sketchy things pass by. With that, she had an idea. The puppet had previously been angry at the night guard for killing all the animatronics he could in the past and maybe it was because he didn't know what else to do for them other than giving eternal, peaceful rest but… what if he had another option?
"Michael, be honest with me." Chara asked him out of nowhere, grabbing his attention.
"Mmkay." Michael said shortly.
"If more dangerous animatronics show up in the future and you had another option other than just burning them to death, would you try it first?" Michael stayed silent after hearing this question before responding.
"...mmm… I could. I hope it never happens, but did you have something in mind?"
"Well, why not just let me and Evan handle it? We've only dealt with one angry animatronic in the past, but it wouldn't hurt to try again."
"Who did you try it with?"
"There was a minireena without much idea of who she was but had been quite aggressive. Eventually, she calmed down after some time. I don't think it will work like this with everyone, but I don't want to give up on them." Michael nodded, understanding her point.
"I don't mind giving it a try but… not everyone can be saved." The puppet understood that he meant himself and realized it didn't feel right agreeing with him. Despite her hatred for him, he wasn't completely trash.
"If you mean yourself, I think you've been doing a lot better than you had been. You even look a lot less purple now!" Chara had tried to reassure Michael, who just chuckled and said nothing for a moment before answering.
"Thanks but… I could do without the pity." Michael said, a bit quietly. "I wish I could repent for what I did to not just all of those poor kids, but my little brother. You can't really fix someone being dead with just a 'sorry'." The puppet opened her mouth, wanting to mention Evan and their relationship, but closed her mouth afterwards. It wasn't her place to intervene with this. Maybe Michael will learn to forgive himself one day and make up with his brother. Until then, a question had plagued the puppet's mind since earlier.
"Michael?"
"Mmyep?"
"What's a thot?"
The man sighed heavily, reminding himself to have a serious talk with Roxanne about later on.
-SB-
With a Fazer Blaster in hand, Evan had stalked the room full of 'aliens' and two other animatronics as quietly and safely as possible. While this wasn't exactly something that was allowed during normal times in the pizzaplex, it had just been the three of them against each other so they decided to play by code of honor. The rules were simple. Get hit 3 times and you were considered dead, which included getting hit by the 'aliens', which were small white robots with Fazer Blasters of their own and it was a free for all.
Evan had been crouched at the back of the red section of Fazer Blast, ducking and moving quietly around the small white 'aliens' who patrolled enough for Evan to be on the move almost permanently. Though, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. If he was always on the move, there was a good possibility that the others were, too. It wasn't long until he saw a peek of some pink fur sticking up from the edge of the railing above him in the pink zone. Evan chuckled to himself when he thought about the irony. Naturally the pink fox would be found in the pink zone. As he lined up his shot, he felt something 'hit' him.
From the side, Roxanne had shot Evan dead on his side before making an escape behind cover. Evan cursed before making another small sound, pointing up at the pink fox who peeked her head out of cover, before blasting at Mangle, who yipped in surprise. With a quick smile and wave, he dove back under cover before Mangle could get a chance to retaliate. He could hear her curse upstairs before moving loudly to the far side of the room, away from Evan and closer towards Roxanne. As he made his way over, he heard blasters go off and both Mangle and Roxanne curse, leaving Mangle at her last heart and Roxanne at two. From here, the game only got more heated.
After a few minutes, Evan realized he was on the other side of the wall from Mangle, who he started whispering to.
"Hey!" Evan whispered, making the subtle noise on the other side of the wall stop. "Mangle, I know that's you. Have you seen the wolf yet?" It took a moment before she answered in a hushed tone.
"I just heard her not too long ago. Why don't we call it a temporary truce and move away from each oth-" She was cut off as, from above both of them, Roxanne peeked out and shot Mangle dead center in the chest, killing off the rest of her lives, but not before Evan could get a hit on her, leaving Evan with two lives left and Roxanne with a single one. He rounded the corner and ducked behind the slim wall as he saw Mangle laying on the ground, mouth opened a bit and tongue flapped out of her mouth. It had been one of the most ridiculous sights that Evan had ever seen and he just had to know what she was doing.
"Uh… Whatcha doing?" Evan said as he looked out for Roxy. Mangle quit her pose for a moment to answer him.
"Playing dead. Make sure to avenge me." And with that, he facial expression went back to be as goofy as it was before, though it was funnier this way. Evan thought he heard movement nearby and hid, hatching the perfect plan. He knew it was a matter of time before he won and he wanted to do it in style and so, he made a risky idea to show off before taking off towards the higher pink platform.
