NOTES
I have so much to fuggin tell y'all holy shit.
Notes are at the bottom this time. Again. Surprise.
In all seriousness, a few actually important announcements are down there, so I'm gonna have to beg and plead you to give them a read when you're done with the chapter.
...
Uhhh speaking of which.
Chapter 35 was somewhere around 55,000 words.
This one is over 67,000
-.-.-
Oh wanted to mention again that this fic obviously differs from the canon lore of FNAF in some places. (Stuff like William's wife, original cast's spirits not inheriting the funtimes, FNAF SL happening before FNAF 1, blah blah blah.)
Couple parts are referred to later in the chapter; just wanted to put another disclaimer here to say 'hey yeah I know it's wrong'.
UPDATED 8/26/2023
Super small fuggin' update I just after all this time realized I forgot to take out a super cringe few lines when I published the chapter lmao.
...
Anyway, enjoy.
Small Recap
(It's been like two months; this is just a little refresher of where things left off but you can skip it if you remember all the important stuff.)
Freddy and his gang made preparations for a special show that they going to perform the next day, which is the last day the Pizzaplex is open before operations shut down for a little while.
Arin's shutting down the Pizzaplex temporarily so he can focus his efforts on bringing Cooper back from his obsessive episode. In addition, this would act as a grace period for all the attention surrounding Freddy's to blow over, as people's interest in the recent investigations are already beginning to show signs of dropping.
Cooper was able to see what Mike was doing on his laptop, which was a feature included with the Wi-Fi the Pizzaplex has.
Through those means, Cooper was able to read Michael's document.
After doing so, Cooper fell in love with Michael's 'interpretation' of the events that went down surrounding Freddy's.
In addition, Cooper lost interest in prying up old evidence from the past to put together Freddy's story, and is now occupied with finding William's son, Michael Afton, in hopes that finding him will let Cooper in on more interesting parts of the story, or maybe even allow him to involve himself in it.
Because of a conversation Michael and Cooper had closer to the beginning of the fic, Michael had already convinced Cooper that he isn't the Michael he's looking for, and is instead a distant relative.
Cooper told Michael he had an 'idea', and jogged off before Michael could ask what it was.
-.-.-
Michael has had an unlucky streak, and a bad last couple of days. Though things are perceptibly beginning to change for the better, it's having a slight toll on his optimism.
Michael's noticed a few irregularities with Roxanne.
Most relevant is that Roxanne has been in a very sour mood for the last couple of nights. Her manipulative attitude towards the day-crew has nearly evolved into cruelty, and even Michael himself has not been exempt from her recent lack of empathy. Michael guessed that her poor behavior stemmed from a hurt ego when he unintentionally ditched Roxanne to go sit by a campfire outside with Freddy and everybody else, but he is not entirely sure whether or not that's actually the reason.
Second is an anomaly in Roxanne that has seemingly started some time ago and has slowly grown more potent over time.
Michael's noticed that, recently, Roxanne's mood is susceptible to suddenly shifting at seemingly random intervals. During long talks, Roxanne can go from annoyed, bummed, or playful with almost zero transition between attitudes. Seemingly related is that Michael's started to have a difficult time guessing how Roxanne is going to react to any given piece of information. Sometimes she'll overreact and make a big deal out of something small, and other times she'll have an underwhelming or nonchalant reaction to something Michael's seen Roxanne react negatively too before. Neither of these occurrences are particularly common, but unlike the previous issue, Michael truly has no idea why it's happening at all.
-.-.-
Roxanne used Michael's phone to call a day-guard and coerce them into taking the next day off so Michael can replace them for the day; effectively guaranteeing that Michael will be there to watch Roxanne's special performance the next day.
A couple rough bumps occur throughout the night, including Cooper spying on Michael's document and an unfortunate series of events with a bird that managed to get into the Pizzaplex.
Michael took the dead bird outside to the field where he burned the Freddy suit phone-guy was stuffed in, and placed the bird in the same area outside so that it could decompose properly and bring life back to the charred grass in that part of the field.
Michael casually mentions the reason he met up with Roxanne early was because he was catching up on all the investigations surrounding Freddy's, and it began to bum him out the same way he usually does when he thinks about the past for too long.
Upon hearing this, Roxanne takes Michael's condition far more seriously than she did before, silently berates herself for failing to notice and leaving him alone for several hours, then drags Michael back to her room so she can 'keep an eye on him' for the rest of the night.
Michael immediately recognized this meant laying on the couch the way they regularly do, and protested when he remembered that there was still half of the night left. Roxanne didn't take his concerns into account whatsoever, and only told Michael to wake her up in the morning if she falls asleep.
Michael begrudgingly follows Roxanne back to her room.
...
...
- Doomsday -
(If I hear one more thing about that damn Titanic submarine I'm gonna lose it)
-.-.-
...
..Oh, right..
I peek over my phone at what little I can see out of Roxanne's window, noting the hint of orange in the tiny scraps of light that make it through the cracks of the curtain.
...
..It's a little interesting how the lights are deliberately tinted to indicate that it's morning, since there's no natural light this far into the Pizzaplex.. Or maybe I'm just placebo-ing myself into believing the light looks orange.
...
I'm pretty confident it's that second thing, actually..
Regardless, it's pleasantly effective at replicating the feel of a sunrise peeking through your curtains.. A warm glow tinting your entire room a pleasant shade of orange. Simple, but provides a pleasant contrast to the grogginess you feel from waking up in the morning.
...
Unfortunately, it serves as a reminder that I have a duty to fulfill right about now.
Lowering my gaze an inch or two to read the tiny numbers on the top of my phone, I confirm that it has, in fact, just turned 6:00 am.. Which probably means I should hold up my end of the bargain forced upon me and wake up little ol' wolfie, here.
...
..I'm thrilled I finally get to stand up and move around a little after laying on Roxanne's couch for several hours, but I'm admittedly a little reluctant to disturb her beauty sleep.. Like usual, I'm laying on my back across the couch and using the arm-rest as a means of propping my head up, and Roxy's sleeping chest-down on top of me; snout resting in the small divot between my ribs as if that's where it was always supposed to go.
I tried falling asleep as well, but my body simply wasn't able to make such a drastic change to my sleep-schedule. So, I've been awake for all 3 hours we've been laying on the couch, nonchalantly holding my phone horizontally above Roxanne's head and watching videos to pass the time.
Speaking of the wolf, she is not doing this for my sake, like she claims.. Rox went on and on about how she was positioning herself like this for the sake of 'keeping track of me' and 'getting me to calm down', but the moment she dragged the blankets off the bed and over us on the couch, she was out like a light.. I have a sneaking feeling Rox was just sleepy, and wanted to utilize my body head instead of sleeping in her bed tonight. What little body head I produce, anyway..
So, it's just been me these last few hours.
I was worried I'd get bored, and yeah, maybe a little, but it hasn't been so bad. I've been surprisingly content for a good portion of the time we've been like this. It's nowhere near as stimulating as warding off vengeful animatronics fueled to kill by the sheer hatred of your bloodline all night, but laying around with a wolf sleeping on your chest has proven to be at least a little stimulating in it's own right. Far more interesting than laying around without one, anyway..
...
...
..What I mean by 'reluctant to disturb her beauty sleep' is that I can't imagine a scenario in which Roxanne won't be bitchy about me waking her up, despite her deliberately instructing me to do so once it hit 6..
I peek below my phone this time, down where Roxanne's sleeping.. The orange tinting the entire room does well to compliment the vast array of colors making up her hair and fur, but most of all adds to the scene of the wolf lying asleep; peacefully recharging for the day ahead of her.
..Mm..
I guess I am just a tiny bit reluctant to disturb her peace, too.. Wolfie's fast fast asleep; almost like she's smack in the middle of one of those REM sleep cycles that determine when you naturally wake up.. Y'know, the ones that make you feel groggy and bitchy if you interrupt.
Roxanne's already been unpleasant to be around these last couple nights.. I don't really wanna add on to that if I don't have to..
...
..Sigh..
That felt mean..
Rox isn't an idiot, nor is she completely apathetic.. I know Roxanne's been a little tougher to deal with lately, but there must be a reason for it.. I'll keep tanking the abuse for a little longer; hopefully until I can figure out what's wrong..
...
I should wake her up before she gets mad at me..
...
..Hatching a sneaky plan, I use my phone to set a timer for like 15 seconds, and prepare to pretend like the tone that'll play afterwards was an alarm I set for this morning.. At least this way, I specifically won't be the one who woke her up.. Maybe that'll save me from an unkind look or two.
...
...
...
- Ding -
Ah.
"fuck-, Who is it..?"
Might've forgotten to change the alarm sound to something other than a doorbell.. But, it was worth it for the sake of seeing Roxanne groggily call out to whoever's on the other end of her door ringing her doorbell.
...
..After a second of rubbing her eyes, Rox tries pushing herself up, but never makes it to pushing her snout off my chest after noticing that one of her hands is touching a material other than the couch.
I raise my phone up to look at her underneath my arms, and she returns the look with a groggy squint; seemingly already having figured out where she is and what's happening.
...
"That was the alarm, sorry." I whisper, trying not to sound amused.
...
"There's no one at the door?" Roxanne grumbles, matching my volume to avoid breaking the quiet morning atmosphere.
"I doubt it, considering your door doesn't have a doorbell."
...
The hand she planted on my chest suddenly transforms to nails digging into my skin.
"Good morning, douchbag."
"Ow.."
"..Why the hell didn't you use your watch's alarm?"
"I don't have my watch; I gave it to Arin."
...
Having contended herself with my discomfort, Roxanne exhales slowly, aborts all attempts to sit up, and slides her arms behind my back again.. After getting 'comfortable', I watch helplessly as the wolf closes her eyes.
...
"..What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"..Don't fall asleep again - I just woke you up."
"I'm not falling asleep. Don't tell me what to do."
...
"It's 6 am, wolf."
"I know."
"Not gonna start getting ready?"
"We don't open for another two hours, Michael. Shut up."
...
..It appears that I'm not gonna be getting up for a little while longer..
Shoulda known, I guess.. Roxanne takes forever to wake up; that's something I've seen before.. Usually it makes for an entertaining 20 minutes where I just get to mess around with a barely-coherent animatronic wolf, but this time it looks like Rox isn't in the mood for interacting quite yet.
...
..Who am I to argue, I suppose..
I flip my phone sideways and hover it over Roxanne's back to continue watching what I was amusing myself with before she woke up.. It's a little difficult to understand since I'm watching it with no volume, but I like how 'peacefully watching a silent video in the early morning with others sleeping in the same room' contributes to the atmosphere. It's like being the first one to wake up at a slumber party and playing video games on mute while you wait for everyone else.
...
...
...
"Nn.."
Almost like she was perturbed by the sheer idea that I was enjoying myself, Roxanne groans quietly into my shirt and cracks her eyes open again.
...
"You alright..?" I whisper quietly enough to indicate that she doesn't have to answer if she's too tired.
"..Thought you'd keep talking.."
"Didn't want to get in the way of your rest before work. Think that's a little too important for me to perturb with my fuckery."
A sharp, amused(?) exhale puffs from her nose, which litters that area of my chest with a slightly discomforting warmth.
"Whatever.."
...
Thinking that's the end of the conversation, I return to watching my phone.
...
...
After another 10 or so seconds of silence, however, Roxanne starts to push herself up a bit and start shimmying her entire body.
I prepare to lift myself up from the couch after her, but apparently, that's not what she had in mind. All she did was flip herself around on top of me to be laying on her back instead of her front.
...
"..Was there a point to that?"
"Just wanted to lie on my back, moron.."
"Okay.. Thinking about getting up soon?"
"No.. Maybe - I don't know.. Whenever I feel like it.."
..Probably isn't doing either of us any favors to badger her with questions, groggy as she is.. Pretty sure there isn't a hint of thought going into those answers. All her brain-power is going to keeping her eyes cracked open..
...
..When I move my phone back where it was, the positioning suddenly makes it clear what the 'intention' of flipping over was.. Roxanne just wanted to watch whatever I was doing on my phone.
Ha. Cute.
..I don't know if Rox'll find what I'm watching very interesting.. Though I also don't know if she'll care whether it's interesting or not. She might just be trying to fixate on something until her body moves further along the wake-up process, and my phone is the perfect thing to stimulate her brain.
...
...
...
...
It's a little endearing watching the light from my screen reflect off her barely-open eyes.. She looks like one of those cats that are on the brink of falling asleep but are forcing themselves to stay awake because they're curious about something.
...
...
..A couple minutes of peaceful media-consumption later, Roxanne weakly reached up for my phone and swipes down from the top of the screen to make some of the phone's UI appear. Then, after presumably checking what the time was, swipes back up to let the video keep playing with a sigh.
Letting her arm fall limply back to her side, I watch as Roxanne loses this internal staying-awake battle and lets her eyelids slide shut once more. I briefly face an internal battle as well, in the form of trying not to chuckle at this behavior.
...
...
...
...
- Pshh -
The room grows a shade brighter as Roxanne's door opens and lets in more of the glow from outside. Without moving my head, I look to find Chica taking a single step into the room, struggling with something on her watch.
"Heya.. I was wondering if ya'd do my make-up today, since today's a special day, and 'yer really good at it.."
I continue to watch the avian curiously, letting my attention shift down to Roxanne when I notice she hasn't answered yet.
...
"..I think she's talking to you." I whisper.
"Funny." Roxanne mutters back as if I'm messing with her.
...
..I'm.. Not entirely sure we're on the same page about something..
...
"Roxyyy-? ..It's okay if you don't want to, I was just-..!" Chica begins, though quickly interrupts herself with a dramatic - GASP - "Ooooooooo~! Oooh my Godddd!"
Now, suddenly unsure on what anyone's talking about, I meet Chica's eyes again. The latter of which is holding both sides of her face and bouncing quietly
"Aw- you guyyys~! That's so 'Cuute!'"
"..?"
"No- okay, okay! That's okay! Don't worry- I'll do make-up myself tonight! M'kay? M'kay! Cya' in a lil bit..!"
- Pshh -
...
..M'kay..?
...
"What the hell are you watching..?" Roxanne moans, pursing her eyes shut a little tighter.
"What?"
"What are you watching?"
"..What do you mean?"
"On your phone. What the hell was that noise?"
..?
"..Oh- nothing. That wasn't from my phone; Chica just dropped by."
"Oh-, fuckin' Chica.."
...
"She wants help with her make-up, if you have the time."
...
Roxanne cracks her eyes open, staring at the ceiling.
"That was Chica..?"
"..Yeah?"
...
"Chica was in here?" She repeats, suddenly sitting upright and twisting her waist to look at me.
"..Yes - Chica came in and asked for help with make-up. What the hell are you doing-?"
"Oh fuck-! that was Chica?!" Roxanne interrupts, snapping her head to look at the door.
"..She said your name, wolf - who did you think it was?"
"I thought you locked the door!"
"What? ..No, why would I have locked anything?"
"You were the last one to walk through my door last night!"
"I guess?"
"Why didn't you lock the door..?!"
"Why would I have locked the door?"
"I always lock the-..! Oh God, not fucking *Chica*..!" Roxanne groans loudly, pushing off me and power-walking out of the door in her sleep-wear before I can stop to ask her what the hell she's on about.
...
...
Uh..?
..Suddenly finding myself in the room all alone, I slowly push myself up until I'm sitting upright and stare at the door Rox just left through.
...
..Think I'm out of the loop..
Why would Rox freak out about Chica coming into the-..
Actually; why did Chica start to freak out for a moment? What did she see that was-..?
...
...
Oh-, Ha. Okay, I get it.
Breaking into an amused snicker once I understand what could have interpreted from us laying on the couch like that, I nonchalantly push myself upright, and then off the couch itself once I get feeling in my legs back.
God. I'd pay anything to hear Roxanne babbling excuses to the bird. Those two are the most stubborn people I know, and for two entirely different reasons.
..That'll probably end up being problematic.. Chica being the 'offender' is hilarious; that's like worst-case-scenario.. But, moreso than it is problematic, it's funny to imagine Roxanne freaking out over this. So, I think I'm gonna call this a pleasant way to start off the morning.
...
..Brushing myself off once I'm standing completely, I plant my hands on my waist and map out how today's gonna look.
Busy, would be my guess.. Or 'busy' relative to the business we've been getting lately.. Unfortunately, I have to be here for it, since Roxanne delicately volunteered me to work a shift for 'Robert', the day guard.
The good news is that I'll be able to go home and get some quick rest in as soon as things shut down today. Night-guarding tonight won't be necessary tonight, and I'll be needing the rest since I intend to immediately kick off into helping Arin calm Cooper down as soon as I'm able.
..Guess I should go figure out what shift Rob had.. Might be good to text Arin anyway, since he still has my watch.
...
...
Feeling strangely optimistic, I carry myself out from Roxanne's room.
The Pizzaplex has just opened, and despite going on a little mini-adventure this morning, I never managed to get a hold of Arin. Not a big deal; I don't really need my watch for anything, but I've taken it upon myself to be a bit of a wandering day-guard tonight, since I still have no idea where the guard I'm covering for was supposed to be stationed.
..'Wandering day guard' more or less referring to the fact that I'm gonna be literally wandering and checking out anything that catches my interest. Not really what day-guards are supposed to do, but hey. I bet I'll keep watch on more people this way than if I were to just linger in some obscure part of the Pizzaplex all day.. Assuming I don't get distracted inconveniencing Roxanne at every possible opportunity.
Speaking of which, here she comes now.
...
Despite just explaining how I'd be wandering all day, I've made myself comfortable leaning against the wall in the animatronic corridor right outside Roxanne's door and watching the sparse families hobble after their enthusiastic children for a while. Though I doubt this moment of peaceful observation is going to last more than five seconds, or however long it takes for Rox to make it over here..
...
"I already hate you being here."
Well, unfortunately, you are exclusively the reason that I am.
"I haven't had the chance to do anything yet."
"It makes me paranoid. Sucks not knowing if 'Mike' is watching me at any moment." Roxanne continues to grumble, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall beside me.
"Mm.. Shouldn't you be interacting with the customers or something?"
"Later. They can't get enough of me, but I can get enough of them.. Sometimes I wish they'd back off and give me room to hear myself think."
I hide my snicker with a huff.
That is a big, fat, juicy lie. If no one oggles and worships you for three minutes, you start jumping through hoops just to get people to look at you again.
...
"We're getting looks."
"I'm always getting looks." Rox responds matter-of-factly.
"Well this time they seem like the 'I can't wait for Roxanne to stop talking with that security guy so I can talk to her!' kind of looks."
"Doubt it. If they're looking over here, it's because they're looking at me. Not us."
"Then go out and interact with the people looking at you."
"In a sec, Mike. I get a small break every now and again."
"..Small br-? Rox, the Pizzaplex has been open for a total of twelve minutes."
"So?"
"So go talk to your fans." I insist, pointing out into the corridor where several families are walking about.
...
...
..Mildly confused by Roxanne's silence, I follow her gaze out into the same crowd I'm actively pointing at, and am met with the realization that literally everybody has stopped to watch us.
Suddenly understanding why my canine friend has been intimidated into silence, I just cock a brow and stare back out at the crowd in hopes that one of them will explain what the hell they're all so interested in.
...
As if God himself answered, my staring sesh is interrupted by a metallic gleam slowly lowering into my field of vision.
..What the hell-?
Ah.
Friendo, currently being lowered from the ceiling by his foot.
And 'lowered from the ceiling' still unfortunately means that he has somehow managed to rappel onto a ceiling rafter with rope and is slowly descending upon me upside-down with a magic marker in his hands.
...
Wish I was exaggerating any part of this, but I mean the literal sense of every word when I say Friendo is dangling from the ceiling wielding nothing but a magic marker and ill-intent..
..As soon as I lock eyes with him though, he immediately aborts his devilish attempt at lowering his hand just enough to draw on me and instead just stares right back into my eyes.
...
...
..I silently uncross one of my arms and point at Roxanne.
The instant I do so, Friendo whips his entire body around and swings his marker like a sword, slashing a huge streak across Roxanne's face; latter of which was still completely unaware of Friendo's presence prior to this event.
"w-AAH!"
Roxanne reacts like she's been cut across the face with a sword, cupping her face in her hands for a moment before snapping her head to look at what the hell just attacked her with a drawing utensil.
Friendo, immediately upon being spotted, begins rapidly tugging on the rope he's dangling from as if signaling someone to lift him up.
It almost works actually. Friendo rises a few inches and gives the two of us an upside-down thumbs-up. Right after, the rope by his foot snaps from the pressure of being tugged a million times in three seconds, and Friendo falls a good five feet before sprawling face-first onto the floor.
...
Guess that probably explains what everybody was looking at..
...
After a few seconds of contemplative silence from everybody in the room, Roxanne suddenly ricochets the marker Friendo was holding off of the back of his metal head; sending the utensil flying through the crowd and into some lucky kid's hands.
"Die, metal freak.." Roxy grumbles next to me.
"That was awesome.. Who do you think was holding him up?" I look up to the ceiling, no longer trying to hide my amused grin.
"Yeah-, glad you're having fun, corpse."
"From the sound of it, all the kids found that just as amusing as I did. Excellent performance."
"Ugh.." she groans, painstakingly wiping the wide streak of marker off her face.
I chuckle under my breath, wanting to get caught up in the kids laughter, but also not wanting Rox to feel too singled out.
...
Trudge materializes out of nowhere, drinking from a styrofoam cup and casually noting the endoskeleton sprawled out on the floor.
"Mm, what happened here?"
"How did you manage to wrap the rope in the rafters?" I respond, pointing at the ceiling.
"Why do you think I did anything?"
"Y-"
"Monty saw me trying to throw it up there offered to do it for me, utilizing that gator-ous strength of his."
"Mm." I hum, lowering my arm. "..Was he holding Friendo up as well?"
"Mnyope. Just me."
"Wow. Held his weight all by yourself?"
"Gets easy when all the weight is all put in a piece 'a rope."
"Mm. 'Easy', huh?"
"Nope. I was lying."
"Ah.. About it being easy?"
"The easy part, yeah."
"Was it not easy?"
"I wanted to cry." Trudge states arrogantly(?), taking a sip from his cup.
"Ah."
...
I glance over at Roxanne, who's rubbing off the last little bit of discoloration on her face.
"Trudge was his partner-in-crime."
"I heard."
"..Got something to say about that?"
"Got nothing to say to him." Roxy huffs, like she's too good for him.
...
"Hey Chica-Chonk. Y'missed the falling." Trudge comments, pointing down at the sprawled endoskeleton laying face-down on the floor.
Turning back around, I confirm that Chica is, in fact, now standing with us.
..You wouldn't think something like those two would be so capable of sneaking up on you, but it's easier to count the amount of times they haven't simply materialized next to me instead of walking up here like a normal person.
"Mm~, that's m'kay!" she responds, in a beaming mood for whatever reason.
"Where've you been?"
"Drawin'~!"
"Based." Trudge replies, giving the bird a seemingly random fist-bump.
...
..'Based'.. If I ever hear Trudge unironically try calling me or anything else 'cringe' I might just lose it..
...
"You ever catch up to Chica after she left your room?" I ask, noticing the wolf's done cleaning herself up.
"Yes.."
"Did it go well?"
"Do you think it did?"
"No, but I'm hoping to get a funny story out of whatever you tried talking to her about."
"Yeah-, I'm positive you'd have the time of your life if you heard everything I tried telling her."
"Probably means you're not telling m-"
"Hell no I'm not gonna tell you; every time I see you snickering like an idiot it usually means I'm in deep shit somehow."
"Careful with t-"
"Mike, if you even try telling me to watch my language, I'll eat you alive."
"M'kay." I hum in acknowledgement, pleasantly amused with how the day's been going so far.
...
"You try talking to the damn bird; see what happens.." Roxanne grumbles under her breath, pointing at the bird in question right beside us.
"Really want me to try?"
"It won't matter."
"M'kay.. Chica?"
"Mmm! Mhm?" She hums back at me joyfully, bouncing a little.
"Remember when you walked into Rox's room this morning?" I ask casually, pointing my thumb over my shoulder at the wolf.
"Yeah~! It was the best-! I never getta see that side of either'a youu~!" Chica responds, practically glowing at the memory.
"Roxanne wants me to tell you that the reason we were doing that is because we've been married for like 10 months and-"
"Mike."
My joke is cut off my a pair of colorful claws materializing around my throat.
"Pretty sure Roxy still hated you ten months ago, I think." Trudge comments nonchalantly.
"I still hate him."
"It's been something like that." I add, delicately trying to nudge the claws away from my neck. "..9 months.. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was back when she still despised me."
"I didn't despise you.." Roxy weakly counters.
"The word despised doesn't even do it justice." I chuckle under my breath. "I didn't like you back then either, though; so we'll call it even."
"..what does despised mean?" Chica whispers to Trudge, but fails to keep it quiet enough for everybody else not to ear.
"Hate, pretty much. Like, super-hate."
"Oh-, that's not nice..!" The bird suddenly huffs, finding now to be a good time to be displeased with our attitude with each other most of a year ago.
"It's alright, we're cool now." I chime in.
"You might be, purple man.." Roxy whispers.
"Bad day so far, wolf?"
"Everything that pisses me off tonight I'm gonna make you pay me back for when I finally get to use you for a day."
That.. Will be a dark day indeed..
"..Do you even want my laptop anymore?" I ask, slightly off topic.
"ugh.. We need to change that. You still haven't paid me back for the shit that happened on that day, and that laptop does not cover it anymore-"
"Michael?"
I turn my head before I even register who's voice that is, spotting Freddy sift through a few guests to come stand with us.
"Hey.. What's up..?"
"I was talking to him-.." Roxanne grumbles quietly behind me.
"You, ah.." Freddy begins, scratching the back of his head in uncertainty. "..I do not fully understand the details, but there is someone who's been specifically requesting for you."
That catches the amused attention of Trudge and Chica as well, who were previously having a conversation of their own.
...
"..Is it a guest?"
"It is, yes."
Huh..
That's.. kind of a bad omen.. The day's barely even started, and I'm starting to think I've already managed to piss someone off somehow..
Still, I won't let my good mood get squandered without knowing for sure that some parent has qualms with me or something.
"Mm. Well- yeah, sure; I'll talk with whoever needs me."
"I took the liberty of bringing them here, if that's alright.. Though do let me know if you need a quieter place to speak; I truly hold none of the context for this young man's arrival." Freddy claps his hands together thankfully, stepping aside once he gets close enough.
Ha.. You know you're social game's a little off when even Freddy is flabbergasted at the idea of someone coming to meet me..
I shoot a sarcastic 'ruh roh' grin at the wolf, briefly turning my head to glance at her before returning to how I was before.
..I don't know many 'people', and the ones I do know are usually from a cursed franchise I've been wanting to forget my whole life.. If it is someone from Freddy's, then I'd better get on my A-game and figure out what they're all about as soon as possible. Don't want m-
- Gasp -
Oh shit, no way~!
It's * Evan! *
No- not my brother Evan, of course - the kid I got along with forever ago..! The one who had his arm in a cast and couldn't play Fazer-blast with his friends, so we went around and bugged everybody for the duration of the day..!
Breaking into a slight chuckle, I hop off the wall and hold my arms out to greet the kid enthusiastically waving to me as he approaches.
"Mike! H-Hello..!"
"Well~. Look who finally came back..!" I hum, hiding my excitement behind sarcasm. "I had started to think you'd forgotten ab-"
uff-..
Apparently holding my arms out to reinforce my sarcasm can easily be misinterpreted as asking for a hug.. This was a swell of emotions I wasn't prepared to face this morning.
"Mom's gonna let me be here all day..!"
"No time for greetings, huh?"
" 'Cause it's my birthday!"
"It's your birthday?"
"Yeah!"
"Who decided that?"
"I-I 'unno-, my mom, I think..!" Evan backs away from the hug but continues to tug at the bottom of my shirt, impatiently waiting for me to escort him along all the attractions he wants to see tonight.
"You think you've been good enough to get a birthday this year?"
"Y-Yes..! My mom's busy anyway, so we should go find everyone and play..!"
"Find who?"
"The robots..!"
"These robots?" I hum, pointing to Rox and Chica on either side of me.
"Those rob-? O-oh..!" He stutters, letting go of my shirt. "Yeah, I-..! H-Hello..!"
"..Oh- Hiya! I'm- OH!" Chica interrupts her own introduction, dropping any hint of formality and immediately bending down to ruffle his hair with both her hands. "I 'member you! You were that cutie that followed Mikey around all day!"
"Y-Yeah, yeah..! My name's Evan!"
There went all his blinding enthusiasm.. I guess that adds up with what I remember about the little man, though. Evan acts just like how you'd expect a kid to act while he's excited, but otherwise can be timid around people he doesn't know or hasn't seen in a while.
"Mmmmm-." Trudge hums thoughtfully, sipping from his drink and pointing down at the little guy. "Right, right. You were the one keepin' Mike alive until I got a tire for his flat."
"U-um! Probably..!"
I give an affirmative thumbs up, paired with a huff of amusement.
Pretty sure Evan never knew about that whole tire thing, but oh well. I'm not sure he's even met Trudge yet, actually.
"This guy works here too." I comment, sliding my thumbs-up hand away in my pocket. "Scariest day-guard you'll ever meet."
"U-um..!"
"Ayup. I'm why nobody does crime in these parts, 'cause I scare 'em off." Trudge agrees without a second thought.
"Really?"
"Nope."
"Yes-, he's scary!" Chica intervenes. " 'Cause he's a guard! And they scare away bad guys!"
"Mhm. I'll throw my drink at anyone who tries hurtin' you."
"O-oh! Okay..! That scares bad guys away..?"
"It'd scare me away. You don't know what Fizzy-Faz can do to your skin." Trudge continues, shaking his drink lightly.
"..Fizzy-Faz?"
"Ayup."
"..I-Is that your drink?"
"Ayup."
"Is it, like.. Freddy soda?"
"Ayup."
"Oh..! Can I try?"
"Ayup."
"Thank you..!" Evan chimes, delicately taking Trudge's cup with both hands. "..It's blue!"
"Ayup."
"Is it blue flavored?"
"Ayup."
"Does it taste good?"
"Nyope."
"Oh-!"
...
"Y-You can have it, then..!"
"Nyope." Trudge declares, doing a 180 and marching off into the crowd without so much as looking at the drink Evan's holding back out to him.
"H..Hey!"
...
Wasn't really counting on getting dragged all around the Pizzaplex by a little kid today. Buuut, I probably would've just been bored otherwise, so this was certainly a welcome surprise.
...
"Man you grew.." I grunt, putting my hand on the top of Evan's head to judge his height.
"I did?"
"You were barely up to my waist; now look at you. You could topple Monty with height like that."
Might be exaggerating. He grew, like, 8 inches.
"Really?" Evan asks, looking down at himself in awe.
"Mhm. Be careful around him, though; he gets intimidated by people taller than he is."
Evan is sill a fourth his size.
"Am I scary?"
"Terrifying, honestly."
"Oh..! Well I don't wanna scare him..!"
"No?"
"Monty's nice, I think..!"
"I guess so. Don't let him get near you with a lighter, though." I peer over my shoulder, noting who's been following us through the corridor. "Right, Rox-o?"
"Don't call me that." Roxy whispers, trying not to let her sour tone bleed into Evan's ears. "..And the kids don't need to know I got burned."
I hum a potentially-fake acknowledgement, turning around and noting Evan's silence.
...
"Monty's not actually gonna get you with a lighter, little man."
"No-, I know..! What's, uh..! What's a lighter?"
pff.
"Never seen a lighter before?"
"..Um..!"
"Little rectangle that you light fires with?" I continue, airing the motion of igniting an imaginary lighter.
"Oh..! Yeah, I know! Okay..! Don't let Monty have one, then?"
Not what I said, but.. close enough.
"Mhm. Do you have a lighter on you?"
"I don't think so.."
"Then not-giving him one oughta be pretty easy, huh?"
"Yeah." Evan nods, portraying that he completely understands the assignment I've given him.
The one I'm not even remotely serious about, but I ain't gonna tell him that.. It makes sense that kids his age are so easy to mess with, so now it's up to me to demonstrate the slightest bit of self-control and stop toying with him constantly.
...
"Hey~." I hum, finding another conversation topic.
"Huh?"
"Nice arm. Got your cast off at some point, huh?"
"Oh-, yeah!" Evan perks, jogging in front of me a couple steps to show me his arm. "But I kept it, though! I liked all the names on it.."
"Mm. You just have it sitting around in your room somewhere, then?"
"No, m-..! My mom put it in the attic when I said I didn't wanna throw it away.."
"Aw, that's okay. It'll be like one of those time capsule things.."
"..Really?"
"Mhm. Imagine going through your old stuff in a few years and finding that cast. Bet you'll like finding it."
"O-Oh..! Yeah-, okay..!"
How this little man's brain works is a mystery.
...
"Man.." I begin, pretending to sound upset. "..You shoulda let me know you were getting it off, though.. I went through so much work to twin with ya whenever you came back."
"Twin with me?"
"Wanna see somethin' cool?"
"Oh. Sure..!"
"Check it out." I hum, raising my hand a bit and rolling the sleeve up enough to showcase my metal arm. "We could've been twins. But -scoff-, you had to go and heal or whatever."
"Oh- Woah..!" Evan stops in his tracks, nearly tripping over himself to point at my arm. "What is that?"
"New arm. Lost my old one while-.. While trying to tame wild wolves out in the field by the Pizzaplex."
Bullshit-generator remains intact.
"What..?!"
"Yep."
"Really? Wait- Wolves are outside?"
"Only at night. That's why I'm the night-guard."
"Really?"
Evan really liked that story, apparently.
"Mhm." I nod, pointing over my shoulder. "We used to just hunt them, but I started trying to tame them. That's how we got Roxanne, by the way."
- "Mike-" -
"Oh- Really?" Evan interrupts what's bound to be a disapproving message from Roxanne behind us, then scoots over a little so that I'm slightly more in-the-way between him and Rox. "..Does she still bite sometimes?"
Ohhhh if only my shoulder-bite wasn't completely healed, I'd have a field day with that sentence.
"Not if you're nice."
"Okay..!" He chimes, asserting that he'll be nice enough not to get bitten. "..Has she bitten before?"
"Mhm. Took me a while to tame this one."
- "Mike.-" -
"Aw..! Were you nice, though?!"
"Not all the time. Might've deserved a bite or two."
"Oh..! Well-, try being nice..!"
"Will do, little man."
"Okay! O-Oh but it's my birthday - I'm not so little anymore.."
"Very well, gargantuan man."
...
"U-Um-..!"
"Gargantuan means 'really big'."
"Oh, okay..!"
...
"Mm, y'know what I just remembered?" I note, poking the top of Evan's head.
"What?"
"No broken arm means there's nothin' left to stop you from doing whatever you want. Like Fazer-Blast."
"Oh!"
"You figure out where you wanna go first, yet?"
"Yeah-, uhm..! Can we go see Monty first?"
"Sure thing. Lead the way, big guy."
"Okay..! He's, um..! This way!"
...
Monty is not that way, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna try stopping him.
...
I let out an amused exhale, seeing Evan wander aimlessly like he's undergoing a sensory overload.
...
- "The hell's gotten into you..?" -
I peer over my shoulder, admittedly a little surprised to see that the wolf hasn't wandered off yet.
"What do you mean?"
"You were a sulking bag-'a-bitch last night, and now you've had that dumbass smirk plastered on your face ever since I found you." Roxy points up at my face, distrusting of my optimism.
"I do?"
"Yes, moron."
"Mm." I hum, turning to face the sparse families scattered ahead of us. "I 'unno. Think I'm getting caught up in the energy."
"Who's energy?"
"Everyone's. Plus Evan's back, so that's cool."
Rox takes her pointing finger and plants it on her hip, glancing in the direction Evan ran off.
"..I thought you told me you were bad with kids."
"I'm not good with them. Evan's just fun to mess with, I guess."
"Uh-huh.. Seeing you so happy's freakin' me out."
I chuckle, shrugging slightly.
"Why?"
"It's weird."
"Sue me for having a good day every once in a while."
"Fine." Roxanne huffs, unable to take the moral high-ground.
...
"..A little extra sour today?"
"I'm not sour, asshole; just waiting for something fun for me to happen so I can rub it in your face how much better I am." Rox crosses her arms, probably joking.
"Fine, fine. Here-, come with me then." I delicately command, though not-so-delicately take her by the wristband and tug her along behind me.
"Don't touch me- where the hell are we going?"
"Wherever Evan thinks he's going."
"What?"
"Told him to go find Monty, so that's what we're doin'. He's going the wrong way, though."
"Correct him, then." Roxanne points out into the crowd, furrowing her brow.
"No, this is funner."
" 'Funner', Mike?"
"Funnerest."
...
- Tink -
...
Evan gasps as much as his little lungs can handle.
- Tunk -
"Mike!"
"Well~." I huff, holding my hand out for Evan to high-five. "..Today's the day I get beat in mini-golf by someone half my size.."
"That was so cool..!" Evan beams, obliterating my hand with his. "I hit it one time and it went all the way over..!"
"I saw. Go get your ball - do it again on the next hole."
"Okay..!"
...
"You 'are' actually losing, Mike." Roxanne comments from the sidelines, delicately inspecting the score sheet in her hands and tapping her bottom lip with a pencil.
"I know."
"You shouldn't be."
"Maybe I'm going easy on him."
"Uh-huh. Are you?"
"No."
Rox snickers, lifting her gaze to meet mine simply to stare at me condescendingly.
"How 'bout you grab a ball and see for yourself how much of a prodigy this kid is?" I retort, hiding my amused grin while I follow Evan to the next hole.
"I don't need to play to know you shouldn't be losing."
"He just got a hole-in-one."
"He also hit the ball 5 times last hole."
"Well, he made up for it by getting it in one hit this time."
"He didn't need to make up for it - you hit the ball 6 times on that same damn course."
"Crazy how that works."
"Okay- Ready?" Evans calls out to me, already in position on the next hole.
"I'm watchin'."
"M'kay..!"
...
- Tink -
Mm.. Yeah, not quite, kid.
"Whoops.."
"Almost had it."
..'Almost had' a third of the way, at least..
"Do I go again?"
"Go until you get it in this time."
"Okay..! Are you still playing?"
"Yeah, just watchin'."
"Mm, M'kay!"
...
...
Mm..
...
...
Not goin' so well.. Think he used up all his karma on that hole-in-one..
"Now's your chance, purple man." Roxanne encourages sarcastically.
"That hill kinda fubbed him up a little.." I comment, getting ready to hit the ball myself.
"Think you can get this in less than 7 hits?"
"I'd like to think I can conjure up a semblance of competence long enough to get this in the hole, yeah."
"Dunno, Mike. It's pretty far away."
"Appreciate the commentary, wolf."
"I'm not letting you off until you prove to me you can beat a 5 year old in golf."
"He's older than 5.." I mutter reflexively, preoccupied with lining my shot up.
"Way to defend yourself."
"It *is* gonna take me eight hits to finish this hole if you keep talking right before I swing."
"Yeah- you think I'm the problem? Fine, let's see it then."
...
- Tink -
Fuck.
...
...
"Where'd your little runt go?"
