A/N: A lot of you guys thought that the voice who came down to stop Mike was his biological father. While that is quite an interesting idea and I could see how this chapter could have gone following that concept, it unfortunately isn't correct since the person was someone Mike loved from the very beginning. It'll be quite clear who I'm talking about, soon enough 😊

Also, a few of you pointed out that the specter of Golden Freddy that Mike summoned against William should've bitten his head open in reference to the Bite of 1983. Yeeeeeeeaaaaahhhh…I don't have an excuse, I completely forgot about that and missed the opportunity. Whoopsies :P

Anyways, on with the chapter!

Chapter 83 – The Return of Peace

The moment the soft, gentle voice spoke its words, the atmosphere immediately changed. Mike's scythe, which had been a second away from swinging down and tearing what was left of William Afton's soul to pieces, suddenly halted in midair, the menace and hatred in his demonic aspect's eyes replaced by blank shock. William let out a whimper of relief, so thoroughly broken that he was grateful for any kind of reprieve from Mike's horrific tortures. And to the side, Nightmare's anticipatory grin faded and his eyes narrowed.

"WHAT'S THIS?" he mused, the malice fading somewhat from his tone, although it didn't entirely disappear. "I SENSE…A HEAVENLY SOUL HAS ENTERED HERE. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, I WONDER?"

He barely had time to finish the sentence when a faint light, brilliant, gentle, and pure, began to glow in the distant sky. A beacon growing brighter and brighter with each second, illuminating a world that had up until this point been completely consumed by shadows. As the light descended and grew closer, Mike could see a feminine figure in the enter of it, her features still too far away to make out clearly.

But it didn't matter, because Mike knew who it was. No matter how many decades that passed, he would never forget the gentle voice that had whispered words of compassion and love to him as a young boy, would never forget the day when that voice had been silenced in death. And as Mike's continued to stare up at the light in disbelief, his arms fell to his sides, his nightmarish scythe hanging uselessly next to his legs with its malevolent flames dimmed.

"Mom?" he whispered in disbelief, his voice already deprived of its unholy and eldritch intonations. "Is that…is that you?"

The light finally descended to just above Mike's head, and he could now clearly see the woman within. Serene looked exactly like he remembered her, with dark brown eyes and hair that flowed down to the bottom of her neck. She was wearing a white robe that looked exactly like the kind that angels wore in Renaissance paintings, and though she might not have been considered exceptionally beautiful by the modern standards of the world, she had an appearance of grace and holiness as a spirit that no supermodel could ever hope to achieve. Mike's mother was smiling the same gentle and beautiful smile that her son remembered from his childhood, but there was also sadness and regret in her eyes that darkened her visage ever so slightly.

"It's me, Mike…" Serene answered her son, proving to him that she was truly here before him. "I'm finally here. I couldn't come to you before today, but I can finally come to see the wonderful and brave man you have become." Her smile faded, and the sadness in her eyes seemed to intensify. "But this…this isn't who you are. This isn't the happy and innocent young boy I raised with what little time I had before I died. This isn't the courageous and unbreakable teen who Oskar saved from the streets and taught to follow what is right and good. This isn't the loving father who has given seven lost children the love and compassion that they so desperately needed after years of being trapped in the dark, despite having almost no true experience with giving or receiving parenting." She stopped and gestured towards Mike's demonic form. "This is not who you are," she repeated more firmly, her words laced with an undercurrent of scolding and steel mixed in with her gentle tone.

"You don't know what this monster has done," Mike retorted back, but his conviction and rage had already started to erode, doubt creeping into his heart. "You don't know what he's tried to do. He destroyed my children in life, ruined them after death for decades, and even now he seeks to break apart everything that we've worked so hard to create and find again! He has to suffer for all the evil he's committed!"

Serene shook her head sadly. "I'm not saying that he doesn't deserve all the suffering that the Nightmares or you have unleashed upon him. I am not even saying that you should forgive him for his many sins and acts of wickedness, Mike. But your hatred and wrath, justified though it may be, is beginning to consume you. What you are doing to Afton, the atrocities and torments you have inflicted upon him, it is no longer justice. It is not even simple vengeance anymore. It has become blind, bloodstained butchery. Something that your children should never have to see ever again."

She pointed up to the sky, and for the first time Mike realized that he, Nightmare, and William Afton were not alone in the depths of his mindscape. They had never been alone. He could now clearly see, distant though it may be, a fiery scrying portal showing his room in the real world.