After getting there, he realized he could see a lot more from up here than he could on the ground floor. No wonder Roxanne had come up here before. As he admired the view, he saw Roxanne sneaking by the 'dead' Mangle, unaware of his positional advantage. So he did something he thought would finish off the wolf in style: he jumped.
As Evan soared into the sky and shot, something miraculous happened. Roxanne saw Evan in time and preemptively dodged to the side, dodging Evan's laser and knocking himself on the ground. The Fazer Blaster flew from his hand, getting knocked a ways away, leaving the man defenseless. Roxanne shot a shot, hitting Evan in the leg and laughing like a villain as she walked up to Evan's body.
"You should've shot when you had the chance and now, I win. I hope you're ready to grovel in front of me, idiot." She pointed her blaster at Evan, aimed directly in the middle of the chest as he looked up at her, fear in his eyes. "Any last words?" It was then that Evan saw it and he smiled.
"Roxanne," Started the technician as he looked up at the wolf with a smug look. "Do you believe in… aliens?" Roxy's face turned into one of confusion before understanding, moving too late as the alien blasted Roxanne in the back with a short robotic alien noise. With the stroke of luck, Evan had been the winner of their game. Roxanne's face had been priceless as her jaw dropped, giving her the most shocked look a person, or animatronic, could possibly have.
"Well…" Evan said as he picked himself up and dusted his clothes off. "I believe that makes me the winner, eh?" Mangle came running in, throwing herself onto Evan while cheering loudly.
"You did it!" Mangle exclaimed loudly. "I knew you could do it." Roxanne was just dumbstruck as she actually lost to someone who was a first timer in the game. Mangle looked at her with a smug look. "I told you we'd beat you." This seemed to wake Roxanne up as she threw her nose in the air and turned her back to them.
"Hmpf! You got lucky is all." Evan chuckled seeing the wolf pout a bit, but he realized that Roxanne definitely had some skill in this game.
"Roxanne." Said Evan, making her look at them a bit. "You did great. Thanks for playing with us. I had a blast." Mangle also mellowed up as she meekly looked at the wolf.
"Yeah… thanks for playing. You really outplayed me this game and I really did enjoy having you with us." This satisfied Roxanne plenty as she cleared her throat and turned back around, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, someone had to show you how it was done, but don't think because you won this time that I won't win next time!" This made Evan chuckle and nod.
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind a rematch to kick your butt again soon. Though, it's getting kinda late so maybe we should get going."
"Wait for a bit." Said Roxanne, stopping the man's train of thought. "Mikey will be here soon, so he can see you two out." Both Evan and Mangle agreed with this logic and began to wait for Michael to get to the pizzeria. Though, it wasn't long until someone got bored.
"Another round?" Suggested Mangle, ready for a rematch that she was ready to win. Evan could tell that Roxy was pumped for it, too, and the main target of this game was him.
-SB-
It had been another 40 minutes before, finally, Michael and Chara made it to the pizzaplex and met up with the other group. Chara flew quickly to Evan, taking him in her embrace, and they held each other in loving arms, obviously missing each other more than they thought they would. Michael made a face seeing the two cuddle publicly, joining Roxanne who wore a similar face. Mike could tell that something had been different than usual with the wolf as she seemed to be a lot happier than she normally was before he came to see her.
"You look like shit." Said Roxanne, commenting on the amount of dust that was still covering the night guard. He looked at himself briefly, setting down the bag he had in his hand to dust himself off and causing Roxanne to sneeze. She simply looked at him, annoyed.
"Uh… surprise?" Michael said as he gave her the bag of fizzy grape drinks she wanted and she looked through it before looking a bit pleased to see there were new movies in the bag as well.
"Mmh, I suppose you aren't all that bad, corpse." Said Roxanne, making Michael roll his eyes.
"Oh, thaaanks. I do think I'm a bit tired today, so why don't we watch one of the movies I got?" Roxanne had wagged her tail a bit, but looked like she was thinking.
"Don't you have a job to do?"
"Technically my job today is helping you all out with your Halloween decorations, so we could always watch it after the fact." This interested Roxanne greatly as she started listing off things Evan needed to get and he pretended to listen so that she'd have to go with him. As they continued to chat, Evan pulled away from Chara and smiled at her a bit.
"Out on a date with my brother, were ya?" Joked Evan quietly, out of range of Michael or Roxanne's hearing. Chara snickered a bit, both of them knowing how the other part of this joke was going to go.
"Out on a date with my sister, were ya?" Chara mimicked, making both Evan and Mangle laugh. While Evan enjoyed his time alone with each of them, he felt much more complete when the three of them were together. Evan wanted to pry about where she went with Michael, but he could always do it later. Right now, he was quite hungry and Mangle seemed to be up for the idea of food. Evan turned back towards Michael, approaching him as both him and Roxanne continued to talk.