I glance up at Roxanne, then look over my shoulder at the table I last saw Evan at.
"Um.. Him and Chica were over there drawing a minute ago."
"Where is he now?"
...
"With Chica, probably?"
Rox hums happily at my answer, uncrossing an arm and lazily pointing in another direction.
"You'd make a great father."
"..What are you pointing at?"
"The kid, idiot."
...
..Oh, yep.
Sure enough, I finally spot our little jockey riding on Chica's shoulders. The two of them apparently preoccupied with admiring all the drawings the kids have made and pinned up on the wall.
"Mm. They look like they're doin' okay."
"Not that you would have known if I didn't find them for you."
"They're fine, wolf." I chuckle, crossing my arms as well. "Chica's probably the best person I could choose to have watch over a kid anyway."
"Uh-huh. Leave em' with the most airheaded bird-brain in the whole building; what could go wrong?"
"This place is safe enough that kids are often running around completely unattended. That's how it's always been."
"I'm just saying-, maybe it shouldn't be. Let 'em all run off on their own and it's only a matter of time until some dumbfuck gets themselves killed." Roxanne lectures, motioning to the several other kids in the room sitting at their respective tables drawing.
...
..That's.. Kind of a weird thing for her to say, actually..
Roxanne's always cared for the kids, but I don't think she's ever voiced an actual concern for their safety before.. Hell, I don't even think she's ever had an issue about the Pizzaplex's security until now.
...
Mm.. Just had a thought..
I know this'll sound irrelevant, but bear with me.
So now that I think about it, Roxanne's pissy attitude started the morning after Freddy and I went out into the field and started a fire. I've been under the assumption she's been upset lately because I kinda ditched her, as well as the several other unfortunate things that have happened recently; i.e. her raceway opening just in time for customers to stop showing up. Anyway, the big idea I'm poorly trying to get is this: Roxanne's been in a bad mood these last couple days, specifically for a variety of reasons.
That's not weird in-and-of itself. Robo-wolf or not, everyone's attitude tends to decay at an increasing rate in correlation with the sequence of undesirable events.. With that in mind, something does stick out a bit regarding Roxanne's case.
Despite it presumably being an unlucky collection of sequential events upsetting her, Roxanne's mood kinda changed on the dime..
She didn't progressively seep from content to dissatisfied; the day after I went outside with Freddy, Roxanne was instantly cold towards me, as well as everyone else..
..That doesn't really add up though, does it..?
Since it was a progressive series of events that caused Rox to get a little touchy, it doesn't make all that much since that her mood changed all at once.. I'm also reluctant to believe it was a 'straw that broke the camel's back' situation, since Roxanne very rarely hides how she feels about something; especially if how she feels is somewhere on the 'bad' spectrum.. I don't know- it's hard to explain. It just seems weird how Rox's attitude collapsed without any sign of prior deterioration.
..Sooooo.. If it doesn't make sense that 'several things happening over the course of a few days' is what caused Rox to get upset, then what if it wasn't?
What if there's a specific reason behind Roxanne's mood shift? What if, Instead of that gradual buildup, it was a single event/occurrence that caused her tolerance to practically disappear?
..In that case, what could than event have been..?
...
..Hm..
Nothing really stands out as particularly upsetting/significant, but at the same time, it feels like it could have been anything that made her like this..
...
...
..Alright, 'bout to get a little unnecessarily introspective here for a sec'..
Gonna think about it from a different angle. Instead of 'why is Roxanne pissy?' I'll start with 'what does 'pissy' even mean?'
So.. What specifically could I use to accurately describe how Roxanne's acting?
...
..I know this is far from unusual when it comes to Roxanne, but If I had to guess, I'd say Rox's been hyper-sensitive about 'things going her way' recently.
If something or someone isn't doing what she wants/acting the way she thinks they should, Rox retaliates with fare more venom than she ever has before. For example, she was far more willing to bring up that I initially sent Cooper into this craze of his (something she knew I upset with myself about) in order to achieve something trivial like give her my phone for a few seconds. Rox took unnecessarily drastic measures to get what she wanted, and I'm not sure if that's simply because she's in a 'bad mood' anymore.
I might just be overthinking it, but that does seem a little odd considering Roxanne's personality.. Usually she just gets 'upset', not 'defensive'.
So.. 'defensive' why?
There are plenty of ways to get 'upset' at something, so what might've caused 'defensiveness' in particular?
..The obvious answer would be to say 'Roxanne wants things to go her way because she thinks her way is the objectively right way'.. And y'know what? Despite it's obviousness, that might not be too far off from what's happening now.
Roxanne always thinks she's right, though. She's the 'best', after all.. So the issue is that she's found a reason to put a little more effort into forcing things to go her way.
So, why does she want things to go her way more than usual?
Well, why does anyone get defensive about things not going their way..?
...
...
Roxanne wants things to go her way because.. She's afraid of what might happen if they don't..?
And that, that thought right there -
That's where I made a connection to what Roxanne just said, about how letting kids run around on their own might be dangerous.
Rox, apparently, has a newfound concern for the children's safety. A concern I'm almost positive she's never had before.
Does that mean Roxanne isn't satisfied with the safety precautions we have here anymore?
...
..Does she think the Pizzaplex isn't safe?
...
...
...Unfortunately, a lot of that adds up..
Rox's attitude didn't present itself until after the night Freddy and I were out by the fire. If I remember right, the last thing that happened before the night ended was me letting Roxanne in on what I told everybody else by the fire. Namely; detailing how the declining customer count is a result of customers worrying that the Pizzaplex isn't a safe place, and explaining why they all thought that.. To top it off, Rox is one of the very few that know a couple of the rumors surrounding the old animatronics at night were true.
So.. In explaining why all the customers thought the place was unsafe, maybe I ended up accidentally convincing Roxanne the same thing.. Hell, with the secrets she knows, Rox would be especially susceptible to being wary of Freddy's past dangers.
That would also kinda explain why 'defensive about things going her way' is the attitude she's gone with recently, as well as where the motivation to pull through with such venomous negative responses comes from.
Roxanne always thinks her way is the best way. Therefor, when she's worried about the Pizzaplex's safety, Rox would also believe that her way is the safest way.
And, well.. If that's the case, I can understand where the mood's coming from.. If it was a matter of safety, I also wouldn't worry about seeming 'cold' or not when doing things that I believe make the place I live in a little safer.
...
..Roxanne's desperate measures toward getting me to work the day-shift today suddenly make a lot more sense, now that I consider that she might've been bringing me out here during our last day just to ensure we're extra safe..
...
...
But.. Regardless of her reasoning, she's wrong..
The Pizzaplex is safe. Freddy's past is a bloody one, but the Pizzaplex is safe. If Rox wants to be able to sleep and perform with maximum efficiency, then she cannot have this subtle safety concern eating at the back of her mind all the time..
The Pizzaplex is safe. I've been trying so dang hard to keep it that way.
...
...
"Can I talk to you for a minute..?" I ask nonchalantly, pointing at a nearby break-room door.
Roxy cocks a brow, unsure what to make of my request.
"..What?"
"Just want to talk to you about something."
"..We are talki- What do you call what we're doing right now, dipshit?" Roxanne replies, pointing at the floor we're standing on.
"No- I mean.. It's something a little too important for me to be comfortable talking about while in overhearing-distance of everybody."
Roxy folds her hand back into her crossed arms, trying to pretend like she isn't a little wary of whatever it is I have to say.
...
"..Am I in trouble?"
"No." I reassure, forcing myself not to poke fun at how seriously she asked that question.
...
Roxanne extends a hand towards Evan and Chica in the distance.
"Mike, I don't know if you should leave those two unatt-"
"Listen- Rox, I need to talk to you. Just for a couple seconds." I insist.
"S..Sheesh, fine.. The hell's gotten into you?"
"I'm perfectly fine; just wanna make sure of something. Follow me for a sec', we can grab drinks while we talk if you want."
Rox watches me push myself out of the chair I'm in and walk past her, her footsteps confirming she's tagging along after a short delay.
"..Are you okay?"
"Nothing's wrong, wolf. Hoping to prove that in a couple seconds, actually."
"Fine.."
...
..Thought I'd poke my head in the fridge and grab us a couple sodas before we continued talking.. Someone's drank all the orange ones again.. Roxanne's probly' gonna have something to say about that..
...
"..Which soda did you want?" I ask, vainly.
"How do you open this fucking window?"
Understandably interested, I peer over my shoulder and silently watch the wolf struggle for a few seconds; hoping that maybe she'll figure it out on her own if I don't intervene.
...
..Roxanne, in all of her glory, is truly struggling to open the break-room window behind me.
...
...
..Sigh..
"Just lift it."
"I am lifting it, Mike - where's the dumbass lock?"
"There is no lock, wolf- You don't have to touch anything, just lift from the bottom."
"I tried lifting it from the bottom." Roxy huffs, flicking her tail behind her like a cow swatting a fly.
"..Lift from the bottom better."
"I tried lif-! Mike- do you think I'm dumb?"
"Not until you started getting outsmarted by the world's least complicated window." I respond flatly, standing up from peering into the mini-fridge.
"Ugh.. Whatever- you try it, then." Roxy says, dismissively lifting her hands from the bottom of the windowsill and taking a step back from it.
"Mm." I hum, reaching into the fridge and grabbing the first two cylindrical objects my hand touches, taking them with me over to where Roxanne's standing.
...
As I pass by her, I gently shove one of the drinks into her arms and reach for the bottom of the windowsil.
"..What is this?"
"Your drink, Madame."
"I wanted th-"
- Krrshk -
"Window's open."
"Fuck you- what the hell? What did you do?" Roxanne grumbles, brushing by me to see what part of the window I'm touching.
"I lifted better."
..In her defense, I don't think this window's been opened for a while. It took a little extra effort to pry it from it's sill.. Not telling her that, though.
"Nn-, I can do without your sass, smart-ass.."
I chuckle under my breath, though keep it just loud enough to annoy her a little more.
"What a trophy it is getting called 'sassy' from the likes of you.."
Roxanne, apparently no longer fond of the memories we've made associated with an open window, wordlessly slides it shut with a huff.
"What-ever.. What's the deal with the drink, then?"
"Didn't feel like getting you an orange one."
"Aw-, was it too hard reaching from one side of the fridge to the other?"
"Mhm."
"Well I don't want this one. Catch, shitass."
Oh-
- tink -
..Welp. I caught it.
My non-drink hand was in my pocket though, so I had to catch the soda I offered her with the arm currently holding my soda..
..They clinked each other pretty hard.. Guess I'm not opening either of these for a while.
...
I look up from the two improvised explosives in my arm and watch Roxanne bend down to peer into the fridge herself.
...
"There.." Roxanne mutters under her breath, reaching into the fridge and retrieving her pr-
Oh, shit- there was actually an orange soda left in there?
...
- Crck-ksh -
Roxanne cracks open her soda and closes the fridge with her hip, then side-eyes me while she takes a long sip.
...
"The fuck are you looking at?" Roxy hums, lowering the drink from her face.
"Sorry.. I didn't think there were any orange ones left.." I admit, glancing down at the drinks in my hand.
I was just thought it'd be funny if I let Roxanne look in the fridge and see for herself that there weren't any oranges when I kinda implied that there was.. Well now it looks like I was too lazy to grab it since there was one actually in there..
Despite the sass I'm prepared to receive, Roxanne just chuckles and takes another sip.
"Ahh~. Not lazy, but an idiot."
"Mm.. At least I didn't get outsmarted by a window.."
Roxy closes her eyes and decides to chug her drink for whatever reason. Which, uh.. Which is a little impressive to do with a carbonated beverage..
...
- Crunch -
Crushing the can in her hands and underhand-lobbing it into the nearest trash bin, Roxanne wipes her face with her arm, then decides to stare me down with that infamous side-eye of hers again.
...
"You gonna explain why you brought me in here yet?"
"Mm, sure.." I respond quietly, deciding how I want this to play out while sliding both sodas in my arms onto the small wooden round-table beside me.
"You made an awfully big deal about it out in the drawing room before dragging me in here and refusing to follow up with literally anything." Roxanne chides playfully, crossing her arms and approaching to a good conversation distance.. And then some..
"I know; it's kind of a big deal, but not an urgent one, I guess.. Just wanted to make sure of something."
...
Roxanne leans in unnaturally close.
"Wanted a little alone time with me?"
Nn..
Roxanne's mood is shifting unpredictably again.. Might just need to get this out before her spontaneous playfulness makes it impossible to have a mildly-serious moment.
...
"..Hey, can I ask a serious question?"
...
..Roxanne's ear twitches while she reads my expression.
...
"..Yes?"
"You know that all the kids here in the Pizzaplex are completely safe, right?"
...
..Her ear twitches again, this time for a different reason.. A few seconds later, she stops leaning in forward and stands upright.
"..'Hell kinda question is that?"
"The straightforward kind.. It's not a trick question; I just.. Thought I noticed you had a concern for the children's safety out in the drawing room, which is something I've never heard you worry about before." I explain through a couple pauses, not super sure how to proceed with this interaction..
...
"..What-, am I not allowed to worry about children from time to time?"
"I never said you weren't. I just don't think I remember you feeling the need to worry about them before.."
"Mike-, I've always wanted the little runts to stay safe. That's not something new."
..That's not what I said..
"I know, I know, look-.. My concern was that, when we were out in the drawing area, It's not that you 'wanted' the kid's safety, it's that you 'worried' about it." I explain, holding my arms out a bit to stress my point. "Everybody wants the kids to be safe, but this is the first time I've seen any of you worry whether or not they actually were."
"When did I say I was worried about them?" Roxanne rebukes, shaking her head. "All I said was letting a million kids run around unattended is a stupid idea."
"Why?"
"..The fuck do you mean 'why'?"
Of course I get 'why', but I'm trying to make Roxanne work through this thought process herself so she can't refute it later..
"Why is letting the kids run around the Pizzaplex on their own a bad idea?"
" 'Cause what if literally anything happens?"
"Like what?"
"A kid falls, breaks a bone, sprains an ankle, knocks themselves out. Literally anything."
"The reason we let kids run around on their own is because we're prepared for events like that. There are security bots scattered all over during the day; they'll know before anyone else if a kid gets hurt anywhere in the Pizzaplex, and they're equipped to do first aid until someone gets there."
"So instead of trying to prevent them from getting hurt, we just try to make it better as fast as we can? That doesn't sound backwards to you?"
"It doesn't matter if the kids are alone or not when they get hurt. If a kid trips, a guard sitting in the room isn't gonna be able to react in time to save them; that's just how things are. The best we can do is try to make it better, which is why we have the bots on standby."
"Mike.." Roxanne huffs, planting her hands on her hips.
...
...
"But you knew that already.." I chide quietly, but confidently.
"What?"
"You've lived at the Pizzaplex your whole life. You knew way before I did what the purpose of the security bots were, as well as why we let kids walk around on their own here. There's no way you didn't know everything I just told you already.."
"The hell's gotten into you?"
Sigh..
"Look.. You already knew the kids are in good hands if they accidentally hurt themselves, so that can't be why you're worried about them all the sudden." I continue, sliding my hands into my pockets. "..So tell me what you're actually worried about this time."
...
Roxanne's tail swishes methodically behind her, matching her quizzical expression.
...
"Mike, what are you waiting for me to say?"
..Even though I know Roxanne wasn't worried about a kid hurting themselves, she did seem genuinely worried about kids wandering around on their own..
...
"Why does the thought of children walking around throughout the Pizzaplex unattended bug you? We're prepared for an accident if one ever occurs, and you know that. So if it's not an accident you're worried about, then what?"
Roxanne unfolds her arms with a huff, tired of me walking her through this..
"What, Mike? Tell me."
...
..She knows, but refuses to say it.. Even if Rox really didn't know before, I know she'd be able to piece it together with the logic I just used.
If it's not an accident she's worried about, then what's the only other alternative?
...
Roxy isn't worried that an accident might happen;
"You're worried something might happen on purpose.." I half-mumble, watching for her reaction.
"..What does that even mean?"
You know what that means, come on..
"What I'm saying is that I think you're worried someone might hurt the children, intentionally."
"Mike-, why? Why would I th-"
Okay, that's enough..
"Rox, stop it." I interrupt, sliding my hands from out of my pockets but leaving them at my sides. "You're playing dumb, and we'll be here all day if I try explaining everything you already know, so please just work with me for a second."
...
..That took her a bit by surprise.. I guess it's a little rare that I'm this adamant about something with her.
...
Rox.. Unfortunately doesn't appear to have enjoyed me interrupting her and calling her out on some bullshit.. I know this is far from unusual, but there's a hint of offense in her narrowed expression..
...
"..Fine." Roxanne responds, crossing her arms and returning an un-amused glare. "Let's hear it, then."
...
I guess that means she wants me to start..
"..Why do you think someone's gonna come here to hurt the children?"
"I don't think someone's going to, I just don't think it's impossible. All I was saying is that a little extra caution to make sure nobody gets to the little runts couldn't hurt; is that so much to fuckin' ask?"
"I get that, but I don't get why you're only starting to worry about that now."
"Mike-, does that even matter?" Rox exhales, shaking her head like I'm the one bringing us off track.
..Does it matter?
Isn't it more important to work with the fact that this worry exists, rather than when it started existing?
...
...
..I think it does matter, actually..
"I think it does. If you only started to feel concern their safety recently, then that makes me think something happened that triggered you into worrying about them."
"So?"
..Sighhh..
Alright, think it's time for a different approach..
...
"..Look, no one's gonna come to the Pizzaplex and try to kill a kid. That's all I mean to say."
"You don't know that for sure, numbnuts. Anyone could-"
"No one is going to die in the Pizzaplex, Rox. I promise."
"Mike- you don't know that..! ..Sheesh- it doesn't matter if you 'promise', idiot; it's out of your control."
"People don't kill just 'because'. There's always something that drives them to doing so, whether it's an actual reason they have or just plain mental illness. If someone wants to come here and try hurting someone, they need a reason."
"They could have any reason, Mike. Literally any reason."
...
..Ugh, dammit.. I really can't let this part go..:
"..Alright, but.. You knew that already.."
"Mike."
"Rox, even if that's true, that still doesn't explain why you only recently started to worry about the children's safety. That logic would have been valid half a year ago, but it didn't cause you to worry back then, so why does it now?"
"So what if I started now?" Roxanne huffs, exaggerating a shrug. "How could it possibly matter?"
Because if I can figure out why you started worrying when you did, I think I'll be able to figure out why..
...
...
My lips purse a little bit.
..Actually.. I think I already know why.. It's like I said before:
I know Roxanne started acting brash the morning after I was out by the fire with Freddy. The last thing I did that night was explain to her what I explained to everyone else.
..That includes talking about how Freddy's past is notoriously bloody..
The thing is, Roxanne pretty much knew Freddy's was a dangerous place.. I was basically just repeating to her what she already knew, and threw in some small snippets of new information regarding the declining guest-count and whatnot, so..
...
..Roxanne knew Freddy's was dangerous before I went and talked to her about it again..
..So, what if by repeating the bloody part of Freddy's history that she already knew, I was simply pounding that information into her brain even harder?
And since I kept pounding the concept that 'Freddy's = dangerous' into her brain, maybe I sunk in a little too deep, and got her to think that because the Pizzaplex is a 'Freddy's' location, it's also dangerous..
Mnn.. The concept's simple in my brain, but it's hard to explain with words..
...
...
Think I'm gonna skip a few transitions and jump straight there..
"Alright, listen.. I'm gonna keep it blunt: this place isn't like the old locations." I affirm, taking a step back until I feel the windowsill touch my back; then position myself to start leaning on it.
Roxanne's ear twitches..
"..Mike, now what the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm just.. Trying to reassure you that I know the old Freddy's had a lot of bad stuff go on in them, but that absolutely doesn't mean anything bad will happen here because of it."
"Who said anything about the old Freddy's?" Roxanne huffs, planting a hand on the nearby table.
...
Roxy's trying to make it seem like the old Freddy locations are unrelated to what's happening now..
..But I think she's bluffing..
"..I'm chasing a whim."
"What are you trying to say?"
"That if you're worried about the dangers of the past resurfacing here, causing this place to be 'unsafe', then I can promise you that you shouldn't be."
"Mike, who-..? Who said I was.. worried, about-.." Roxanne stutters, obviously wanting to fight me on that statement, but also not wanting to admit that's what she's concerned with..
...
"Listen, all you need to know is that none of the bad stuff that happened at Freddy's will happen here, because this place isn't the same. The Pizzaplex is different."
...
"Nn- Mike, how? What makes us any different?" Roxy breaks, balling her hand on the table into an annoyed fist.
Gotcha..
"Everything important. I know we have the same name up on the front of our buildings as the old places did, but we really have nothing to do with the old Fazbear Entertainment. This place isn't owned by-"
"The same name is all we need, corpse." Roxanne interrupts, shoo-ing my argument away with her free hand. "Who cares who owns this place? As long as we're 'Freddy's', we're due for a fuckin' disaster. The name's all some of the old places needed, right?"
"..What do you mean?"
"What's the scary place you worked at?"
"What..? Oh- Fazbear Frights?"
"Yes. They were just some dumbass dudes, weren't they? Owned by someone else? That also had 'nothing to do' with the old Freddy's?"
"They-.."
"And that place was still reduced to fuckin' crisps, wasn't it? Myeahp, we both know it was, 'cause you burnt it down. Then there was that random-ass pizzeria that also had 'nothing to do with the old locations' that lasted a couple days before also spontaneously bursting into a fuggin' inferno."
"Rox."
"Mike-, listen." Roxanne begins, then takes a condescendingly-long breath before continuing. "..I don't know what happened to those places, but I don't care. There's a pattern, whether you like it or not. Call it magic if you want; but if a place has literally anything to do with Freddy's, even just the name, something terrible happens there."
"That's not true." I respond stoically, taking my hands from behind me and crossing my arms. "And that's not a good enough reason to start stressing yourself out about it. I understand the old Freddy's places have a bad track record, but it what happened there wasn't a result of some whimsical 'prophecy' or anything. Everything happened for a reason, and that's not gonna stop being the case here for the Pizzaplex. If something bad wants to happen here, it'll need a reason to do so; just like how the old tragedies needed their reasons to occur."
"What fuckin' 'reasons'?"
"I've told you about the Frights before. It was biggest collection of Freddy's relics that existed at the time, as well as one last glitchy animatronic I needed to get rid of; therefor I had a reason to burn it down.. Just because the place was owned by new people doesn't mean it had nothing to do with the old Freddy's locations. Hell, I'd say the frights had more to do with Freddy's than even the real Freddy's locations did.. What I'm trying to say is that there were significant, palpable reasons why things happened the way they did; nothing just-.. 'happened' randomly."
"Mike, I'm-.." Roxanne sighs, starting to get tired of this interaction. "..Okay, I get shit happened for a reason, but so what? You make it sound like you'd know if someone found a 'reason' to come kill shit at the Pizzaplex, but why would you? Literally anybody could have a 'reason', but we-.. You have no way of figuring that out until after they already do bad shit."
"That's not true; I've been making sure of that."
Roxanne stops me from continuing by pushing off the table and taking a single step towards me.
"Listen, Mike. All I'm saying is that it couldn't hurt to take a little more care in making sure this place is fuckin' safe, alright? It can't be that hard, just throw another guard or two somewhere to keep an eye on the place and I'll feel better, happy?"
"No. I'm trying to explain that you shouldn't feel worried for the children at all; they're already 100% safe.. And even if we were to get a couple more guards, I don't think that'd make you feel any better."
"Why? ..I'm not asking for a lot, Michael. It doesn't even have to be guards; it can be motion detectors, cameras, whatever. We don't even need very many of them; just a few more to make sure the whole place can be supervised."
"No matter how many of those we get, you're only gonna want more. The kids are completely safe, and you won't feel better until you internalize that." I respond, unshaken.
"ugh.. Mike-, it would make me feel better..! Just another camera or something to make sure some creepy-crawly bastard isn't sneaking through the front doors at night without us knowing would be enough to make me feel a lot b-"
"What?"
Roxanne nearly jumps when I interrupt her push myself off the windowsill.
"Holy sh-.. What? What's your deal? jesus.."
Her story changed.
...
"..I thought you were worried about the kids?"
...
Roxanne responds with a blank stare; zero clue what I'm getting at.
...
"Mike, I am worried about them. The hell do you mean 'I thought you were'?"
"That's-.. You just said you didn't want an intruder to enter the building at night."
"So?"
"There aren't children at night.. The gang, You, Trudge, and I are the only ones there after hours."
..Roxanne stares at me again, trying to figure out for herself what she meant by 'at night'..
...
"oh shit, Mike, I-.." Roxy mutters, recoiling ever so slightly as she realized what she just implied.
...
-._. "..Rox, you're safe here, you know that right?" ._.-
...
"Mike, y-.." Roxy begins, lifting her arms to start defending herself from my accusation.
..But she isn't able to find the words to loophole her way out of this..
...
Slowly, Roxanne just crosses her arms and lowers her snout a couple inches; glaring up at me with unmistakable recession in her eyes.
Nn..
Shit.. I hate considering the idea that Roxanne herself feels unsafe, but it really does make way more sense than just being worried about the kids.. It would explain why she's been fussy and defensive all night, instead of just when the kids are around..
I thought it was weird that Roxy was following Evan and I around all day, instead of running off to her raceway or engulfing herself in her fans.. She didn't want to leave the 'security guard's' side, because she wasn't feeling 100% safe.. Ugh-, it also explains why Roxy's been forcing me to stay with her for much longer periods of time these last couple nights; and explains why Roxanne fought so hard to hide this information from me.. Someone who likes to seem as tough as she does would never admit they feel unsafe.
Damn it - Of course she's been super fussy these last couple nights. Roxanne doesn't even feel safe in her own home anymore; that'd be enough to make anyone feel on edge.
I am not letting this go.
"Roxanne."
"Mike, I'm just-..!"
"You cannot hide something like this from me." I assert, pulling a role reversal by taking a step towards her. "This is far more important than you're making it out to be."
"I'm fine..!" Roxanne responds hopelessly, desperately trying to convey through her body language that I'm wrong about something. "Jeez-, I'm just being a little more cautious..! That's fine..!"
"You're being cautious because you don't even feel safe in your own living quarters anymore. You are not 'fine' if you're constantly afraid of being slaughtered. People can't live like that; you need a place where you feel safe." I explain adamantly, stepping toward her.
"I'm not a kid, Mike- I can handle myself.."
"I know, but you shouldn't feel like you need to handle yourself."
"That doesn't make any sense."
...
"Roxanne, you are safe here. I'm not letting you leave until you believe that."
"Stop it.. Why did you stop calling me Rox?"
As I take another step forward, Roxy stretches both of her arms out in front of her, like she's trying to catch my shoulders and prevent me from getting any closer.. I decide to stop approaching and save her the trouble.
"..Look, I get that it sucks, but we need to talk about this."
"Mike, you're freaking me out.. I'm telling you, I'm fine-"
"You aren't."
"I am..!"
...
..Rox silently takes her arms down, and holds them by her waist.
"Why do you think that anything would happen here at the Pizzaplex? How do you figure that you're at all in danger because of it?" I ask, jumping right into the questions instead of waiting for her to accept her role in this interaction.
"Mike, I already told you. I don't think anything is bound to happen, I just don't think it's impossible either.."
"It is. No one will ever die here, Roxanne. I'll say it as many times as it takes for you to believe me."
"You don't know that..!" Roxy barks, a hint of fight returning to her body language. "We just talked about how you wouldn't know if anyone has a reason to come here and hurt somebody.
"I would."
"Mike, stop it.."
"Listen to me.." I begin, returning her glare with just as much intensity. "You're worried a 'reason' for someone to come here and do something horrible at the Pizzaplex might conjure itself into existence from the ashes of the old Freddy's locations, and I get that. Tons of stuff went down in those old places that was bloody, tragic, and terrifying; it's only natural to want to avoid it. Hell, you might even be right."
"The fuck do you mean 'I'm right'?"
"It's not impossible that someone might find a reason to do kill or injure someone here, as long as this place and the old locations are connected. That makes sense to me; You're right."
"Oh- thanks, Michael. The hell are you even trying to say? I'm right about someone wanting to fucking kill me?"
"That's not impossible."
...
...
"R..Really..?"
Well.. That got her attention, at least..
"Look - you're right about how a real, legitimate danger might be able to form if remnants of Freddy's past are allowed to stew here. A story like that has a way of inspiring people.. That's where someone's 'reason' for wanting to do something horrible might come from."
...
"..Okay, M-.. Mike, I don't wanna talk about this anymore.."
"Listen- bear with me for a second. Think about that the other way around."
"Think about what the other way around? ..You're treating me like a kid, Mike, I don't-"
"If someone finds the inspiration to do something bad as a result of this place being connected to the old Freddy's somehow, then that means people can't find inspiration to do something bad if this place isn't connected with Freddy's whatsoever; you get what I mean?"
"W.. What the hell are you talking about?"
"It's really dumb, isn't it? It's like that's way too simple to actually be the case, but think about it all you want, and you'll reach the same conclusion." I affirm, letting some of my stoicism fade away. "..Everything that's ever had to do with Freddy's is a mangled-mess of malice that spreads kinda like a disease.. Something bad might come of it if it lingers here, yes, but that doesn't matter. Nothing from Freddy's exists here, so how could it 'stew' here, right? The Pizzaplex has nothing to do with the past, and neither do you. As long as that's true, we're completely un-targetable by the dangers that plagued Freddy's. There's no bridge for those dangers to cross over here with."
"Holy shit Mike, you've thought about this way too fucking much.."
Yeah, y'know what? I couldn't agree more..
...
"..Starting to get it..?"
"..No- Mike.. What do you mean this place has nothing to do with Freddy's? We have tons of old shit here.." Roxy mutters, not so much trying to argue with me as she is genuinely asking
"We don't, I've been working hard to make that the case. Hell, that's the whole reason I came to work here in the first place, remember? I wanted to find what this place had in common with the old locations, and tear that apart; just like I did with the Frights."
"We do have old Freddy's shit, though.."
"We don't."
"Cooper literally brought in all the shit he could find by the truckload a couple weeks ago, right..?"
"Yeah, but nothing he brought in exists here today."
...
"..I don't know, Mike; he brought in so much shit.."
"And we sorted it all, until each and every item was in the 'trash' pile. A lot of those things we sifted through really did have meaning, which is what Cooper asked me to find, but I told everyone they were trash. It all went out to get tossed, or incinerated, or whatever.. Regardless, everything he brought in was thrown right back out, and I did that on purpose in order to prevent a bridge between the Pizzaplex and the old Freddy's history from being made. Nothing's Cooper brought is left."
"..No-, I kept the old phone for you, remember? That didn't get-.."
"That wasn't thrown out, I know, but.. Throwing a wrench at it so hard that it explodes is as close second."
"But the suit-"
"I personally went out to burn the suit until there was nothing left of it. No traces of the body even exist anymore; we just saw it yesterday when we went to dispose of the bird, remember?"
"No, I mean-.. didn't you let Cooper take some old suits?"
"Yes, but he took them home.. Frankly, as long as they aren't here, I don't really care what happens to them."
...
...
Roxanne fidgets a little.. I think I might've fried her brain again..
...
"You're safe, Roxanne."
"..."
"You are completely out of reach to any of the dangers you're worried about, I swear. Without this place being tied to the past in some way, all the dangers that derive from it literally cannot connect with us here at the Pizzaplex. It's not that someone won't find the motivation to hurt you or anyone else here, it's that they can't."
"Jesus christ you talk too much.."
"I'm making it sound more complicated than it actually is. I'm just not very good at explaining things.."
"What the hell am I supposed to feel right now..?"
"..Mm.. I don't know.. But I'll repeat everything we just talked about as many times as it takes for you to understand that you are completely, safe. Hell-," I point up at myself with one hand, and in the general direction of where the other animatronics might be with the other. "Even if, somehow, a threat managed to surface with the desire to hurt you, it couldn't. It'd have to get past the Pizzaplex's insane security, first of all; but secondly, even if all that were to fail, you've still got an army in front of you. Whoever it is who'd want to hurt you would absolutely have to go through Freddy first, since nothing gets past him. Then they'd have to get through Monty, and good fuckin' luck with that. Then, finally, they'd have to get through me."
And frankly, I'm not even sure it's possible to 'get through me' anymore.. Unless they bring the necessary equipment to trap me in a blazing inferno like I did my father, I reckon they'd have a hard time trying to kill what's already dead..
"..."
"..Not that it even matters, though. Look, at the end of the day, what I'm trying to say is that the threats from the old Freddy's locations can't even reach you here, because I won't let them. Even if something Freddy related does manage to slip by me and cause someone to wanna hurt you, they'd still have to get through me physically. So, regardless of what happens, you won't be in danger until I somehow straight-up die first; so you don't have to worry about anything until that point."
"I don't-.. Don't need you white knight-ing me, Michael.." .
...
"..Purple knight-ing."
"Ohh~ how super fuckin' clever, dumbass.." Roxy groans, using my dumbassery to find some footing over herself. "..idiot.. Weren't we having a moment?"
"I never know whether you think we're having a 'moment' or not.."
"Way to kill the mood."
Sigh..
"..Whatever-, all I care about is whether or not you get what I'm telling you."
...
..Roxanne takes a deep breath under the guise as a huff, pretending like she wasn't forcing back some emotions right then.
...
"..Yes, whatever.." She mutters, crossing her arms.
"You do?"
"Yes.."
...
I, uh.. I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it..
...
"..Youuuuu sure..? You still seem.. A little annoyed.."
"I'm fine, I get it." Roxy exhales, randomly deciding to reach for one of the sodas I put on the table and start trekking for the mini-fridge behind her. "Just another stupid case of 'Mikey makes it all better again'.. Feels dumb."
..I don't really know what that means..
...
"Sorry..? I didn't mean to sound condescending or anything; just wanted to get my point across.."
"I didn't say you were condescending." She retorts, opening the fridge and sliding the extra soda can back where it came from.
...
"What part of what I said was annoying, then..?"
"I wasn't being sarcastic, idiot. I meant-, ugh.. I meant it.."
"..Meant what?"
Roxanne rolls her eyes, staying hunched and staring into the fridge like there's something interesting in there for her.
"You-, fuckin'.. You really did make it better again, moron." Rox barks quietly, as if I did something wrong. "I know it's stupid, but it makes me feel dumb."
...
"You-.. You actually feel better..?"
Ugh-, that sounded really stupid coming out of my mouth.. It was a genuine question too..
"Yes, and you didn't even try; just like all the other times.." She huffs, toying with the fridge handle. "All you did was drag me in a room and talk to me for 5 minutes, and *poof*; there go all my fuckin' issues.. You always fix it so easily, and that makes it feel like my problems are trivial.."
Shit, I actually did it..?
...
Okay, okay, sorry, just.. These last couple days haven't been the greatest, and none of my efforts to make them better bore any fruit..
So it, uhm.. It felt good to have done something right this time.. Felt good to make something better instead of worse.
...
"..Mm.." I hum, not sure if I should apologize or not for 'fixing problems easily'..
...
..The room goes quiet for a moment, and I'm not really sure what to make of it. Roxanne's still hunched over and staring into the fridge, but I'm more inclined to believe she's just thinking, rather than actually waiting for something to materialize in the cooler for her.
...
Then, she stands up.
The fridge door lightly smacks shut, but Roxanne doesn't take her hand off the handle. Instead, in direct contrast to how hard she was struggling to maintain eye-contact before, she simply turns and looks at me with an expression I'm not sure I've ever seen before.
...
...
"..You're the only one who can get that far, you know."
"..?"
...
...
Delicately pushing off the fridge, Roxanne nonchalantly decides to approach me until we reach a standard-conversation distance..
..And then some..
...
She stops less than a foot away from where I'm standing, but only stares down at me for a few seconds once she comes to a halt..
...
..Yep, she's still tall..
I desperately try reading her expression, but I just can't put together what it means.. Which kinda bodes poorly, since that means I won't have much footing over whatever interaction we're about to have..
...
...
Without warning, Rox bends down and leans forward until we're at face-level. I instinctively arc back a little out of fear she was about to simply run her face into my face, but thankfully, she stops with her snout a mere inch or two away from my nose.
"It's a little frustrating watching you take care of stuff so easily; it makes every problem you fix seem like it was never a big deal, even if it was."
"Uhm-.."
...
..Is she angry with me..?
Her tone is.. really gentle, but I don't-
"But I can live with that." Roxanne interrupts, tilting her head an inch. "Because no one else can even get that far. Yes, maybe you make me feel better in ways that are kind of annoying, but so what? You're the only one who can go so far as to make me feel better in the first place."
"..?"
"Others can make nice distractions, or sometimes even make it a little easier for me to figure stuff out on my own, but that's not enough for me anymore. Not since you marched your purple ass into my life and keep flipping everything on its head."
"I'm-.. What do you mean?"
"I mean I feel better, Mike." Roxanne answers quickly. Her hands plant on my shoulders unnoticed as if she's trying to keep me still, spreading an unexpected warmth through my upper body. "Do you know how many people have ever been able to make me feel better about anything before?"
"N-.."
"Zero. No one else, ever. Not Chica, not Freddy, definitely not Monty; nobody. Nobody but you."
...
The hell is happening right now?
Is she complimenting me..?
Her words are.. flattering.. but I just don't know.. Part of me wants to say 'thanks', but her tone sounds more like she's informing me of all this, instead of expressing gratitude for it..
...
..Am I expected to do something?
Rox looks.. Shockingly content to just stand there are search my soul through my eyes, like she's looking for something in there.. If she's not doing anything, that makes me thinkg I should be, but hell-.. I feel like I'd get a sharp negative reaction if I even tried to move..
...
..Roxanne's mood really is growing unpredictable.. I wasn't expecting this at all..
...
...
After standing here motionlessly for far too long, Roxanne suddenly recoils an inch, like something just interrupted the thoughts she was having,
...
"Can I see your phone?"
...
"..My phone?" I parrot, even more lost than I was before.
"Yes."
...
"Uhm.."
"Please?"
Wow. 'Please'..
That sure is a far cry from 'give me your phone, I'll guilt trip you if you don't.'
...
"Sure.." I answer, warily.. Rox really is being a lot nicer about it this time around, so.. I dunno, I guess it couldn't hurt..
"Thank you." She responds, sliding the phone from my hand and pushing off my shoulders to wander somewhere else in the room.. "..Just a sec'.."
...
"What are you doing..?"
"Nothing important. Just wanna tell him I'm-.." Roxy trails off, below where I can hear her.
...
..Yeah, I'm lost..
Don't know what this is about, nor do I know what the deal is with that last interaction we just had..
...
Prying my gaze from the wolf, I glance down at the table next to me.
Oh yeah..
...
..I'm sure this has fizzled down a bit by now..
I wrap my hand around the remaining soda left on the table. Despite how long we've been talking, the can is still cold enough for trace amounts of frost to trace below its rim.
...
Actually, that is kind of weird. Traces of ice around the can usually melt super quick after being removed from the fridge; and we've been talking for a while.
..At least, I think we have..
...
I lift my arm and gaze down at my watch.
Ah, Yep. Hmmmm.. Verryy interesting..
