NOTES
ATTENTION
THIS FIC IS GOING TO BE ENTIRELY REMASTERED IN THE NOT-SO-DISTANT FUTURE! AS OF WRITING THIS I'VE RECENTLY POSTED CHAPTER 40, AND WHEN WE REACH CHAPTER 50, THIS FIC WILL BE PARTIALLY REDONE!
THE REASON BEHIND THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE LACKLUSTER QUALITY OF THE EARLY CHAPTERS, AND THE DRASTICALLY IMPROVED LATER CHAPTERS! SEVERAL OF THESE EARLY ONES WILL BE ENTIRELY REWRITTEN, INCLUDING THE ONE YOU'RE ABOUT TO READ! NOT ONLY THAT, BUT EXTENDED TO THE POINT OF BEING 5 TIMES THE LENGTH (NOT EXAGGERATING LMAO, CHAPTER 40 IS ALMOST 70,000 WORDS LONG)
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS FIC, I'M NOT NECESSARILY SAYING THAT YOU SHOULDN'T READ IT IN IT'S CURRENT STATE, SIMPLY SAYING THAT IN A FEW MONTHS EVERYTHING YOU'RE ABOUT TO READ WILL BE VASTLY IMPROVED UPON! IF THAT MEANS YOU'D RATHER WAIT TO READ THIS FIC UNTIL IT'S REMASTERED, THEN I UNDERSTAND, (AND MAYBE EVEN ENCOURAGE YOU TO!)
NOTES
Alright! Now that that's out of the way, I wanna provide some brief exposition!
The universe this fic takes place in is one where Michael survives the Pizza Sim inferno, AND ALL THE OTHER ANIMATRONICS DO NOT.
In this fic, all the events of every FNAF game happened, but the events of Security Breach don't.
Secondly, this fic is in first person. I'm fully aware of how repulsive that can be, but I promise the 'feel' this fic has wouldn't work well any other way. Everything happens in Michael's point of view without exception; ZERO POV hopping. In a way, you can think of this fic's first person nature as being told like an audio log made by Michael himself. (That's not what it *is*, but it's written in a similar way)
This fic primarily follows the lore of the GAMES, and takes very little of the books into account; if any. There are a few smaller changes, however; for example, William's motivation to kill the children that make up the main cast is *heavily* inspired by Squimpus's VHS series, Baby's wasn't a bunker under a house but an actual location, the events of Sister Location happen before FNAF 1, blah blah blah - to be honest, the effects those changes have are very minimal. This fic otherwise tries to stay VERY true to the canon FNAF lore otherwise. You'll figure out the rest as you read!
Also, dunno how many of you saw this, but Michael's name was spelled wrong for a majority of this fic's existence. Stopped spelling it wrong in the later chapters but never came back to fix it until now. Tbh, noticed I was spelling it wrong like 5 chapters in and waited for somebody to point it out 'cause I thought it would be funny. Uh. No one ever did, not until like the chapter 35 area lmao. Eventually broke 'cause it stopped feeling funny and started feeling like I was just making myself out to be a moron.
Oh also, did a little editing a while back on the first 2 chapters and couldn't follow through because I was too busy writing the new chapters, so prepare for even more of a quality drop when chapter 3 rolls around. I'm sure I'm making this fic sound riveting to read with how much I'm bashing it, but I can't help myself.
Anyway.
One last important thing to mention are the NOTES.
There are NOTES at the top/bottom of each chapter, like what you're seeing now.
Almost all of them were made at the same time I posted the chapter itself, so they're all very outdated. Also, a majority of them were relevant to people actively keeping up with the fic as chapters came out, but aren't really necessary to read for people just starting to read the fic now. (Unless I say in like the first 2 lines that they're important.) A few of the NOTES sections say they've been updated, but even that was a long while ago, so I wouldn't worry about them too much.
Last thing, I promise.
There is a Reddit and Discord server for this fic. Tons of art made for this fic; both by me and a few amazing readers. Reddit is updated when new art is out or an announcement is made, but the Discord is always bustling, so if you ever feel the need to ask me something in particular, I'll be there!
THE DISCORD IS A JOINT SERVER BETWEEN ME AND ANOTHER AUTHOR! BOTH FICS TAKE PLACE IN THE SAME UNIVERSE (though aren't 100% true and accurate to each other)!
(Also there's a bunch of bonus stuff on the Discord. Detailed notes and references for each of the characters, and documentation of several of the concepts introduced in this fic. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! FEEL FREE TO JOIN THE DISCORD/REDDIT AT ANY TIME, BUT I WOULD ALSO RECOMMEND READING THIS FIC ALL THE WAY THROUGH FIRST IF YOU DON'T WANT ANYTHING SPOILED!)