And he could see the two spectators that had witnessed everything that had happened between him and William. Nightmare Fredbear was glaring down at him with disappointment in his eyes, exactly as though he was watching a favorite show that had just been interrupted. But that was nothing compared to the expression on Charlie's face. Though her fear had diminished now that the soul of Mike's mom had appeared and interrupted what would have been the final stages of William's torture, Mike could clearly see the overwhelming horror, terror, and nausea that was on his oldest daughter's face, the streaks of fearful tears flowing from her eyes. The man realized that Charlie had seen every torment, every atrocity and act of violence that he had inflicted upon William Afton's broken soul. No matter how much he might have craved vengeance upon William, he had no right whatsoever to introduce even more cruelty and brutality into any of his kids' lives, when all they wanted was to escape that tainted past and leave it behind them forever. Like a dagger with an ice-cold blade, Mike felt a stab of gnawing guilt and shame impale right into his very soul, breaking away any lingering trace of his desire to spill even more of William's essence and spirit.

Mike looked back down at what was left of William's broken spirit, seeing him not as a mechanical demonic monster to be destroyed as brutally as possible, but as the mangled, mutilated, and bloodied target of his own unrestrained brutality. He heard the murderer's unending groans of sorrow and agony for the first time, and suddenly the victory that seemed so important to achieve over William now felt incredibly hollow and empty. Mike may have cared nothing for the fate and torment of William Afton, but he could already feel a growing sense of regret and dread for his daughter's sake, and the horrific and unspeakable visions that he had unintentionally traumatized and scarred her eyes and mind with.

He was not and never had been a monster. But these were a monster's actions, a truth that he could no longer ignore or deny.

Mike's already slackened grip loosened completely, and his scythe fell to the floor with an echoing clang, its malevolent flames and light now completely extinguished. The flames surrounding his body faded to barely visible, and he fell to his knees, horrified at his own actions now that the red and bloody haze of vengeance had lifted from his eyes. Serene floated down and tilted Mike's demonic head up to meet her eyes with a delicate gesture.

"You are better than this, Mike…" she murmured, her voice clearly heard by all despite being barely above a whisper. "I know you are."

And suddenly, Mike was no longer the mighty demon bringing fire and suffering upon his victim. He was not the humanoid figure clad in shadows and flame, or even the middle-aged man who the ghostly victims of William's slaughter recognized as their father.

He had transformed into the form of a young boy, the exact imitation of his appearance as a six year old child the day that he had watched his mother die and the world as he knew it crumbled around him. Serene gently picked up her son and cradled him in her arms as tears flowed freely out of his eyes, the man finally releasing the roiling, chaotic emotions of his tainted childhood that he had bottled up and sealed away by necessity for years. Mike's mother patiently watched her son express his sorrows in a far healthier manner than before, understanding fully that no small part of his ferocity towards William had stemmed from the darkness created by his tortured past.

"I'm here, Mikey…" Serene murmured, rocking her son with the slightest of movements. "I'm here. For as long as you need me."

"I've missed you, mom…" Mike mumbled as he wrapped his arms around his mother buried his head in her chest, while Serene drew her son in closer to her. "I missed you so much. I don't know how I've managed to live so long without you…"

His mother smiled and shook her head sadly. "In both my life and my death, my biggest regret was that I never saw you grow from the beautiful young boy you were, that I never had the chance to be the mother that you needed." Serene's smile grew bigger and her eyes shone with pride. "But you don't need me to live, Mike. For better or for worse, you proved time and time again that you could survive anything that life threw at you without me or anybody else to guide you, except for those two precious years you shared with Oskar. I'm so proud of you, Mike," she declared as she kissed him gently on the forehead. "I couldn't ask for a better son."

The tears from Mike's eyes intensified, but now there were tears of joy at his mother's praise as well as tears of regret from his earlier actions. Any thought of vengeance and hatred towards the murderer of his children was all but forgotten as he basked in the warmth of Serene's love. Up in the real world, Charlie felt relief and gratitude flood through her entire soul as she struggled not to tear up herself. Relief that her father had turned away from the bloodstained path of vengeance that she and her siblings had pursued for so long, and gratitude towards Mike's mother for coming down from Heaven to save her son from that path. As she watched Mike and Serene embrace and the former kissed the latter on the cheek, Charlie closed her eyes and a huge smile spread across her face. Mike had described his mother with nothing but glowing adoration with what little description he had provided, and in the former Marionette's mind Serene had proved herself deserving of that praise a thousand times over. "Thank you…thank you…" she breathed in a silent prayer, and not even she knew whether that prayer was directed to Serene or to God.