...
...
..Alright, after some time carefully staring at my arm, I can safely deduce that Arin hasn't given me my watch back yet.
...
Lowering my arm and pretending that didn't happen, I scout the room for a clock on the wall.
Sure enough, thar she blows.
...
..Well, according to it, it's only a few minutes until 10:00.
I'll have to double check once I get my phone back to see if that's accurate, but if it is, far less time has passed than I originally thought. Less than fifteen minutes..
...
I glance back down at the soda in my hand.
It.. Really feels like it's been a lot longer, but that does actually add up a bit.. It's not even particularly cold in here, so surely the drink would've warmed up enough not to be ice-y if any significant amount of time had actually passed..
...
Reflexively, my gaze eventually settles back on Roxanne though; curiously waiting for it to become obvious what she's doing on my phone
...
"..This is so much fuckin' easier than typing on Freddy's watches." Roxy mutters loud enough for me to hear.
"Mm. Freddy did a good job with the messaging system for small of a screen he had to work with." I respond, looking up at the clock again. "..But yeah, it wouldn't be able to compare with something like a phone."
...
"..I want one of these.."
"No."
Rox huffs in amusement, lifting the phone up a little higher and letting it's light reflect off her eyes.
"You didn't even think about it."
"Chica's asked for a phone before, too."
"Aww~, don't you like me more than Chica?"
"The problem is that I wouldn't be able to give it to just one of you.." I explain, sliding a chair out from the table. "If I gave Chica one, you'd whine about how I gave one to her but refused to give one to my 'best friend', and I'd have to get you one. Then two of you'd have phones, and that wouldn't be fair for the other two, so I'd have to get them phones.. You know what I mean?"
"Mhm." Roxanne hums playfully, peeking over the phone at me. "So why don't you just get me one?"
"What do you mean?"
"Chica wouldn't be able to say something 'bout how she's your 'best friend' or anything. You could just say you got me one 'cause you like me the most."
"Chica would not be content with that argument.."
"Well she has her own fanboy anyway." Rox continues, continuing what she's doing on my phone. "Tell her that her boyfriend get it for her."
"..I'm not your 'fanboy', wolf."
"You're my 'boy'. Makes no difference to me what word you put in front of it."
..I know she's deliberately teasing me again, but it doesn't make me wanna respond any less..
...
"Whatever you say.." I mutter.
"Aw, don't like that one either?"
"What?"
"We could call you my 'escort' or something, if that'd make you feel better."
..Apparently Rox isn't done milking enjoyment from this topic.
" 'Escort'?"
"Mhm, since you're already my white-knight and all."
Guess that's something I'm not gonna be living down for a while.
...
"..I'd still prefer to be a purple-knight."
Roxanne simply chuckles, and finishes up whatever she's doing on my phone.
...
..That's something we haven't really done in a while..
It's been hard to have stupid little banter with Rox like that ever since she started getting all sensitive and touchy a few days back..
...
It felt nice doing that again..
...
...
"M'kay, I'm done."
"Mm.. What were you doing?"
"Catch."
Oh-
- pompf -
Oh, shit, hey..
Looked over as fast as I could when I registered what she was telling me to do, but still didn't have the time to react, as my phone was already well in the damn air by the time Rox decided to say 'catch'.
Luckily, the thing landed safely in my already-folded arms.
"Sheesh.."
"Nice catch."
"Nice throw.." I reluctantly admit, unfolding my arms to let the phone slide through and catching it with my free hand as it falls.
Roxanne just hums with a contended grin.. She pushes herself off the wall she was leaning on, and starts heading my way again.
"Textin'." She replies, responding to my question from before.
"..Well yeah- I figured you were texting somebody when you commented on how nice typing felt on a phone."
"I'm just answerin' your question, purple boy."
..Sigh..
"Who were you texting?"
"No one important. Not tryin' to get anything this time, just thought I'd message somebody."
"That bodes poorly."
"Mm~." Rox hums, crossing her arms and staring at me with a coy grin.
...
"In a good mood all the sudden, huh.." I ask, rhetorically.
"Mhm~. Feel a lot better now that I know you're gonna have to die before I do. On one hand, if you don't die, that means I'm safe; but on the other, if you do die, that means you die, which is also a pretty desirably outcome. Win-win scenario, Mikey."
"Stop calling me Mikey."
"No."
"Mm.."
...
...
..Her sneaky grin keeps getting bigger.. That's admittedly a little dismaying..
...
"Alright, I'm bored." Rox announces matter-of-factly.
"..Okay?"
"Lets go."
...
..Most people would start going somewhere after they say that..
"..Go where?"
"Wherever you need to go. Or back to that little kid Chica's got ensnared on her shoulders, if you want. I dunno, whatever, just find something interesting to do."
" 'Find something interesting to do'? "
"Mhm."
...
"You don't wanna decide what would be 'interesting' to do for yourself?" I ask, cocking a suspicious brow..
"It's funner following you places." Rox explains, shrugging with her hands. "Plus, I'm kinda fond of you today, so I'll let you do what you want."
'Let you do what you want'.. You're not my damn-, nn..
..I know she's just saying things to get a reaction out of me, but it's working..
"What a back-handed compliment.."
...
I wait for her witty, cocky response, but I don't get one.
..Roxanne's pursed her lips like she's thinking about something, but as soon as I recognize that, her sly grin's right back where it was...
"You know what.. Actually, I am kind of in the mood for you today.." She mutters to herself, but intentionally keeps it loud enough for me to hear.
Her attitude's shifted back to playful out of nowhere again.. Might need to figure out why that's happening at some point.. For my sake.
"..What the hell does that even mean?"
...
After another short thinking session, Roxanne un-crosses her arms and folds them behind her back innocently; trying to max-out the 'coy-ness' meter..
"You're gonna need'ta sleep as soon as you get home, Michael~. I want you here first thing tomorrow morning, and you're gonna be fulfilling your end of the deal this time."
Fuck.
Oh god-, tomorrow morning? Rox is already forcing me to stay awake far longer than usual to work as a day-guard and watch her show tonight.. The only way I'm getting the sleep I need after today is if I seriously do go right to bed as soon as I get home..
"..You want to do it tomorrow?"
"Mhm. Scared?"
"You're not saving that promise until a little later after we shut down, like you planned?"
"Tomorrow is a break-day. I said I'd get you for one full day over the break, and that's what I'm doing."
Bduh..
"..No rest for the wicked, huh.."
"I'm raising the stakes, too. That laptop deal isn't fair anymore."
Nope.
"No-, that's already part of the deal." I defend, crossing my arms. "You went on a whole schpeel about how the words I used to make that bed were set in stone, and exploited the specific terminology I used to get a full day out of that deal when I only meant to give you from 12 to 6. You can't do that, then also try saying the phrasing isn't set in stone by changing the rules."
"Ooo~, look at you getting all feisty with me."
"There's only so much of your abuse I'm willing to take, yeah."
"Aw-, you haven't even seen my abuse yet. That's what you're gonna be getting tomorrow."
..Y'know what?
Roxanne's not touchy or sensitive anymore, so I think I'm done refraining myself from opposing her.
So, let's see who wins in a stubborn-off. A pampered wolf with sass issues, or a man who didn't even let death stop him from killing a small army of murder-robots.
"..I've been looking for an excuse to get a new laptop." I respond with a heavy-lidded glare.
"Losing your little computer isn't even close to the worst thing that'll happen to you if you disobey me." Rox retorts, closing in on me.
"You can't change the rules, wolf. Nothing you can do about that."
"Hmmm, is that right?"
"Myep."
"Maybe it doesn't have to be a part of the rules then, hm?"
Roxanne makes it up next to me, trying to discomfort me with the close proximity again, but I don't feel the need to budge this time.
..Man, it's like her face was designed with a coy grin in mind.. Kind of an odd decision to get so good at making the most punch-able face you can muster.
"You think I'll just listen to you whether it's part of the rules or not?"
"You don't have to. It won't matter."
"Enlighten me, princess."
"Well~, for example, I can just say I'm gonna cut a hole into each of your tires if you fail to listen to me. What are you gonna do? Monitor your car in the parking lot 24/7?"
"I don't think I need to. What would you gain from slashing my tires? Feeding your spite?"
I've got to tilt my head slightly upwards to stare at Rox due to our proximity, and she has to look down a bit to do the same.. Kinda resembles that popular Goku-Frieza staredown from the old, uh..
...
..There's been a suspicious amount of Dragon Ball in my life these last couple days.. When's the last time I even saw a clip of that show? Or any show, for that matter?
...
I should probably focus on the discussion we're having..
"Mmm, I guess you're right. What do you think I should make your punishment be, then?"
"It'd be easier for both of us if you were just content with what you got."
"Aww, but then what would motivate you not to disobey me? You'd have it too easy."
"Look, I'll 'play' that little game with you and at least try not to fail, but you're-"
"Nope. Not good enough." Roxanne chimes, lifting her arm and tapping at my collarbone with a claw. "It's only gonna be fun if you desperately don't want to lose. Needs to be bad enough that you won't even argue with me when say what I want from you, and the computer's not good enough for that anymore."
At the time, the laptop really was something I couldn't afford to lose.. Now though, the accursed document that's caused so many troubles no longer exists, so letting her have the laptop and getting another one of my own really doesn't sound all that bad.
"Good luck, wolf."
"Hmmmm~.."
"Stop doing that.."
...
...
"Ohh, Mike, I know~."
"Joy.."
Roxanne stops tapping my collarbone, and instead just keeps the claw there pressed against it for a couple seconds.. Then, after a dramatic pause, She slides her finger from my collar all the way down my chest until it reaches my upper-gut.
"Fail me, and I'm gonna see this 'injury' of yours I've heard so much about."
..Oh- my scar?
Like. Hell. You. Are.
"Absolutely not, wolf."
Roxanne only snickers.
"That reaction's tellin' me I made a good choice."
Nn-..
Shit.. Yeah, pretty sure I just solidified her decision by responding so negatively.. But how the hell else was I supposed to react?
"No, Rox; that's not happening."
"It's not up to you, Mike-a-like."
"That's too much.."
"Then it's perfect." She hums, dragging her finger across my stomach as if she's trying to feel out the injury. "You aren't supposed to be okay with it, that's the whole point~. Betcha won't fail me now, huh?"
..Sigh..
...
I narrow my gaze, expressing a little more disapproval.
"..Regardless, Rox, it still isn't part of the deal we made. I have zero obligation to show you anything."
"Who said you'd be showing me anything? You think I can't rip a shirt off you?"
"We've fought in the past, wolf. Remember how that ended?"
"We've fought twice, purple boy. And yeah. I'm pretty sure I remember sinking teeth into your shoulder as you sat there helpless at the end of one of 'em."
Mnn..
"That-"
"You taste delicious, by the way. Might sneak a bite next time, too."
Riveting..
...
Gonna pull out a couple more stops here. This is kind of an all-or-nothing deal..
"..I didn't fight back during our scuffles, either.."
"Mhm?"
"Look-, it still isn't part of the deal, so I reserve the right to defend myself. I'll be doing everything it takes to do so, even if that means fighting back from time to time."
"Oh-ho!" Roxanne exaggerates a single laugh, leaning in a bit further.
"Godammit.."
"We'll finally get to see who's stronger, huh?"
"If I beat you without fighting back once, I have a sneaking suspicion I might do pretty well for myself.."
"So what?"
"What?"
Roxanne pokes my head this time; thankfully without claws..
"Even if you beat me, so what? Think I won't come back in an hour and try again?"
"Rox.."
"I only need to win once, Michael. You'll need to win every time."
"Rox.."
"But hey~! Why would I try to see your injury at all, right? One way or the other, I'm gonna see it if I try. But, I won't. I'll never ask to see it again, even."
"..What..?"
"I understand it's a secret to you; one that's obviously important. Hell, if you don't want to, you'll never have to show me it for as long as you live." Roxanne chimes, before unceremoniously taking her damn poking-hand and moving it to the side of my face like she's trying to comfort me.
"Ow-"
"All you have to do is obey me."
...
...
Y'know what?
She's obviously made up her mind. I think I'm done trying.
"..Look, all I'm gonna say is that either way, I'm gonna fight it."
"Fight it all you like, you're-"
I nonchalantly wrap my hand around Roxanne's snout and clamp her mouth shut.
Shush.
...
Y'know what? Watching her coy, smug expression turn into a fit of shock and confusion when I grabbed her was a pretty pleasant thing to watch..
"I'm ready to go now. Evan's gonna start wondering where we are if we bunker here any longer."
"-Mm!?-"
Alright.
That made me laugh.
Roxanne patiently glares at me while I get my kicks out of listening to her try to speak with her mouth shut, then delicately pries my hand off her snout.
"Don't touch me.."
"You were poking me all across my body throughout that entire conversation."
"At least I was stressing a point by doing so.."
"I was too. My point was 'stop talking'."
"Fuck you."
"Ready to go?"
"Yes."
Roxanne releases my arm and steps aside for me to lead the way, exaggerating a 'ladies first' gesture.
"Thanks."
"My pleasure, corpse."
"Wanna go see Evan?" I ask, looking over my shoulder.
"You sure as hell do."
"Fair enough."
...
For no other reason than to mock her, I parrot her 'ladies first' gesture once I open the break-room door.
...
"I don't want to walk in front of you."
...
"..Why?"
"Think I trust you not to fuck with me after that little stunt?" Roxanne asks rhetorically, cocking a brow.
"Can I trust you not to mess with me?"
"I've got a reputation to uphold, so yes."
"Look at you, role-modeling and such."
Roxanne spontaneously snickers and crosses her arms.
"Mhm. Well either way, I've got no way of knowing what you're 'looking at' back there, so I'll stick to playing it safe around you."
Now there's a stroke of ego..
"Probably the hundreds of kids I'm supposed to be monitoring, if I had to guess."
"Well I think it'd be better for you to go first anyway; just in case something of mine distracts you from your duty to keep an eye on all the children."
"Subtle.." I sigh, exasperated by the amount of effort it takes for the two of us to do something as simple as walk through a door. "..You expect concerningly little integrity out of someone assigned to be a guard.."
"Aw - I didn't mean to say you don't have manners." Roxanne continues, exaggerating a shrug. "I wouldn't blame anyone for trying to sneak a look on someone as irresistible as me; it's not their fault."
..Once again, I know she's just messing with me, but it's working..
"..Can you just walk through the damn door?"
"Mm, wow. Not even denying it this time, huh?"
"You're really milking this 'bit' for all it's worth, huh?"
"Fine, fine. I'll go first." She decides, walking through the door despite zero effort to persuade her from my end. "Try not to stare."
"Don't worry.." I mutter under my breath once I'm sure Roxanne's through the door and out of earshot. "There's nothing to look at anyway.."
- Clack -
Oh-
"The fuck'd you just say to me?" Roxanne asks forcefully, poking her head back through the doorway and scaring the jeebus out of me.
"Jesus Christ- you could hear that?"
"What the fuck did you just say about me?"
"Rox, jus-"
" 'There's nothing to look at'? "
"Uh."
...
"You wanna fuckin' die, Mike?"
Whoops..
...
Sure enough, Chica and Evan are still staring at the wall littered with all the drawings people have made and stuck up on the wall today.. Must not take a lot to keep these two entertained.
...
"How come Chica's the only animatronic that's 'shorter'?" I wonder out loud, unintentionally catching the ear of the wolf leading me to the duo.
"..Why would I know?"
"Wasn't asking you in specific.. Just a little interesting how you and Freddy are both like 6'7, Monty's like 6'8, but Chica's only somewhere between 5'10 and 6'."
"Mm. Feeling inferior?"
"Not to Chica, that's for sure.."
"Too bad she'll never get to experience the feeling of looking down at you. Sometimes that's all I look forward to."
"Looking down all 4 inches?"
"Your ass is not 6'2, Michael."
"What-? Yes I am-.." I rebuke, looking down at myself. "..I'm somewhere around there, at least.."
"You're like 6. Maybe 6'1."
"The difference between those and 6'2 is not enough for you to be able to eyeball."
"It's a huge difference, moron."
..Sigh..
...
I mean, it isn't.. But I guess it might be to a fashion freak such as thee..
"Whatever you say.."
...
- "Oh-, see? There he is!" -
An incessantly high-pitched voice drags out attention away from each other, and we both look to see Chica waving me over.
..We were all but 8 feet away by the time she decided to wave, but whatever makes her happy..
"Sorry, we wandered off somewhere for a minute."
"He means he dragged me into the break-room with him." Roxanne unnecessarily interjects, lazily pointing a finger up at my face.
- Aw.. -
...
..Um?
Instinctively, I sneak a glance over my shoulder towards the source of the noise, but don't see anyone I know in the direction I heard it from.
...
..That was.. a peculiar sound..
"Um-! Chica show'd me how to draw her..!" Evan chimes atop Chica's shoulders; he's still a little intimidated by all the people around, but obviously excited to show me something.
"..Chica showed you how to draw Chica?" I ask, turning back to look at them.
"Hehe~.." Chica herself mischievously giggles.
"Yeah..! uhm-..!" Evan begins, twisting at his waist to look back at the wall of papers.
"Oh- is it already up there?" I ask, following his gaze.
"Yeah, it's.. somewhere.. Uhm.."
...
...
"..I have a feeling 'finding things' might not be something he excels at.." I whisper-mutter to Roxanne, who just chuckles under her breath
"You're right. Maybe he got that from you."
"Mm. He'd be a good night-guard."
"Mhm. The Pizzaplex could sure use one of those."
...
"Got anything worth saying that doesn't include insulting me?"
"Not really. You left an impression on me back there, so now you're stuck in my brain, and this is the consequence."
"I thought I left a *good* impression on you.."
"You did."
"And now I'm suffering the 'consequence' of that?"
"You should feel lucky I find you worth makin' fun of. Not many earn that privilege."
"Lucky them."
"D'aww- Where's all your *sarcasm*? What happened to the ferocious nightguard who shot right back at the wolf shooting at him?"
...
"Guess I got a little soft on you since you were in a bad mood these last couple days."
"Mm. Well~, I wouldn't mind if you made it a little harder for me to sink my teeth into you again. Startin' to get bored of you taking it all like a punching bag."
"Are you 'inviting me' to annoy you?"
"I'm 'challenging you' to 'try'."
I cock a brow and side-eye the wolf until she notices.
...
"..You say that as if you're not one of the easiest people to annoy on the planet, wolf. I could *characterize* you by saying 'constantly annoyed'."
"*You* say *that* as if you didn't just admit you've gotten soft these last couple days."
"It doesn't take me on top of my game to get a rise out of you."
"Try."
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
"Wow."
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
"Mike."
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
"Yes- I *heard* you, numbnuts."
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
"..."
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
"Jesus Christ.."
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
"Okay?"
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
"..So?"
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
"Michael."
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
"That's enoug-"
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
" *Mike.* "
"Chica has a boyfriend and you don't."
" *Stop. It.* "
"I win."
"Oh- I found it..!" Evans voice erupts suddenly, jarring the both of us back into reality.
He perks when he finally identifies his drawing, heavily leaning toward the wall to press his finger against where the paper is, nearly making Chica topple over in the process.
...
I glance at Roxanne, then take a step toward the board to see where Evan's pointing.
..Would you look at that..
The drawing is just of Chica, but that isn't much of a surprise.. Still, that's seriously not a half-bad interpretation of our little bird friend.
"Dang, tiny man.. This is really nice for an artist your size." I pleasantly hum, delicately unpinning the paper from the board.
"T..Thank you, I think! ..Or- wait, I'm not tiny..!"
"You're right. Either way, this is still a pretty good piece of work for someone as absolutely colossal as you."
Evan giggles and makes grabby-hands towards the paper I'm holding. But, like the apathetic, malicious, and truly despicable monster I am, I hand the paper off to Roxanne first.
"Oo~.." Roxanne coos, taking the paper and intoning her speech to sound impressed. "Lookie here.."
"Almost as good of an artist as I am."
"That can't be a high bar. You're an artist?" Rox cocks a brow and peeks over the paper, amused by the sheer thought of me being 'good' at something.
"Yep."
"Wanna draw a picture for me, then?"
"Nope."
"Mhm? How come?"
" 'Cause I can't draw for anything."
"Mm, didn't think so." Roxanne hums happily, handing the paper back off to Evan. "At least your little squirt's good at it."
"Thank you.." My little squirt replies, reaching forward for the paper and trying to be modest about the praise. "Chica's really good too.."
"Chica's got her lovely little man-child to thank for that." Roxanne chuckles under her breath, crossing her arms once the drawing's back in Evan's hands.
"..Who?"
"You've met Trudge, haven't you?"
"Oh..! Yeah, sorry..!" Evan perks, apparently taken aback by that information.. After sitting motionlessly on Chica's shoulders for another second, he brushes her hair out of the way and leans over a bit to meet her eyes. "Trudge is a draw-er..?"
"Mhm! Super good at it, too~" Chica chirps back, thrilled to get an opportunity to talk about both drawing and Trudge.
"Really?"
"Yep!"
"Can I see?"
"Mm-, I 'unno if Trudge put any of his stuff up on the b-~"
...
..I zone out of the conversation for a second, unable to shake off the feeling that this conversation isn't as private as we think it is.
Once again, I nonchalantly glance over my shoulder in hopes to find somebody I know waiting to talk to one of us or something.. But, unless I'm skipping over them, there are only other customers as far as the eye can see.
...
Uh..
..Actually, speaking of which..
...
"Heyyyy.. Roxy-pox?" I mutter quietly.
"I might straight-up kill you if you call me that again."
I turn back to 'pretend' to watch Evan and Chica point at several parts of the drawing-wall.
"We've got a few 'spectators' lookin' our way. No idea why." I explain quietly, trying not to sound amused.
"Yeah- two of the four main attractions are over here. No dip 'people are looking'."
"But they're looking at us again. Like, you and me."
"I'm pretty sure they're looking at me, hun." Roxanne reassures through an amused exhale, not even bothering to look back at everyone and see for herself.
- Aw..! -
Rox and I both heard it that time, but neither of us turn around to look for the source of the noise.
..Mostly on account of the fact that the 'source' came from several directions behind us.. From several people..
...
I side-eye the suddenly very paranoid wolf with a dumb smirk plastered across my face.
"Pretty sure they don't know you're trying to be coy by calling me 'hun', wolf."
"Oh god.. Well they should know better than to think I'd ever try to address you endearingly.." Roxanne grumbles quietly through her teeth.
"I won't turn around if you don't."
"I'll eat you alive if you even try acknowledging them, Michael."
I chuckle under my breath, then try to zone in on what Evan and Chica are doing as a distraction.
"..Have you seen any of Chica's drawings, Evan?" I ask, probably a little stupidly.
"Mhm..! She likes drawing the night-time people."
That sentence would hold a lot more of an eldritch-horror feel if I didn't know he was referring to the people who are usually present at the Pizzaplex at night.
"Mm." I acknowledge with a hum and a slight nod. "Does she count Trudge as a night-time person too?"
"Yeah..! It's him, you, all of the robots, and two other guys." Evan responds, looking back up at the board to find an example.
"Cooper and Arin?"
"I think so.."
"Yep!" Chica confirms, reminding us that she is still very much present. "Arin's really cool, but he doesn't play with anyone unless Coopy's playin'.. Coopy used to do stuff with everyone all the time too, but I don't see him very much anymore. Arin says he's too busy."
"Mhm.." Evan responds, not entirely listening. "..I like the old guy."
"That's Coopy~."
"I like Coopy.. You make him look like he's super nice when you draw."
"Coopy is super nice! Everyone likes him! Trudge says he always helps people and never forces people to do stuff. Oo- And he made a lot of food for everyone who came to help at the Pizzaplex on thanksgiving! And Christmas, too!"
I can't help but chuckle slightly at those memories. I'd almost forgotten about several of them.
I lost my arm that day Coop brought food for everyone who helped setting up Christmas decorations. Something like that should have been catastrophic, but Cooper came back in the dead of night when I called him. Anyone else would have made a gigantic scene once they saw my arm severed, but Coop didn't. He listened to me carefully, and when I pathetically tried to tell him that losing my arm wasn't a big deal, he listened. Arin would have shut down the Pizzaplex for days, reported it to the police, got the whole place bleached.. I told Cooper not to do anything about my arm but get the remaining blood mopped, and that's exactly what he did. He really had no reason to trust me, but he did..
He's strange, but I never would have been able to keep things as under control as I did if it weren't for him.. That's not it, either. He woke up in the middle of the night and looked at my car when I hit a deer. He let me 'throw away' the Freddy's costume with an 'endoskeleton' in it when literally everybody else, including Roxanne, was insisting that Cooper should keep it. He opened up Roxanne's raceway to everyone for no other reason other than the fact that I asked him to.. I guess I've never really thought about it before, but I have a lot to thank him for.
..I think I'm starting to understand why Arin wants to bring Cooper back from the little episode he's having so much.
I can't argue with Chica's verdict. Cooper really is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.
...
...
..He 'was'..
..Until-
- Flick -
Ow..?
I reflexively reach up to hold my assaulted ear and confusedly glance in the wolf's direction.
"Caught you that time." Roxanne chides.
"..What?"
"You were bumming yourself out about something dumb again. But, luckily for you, I took the liberty of saving your precious afternoon."
"Oh.." I respond idiotically. "Whoops.. Sorry, didn't even realize it was happening."
"Mhm." Rox hums, folding her arm back in with her other. "Whatever. Bum yourself out all you want when you get home, but save it until then. You're here to entertain me until the show, so grow a pair for the next couple of hours."
"Alright, alright."
I lower my hand from my ear, pretending not to be grateful to her for noticing.
Wolfie's right, too.. I know the whole Cooper situation is unpleasant, but there simply isn't enough going on there to warrant moping around all day. I really will have all the time in the world to transfix on that issue once the Pizzaplex closes after tonight, so it's not even like I'll have to wait very long to start working on that issue. Hell, I don't even think it'll be all that hard. Arin's smart, just exhausted. If I can keep tabs on things for a night and let Arin have some rest, I'd bet you anything the two of us will conjure a plan in no time.
On a separate note, everyone's fascination with the investigations are really starting to droop now that fewer things are being found. So that issue's resolving itself one step at a time as well.
...
...
..Y'know..
At one point, it seemed hopeless. There was a point in time where these problems truly felt insurmountable.. But they don't anymore. Things really are starting to work thems-
"I was kidding, by the way.." Roxanne mutters, interrupting my train of thought.
"Hm..?" I hum, glancing back in her direction.
"I didn't actually mean that you can bum yourself out all you want once you're home. You still need to tell me if you ever have moments like that regardless of where you are, alright?..In fact, before we close and you go home, get your watch back from Arin. If you're ever starting to feel shitty, I will be expecting you, to drop everything, and call me; because I'll be dropping everything to pick up the call, understand?"
I nonchalantly keep staring at Roxanne, who's still side-eying me as if she's annoyed.
...
" *Understand?* "
"Oh- yeah, alright.."
"Good."
...
..That was like the cherry-on-top for the hopeful moment I was just having..
All these impossible issues that have been eating this place from the inside out are slowly starting to seem workable all the sudden; easy even..
But even if they prove difficult, and it really does start to take its toll, Roxanne just reminded me that there's something even I can fall back on. In these bizarre circumstances in which the biggest issues are Cooper, Arin, the customers, Freddy, or anyone else at a given moment, Rox's here to remind me that there's still someone who cares about my issues.
..Even at the lowest point of Roxanne's bad mood these last couple days, when she was still frustrated with me and feeling touchy due to her fallacy of insecurity, she still dropped everything we were doing out in the field yesterday to stop me from stressing myself out any further.
...
She's not the only one either..
My gaze naturally shifts back to the Chica and her little shoulder-jockey.
...
..I guess I've made real connections with the gang up to this point.. They've all shown me in their own unique ways that I'm not just another acquaintance to them.
Chica proved during her obscure obsession with being 'weird' forever ago that she didn't think of me as just another co-worker who speaks in hollow, meaningless phrases; my words held real weight to her, and she honestly looked to me for guidance.
When Monty learned I'd been hurt via the tree-chomper, he dropped everything and went to go confront who'd injured me, even when that person was someone else important to him. Monty, the harmless gentle-giant, demonstrated that he was willing to fight for me.
And Freddy.. Freddy had every right to demand me for answers and spread the awful news when he found out the animatronics killed people at night, but he didn't. Freddy did what even Roxanne couldn't, and went against every ounce of his better judgement for no other reason than to demonstrate that he trusts me.. Despite it being my fault that Cooper's been losing it lately, and by extension causing the customer-count to drop to almost nothing, Freddy didn't get angry once at my tendency to keep secrets I didn't have the right to keep for myself. He always assumed I had my reasons, and left it at that.
Chica believes in me, Monty will fight for me, Freddy trusts in me, and Roxanne is always simply there for me.
..So what am I even worried about?
"Mike."
Whoop-
"No-, nope, I'm fine- I swear I wasn't bumming out that time." I defend, shaking my head and swatting away Roxanne's flicking finger.
"Whatever you're doing, stop it." Roxy chides, continuing to try and reach for me. "I'm gonna need you to stop thinking for a while, purple man. It's going poorly for you."
"I'm good; I was kinda doing the opposite of bumming out, actually. Stop touching me."
"Stop thinking."
"No."
"Then no."
...
..Jesus Christ, stop fuckin' touching m-
"Can you hold this for a sec?"
I'm currently in the middle of trying to push back both of Roxanne's arms reaching for me, but the two of us pause what we're doing to look at Evan.
"..Oh- sure, what is it?" I ask, releasing one of Roxanne's arms and taking the paper being held out to me.
"It's just the thing Chica helped me draw, I'm just, uhm-.." Evan trails off, looking back at the drawing wall once I've accepted his artwork.
Oh.. Yeah, sure enough, it's the same drawing of Chica we were looking at earlier..
I look up from the page and follow Evan's gaze to the wall.
"Mm.. Are you looking for a different one?"
"Chica said I can take one I really like home.."
"One that I made, silly- Don't take another kid's drawing!" Chica lightly chides from below him.
"Y-Yeah, that's what I meant, sorry.. Uhm.."
...
Playing a little mind-game to trick Roxanne into holding the paper Evan just gave me, I take a step towards the wall and plant my hands on my sides.
"Which one's your favorite?" I ask, as if I'm anything to help him search whatsoever.
"I 'unno.."
"Mm.. Where are all of Chica's drawings?"
"Kinda' all over.. They're easy to find though, I think.."
"Look for the good ones, huh?" I ask rhetorically, unintentionally making the bird hum happily to herself.
"Yeah. A lot of people like 'um.."
That's not hard to believe, considering most of the other drawings on this wall are made by children 8 and under..
"I bet.. Which one do you think everyone else likes the most? Maybe you can make them jealous by taking it home."
Almost immediately, Evan leans forward again and pokes one of the drawings.
"This one, I think. A lotta people stopped to look at it while we Chica and me were-"
"Chica and 'I'~" Chica herself lightheartedly corrects.
"Oh, y-.. A lotta people stopped to look at it while Chica and 'I' were still drawing."
...
Oh sh-..!
My entire body perks in surprise for a moment once I identify the drawing Evan's pointing at.
...
I glance over and poke Roxanne's arm a few times, dragging her attention back from the groups of families behind us.
...
"..Yes?"
"Think I mighta' figured out why we've been getting a few looks.." I explain, pointing at the picture Evan's pressing his finger against and trying my damndest not to laugh.
"..?"
"The one Evan's pointing at.."
Roxanne, still not getting the connection, stares blankly at the wall for a few more seconds.
...
"wAH- What the f-!? CHICA!"
I step out of the way of the wolf, who's face has exploded into a shade of crimson.
..Whether Evan wants it or not, I don't think that paper's gonna exist anymore here soon.
Speaking of which, it's a pleasantly detailed depiction of what Chica saw when she walked into Roxanne's room this morning. Me, laying across the couch and watching something on my phone, and Roxanne, half awake, laying across me with her head propped on my chest, watching my phone through eyes just barely cracked open.
Safely maneuvering out of the blast zone, I simply chuckle and watch the scene in front of me play out.
...
Then, I notice something a little unusual happens.
Even after I finish laughing, my lazy smirk doesn't fade.
...
..I, personally, hate this damn elevator.
But, who am I to argue if Evan wants to take the 'fun' way up to another floor?
..Speaking of which.
"..Y'know- one of these days you aren't gonna fit on people's shoulders anymore. What are you gonna do then? Make everyone bridal carry you around?"
Evan's natural response to that question is to start using my head as a bongo.
...
"I think Roxanne said she wouldn't mind carrying you around for a little."
"She did..?"
"I did not." Roxy's voice echoes from the other side of the elevator.
"She's just shy." I hum, hiding my amused smirk when she makes her way beside us.
"..Where are we trying to go right now?"
"I dunno. Evan said third floor, so third floor we go." I respond, tilting my head up to look at Evan. "Where we headed from there, tall guy?"
- Ding -
"Uhm..! Freddy..!"
"To Freddy?"
"I mean..! There's Freddy.." Evan repeats, pointing straight ahead of us.
Mm. Sure enough, the elevator doors have opened to the grandeur of a confused looking bear.
"Hello again.." Freddy greets politely, a little thrown-off by the sight of a kid riding around on my shoulders.
"Heya." I respond, stepping aside to give the bear room. "The great Freddy too good for stairs?"
"Well, to be frank.." Fred begins, curtly fixing his bow-tie and walking in with us. "I figured this would be the more peaceful way to commute.."
"Mm.. What do you think, Evan? Give him peace or pester him until we get off?"
"Evan.. That is a nice name, I'm pleased to meet you." Freddy responds, ignoring everything else I just said.
I give Evan a second to respond, but from what I can tell, he just stares at Freddy blankly.
...
"I'm surprised you don't remember him." I comment, making light conversation.
"You do seem familiar.. Forgive me-, I meet a lot of young ones day by day; sometimes I struggle to remember them all.."
The elevator door closes, and we start moving again.
"How many kids do you know that get along with the night-guard?"
"You get along just fine with the children, Michael."
"I don't make many friends out of them, though." I respond, bouncing Evan slightly on my shoulders. "Kinda fond of this one. Might keep 'em."
"Mm.. Perhaps my mind is just foggy with it being our last day; there's more going on than I started to grow accustomed to."
"That's alright. I can barely remember the names of people I've worked with since day one here."
"..Ah- I hope I'm not sounding rude.." Freddy perks, politely glancing up at Evan. "Even if I cannot remember you for the time being, I'm positive it will come back to me after some rest. You and Michael seem close, which is a rare thing to see."
...
"You okay up there, tall man?" I ask, shimmying Evan around a little. Still, the only thing he does is stare down at Freddy like he's captivated by something.
...
...
Then, Evan very slowly starts leaning forward and stretching his arm out towards the bear..
Freddy and I watch silently as he reaches forward, hoping it'll become obvious at some point what he's trying to do.
And y'know what? It does become immediately obvious once Evan's finger manages to close in on Freddy's nose.
- Squeak -
...
...
"I remember you.." Freddy grumbles, barely audible through Roxanne and I's laughter.
Hm..
...
There you are..
- Pew -
- "Whaarg!" -
I casually lower back behind the small railing of the balcony I'm on and give Evan a thumbs up.
Evan, wearing a jacket far too big for him because he wanted the one I'm wearing, hugs his lazer gun to his chest and stares up at me in bewilderment.
"..W-Who was that?!"
"I shot Trudge." I respond, fidgeting with my gun.. Or my 'Fazer-Blaster', if you'd prefer I use the right terminology. "Nobody ever told me how fun it was to sneak around and shoot people from afar. Maybe I could become an assassin if this whole night-guard thing doesn't work out."
"I-Is he okay?"
"Probably. He flailed onto the floor when I shot him, though."
"Waitwaitwait, I-I thought..! I thought we were supposed to shoot the robots..!"
"We are. We're supposed to defend the points or whatever." I lazily explain, pointing over the railing we're using for cover. "I've been content just sitting up here and shooting 'em wherever they appear, though."
"..So-..! So aren't you and Trudge on the same team..?!"
"Yeah."
"Does shooting him do anything?"
"No."
"..S-So why'd he scream and fall down?!"
"That's just Trudge's natural reaction to being shot by anyone for any reason." I elaborate with a mildly amused grin, standing up and poking over the railing again, gun ready. "One time he collapsed and fell off the auditorium stage because I shined a lazer-pointer at his leg."
"Oh-!.." Evan jumps slightly, imagining the scene for himself. "..D-Did it hurt?"
"I'm fairly certain Trudge is immortal."
- "Wh-?! Nooooooooo!" -
...
I side-glance Evan, and sure enough, he's shocked and appalled at the new voice.
"..Chica?!" He blurts, quickly waddling his way over by me and poking his head over the railing.
"She found Trudge, and is now wailing at the loss of her beloved."
"B-But you can't even hurt people on your own team..!"
"I'm pretty sure they know."
...
...
..I wait for Evan to notice my odd silence, and the moment he turns his head to look at me:
- Pew -
- "Blaargh!" -
"Noo!" Evan wails, flailing as he watches Chica fall to the ground. "Y-You shot her..!"
"Well now her and Trudge are together again."
"B-But they're dead!"
"You'll see them again soon."
I cock a brow and watch Evan, waiting for him to catch on to the implications of that sentence.
"But we're on the same team..!"
"Maybe I'm a spy for the robots."
"Nuh-uh..! They can't do that in this game..!" Evan fervently defends, watching the two fallen warriors on the other end of the lazer-tag arena in a panic.
"They probably can. They paid me a lot of money for it."
"No, that's against the rules..! They can't-, wh-?!"
Evan snaps his head in my direction, letting his arms dangle off the balcony.
...
I slowwwwly turn my gun towards him in the most dramatic way possible.
"..W-Wh-?!"
"Nothing personal, little man."
"Nooooooooooo!"
- Pew -
...
...
Evan's frozen mid-flail, like he truly expected something to happen once I shot him.
I give him a thumbs up.
"I'm pretty sure-"
"I'LL SAVE YOU!"
What the h-?!
I look to my right to acknowledge the rapidly approaching heavy-footsteps, but unfortunately, Monty full-on tackles me by the time I'm able to figure out what's going on, and sends us both flying off the balcony.
Mm..
...
..I couldn't tell you the last time I got ice cream, but I've been missing out..
...
"I got green 'cuz I'm green." Monty announces carefully, presenting us the details of his ice-cream as if he's teaching us something.
"I got purple 'cause Mike always wears a purple shirt..!" Evan exclaims, copying Monty's mannerisms.
I got blueberry 'cause blueberry tastes good..
...
"Mike got blue 'cause his pants are blue." Monty explains for me.
Of course my jeans are frickin' blue.
"..Do either of you even know what actual flavors you got?"
"Yea-, I got green 'cuz I'm green!"
"I got purple 'cause you wear a purple shirt..!"
..M'kay..
...
..Don't know what I was expecting..
...
- nom -
...
...
"..Monty-, did you just take a bite out of your ice cream?"
"So how come 'yer not walkin' around with your wolf friend?" Monty asks cheerily, completely ignoring my question.
...