Reddit: u/ParticularlyLargeRat (Might have to type in the full name for my account to show up in the search bar)
Discord: A permanent server invitation can be found on the Reddit as well. I would absolutely put the link here if Fanfiction didn't obliterate any links you try sending. (If you can't find my Reddit, or otherwise just don't feel like going there, PM me and I can personally send you the Discord link!)
Do not be afraid to review. I read every single one of them multiple times over. It means the world to hear what you think.
Enjoy!
I don't know how I'm still alive. This time, I really should have been killed for good.
The pizzeria burning down with all of the remaining souls trapped inside of it was months ago. It was supposed to be the end of everything. In most ways, it was.
I, by some comical stroke of luck, am the only survivor of the building's collapse. I wasn't in great shape when I woke up, but I guess I got 'lucky'.
Since then, I've just been.. around. Without having to nip at my father's heels 24/7, I felt like I ran out of purpose. I likely did, in actuality, but I never felt any real urge to just up and kill myself, so I remained. Henry nor my father could do much with the money they received from the various Freddy's locations, so I took it upon myself to 'inherit' the money to at least create a comfortable life while I decide what to do next.
I was acutely aware, however, that those two were no billionaires. I had some money to spare, but under no circumstance was it infinite. It was drying up with every passing day. I, after all this time, was in the market for a job. It felt wildly out of place to be searching for someplace to work after achieving the one thing I intended to live for, but after a while..
I found one.
Another location was built. The PizzaPlex. I scoured all around to try and figure out what was 'with' the place. What horror did it hide, what secret invention of my father, what unbelievable suffering would I alone be responsible for bringing to an end. You would not believe the result I found.
There just.. wasn't.
No deaths, no souls, no possession, no purple murderers, no secret intentions. It was seriously just.. A place for kids to come and have fun. I could not believe it. A part of me still can't.
I applied for a job. Night shift, obviously. Believe it or not, color was starting to return to my skin, and less of me looked like I was rotting, but I still didn't want to be standing in front of a crowd for the remainder of my life.
It's been a few weeks, and I've made myself familiar with the place and the people. The animatronics.. Aren't the greatest fan of me.. They aren't violent or anything, I'm just not the most riveting conversationalist, and respond to attempts a little coldly, or sometimes not at all.
I'm not trying to be some kind of omega-edgelord, it's just.. I've made a big point of communicating with as few people as possible throughout my life than now this habit is a little hard to break. I don't dislike the talks we have, but I understand that whoever's talking to me might not get the kick they were hoping for. I'm not horribly worried about it, though. Making friends might take a bit more effort than I'm willing to put in considering my subtle condition of 'being a corpse'.
Anyway.
As time passed on and on, I started to get less and less paranoid. I'd scoured the place from top to bottom, repeatedly, and every time the result was 'not a damn thing'.
So here I stand, walking past all the animatronics rooms, headed for the auditorium. I hear the gang bustling with excitement about today's show, apparently all gathered in Freddy's room. Not entirely sure they're supposed to be in each other's rooms, but I'm also not about to go in there and tell them to stop enjoying themselves.
"Miiike!"
Oh boy.
I turn around, and sure enough, there he is.
This boy, I kid you not, is named 'Trudge'. He joined the day team a few days after I successfully get hired as the night guard. He struggled to make any kind of friend at first, most of the other day crew hardly acknowledging his existence with how soft-spoken he was. But for some reason, whenever I'm around, he doesn't shut the hell up. To this day I have no idea what could possibly have attracted this kid to me, but he even stays a little while into the night shift just to tell me everything about his day.
Running all 5 feet of him up to me, I turn around to acknowledge that he exists.
"Heya Mike!"
"Heya."
"You gonna be here all night today?"
"Yeah, I still.. Work here.."
"Sweet, dude, guess what."
"What?" I say, holding in a sigh that will surely accumulate to something greater once this conversation is finally over.
"Mkay- so. Got nachos, from El Chips, where nachos come from, and dropped 'em everywhere while I was walking around, right?"
Sounds pretty typical so far.
"Yeah."
"But as I was cleaning them up, Chica went and got me more nachos. I didn't even ask! She just appeared next to me partway through cleaning and was like 'Gotcha somethin'!' and gave me a whole friggen' meal." He explains with energetic arm movements, like we're playing charades.
Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that, despite the regular crew not interacting with him much, he and the animatronics got along like bread and butter. Some more than others. Chica and him get along particularly well. So well, in fact, that I can see her out of the corner of my eye, standing there patiently with her hands folded in front of her, pretending like she isn't waiting for me to stop talking with Trudge.