Back in Mike's mindscape, neither mother nor son noticed William Afton's mangled soul try to shuffle away from them with an agonized groan, relief flooding his mind now that Mike was distracted. But while one of his tormentors might have forgotten or felt regret over his vengeance, the other had no such inclinations. Nightmare's eyes glowed with malice as he saw William's movements, and with a snarl of rage he lifted his foot and smashed it through William's back, crushing his ethereal organs and pinning him to the ground with an agonized shriek.

Mike and Serene ignored William's screams as the former finally withdrew his head to look into his mother's eyes again, this time with a peaceful smile filled with happiness that he hadn't experienced since the ghostly children had first entered his life. "I've tried my best, mom,"he replied, feeling as though a heavy burden he didn't know he'd been carrying had suddenly been lifted from his shoulders, never to return. "Especially with the kids. Being a parent is tough, especially when there's seven of them and you have no idea what a good parent is supposed to be like."

Serene giggled and hugged her son. "All you have to do is look at how happy your kids are, Mike, and you don't need anything to know how good of a dad you really are," she answered back as she let go of her son and Mike slowly got back to his feet, changing back into his true adult form as he stood next to his mother as equals. Serene's eyes twinkled in amusement. "I have to say," she commented dryly, "I was hoping you'd get me some grandkids sooner or later, but I wasn't expecting you to get them like that."

Mike's own lips twitched in amusement, but before he could say anything his eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of Nightmare, his foot still embedded straight through William's chest. He had forgotten about the tormentor and the tormented, but what truly surprised Mike was that the demon lord's expression was, for the first time he could remember, utterly blank. Every time that he had encountered Nightmare in the past, the demon lord had always displayed an extreme or twisted form of emotion, whether it be malevolent glee, withering contempt, or towering, infernal rage. But now, the Nightmare's face was almost entirely devoid of emotion, betraying nothing of his inner thoughts or feelings whatsoever. The only thing that Mike could detect clearly was hatred and malice towards William, but that did not tell him anything that he did not already know.

"QUITE A TOUCHING REUNION," Nightmare drawled, clearly uninterested in the exchange between mother and child. "HOWEVER, THERE IS STILL THE MATTER OF THIS SLIME TO DEAL WITH," he growled as he jerked his foot into William's body, causing him to twitch with a loud groan.

"Yes…" Serene agreed, and immediately her expression darkened considerably, making her appearance seem less heavenly than it had been seconds before. "Nightmare, please be so kind as to get this blighted mongrel out of my son's sight and mind," the words were spoken politely, but her tone made it clear that it wasn't a simple request. Both Nightmare and Mike jolted slightly at the unexpected venom at her description of William in particular.

Nightmare let out an amused chuckle. "WELL, WELL…" he commented as his mouth stretched into a smirk, "QUITE THE SHARP TONGUE FOR SUCH A HEAVENLY SOUL. AND HERE I THOUGHT SCHMIDT INHERITED HIS FIRE FROM HIS FATHER." Both Mike and Serene immediately glared daggers at the demon lord, who continued speaking before either of them could make any retort. "AH WELL, IT WOULD NOT BE THE FIRST TIME I HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY SURPRISE THIS DAY." He raised a clawed hand, and all around them, trails of shadowy and fiery essence began to rise from scattered parts of the void and swirled into his hand. Mike immediately recognized the smoldering ashes of the many, many demons that he had killed during his battle with William. A few traces of demonic essence also peeled itself away from William's body and into Nightmare's hand, the last of his stolen powers stripped away from him completely. "I AM CLAIMING THE INFERNAL ESSENCE OF ALL THE DEMONS THAT WERE SLAUGHTERED IN THIS BATTLEFIELD, AS WELL AS THE LAST TRACES STOLEN BY WILLIAM. IT SHALL MAKE FOR A DELIGHTFUL FEAST BY MY KIN."

"Do what you wish," Serene replied curtly. She and Nightmare's eyes met, and Mike sensed something pass between their gaze. There was the undercurrent of hostility that he would have expected from two individuals with fundamentally opposite moralities, but Mike could also detect something else. Respect, possibly, or at the very least understanding. Neither of them commented on it, however, and the next few seconds passed in silence as Nightmare collected all the demonic essence that had been spilled throughout the chaos of the battle. Once he was finished, Nightmare finally lifted his foot from William's spirit, and instead grabbed him by the neck and lifted him roughly into the air until he was forcing the damned shade to look directly into his scarlet eyes.