"..Rox was tagging along for most of the day, actually. She split off when Evan and I went off to go play lazer-tag, since it wasn't her thing." I explain, taking a short break between sentences to enjoy my frozen dessert. "Trudge and Chica just happened to be nearby when we made it there, so they joined in. I didn't even know you were playing until we were flying mid-air across the Fazer-Blast arena.."
"Hey! You can't be mad about that anymore 'cause I get you ice cream to make up fer' it!"
I'm pretty sure there was a very real chance I could have been killed, if it weren't for the fact that I'm already dead.. 'Getting us ice cream' doesn't feel significant enough to cover something like that.
..Not to mention I could have gotten the sweets for free too, since I work here..
But fine.. Nevertheless, I would probably have never given myself the opportunity to try the ice-cream here if it wasn't for the jolly green gator pummeling me off a balcony. So, I'll let you off easy this time..
"Fine.. Don't do that to anyone else, though. Not everyone's gonna be able to take something like that and walk out unscathed.."
"Awww, I know! 'Yer just tougher than the rest, so I thought you could take it; and looksie~! I was right! Not a scratch on ya!"
"Mm.." I hum, deciding to just let it go. "..Anyway, yeah. Evan and I went to Fazer-Blast, and Roxanne drifted off elsewhere. if I had to guess, she's ungulfed herself into a swarm of her fans, so I'm sure she's in heaven right about now."
...
...
"Y'wanna go bug her?"
"Very much so."
This bodes poorly..
...
But on the other hand, if everything works out fine, it'll be hilarious.
...
"Thar she blows." I call out, pointing to an area halfway across the auditorium where I see tufts of green and silver hair sticking out from the crowd.
"Target identified.." Monty affirms, adjusting our course accordingly.
...
...
As we approach, it gets easier to see Roxanne's contended grin.
Just like I hypothesized, Roxanne's found happiness in the middle of a small group of kids; signing signatures as elegantly as you could possibly imagine.
For a brief second, I forget about how the whole reason we're here is to bug her with this elaborate set-up Monty and I have created, and feel a little at ease.
If nothing else, this is proof Roxanne really does feel a little better about the whole 'safety' issue. She completely broke off from me and went to go enjoy her day, which is something she was afraid of doing before..
...
Anyway, time to startle her.
"Y'all all good 'n steady up there?" Monty half-whispers.
"I'll be fine. Feeling alright, tall man?" I respond, passing the question off to Evan.
"I'm so tall..!" He giggles, thoroughly enjoying the situation we're in.
"Evan's good. Wanna grab her attention?"
"Nahhh make the kid do it..! It'll surprise her the most."
"Mm. Hear that, Evan?"
"Uhm..! What am I supposed to do..?"
"Anything, really. Maybe ask for an autograph to keep it inconspicuous."
"Inkhonspikyuas.."
"Inconspicuou-, keep it subtle, I mean.." I explain, trying not to chortle at how Evan's natural reaction to hearing a big word is to try repeating it (poorly) and see if that makes it's definition appear out of thin-air.
...
...
"..Uhm!" Evan bellows, trying to get Roxanne's attention.
"Mhm?" Roxy responds, tilting her head to indicate that she's listening, but keeping her gaze locked down on the paper she's signing.
"I, uhm..! Can you sign my, uh..!"
"Of course, hun. I'll get to you in just a moment, I promise."
I stifle a snicker.
Roxanne really does seem like a different person when interacting with the kids sometimes.. Behind that pleasant smile is still a colossal ego, but it's a little mesmerizing how gentle she can sound when she thinks it's just her and the kids.
"O-Okay, uhm..! It's me, Evan..!"
Rox nods slightly, as if that confirmed something in her head.
"Mm, I thought your voice was familiar. Well I'll be right with you, Evan, and you can be on your way."
I do snicker that time, amused by how back-handed that sentence was.
"I-I brought Mike.."
"Did you?" Roxanne cocks a brow, though continues to sign papers with a contended grin. "Does he want an autograph too? 'Cause I'm pretty sure he gets enough special attention as it is."
"And Monty.."
"Wow." Rox chortles, finally turning to look at us. "How kind of you to bring everyone to see me. Maybe he c-, what in the hell are y-!?"
Plan proving immediately effective, Roxanne drops her pen to the floor in startlement.
There we go.. That took a little more time than expected, but I guess I should already know how absorbed the wolf can get in her adoration.
Anyway, long story short, Roxanne expected to find me standing there with Evan on my shoulders when she turned around.
She didn't. Instead, I am on top of Monty's shoulders.. And then Evan is on top of mine, like we're some sort of walking Christmas Tree.
It's a simple concept, but still, it's not every day you see a three-person stack hobbling around the Pizzaplex like we own the place.
...
..I am not qualified to be tinkering with something like this.. But, it's already broken, so what's the worst that could happen?
...
Welp.
Hngh-
- Prrff -
Like I just saved it from suffocating, the air conditioner unit stuck in Roxanne's Raceway lets out a puff of chill air. Despite not being hot whatsoever, the cool breeze hitting my entire body all at once fills my upper chest with a refreshing sense of invigoration.
Heyy~.. Look at me go.
...
- ffffrrr-.. -
Mm. There it goes as well..
It broke again as soon as I-.. Hmm..
I rest my arm on the conditioner's plastic, taking a second to figure out what that all meant.
...
All I can really tell is that there's a little something sticking up inside the machine that needs to be pressed down and touching something else to the air conditioner to work. But, it does look like that little piece sticking up is intended to be like that, so I don't know if that's what's broken.. My best guess is that it just means there's a signal being sent telling that piece to lower when the conditioner's turned on, but that signal is failing to reach the part in question for some reason.
...
..Well either way, the machine works when the thing's pressed down, and we never turn these things off anyway, sooo..
I turn and look around the Raceway, taking in the sights of all the visitors.. I get a pleasant birds-eye view since I needed to find and climb a tall-ass ladder to reach the air-conditioner.
..Between our last day open surging our visitor count for the day and the rule about children needing to accompany a parent in here being removed, this could very well be the most guests the Raceway has ever had.. I bet Roxanne's out here somewhere, pretending like she's not having the time of her life right now.
Speaking of which, I need her for a spell.. Where is she..
...
..The actual racetrack is bustling, but as far as I can tell, Rox isn't out there with them. Nor do I see any small crowds caused by her presence.. She loves to engulf herself in a cloud of her fans and simply be the center of attention to them whenever she gets the chance, so the lack of visitors congregating in one spot probably means Rox is doing something right now that's keeping her pre-occupied.
Despite that, I guarantee you she's still in the Raceway. She was in here enjoying herself when I found her, so now that I'm around, I doubt she'd feel much compulsion to leave.
...
..Y'know, all I need is some tape.. Something to keep this little 'part' stuck down so the conditioner stays on.. I'd get it myself, but I don't feel like climbing up and down this ladder again.
Thankfully, I think I've narrowed my search quite a bit.. If Rox's keeping herself busy somewhere without having left the Raceway, then that'd probably mean..
...
Oh- there, found you.
I saw Roxanne's poofy-ass tail poke out the door of one of the garages for just a split second. That works out pretty well, since that's probably where the shit I need is.
...
..I don't have my watch, sooo.. Needa get her attention the old fashion way.
I cup a hand around the side of my mouth and take a short breath.
"Rox!"
Yelling to someone a quarter of the way across the Raceway wasn't inconspicuous by any means, but at this point, it makes no difference to me. Between the purple and the metal arm, people staring at me is something I've gotten over years ago.
Room quieted down a smidgen when people turned to look at who was yelling the word 'Rocks', as if I was warning them of boulders falling from the sky. As funny as that is, I think they'll figure out what I'm saying here in a second.
Sure enough, Roxanne grabs the side of the garage door and takes a step outside, looking at the ground below me before tracing the ladder upwards.
- "What?" - She yells back once she spots me on top of the ladder.
"Tape."
- "Tape?" -
"Tape." I repeat, gesturing to the air conditioner.
Though just about all of her finer details are obscured by the distance between us, I can make out the moment Rox turns her head and mutters 'oh, okay' under her breath as she finally puts together what I'm trying to communicate.
She disappears into the garage for a second, and the Raceway gradually grows back to its normal volume as people figure out what all the ruckus is about and lose interest.
...
Rox re-emerges from the garage, holding what looks like a roll of duck tape up in the air as if to ask if it'll suffice for what I'm doing.
I give her a thumbs up, bouncing my arm a couple times to make my gesture clear from this distance.
...
..How does she intend to get it to me?
...
Oh- shit, okay, she's just thrown the damn thing.
I free up my hand and position it by my side so I can reach out in any direction I need once it gets close enough.
...
However, my hand remains motionless right by my side as the roll of tape collides with the wall a solid meter to the right of me, and falls a two and a half meters to the ground from there.
..Rox didn't even check to see if her throw was anywhere close once, instead just retreating back into the garage once the tape left her hand and assuming I'll make do with it one way or the other.
...
..To her credit, that was relatively close from the distance between us.. I'm surprised the tape even made it the distance across the Raceway without hitting the ground, much less getting my elevation just right and actually overshooting it by hitting the wall to my right.
...
Unfortunately, 'pretty close' doesn't change the distance between me and the ground, where the tape now is.. I guess it was a little unrealistic to think I wouldn't need to climb down this ladder at some point to retrieve it regardless of the method I chose to do so.
I stare longingly at the tape on the floor a little longer, then look a few feet over at the bottom of the ladder as I prepare to climb down.
However, my thought processes stop as I notice someone standing at the bottom of the ladder, nonchalantly watching me from directly below.
...
..Who is that?
They're particularly well dressed, which instinctively makes me think of Arin, but that definitely isn't him.. Though, 'particularly well dressed' isn't a high bar for a place like this; they're just wearing a lightly-plaid button-down and dark jeans.. While that is 'nicely dressed' for a place like this, Arin would still prefer to go beyond that level of formality.
They look to be around the same age as him, though, and by extension around the same age as me. Or the age I am physically, at least.. However, what they're wearing is slightly more colorful than what I'd imagine finding Arin wearing around. The button-down is a vibrant, almost glowing shade of magenta; which.. sure doesn't sound like Arin..
Is it someone else I know..?
...
..Oh-
They're female. That took me a little too long to notice from here..
Well.. As sad as this sounds, the whole 'is a girl' part crosses off just about everyone who's ever interacted with me, so I've got good reason to believe this is someone I've never met before.
Sooo.. What is she doing here looking like that? In fact, why is she over here watching me at all?
...
Y'know what, I just thought of an arcane technique used by super high-tech ancient civilizations to get information out of each other. I can't remember the exact name of it, but it's something along the lines of 'stop staring at them and ask them the damn questions you're thinking of'.
...
Actually, think it might be better if I just flat-out greeted her first. That'd probably be more polite.
..Though this isn't your typical 'meeting someone new' circumstance. In fact, I can probably count on one hand the amount of people I was first introduced to while standing on a 15-foot ladder.
What the hell is the natural way to greet someone in a situation like this? 'Hi.'? 'Please don't touch my ladder.'?
...
Here's an idea.
I lazily point to the tape lying on the ground a few feet away from her.
"Hey, sorry. Would you mind?"
"Oh-, no! Not at all..!" She perks, as if startled; immediately turning her head and speedwalking towards the tape on the floor.
..Kind of an oddball; that much seems a bit evident..
...
I silently huff in amusement as the odd woman picks the tape up from off the floor and looks up at me, as if asking for further instruction.
I extend my outward and hold my hand open, gesturing for her to just toss it up to me.
She stares blankly at the tape in her hands for a second, then takes a step back and unnaturally lobs the roll straight up.
Though the form was a little questionable, the toss was more than good enough for me to easily nab the duct-tape as it hovers in front of me for a moment.
"Mm, thanks. Nice throw." I hum, letting the tone in my voice express my gratitude more than the word choice itself, before deciding it'd be best if I quickly went about slapping a piece of tape on this uncooperative part sticking up in the air-conditioner.
The woman below me curtly folds her hands in front of her in response to my positive reinforcement and continues to curiously stare up at me as I work.
...
...
"Ah.. Excuse me..! Sorry- I was also wondering if I could talk with-, or.. Uhm- I would like to speak with you, please. 'Soon as you're not busy.."
"I figured. What do you need?" I respond, half-muttering while I get the piece properly taped down and feel the cold wind blow against me once again.
...
..The woman stares at me silently for another second, then briefly turns her head to look at the people around, before looking back up.
"..Can-? Ah.. Well- Are you almost done? Up there, I mean?"
What else would you have meant?
"Sure, I'll be down in a second."
Slapping the air conditioner's casing shut, I find that there really isn't anything else I need to do up here, so I waste no time descending.
..This woman's already got herself a couple quirks.. Her speech pattern sticks out as a little obscure, but not altogether difficult to understand. Pretty sure she started saying something back when she was asking to talk with me, then stopped herself, and immediately followed by saying what is effectively the exact same sentence formatted differently.
...
My feet hit solid ground, and keep one of my hands resting on of the ladder's rungs while I turn to meet the woman who's materialized a foot away from me.
Funnily enough, standing on the ground shows that her and I are almost the exact same height, which is admittedly a bit taller than most girls I know.
Not much to say about her up close that hasn't already been said.. Though, I can see she's taken more effort to make herself look presentable than I thought. Make-up's simplistic, but stylized. Her hair is.. I can't even imagine how long it took her to do her hair like that..
It's naturally black, and long. It's been pony-tailed in the back, which is nothing to ride home about, but it's also styled to look intentionally shorter and spiky-er in the front. Most notably, however, is that all the longest parts of her hair in front and around her head (excluding the pony-tail, I think) have frosted tips. Not natural ones, I don't think. Not unless natural frosted tips come in the same glowing magenta her shirt does.
...
..What in the world is this girl's deal..?
The business-casual isn't too otherworldly, but the work she put into her head and face today almost makes her look like a pop-star.. I don't know what it is about her frosted tips matching her shirt-color, but that really cranks the insane-o-meter up to a fiery 10 for me..
Where do you even find a button-down that comes in bright-magenta? How the hell is 'bright magenta' even possible?
...
I expect her to initiate the conversation, but she remains apprehensively staring at me with those big ol' eyes and fidgiting with her hands folded in front of her.
"..Heya.. Is there something wrong you came to me to talk about?"
"Oh- no not at all! Sorry, I just needed to come find someone to, ah.. Um-, Someone sent me to come find you." She tersely explains, tensing whenever she figures out it's her turn to speak for whatever reason.
"Someone sent you to me?"
"Yes, um..! Employee with-.. they were walking around with Chica earlier..!"
Ah.
Good to see Trudge is still sending employee's who he doesn't know how to help directly to wherever he thinks I am..
"Oh, m'kay.. Well, what is it you need then?"
"I would-, um..! I was gonna ask if I could work here, if that's okay..!"
Ahh.
..I suppose that would explain the obscene amount of effort she's put into her appearance, as well as how incredibly uptight she is.. The woman seems jittery and outgoing, but the nerves of asking for a job might be getting in the way of that..
...
Dunno what the hell I intend to do with her.. This is a little beyond my authority..
"..I mean- we'll gladly accept and consider an application or something, but the Pizzaplex is shutting down after today. I can't guarantee we'd hire you until after we re-open, at least."
"Oh-, yeah I know this place is closing! I just, uhm.. I couldn't find the applications online, so.."
"Mm." I hum, nodding slightly once I catch on. "That's what you came here to get, then."
Fair enough. It gives her the entire time we're shut down to fill one out with as much detail as she'd like, without rushing her.
"That-, yes. Um. I was hoping there'd-"
"Oh- sorry, hold on one second.." I interrupt, noticing a peculiar sound of claws clacking on the floor a fairly significant distance behind the woman I'm talking to. "Wolf!"
The distant tuft of fur takes a second to register where my voice came from and slows to a halt, silently looking in my direction.
"Tape." I yell, lifting up the hand with the roll of tape in it, then lobbing it on over to her. "Thank you."
The utility glides until it gently lands in Roxanne's paw. I lift her a thumbs up, then turn back to my new odd acquaintance.
"Sorry, keep going."
The oddity is actually still looking over her shoulder at where I tossed the tape to Roxanne, before rotating her head back toward me and jumping slightly when she realizes I'm talking to her.
"..Ah-! Yeah, no- nevermind; it wasn't super important. I should be asking if I can-.. Uhm- ask if you'd wanna let me have an application, please."
Mm..
I guess I know where some are, but to be honest, our hiring system isn't really conventional.. Cooper's the one-, or maybe was the one who insists on being the one to hire people. Rather than simply give people an application, he'd just let people jump in with a little bit of training and interact with them often to 'judge their character', as well as give them an extremely dumbed-down version of an application that only really existed to list a couple important legal things.
Cooper made them himself, apparently. Which isn't too hard to believe considering how they look.. There are a quarter as many boxes to fill out, so even calling it an application feels incorrect.
..'Coopplication'.
I did a funny.
Anyway, knowing Arin, he'd probably follow in Cooper's footsteps. One way or the other, potential employees are handed something that they fill out when they go home, so I guess I'll go make that happen in a sec.
...
..I don't think I've heard Roxanne continue walking since I threw her the tape..
"Sure, come with me. Gotta go get one from the boss's office." I explain, walking past her and beckoning her along with me.
"Oh, y-..!" She perks again, watching me walk past. "Yep..! You're not the, umm..? You're not the boss..?"
"Nope. I'm just the guy who watched over the place at night, but I'm here covering for somebody today."
"Oh that's cool..!" The oddity responds, trying to be polite. "..Sooo then, um..! Why are you the guy I go to for-?.. How come the other guy sent me to you?"
"Pretty sure he just didn't know what to do with you, and pawned you off to someone he thought would." I chuckle under my breath. "It's not the first time it's happened."
"Really? How come he didn't know what to do..? He had to apply here too, I think. Right?"
"I want to say 'probably', but I really don't know. He has a habit of existing wherever he wants to be at any given moment, so maybe he just appeared at the Pizzaplex one day and no one questioned it."
"Wow..!" She blusters, looking forward and fidgeting with her hands again. "..But no one's, like.. Aren't guards supposed to know what to do?"
"Probably. To be honest, it's rare that he isn't just doing whatever he wants all day, so what parts of his job he's actually doing is inconsistent and unpredictable."
"No one's gotten him in trouble, though? Like, he isn't under threat of g-.. He hasn't been fired?"
"Nope. He's grown on people over time, so no one really minds. Plus, if nothing else, he and Chica are extremely close, so I'm sure he's 'guarding' her during the day better than anyone else without even trying. I'm willing to count that as 'pulling his weight'."
"Awwe that's cute..! Does that mean I'll, um..! Will I need to watch over one of the animatronics too?"
"Not really. Depends what job you're getting, I guess." I respond, looking over my shoulder at her trailing behind me. "What are you hoping to do here?"
"oOo, um! I'm good at helping with electronics, and stuff..!" She tenses a bit, as if I'm interviewing her.
" IT, or something like that?"
"Yes..! Or- Yes, please."
"That alone might already make you a welcome addition." I affirm, looking back where we're going. "We don't have many people here exclusively dedicated to working electrical. Almost all of our staff consists of day-guards, so they end up being used as all-purpose henchmen as well. Having someone else who actually knows what they're doing in that field will take a bit of the load off their shoulders. I hope.."
"Thank you..! I think..!"
I let an amused huff escape my chest in response to her word choice.
"What's your name?"
"Oh- Kati! My bad- I should've said that.."
"Mm, that's alright. I haven't introduced myself either-"
"Mike..! I think, right?"
Now is an unfortunate time to remember that I'm required to wear a name-tag when I'm working during the day.
"Yeah.. The name on the tag is Michael, but I don't really care if you call me anything else. Just about everyone calls me Mike instead."
"Mm, sorry..! Me and my friends like giving people nicknames a lot, so I do it, um.. I do that a lot, to everyone."
"That's fine."
Already getting a bead on this girl, and it isn't as surprising as you might think.
'Kati' here is just.. Overwhelmingly 'girl'. Like, energetic college party-goer girl.
A little loud and obnoxious, gets nervous in the presence of literally anyone that has anything to do with her, never really gets embarrassed doing weird things, wears her heart on her sleeve, likes to go shopping at the mall with her friends, always on social media, that kind of girl.. She's got a few quirks that stand out, like the way she chooses to speak and her outlandish appearance, but even those are qualities that must've stemmed from her not-too-uncommon personality. All young girls like fashion, and her speech.. She's constantly interrupting herself mid-sentence to reform it in her head in a way that sounds better to her, and doesn't think of that as unusual at all. Despite the stuttering, it doesn't sound like she's second guessing herself at all; instead just speaking whatever words come to her mind, and saying 'um' while waiting for those words to actually form in her mind.
"You look a lot like a Mike anyway, you know? Like, instead of Michael I mean. But Michael's okay too, so.."
What does someone do to 'look' like a Mike and not a Michael?
"It really makes no difference to me, I promise. I've got my own selection of weird nicknames here, so Mike just.. doesn't really stand out enough for me to have an opinion on it, I guess."
"Oh I get it. That makes sense."
...
..Kati whistles after a second or two of silence, obviously not too accustomed to the idea of not talking nonstop while walking somewhere.
"..Soooooo what kind of 'weird' nicknames do you get?" She asks, not willing to let this topic die out yet.
"Mike-a-like. Monty calls me that more often than anyone else though. Pretty sure I was doing something a little uncharacteristic at the time I got it, and Monty joked about me being a mimic or a 'lookalike' of the real Mike. He put the two together, and was awfully happy with the result.."
"Hm~!" Kati hums, thoroughly pleased by both the name and the story. "That's adorable. Monty's just a goofball with abs."
"That sounds about right, yeah." I agree, mildly amused by the accuracy.
"Do you, um-. Any others?"
"A few.. Purple man, purple boy, corpse.. Might've earned myself the nickname 'purple knight' earlier as well."
"All just 'cause you wear purple?"
Oh yeah.. Forgot a lot of the purple has faded from my face by now, so I guess those names wouldn't make a lot of sense..
...
Y'know what? Also not really feeling the urge to tell her I used to be purple either.
"Kind of."
"Corpse, huh..? And purple knight? ..Are you sure they're not making fun of you?"
I chuckle, catching Kati a little off guard.
"I guess I should mention that all those names I just said are only ever used by one person. And yeah, they're making fun of me."
"Oh..! Okay, well.. It's good that it's only one person then, I guess..? Did you ever talk to them about it?"
"They're my best friend."
"Ohh!" Kati perks, understanding immediately. "Okay, I get it. That's good, I was worried you were getting bullied."
"Yep. All the time by them. Borderline assault. Sometimes literally assault."
She laughs a plain, but loud laugh. Not fidgeting with her hands so much anymore, which is probably a good sign.
"Yeah, that's the best though..! BFF's make assault fun."
"Mhm." I snicker under my breath again, imagining what Roxanne's face would look like if I walked up to her and called her my 'BFF'. "But that's it. Only close friends call me any of those, so most everyone here during the day just calls me Mike. That's all I've really got regarding 'weird' nicknames."
"Oh um..! On that, uh-! Speaking of which, my name's Kati, but everyone calls me 'Gooey'. So if you want, you can just call me that and-"
Not about to let that sentence slide like it's anywhere near as normal as she thinks it is.
"Everyone calls you 'Gooey'..?" I interrupt, slowing my pace to look at her again.
"Right, yeah. I like it; kinda feels nice to say."
"Gooey as in, like.. The adjective describing something as covered in goo..?"
Kati curtly nods, then unfolds her hands and brings them up near her bangs once she picks up that she needs to provide a little more explanation.
"My friends came up with it 'cause, um..! I always dye the tips of my hair a really bright, full color.. One time I did them a really bright green, and they said it looked like I dipped the ends of my hair in goo. Now I'm really good at doing it like that, so.."
Mmn.. I didn't think so at first, but simply hearing it described that way really does make it look like she just dips her hair in goo.. Both her natural hair color and the dyed bits are unbelievably potent. The magenta color is so full that it's impossible to see her individual hairs that make up the parts where her hair spikes.. It's like when you dip your ice-cream in chocolate and it forms a solid casing around it. It looks almost as if I could pull on the dyed part of her hair and pull off the 'casing' perfectly intact.
"Mm.. I see what you're talking about, but that's still pretty unique.. 'Gooey' is really your preferred name?"
"I know it's strange, sorry.. I've just kinda grown on it, so I respond to it more than I do 'Kati'."
Probably because no one ever says the word 'gooey' in their day-to-day lives.. Hell, I'd probably respond if someone said the word 'Gooey'.
..Sigh..
"Huh.. I guess you aren't the only peculiar name we've got here, so maybe I should get used to it. That day-guard who told you to come find me is named Trudge."
"Trudge..?"
"Trudge."
"Like, Trudge as in struggling to walk through muck or something?"
"Yeah. That's his real name, too; not just a nickname."
"Wow.. Well- that's okay..! I kinda like it."
"The name fits him live a glove, somehow. I couldn't explain why, but I can't imagine calling him anything else-"
"Oh-! Sorry-, look out..!" Kati interrupts, abruptly stopping in her tracks and pointing in front of me.
Realizing it's probably not a great idea to be looking at her instead of where I'm going, I stop in my tracks as well and look forward to see who I was going to hit.
Sure enough, there stands Roxanne, staring at Kati with- ..sigh, staring at 'Gooey' with a mixture of caution and uncertainty stretching across her expression. It's like she's seeing a new animal for the first time, and doesn't know if it's dangerous or not.
The tape is still in her hand.. Now that I think about it, Gooey and I had to walk in the same direction I threw the tape to Roxanne in order to reach the exit of the Raceway.. I'm not even sure Rox has moved at all since I threw the roll of tape to her..
...
Gooey stares up at Roxanne with the same expression of curiosity she was looking at me up on the ladder with, then fidgets slightly before lifting her hand to greet the wolf.
"Um..! Hi, I'm h-!"
"Who are you?" Roxanne interrupts firmly, still unsure of what to make of the odd-looking girl trailing behind me.
"This is Kati. She came to ask me for a job, so I'm taking her to get one of those small application things." I explain for her, immune by now to Roxanne's naturally intimidating air.
...
"Why?" Roxanne responds, lowing her gaze to me.
"Why what?"
"Why here?"
"Oh-..!" Gooey cuts in, identifying a question she's obviously prepared an answer for. "I'm just, um..! I've got a lot of education in electrical work and IT and stuff, and needed to find somewhere that would hire me for it. I also like, um-..! I've always liked Freddy's, so I thought this would be a nice opportunity."
...
"Work here as what?" Rox continues, expression unchanging.
"IT, wolf." I respond, secretly intrigued by Kati's ability to express herself in front of Roxanne without feeling overwhelmed. "She'll be someone who works on and with computers/miscellaneous electronics around the Pizzaplex. Probably fixing things that don't work and programming the lighting and stuff for your shows."
Roxanne only furrows her brow, and I struggle to really put together what exactly she's thinking about..
...
"Well we're-.. We're closed.. We're closing tonight.." Rox mutters, looking down at me as if trying to convince me of something as well.
"I'm just giving her an application to fill out while the Pizzapex is closed; we're not hiring her tonight."
...
..That answer didn't seem to make Rox feel any better.. Not that I have any idea why Roxanne's looking so apprehensive..
...
"When do electrical people work..?"
"I'm not sure, probably just whenever they're needed. I seriously doubt they'd ever work at night though, if that's what you're wondering."
"They don't?"
"Cooper nor Arin would ever force anyone to be on-call overnight. If something really important went down in the middle of the night, they'd probably just close the Pizzaplex for a day instead of make one of our IT guys come in."
...
"Where are you going again..?"
"To get Kati an application."
Roxanne stares down at me for a few seconds, then back up at Gooey.
Ugh.. That name is hard to mention casually.. I'm trying to force myself to associate it with her, but I have a feeling that might take some time..
...
Rox takes a couple side-steps out of our way and cautiously sets the tape down on a small ledge nearby.
"..I'm coming with."
"What?"
"I'm coming with you."
"You're not having fun here at the Raceway now that you've got all these people around..?"
"I'll be back before long, Mike.." She assures, walking to the side of me opposite of Gooey. "This'll just be a break.."
Not super convincing..
...
But it's not like I have any reason to not want Rox to come along either, so I have no issue. Just think she's acting a little weird.. Though 'Roxanne acting weird' is slowly becoming something of a common occurrence, so what the hell, I suppose.
"..Well- sure, I don't mind if you feel like taking a walk or something; I just don't want you to feel like you're missing out on something like this." I intone casually, gesturing to the (relatively) bustling Raceway.
"Then we should-.." Roxanne begins, crossing her arms and subtly changing the target of her side-eyed glare to our new oddball. "..Then we should go quickly.."
..Before I have the chance to respond, Gooey lightly taps my shoulder a couple times.
"I don't really mind if she comes..!" Kati whispers earnestly.
Mm..
I guess there's really no reason not to bring her if not even Kati minds being around Roxanne.
...
"Sounds good.." I hum, sliding my hands in my pockets and trekking onward, causing the other two to jut forward along with me to keep up. "It's not too far, but the walk out of the Raceway is longer than the rest."
"I've got all day." Gooey reassures quickly, finally unfolding her hands and walking like a normal human being. "It couldn't hurt to start mapping the place out in my head anyway."
"If you're planning to work as an IT person, I don't think you'll need to have this place as memorized as the guards do."
"Mmyeah, but I want to try anyway. Kind of want to try getting someone to look up to me."
"That's a unique goal.."
"I know, I'm not super good at explaining it.. For example, if a little kid walks up to me with a question, I want to be able to answer it no matter what."
"I see. Yeah, I guess that's understandable.."
"This place has a lot of guards too, and I already kind of look up to them. I think it would feel real good if I got someone else new here to do the same to me one day. Not in a creepy way or anything, but I like-"
The conversation drawls on and on as we leave the Raceway.
Hmm..
...
..I'm.. A solid 78% sure that there's an employee shortcut I can take that'll get us to where we need to go faster, but I need to remember where it is first..
...
Uhhhh..
"Where'd the kid go?"
I snap out of my thoughts and glance up at Roxanne.
"..Oh- Monty kind of adopted Evan for a while. I have a gist of where they are, so I'll probably head over there when I'm done with this."
"Left him alone with Monty?"
"Kind of. Pretty sure they ran off to go bug Freddy, so I'm sure he's surrounded by animatronics and other kids alike."
"Mm- Freddy I don't mind. If he's around, I'm gonna hope he can control the other two for a while." Roxy approves, uncrossing her arms and casually gazing around the hallway we're in as if sightseeing.
"Monty knows how to handle kids. It's usually the adults that have to watch out around him." I joke lightly, earning a mildly-amused chuckle from the wolf.
"I heard he got your ass."
"I was on a balcony, and then I wasn't on a balcony anymore."
"Wow. Purple men are weak to balconies."
"Fairly certain most living things are vulnerable to being flung off a balcony."
"Yeah, can't say I'd much care for it either."
"Hey, look at you admitting you're not invulnerable to literally everything." I comment through an amused exhale.
"I can only be perfect in so many ways." Roxanne shrugs back sarcastically.
"Mm. Want to make a truce against utilizing balconies in our future scuffles?"
"I humbly accept."
"You 'humbly' accept, huh?" I lightly tease, poking fun at this obscure 'roleplaying' part of Roxanne that surfaces every once in a while.
"I humbly, graciously accept." Roxanne responds, doubling down on this 'bit'.
"Than forever may this oath be respected, by us and our descendants."
"I don't see that happening, lord wise-ass the trucemaker."
"You don't see yourself respecting our truce?"
"I don't see you having descendants."
"Mm. Yeah, y'know, I don't really see that happening either." I snicker under my breath, looking around for where we're supposed to go next.
"You gave up on defending yourself real quick there all the sudden."
"It's a point I can't really counter."
"Aw, well getting you with that was too easy. I'll only use it as a last-resort in the future, then."
"Tell me how it goes."
"You'll know."
...
Roxanne and I simply walk in contended-silence for a few seconds, pleased with how that interaction went.
..That really was nice.. I guess I've missed having those weird half-banters these last couple days.. Feels good to have interactions we can both walk away happier with.
...
I shift my tongue around a bit, noticing a sensation I haven't felt in a very long time.
My mouth feels dry; as in it feels like it's been both constantly in motion and exposed to air far longer than usual. I've been talking so much that my mouth is growing tired.
That really is an experience I've not had the pleasure(?) of feeling for maybe even years now.. Not including when my mouth was 'exposed to air' for other reasons, I guess; like when my jaw was damn-near falling off while I was staggering out of the ashes of the trap Pizzeria.
..I guess I have been talking a lot these last few minutes.. Mostly because of this woman over here.
I glance to my side opposite of where Roxanne's at and sneak a peek at what's made Gooey go silent for a time.
Kati's thoroughly entranced by something on her phone; typing in short bursts at random intervals. Guess that adds up.
It plays into her 'late teen-girl' personality pretty well. She probably got a message from someone via some social media and has been yapping away with her girlfriends for the last few minutes.
I stifle a chuckle and look back forward, noting that we're only a short distance from where we need to be.
...
Taking a couple seconds to recall what's along the route we're taking, I look back up at the wolf.
"You hungry?"
"Sure, why? Are we stopping somewhere?" Roxanne responds, glancing at me without turning her head.
"That's what I was thinkin'. You think Kati'd settle for something sugary? 'Cause the only concessions left between us and the office are desserts."
Rox not-so-subtly groans, glancing at Kati before looking back down at me.
...
"..Can we get something after she leaves?"
"Oh.. Well- sure, but I was kind of doing this with her in mind."
"The hell do you mean with her in mind?"
"..I mean Kati..?"
"Mike- you asked me if I was hungry, not her."
"Sorry, she was busy doing something on her phone, so I figured I'd, um... Are-.. Are you feeling alright?" I ask warily, starting to notice I managed to touch a nerve somewhere.
Roxanne crosses her arms with a quiet huff, and looks straight ahead for a moment..
...
But, once she figures out what to say, the frustrated glare comes back to me.
"..I don't like her, Mike.."
"..Okay.. You don't like most the people who work here though, so is it th-?"
"No-, I really don't like her.. I don't actually mind the day guards, they're just easy to manipulate into doing what I want if I don't respond to their 'empathy' right away. But this bitch-nn.. This girl really doesn't fuckin' do it for me."
"Mm.. Sorry, I guess.. What is it about her?"
..Roxanne doesn't respond right away.. Instead glaring at the floor, almost like she's pouting rather than her regular annoyed stare..
...
"..She's annoying.."
"..?"
"I don't know what to tell you, Mike."
"I.. don't know either..? I mean- it's perfectly fine that you don't like her, I'm not saying you're wrong, I guess I just want to know more.. What part's 'annoying'?"
"Ugh-, she talks so damn much, and you get sucked in like a fuckin'-.."
"She talks too much?"
"For fucks sake, y-" Roxanne huffs, throwing her arms out and letting them fall to her sides in exasperated annoyance.
"Uhm.."
...
"..I'm 'jealous', Mike. Happy?"
I put my hands up defensively in response to the silent outbursts, briefly glancing to the other side of me to make sure Kati's not overhearing any of this.
"What? Really?"
"Yes. You're-, nn.." Roxanne interrupts herself with an exhale through her teeth, re-forming the sentence in her head. "I almost couldn't believe you were the same Mike I know, watching you walk through my Raceway with her. You've never talked so much in your life, Michael- You said more shit to her in one conversation than you say to me in an entire day."
"Oh, well.. Yeah, I guess I was just thinking about that a moment ago too.. I don't really know what to say, she's just good at keeping a conversation going, I guess.."
"Look- You rarely used to talk to anyone when you first started working here, remember that? I'm the one who had to cry and beg for you to open up to people every once in a while, not her. So it's not, fuckin'-.. It's not fair that she can just swoop in and socialize with you more than I can, when I'm the one who spent the last year cracking your shell."
"Kati's not socializing with me more than you; I've only known her for twenty-five minutes."
"Mike, we're-.." Roxanne huffs, glancing up at Kati before back down at me. "We're going to the office to go give her the job thing right now.. So she can work here, with you."
...
..Sigh..
Alright.. It's a little ridiculous, and I'm in no way 'wrong' for chatting with a new co-worker, but I can understand why this might be a little upsetting..
Roxanne's not the best at explaining it, and neither am I, but working hard for something only to watch someone else reap the rewards is naturally frustrating no matter who you are.. It's like if you spent the last three hours preparing a meal for yourself, and someone else comes in and eats 75% of it. I know that's a weird example to bring up at a time like this, but in a sense, you could relate it to what Roxanne's talking about.
Back almost a year ago, I rarely opened up about anything to anyone, simply because I still had the past and my father on my mind. Even after Roxanne and I started warming up to each other, I never told her just about anything. That got on her nerves after a while, so she spent a majority of the time we've known each other trying to get me to open up to her more. God knows Roxanne's gotten angry at me plenty of times because I always kept secrets from her..
These last few weeks have been different, though. Especially since that night Roxanne heard one of the Freddy's workers die over the phone.. I finally started to trust her with a few things, and I stop walling people off so much. It took a mighty fine amount of painful moments between us for that to finally happen; some of which literally included begging and crying, so that wasn't an exaggeration on Roxanne's part..
The long and short of it is: I'm opening up a bit more, and there is a lot of history between Rox and I that finally got that to happen. So, after Roxanne spends a very considerable portion of her life fighting tooth-and-nail to get me to stop walling people off, I start utilizing the fact that I'm not so anti-social anymore to start chatting away and making friends with someone else entirely.
I'm not wrong for making a friend or two.. But Roxanne isn't entirely unjustified for feeling cheated either.
...
However.
In this particular case, none of that actually matters.
"..Okay, look.. You worked hard for something, and she's reaping the rewards. That's upsetting, I get it, but listen." I begin, keeping my tone light and pointing down the hallway we're currently walking through. "The door to the office is no more than 90 seconds in front of us. Once we're there, I'll poke my head in and give Kati the application. Once she has it, she'll go home, and after that? I don't think I'll ever see her again."
"The hell does that even mean..?"
"I told you earlier; I'm still the night-guard, wolf. Kati and I won't naturally run into each other at work, ever. Even if I have to take a day-shift, people in IT are in their own secluded areas, and half the time they aren't even at the Pizzaplex at all, since they're only really on call."
..Roxanne, exhales and glares forward again.. Not that she's upset with what I said or anything, that's just her natural reaction to getting new information.
...
Interestingly.. A rare phenomenon occurs, and instead of her expression simply softening, Roxanne's gaze reflexively lowers a few inches to be looking at the floor 30-odd feet away from here.. Which is a change to her expression I'm starting to identify as a hint of guilt..
...
"..You can, fuckin-.. You can still talk to her a little, I didn't mean you c-.. nn, fuck it, no, nevermind, forget I said anything."
..?
"What happened this time..? I thought this is what you wanted?"
"It was, but now I feel like shit for wanting it.. It's not even her I had a problem with; You were doing something that made you happy, and I got mad because you weren't doing it with me."
"That's fine, wolf. That isn't even an uncommon thing for people to get upset over."
"Well it doesn't feel good.. I just bitched and moaned until you said you'd never socialize with her again."
"Rox."
"Look- You're allowed to have friends, Mike.. I didn't mean to get in the way, you can-"
"Rox, for the love of god, you didn't change anything."