"Hey, Michael." Said Evan, who held out his hand. "Thanks for taking my puppet with you. I hope she wasn't too much trouble." This earned him a bit of a slap on the shoulder from Chara. Michael smiled tiredly.
"Oh, you know… just as much trouble as the last time we randomly bumped into each other. Nothing new." This raised some flags as Evan peered back behind him, seeing the puppet gone from sight. He sighed as he knew she'd probably be waiting for him in the car.
"Well, I apologize for her. Anyways, we gotta get going. I'm making Fajitas tonight and I don't think Mangle will let me live it down if I don't feed her before her show comes on tonight." Michael nodded understanding and they both parted ways after a bit more exchanging of words and farewells. Roxanne watched them go, realizing that she did have fun today as Michael stared at her, getting her attention.
"...What, freak? Take a picture, it'll last longer." Michael chuckled and shook his head.
"No, I just never saw you so happy without me. Maybe you got a new best friend." This made Roxy grab Michael, who smiled smugly at her.
"I think you forgot that you're stuck with me today and I haven't eaten either." Roxy smiled, showing her sharp rows of teeth. "You don't look too appealing of a snack, but I suppose you'll do."
"Don't bite me, or I won't come here after dinner tomorrow." Michael realized he slipped as soon as he said it, knowing he was in for it now.
"Dinner? Dinner with who?" Roxanne asked, demanding an answer from the night guard. It was going to be a long night, but he didn't mind. Perhaps Roxanne has grown on Michael after all.
-SB-
About an hour before Evan and the girls started to head home, Foxy finally finished what he needed to do. He had packed everything he thought he would need and his ride would probably get here soon, so he hurried up and put on his hoodie and sweatpants before slinging the heavy backpack over his shoulder.
Over the past month, he had been gaining knowledge and listening to Evan's detailed story. Lillie had disappeared at the same time her leg was fixed and the same day that boy had come into the house, Lillie had been exploring rooms with her newfound leg. As far as he understood, there should be no way that Lillie would be around the area as Evan would've felt her as they searched, her feet only being able to carry her so far. She also wouldn't leave and stay gone without saying anything to her old captain, so there was only one thing left that came to mind: she had somehow got involved with the young boy and got swept away when he did. This infuriated the pirate captain to not end until he heard exactly what happened.
The boy apparently fell down a hole that was impossible for the normal person to survive and, after the call he had with Chara earlier, there had been no bodies found. Along with the traces of other animatronics being nearby, Foxy had realized something was there from an old place and maybe it took Lillie. He would teach whoever stole his first mate a thing or two, even if it cost him his other hand.
At this moment, as Foxy was deep in thought and ready to go, he heard the doorbell ring. It be me ship. Foxy thought to himself as he left a note on the kitchen table. He had everything he needed and, while it had been a very long time since he left this house, he was prepared and wasn't about to back down. As he opened the door, Katherine had been standing there, looking a bit nervous.
"Foxy…?" Katherine said, confused on his get-up. The pirate fox shushed her, looking around.
"Aye, lass, but don' be screamin' me name all o'er the city." Foxy said, locking the doors and shutting them behind him. "I be ready, so let's ship off." The young girl nodded, still quite confused, as both of them climbed into the car and got out of the driveway. She looked pensive at Foxy from time to time, still feeling nervous not just about him being an animatronic, but the entire idea.
"Sooo… where exactly are we going, Captain?" Foxy pulled a scrap of paper from his bag, something that was written in Evan's handwriting.
"Daylight City, lass." Foxy said, getting a panicked look from Katherine. "We be shippin' off towards Daylight City." The young girl knew there was something wrong when Foxy had called her personal number on her way home from work and even more so when he asked for a favor, but after hearing that Foxy knew her grandfather and could tell her more about him, she knew she couldn't say no. Despite the signals in her head telling her to quit while she still could, she mapped a mark out for the location written on the paper in her GPS before starting to head there.
"Why are we going there, if you don't mind me asking?" Asked Katherine, who was still not 100% certain about this idea. Foxy smiled, brimming with determination.
"We're goin' on an adventure to save me first mate. I'm… I'm comin', Lillie." With that, the two traveled towards Daylight City and passed Michael and Chara as they made their way back towards the Pizzaplex, neither group knowing of the other.
Authors Notes
Oh boy, I am so excited to get to chapter 10 and I cannot explain how weird it was trying to write this chapter. I had to rewrite entire parts of this chapter because I just wasn't happy with how it turned out, but this version has made me feel good. Anyways, I hope yall enjoyed and I'll see yall in the next one!