"YOU HAVE SUCH A FASCINATING TENDENCY TO MAKE YOUR MISFORTUNES AND PLIGHTS EVEN WORSE THAN THEY ALREADY ARE, WILLIAM AFTON..." Nightmare hissed. "BEFORE YOU PULLED YOUR LITTLE STUNT, YOU WOULD HAVE ONLY BEEN STRIPPED OF WHAT LITTLE RIGHTS HEAVEN GAVE YOU FOR A THOUSAND YEARS. BUT NOW…" the glow in his eyes intensified with a combination of loathing and eagerness, "NOW, I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO IMAGINE WHAT PLANS LUCIFER HAS FOR YOU NOW THAT YOU HAVE MANAGED TO GARNER HIS PERSONAL ATTENTION. YOU SEE, THE LORD OF HELL DOES NOT REACT KINDLY TO ESCAPE ATTEMPTS. HE TAKES THEM RATHER…PERSONALLY." The demon lord's mouth stretched into an unholy fanged grin as William feebly stirred in his grasp, renewed panic in his eyes but too weak to express it. "I WONDER IF I CAN CONVINCE HIM TO DEPRIVE YOU OF HEAVEN'S PROTECTIONS FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY? I'M SURE THAT MY KIN WILL APPRECIATE HAVING A NEW TOY TO PLAY WITH UNTIL THE END OF TIME."

The demon lord let out a laugh as he began to transform into a black, chaotic mist, taking William's soul with him. But before he could, Mike suddenly called out to him. "Wait! I have a question."

"NORMALLY, I WOULD NOT DEIGN TO ANSWER THE DEMANDS OF A MERE MORTAL," Nightmare retorted as he returned to his solid state, "BUT IN HONOR OF WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED THIS NIGHT, I WILL ANSWER."

"Were you trying to corrupt me?" Mike asked quietly. "Was this a plan to turn me evil so that you could get me damned to Hell and claim my soul?"

"WHEN I APPEARED BEFORE YOU TO WARN YOU OF AFTON'S ESCAPE, I TOLD YOU THAT I WISHED TO SEE WILLIAM AFTON'S SCHEMES CRUMBLE AND BURN TO ASHES BEFORE HIM, AND THAT I WISHED TO SEE HIM SUFFER AT YOUR HAND FOR THE INSULTS HE HAD COMMITTED AGAINST MY FAMILY AND YOURS," Nightmare responded, and the gravity of his tone, without any of its usual malice, made it clear to Mike and Serene that he was speaking the truth. "I MEANT EVERY WORD THAT I SPOKE TO YOU THAT NIGHT, IN LETTER AND IN SPIRIT. I WILL NOT DISRESPECT YOU AND PRETEND THAT THE THOUGHT OF CORRUPING YOUR SOUL AND OUTRIGHT LEADING YOU ASTRAY ONTO THE PATH OF WICKEDNESS DID NOT CROSS MY MIND. BUT IT WAS MERELY A…PLEASANT AFTERTHOUGHT, AND LITTLE ELSE. AN INSIGNIFICANT, TERTIARY OBJECTIVE WHICH I CONTRIBUTED NO REAL THOUGHT OR EFFORT TO ACHIEVING FRUITION. FOILING WILLIAM AFTON'S PLANS AND SEEING JUST HOW BRUTAL YOU COULD BE IN MAKING HIM SUFFER FOR HIS CRIMES WERE THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT PURPOSES," only now did the demon lord's grin return, "AND BOTH OF THEM HAVE SUCCEEDED TO A DEGREE FAR BEYOND ANYTHING I COULD HAVE POSSIBLY IMAGINED."

Mike's eyes narrowed at the revelation that Nightmare had toyed with the idea of trying to damn his soul, but he forced himself to calm down. No matter how much he was tempted to, he had nothing to actually condemn the demon lord for, especially since the only reason why he was able to fight back against William so effectively was because Nightmare had gone out of his way to warn him. The failure of William Afton's escape had always been a goal that both he and Nightmare were fully dedicated to, and though Nightmare might have entertained the idea of corrupting him the demon hadn't actually followed through with it. Even Nightmare's demand that Mike "make William Afton suffer" in return for his aid had been vague and left up to the man's interpretation. Nightmare hadn't asked Mike to drown William in boiling blood and insects, break his limbs with the specters of the animatronics, or flay the skin off his soul. All that brutality and cruelty had been entirely of his own doing. If he couldn't even acknowledge his own sins, then did he really have any right to help his children overcome theirs?

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Serene smile softly and proudly at her son's self-control. Though she couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking, she was pleased that Mike was able to so easily keep control of his emotions in the face of Nightmare's potentially provocative revelation.