Well tough luck, Chica-chee, I call dibs.
Don't really like admitting it, but Trudge does emanate some sort of ecstatic energy that's hard to deflect without getting in a better mood yourself. That and someone who's willing to talk to me makes me feel a little more human, I guess.
I push through to the auditorium, Trudge hot on my tail.
"Got me a large order of them too, which was friggen awesome. I only got a medium. Chica's the best."
"Yeah."
"Oh- did you know there's a bowling alley here?"
"Yeah."
"I certainly didn't. It's not even really themed to anything, its just a bowling alley. Wanna go play bowling?"
"I have to continue working. We'll play later." A promise I'll most certainly regret.
"Oh, right. You gotta do your job, dontcha.. What do you like to do here? Can I help? Swear I won't break anything probably."
"There's nothing I need help with. Thank you, though."
"What about checking all the arcade games that lose power sometimes?"
I refuse to let him try helping me do that again. I make a 90 degree turn and start my trek to the 'music' section of the pizzaplex.
"Can we go talk to the DJ?"
"You don't need my permission."
"Well I don't wanna go if you're not going. You're more fun."
Uh-huh.
"...Yeah, we can go."
"Hell yeahhh..."
Trudge starts jogging ahead. Truthfully, I don't have any overwhelming desire to talk to the DJ, but I don't want to interrupt his 'flow'. He's a contagious little thing..
It doesn't take any longer than a few minutes to reach it at a leisurely pace. This place is a damn maze, but when you finally start to know where you're going, it suddenly seems a lot less huge.
I pause for a second to take in the area. The speakers are thumping, but the music isn't loud enough to be annoying. Pretty impressive how they managed to pull that off. I'm not particularly against being here, despite how noisy it tends to be. Music helps me think while I work sometimes. It does a wonderful job of making you feel different emotions, which can be an amazing distraction in particularly stressful moments.
It comes as no surprise that Trudge is found making sound effects with the DJ. I walk in as casually as I can, and just kinda position myself along the side of the wall. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be discrete enough.
"There were like, 50 kids in the bathroom at once. Don't think I'm ever gonna go in there again.." Trudge explains, talking as if he was featured in a Ted-Ed. Some-fucking-how, the DJ looks seriously invested in this story.
"No kiddin'..! How'd ya' get 'em all outta there?" The DJ responds.
"I dunno.. They all left pretty quickly when I started-"
I intentionally begin to zone out, no longer wanting to invest in this conversation.
"-but there's not many places you can, uhhh.. Oh-, Mike! There you are..!"
So much for that.
I stare at him in response. Trudge starts jogging his way over to me. How is it possible a human can have this kind of energy past midnight? He worked an entire day shift today..!
"A-ah! Mikey..! Hangin' in there?" The DJ takes a second to adjust to my presence, audibly fumbling through the first part of his sentence.
"I'm alright." I respond, looking back at Trudge, hopefully indicating that the conversation was already over.
"Have you seen how big this guy is?"
"Yeah."
"He's awesome, though. I could talk to him forever." Trudge exclaims, crossing his arms and turning back towards the DJ.
I'm pretty sure he didn't even notice, but the presence of the 'though' in that sentence probably wasn't the greatest choice he's ever made within earshot of the big guy.
"You could stand to lose a few pounds yourself, little man!" The DJ playfully responds, to which Trudge snickers mischievously.
"Arright, ummm.. Mike, Tell DJ about your day."
"My day started ten minutes ago."
"Pff. 'Something's' happened today, I believe in you."
"Don't be shy! I'm not goin' anywhere!" The DJ interjects from a distance following Trudge's contemplative silence.
Well..
"Alright, I, Um.. Saw Chica today..?"
"That's a start! Where'd you see her?"
"There-ish."
I point to the same entrance Trudge and I walked through, where a bright white and pink chicken robot was trying to make herself less obvious. I'm pretty sure I hear a yelp before she pulls her body out of view, as if everyone hadn't already had a good long look at her before she retreated.
"CHICA!"
Jesus Christ. I was standing right next to you.
Trudge jogs over happily, already letting his mouth run loose before Chica is even willing to admit her presence. It doesn't take long for Trudge to come back, practically dragging the poor girl behind her.
Before I know it, Trudge, the DJ, and an embarrassed Chica are all knee deep in gossip between each other. Seeing my opportunity, I make no sudden movements, and calmly walk out of the room. Chica had been following us ever since Trudge and I had started talking, but I decided to get my daily quota of 'Trudge' before I let her take up the rest of his time.