"You just told me-"
"This is the third time I've told you this, wolf: Whether you want me to talk to her or not, I will never naturally run into her. Kati's schedule and mine do not intersect, because she will work during the day, and I work at night. It's not that I'm choosing to avoid her for you, it's because of our jobs that we'll probably never even see each other again."
"Fine, fine, sheesh.."
"Here- check this out.." I mutter, taking a step ahead of the both of them and raising my voice for Kati to hear. "Hey - stay here for a sec'."
Kati curiously looks up from her phone at me, then immediately recoils back a step when she realizes she's about to walk straight into the wall.
"Whoops-..!"
"Just gonna grab an application and come back." I explain, pointing at the door I'm actively pushing through. "I should be in here no more than ten seconds.."
"Oh- that's okay..! Take your time!"
...
"And there she goes." I hum quietly, gesturing to the gooey-haired girl joyfully jogging away with an application in her arms.
Roxanne stands by me and watches her leave over the course of the next few seconds, folding her arms when she finally reaches the end of the corridor and walks out of sight.
...
"Okay- fine, but if I ever start whining that you're talking to somebody else again, you need to tell me that I'm being a bitch, alright?"
"Can I call you a bitch for whining about other things?"
"No."
"Bitc-"
"You wanna die, Michael?"
"Sorry."
"Yeah- you'll be sorry alright." Roxanne affirms with an amused huff, glancing down at me for a moment. "What time do you leave work?"
"Mm.. Not super sure - probably around 10 unless Arin needs my help with Cooper or something."
...
..Rox's stare goes blank while she does some math in her head..
...
"How far away is your house?"
"Fifteen minutes by car. I don't really keep track of the miles."
...
"Seven." Roxanne decides, looking back down the corridor Gooey left through. "Seven in the morning, you need to be back here."
..?
"..Oh-, for the bet.." I quietly grumble.
"Mhm. You're lucky I'm not making it six."
"You said I'd have to be there from sunrise to sundown, didn't you?"
"Do you know what time exactly the sun comes up?"
...
..Pretty close to five, actually.. Maybe I should stop talking.
"Mm.. Way earlier than 7.. And it doesn't go down until a little after 8."
"Maybe you should shut up, then."
"Yeah, maybe I should."
Roxanne snickers under her breath..
...
"What time do I get to leave, then?" I wonder out loud.
"That can still be 8; you've had a long day."
"How generous."
"Mm~."
...
..Roxanne snickers again, this time seemingly out of nowhere.. That bodes poorly for me..
"7 to 8 is thirteen whole hours, purple boy. How long do you think you can last with me?"
"..Was that an innuendo?"
"Not on purpose, but yeah - it is now."
Think we've gotten a little too comfortable with each other..
..Or, alternatively, Roxanne just likes making me as uncomfortable as possible.
...
"That is a long time.." I grumble under my breath, sliding my hands in my pockets. "..More than twice my usual nightly dose of you.."
"Relax. Maybe you'll like it."
"We'll see.."
"You won't like it when I rip your shirt off and get a good look at you, so I'd keep that in mind when I'm kindly asking you to do something for me."
"I'm not letting you see my injury, wolf.. I would also advise against saying something like that in a hallway crowded with people.."
A coy giggle is all the response I get.
...
...
For a few seconds, Roxanne and I stand idly in the corridor and watch the corner Kati walked around; as if we're waiting for her to come back.
...
"..I liked her make-up.." Roxanne mutters.
"..Who - Gooey's?"
...
"Who the fuck is Gooey?"
Oh right.
"That's Kati's self-proclaimed nickname.. I thought it was weird too, but she seems to really like it."
"Sheesh."
"I thought her make-up was interesting too. It's a bit late for compliments, though.""
"Wasn't planning on saying that to her face anyway."
"Fair enough." I respond, snickering under my breath.
...
"Did you like her make-up..?"
"Yeah. It was a little unusual for your every-day customer, but I thought her specific way of styling it was neat."
"It was weird.."
"It was stylized, which pretty much just means it followed a theme."
"mm.." Roxanne hums under her breath, lost in thought. "..Weird-ass theme.."
"A little.. Think it was supposed to look thick and paint-y to correlate with her nickname."
"Gooey.."
"Gooey."
...
"..But you actually liked it, right? Not just 'cause it was weird?"
"Yeah..? Why?"
Roxanne smirks with an amused exhale, completely ignoring my question.
"Mmm, anyway. Think it's about time I start getting ready."
"..Oh- for your show?" I respond, turning to find the nearest wall-clock.
"Mhm. Gotta put some extra work into preparing today."
Mm.. I guess now would be the time to leave if they needed to put some extra care into their show, whatever that means..
...
"M'kay.. Probably means I should go find Evan, since Monty's gonna come to the same conclusion here any minute.."
...
...
I look over my shoulder to see Roxanne, uh.. Hasn't left yet..
...
"You stare at me a little too often.." I comment, cocking a brow.
Roxanne just chuckles and continues to side-eye me.
"I'm excited."
...
"Okay..?"
"Remember that you're still here because I'm making you watch my part of the show, m'kay?"
"I remember."
"So come watch it. Made a lot of it with you in mind." Roxanne finishes, taking a step to the side to start walking away.
"..What?"
"Aw- that catch your attention?"
"Wait- really? ..What does that even mean?"
"You'll have to see."
What the hell-..? She got playful out of nowhere again..
"I'm not part of the show, am I? I'm gonna be watching in the atrium with Evan.."
"No, not gonna let 'purple man' steal any of my glory.. Mm, might single you out a bit, but that's just 'cause I think it'll be funny."
"..Rox, what are-?"
"Try not to stare."
...
Roxanne, despite my best efforts, leaves the corridor.
...
..Suddenly get the feeling I'm in grave danger..
...
- Kzzt -
I gaze naturally lifts upwards as the speakers on the ceiling come on.
Sure enough, it's the announcement telling everyone that the show will begin soon.. Before the intercom finishes it's announcement, a large portion of the people in the corridor I'm in all shift in one direction like a tide; all seemingly interested in getting good spots to watch the show with.
...
..I shake my head a bit.
Now probably isn't the time to try and extrapolate whatever the hell Rox was talking about.. I'd venture to guess Monty is headed to his green room to prepare, so that leads me to believe Evan's headed for the auditorium by now.
...
..I have a couple small stops to make, but if I make good time, I think I can get to the atrium a good few minutes before the show starts.
I slide my hands in my pockets, feeling the newfound energy in the room start to seep into me as well.
...
..Man..
If each of the animatronics prepared just as hard as Roxanne for their parts of the show, I can't even imagine what I might be in for..
...
...
The doors to the auditorium slide open, and I'm hit by the collective sound of all the visitors in the Pizzaplex chattering and cheering at once.
I step through the door on the direct opposite side of the stage, getting a full view of the entire atrium from the back.. It's colorful, noticeably more than usual. Lights and beams are methodically swaying around the room, leaving no portion of the area not littered in lights of every color.
...
..Whoof..
A crowd like this wasn't uncommon back in the day, but it's been a while. Honestly, a full reception of guests on our final day will seriously have an impact on people's opinion of the place.. With any luck, this should really push forward our agenda of convincing everyone that this place isn't as sketchy or dangerous as the recent police investigations have made it seem.
..I slide my hands in my pockets and bask in the sights with a small grin, finally feeling a small glimmer of hope after all these weeks of dread.
...
It feels good to be back..
Anyway, gotta find my tiny man. Only like a minute or two before the show starts.
I'm on the second floor balcony, looking down at the crowd below surrounding the stage at the front of the room.
..While the lights do make it a little harder to search the crowd, I'd be lying if I said it didn't pump me up a little. My heart's beating to the rhythm of the background music, filling me with a refreshing sense of vigor.
I might be overreacting a little to a few lights turning on and the sound of a bustling crowd, but I have a feeling it's because this crowd has meaning to me this time. It's an inarguable sign that things are getting better, and the whole 'concert' part feels like a celebration in that fact's honor.
...
Evan doesn't particularly stick out in crowds, but then again, no one really does..
..Actually, now that I think about it, what are the chances he's not in the crowd at all?
He's a little timid for a kid. I feel like it'd make a little more sense for him to be admiring everything from a small distance.. Not that anything's wrong with that; that's certainly how I'd prefer to enjoy something like this as well.
...
Oh-, there. Found h-
Mm, whelp, there he goes..
I did see him, down in the far left corner of the auditorium.. Right when I spotted him, though, he dipped into a door that not a lot of light reaches; since it's perfectly horizontal to where the stage protrudes, and hiding underneath the second floor balcony I'm on.
...
That was an employee's only door, though.
I stare at the door he went through for a moment, before curiously glancing at the stage.
...
..You know what, Monty did say I'd come find him when the show starts.. I know the show hasn't 'started' started yet, but all the lights and music flaring to life would probably be an acceptable interpretation of the show starting.
Guess I am a little late. Bet he's looking for me.. Or at least using 'I'm looking for Mike' as an excuse to get away from all the noise.
Evan was also holding both his hands to his head, covering his ears. It makes me chuckle thinking about it now, but all the loud sounds probably don't mix with his gentle personality very well. It's not hard to imagine that he just needed a second away from the heat, and made 'looking for Mike' the excuse to leave the atrium for a moment.
Well. This can't stand, little man.
I snicker under my breath, lightly pushing off the railing and jogging to the stairs.
We're gonna enjoy the show whether you like it or not, even if I gotta drag you out here myself.
...
The moment I reach the bottom of the steps, the crowd erupts once more.
I don't stop moving, but look to see what they're all cheering about. Sure enough, the gang's come out to play.
Within seconds, the cast is abusing all sorts of cliche methods of hyping the crowd up, and the guests have no trouble falling for it.
...
It's been a while since I've seen them move so energetically.. They must really be excited about this show they have for everyone.
...
..Sheesh..
I expected no less, but Roxanne really outdid herself preparing today.. Even if it's a little much, Roxanne looks good..
Chica's make-up and feathers have had noticeably more care put into them, Freddy simply looks as tidy as someone could possibly look, and Monty's wearing all the little accessories he could find, apparently..
But none of it compares to the fiery fashion freak that is Roxanne. She's done everything there is to do to look just a little bit better in even the smallest of ways.. Her uniform's so polished and reflective that it's like all the light in the room is emanating off her. Her fur's visibly as light and soft as you could get fur to be. The potency of her make-up, and how vividly she stylized it is enough to put even Gooey to shame.
It's no surprise that Roxanne put more work into herself than anybody else for an occasion such as this one, but wow.. It's all so bright and colorful that it looks like a sunbeam follows her wherever she moves..
Mm, Freddy might have to watch out this time. For once, it's possible there might be a new star to this show.
Roxanne obviously thinks the same, judging by that seductive smile.. It's strangely alluring, like a siren's song luring a ship's crew to their deaths.
...
I briefly shake my head and keep moving along the back walls of the auditorium; now only a few seconds away from the door.
I should probably get Evan out here pretty quick.. They've prepared one hell of a show today, so I'm watching it one way or the other.
..Plus, I'll never hear the end of it if I miss Roxanne's part of the show after all this.. I can't even imagine how pissed she'd be.. Especially if she really did design a portion of her show with me in mind.
Whoof..
...
For some reason, that thought kinda makes my chest feel a little funny..
...
..I wonder if Roxanne was inspired by Gooey to stylize her make-up this time around, instead of just putting it on naturally.. I guess if anyone would be able to remaster someone's make-up so efficiently just from looking at it for a couple minutes, it'd be Roxy.
Mm, y'know what, she did directly ask me if I liked Gooey's make-up.. That probably should have been a sign.
On a separate note, I'm glad Rox is feeling better.. It's not every day I manage to figure out what's wrong with her, so I'm hoping to count today as a victory all around.
There's still a significant portion of the day to go, though. Thankfully, I can rest easy knowing that this is probably gonna be the climax of it all, and that things will start to chill out from here.
Not that I really mind how busy we've been, I guess.. Mm, maybe today's just reinvigorated me to deal with the rest of he recent issues we've been having.. To be honest, I've needed something like today.. Something to take the weight off my soul, and refresh me for the battles ahead-
Right then, a chord echoes from the stage, and the crowd erupts once more.
..That was pretty damn loud.. I felt the vibrations run through my whole body..
I guess that means the show's gonna start soon. Even a typical show starts off with a bit of music, so I've got plenty of time to poke my head into this room over here and grab Evan. But, I bet Evan would appreciate listening to some of the music too, so I'm not gonna waste any more time getting him out here.
...
..The crowd's excitement proves contagious as their cheers fill my soul. I slow down enough to grab the door handle, and turn with a new sense of vigor pulsing through-
- Rattle -
And just like that, every drop of positive energy I'd just accumulated completely vanishes from my body.
...
..Wh-?
Locked? Why would-?
...
..Deciding to save staring at the doorknob in confusion for another time, I quickly snag my collection of keys and unlock the door.
After it clicks, the door slides open with no trouble.
I take a slightly rushed step inside, immediately having to strain my eyes from the far less-impressive dim lighting in here.
..The room itself is barely more than a walk-in closet, with the only difference being that it's a good 20-25 feet long.. Poorly maintained, simply because of how little of the time people have any reason to come in here.. I believe the intent was for it to be a small utility-storage area for like, janitorial stuff. But as far as I recall, no one ever put anything in here except for maybe a small table we didn't know what to do with near Christmas..
...
nn..
I grimace slightly, displeased with the couple seconds it's taking for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.. It wasn't particularly bright in the atrium, but a multi-colored beam of light shooting straight into your eyes every three seconds was enough for my irises to shrink a good amount.
I rub my eyes with my arm, as if that'll make it go any faster; but continue to walk forward until there's any sign of someone in here.
Fortunately, there is.
In fact I get an early sign that I've found what I'm looking for in the form of a small, sharp inhale. One I'm positive came from Evan, as if he's surprised that I managed to find him in here.
Comfort be damned, I lower my arm to my chest and release a breath I was holding the moment I find Evan standing there perfectly fine, curiously staring up at me.
Whoof..
Sheesh, little man.. Had to go and make me panic in the middle of my good day, huh?
"There you are." I sigh, forcing a soft chuckle to make sure Evan knows I'm not upset with him.
...
"..Oh-!" Evan perks, evidently seeing right through my attempt at not looking a little spooked. "Um, I'm sorry! I-I'm okay! It was just loud, and- um.."
"You're fine, big guy. Figured you wouldn't be a fan of all the noise."
"Yeah-! And, um..! I didn't really know where you were, so.."
"I thought that, too. Well, for future reference, I think you and I are pretty much the only people to have walked in here this month; so I doubt you'll ever find anyone in here." I chuckle, putting my hands on my hips.
"Oh..! Well-, your friend told me you might be in here, so I followed h-!"
- "Michael! Hah-! I didn' think ya' worked during the day! Yer' timing couldn't be better~!" -
The new voice causes a bit of panic to bubble in my chest, but after a bit of thinking, it's immediately recognizable.
Now noticing that Evan's holding hands with someone else, I look up to meet Cooper.
-_._-
But instead, I'm met w_.-ith s-omeon-.-e wearing a shoddily sewn, poorly-replicated rendition of the Spring Bonnie suit; all while in the middle of luring Evan further into this back room.
-_._-
...
..-.
I feel myself silently inhale, and lower my hands to my sides.
..Funnily enough, the panic that had just begun to bubble up in my chest fades away.
Everything else does, too.
...
My eyes are adjusted before long, and the rest of the room becomes visible.
The detail of the Spring Bonnie suit.
The old, empty Freddy costume sitting limp in the back of the room.
The kitchen knife sitting on the table between me and them.
It doesn't matter, though. One look at their suit made it obvious what they were trying to do.
...
I should be horrified. I should be screaming at him; forcing him to explain himself.
But I'm not.
Because, to be honest.. I don't care.
I hardly even spare the suit or the knife a glance. I don't need to.
All my attention, every ounce of my focus, is fixed on the man joyfully taking the Spring Bonnie suit off his head.
Cooper.
.-Co.-ope.r-.
"Aw- Kid! I had no idea ya'd be here today! If I did, I woulda asked you to come check this out before I did anythin'! But 'hey'!" Cooper chimes, letting go of Evan's hand and spreading his arms out as if to present everything to me. "Doesn' matter anymore; you couldn' have come at a better time!"
"..."
I simply stand perfectly upright and stare; no more than the slightest hint of surprise visible on my expression.
...
His *eyes*.. It's like the Cooper I used to know isn't even there anymore.. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and his are almost glazed over and opaque.
..And I'm almost positive they didn't used to be that color.
...
But it doesn't matter anymore.
...
"Uhm..! I-I'm ready to go back and watch, if that's okay..! They-!"
"Leave, Evan."
..Those are 'my' words.. I didn't even feel them come out, but they're exactly what I'd say if I had proper control anyway.
"O-Oh..!" Evan jumps slightly at my tone, staring up at me with uncertainty. "..Um..! S-Should I wait outside for you? Ca-?"
"Leave the Pizzaplex."
I'm not even looking at him. It's like my gaze has been physically bound on Cooper.
"H-Huh..?"
"Go get your mother, leave the Pizzaplex."
...
I'm scaring him.
"..U-Um-!"
"Do not come back."
Evan scoots forward a step, torn between walking up to me or walking past me to get to the door.
...
"I d-!"
"Do not come back, ever."
"Mike w-wait, I-..! Today's my birthday, m-my mom said I could be here al day if I wanted t-!
" *'GO'* "
Following another small jump, Evan quickly folds his hands and power-walks past me.
..Nothing continues until Cooper and I hear the door shut behind us.
...
...
The gang's upbeat music is muffled, but perfectly audible in the room we're in. A taunting reminder of how foolish I was no more than two minutes ago.
Like an innocent child, Cooper thoughtfully puts his costume'd fingers on his chin.
"Hmmmm I see, I getcha.. Y'know what-? Yer' right. Yer' always right; Good call. Don' think I got anyone to see me walk in here with 'em, and what would the point be then, right?" Cooper chuckles, mile-wide grin still pleasantly plastering his expression.
"..."
...
"Oh- wanted ta'tell ya' about this plan of mine, but never got the chance! Now that yer' heree~, Check 'em out~!" Cooper hums, gesturing to everything in the room again. "Worked hard on this! The perfect plan ta' find Michael! Thank god y'stopped me before I tried goin' out and lookin' for him.. Heheh~, I would never'ave found em!"
"..."
"Not you, of course- I mean Willy's Michael; y'know whadd'I mean.. You were right; at the end a' the day, he is William's son, so he's gotta be as cunning as the big-man himself, y'know? Pff- woulda made it impossible to find 'em. But, you already thought'a that! You arready knew that plan wasn' gonna work, Soo~! I did a little thinkin'!" He chimes, reaching behind him and proudly patting the empty Freddy suit on the head. "If we can't go to him, all we gotta do it lure Michael here instead. As shrimple as that, Mikey-boy!"
"..."
...
"Hmm.. Yer' right.. Let's not count our chickens 'fore they hatch; we gotta pull through with this plan first.." Cooper explains thoughtfully, scratching the top of his head as he looks down at the suit. "We gotta go get the right kid for the job, right? I mean- Willy chose a buncha' kids at random, so I reckon' we can do the same.."
He 'didn't'.
He chose them because they reminded him of 'me'.
"..."
...
"Oh- we only need one kid, though; It on't gotta be overkill.. It's more 'bout the principle of what we're doin', y'know?." Coop announces matter-of-factly, turning back to me with a finger raised. "If we do what Willy did once, Michael's gonna wanna come stop us from doing it again, know whadd'I mean? So after this, we just gotta sit back and wait fer' em to come to us."
"..."
...
"Soooo.. Whaddya say we go make our pick, huh?" Cooper chortles, waiting for what will 'surely' be a strong positive reaction from my end.
"..."
...
-_._-
I take a step towards him.. Then another.
-_._-
Funnily enough, the simple act of slowly walking towards him makes Cooper cock a brow.
...
"..Somethin' wrong with our plan? I mean- all I really figured was that Michael'd beeline straight here once he saw someone do what his father did, soooo... What; Don't think so? Plan need a little tweakin'?"
He's so jittery; like a child who ate too much sugar.
"..."
...
Y'know, I find it kind of funny that I can still see everything that's happening.. Usually when I lose it, I'm completely in the dark until I regain control.
This time, however.. I even feel like I still 'have' a little bit of control.
I feel myself telling my legs to move, and they listen.
...
"Ohhh!" Cooper tries (fails) to snap his fingers, which doesn't have much effect with the gloves he has on. "Aw now that I think 'bout it.. That kid I brought in here - he was talkin' about you quite a bit.. You probly' liked him, didn' you? Awww, well thank god you stopped me then, sheesh.. Michael; I'm sorry, really. I wasn' thinkin' about which kid I grabbed, and I ain't got nothin' to say for myself. All I can say is that I'm glad ya' got here when y'did."
He laughs again, as if he's finally figured it out.
"..."
"You've been nothin' but a gigantic help ever since ya' started helpin' me out. It kills me ta'think I would've done somethin' to someone close to you. You've got every right t'be upset; I really do apologize." Coop holds his hands up apologetically, though some of it is lost on that grin of his.
Despite this revelation of his, I don't stop walking toward him. How shocking.
"..."
...
I think I get it, though.. About my 'control' issue, I mean.
I 'still' don't know anything about this alter-ego mumbo jumbo I've got going on. At this point, I really have no clue whether it's entirely metaphorical or literal anymore.. But the long and short of it is; control didn't have to be wrenched from my hands this time.
This is just a guess, but if I had to theorize why I've still got a little power over myself, it's because it doesn't really matter which part of me is in control right now.
-. We're both trying to do the same thing anyway. .-
...
"Aw, sheesh.." Cooper cocks a brow, lowering his hands a bit.
"..."
...
"Look, I really do understand I was 'boutta do somethin' a little questionable, but it ain't all that bad, right? First of all, you stopped me before I could do nothin', and second, it wouldn'tve been that bad if things happened the way they were goin', y'know?"
"..."
"Aw, don't give me that look.. I'm sorry, Michael. I mean it. Wasn't gonna do nothin' too bad anyway, I don't think."
"..."
...
Peculiarly, Cooper himself seems to recognize that his last sentence was a little weird.
"..You're lookin' at me like a psycho, Mike-o.. Sheesh, I ain't crazy or anything, kid.. It ain't like I was gonna take the kid and, uhm-..""
Cooper slowly trails off, seemingly staring into space for a second; before turning over his shoulder to look at the Freddy suit behind him.
"..."
"I wasn't, uh.. Wasn't gonna kill 'em or.. Or anythin'.. I don't think.."
"..."
...
He stares off into space halfway between the suit and me. Funnily enough, the grin on his face doesn't seem to be as happy as it once looked.
...
"I.. I wasn't gonna kill 'im.."
"..."
...
Cooper turns to look at me, a unique type of confusion replacing what used to be pure joy on his face.. It's like he's looking to me for confirmation toward what he's saying.
...
"Right..?"
...
There, in his eyes for just the briefest of seconds, I catch a glimpse of the real Cooper again.
The Cooper who was known; borderline *famous* for his kindness. There's a person, definable by their unparalleled sense of empathy, just barely managing to peek their head out of the curtains of their insanity.
..But just as quick as he surfaces, something happens.
.-.-.
He watches me wrap my fingers around the knife, then delicately drag it off the table into my hand.
.-.-.
And that swallows him right back up with a 'new' range of emotions.
"Heyyy..! Woah Mikey-man, alright, alright, listen.."
"..."
"..Look- yer' right, I get it.. That was, uhm. That was a little messed up, maybe on my end.. But we can do this another way, yeah? You've got every right t'be angry n' stuff, but this'd be horrible ending for the both of us, right?"
"..."
"I know you've made some good friends with the animatronics, haven'tcha? I'm not sayin' we let this slide or nothin'-, I'll follow you right outta here and do whatcha say; hell I'll even talk to the police if ya'd like! But you'd be hurtin'-.. You'd be hurtin' a lot of people doin' it this way, yeah? You most of all, right? We'd shut down fer' sure if they heard you killed m-, if they heard-..! Uhm..!"
"..."
"..Listen. This is too costly fer' everybody, arright? No reason to let my 'punishment' hurt everybody else here, you know..? They didn' do nothin' wrong.. There's too many people workin' here that I'd be lettin' down if we closed, arright..? Mikey- we'll figure somethin' out; you've made family here.. If we do this, you'll lose everythin'.. I understand 'yer upset, but even I know you don't want to lose everything.. 'I' don't even want you to lose everything.. Mike, you wouldn't throw everything away for something like this, right?"
Don't you try and talk to me about 'losing everything'.
...
"..."
"..Look, I get it, I get it, I was-.. I was wrong; I don't wanna hurt anybody anymore. I shouldn'ta wanted to do it in the first place, but I ain't-.. I don' wanna do it anymore, so can we just-..?"
You think I value everything too much for me to throw it away?
I don't want to 'lose everything' over something like this happening?
_-.- Do you have any idea who I am? -.-_
...
...
"..."
"..Mikey, listen.."
I spent 30 years trying to put an end to my father's work, and 40 paying for my own despicably actions.
...
"..."
"Think about everythin' that'd happen if you k-.. This'd be the bad ending fer' everybody, Mike; even fer' you.. And Mike- you ain't even done anything wrong.. 'Nobody' else has.. 'scept me, of course, but-.."
-.-.-. If I had just stay put in my room after I killed my brother, I could have lived a pathetically easy life. My father hated me, but so what? I'd still be the one inheriting all the profits of the world-renowned 'Freddy Fazbears'. All I would've had to do was sit there and wait for my father to 'disappear', then all my troubles could've been smothered with all the cash I could ever want. .-.-.-
...
"..."
"..Uhm.. Look, I'm gon' be real with you Michael.. I don't even know what'll happen ta' the animatronic characters if I 'go'.. I've got no idea where they'll be sent, and what'll become of them afterward.. I don't really want that, and I know that ain't what you want, kid.."
-.-.-. But that's not what happened. I didn't sit and wait for my father to disappear in time for the world to forget everything. It was already far, far too late, but I changed. For the first time in my life, I took responsibility for my actions, and took the responsibility of those who died because of them. -.-.-.
-.-.-. And in doing so, I 'did' lose everything.. -.-.-
-.-.-. I lost my family, I lost my home, I lost my future.. I lost my 'body'.. I lost my LIFE. .-.-.-
...
"..."
"Michael, I can't just-.. I.. I just need ten minutes to wrap things up.. There are people who need to know what to do if-.."
-.-.-. But I kept going, simply because I noticed that some scraggly part of my body was still capable of moving. .-.-.-
-.-.-. Every step I took, I 'lost' something. Eventually, I thought I had run out of things to lose; but every time I walked forward, I lost even more. I started losing things I didn't even know I had. .-.-.-
"..."
"..What'll happen to-..?"
-.-.-. But y'know what? .-.-.-
-.-.-. I had lost everything I had ever known, but that didn't mean *anything* to me. .-.-.-
-.-.-. I didn't even have to 'think' about whether or not it was worth it to lose everything to do what I was doing. Because to me, there was 'nothing' more important than fulfilling my *purpose*. -.-.-.
"..."
"..Kid, what'll happen to Arin..?"
-.-.-. So sworn to this duty of mine that, when I had finally ensured my father's death, I was simply ready to die as well. Henry even told me that he had a way out of the burning Pizzeria planned for me, but thought it wasn't what I wanted. He was right. Because I had lost everything, even myself, to fulfill my purpose. .-.-.-
"..."
"..Arin.."
-.-.-. So, yes. You're right, I *am* happy here. I've found myself a family, good friends, and place I know I'll always be welcome.. Hell, for the first time since killing my father, I was starting to feel like I had successfully found a place I belong again. .-.-.-
-.-.-. I value everything here more than you could possibly believe. .-.-.-
"..."
"A-..Arin... Wait, kid, Arin won't know what-.. I don't know if he can handle 'imself on his own yet, I-.. I need-"
...
-.-.-. ..But if you think I wouldn't throw everything away again just to fulfill my pathetic little 'purpose' one last time. .-.-.-
"..."
"W-.. Wait.. Michael I-.. Wait, wait fer' a second, wait. I.. I need to talk to Arin, one more time..! Stop-..! Michael, I need-..! Wait-! Mike, listen! I-I need to talk to Arin! I n-need t-!"
-.-.-_. You're mistaken. ._-.-.-
_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-
_-.-_-.-_-.-
_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_
_-.-..-...
.-..._-..
...-.
...
...
..The sound of our breathing is the only noise in the room.
Funnily enough, both our inhales and exhales are slow and methodical; though for completely different reasons.
However, with every second that passes with the two of us standing like this, Cooper's breath starts to get raspier.
The sound of a dying man. With the only noise to accompany his last moments being the muffled cheers and up-beat music playing from the auditorium.
...
..As I stand here, one hand holding Cooper's wrist up and out of the way, and the other firmly gripping the knife embedded in his chest; I faintly hear Roxanne's voice beckoning the audience for more cheers.
It's a vile, twisted, sickening combination of atmospheres.. One I've experienced before.
...
...
Cooper's free hand meekly grabs the wrist of the hand burying a blade in his flesh.
He simply looks confused. He's too weak to express anything else.
..I can't blame him for not fully understanding.. Yes, he was about to do something horrible to Evan, but he never got the chance too. On top of that, he finally seemed to snap out of it just enough to recognize the absurdity of what he was doing.
A negative reaction would have been expected out of anyone, but I doubt anyone else would have been so influenced by his actions as to become a murderer. To Coop, this really is an absurd way to retaliate to what he was doing.
It doesn't make any sense for someone to have gone as far as I did..
I know that.. And he knows I know that..
If I were him, I'd be pretty confused too.
...
..I can see him try to work it out in his brain while the rest of his body begins to fail.. I'm sure there's a million questions he'd like to ask me, but I'm not so sure he's capable of talking in this condition.
Even so, I can read his thoughts through his expression. I can almost hear the questions he's trying to scrape together the answers for in his head.
'Why?'
'Why would I go so far? What pushed me to such lengths?'
'This was a seemingly unwarranted reaction; anyone else wouldn't have resorted to such a thing.'
'So, why did I?'
'What makes me unique?'
- What about me in particular might cause me to respond in such a drastic way? -
- Was it the Spring Bonnie costume? Was it the empty Freddy suit? Would those things have contributed to this somehow? If so, why would 'I' have any gripe against them at all? -
- Who am I? -
-.- Who is the only person you can think of that would react so violently to someone mimicking William? -.-
...
..I can see it click for him.. As if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
...
His strength stops waning for a short moment. In fact, after a couple seconds, his grip on my wrist gets tighter.
And the old Cooper, who had just managed to peek through the curtains of his insanity, fades out of sight again.
...
..I remain motionless, and keep stoic.. Simply letting him have this last unavoidable moment..
I underestimate how much strength he regains, however.
Cooper abruptly releases my wrist, and instead plants that hand between my collarbone and the side of my neck; immediately coating that area in his own sickeningly warm blood.
Then, as if using all the strength left in his body, he gradually tugs himself forward..
...
..Cooper, burying increasingly more of the kitchen knife into his flesh as he pulls himself closer, starts to smirk bit as the realization sets in; as if someone just told him a dad joke.
Then, he smiles.
Then grins,
then beams,
then keeps stretching the corners of his mouth further outward and upward, until it's simply indescribable with words alone anymore.
...
In this very moment, his panic, his fear, his resignation, his disbelief.. All that of which he was worried about melts away, and means nothing to him anymore.
...
Then, finally;
with drops of blood dripping from the teeth of his impossibly wide, manic grin;
with zero consideration towards how much pain he's putting himself in, nor any care for how much time alive he's sacrificing by forcing himself to pull just a little harder;
and with blazing purple eyes;
Cooper wheezes my name.
The same name I've been called here thousands of times, again and again.
But this time, it's different. Different than anyone has said my name before.
This time, someone is telling me who I truly am.
-.-_-.-_-.-_
_.- "Michael..!" -._
_-.-_-.-_-.-
...
...
..Then, as if that last utterance sapped all the strength left in him,
Cooper dies.
...
...
- Whump -
His body thuds on the cold back-room floor; falling the moment I tug the knife out from his flesh.
...
..That was it..
No build-up, no dramatic fight with the enemy, no struggle.
One minute, I was bursting at the seams with hope.
The next, it's already over.
...
...
I stare down at him a few moments longer; completely expressionless. The only things that accompany me is the muffled band-music and enthusiastic cheers from the crowd.
...
What just happened, and the consequences that will arise because of it.. It's the worst thing I could ever possibly imagine.
But I can't feel anything, even after watching it all go down in front of me.
It's all just numb.
...
...
..I fooled myself again..
I started living a life here, despite knowing what the consequence of that would be.
It felt good. It was peaceful, and allowed me to find appreciation for the smaller things. It felt like I was slowly becoming human again.
But then, I wanted more.
It felt good, so I wanted more.
..I witnessed connections from afar, and saw all the happiness it brought to those involved. Trudge and Chica, Freddy and Monty, Cooper and Arin.. There were bonds, and it worked wonders for them.
But I knew I couldn't have it, because something like that can only form when the two forming a bond truly understood who the other was. No secrets between each other, and utter transparency.
So I stayed back, and only spectated on those who had already formed bonds with one another.
Then, something happened.
It started as simple as Roxanne accidentally scratching me. The next day, I had unknowingly saved her life by telling Arin not to have her reprogrammed.
Then, before I knew it, I was given the easiest opportunity in the world to form a 'bond' with the person I had just saved.
I knew, knew it wouldn't work. I completely understood that I didn't have what it took to maintain it.
I knew, that one day, it would fail.
But I got greedy.
I wanted to feel more like a human again; I wanted to partake in the pleasantries everyone else got to experience.
And so, a connection was formed.
Then through that connection, I started making connections with everybody else. I partook in a group, and associated myself with them.
But I knew it would fail once they figured out who I was. I knew it would fail when the time for me to be who I truly am resurfaced.
So I staved that moment off as long as I possibly could.. I told lies, spread misinformation, relied on misdirection; all to hide who I was from them, so I could experience the feeling of having a connection a little longer.
...
I held it off pretty well. Far longer than I expected to be able to.
But, time's up.
...
Now all those plans, thoughts, and careful considerations of the future.. Gooey working here, the deal I made with Roxanne, Trudge and Chica's relationship, figuring out Friendo, fixing Cooper while the Pizzaplex is closed, Monty seeing purple, the 'document', the Raceway.. All things I used to think and worry about..
In an instant, they've all become meaningless. None of those plans for the future will ever come to fruition; I've just sabotaged them all.
...
Five minutes ago, I was having a great day with my friends, and preparing to watch this show the whole gang has worked so hard on. I was thinking about the future; immediate and distant. I was bursting with hope.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere.. It was over.
The show is over. My connection with Roxanne is over. The issue with Cooper is over. The Pizzaplex is over.
It's over.
...
...
..So, let's wrap it up.
My gaze drifts up from Cooper, to the door I entered from.
...
...
..Down in the very deepest depths of my soul, something I believed to be long forgotten has started to beat again..
My entire body feels numb, but a hollow pit I've grown used to feeling in my chest has filled.
I'm numb, but don't feel as empty as I used to.
There's something in my soul pushing me forward. It's a driving force; like a motivation, or a passion..
A purpose.
A purpose.. Thought to be long forgotten, but beating in the depths of my heart once more.
...
It's filling. It's like I don't feel empty anymore.
I hate it.. It makes me feel alive..
...
...
I push my way back into the auditorium, still tightly gripping the bloodstained knife in my hand.
I spare the neon-lit stage and cheering audience surrounding it a glance, but quickly lose interest and look the other direction.
They might end up seeing me, or they might not.. The dark corner the shady room likely isn't the center of anyone's attention with all the lights and music blaring like this. I don't care, it doesn't matter either way.
...
Spotting what I'm looking for, I take a few steps toward the wall and grab the small lever mounted on the wall.
...
I'm sorry about your show. You've all worked hard on it.
...
I pull, and the fire alarm flares to life.
The auditorium is suddenly tinted a shade of red, overpowering the neon lights flashing everyone. Several of the gang up on the stage gasp into their microphones as their music is overshadowed by alarms.. I suppose that makes some sense. Unless there have been fire drills I'm unaware of, all of them have likely never experienced this before.
...
I watch over my shoulder as confusion consumes the crowd, but shortly after, the proper procedures in an event like this are followed by human and animatronic alike. The audience quickly sifts backwards out of the atrium, and the gang finish delicately putting their instruments on the ground and jog backstage.
..Those are the last guests that will ever grace this room.. The Pizzaplex will not recover from this..
There are thousands of people obsessed with the recent investigations waiting for something to happen here that makes this place just as corrupt and tragic as all the locations before it. They've all been waiting for something like this to happen.
...
...
..I'm leaving.
I release the alarm handle and begin trekking to the other end of the auditorium.
...
...
..I was wrong..
My father's legacy isn't over.. Another death was just added to his total.. Another death would have been added to his total, even if I wasn't there. Evan would have died.
William's sickening malice hasn't faded away yet, even though he himself has. His trail of death and destruction is carried on through others.
..So if he isn't done, then I'm not either..
I'll go back to the shadows, and watch from a distance for any sign of my father's influence. Just as I was doing before.
And when I find it, I'll stomp it to a bloodstained dust. Just as I've done here.
...
..He always comes back.. Even if it isn't William himself, his malice continues to thrive in the innocence of others.. But that's fine.
Each time he comes back, I'm still here. No matter how much time passes, each time you come back, I'll always be here, waiting for you.
...
...
..I need to go to my office..
I need that laptop to keep up with the inevitable investigations, and how they effect people.. It won't be easy to get a new one after today. I'll need to vanish for a while, but that won't be hard for a corpse. It wasn't last time.
...
After that, I'm leaving this place behind for good.
There won't be anything left of the Pizzaplex to come back to, anyway.
...
...
...
..It isn't in here..
...
I stand upright and glance around the office one last time.. Just as I do so, the red lights and blaring alarm abruptly halt.
Someone turned off the alarm.. Arin's working quick.
...
..As I lower my gaze from the ceiling, my sights briefly fall on the hand-drawn picture framed on my desk. The one the endoskeleton gave me on Christmas.
...
...
Her room..
Of course it's in there. That's always where it ends up..
...
..It isn't worth it..
I don't know where the animatronics go in the event of a fire, but if it's their rooms, then running into her would cost me more time than I have any excuse to risk.
I immediately turn around and walk out of my office, navigating the small hallway outside of it.
...
..I was so afraid of a copy-cat killer adding another death to my father's name.. Even through the numbness, it hurts a little to know that I was the one who took that copy-cat killer's place.. Another death to William's legacy added by my own two hands..
...
It doesn't matter.
The options were me or Cooper. I don't like it, but I'd rather not let anyone else add their names to Freddy's bloody history.
...
I open the door and step into the animatronic's corridor.
There's light peeking out from underneath each of the gang's curtains. They might not all turn off their lights when they leave, but I know for a fact that some of them do; and if one of the gang can be found in their rooms in the event of a fire, that probably means the rest of them were supposed to return here as well.
...
I quickly turn to look at the next corridor I need to enter to reach the exit, but my gaze eventually resets itself to looking what's directly in front of me.
