Epilogue

Kyle entered his car. Tonight had been a night. Douglas hadn't been exaggerating when talking about Nicholas; the man was persistent for sure. Now, to hope he would finally back off. Would a court case really be enough to stop him? Douglas didn't think so.

He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper—something he'd taken from his office just before leaving the restaurant. He hadn't had the chance to read it yet.

He folded it open. The letter had come from Bill himself; the man seemed to have a distaste for e-mail. Either that, or he didn't want to risk Mortar hacking into their communication. It seemed that the old location was ready for use. Soon, the prototronics could be moved there, and after a few finishing touches, Freddy's would have two active locations.

A smile tugged at Kyle's lips. Good. Of course, they'd need to ensure the protos were up for the job, not to mention the repairs they still had to undergo. And they had to find a new manager for that location. But Bill seemed to have faith—and when he had faith, how could Kyle disagree?

Pocketing the letter, he started his car and drove away.

Paul looked at his whiteboards. Erased. Empty. Notes and pictures were gone. All of his hard work on this case was a thing of the past now. And unlike with most cases, he…may not make a very detailed report on this one.

It was for the best.

He sighed quietly. It was late.

After closing the few curtains he'd left open, he headed to his bedroom. He placed his holster in his nightstand, then took off his shirt.

"Hm. Athletic."

He started and twisted to find Golden sitting in the lone seat across the room, looking at him with a smirk.

He hesitated. "What are you doing here?"

"Aw, you're still scared?" she cooed. "You should be."

He held her gaze. She still didn't seem very happy to be in his presence, but at least the tension between them had lessened a bit.

"I heard you and Nicholas talking outside the restaurant," she finally said.

"And?"

"And…" she said, rising. "You seemed pretty determined to protect us, all of a sudden."

With a shrug, he placed his shirt over the footboard of his bed. "You don't think humans can be reasonable?"

"Oh, I do. I just didn't think you would be. But then…paying for damages…"

"Damages that I caused."

"…threatening Nicholas…"

"His mind was gone."

She looked at him skeptically. "Is that all there is to it?"

He said nothing.

"Okay," she said, sitting down on his bed. "Start talking."

He hesitated, then sat down too. "I was telling the truth; I didn't want to be responsible for those warehouse animatronics' deaths. I only hoped repairing them would help."

"Hm." A hint of surprise laced her voice.

"But yes, there's another reason."

"Of course there is. Let's hear it."

He glanced at her. "You…" he said slowly. "Your…abilities… I've tried to find ways to explain them. Hallucinogens, hypnosis, those kinds of things…but that doesn't tell me how you teleported from place to place. And the things I saw were very…specific, as if you could control them."

"And?"

"And, I think you could help me. Some of my previous cases went cold because of things I can't explain."

She paused. "You mean the Snyder case."

The mere mention of that case made him clench his teeth, but he forced down his instinctive irritation. "Yes. But if I had someone on my side who knew more about the impossible…"

"It's a mistake to attribute every failed case to the supernatural," she softly said.

"I'm well aware. But even then, who better to help me than someone with abilities like yours? You could invade minds to help with questioning, you could investigate places that are off-limits for me. You can stop me when I'm about to shoot innocent sentient animatronics."

"Dangerous," she said. "When you can do things like that, it's easy to start abusing them if you're not careful."

"I won't hold it against you if you refuse, of course. But, since you no longer have anything to do at the restaurant other than keep your nightguard company…"

"I didn't say I'd refuse." She visibly hesitated.

"I don't expect you to answer me right here and now," Paul said. "You don't have to like me, but think on it; we can do a lot of good together. I just can't guarantee I'll be home when you make up your mind." He received jobs from all over the country, after all.

She silently stared into space. "I'll…sleep on it."

Douglas heard a quiet chuckle. He looked up to see Mangle coming down the corridor, wearing an amused grin.

He raised an eyebrow. "Something funny?"

"Nothing," she said as she rounded the desk and sat down on it. "Just…you sitting here…your hair's a mess…"

He sighed, awkwardly trying to fix his hair. "I had to get a breather. A man can only take so many hugs."

"Hm, we missed you."

"I haven't been gone that long," he said flatly.

She glanced away. "W-we didn't like hearing that you quit. It was kind of a shock, you know?"

He sighed quietly. Part of him was happy to hear that he'd been missed, but Griffiths told him he was prepared to help him stay in touch with the restaurant, and the girls were aware of that. Their responses to him losing his position and getting it back seemed a little disproportional. Had they really grown so…reliant on his presence?

"I'm glad to be back," he softly said.

She glanced at him and managed another smile. "So, um…you're going to work here and go back to college? I thought you said that sounded tiring."

He nodded. "It does."

Her smile dropped. "Is it because…of him?"

"My Dad? No. If I'd wanted to get college off the table, I would've done that just now, when he…visited."

"So you do want to go back?"

"Yes," he said sincerely. "I, ah… I want to start studying again."

She remained silent for a moment. "Does that mean…you're going to get a different job someday, too?"

He hesitated, then averted his gaze from hers. "Probably."

"… Will you stay in touch?"

"Of course I'll stay in touch."

She nodded. "It's erm…probably too early to think about things like that anyway."

He gave a small smile. "I'm not going anywhere, Mangle."

She nodded again, but still looked a little down.

Douglas held back a sigh. He eyed her hand on the table next to her.

He suddenly hesitated. Should he…take it? Would she take that the wrong way? Would she—

She took his hand in hers.

He froze. A glance up told him she was looking away.

Despite the awkwardness, he managed another smile.

They sat there in silence, slowly growing more comfortable. After a while, Douglas felt her grip tightening, and he responded in kind.

No, he wasn't going anywhere. He liked it here too much. Wherever he went, he'd always come back to this place. Maybe not always as a guard, but he'd be back.

He was sure of it.

This. Is it. The final chapter in my FNIA series.

I'm sorry it took so long; I'm sure there are plenty of people who pretty much gave up on this, and I can't blame them. I had some other projects to work on, and I have to say that my motivation on some of them was dwindling.

I tried to wrap things up for the FNIA series in this book. I know there are still some threads I could work on in a hypothetical sequel, but I'm afraid that's not going to happen. No sequel exploring the prototronics' job, no further exploration of Douglas' relationship with Mangle, no buddy cop series with Mortar and Golden.

I'm sorry to those who hoped there was going to be a fifth book, but I made the decision to end things at book 4 long ago.

This has been a wild ride. Along with Gone Rogue 1-3, the FNIA series represents a large part of my journey as a writer so far. I made mistakes in previous books that I had a hard time working with later down the line, but I have learned a lot over the past years, and I will continue to learn, still.

I've also been playing with the idea of a spinoff of sorts for the FNIA series—an alternate reality if you will, with the same characters but different events—but I can't guarantee if this will ever become a thing. If it does, it won't happen overnight.

Regardless, this is it for now. I hope you enjoyed this final instalment of the story!

Now, it's time to let it rest.