Not in any rush, I wander back through the west arcade. The DJ is a jarringly different animatronic, for obvious reasons, though he acts similarly to the normal sized ones. In fact, I would even go as far as to say he's one of the friendliest robo's in the entire facility, which is truly saying something. He made a genuine effort to try and strike up a conversation with me, which is more than I can say for most of the others. None of the animatronics are particularly rude or anything, but simply don't go out of their way to communicate with me. Not that I'm complaining, the opposite really. Kind of a win-win in my-
- Poof -
Oh. Whoops.
Stopping just before I run into something, I break out of my trance to see what I was a hair away from running into.
The answer is hair.
Uh oh.
I raise my head in the same instant my poor friend here turns over her shoulder to see who's in her presence.
"Oh, dammit, you-... What could you possibly be doing here?"
"Hello, Roxanne.."
Sure enough, there stood the silver wolf, arms crossed and looking at me in contempt/disgust.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing. Just passing by."
"Uh-huh. Don't lie to me, moron. " She huffs bending down a small amount to match my face-level. This might be a new record for how little time it took me to piss this thing off. "There's nothing over here. Especially for the discolored freak in front of me. You wouldn't just 'come' here.."
After a moment of silence, She pokes my forehead.
"You ever hear about makeup, corpse?"
"I have.."
So, quick diversion back into what I was thinking about before, about the whole 'none of the animatronics are rude' thing. Roxanne is the 'exception'.. I don't know what it is about me that sets her off, but every single time I interact with her for any period of time, she gets so sick of my shit. The first time she called me 'corpse', I remember freezing on the spot, thinking that somehow she knew what I was. Nope. She was simply displeased with my physical appearance, and by reacting negatively, I unintentionally secured that name as my official 'slur'.
"So what? You're looking like this by choice? Do you have any idea what you look like?" Roxanne stands back up, as is suddenly, physically repulsed.
"Yeah."
"Aren't you confident.. Take it from the best, then. You look like shit." She says, placing her paw on her chest when she said the word 'best', as if she would ever refer to anyone else.
My face does reflexively cringe just a little bit. Hearing any of them swear will never not be jarring, though its for a good reason. Freddy and Chica might as well be incapable of saying anything that could ever possibly be interpreted as a bad word. Monty does extremely rarely, but never towards another person, only ever for comedic value, and even then, it's still exceptionally rare. Roxanne does not have this problem. She obviously doesn't swear during the day, and never in front of the kids, but whenever she does swear, I'm usually on the receiving end of it.
"Hello?" She jarringly calls out to me following another silence.
"I'm still here."
"Then say something, freak.." Roxanne stands up straight. "You must hear this from your co-workers as well, right? What do they think of you looking like this?" She lazily raises an arm to point at my face.
"I don't know."
"What, don't you care how you look to your co-workers?"
"No."
"...The hell do you mean 'no'?"
I just stare at her in response.
"Wouldn't they like you better if you were, at all, presentable?"
"Probably."
"So then what the hell do you mean 'no'?!"
I continue to stare. I don't really have an answer for that question, I just don't care. The whole reason I got this job was to avoid being seen as much as possible.
"Ugh..!" She throws her hands downward, obviously frustrated with my response, or lack-thereof. "Why won't you answer me when I talk to you?"
"I don't know what to tell you."
"Jesus, nevermind.. I'm leaving, go away." Roxanne finally loses interest, making her way past me. "Stop following me." She calls out from the other side of the room just before her footsteps fade away completely.
As there is no longer an animatronic obstacle in front of me, I continue walking like I was before. Before long, I make it to the auditorium again. Near the other side, on the same level, stood Monty, looking at me with interest/concern. I wouldn't be surprised if he heard my interaction with Roxanne, her voice can carry pretty far when she gets upset.
"You arright over there?" He yells from across the auditorium. I lift up a thumbs-up in response. He simply nods and continues going wherever a Monty goes at this hour.
The only one I haven't seen tonight is Freddy, though this isn't too big of a surprise. Him and I get along pretty well, but he recognizes better than the others that I simply don't prefer talking. Lately he's been hunkered in his room, tinkering with the Faz-Watches.
I decide that I've come close enough to doing my 'rounds' as I feel like I needed to do. Once I give the place one big look over, I can usually just sit in one of the security offices as long as I'd like. I do a quick scan of the parts of the building I didn't visit today on the cameras while walking to a nearby office. Everything looks just about the same, so once I get seated, I get comfy.
I brought a laptop with me to work one day, and haven't bothered to take it back since. I only ever used it while I had free time in the office, so here in the office it eventually made it's home. I get it booted up, and try to recall if I needed to get anything done today.
Worst case scenario, I can always get a game running on this thing if I get too horrendously bored.