Roxanne's room.
...
..I don't have time. It won't do me any good to see her, either..
This is a lucky opportunity I've been given to disappear without a trace. Now that I know the gang have all bunkered in their rooms, I can breathe easy knowing I won't run into them while..
..There's no time, I-..
...
...
-.- " 'The Pizzaplex is safe, I promise.' " -.-
-.- " 'No one will ever die here, Roxanne. I'll say that as many times as it takes for you to believe me.' " -.-
...
...
I've dragged her through hell and back more times than I can count. Each time, she fought all sense of reason to stay by my side.
Now, after all she's fought through to keep me around, I'm taking everything from her.. I'm leaving forever, and taking her entire way of life with me.
I can't fix that, even if I wanted to. It's too late.
...
Roxanne.. It's all going to fall down on top of her, and she won't even know why. She'll have no idea where I went, or what happened to her home. It'll just be gone, in the flash of an eye.
She-...
...
...
She deserves 'something..'
...
Roxanne, at the very least.. deserves to 'know'..
...
..So I'll show her.
My body straightens itself as I stare at Roxanne's room.
...
..And this time..
I'll show her in a way she can't possibly misunderstand.
...
...
- Pshh -
"Ngah!"
- BANG -
As if the sound of the door opening was the straw that broke the camel's back, Roxanne furiously slams her arms down on the top of her desk; staring daggers into her mirror as if it's responsible for everything that's happening to her.
"How fucking dare they ruin everything!? Literally everything! Ngh, Why the f-?! Come on, Mike-! Why!? What happened!? Did they tell you what fucking happened?!"
Roxanne's claws almost break with how hard they're digging into her desk. She angrily asks me for an explanation - presumably about why the fire alarm went off - but never turns to look at me.. I don't think she wants to show me her face
"..."
"Nghh-! Today was my fucking day! I spent so long- ngh..! I made sure *everything* was perfect! Everything 'was' perfect! Until that stupid fucking-! Ghh!"
"..."
Roxanne hits her desk again, using the momentum to push herself away and angrily pace towards the couch.
"..I'm gonna find that fucking kid- I'll fucking kill him.. I don't care if it was some dumbshit burning something in the kitchen or if it was an actual fire; I'll find who it was who started it.. They're so fucking dead, Mike; I'll tear their f-, Nghh..!"
Just as she makes it to the couch and turns to pace the other direction, she quickly reminds herself that I'm standing in her doorway and turns her head away from me.. But, it was a little too late.
Roxanne's face is red, but not from fury alone. The stylized make-up around her eyes is slightly runny. Those eyes are narrow and absolutely furious, but despite her attempts at channeling all her displeasure into anger, frustrated tears are gathered in the corners of her eyes.
Still refusing to show me her face, Roxanne marches back to her desk and forcefully slams her hands down on it; holding herself upright.
"..."
"..gh, today was the last fucking day, too! They were all f-! Mike, I had them..! They were all looking at me..! Today was the greatest day of my life until that moment! Everyone was driving on my Raceway! Everyone was singing along with me! Not even Freddy could compete with me! Today was my fucking *day*!"
"..."
"It's so fucking unfair..! What the hell happened, Mike?! Did Arin tell you what happened!? What dumbass made the fire alarm go-! Ngh!"
Rox keeps choking on her fury, and it's making her even madder.
"..."
"..Ghhh-!.."
"..."
...
Roxanne, furiously glares up just enough to glance at the doorway I'm in through the mirror.
"..Mike- I know you're fucking there..! I'm asking you- do you know what the fuck happ-?!"
- drip -
Roxanne's ears twitch and turn towards me; once again catching an impressively quiet sound that even I barely heard...
Through her reflection, I see her furrow her brow a bit; unable to make sense of the noise she just heard.. It was the sound of a heavy droplet colliding with her floor, as if I'm soaking wet.
Displeased with the idea that I'm walking into her room completely drenched, Roxanne quickly wipes her eyes and whips over her shoulder to glare at me.
"Do NOT get water all over my fucking room! What the hell happened to y-!?"
Roxanne interrupts herself with a startled gasp, and all the fury vanishes from her face in an instant.
...
...
Despite the non-stop fountain of rage spewing out of her mouth a few seconds ago, not a hint of anger remains.
Roxanne does nothing but stare at me quietly; as if she can't comprehend what she's looking at.
...
The bottom half of my uniform is soaked crimson.. A viscus red liquid continuously seeps off my hand, onto the knife, and runs down it's length before dripping to the floor again.. A large blood-print of Cooper's hand is tattoo'd on my nape, slowly caking with time.
..Imagine that person standing in your doorway, quietly staring at you.. Eyes fierce, but otherwise inexpressive.
...
...
..Where do I even begin?
There's so much to tell you. Far more than what I can even imagine explaining. Where do I start?
...
..I came here to talk to her about something one last time, but I don't know the words that could ever properly express what I'm here to explain..
So.. While I think, I remain silent.. Standing in Roxanne's doorway, letting the blood periodically drip to the floor..
...
..Roxanne herself isn't handling being stared at by a blood-soaked murderer very well..
...
...
...
"W-...?"
"..."
...
...
"...Mike- what is that? What happened?"
..Roxanne's found the courage to speak again.. But from the look in her eyes, I don't think she fully understands the true meaning behind she's looking at right now.
...
..You should know who I am.. It's been so long, and you still don't see me for the monster I've become.. I've given you all the pieces, but it never seems to *click* for you.
Come on. Cooper figured it out, why haven't you?
"..."
...
"..Did-.. Did something happen? What the hell is all over your uniform..? What is-.. What is that on your neck?"
As if to respond, a single drop runs down my shirt from Cooper's bloody hand-print.
"..."
...
...
"I-Is-..? Is that real..? Is that someone's-?.."
...
You know what it is. You're convincing yourself that it *can't be* what you know it is, but that ignorance won't get you anywhere this time.
I'm done hiding, so be done pretending you don't see me.
"..."
"What is that, Mike? What's all over you? Is that supposed to be blood? Because it-.. It isn't convincing.."
"..."
...
"That's not real, don't fuckin'-.. I mean, right? Where did you get all that? Is it supposed to be fake blood? Or does it just look like it?"
"..."
"T..This isn't funny."
"..."
...
"...That's fake, right?"
"..."
"Right?"
"..."
"..R-Right..? Mike- Right?"
"..."
...
...
...
"Mike, I-I'm asking you f-.. W..What are you doing? W-Why won't you answer me?"
"..."
...
"..Are you playing some kind of trick or something? I-It.. It isn't funny.. Say something.."
I don't think I can.
There's a million things I could say to explain what I am; a million things that would convince anybody else of the truth.. But not you.
You have all the pieces. You should know who I am by now, there's no excuse.
If Freddy knew even a fourth of what you know, he'd have figured out who I am already.
...
Whether you're doing it on purpose or not, you won't put the pieces together.
And if I give you *more* pieces, you'll refuse to put those together as well.
You deserve to know the truth before I leave, but I can't just tell you like I could tell anybody else. You'll twist my words, and believe a twisted version of the truth that you *know* I don't mean.
You're smart, Roxanne. I've seen time and time again how perceptive you can be.. But you're just as stubborn.
I need to tell you the truth in a way that forces you to accept it. I need to show you the truth, no matter how badly you don't want to see it.
"..."
...
"W..Why? What's wrong with you? W-Why are you looking at me like that..?"
"..."
...
"Answer me..!"
"..."
...
Roxanne very slowly turns the rest of her body away from her desk to face me.
...
"Mike, stop.. jesus christ- S-Stop staring at me.."
"..."
...
..It's getting to her..
Every second that passes, Roxanne's freaking herself out more.. I can see her stability crumble each time I fail to provide a response.
...
"S-Stop.."
"..."
...
"St-..! M-Mike, you're doing this on purpose..! Stop it..!"
"..."
...
...
"Just..! J-Just tell me..! I'm-..! I'm not playing this stupid game with you right now..!"
..I can't.. Nothing I can think to say 'proves' who I really am, so it won't be good enough.. I need to think of something I can say..
"..."
...
...
Somewhere in her eyes, I can see a threshold break.. Roxanne fidgets for a moment before grabbing her arm and lowering her snout a bit.
"..Fine, n-nevermind.. I-If you don't want to tell me, then I don't care anymore.. g-go away.."
"..."
...
...
"S.. Stop it, I-I just told you to go away."
"..."
...
..Another drop of blood drips off the tip of the knife and onto her floor..
...
"M-Mike, I'm serious..! G-Go away..! Leave me alone..!"
"..."
"G-Go away!"
"..."
...
...
...
"..M-Mike, please go away.."
..Another barrier breaks, and Roxanne suddenly can't fake it anymore. The tough front she was failing to put up crumbles to dust; and in its place: a timid, shaky voice.
I remain still, and keep thinking of how I could explain everything to her.
"..."
...
...
"..Mike, please.. I-I don't feel-.."
"..."
...
"..Y-You're scaring me, okay? Just-.. Tell me what you want, a-and.."
"..."
...
"Mike.."
"..."
...
...
I exhale and narrow my gaze a bit, dissatisfied with my inability to conjure up what I need to say..
Yet another small collection of blood seeps from the intricacies of my metal arm and drops onto the floor.. Despite how inaudible the sound is, Roxanne's ear violently twitches as the drop hits the cold ground.
...
...
...
".. I-I'm scared.."
"..."
...
...
"..I-I'm actually s-scared, Michael; you-.. A-Are you mad at me..?"
"..."
"A-Are you? Look, d-don't be mad, I'll-.. I d-didn't mean to be mean, I-I.."
"..."
"D-.. Do you need a t-towel, or something? D-Do you need to clean that off? I-Is that stuff even real..?"
"..."
...
I have nothing..
This is pointless.. Words won't work..
...
Roxanne blindly reaches behind her and pats the top of her desk, searching for something while refusing to take her eyes off me.
...
Eventually, her hands land on a small rag, and Rox tightly grasps its edge before holding it out in front of her.
"It-.. It's on your neck, Mike, do-.. D-Do you want help cleaning it..? I-I have clothes, if you want. You can w-wear them while you wash-.. while you wash those ones, i-if you want.."
"..."
...
Roxanne takes a couple steps forward, but slows down to practically nothing again once she gets a closer look at me.
...
"Is-..? Is this what you want..? W-Will it come off with just a rag? D-Do you need water or something..?"
"..."
"Mike, can you p-please-? C-Can you please just tell me if you're mad at me, at least..? A-Are you mad..?"
"..."
...
Words won't work..
No matter how blunt I make it, there's still a way to twist things.. I can't afford to stay here and make sure you get the picture.. I need to know you'll understand the truth..
...
...
..Fine.
If I can't tell you..
I'll show you.
...
My gaze narrows slightly as I come to decide what I need to do.
Roxanne notices, and apprehensively hugs the rag closer to her as if it was making me angry..
"S-Sorry, sorry I'll-.. Do you want, like-?"
Slowly, I move my free hand to the top button of my shirt. Rox reflexively recoils, seeing as that's the first time I've really moved since I opened her door.
...
..Roxanne starts to look at me weirdly as I undo the first few buttons of my shirt.. But it's quickly overshadowed by stunned silence as she finally sees the top of my scar.
...
...
This is what you wanted to see, isn't it?
Isn't this what you said you'd make me show you if I failed to do what you say?
Well, here it is.
So? Tell me what you think.
Is it everything you hoped it would be?
...
I continue unbuttoning, in the middle of undo-ing the last one when Roxanne finally mutters something again. The scar is finally in full view.. Jagged and disgusting, with purple creeping out it's edges..
"W-... What the fuck..?! W-What is-?"
...
...
...
..Not enough..
...
It's not enough..
She could-.. Roxanne still might try and think of excuses for what happened. She might try reasoning her way around it. She could jump through hoops to avoid considering this truth.. The risk of her doing so is small, but I don't care.
I'm not rolling those dice. You need to face this. You *need* to understand.
...
I won't let you look away this time..
I won't let you misunderstand any longer.
I'll do what it takes.
...
As the last button is undone, I lift my hand back up to my chest.
...
..I'll show you.. I'll show you what I really am..
...
-.
I rest my palm on my breast, digging my fingers into the divot of my scar and latching firmly.
-.
...
I'll show you..
I'll show you, and I'll force you to catch what you've been missing this time..
I'll stomp out any chance for doubt. I'll make sure there's nothing left..
..This time, I'll show you the 'truth'.. Whether you like it or not.
...
...
I take a deep breath in..
...
Then, focusing my strength, I pull.
...
"..Wh-!? Don't p-! Stop! O-Oh my God-! Mike- stop! STOP! MIKE STO-!"
-._.-._
- tK-TCHH -
_.-._._
Ghhk-kkg..!
I reflexively hunch slightly, gasping as my flesh tears apart.
Nngh..! N-nn..
...
...
..My.. My nerves must have healed more than I thought..
That hurt.. That really hurt.. I have to take a couple quick deep breaths to prevent myself from getting lightheaded and passing out..
...
Once I have control again, I quickly hold my hand out in front of my opened stomach just in time to stop several organs from falling out of me entirely..
It probably goes without saying, but my body did not like that.. It's like the Remnant itself was flaring in protest to me undoing all the hard work it's done so far.. I can feel several of my healed organs completely fail and return to relying on Remnant to function..
..As the brief ringing in my ears finally stops, I can finally register what's going on around me.
Roxanne is screaming.
Not yelping or squeaking like she usually does. Roxanne is screaming. One long, deafening, continuous high-pitched shriek of sheer terror.
Roxanne recoils backwards the moment my chest tears open; her arms shaking uncontrollably by her face as if she's being shocked with electricity.
The screaming only stops when she stumbles over the coffee table I got her, tripping backwards and getting the wind knocked out of her as her back violently comes into contact with both her toppled-chair and the floor; ending the shriek with a pathetic throaty wheeze as all the air ejects from her lungs.
...
Despite the rough landing, she never looks away. Rox scrambles for a moment, before sitting upright and slowly freezing; instinctively covering her mouth with her hands.
...
..Then, once again, we stare at each other..
...
..Despite ripping myself apart, very little blood spilled, if any.. However, that isn't really necessary to get the point across when I'm holding my upper intestines in my hands.
It's not like how it's been before; Roxanne will never obtain the strength to speak in this condition.. She's on the floor completely pale, staring at me with crazed, shaking irises.. The hand over her mouth doesn't obscure her heavy breathing whatsoever, despite-
- "Hhk-..!" -
...
Rox briefly swells and presses her paws over her mouth much tighter than before, but it isn't enough to stop what's coming.
...
..Roxanne, the embodiment of a star's perfection and glamour, has been reduced vomiting into her hands on the floor..
...
...
In less than a moment, it's already over, and we're back to staring at each other like we were like nothing happened..
I don't like referring to Rox this way, but 'completely frozen in horror and covered in her own bile' makes her look more helpless than I've ever seen just about anyone before..
Her breathing's slowed down quite a bit, but that's not to say she's even slightly recovered. Roxanne's still pale; frozen in true, absolute horror.. Her hand isn't covering her mouth anymore, but I think that's just because it froze in place again once she stopped expunging all the contents of her stomach..
It's not a pretty sight, but that hardly matters to either of us right now.. I suppose it's a blessing Roxanne hasn't completely fainted; many people would when faced with a sight like this.
Vomiting is a small price to pay for watching somebody's chest tear open like a double-wide door.
..For reference, Roxanne's currently staring at someone in her doorway, slightly hunched over, with their stomach wide open. The flabs of flesh on either side of what used to be the scar are now drooping down like loose cloth; almost hanging as far down as either side of my unbuttoned shirt is. It's comparable to a tall dresser with both of its doors hanging wide open.
I've got a majority of my organs in my arm, hanging out in front of my stomach. Through them you can see my completely hollowed and emptied stomach cavity, including both the front and back of my lower ribs poking out of what muscle is clinging on to them.
...
...
My heavy breathing gradually lightens as the shock of my wound re-opening finally fades..
...
Once I'm steadily breathing again, I slowly shift my arm to show Roxanne one thing in particular.
My heart.
A red, beating ball in my hand; convulsing irregularly in response to all the trauma my body's just received.
Despite being frozen and unresponsive, Roxanne's whole body noticeably starts to shake as she recognizes the beating object I'm lifting up to show her.
...
..I show her my heart..
I show her as it pulses; just barely strung together with my other organs.
And for a few seconds, that's all we do.
Roxanne's shaking grows more and more violent with each second that she passes by staring at my beating heart.
...
...
Slowly, I see her swell again.
I can see as she prepares to lurch, simply unable to handle witnessing this sight in front of her.
But then, as if she knows what's coming, all the shaking and buildup abrupty stops.. Although already frozen, the terror of what's coming simply freezes her again.
..With one last disgusting, pathetic squelch of defiance;
My heart stops beating.
...
...
...
..There..
Now when Roxanne looks up from my desecrated flesh-pile body and sees me staring back down at her with just as much 'life' in my eyes as I've always had, she can't misunderstand what's happening anymore..
I'm forcing her to understand.. Understand the one secret I've kept from everybody since I first stepped into the Pizzaplex.
This isn't a wound.
This isn't an injury I've been keeping hidden from her; it isn't some unfortunate desecration that my body's fought through to keep me going.
I didn't 'get hurt' one day, and get this scar once I had finally healed.
I died.
This is how I died.
Something unfortunate happened one day, and it killed me.
...
Do you finally get it..?
Do you finally understand what I am?
Do you finally understand what I've been hiding from you for all this time?
"..I'm dead.."
I barely recognize my own voice.
It's raspy, and barely coherent.. I suppose that'd make sense when your lungs are threatening to detach from your body completely.
..As if it took all the energy in me to say that, I take a long choke-y inhale after I finish uttering the first thing I've said since telling Evan to leave the Pizzaplex..
...
"I died, and this is what became of me. I'm a puppet, pulling around a lifeless body with invisible strings."
A potent hatred is seeping from the corners of my voice, despite putting to effort into doing so.
..Not hatred for Roxanne, or the body I control; but the spirit inside of it.
...
That's enough.. I've done enough damage to make my point..
Painfully, I tense my arm and slowly push everything back in.. Obviously, it's all far less organized than it needs to be, but Remnant will figure it out eventually.
I can feel its effects immediately. The straighter connection between my lungs and windpipe immediately clears my throat a bit, making it take far less effort to talk.. Though my voice still remains somewhat windy and raspy..
...
...
..The way she's staring at me is different this time.. Different from how she usually does when something spooks or shocks her..
Those moments where Roxanne stared at me in the past were moments I joked about in my head as the wolf finally showing she had a sense of 'empathy'.. The situation would be frightening to her, but the fear in her eyes would stem from worrying what had happened/will happen to me. She was afraid for my well-being, despite how much she tries to make it sound like she doesn't care.
Not this time.
Roxanne's terrified. Truly, wholly frozen in horror.
Not out of fear for my health; not because she's afraid of what this means for us.
Roxanne is afraid of me.
She's truly terrified of the monster in her doorway; who's continuing to torment her despite watching their heart stop beating just a moment prior.
That is what I mean to communicate with her through these actions.
The expanding of my lungs, the beating of my heart, the blood pumping through my veins.. Every single necessary movement of my body; a complex machine perfected through innumerable years of evolution, or maybe a perfect vessel intricately designed by a masterful and omnipresent God.. It's all for show.
A million miracles of both science and nature beat within one's body. It's nothing short of magical that the universe was ever blessed with life; and it was by luck alone that all the parts needed to birthe sentience into the world all managed to gather in one singular being.
I don't need any of them.
I live, regardless of whether or not I'm living.
That is the horror Roxanne cannot tear her eyes from.. Something completely void of all the magic and miracles that make life as precious as it is.
None of those phenomena exist in me. My life is not precious.
I am not a work of the perfection that makes 'life' so rare and beautiful, for all those miracles no longer reside in me. I am simply a consciousness that puppets a broken machine; a soul that mimics the miracle of life through a desecrated art-piece.
I am a monster.
...
And I've hidden that from you.
I've fooled you into believing I was like you; like 'everybody else'.
I am not.
...
..It is only natural I felt out of place.
Surrounded by miraculous, perfect machines of life.. I stand alone as an exception; as a pathetic desecration, and a monument of death.
...
...
"Cooper has been killed."
My voice comes back; far clearer than it was without my lungs where they were supposed to be.. Though still, it is cold, stoic, and gives off that same hint of hate.
...
Roxanne quickly exhales and inhales once, as if she's been holding her breath.. But quickly goes silent again afterward.
..I wrap my free arm around my lower body; keeping my flesh from opening up again..
...
"In his madness, he was about to kill Evan. For a moment, he began to come back to us and see the insanity of what he was doing, but it was only for a moment. I killed him. Cooper could have slipped back into madness and return to his plan at any time, and I refused to let that happen again."
...
I balance and slowly rise to a complete stand from how I was hunched when my wound opened.
"The Pizzaplex won't recover. I will make sure none of you are destroyed, but that is all I can do."
...
...
"Thank you for your trust, and I'm sorry that I've used it to take everything from you."
...
I can feel her influence on me, ever so slightly..
..Roxanne is able to snap me out of these fits. She's been the only consistent way I've known how to bring myself back.
Even now, I can feel it. At the very corners of my brain, a tickle. Like a mosquito screaming at me to help her, make sure she's okay, explain everything to her.
..But it's nowhere near enough; not this time.. It's like a tugboat trying to tug a continent across the ocean.
It wouldn't matter anyway.. I don't fully understand what's happening to me, but I can fully comprehend everything going, and perform any action without resistance.. I don't know who's in control right now; maybe both of us.. But it doesn't matter.
Hell, maybe all that mumbo jumbo really 'was' all metaphorical. Maybe there isn't two of us at all; it certainly 'sounds' insane.
But.. Go ahead anyway.
Try and bring me back if you'd like; I won't stop you. Maybe you really will snap me out of it, if there even 'is' anything to snap me out of. Whatever the case, it won't matter.
We want the same thing anyway. There isn't a choice for us to make, regardless of which 'Mike' you'd prefer.
I haven't 'lost it' this time. I'm still here.
...
...
...
..But, Roxanne remains silent.. Frankly, I'm not ever sure if she's heard a word I said.. It almost looks like she's in shock..
...
It doesn't matter.
...
...
Is that it, then?
There's more I feel like I need to say..
' You've given me a life I don't deserve. '
' You mean the world to me, and I despise that things have to turn out this way. '
' I expect you to hate me. If you don't, I encourage you to. '
' I apologize for hiding this from you, and for the damage I've caused because of it. '
' None of this was your fault, nor any of your friends. '
' Don't convince yourself that there was something you could have done. '
' I'm sorry. '
But not a word escapes my lips.
...
...
...
I turn around in her doorway, and lift the blade in my arms.
...
"I'm leaving."
...
...
..Then, conjuring my strength into my arm, I thrust the knife into the door controls inside Roxanne's room.
The small display shatters and powers down; rendering the controls, and the door, inoperable from inside her room.
Roxanne tries to jump, but only flinches on the floor as the knife wedges into the electrical bits.
...
...
I let go, leaving the knife wedged in her wall and take a single step forward out of Roxanne's room.
As soon as I'm on the other side, I take my key-card out and hold it up to the door controls on the outside of Roxanne's room.
"..h-hh-!"
A high-pitched, wimpy exhale is all the sound Roxanne is able to make, before..
- Pshh -
The door closes, and locks.
...
...
...
...
..I would be in agony if I wasn't so numb.. But I wish I could have 'felt' that last interaction a little more..
...
...
It doesn't matter.
I need to keep going. I've got to get out of here before long.
As I take a couple steps out into the animatronic's corridor, I stop to think if there's anything else that absolutely needs done.
...
...
..It's still day.. I'm sure almost everybody has left the Pizzaplex parking-lot by now, but there's still a very real chance I stumble into a couple people.. I need to attract as little attention as possible if I want to vanish.
...
I look down at myself, then at another faculty door off in the distant end of the corridor.
..That would serve two handy purposes at one time..
I know that door leads somewhere with day-guard uniforms for new employees.. It would waste a minute or two of time, but I could walk out of here without Cooper's blood all over me.. Secondly, I recall seeing a couple first-aid stations on the way there, which I'll need.
Not that I need to heal myself or anything; god knows that doesn't matter for me.. What I do need, though, is a second free-hand.
Wrapping a few bandages around my chest would remove the need to hold my wound shut at all times.. It would let Remnant do its thing as well. I don't know how long it'll take for it to staple me back together again, but I can promise it won't be for a few days, at least..
Before I know it, my feet are already carrying me forward.
...
I'm not concerned that people might find out I killed Cooper. In fact, I'm certain they will. To my knowledge, the cameras don't record, but I doubt that will matter. I'm sure I've left traces everywhere, but I don't think it will make a difference in the end.
This is simply to decrease my chances of getting stopped by somebody out in the parking lot, or avoid getting pulled over. I can get around anyone in my way, but I can't know for certain that I'd be able to do it quickly.
...
I don't know for sure where the rest of the gang is either.. It's extremely likely that they're all in their greenrooms, since that's their protocol, but who knows..
...
That doesn't matter either.
It'd be inconvenient if they tried to stop me, but in the end, I know how to get around them. Once I exit the front doors, I won't need to worry about running into them ever again.
...
..I'll miss them, I'm sure.. But I bet those broken families miss the children William killed because of me, too.
I don't get the right to ask for a happy life, not after ruining the lives of so many others.
...
...
The hand-print on my nape took some effort to get off, but we're looking plenty fresh for what I need to do.
Snugging the bandages wrapped under my shirt one last time, I push back into the animatronic's corridor and look to where I need to go next.
..There's a quick way to the lobby on one end of the corridor; one that'll allow me to get there with as little chance of being seen as possible..
...
Removing my hand from my shirt, I start trekking for the end of the corridor, but end up having to stop almost immediately.
...
..Fire door..
With a dissatisfied exhale, I acknowledge the hulking mass of iron blocking my path..
...
Both ends of the corridor are locked off with colossal metal doors that descended like blinders.. They trigger a short amount of time after the fire alarm goes off, and serve as choke points to prevent a fire from spreading between large rooms.
Damn it.. I've never been here for a drill before, so I didn't even consider them being an issue..
...
On the bright side, that probably means the elevator that takes each animatronic to the atrium from their green-room's back room isn't functional either.. I guess that cancels out a couple of my concerns..
Making Roxanne's door inoperable from her side of the room was not meant to trap her, only separate us enough to the point where she wouldn't be able to find me by the time I had already left the Pizzaplex.
Each member of the gang has a backdoor to their green-rooms that hold a few things like their bathrooms, showers.. Most importantly, an individual elevator that takes each of them up to a room underneath the auditorium stage together. From there, they could either walk up a couple stairs and enter the stage from the very back of the atrium, or they could all stand on one large elevator that lifted them all straight to the middle of the stage in a dramatic fashion.
The fire doors limit my available methods of getting to the lobby.. I'll have to go back the way I came, which means re-entering the auditorium.. I didn't really want to do that, since that greatly increased my chance of running into Roxanne again.
But, if the fire doors triggered, then I'd bet anything that means the gang's elevators shut off once they were all down in their greenrooms again..
In which case, Roxanne really is trapped in her room.
...
I turn and make my way to the other side of the corridor to find the door I first came in here with.
...
...
It's interesting how Arin hasn't released the fire-doors yet.. I'm sure he's able to do so remotely, so I'm not sure why he wouldn't release all the fire-locks once he's done making sure there isn't actually a fire anywhere..
...
..Perhaps he found Cooper and got distracted..
That's understandable.. In which case, it should be easy to get around him if I-
- BANG-BANG-BANG-BA -
I whip my head around and ready myself to face whatever's making the sound, but quickly let the tension fade once I recognize its origin.
...
Roxanne's door.. Furiously, furiously pounding..
For a second, I worry that Roxanne saw me through the giant glass window facing the corridor, but she couldn't have. The curtains are covering it completely; simply because she likes it better that way.. However, her curtains are on the outside of her room, so she has no way of moving them from the inside.
..Rox isn't furiously trying to communicate something with me; she doesn't even know I'm here.
Roxanne's just trying to get out..
...
...
I turn back around and walk what little distance remained between me and the door I came through.
..Sorry.. Someone will come and get you soon.
...
Ignoring the furious beating echoing through the corridor, I leave, and close the door behind me.
...
...
I pace into the auditorium once more; breathing in the empty air.
The lobby is only a room or two away from here.. Once I make it out of here, I'll need to run home and grab a couple things that'll make keeping an eye out for my father's influence easier.. I'm sure cases will flare once the world hears about what happened here, and I need to be ready to mitigate as much of the damage as I can.
I know someplace I can go; it'll hardly be any different from living in my current house.. I can't let the memories of this place plague me yet; I'll have all the time to feel sorry for myself later.
Th-, oh..
...
My pace gradually slows.. Until finally, I stop, and do nothing but watch the scene in the auditorium.
..It's not even worth calling a scene; it's more like a still-picture..
...
...
Arin..
I'm not sure if it was him or somebody else, but Cooper's body was moved out from the back room; though only by a few meters.. He's been laid on the floor, arms to his side.. Mouth still ever-so-slightly curled upwards, as if his joy of finding out who I am hasn't left his body, even though his spirit has..
...
Arin.. Arin is next to him..
On his knees, simply kneeling next to Cooper with his arms at his sides.. There's blood around his sleeves and shoes, suggesting he was the one that carried Cooper out here..
...
He's looking down at Cooper, so his hair is covering his eyes.. But there isn't a sound..
Just barely visible is his jaw, but his mouth isn't turned to express any emotion whatsoever.. No crying, no raging, no panicking, nothing.. Arin's just.. sitting there... Completely silent, and alone in the auditorium.
...
But.. I can feel it..
...As if an aura's radiating from Arin himself..
...
..I don't know how to describe it..
...
'Empty'..
Like his soul has already been crushed, and he's been left completely hollow.
It's almost suffocating.. As if the room itself grows darker around him.
..But, Arin himself simply kneels there in the haunting silence of the atrium. Motionless, expressionless, and cold. Like a statue.
...
...
I change direction, and silently walk up to them.
...
...
..I slow to a stop no more than a meter away. Arin doesn't move whatsoever in response to my presence.
...
...
...
..Almost as if by instinct, my dry chops crack open and utter the only words I can think to say.
"I'm sorry."
...
...
...
..I couldn't figure out why Arin was so attached to Cooper in time, but I knew it was something significant tying them together..
Even when Cooper stopped responding and/or registering Arin altogether as his madness grew, Arin's faith in Cooper didn't falter. He expressed a desperate need to bring Cooper back from whatever insanity he was falling into, despite how easy it would have been just get upset with how unresponsive he's being and losing interest in him..
...
..In his final moments before I attacked, Cooper's last words were about Arin as well..
...
...
"It's alright."
...
..Arin's response reflected how hollow he felt, but still rang with a hint of sincerity..
...
...
"What will you do now?"
...
"I don't know."
...
...
"I'm leaving."
...
...
"I understand."
...
...
...
...
I turn around, and walk out of the auditorium.
...
...
The elevators that connected the auditorium to the lobby were out of service, but I expected as much.
There are plenty of ways to get to the lobby from there by foot; some of which barely lose any time over taking the elevator. It doesn't slow me down any.
...
The clacking of my shoes on the tiled floor echoes alone through the silent miscellaneous corridor.
My pace doesn't slow. Not even when I spot Freddy standing solemnly on the other end of the hallway.
...
Even from this distance, I can make out his body language perfectly.
Freddy's standing up tall with his arms to his side, staring down sternly at me from across the hallway.
..I'm not just 'bumping into him' randomly. Freddy has been waiting for me here.
...
...
The clacks of my footsteps come to a halt no less than 5 full meters away from the bear, maintaining a significant distance.
I silently look up at him, countering his stern stare with a cold look of my own.
...
..I make it obvious through my gaze alone that I don't want to partake in whatever Freddy's stopped me to do.
I don't want to talk to you, or explain anything. The only reason I've stopped is because this will still take less effort than if Freddy had to try stopping me by force.
I make it clear that I'm not going to play along easily.
I make it clear that all I want is for him to get out of my way.
...
...
..I can see it in your eyes, Freddy..
You don't know what's going on.. You don't know why I'm acting like this, or why the fire alarm went off.
You don't know why the purple has returned to my skin.
I doubt you even fully understand what you're standing here to accomplish.
...
I can see the uncertainty in him.. It's small, and well hidden, but it's there. I can see it.
He knows I can see it.
...
Freddy's will is strong. I've always admired that about him. Even in the face of insurmountable odds, Freddy never stops doing what he can to make things better.
But he can tell something's different this time.
Through my eyes, he can see a newfound will in me as well.. And I know what he's making of it.
Your will is strong, Freddy.. But right now, in this very moment..
Mine is stronger.
...
...
Despite this, Freddy still stands motionless in my path.
...
...
Let this one go, Freddy..
Let these mysteries fade away this time.
For once, back away from this challenge.
Get out of my way.
...
...
...
"Roxanne has asked me to stop you from leaving.."
..She must have called Freddy via her watch..
...
"Roxanne should understand why I need to go."
Freddy's brow ruffles in response to my unusually cold and raspy voice.. But, he still stands tall..
...
"..I do not fully understand why she has asked me this favor.."
"Then let me through."
"I also.. do not wish to let Roxanne down this time in particular.."
...
"What did she tell you?"
"Roxanne did not explain anything to me.. She was not in the condition to do so.. I could barely make out what she was begging me to do.."
...
"I understand.. But I still need to go."
"Are you also unable to help me understand the circumstances..?"
"Unwilling."
"Ah.."
...
"I don't suggest doing as Roxanne asks without understanding why first."
"I understand.. But this time seemed like a worthy exception."
"Why?"
"This.. appears to be very important to her.."
"It's important to me."
...
"..How important?"
"More so than I could explain to you with words."
"Can you try?"
"No."
...
...
"..Does this all have something to do with the fire alarm triggering during our performance..?"
...
"Yes."
...
"Are you and Roxanne in a disagreement about something..?"
"It doesn't matter."
...
"..I don't understand.."
"I need to get through, Freddy."
"What on earth happened today..?"
"You will hear about it soon.
...
"Michael, I.. I do not understand what could be so important as to-"
"You'd never be able to wrap your head around just how important this all truly is."
"I.. I understand you don't wish to explain that to me, but was it so important that we needed everyone to evacuate the Pizzapl-?"
"Freddy, understand that you have done so much to improve my life. You're important to me, and you've been a blessing to work with."
"O-Oh, well.. I-"
"So now you should understand the weight of my words when I say this is important enough that I *will* get through you, by whatever means necessary."
"M-..! Michael..!"
"Please, move."
...
Freddy exhales, his solemn expression cracking slightly as he hears the sincerity in my voice.
...
...
"..I do not understand.."
"I'm sorry."
...
"Roxanne asked me not to let you leave, no matter what happens.."
"Roxanne is mistaken."
"She.. Will not be in a good condition if I tell her I failed.."
"I understand. I'm sorry."
...
Freddy looks down at me a little more; his stern glare now plagued with hints of uncertainty and regret.
My cold stare does not falter.
...
"How are you so sure that you are right?"
"It isn't up to me."
"I do not understand.."
"I want to be wrong. I want to be wrong far, far more than Roxanne does. But that isn't my choice."
...
"I.. I do not know which of you to choose.."
"It won't matter if you choose to stop me or not. I'm leaving, by whatever means necessary."
...
...
...
With a barely audible exhale, and with an expression already littered with regret...
Freddy steps aside.
...
The light shining into the lobby from the front doors tints the room a hint of orange.
As my feet hit the bottom of the stairs, I begin to hear sounds other than my footsteps.. Birds chirping, cars driving in the distance, leaves rustling in the wind..
It's an unsettling reminder that the world doesn't change for anybody, regardless of how dire their situation is. The fulfilling beams of light no more than 50 steps away are hopeful, and shine with promise.. A stark contrast to the emptiness and inevitability that suffocates the Pizzaplex tonight.
...
Every step I take clacks with a haunting purpose.
It should mean more to me that these are the last steps I'll ever take here; it should hurt more to think of the memories I'm leaving behind.
But it doesn't matter.
I know this means more than that.
My friends, my home, my new life. It was great.
But in the end, this means more than just a happy life for me.
This is a past of bloodshed and murder; one that has broken countless families, and now stands to crush even more.
All those lives lost, and all the ones that are at risk of being taken.. It's more.
It's more than me. It's more than the privilege of living happily day-by-day.
I do want to remain here, I really do. It would be so easy to stop caring about my father's malice and just let it spread while I blissfully live within these walls.
But I simply can't take the selfish choice anymore.
My happiness here is simply too outweighed by the soul-crushing despair I've caused in dozens. That despair threatens to plague the world again. I can't sit idly and let that happen.
I'll throw away this life I've been living for this cause. No less should be expected of me.
This isn't a sacrifice.
...
...
Someone's coming.
I slow to a halt a good 25 steps from the front doors and listen to the approaching footsteps.
...
I reflexively clench my fists for a second, but relax them almost immediately afterward.
Roxanne..
...
I don't turn around, only listen as the sound of claws hitting the floor rapidly continues to near.
...
..What doesn't she get?
You know who I am. You know why I'm leaving. I understand you don't like it; I don't like it either, but you should know why I can't turn back.
There won't even be a Pizzaplex to turn back to before long.. You can't stop me, but even if you could, what would you do then?
...
Arin must've released all the fire locks and turned the elevators back on. There was no way to leave her room through the door after I shattered her controls, so the elevator to the auditorium is the only way.
...
Fine.
It's pointless. This will all hurt less if I can get you to understand that.
So come see me, one more time.
See what good it does you.
...
...
- clack clack clack clack Clack Cl- '
"h-hh-..!"
Just as the footsteps begin to grow near, they abruptly halt a good 20-30 feet behind me at the same time as a windy gasp barely escapes their lungs.
I don't turn around, but don't move for the door either.
...
Roxanne came to catch me, but I've done too much damage. The sheer sight of me froze her in her tracks.
Why try so hard to force yourself through this fear for my sake? You're afraid of me, and rightfully so.
I know that deep down, you don't want me to come back. Why would you?
...
...
"I have done nothing but lie to you, Roxanne."
I let my voice echo through the lobby until it eventually rings out.
...
"If you truly understood what I showed you back there, then you would know better than to be here."
...
...
"You should know by now that I am not who you think I am. I have been fooling you into thinking your life is better with me around, when all I've ever done is chip away at your sanity."
...
"Maybe I've made you laugh once, or let you get something off your chest.. But that doesn't make up for anything. That does not make me 'worth it'.. I've broken every promise I've ever made with you, I lull you into false senses of security, and I act as a medium to let real dangers seep into your peaceful life. You've bared your soul to me, but now you should understand that you never knew a single thing about the man you've placed your trust in for so long."
...
...
...
"Freddy Fazbear's Pizza closed in 1993."
A shaky exhale is all I get in response, but it's all the response I need to know she's figured out what's so odd about that.
Roxanne knows for a fact that I've worked there; that phone incident proved it without a doubt.. So how is it possible that I worked somewhere that closed over 30 years ago?
It's simple.
"I am fifty-seven years old."
...