"I SEE NO REASON TO LINGER HERE," Nightmare continued, either unknowing or uncaring of Mike's and Serene's expressions. "THE CONFLICT BETWEEN YOU AND WILLIAM AFTON HAS REACHED ITS CONCLUSION. I HAVE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION IN FULL, AND I SEE NO REASON TO KEEP THE MONGREL ON EARTH FOR MUCH LONGER. DON'T KEEP THE DEVIL WAITING, AS HENRY WOULD SAY." His body transformed into the roiling cloud of black smoke that Mike had seen earlier, with a tainted, fragmented red light that represented William's broken soul trapped at its edges. The clouds of smoke flew into the sky and out of sight, and Mike felt the two dark souls leave his mindscape completely.

Mike and his mother turned to look at each other, and Mike sighed. "I wish I could just stay here for a while," he murmured. "Stay here while my body sleeps, and spend a few more hours alone here with you."

Serene smiled at her son. "You'll have that chance much sooner than you think, Mike. Heaven has given me permission to spend the night with you. And not just with you, but with your children too. I can't wait to meet my new grandkids!" She laughed a charming, melodious laugh, but then her expression sobered. "But you have to wait a little while longer, Mike. Your kids need you. They've been waiting all this time, worried for your safety and for your very soul, and except for one of them they don't know anything about what's happened to you. They need you to go up there and tell them you're okay."

Mike sighed. "You're right, mom. I can't leave them hanging any…" his eyes suddenly widened as a horrifying realization hit him. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed. "I left them with the Nightmares! All this time I've been fighting William, they could've…"

Serene gently lifted a finger to his lips, interrupting his frantic rambling. "Take a deep breath and relax, Mike. Whether out of some lingering honor and morality, or out of pragmatism, the Nightmares will not harm you kids. Nightmare is far too intelligent to damage his standing with Heaven and risk forfeiting his privileges over something so petty as a cheap attack on your children."

Mike let out another sigh, this time in relief. "You're right, mom," he agreed after taking a long breath, "you're right." He looked up at Serene and held out a hand. "Let's see this through to the end together, mom. Once all this unpleasantness with demons and damned murderers is over and done with, I can finally introduce the kids to you."

Serene grinned at her son, an expression that the ghost kids would have recognized immediately on their own father's face. She reached out and took her son's hand. "Together," she agreed. "Even though you might not have seen me, Mikey, I've always been with you, every step of the way." The void around them suddenly began to lighten and glow, and Mike's entire vision began to fill with white as he sensed himself leaving his mental world to wake up in the real one. As he slipped into the transition from sleep to wakefulness, he heard his mother say one last phrase, one that reassured him beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would be waiting for him as she had promised. "And there's no better time to prove that to you than now."

/

A/N: A shorter chapter compared to the ones that came previously, but I needed a break after writing so many long chapters in a row.

Those of you who predicted that Mike's mother would be the one to stop Mike from going that extra mile of batshit crazy on William Afton, you were indeed correct! Even though Mike might seem like a confident, chill person who can nonchalantly tackle any problems that comes his way, keep in mind that he's still a person who saw his mother die violently as a child and had a fucked up life as a child and a teen. That's going to cause issues in a person, no matter how good or how much in control they may be. Mike's mom represented the peace, happiness, and innocence of Mike's life that was lost to him with her untimely death, so it only makes sense that she would be the one to bring that light back in his darkest moments, bring an end to his ruthless vengeance, and remind him of the person he truly is. And it's going to be quite interesting to see how the ghost kids react to their adoptive "grandmother" 😊

There was one reviewer who brought up the possibility that Nightmare might try to break apart Mike's family by leaving William Afton there. An interesting idea, but one that was never going to be possible. For starters, Nightmare DESPISES William for the many insults (real or perceived) that William has committed against him and his family, and he is outright eager to drag his sorry ass back to Hell so that Lucifer can deal with him and he and his family can go to town on the leftovers afterwards (and you can bet that whatever tortures they inflicted on him before his little stunt will be NOTHING compared to the level of cruelty they're going to unleash afterwards). And more importantly, the one redeeming quality that Nightmare has consistently demonstrated (and the one that distinguishes him from William Afton) is that he understands and values family. Keep in mind, when he made his deal with William all the way back in the 20s chapters, he bet that William would FAIL to break Mike's family apart. And one of the reasons why he came to Mike's aid was because he respects how the man places so much importance on keeping his new family safe and happy. Nightmare has many negative character traits and flaws, as you'd expect from a demon lord. But hypocrisy is NOT one of them.

There will only be one chapter left in this arc, and then we can move on to brighter and happier topics for the next couple of chapters (I need a break from the dark stuff just as much as I'm sure you guys do, and I already have some ideas for the "fun" chapters that I'm sure some of you would like to return to). Hope you guys enjoyed!