"I died in my early twenties. My body has remained that age ever since; and my mind has done something similar.. But I am 57 years old. You've bared your deepest insecurities to someone who never even told you the truth about their age."
...
"So don't beg for me to come back; I've only ever fooled you into thinking you wanted me here at all. That's how good of a liar I am. I'll scar you over and over again, but convince you that you're happier with me around.. But now, you should see through that; You should see me for the liar I am. You do not want me to come back. I've ruined everything - *taken* everything from you; and if you get me to stay, I'll only do it again."
...
...
This has gone on long enough..
I look over my shoulder at Roxanne, gaze as cold as ice; as if I'm about to hit her with the finishing blow.
"You-"
- Drip -
But this time, I'm the one who chokes on my words in shock.
My eyes reflexively widen an inch, and I take a startled step to turn halfway towards Roxanne.
...
Blood. Fresh, warm, and everywhere.
..They're all so small, but crimson liquids trickles down the entirety of Roxanne's body; striping her like a zebra before dripping down in a random location every few seconds.
It's.. It's coming from everywhere.. Like a million little thorns pricked her entire body; each one just barely damaging enough to cause a minuscule stream of blood to flow from the wound.
...
..Wh-?
I look to Roxanne's face for answers, but don't get any. She's pale, and her eyes are still crazed as if she still can't fully register what's going on.
Confused and startled, I outline her body for where the blood is seeping from; hoping to be able to identify the injuries from their shape alone.
..I find them, but they still don't make any sense..
Roxanne and I aren't that far away from each other, but it's like all the points of her body where blood seems to be originating are distorted. As if something's blurring them, or in the w-
-.
Glass.
-.
I missed them at first, but now that I've identified one piece, I can see the rest.
Transparent shards of glass are sticking into her skin everywhere. Everywhere.. They're countless; far into the hundreds, at least. From each one, just the tiniest trickle of red is seeping down, but they all add up and stream into each other to create rivers and highways coursing down Roxanne's body.
...
Arin 'hasn't' disabled all the fire security measures; Roxanne wasn't able to use her elevator to get out of her room..
..Roxanne went through her *window.*
...
..The influence Roxanne has on snapping me out of my episodes isn't enough this time around..
But the shock of turning around to find her riddled with sharp objects and bleeding everywhere got me pretty close.
...
...
D.. Damn it, I can't afford this..
I force myself to fight the surprise and return to the stoicism I had before.. But I doubt Roxanne missed my cold expression waver for a moment..
...
"..You're killing yourself over a liar.."
Roxanne's breath stops being so silent; and grows slightly heavier as more time passes.
"You're like this because of me. If I stay, I'll only make your condition worse."
...
...
"..Y.. Y-You! 'You'-..!"
Ngh. Damn it..
..She saw me falter for a moment.. It was only a moment, hardly more than a second, but that was enough to prove to her that the Mike she *thinks* she knows is still in here somewhere..
...
"..Go and get someone to patch you up, Roxanne. You'll fall unconscious from blood loss before you can even properly argue with me."
"No..! M-Mike, stop! Just-..! Just h-hold on for a second! W-We can talk about it, t-things are still okay..! W-We can make it okay!"
"You don't understand why I'm leaving if you think you can bring me back with promises of a happy life here."
"I-I 'do' understand..! You-!"
"You don't." I interrupt, trying to be forceful. "I like it here, and would love to stay, but this is too important. I'm not going to stand around and play 'life' anymore. I'm leaving to stop what remains of my father from claiming any more lives, even if that means I have to take some in the process. This isn't something I can do while also pretending to be like all of you here in the Pizzaplex."
"You were NOT pretending-! T-That's a lie!"
"Lying is all I do."
"You weren't! Y-You were NOT 'pretending' to be like everybody else! You w-were smiling and laughing with Evan on your shoulders, and that w-was REAL! Y-You watch movies, play games, talk with people; you weren't faking that! That was real! T-That was the real you!"
"So what is this, then?" I respond, outstretching my arms to present myself. "I'm not faking this, either. I might have gotten soft this last year, but 'this' is how I've been for the 30 years prior."
"S-So what?! The Michael I know wasn't fake, s-so you can't act like you aren't-!"
"That 'Michael' was an idiot. I thought all the torment my father brought to this world had been brought to an end, so I tried becoming someone new. But now, here we are; knee deep in that same malice that was responsible for taking the lives of all those unlucky enough to stumble upon Freddy's Pizzeria.. I was wrong to think my work was done, so I'm done desperately trying to find a peaceful life here. I'm going back to how I was, so I can keep doing what I was doing."
"M-Mike-..!"
"..."
...
...
"Mike, no-! Y-You don't have to do anything..! Everything will be fine i-if we just-!"
"Enough, Roxa-"
"No! Listen to me..! I-I understand, I promise, but w-why the hell do you have to go..?! Y-You can't fix it all, Michael! You know you can't, s-so-! So just stay, and-!"
"Roxanne, there *is* nowhere to stay."
"T-..There's-..!"
"I killed Cooper, and now the consequences are about to take place. Arin found the body, and as soon as he reports it to the police, every single person hounding for a tragedy to happen here will run this location into the ground."
"W-Well I have to go somewhere now, r-right?! So what if it's not the Pizzaplex-? J-Just stay with us..!"
"It doesn't matter where you go. I need to be where William's influence is."
"M-Mike, it's okay..! L-Look, Cooper was about to do something to Evan, right? P-People will understand..! It's okay if you did something bad, e-everybody makes mistakes! But you don't have to double down on them and-and-!"
-.
"Mistakes?"
-.
Roxanne winces at my response as I turn the rest of my body to face her.
...
"M-... M-Mike, please.."
...
...
"..You don't understand.."
"I-I..!"
"I hate that things turned out this way, Roxanne. I hate the situations I've found myself in today, and I despise what my actions mean for all of you. I want nothing more than for things to be different. I truly, truly hate what's happened today."
"Mike.."
"But I do not regret it."
...
...
"H.. How do-..."
...
"I'd do it again in an instant. I hate it, but this is why I'm here." I explain, slowly turning away from her and back towards the door. "My father lived for the devastation he caused. I finally put an end to it one day, and I've sworn to make sure William's hatred doesn't steal the lives of any more innocent people, by any means necessary. Cooper found something about William's work intriguing, and eventually, that drove him to killing an innocent; a *kid*. I stopped him, and smothered yet another deposit where my father's malice had accumulated. That's all there is to it."
"..."
...
"..What drove Cooper wasn't inherently impure.. He had a fascination with all things Freddy's, and wanted nothing more than to learn more about it.. I don't fully understand what happened, but something unnatural took over him. Cooper's fascination grew into his passion, then it became his motivation, and then his obsession. I don't believe he got that bad on his own, but I didn't have the time to figure out what was happening to him. Now, it's too late."
"..."
...
" 'That' is the power of this evil I'm trying to smother. William could corrupt good souls and twist them into murderers. It's happened plenty of times, and this is simply another case."
"S-Stop.."
...
"I'm sorry."
"D-Don't be sorry, just s-stay.."
"I can't."
"Y-..! Y-You can..! Y-You just won't!"
"This is too important."
"I-Important to who?! Do you like going around and k-killing things?"
"No."
"E-Exacltly, Mike..! I-I know you don't..! You shouldn't have to kill things if you don't want too, right..?! So don't..! T-Think about how much happier you'll be if you let it go! You won't have to kill anymore..! S-So stop letting it be so important to you..! I-It shouldn't be important to you! I-It should be important to all the people who d-died! But they don't need to care anymore either, 'c-cause they're already dead!"
"It would be important to those who are going to suffer from it, if they knew it was coming."
"But that still isn't 'you'! So take a break! L-Let everybody else who needs to care handle it..! I-... I get that it's important, Mike, but-..! That doesn't mean it has to be important to *you*! Y-You don't have to have anything to do with it if you don't want..!"
"It's still important to me, even if I don't like it."
"B-But-..!"
"..."
"But what about us, Mike?! Y-You're happy here, I know you are! I-Isn't everybody here 'important' to you? Aren't *I* important to you?!"
"Yes.."
"S-So just-..! Just stay..! How could you just throw this all away?! We-! W-We've worked so hard on each other! Freddy, Chica, Monty, Trudge- They all mean something to you, right?! But y-you'll throw them all away without as much as a goodbye now?! H-How could this possibly mean more to you than the life you've been building here for the last year!? D-Do they just not mean enough? Do you love killing things for your father more than you love them?! M-Mike, I promise I get it, but how!? Each and every one of them would fight for you - they would die for you! How could this mean more than that? H-How could this mean so much to you that you don't even say goodbye!?"
...
...
"Do you understand what I meant when I said that this is what I live to do?"
"..W-What? I mean- yes, it's like your purpose or something.."
"That's exactly it."
"..?"
"..Do you know what my purpose 'is'?"
"..Y-Yes..! You-.. You're trying to get rid of your dad's mark on the-!"
"No. That's just something it includes."
...
"But.. W-What..?"
...
"I don't think you understand yet."
"W-Wh-..?"
...
"..Maybe you do know my purpose, but just don't understand the weight it holds.."
"...Mike?"
...
...
I tilt my head as if I'm going to look over my shoulder at her, but stop halfway.
...
"I'll explain it to you. One time."
"
Forty years ago, I made a mistake.
I was trying to make my brothers life a living hell, just like I always did. But something happened.
My brother, Evan, died in my hands.
He died screaming, begging, and crying for his father.
No one saved him in time.
I crushed Evan's head in the jaws of the one thing he feared more than anything else. I crushed Evan's head in the jaws of the same abominations he watched his sister die to.
For months, Evan had nightmares about dying to an animatronic. That nightmare tormented him so much that he would spend entire mornings crying after he woke up.
I made that nightmare a reality.
Shortly after, my mother couldn't handle the despair of losing her two youngest children, and killed herself.
William hated me so much that it broke him.
He killed people because of me. He killed children because of me. Dozens of families have been crushed beyond repair because of what I've done.
Night guards, mechanics, engineers, innocents; all died deaths far more horrific than you can even imagine.
But that wasn't where it ended.
The lucky ones died for good at the end of being tortured.
Others came back to suffer even more.
Children, some of which barely even knew how to read, were lured and slaughtered by my father; but not even the release of death awaited them after god-knows how long William cut them up for.
Their souls were stolen, and crushed into metal machinery of my father's making. They woke up in bodies that didn't belong to them, and from the moment they gained consciousness, they were in agony.
The machinery moved without their permission. It took them on stages, in front of crowds. It forced them to sing, and dance.
Every day, the souls of 'toddlers' were grinded by machinery in front of dozens of people. If only one person in front of them knew their souls were trapped inside, they could have been set free, but they couldn't communicate no matter how hard they tried.
They were forced to stand there and sing for people who could have been their saviors. They were unable to scream to them for help. They were unable to cry for them to come back.
They were trapped in hell.
Their souls rejected their metal bodies, but couldn't escape it; so they could do nothing but writhe in agony all day.
Then for two days.
Then for a week.
Then for a month.
Two months.
Six months.
...
Thirty years.
A toddler, so young he barely even knew his months, was in unfathomable anguish for 'Thirty. Years.'
Unable to cry, unable to sleep, unable to scream.
Because of me.
Because one day, in 1983
I made a mistake.
...
..*That*..
*That* is the true weight behind what I do.
*That* is the misery I alone am responsible for.
*That* is the guilt I carry every second of every day.
I will never be forgiven for what I've done. I can never make up for what I've done.
..But as long as even the tiniest sliver of me can still writhe,
I will make sure that it never happens again.
That is what I owe them.
That is what I owe 'everybody'.
That is what I owe to the families who lost their loved ones.
That is what I owe to the countless souls I tortured for decades.
That is what I owe Mom.. Henry.. Elizabeth.. Gabriel.. Fritz.. Jeremy.. Suzy.. Cassidy..
That is what I owe Evan.
...
So now that you understand the weight behind these words, let me remind you of my purpose one last time.
My name is Michael Afton.
Forty years ago, I made a mistake.
Since then, I've had a purpose.
-.-
_.-._.-._.-._
Take Responsibility.
-._.-._.-._.-
-.-
"
...
...
...
"..H-Holy s-shit.."
...
"Everyone here 'is' important to me, Roxanne. This place has been a new life for me, and I loved that life more than anything.." I explain, gradually turning my head to face the doors again. "..But after causing suffering like *that*, I no longer get to choose my happiness."
...
...
"..M... M-Mike I'm.. I-I'm so confused.. T-There's so much I don't understand.. P-Please don't-.. D-Don't leave yet.."
"I need to."
"Wait, please.. I.. I need you to explain s-so much, I just can't-.."
"You'll wrap your head around it in time."
"I-I..! I don't have time..! I know I c-can get you to stay if I just understood better, but-..! T-There's not enough time for me to think..! I-I'll explain to you why you're wrong, I know I can do that, but I just c-can't yet! J-Just wait..! Wait a little longer, I-I'll figure out what to say..!"
Just as my feet are about to carry me forward again, something Roxanne says stops me in my tracks.
...
"..Why I'm *wrong*?"
I turn halfway as I parrot the wolf; almost baffled by her audacity.
Roxanne's ears droop a bit as I look at her again.
...
"Y-... Yes.. If you just give me a little more time, I can tell you why y-!"
"Roxanne."
"N-nn..!"
...
"..You can barely wrap your head around any of what you've learned today, while I've been thinking about these exact same truths every second of my life for the last thirty years. They've been stuck in my head on loop for a dozen times longer than you've even been alive.. You're mistaken if you think I haven't run every possibility through my head millions of times over by now."
"I-..! I know, but y-you're..! Y-You're wrong! I know you are..!"
"Wrong about 'what'? This isn't a matter of opinion, I'm recounting history. There is nothing to debate."
"Y-Yes there is..! You-..! Y-You do deserve to be happy! You can choose to stay!"
...
"..You aren't listening.."
"Yes I am! Y-Yes I am, Mike! Y-you're just wrong!"
...
..Fine.. I'll bite.
"How?"
Roxanne takes in a shaky breath and tries wiping a trickle of blood away from her eye; as if she's mentally preparing to 'start' something..
...
"I-It-..! It w-w-..!"
"..."
...
"I-It wasn't your fault..!"
...
...
..Those words pierced my brain like a 'bullet'..
I stand there for a few seconds, eyes widened and stunned as a result of her outburst.
...
..I had never once in my life thought I would hear those words spoken to me.. Even the 'idea' that it wasn't my fault is-..
...
How could you even 'say' something like that?
...
...
..I didn't know what emotion I expected to feel when I slowly overcame the shock of hearing those words..
But somehow, I'm feeling something through the numbness that's hollowing me from the inside out..
That-..
...
...
.- That struck a nerve. -.
Through the sea of static buzzing in my chest, the smallest bubble of frustration manages to peek through.
...
I remain calm, but despite my best efforts, my gaze slowly narrows just a bit further than it was before as I correct my stoicism.
...
...
"..You don't know what you're talking about.."
"Y-..! Y-Yes I do..!"
"It was 'entirely' my fault, Roxanne. None of it could have happened without me."
"T-That doesn't mean 'you' did all that horrible shit to people..!"
"That is *exactly* what that means." I rebuke, turning the rest of my body to face her. "It's a linear case of cause-and-effect. There is no way to argue that people wouldn't have suffered if I didn't kill Evan."
"People were-..! They were suffering anyway! Y-Your dad killed your sister before you did anything to your brother!"
"That was an accident. William didn't-"
"N-No! Y-Your document said that your dad was trying to kill someone with those robots..! T-The only part that was an accident was that it turned out to be your sister..!"
...
I sigh and narrow my gaze a bit more.
"..You're putting up quite a fight for someone who says there's 'so much I don't understand'.."
"Th-.. This is making it easier.. I-It's like taking it one step at a time.."
...
Fine, then. I don't need to cut corners to prove this to you.
Lets go.
"..Fine.. I understand that William designed the funtime animatronics to kill, but that still isn't the same. My father lacked morals back then, but he wasn't insane. The purpose behind designing those bots to be traps was for scientific research with Remnant. He might have stopped right away once he killed somebody and proved that the substance works the way he thought it does."
"Y-..! You don't know that."
"It doesn't matter, anyway. Maybe I wasn't responsible for Elizabeth's death, but that doesn't account for the dozens that came after her."
"Y-You didn't kill any of them either, Michael..!"
"Are you kidding m-..? I killed Evan, Rox. There is no other possibly interpretation of what happened that day. *I killed my brother.*"
"nn-.. O-Okay, I-.. Your brother's a-an exception, but even then it was an accident..!"
"I pressed him into an animatronic jaw until it crushed his head, Roxanne."
"You didn't think it would kill him..! Y-You just told me you were only trying to scare him..!"
"I was, but that isn't something I should feel good about either. I was tormenting him, and only laughed harder when he cried."
"T-.. That's fine, Michael..! I-I know you were doing a bad thing, but all I'm trying to show you is that you aren't irredeemable..! You killed him, I-I know, but it was an accident.. Accidents are forgivable; you can make up for an accident..!"
nn..
...
"..I disagree.. But it still doesn't matter. Maybe someone could make up for accidentally killing someone, but what then? Can I make up for killing dozens of innocent people afterward? Can I be forgiven for breaking households and families apart? Can I make up for forcing toddlers to suffer for decades? Tell me- the pain you felt when you rolled around in that glass.. Imagine feeling it for the entire time you've been alive, then multiply that by almost thirty times. Would you forgive the man who forced you to suffer that much for so long?"
"N-.. N-No, but.. That wasn't you.."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Y-You didn't kill anybody else.. You didn't make any of those kids suffer..!"
"Yes, I *did*. They died because my father hated m-"
"He did it, Mike..! Your dad killed them all, not you..! Then t-the other bots killed more people, but y-you didn't kill a single one of them..!"
"Roxanne."
"I-I'm right! W-William killed all of them..!"
"William killed them because of me. It wasn't second-hand, or some obscure series of events either. Every second that he was murdering those children, he was thinking about *me*."
"Y-You didn't have any control over him! You aren't the one who held the knife in your hands-! H-Hell, Mike, you never even *saw* the kids! You were never anywhere near them..!"
"I still-"
"You were the one who f-finally let them free, right..?! T-That is the only interaction you ever had with those kids; you were trying to stop any more suffering from happening!"
"Roxanne, enough with-"
"Y-You did what you were trying to do, right? Y-You took responsibility, didn't you?! So you don't need to-!"
-. "Enough." .-
My voice echoes off the lobby walls a few times, with noticeably more force than I intended to speak with. Roxanne winces, but has apparently built up enough courage not to completely back down.
...
...
..This is 'pointless'. I've already spent far more time than I had any reason to believe I had to spare..
"..I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but I've already long decided on what I need to do to make up for what I've done."
"Y-.. Y-You're wrong.."
"None of the spirits seemed to think so. They seemed pretty certain I deserved as much suffering as they could give me."
"T-Then they're wrong.. They're all wrong.."
...
...
"..It doesn't matter."
"It does matter."
"What's happening now is forty years in the making."
"T-That doesn't mean anything; you can still change your mind..!"
"I don't belong here."
"You do - y-you can..! Just stay..!"
...
I narrow my gaze a little, unamused.. This little 'game' Roxanne is playing by saying the opposite of whatever I say won't get her anywhere..
...
"..You don't understand.."
"T-Then make me understand..!"
"I don't deserve peace."
"Y-You deserve rest after all you've done for them.."
"I've made horrible mistakes."
"You've gone through hell to correct them."
"I, alone, triggered everything."
"You took full responsibility for the damage you caused."
"I tormented my brother every day of his life."
"Your father neglected you. He never taught you to do otherwise."
"Mom was driven to suicide over what I did."
"That was just as much your father's fault is it was yours."
"I'm dead; just an animated corpse."
"You're still alive, and doing what you think is right."
"Those children suffered because of me."
"You had no control over what your father did to them."
"I killed them."
"You saved them."
"I'm no one's savior."
"Yes you are."
"I'm a monster."
"No you aren't."
"Stop it."
Despite all the courage Roxanne has been building up, she still responds with a shaky inhale in response to my outburst.
...
Those words.. No matter how nice they sound, if you truly believe any of them, then you still haven't fully grasped who I am and what I've done..
..You're afraid of me.. That's all the reason either of us needs..
...
"..It doesn't matter anyway." I respond, forcefully turning away from her again. "Cooper is dead, and the world will know. There is nothing we can do about that. I need to be ready to see what this story inspires."
"Mike, no..! I'm trying to tell you that you don't have to..! N-Nothing lasts forever; that issue will resolve itself without your help one day anyway..!"
...
"I wouldn't be happy living among you and the others if I knew people were dying because of me and my father's actions. I carry enough guilt as it is; I'd never be truly at peace with you if I knew there was something I could be doing to help negate the suffering being caused because of me."
"Y..You don't know that.. J-Just try, please.."
"No, not again."
"H-Huh?"
"I'm not choosing the selfish option and letting people suffer again. That was the biggest mistake of my life the first time, and I *will not* repeat it."
...
"M-Mike, I.. I don't know what to tell you.."
...
"Then I'm leaving."
"What..?!"
I turn the rest of me to face the doors.
"I've spent far too long here. I never should have stopped for you in the first place."
"N-No! No! M-Mike, no! A-Absolutely not, get back here!"
...
"..You'll understand everything in time."
"Mike!"
"I'm sorry."
"NO!"
..I've spent too long doing this.. Any second longer could cost me too much.. I need to leave, now.
So, I take a step forward.
But, just as I do, Roxanne steps forward as well.
- Clack -
"I-I'm not DONE WITH YOU!"
...
I immediately halt again, taken a bit off guard by the intent in that step Roxanne took.
..I stand silent in the middle of the lobby for a few more seconds, letting the scenario sink in for both of us.
...
...
Then, I look halfway over my shoulder again.
...
"You're going to *fight me*?"
I mutter, cold and rhetoric; fully expressing how idiotic that idea is through my voice.
"I-I just need a little more time to think! Don't GO anywhere!"
...
"And if I move, you're going to try and *fight me*?"
"I-I'll do whatever it takes to keep you here until I can make you understand! J-Just STOP!"
...
..My hands slowly ball into loose fists as I once again feel a pang of idiotic frustration course up my body.
...
"There's no *point..* Stopping me wouldn't make a difference, but you won't even be able to get that far."
"I-I will..! O-Only if you try to leave! J-Just hold on a little longer and-!.. And let me think!"
...
...
A small huff of annoyance passes my chest as I unintentionally let some of the venom seep out into my words..
"..Who do you think you are? ..In the end, you're still reliant on the metal buried in your fake flesh and blood to keep you from passing. That hardly makes you any more alive than 'I' am.. You're just an artifice; a 'decoy' soul."
"H-Huh?!"
"..You were 'built'. You're nothing more than another one of my father's creations. None of William's other monstrosities could stop me, so why could you?"
"Mike..!"
...
..This is pointless..
"I'm leaving.."
"NO you are NOT! M-Michael!"
...
I walk forward.
"S-STOP! M-Mike, I'm serious! D-Don't leave yet!"
"..."
- Clack -
"N-NO! I'm not done with you! I-I'm not DONE WITH YOU!"
"..."
- Clack -
"MICHAEL!"
"..."
- clack clack clack Clack ClaCK -
..nn..
...
Without even looking, I duck to my right, and Roxanne flies over me.
I stand up straight and remain silent as Roxanne, truly crazed with desperation, jumps back at me almost immediately after touching the ground.
...
At first, she tries to grab me, but I make it clear from the get-go that it won't work.
I lift my arm and intentionally let her grab hold of my wrist; then violently whip that same arm across my body, causing Roxanne to let go as she's sent stumbling from the momentum from my arm.
Rox manages to lightly touch the ground with her hand just as she's about to fall and push herself back upwards to regain her balance. She does so impressively quickly, and has whipped around to face me again.
By the time she turns around, I'm already standing perfectly upright with my hands at my sides again.
...
Roxanne seems to understand that means she won't be able to restrain me without weakening me first, and psychs herself up to simply strike next time..
...
..If Roxy truly understood, however.. She would know that no amount of physical damage she does to me will contribute to tiring me out. This body will follow my commands, regardless of whether or not it can physically do so.
Cut me up all you like. You can't do more damage to me than when I ripped myself open in front of you. If *that* couldn't stop me, what can you possibly hope to achieve?
...
All the same, Roxanne abruptly cuts off her momentum and tries to swipe at me when she gets close again.
Having fully expected this from the last time we fought, I simply bat her arm off trajectory and use my other hand to reach for her throat.
A flash of genuine surprise and fear glimmers in her eyes for a moment, but Roxanne uses the momentum I gave her of knocking her hand away to swing her other arm and hit my hand before it reaches her neck.
I fully expected that, too.
Roxanne used both her hands in this brief interaction and needs to recover. My hand that batted her arm off coarse is ready to go.
Mimicking her actions, I use the momentum of my hand being knocked away to shoot and grab Roxanne's shoulder.
Once I've latched on, I take a sudden lunging step to the side of her and shove her shoulder straight forward , using all the leverage I've gained from positioning myself beside her to push Roxanne with far more force than what was likely necessary.
Roxanne is sent flying backwards; her back only coming into contact with the floor more than a meter away from where I pushed her.
Once again, Roxanne does something mildly impressive, and uses all the momentum of how hard I've shoved her to recover by rolling over backwards; using her hands and knees to stop her from sliding back much further.
..Still, she slides backwards another half-meter from the force of the push, standing back up the instant she's stopped moving.
...
..Rox isn't pretending like these two small interactions haven't already somewhat exhausted her.. Her breaths are heavy, and very audible from the distance I'm staring her down at.
I'm not entirely fighting back; only pushing her away or throwing her aside as opposed to actually throwing a punch of my own.
Despite how foolishly annoyed I was, I still understand that none of this is Roxanne's fault; it's mine. So she doesn't deserve to get hurt any more than she already has.. This does work a bit in my favor as well, though; as demonstrating that I don't even need to fight back to ward her off is doing more damage to her spirit than her body.
...
..You can't keep this up for long.. Either your body or spirit will fail you soon..
...
Roxanne doesn't approach as quickly this time; obviously intimidated with the sheer force I sent her back with.. She knows that I'm not messing around this time.
The human body has strength far greater than what most people can conjure. It's only ever drawn out in times of extreme stress; something truly life-threatening.. It prevents people from tearing up their muscle tissue, since your body can easily damage itself in using more strength than necessary.
I do not have that limitation. I am dead. I can push this body far beyond its limits at will.
...
...
Through a pattern of unpredictable steps, Roxanne unleashes a swipe I can't reasonably counter with how little time I have to react.
It works, and I simply tilt my body out of the way once I figure out what she's going for.
The process repeats itself a couple more times. Roxy attacks, and I dodge the swipe, but don't have enough time to think of a way to intercept it..
...
Eventually, I decide it doesn't really matter.
Roxanne moves in to strike once more, but I put no effort into trying to move away this time.
I lift my left arm and wait for the strike to land. It does, and Roxanne tears tiny cuts into my arm with her swipe.
However, that means she's in the downtime of recovering from her own attack.
I quickly extend my right hand and nab Roxanne's other wrist, firmly holding it up in place in between us.
After recovering from a little bit of surprise, Rox instinctively swings her free hand back to slash at the arm holding her wrist so that I'd let go.
I don't.
Roxanne's claws don't hit flesh, however. The sleeve of my uniform tears where she strikes, but all that accompanies that are the useless sparks created from Roxanne scraping her claws against my metal arm.
Accidentally scaring herself with the sudden flash of light, Roxy recoils an inch, and I use that opportunity to simply tug her wrist downward past me.
Just like before, Roxanne stumbles a step before collapsing to her hands knees from the downward force only about a foot away. The sudden impact causes a few shards of glass to fall out of Rox's skin and - clink - lightly on the floor.
...
...
Despite the close proximity, Roxanne only stays on her knees and catches a breather for a moment.
..Brave of her to assume I wouldn't strike back with how close I am.. But, that assumption's a correct one..
...
I simply stand over her, and wait for her to take a few deep breaths.
...
..It might seem like this fight we're having now is going far better for me than how it did when we fought out in the field.. That's because it is.
Learning, recognizing patterns, adapting, and thinking under pressure are all skills I had to hone to an art while I was fending off the animatronics in the past. I was able to use similar logic here.
I've already fought Roxanne twice before. I've already had two opportunities to learn how Roxanne fights.
I got to see firsthand how she thinks, how she moves, how she attacks depending on the range.. I'm 'used' to fighting Roxanne. So eventually, just like with the nights fending off the animatronics.. I learned how to defend myself from her.
I can predict what you're going to do, and I know how to counter it now.
This isn't a fight you can win.
...
...
Another 10 seconds pass of silence, and it's already starting to seem like this fight is over..
...
..This has gone on long enough.. There's no need to keep throwing each other around..
...
"Roxanne, listen.. Go find your friends; they'll drop everything to remove all the glass and patch you up. Despite what you might think of them sometimes, they truly are your friends. You'll be happy with them; far happier than you'll ever be with m-"
-.
"Shut it!"
-.
In a fit of frustration, Roxanne clenches her eyes and hurls whatever's in her hands at me. It takes me a moment to identify what it is she's thrown, then figure out how to react to-
Wh-?! Glass! She threw g-!
-.
- Sq-tch -
-.
- "NGhAAA-agh!" -
-.
I stumble back a few steps and hold my face in my hands while I cry in sudden agony.
"..H-Huh-?"
"Ghah-! Nng-..! A-Agh..!"
I have to jut my foot forward to stop myself from falling to my knees in pain.
I continue to groan and hold my face in my hands, pre-occupied on keeping myself upright..
...
..Shortly afterward, Roxanne seems to recognize this as her 'opportunity'.
Before I'm able to register what's going on, rapid footsteps precede a heavy impact to my midsection; as if Rox was trying to tackle me.
However, instead of hitting my gut like intended, Roxanne unintentionally only collides with my ribs, which results in very little effect relative to what she was hoping for.
While the two of us do slide back a few feet, the impact simply isn't enough to cause either of us to fall.
..Despite the miracle of Roxanne's misfortune, I'm unable to react, or punish the blatant mistake.. Even as she pushes off of me a bit and prepares to strike again, I only continue to hold my face with my hands and groan through my teeth.
"G-Ghh-! Nn..! A-aah... agh..."
...
Of course, Roxanne doesn't let me have the break.
I never remove my hands to look at her, but I feel as she strikes.. Claws dig through a small amount of flush around my waist.
I stumble back another step, but only continue to stand and cover my face..
...
Then, no more than a second later, Roxanne's claws rip through another small portion of my upper leg. I'm not sure if it's an attempt to get me to fall, but my fried nerves don't respond with nearly enough pain to get me to react; though I do stumble back one more step from the force transferred into my leg.
...
Then, the pain finally starts to fade.
I clench my teeth as the realization of what just happened finally registers...
Roxanne's eyes were closed when she threw the shards of glass; she has no idea what she *hit*..
...
Though my face is still covered, I make out the sound of Roxanne rushing in to strike me with her claws again.
This time, however.. I react on reflex.
...
With a silent growl, I suddenly shoot one of my hands out once I hear Rox's footsteps get real close.
Not expecting me to use one of the hands on my face, the wolf isn't able to react in time.
..My metal hand impacts and tightly grips around Roxanne's throat with enough force to completely stop her momentum.. I use my other hand to cover up the injured parts of my face while Roxy comes to an immediate halt with a loud choke.
Immediately noticing how much harder I'm gripping her than before, Roxanne is unable to do anything but bring both of her hands up to her throat and try to desperately pry my hand off.
Noticing soon after that she's unable, Roxanne's body tenses as she prepares for me to throw her aside again.
I don't.
...
Suddenly, Roxanne starts to panick.
She tries to ask me what I'm but all that comes out is a pathetic throaty gasp as she realizes I'm holding her throat too tight for her to breathe properly.
..Pre-occupied, I continue to cover my face and grit my teeth while I know Roxanne can't interrupt me recovering from the shock again..
...
...
Nn..
...
Just as I finally begin to think straight, a series of desperate disgusting chokes cycle on repeat as Roxanne's 'prying' starts to devolve into 'clawing' at the hand around her throat.
With a silent groan, I finally push the leg go of the wolf no more than a couple feet away; bringing my free hand back to my face while Roxy stumbles back a step.
Roxanne doesn't recover quickly this time, however.. Instead collapsing on the floor and choking in air with both her hands still around her throat while she tries staggering to her knees.
...
...
..For a second, there's a bloodstained truce as the both of us painstakingly recover from the damage we were both dealt..
Roxanne doesn't try standing after getting to her knees; only hunches over and hacks as she tries to breathe again.. Her hands still haven't let her throat, but are lightly holding it as if massaging her neck will clear up her wind-pipe any faster.
I breathe slow heavy breaths, holding my face in my hands like I was doing before.. My balance has taken a blow, so every once in a while, I'll shimmy a foot over to my side as I'm trying not to fall over.
...
...
Eventually, Roxanne's desperate throaty gasps turn into slow raspy inhales.. I hear her stagger up to a stand, stumbling a bit as if she's light-headed.
...
"..Wh- kk.. W-What the fuck is WRONG WITH YOU!?"
Rox tries to sound pissed, but even without looking I can see past it.. She's frustrated, maybe, but far more than that, I can hear how hard she's trying not to cry.
I don't respond, only continue to breathe heavily with hands around my face.
...
"I-I..! I t-thought I was going to f-fucking DIE! I-I thought I was going to fucking-..!"
...
Despite her best efforts, I can hear Roxanne's voice get a little wobblier and raise in pitch, indicating she wasn't able to hold the floodgates back entirely..
"I w-wasn't trying to fucking k-kill you, M-Mike! I was just t-trying to get you to stay s-so you'd listen to me!"
...
I grit my teeth again, getting ready to rip the band-aid off..
...
"D-..! D-Don't DO THAT anymore..! T-That really f-fucking hurt! I wasn't trying to h-hurt you very much..! I-I was only trying to get you to go down or something! Y-You didn't need to crush my fucking throat like you did with t-that stupid bird!"
With the hands around my face, I grip the foreign objects..
...
"T-..! T-That was really f-fucking scary, Mike..! I-I didn't even do anything to you-! All I did was s-scratch your clothing..! ..It still really h-hurts..! I-I can barely breathe, a-and it hurts! D-Don't do that anymo-!"
-.
Fighting through the pain, I violently wrench out the two large glass shards lodged in my eyes.
-.
Roxanne briefly screams as the bloodied shards land on the floor between us, quickly cutting herself off by covering her mouth a moment later.
...
...
Even after finally removing the glass, I continue to cover my eyes and focus on recovering completely.
...
..That was far, far more pain than I thought I could even feel anymore.. I guess my eyes healed quite a bit more than the rest of my body over time..
Well, so much for that now..
The glass.. The glass must have destroyed both my eyes; there's zero chance that they didn't..
...
"..O-Oh my-..! O-Oh my fucking god! Oh my god! O-Oh my god..!"
Roxanne's voice is wavy, but comes back to her before long.
I can't see her, but I hear as footsteps rapidly approach my position again.
"Oh my g-..! S-Show me! M-Mike, show me! Show me!"
As the footsteps slow to a quick halt, I feel warm hands gently grab my upper arm and try to pull my hands away from my face.. I'm not ready to let them move yet..
...
"Mike, s-show me..! M-Move your hands, I need to see..! Mike, p-please..!"
"..."
...
"O-Oh my g-.. D-Did I just make you go fucking blind? Did they both h-hit your eyes..?! D-Did I just fucking blind you?!"
"..."
...
"I-I'm sorry! M-Mike I'm sorry! I'm s-sorry! I-I didn't mean to hit your f-fucking-!"
"I'm sorry.."
"W-Wh..?!"
"I was in pain and couldn't think right. I didn't mean to hold you for so long.."
"Mike s-show me your fucking eyes! S-Show me!"
"I'm fine."
"Mike, y-your eyes..! I-I hit y-!"
"I don't need eyes to see."
"W.. W-What..?"
...
Gradually, I move my hand outward from my face, confirming that I can, in fact, see.
Roxanne recoils with a sharp inhale, letting go and covering her mouth with her hands.
...
..I don't need eyes to see.
I lost them when Ennard took my body, too. It's funny how Remnant can provide a substitute for something as critical as sight.
How it does so is simple, though. Without eyes, Remnant simply allows you to see through your soul.
My soul doesn't have round eyeballs decorated with fancy colors, though. It's far simpler.
...
Two, white, glowing pinpricks. Sitting in the void-like darkness of my eye-sockets.
Two dots. No longer windows to my soul, but fragments of my soul itself.
...
Taking one final deep breath, I lower my hands to my sides and stare solemnly at Roxanne.
...
..I knew I should have left sooner.. Now I've accumulated yet another regret I'll have to live with for the rest of my life..
...
My voice comes out stern, but maintains a shred of gentleness this time.. Though my eyes might be causing my whole 'delicacy' bit to be lost on Roxy..
"..Rox, what don't you get..?"
...
"h-holy sh-.. o-oh my g-, holy s-shit.."
...
"I've done so much to hurt you, both directly and indirectly.. Look at yourself, I don't know how your body hasn't shut itself down from all the damage it's received. The damage 'I' inflicted."
...
"o-oh my g-.. oh m-my god, o-oh my.."
"And as if that isn't enough, I repeatedly tear you through a gauntlet of mental torture. I show you horror after horror, each one worse than the last. I torment you, both physically and mentally. I'm breaking you. Slowly but surely, I'm tearing your mind and body apart."
"w-wh-? what h-happened to your-..? M-Mike, your e-eyes, w-what happened to your e-eyes?"
"What will it take to show you that I'm not worth it? Your body can't handle the cost of keeping me around, and the payout is hardly significant. I've been fooling you; tricking you into thinking I'm making things better."
"M-Mike.. M-Mike, I.. W-What happened to y-your-..?"
"I am a liar. I have always lied to you, and even if I were to stay, I will just lie to you again. How many promises have I made to you? How many have I kept? ..Roxanne, have I kept a *single* promise I've ever made with you? ..How can you still convince yourself that you can trust me..?"
"M-mike, I-I..."
...
"Stop trusting me.. You should have stopped the moment you caught me lying to you for the first time. Do you see what I've done with your trust..? I'm taking away your home; your entire way of *life*; and I leave you bruised and bleeding on the floor, desperately choking for air."
"N-No, I'm.."
...
"I can't promise I won't kill you one day, Roxanne. I am not kidding."
...
"T-.. That's enough..!"
Roxanne barks lightly, balling her fists and throwing them down at her sides.
"..."
"S-Stop pretending like you're the only one who hurts people..! I-I've taken just as much away from you as you've taken from me! Your arm, y-your eyes..! We hurt each other all the time, n-not just you!"
...
"Why stick together if all we do is desecrate one another, then?"
"You-..! You feel it to; I know you d-do..! It is worth it! Y-You always come back to me when I fuck you up, so it's only fair that I do the same!"
"Would it not be better if we stopped hurting each other entirely?"
"I-If that means you leave me forever, then n-no..!"
"..."
...
...
Despite how hard Roxanne's trying to keep her tough-front together, my hollow-eyed gaze causes her to falter again after a few seconds.
...
"..M-Mike, I didn't mean to h-.. I r-really didn't mean to hurt your eyes, I-I just.. I just wanted you to stay, s-so-.."
...
...
"..That 'guilt'.."
"..H-Huh..?"
"That regret, and disdain for your actions that you're feeling.. That 'guilt' that caves your heart in like a black hole.. Take it in it for a moment."
...
...
"I-I.. I don't understand.."
"Guilt is powerful. It's crippling, but also a driving force."
"Mike, what are you t-talking about..?"
"Does it feel like it's crushing you..? Does it make you feel like the lowest form of life on the planet?"
...
...
"I-It.. It feels really bad.."
"Of course it does, you've just accidentally punctured both of someone's eyes. That isn't a small wound - you 'should' feel guilty."
"I'm 'sorry', o-okay..?! I-..! I didn't mean to-!"
"I have killed children."
"W-Wh..?"
...
"I am responsible for so many deaths that I wasn't even able to keep *count*. I am responsible for the crumbling of so many functional families because of what I've taken from them. I am responsible for torturing young souls for decades. I killed my brother with my own two hands, and broke my mother's spirit as a result. I have done so much. I have hurt so many."
"M-Mike, we just talked about-!"
"Can you even fathom a guilt like that? Can you imagine how it feels to have those horrors chained to your heart?"
...
...
"I-.."
...
"It is a weight you, nor anybody else, can ever hope to match. It's a curse without a cure. It's something a 'happy life' simply cannot outweigh."
"..."
...
"This guilt's pain is something you can't remedy, no matter how much you mean to me. Every time we laugh, I hear those children's laugh too. Every time we relax, I remember how I never let my brother do the same. With every hint of affection that's ever been shown to me, I recall the unfathomable hatred in the eyes of the monster that took my body. With every moment we share as a family, I remember what I did to 'mine'.."
...
"..."
"..Every time I look in the mirror, I see my father stare back at me.."
"..."
...
"I love it here. I love all the friends I made, and all the memories we've created. I *loved* every single moment we watched a movie together. I *loved* feeling you fall asleep on my chest. I loved it when you told me you were taking care of me, I loved it when you lectured me for not letting you help me, I loved it when you always somehow managed to make the pain fade away."
"..."
"I love it here. I love everything here. I love this place so much."
"..M-Mike, I-"
"But I hate myself more."
...
...
"..."
"I hate the pain I've caused so much more than I love feeling at peace here. It doesn't even come close."
"S-.. Something's wrong.."
"I hate my father, I hate the monsters he created, I hate the heartbreak I unintentionally helped create."
"M-Mike.."
"So no matter how much I love it here, Roxanne.. It will simply never be enough for me to stop caring that people are out there dying because of me; because of my 'father'."
...
"M-Mike, something's a-actually wrong, I-I can't feel my-.."
...
My eyes widen slightly as I finally register what Roxanne's talking about.
Roxanne is pale, far more so than she was before.. It isn't out of fear this time.
Her arms have wrapped around herself, tightly gripping different parts of her now shaking body. Between her fingers seeps tiny trickles of blood leaking from the glass-injuries scattered around her body.
...
..Her adrenaline ran out.. I doubt that's because she isn't stimulated enough either; I simply don't think Roxanne's body is able to produce any more in the condition she's in.
...
I sigh under my breath, unfurling my hands.
...
"..You're out of time.."
"W-Why does..? W-Why does it hurt? Why does it h-hurt so much all the sudden?"
"..."
...
"M-Mike, it.. It h-hurts.. What's happening to me, w-what's going on..?"
...
"..I told you your body wouldn't be able to hold up for very long.."
"I-It... It h-hurts.. I-It hurts.."
...
"You're shutting down from the blood loss, Rox."
"W-What? What does that mean? A-Am I okay?"
"You won't be awake for much longer."
"A-Am I okay..?! Will I be o-okay? Am I gonna w-wake up again?"
"You're not dying, you're just shutting down. You'll be fine."
...
..Roxanne stares down at herself for a while, suddenly scared of what's happening to her.
I can see her movements start to slow, just a little..
...
"..W-Wait, I'm not done.. Mike, I-I'm not done, I still need to talk to you.."
...
"I'm sorry."
"No w-wait, wait, p-please.. D-Don't leave.."
"..."
...
"Y-You.. You deserve good things, M-Mike.. You deserve to r-rest here, with u-us.."
...
"..I'm sorry, but I just don't agree.."
"W-Wait, Mike.."
Roxanne tries to step toward me, but only wobbles forward an inch as she realizes just how little strength she has left in her body.
"..."
"I-.. I-I can explain it to you, I k-know I can.. J-Just stay a little l-longer.. S-Stay.."
"..I can't stay, not even if I wanted to. I can hide everything else, but I can't hide my eyes from everybody."
"You'll be h-happy here.. You deserve t-to be happy here.."
"I have a responsibility to fulfill."
...
Roxanne's eyes slowly begin to gloss over.
"Y-You've already done everything you need.. You've done m-more than enough.."
"It will never be enough. This is a debt I can never hope to repay."
"N-No, you.. Y-You've fought so much more than you think, t-they'd all understand.."
...
Roxanne stumbles forward.
...
"..I will never be forgiven for what I've done.."
...
"I-I forgive you.."
...
...
..W-.. What?
W-What d-.. What did you just s-..?
-.
- Thud -
-.
Roxanne falls unconscious.
...
...
...
...
..I stand, stunned by-..
...
I-I.. I wasn't expecting that, I-..
How could-..? H-How could she say something like that? Doesn't she know what I've-..?
...
Those-.. T-Those are words I never thought I'd ever be told in my life, I'm-..
...
...
Roxanne..
I stare silently at the fallen wolf, forcing myself to take in the sight of what I've done.
...
I can't stay.. No matter what, it's too late. I can't stay..
...
A long, pained sigh escapes my lungs as I feel the resignation settle in..
...
..But I can't leave her like this.. Bloody, bruised, reeking of iron with the slightest hint of her bile still lingering from before..
I need to take responsibility for the damage I caused, and that includes what I've done to you..
...
..I'm only going to get the glass patched up, but that's all I'll do.. I don't have the time to do anything else.
I solemnly glance up, staring through the lobby doors still a good distance away, past Roxanne herself..
...
..Soon..
...
I take a few steps forward and kneel by Roxy's side, delicately taking her shoulder and lifting it to get a full view of all the glass shards littering her arm and torso.
...
..I reach into my back pocket and set aside some spare bandages I took with me after wrapping my torso up.. I don't know if it's enough to cover every wound, but it'll cover most of the bigger ones.
...
My gaze unintentionally resets to her face.
...
..I don't know how you fought so hard.. Even without physical contact, she fought me with her words to keep me in place.. Not even Freddy could delay me any longer than a minute, but 'you'..
Every time I thought I had finally 'dealt' with you, you got in my way again.. You always figured out just what to say to stop me in my tracks at the last possible second, and somehow managed to stall me for so much longer than I expected during our fight..
You should have stopped being an issue when I tore myself open in front of you.. That shock alone should have kept you frozen and immobile for far more time than I needed to get out of the Pizzaplex, but somehow, you got back up.
You should have lost all incentive to stop me then. You should have lost all desire to keep me around when I strangled you. You shouldn't have been able to recover from the horrors I've shown you, but every time I turned back around, you were *in my way* again.
...
..I don't understand..
...
..But it doesn't matter..
It's finally over. You pushed your body and mind to its very limits, but eventually, they ran out of steam.. You can't get in my way anymore..
You fought till the bitter end, Rox. I won't let that go unnoticed.
...
...
I tear a small shred of the bandages off and prepare to-
-._.
"Michael."
-._.
...
...
I slowly stand up, but I don't turn around to face him.
...
"Arin."
...
..I look over my shoulder just enough to see the manager standing there without letting him see my eyes.
...
I wonder what he's making of the scene in front of him..
Roxanne unconscious on the floor, very tiny strings of blood flung across the floor from her wounds as she jumped around, the small and relatively few tears in my uniform.
...
..I can't see Arin very well with how limited I am in turning around without showing him my eyes, but..
I'm not sure if he even cares, or if he's registering the room around him at all.
...
Arin's expression hasn't changed much from when I found him in the auditorium; expressionless and hollow.. His hair is covering his eyes, but the rest of his face seems solemn and duty-bound.
..I don't want it to come to this, but I can't let him stop me. I'm not sure if he'll piece together that I'm the one who killed Cooper from this scene in front of him, but if he starts to confront me about it, I'm taking any measures necessary to subdue him and leave.
...
For a few seconds, we stand silent in the lobby; only accompanied by the faint chirping of birds outside the lobby doors.
...
...
"I need your help."
...
...
I take an extra second to make sure I heard that right..
...
"I don't have the time right now, Arin."
...
"I understand, but this is important."
...
His voice is almost haunting.. It grew calm and emotionless, but each word holds the weight of the world.
..Just like how mine changed after I killed Cooper..
...
...
"What is it?"
...
...
"..This will be an unusual request.. Know that I would not ask this of you if I was not desperate.."
"I understand."
...
...
"I would like to ask that we keep what happened here today a secret between us."
...
...
"What?"
I have to fight my instincts telling me to turn around and stare at him in confusion.
...
..What?
What is he talking about..? Why wouldn't he want to report Cooper's death? Out of 'everybody', wouldn't Arin want to make the biggest deal out of this?
...
"..I understand if you can't agree with that, and I won't stop you from reporting what happened to the authorities.."
...
"A murder took place in the Pizzaplex, and you mean to cover it up?"
...
...
...
"Yes."
...
...
I stare at the floor for a few seconds, trying to fit this information into the logical part of my brain.
The more I think about it, however.. The less sense it makes..
...
...
"..Cooper was 'killed', Arin. It wasn't an accident."
...
"I understand."
...
"I'm let to believe Cooper meant a lot to you."
"He did.."
"He was growing less stable, and now today you find him murdered. That is far more than enough reason to shut the Pizzaplex down permanently and launch a full-scale investigation."
"I understand."
...
"Why wouldn't you report this? You don't want the police to find who was responsible..?"
...
"..That sounds nice, but.."
"..."
...
"..I don't believe it's what Cooper would want.."
...
"What do you mean?"
...
"Explaining it with words makes it sound childish."
"Can you try?"
...
"..Cooper cared greatly for this place, and for his employees. I admired him for it.. It went beyond work relationships, he offered every employee very generous wages and benefits in order to ensure stability among his crew."
"..."
"..What I mean to say is that he cared for the people here, and I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn't care for them in his absence.."
...
"..I'm not sure you understand the severity his death, Arin."
"I do. I just can't express the severity of my reasoning through speech.."
"Cooper was murdered by somebody in the Pizzaplex. That is not something anyone else would overlook."
"I understand how significant that is, but Cooper's death.. Cooper's death was-.."
"Arin.."
...
...
"I.. I figured it would only be a matter of time.."
That sentence is almost enough to shake me to my core.
...
"..You believed Cooper's death would only be a matter of time..?"
"..I couldn't slow the madness creeping over him, despite all my efforts. I worked to keep him in check every minute of my waking hours, but it would only get worse, and I couldn't find a way to stop it.."
"I know, but.. Why does that mean you thought his death was inevitable..?"
"He.. Cooper did not 'mean' to do bad things, but-.."
...
...
"Has he done 'bad things' before, Arin?"
...
"..When he got too invested in something, he simply 'acted'.. Cooper would find something so interesting that any thoughts he had about anything else would cease entirely. He would chase that lead with all his mind, completely oblivious to the extreme measures he was taking to further his research.."
...
"When Cooper was obsessed with chasing a lead, he didn't think about whether his actions were right or wrong, only if they would grant him the results he was looking for.." I rephrase in a way I can better understand.
"Yes."
...
"..So how did this make you think his death would only be a matter of time?"
...
...
"Cooper tried to kill himself three times over the course of his obsession."
...
Once again, my expression falters for a moment as Arin's words register into my brain and echo throughout the lobby.
..What the hell did he just say..?
...
"What?"
"..."
...
"What do you mean..? Was he susceptible to random fits of depression?"
"He had a beaming grin all but one time.."
...
I'm.. I'm lost..
"..Arin, why did Cooper try to commit suicide?"
"He thought he could get answers quicker that way.. His obsession fits led him to the conclusion that if he killed himself, he could personally ask William all the questions he wanted in the afterlife."
"What..?"
"I do not know what he was thinking.. Cooper was not a religious man.."
"..."
...
...
"It was.. It was always so abrupt.. One night Cooper and I were eating dinner, talking about finances regarding the future Pizzaplex.. Five minutes later, as I was putting dishes away, Cooper came out of his room with a rope and gleefully asked if I could help him tie a noose."
What the hell..
...
"..I had no idea.."
"Neither did I."
"Did he do something similar the other two times?"
"He did something extremely similar once, and.."
"..."
...
Arin, despite his expressionless stance and empty voice, takes a shaky breath.
...
"..The other time, I found Cooper on his knees in his basement, weeping, with blood all over his hands."
...
"..What?"
...
"I.. I do not know where the blood came from.. H-He didn't know either.."
"..."
"By the time I left to grab my phone and come back down to the basement, no more than 10 seconds later, he wasn't weeping anymore. He was grinning again, excitedly beckoning me over to show me this article he found about on his phone."
"..."
"..I-I have not seen his dog since.."
...
What the *Fuck*?!
...
"I'm-.. Arin, why didn't you tell me about any of this..?"
"I was afraid of how you might react.."
...
"..So.. You thought Cooper's death was only a 'matter of time' before he killed himself..?"
"No, just until he did something that would result in his death."
"..."
...
"..Michael.."
...
"Yes?"
"Did you see what was in the back room Cooper died in?"
...
"I did."
...
"..Cooper was about to do something horrible, wasn't he.."
...
...
"He was."
...
...
...
Arin takes another short breath and swallows something down.
...
...
"M-.. Michael.."
...
"..Yes?"
...
...
...
...
"Did you kill Cooper?"
...
...
...
...
"Yes."
...
...
..Arin releases a breath he's been holding for a very, very long time.
"..."
...
"I'm sorry.. I'm not oblivious to how much he meant to you.. I expect you to hate me, but I'm hoping that feeling is a little easier to swallow opposed to the lack of closure."
...
"..I do hate you.."
"I understand."
...
"T-.. Thank you, Michael.."
"..What?'
"I-.. It's hard to explain, but I-.. Thank you.."
Arin's voice shakes a bit near the end, but he 'ahems' right afterward to stop the shaking entirely.
...
...
..'Thank you'..?
...
"..I'm not sure I follow.." I admit, tilting my head as if I'm about to look over my shoulder at him
...
...
"I.. I don't think I would have been able to handle it if anybody else killed him, Michael.. If Cooper killed himself, I would have hated myself for not being able to save him. If I killed Cooper, I would have hated myself for spilling the blood of the man I respected more than anybody. If anyone but you killed Cooper, it would have been a loose end I would lie awake every night thinking about until I drove myself mad.."
...
"I still don't think I understand.."
"I don't fully understand either.. Please forgive me - I'm sure this hate will fade as I get less emotional.."
..Did he just apologize to me..?
...
"Arin, you have every right to hate me. I killed Cooper; the CEO, and your best friend."
"I do hate you, Michael, but I'm very glad it was you.. I.. I trust your judgement after all you've done to try and support my efforts to bring Cooper back.. If you felt the need to kill him, then I believe you had a very good reason to do so.."
...
"I've done almost nothing to support you Arin. I made promises to help you bring Cooper back once we closed after today, and I broke them by killing him before that time came."
"I trust your judgement, Michael.. That is all I know to say."
"Why? What have I done to gain your trust?"
"You had Cooper's."
...
...
...
I look forward again, a single pang of guilt striking my still-heart.
...
"..I'm sorry that things turned out this way, Arin.."
"It's alright."
No, it isn't..
...
...
"About your request from before, Arin.. Yeah. I'll keep what happened today a secret."
...
"..Thank you.. That means more to me than you might think.."
...
"My secrecy will not be enough, though."
"..."
"Covering this up will be extremely difficult; impossible for all I know. The police will very quickly notice that Cooper's gone missing, and that alone might be enough to shut this place down for good."
"You don't need to worry, I can handle that."
...
"I'm not sure you can.."
"I assure you that I'm very able.. I can dispose of the body and get this place cleaned up, too."
...
"What do you mean you're able to do all these things?"
"..I am able.."
"Money and improvisation won't be enough to cover something like this up."
"It won't cost anything, and it will be far from improvising. I'll make sure that, as far as the police or the government is aware, Cooper never existed."
...
...
I tilt my head toward him again, a heavy suspicion anchoring in my chest.
"How do you know how to do that?"
...
"..I'm Well acquainted with a few people, they.. They will help get it done, and get this place cleaned up.."
"What people?"
"..."
...
"People Cooper knew?"
...
"People I was involved with before Cooper saved me."
...
..This needs investigating.. Arin clearly isn't who I thought he was..
...
...
"These people sound dangerous."
"We were."
"You 'were'?"
"We were."
"And that changed?"
...
"..We were touched by someone's kindness, is all I can say.."
"A 'touch of kindness' can't take evil out of an entire group of people."
"A unique kindness can."
...
"..Cooper's kindness was pretty unique.."
...
"Yes."
...
...
I exhale, wanting to talk about this in further detail, but also trying to keep things as short as possible.
"..So.. What, were you like a cartel?"
"No, far less reliant on fear and torture.."
"A Mafia?"
"..You're thinking a little too organized, but.. You could call it something like that, I suppose..."
...
..I guess that explains why Arin always seemed so inexpressive.. He always did kind of seem lost in such an easygoing atmosphere such as the Pizzaplex..
...
...
"This is some rather important knowledge you're telling me. How can you trust me to keep it a secret?"
"Admitting to murder is no less dooming for you. I'm simply providing some further inventive to keep these secrets."
"Incentive.. You're blackmailing me?"
"No- No, that is.. That isn't what I meant.."
...
"It sounds like you're threatening me with your 'mafia' if I fail to keep the Pizzaplex murder to myself.."
"No, Michael, I promise; I did not mean to unsettle you, I just-.."
"..."
Arin looks at the ground.
"..I simply wanted to demonstrate that I am willing to trust you with secrets as well, as thanks for your honesty regarding Cooper.."
...
My suspicion slowly begins to fade..
...
"I see.."
...
"I didn't mean to surprise you with all this, but I wanted to reassure you that Cooper's remains will be dealt with without consequence."
"It is admittedly a little surprising to hear you were once a criminal.."
...
"..I was far worse than simply a criminal.."
...
"Did Cooper really 'save' you?"
"Yes. Four years ago."
"How did he manage that?"
"..I had a gun up to his head one minute, got shot by a passerby with a concealed-carry I failed to notice, and Cooper patched me up because 'I looked like his nephew that he used to fish with'.."
"You were robbing him."
"I was trying to kill him."
"..."
...
"I.. I was a vile person, Michael.."
...
...
"Me too."
...
"..Cooper is good at fixing broken souls, I suppose.."
...
...
I lower my gaze to Roxanne's unconscious body.
...
..He is.. But my soul was too much for him to fix, so I broke *him* instead..
...
"Mhm."
...
...
...
There's silence between us for a moment, letting us bask in what we've learned about each other..
...
"..Michael."
"Yes?"
"We're still going to close for a few days until we can get everything cleaned up, and give ourselves a break. Would it be alright if I message you in a few days to ask for your opinion on when we should open again?"
"That sounds like a good plan."
"Understood.. I believe we should talk again at some point in the near future."
"I do too."
...
...
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me.."
...
...
...
Just as Arin's footsteps finally start trekking away behind me, I realize something odd about what I just agreed to do.
...
..What?
Wait, no, why would I have any say in what happens to the Pizzaplex anymore? I have to go for good, so I'm leaving.
I'm happy the Pizzaplex will remain intact, so I haven't *completely* ruined the gang's lives, but my duty hasn't changed. I need to be ready.
Once the news of Cooper's death starts to spread, I'll-.. I'll need to..
..wait, I-..
...
...
I slowly start to stare into space as I hear a distant door close behind Arin.
...
...
I need to go out and prepare for when my father's influence strikes the world again, right? When that happens, I need to go stomp it out.
...
No, wait-.. Why would my father's influence spread again..?
Well, because there's a huge investigation going on, and everybody that's ever been interested in Freddy's is watching the Pizzaplex like a hawk. So, if something bad happened here, the intrigue of that event could inspire others to try and 'partake' in Freddy's tragic story by adding a tragedy themselves..
...
What does 'something bad' mean?
A tragedy; something that lines up with the horrors of Freddy's that everybody is familiar with at this point. Cooper's death fits in perfectly with that, so this place will be swarming with malicious potential once the news of his death gets out-
No, wait, Cooper's death 'isn't' getting out.. No one but Arin and Rox know Cooper died, and we've sworn to keep it a secret, so no one's gonna 'hear' about the death at all.. People will still be waiting for something terrible to happen here, completely unaware that something actually 'did' happen..
...
So if Cooper's death isn't getting out, no one will think anything happened at the Pizzaplex.. If no one thinks anything happened at the Pizzaplex, this place won't blow up with a bad reputation.. If this place doesn't blow up with a bad reputation, then people won't think this place has anything to do with the old Freddy's.. If nobody thinks this place has anything to do with the old Freddy's, then my father's influence won't spread to them..
...
..That means the only people who know 'anything' significant about me and my father's past would be here in the Pizzaplex.. Roxanne, and somewhat Freddy..
...
So.. So that means all the potential 'influence' I'm trying to chase down and prevent from growing into an issue is.. Is 'here'..
...
I look down at Roxanne again, a familiar buzz of thoughts flurrying through my brain.
T-..That means I.. That means I 'have' to stay here, doesn't it..? I came to the Pizzaplex because it was the most likely candidate for something from Freddy's past to appear here and cause another tragedy via some wild chain of events like the one that just led to Cooper's death.. That was going to change when news of Freddy's 'story' not being over spread across the world, but now it isn't going to do that anymore, so..
..So my motivation for coming to the Pizzaplex isn't going to vanish like I thought it would.. So I'll have no reason to leave..
Hell, I can't even 'justify' leaving. Staying here and making sure the unstable pieces of knowledge Freddy and Roxanne have don't leak is by far my most significant incentive to be 'anywhere' in specific.. If I left, I'd actually be doing the opposite of what my 'purpose' compels me to do..
I.. I can stay.. I 'have' to stay..
...
...
...
As I stare at the bruised, bloodied, and unconscious wolf laying at my feet; the most horrifying scenario I could ever imagine begins to take place.
-._.-. The purpl.-e beg.ins to fade away. -._.-._
...
The numbness I've been relying on slowly begins to leave my body, and in it's absence, I feel it.
I feel all the pain I've been suppressing to get this far.
The despair of having to leave this place, the regret of hurting my best friend, the emptiness of knowing I'd never see the family I've made here ever again.. I finally feel it swirling in my chest as my mind begins to clear and my feelings grow less numb.
It's agony.
...
...
This should be a good thing.
I don't have to leave anymore. I'll be able to stay here with my friends, and keep living my peaceful life the way I've been doing.
...
..My hands slowly ball into fists, and clench harder with each passing second; my nails threatening to puncture my skin.
I grip them so tight that my arms begin to shake ever so slightly, as if I can overshadow the pain in my heart with the physical pain of digging my fingers into my palm.
It doesn't hurt enough. I can barely even feel it.
...
...
Despite no longer having real eyes, moisture manages to gather in the corner of my vision. I'm not sure which emotion is causing it; maybe frustration, maybe sorrow, or maybe just the pain; but the water threatens to fall from my sockets at any given moment.
I haven't cried in forty years.
...
...
I-..
D.. Don't.. Don't d-do this to me..
I-I can't handle it. I won't be able to handle it.. N-Not again..
I..
...
It-.. It's just going to happen again. I-It's only going to happen again..
T-This is a curse.. This is the hell I'm being forced to go through for all the lives I ruined..
I.. I made a new life, a-and new friends.. I felt so happy here, and then i-it was all being taken away.. I-I was losing everyone. I had to go numb to be able to handle losing e-everyone..
Now I'm getting them all back, but.. It's just going to happen a-again..
I'll get even closer with my friends, make more memories, create stronger bonds.. A-And then it's just going to get taken away from me again..
I-I can't handle it.. I c-can't do this all again, it h-hurts so much.. Just let me spend my life c-chasing the remnants of my father, or let me live in peace.. D-Don't make me do both.. Don't wait for me to be h-happy again before pulling it all away..
I'm.. I-I'm sorry.. I-
- brr -
I perk, snapping out of my 'moment' as the sound of something vibrating rings in my ear.
...
I quickly rub my eyes with my arm.
..That's enough, Michael.. You're not done here, so don't fall apart yet..
I don't deserve to be wallowing in self-pity like this.. Is this pain too much for you? You want to try imagining the pain I was forcing children to experience for three decades?
Sack up for now..
...
...
nn..
...
I cautiously glance over my shoulder to identify whatever the hell made that noise..
There's no one in the lobby with me when I turn around.. But I remain cautious, just in case..
...
Just as I turned to look side-to-side, I catch a bit of light from outside reflecting off of something on the floor.
I immediately take note that the shiny object lies where Arin was standing a moment ago, and do my best to identify it without turning around too far.
...
...
..My watch..
Despite my previous concerns towards secrecy, I can't help but turn to face the small device, lying face-up in one of the orange sunbeams streaming in from the front door.
...
It's lit up.. That sound must have been the watch receiving a message..
...
...
..Naturally, I can't resist walking over to pick it up..
I guess this will serve as a convenient way of keeping in touch with the animatronics while we're closed.. If nothing else, it'll allow me to stay updated on what everybody else knows..
...
After I finish strapping it to my metal wrist, I finally fiddle with the device to read the message I received.
...
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Arin: After further consideration, I have another unusual favor to ask..
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
...
..There's so much I want to talk to him about, but I have no choice but to keep it all on the back-burner for now..
...
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Michael: What is it?
...
Arin: Cleaning this place will take some conspicuous work, as well as some time.. I fail to imagine that our animatronics won't notice the odd crew coming in to clean, as well as worry that they may stumble upon Cooper's site of death.. I have told them for the time being to stay in their greenrooms for the time being, but I cannot keep them in there for the entire duration that we are closed. In addition, simply telling the crew that the auditorium is off limits will rouse suspicion in them, and I fear one of them may try to sneak in and see for themselves what happened to Cooper..
Michael: I see. I agree; it's easy to imagine Trudge or Chica snooping around and stumbling upon some of the gore..
Arin: Yes.. In addition, all of our storage areas are connected to the building itself, so we don't have another building we can keep them in temporarily.
Michael: Alright.. What is your plan, then?
...
Arin: ..If I were to ask Trudge, I'm certain he would have no qualms with letting Chica stay at his home..
Michael: Okay..
...
Arin: And now that Cooper's house is vacant, I suppose I could keep an eye on a couple of them there.. Preferably Freddy and Monty, to let their lighthearted banter help take my mind off things..
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Oh god...
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
...
...
Michael: ..I can bunker one of them with me, if that's what you're asking..
Arin: I would appreciate it.. I'm sorry to impose..
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
..Ghh..
...
I'm not really too thrilled about it, but.. Yeah, it makes sense..
It would be a little too risky to keep all of the gang here while Arin's 'friends' are around bleaching the place..
...
With a wary grimace, I look over my watch and down at Roxanne.
..Rox and I have a lot to talk about, too.. She never had the time to let everything sink in because she had to keep me from leaving, so it would be safest if I was nearby for damage control when that time comes..
...
...
I lower my arm to my side.
...
..This way, I can personally treat her injuries at my house, instead of at the Pizzaplex..
It's almost sickening how things keep lining up so perfectly.. Like this really is a curse, or like I'm just the plaything of a bored god..
...
...
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Michael: I can take Roxanne.
Arin: I figured as much.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
...
...
I silently stare at the screen for a few seconds longer, deciding if there's anything left for me to say..
...
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
...
Michael: ..Are you really sure you're alright with me helping you out here with the Pizzaplex? After what I've done?
...
Arin: I hate you.. I wish I could get over myself quicker, but I haven't been able to force myself to look past my emotions quite yet.. I wish you absolutely no misfortune. I am so very grateful that you took matters into your own hands and saved a child's life from the hands of Cooper, and I truly am happy this turned out this way. It may not seem like it, but this really was the best-case-scenario, as far as I could tell.
Michael: I understand.
Arin: You do not deserve to be hated, and I will not hate you for long; I simply need a day or two to think.. Forgive me if anything I say comes out a bit venomous in the mean-time.
...
...
...
Michael: I'm sorry.
Arin: I forgive you.
...
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
...
..That-..
...
That's the second time someone's said that to me today.. After all I've done here, they-..
...
...
I shake my head a bit and turn off my watch.
My gaze naturally falls to Roxanne; breathing slow and steady breaths.
...
...
..How did it all end up like this..?
...
...
Nn..
I kneel down and fiddle with a few bandages I had already ripped off the roll I took, quickly applying them on the very worst of the glass wounds.
...
...
..Then, with a heavy sigh and a confused heart, I pick Roxanne up.
She's prickly, like a porcupine. I suppose that's only natural given her condition, but it's an observation nonetheless..
...
Once again, this time with Roxanne in my arms, I think about all that's happened today.. It almost physically hurts to recall some of today's worst moments, but somehow, things aren't over..
...
I rerun all of today's events in my head, remind myself of the promises I made, and set my objectives straight..
Then, as I've desperately been trying to do for so, so long.. I
leave.
..But I'll be back soon..
...
NOTES (bottom edition (don't act like you're not impressed))
(THERE ARE SEVERAL IMPORTANT THINGS I'M ANNOUNCING HERE, SO IF YOU DON'T USUALLY READ THE NOTES (and believe me, I never used to either) I WOULD RECOMMEND IT THIS TIME AROUND!)
Heya
Sooo, as you might have noticed, it took a little longer than usual for this chapter to come out, by a small margin of like a month.
Uh.
Whoops.
Thanks for your patience.. I did go on vacation for like a week, but to be honest, almost all of the delay was simply how long it was taking me to make this chapter. 65,000+ words is insane, but that isn't even half the total amount that I've written for this chapter.
Kept redoing so many sections until they had the right 'feel' to them. Not editing, but like, entirely redoing them. Redid an entire 8,000 words long segment 3 and a half times. 30,000 words of writing for 8,000 words of chapter. mmmnendngjdfs.
Rinse and repeat that a million times over the entire course of the chapter, and you'll have my wimpy excuse for why it took so long.
ANYWAY! On to the actual important notes and stuff!
First of all, as I've said before, I'm gonna take a little bit of time now that this chapter is done to go back through the entire fic and fix every instance of Michael's name. Also borderline killed myself trying to get this chapter done, so I'mma take a small break.
ON THAT NOTE, HOWEVER, GONNA ANNOUNCE SOMETHING NEW!
So.
It's no secret that I constantly bitched about how dissatisfied I was with some of the quality of the earlier chapters, and I always expressed a desire to edit them, but never had the time since I had to focus on writing the next new chapter.
I've had a plan in mind for a long while, and have spent up till now working out the details and confirming that this is what I want to do.
So.
-.-.-. Chapter 50. .-.-.-
Chapter 50 will not be the end of the story, but for a very long list of reasons I don't want to spoil outright, chapter 50 *is* going to mark something like an arc-shift.
Basically what I mean by that is the whole 'Outlived Purpose' deal will be dealt with for the most part (probably), and the story is gonna move on to another main plot-point. As such, the title Outlived Purpose wouldn't remain relevant to that part of the fic anymore.
SO WHAT THAT MEANS.
I cannot stress this enough, chapter 50 won't be the end of the story in any shape or form.
But chapter 50 is going to mark the end of 'Michael Afton: Outlived Purpose'.
It's nothing new, I'm sure you've seen a thousand authors do the same thing; The story is going to continue, just under a new name when the time comes.
HOW THAT TIES INTO EDITING THE STORY.
Gonna take a fairly significant break once chapter 50 is out before I start working on the next 'arc'.
While I'm taking that break, I'm going to heavily, heavily, heavily edit this entire fic. Lemme put it into perspective.
Every single chapter will be edited to hell, and a fair portion of the earlier chapters will be 'completely re-written'. In addition, I'm thinking about extending a bunch of them quite a bit, since those chapters were like 2,000 words and now my chapters are like at minimum 20,000.
In a sense, to put into perspective the amount of things that are gonna change, I'm gonna effectively be redoing a large chunk of this fic.
Still gonna be the same story; nothing plot-wise will change of course. I'm just editing it so that the chapter quality remains consistent throughout the entire fic.
it's going to take a while.
Even if I were to 'redo' one chapter a day, it would still take me close to two months, and I promise you I'm not gonna be able to completely edit one chapter a day..
Anyway, that still isn't something any of us have to worry about until quite a bit later, so I'll let y'all know if plans change later on.
Mkay
Announcement #2
-.-.-. Birds of a Feather .-.-.-
Arright listen up a bunch of you are gonna *like* this one.
Cassiun is the name of another fanfic author.
He is currently writing a story named Birds of a Feather.
.-.-.
HIS FIC TAKES PLACE IN THE SAME WORLD AS THE ONE YOU'RE READING RIGHT NOW.
.-.-.
The same characters, settings, and relationships you find in this fic are in his too. If you ever get bored of waiting for me to release the next chapter, I seriously recommend checking out his fic and getting your fill of a little bonus story.
First and foremost, I do want to mention that, while our fics take place in the same world, they are NOT completely true to one another. Whatever happens in his fic won't be guaranteed to happen in mine, and vise versa (from this point on).
The protagonist of his fic is actually Evan, Michael's brother. He brings back characters like the marionette, mangle, and several of the original cast in addition to all of the characters currently in my fic.
(Once again, fics aren't true to each other. I find his fic super interesting and fun to read, but in my fic, Evan and everybody else is still dead and whatnot.)
M'kay.
Now, onto a related announcement.
-.-.-. Discord .-.-.-
If you've been around for a while, you know I have a Reddit where I keep all art, fan-art, and announcements.
The Reddit will still be a thing, but Cassiun and I had the idea to do something a little fun, and make a joint-story discord server.
The Discord will be *farrr* more interactive and interesting, as well as be updated significantly more often. As opposed to the periodic weekly update or sketch being posted on the reddit, Cassiun and I will be frequently chatting (with all of you as well as each other) on the Discord about whatever. You'll hear about our fic's status far more often, which is probably gonna be the main draw.
As well as that, however, there's also a bunch of bonus stuff! Extra excerpts of writing, extra details, concept explanations, all the fun stuff.
Continuously updated and detailed character sheets on every one of our characters. They'll all have a bunch of background, a comprehensive record of changes to characters across the fic, as well as a record of every important thing we know about each character so far that'll grow as our fics go on.
All the art will be in one place so you don't have to scroll through a million announcements to find it, announcements will be in one place so you know when something actually important gets said, several pieces of art and fan-art that aren't on the Reddit will be on the Discord, you get the gist. There'll be places to chat as well, if you're into that kind of thing.
There'll be a place dedicated exclusively to Michael Afton: Outlived Purpose, there'll be a place dedicated exclusively to Birds of a Feather, and there'll be some combined stuff. I can't stress this enough; this place has it all.
(To be honest, Cassiun and I just suck at using/checking reddit all the time, so we also thought switching to discord would be far easier and better for everybody involved.)
(Oh and for future reference when you click on part of the server and it warns you that it might be 'nsfw', all that means is that it might have spoilers.)
It might seem like overkill.
Ye. It is. Dramatically so.
But for the handful of you who might poke your head in, I think you'll like the little bits of fun stuff!
So, here y'all are. Server is called the "Afton Family Issue".
-.-.-. LINK BROKE READ BELOW :( .-.-.-
Alright so after struggling with it for like 15 minutes fanfiction just won't let me put the link in the chapter itself.
So, if you wanna check out the discord, the invite link will be on the Reddit! (Sorry for the inconvenience)
u/ParticularlyLargeRat
(I've noticed that you might have to type in the entire name in the Reddit search bar for my account to show up, in case you can't find it.)
Oh but if that really doesn't work for you, PM me and I'll send you my personal discord account name and whatnot and send the link to you directly!
-.-.-. Actual Notes .-.-.-
Hey so Cooper's dead. That's cool.
I'm sure that's going over well with everyone.
(Tubagoesyeet, you have some mighty unfortunate timing my friend lmao. Read your review while actively writing part of Cooper's death.)
Anyway - wanted to clarify on something I said a while back!
A few chapters ago, I said something about how Monty was going to be hella relevant in this chapter. That really was going to be the case until I painstakingly decided that it would be better for several reasons if I didn't.
But, now that the chapter's written and over with, might as well shed some light onto what was 'going' to happen.
I'm sure if you think about it, you could figure it out, but TLDR Monty was gonna come in that back room with Mike and they were both gonna see Cooper doing his jig.
I was gonna do this dramatic bit where like, Michael's the first one to enter the room and loses it but is unable to reach Cooper somehow, and when Monty walks in, the lost-Michael intentionally triggers Monty's purple vision or whatever by telling him that Cooper was about to kill Evan. Basically it was gonna be a joint lost-it effort by both Monty and Michael that resulted in Cooper's death.
I did a lot of thinking, and for a wide variety of reasons, I unfortunately came to the conclusion that things would seriously just be better if Michael did it himself.
OH speaking of which, any of you remember a few chapters ago (the chapter where Roxy and Mike fought outside, I think) when Mike seemed to think he was coming down with a cold? Yeah, that ended up being completely pointless and random.
What the PLAN was was that Michael would get sick; Monty doesn't know what personal space is, so Monty would catch Mike's illness and be unable to perform by the time this chapter rolled around. It was all this ploy to provide reasoning as to why Monty was in the back-room with Michael as opposed to up on the stage playing for their final special performance before closing.
I've been wanting to say that for so long 'cause I literally just so happened to get sick around the time the chapter Mike came down with a cold got published. So when the whole 'cold' deal ended up going nowhere, it just seemed like I just threw in a little bit of a self-insert and I got self conscious.
I swear I'm not cringe, just stupid.
(and cringe. Overwhelmingly cringe. Don't listen to anything I say, I'm literally writing a fnaf fanfiction. I'm as cringe as they come.)
...
Oh another idea I had was that Roxanne kills Arin out of desperation for getting Mike to stay. So, like, Arin wouldn't be able to report Cooper's body to the police.
That was never actually planned to be in this chapter, but I did think about it a little.
...
Gonna be real, the first 30,000 words of this fic were pretty much just to be deceptive.
Also worth noting is that I kinda broke one of my 'rules' with this chapter. Usually I want one 'plot/struggle' to originate and be resolved in the same chapter, but uh. Yeah, didn't really do that this time. Not gonna be a recurring thing (I don't think), but something as significant as what happened didn't really seem feasible to make resolve in one night.
Whelp.
That's all I've got for now.
I'll keep you posted on how fixing Mike's name goes and when I start working on the next chapter!
See y'all in a bit.
(
Reddit and Discord: tons of new stuff since the last chapter. Lots of art and fan art!
Reddit - "u/ParticularlyLargeRat"
Discord link is in the Reddit, fanfiction obliterates any invite links you try to save here.
(Or just PM me and I'll send you the stuff.)
)