A/N: Don't really have much to say right now, so let's just get right into it! This is gonna be a bit of a shorter chapter despite its importance (sorry, I've had a pretty busy last couple of weeks).
Ethn: Maybe, I'll have to take a look at them first (and this will probably not be til after FNAF3 comes out in-universe).
Jack Moseley: Unfortunately, I know next to nothing of A Hat in Time apart from the most fundamental basics, so I don't think I'd be able to make a Video Game chapter out of it, sorry.
Jaxon2: Unfortunately, I know pretty much nothing about Jojo. Sorry.
Guest: I'm actually not 100% sure what the Phantoms are even in this fic, though I'm pretty sure they're not tied to Springtrap (cause otherwise why the fuck didn't he use them again in FNAF6). Shadow Bonnie's nature is also a mystery, although unlike with the Phantoms this is entirely deliberate on my part. All I'll say is that he doesn't exactly fit under the category of most "traditional" afterlife beings.
Nightwalker: I just forgot about Bonnet (rip). I should probably add her in a future One Night at Mike's chapter at some point.
Chapter 102 – A New Member of the Family
The ghosts followed Mike and Melody towards the front door. "I had the guys bring our surprise into the garage already," Melody explained as they made their way out into a clear and beautiful night sky. "Otherwise they'd have waited for God knows how long for your little concert to finish."
Mike pulled out his keys and opened the door to his garage. He flicked on the lights…and the children gasped as they saw what was at the center of the workshop.
It was an animatronic, but unlike the other animatronics that had fallen under the ownership of the Schmidt family, it was a faithful recreation of the original…at least from an external view. Though all of the ghosts were stunned, none were as shocked as much as Liz. Because she knew the animatronic in front of her, and she had never expected to see it again. But she could never forget the pigtail-like red hair, the scarlet dress, and the clown-like face that was so innocent and cheerful.
Liz could never forget Circus Baby, anymore than she could forget the joy she had felt when William Afton had first created her…or the despair that had started the moment Baby had killed her.
But there was something different about this version of Circus Baby, she could immediately tell. Her outward appearance looked almost exactly the same as the Baby of old, but…
Mike's voice interrupted her thoughts. "She looks familiar, doesn't she, Liz?" he asked. When Liz could only nod dumbly in response, he continued. "You've been wondering what we've been doing for the past three weeks, Liz. And here's the answer. A new Circus Baby, one that we've tried our hardest to recreate as closely to the old one as possible."
"Dad…" Liz breathed out, still unable to fully comprehend what she was seeing.
Mike's smile widened slightly. "But looks can be deceiving, Liz. In some ways, this new Baby is the same as the old one. But in others, she's completely different. I spent many days rewriting the blueprints for Baby, and I'm very happy with how she turned out now. Simpler. Easier to work with. And above all else…" he looked Liz directly into the eye. "Safer."
Melody looked a bit confused at Mike's choice of words, not understanding the meaning behind them. But the ghost kids, and Liz most of all, understood what Mike was trying to tell them. There would be no murderous programming, no enslavement of a child's soul this time. This Baby would be everything that she should have been, with none of the corruption that William Afton had tainted her with his vile intellect.
Charlie put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Why don't you try her out, Liz?" she suggested. Liz wordlessly nodded and approached the animatronic cautiously. There was still some lingering fear in her, fear that she would be doomed to the same fate she had suffered last time she had possessed an animatronic. But one look at the kind expression on her father's face and the supportive encouragement from her siblings, and that fear melted away. With a deep breath, Liz approached the inert Circus Baby and floated into her. The orange-haired ghost girl disappeared inside Baby, and the animatronic flickered to life a few seconds later, her green eyes looking around her uncertainly as she moved her arms and legs about.
The moment Liz possessed Circus Baby, she knew that Mike's words were true, perhaps truer than even he could fully understand. Liz could still remember what it felt like to be trapped within her father's creation, how she felt so cold, chained to the animatronic's metal shell as the whispers of the old Baby's malevolent programming slowly ate away at her sanity and destroyed the good within her. But this new Baby had been created with a father's love and a friend's compassionate hand, and could not have felt more different. Baby now felt more like a set of clothes she could leave behind at any time instead of a prison that was enslaving her within, and though she couldn't explain why, she felt warm and comfortable in her new animatronic body. It was truly a perfect fit for her.
Mike's smile broke into a grin. "You've waited long enough for last year's birthday present, Liz," he told her warmly. "Congratulations."
Within her new animatronic, Liz watched, stunned, as Fritz slowly started clapping his hands. Then Charlie, then Gabe. One by one, the other ghosts began to clap and cheer, all joining together in a celebration that was somehow both enthusiastic and solemn at the same time. Melody was the last to join in, waiting until Liz's family got in their cheers before she added her congratulations in with the others. For some reason she felt that she was missing something, some major detail that she alone was unaware of. And for a brief moment, Melody felt the temptation to ask Mike and the ghost kids for more information, to understand why this animatronic seemed to bring out such an emotion from Liz, even more than the other animatronics had. But then she brushed aside that temptation. If Mike had wanted her to know, then he would have told her long before now. And the last thing Melody wanted to do was ruin this touching moment by being nosy and intrusive at the worst possible time.
Liz unsteadily took a step forward, as even though she already had experience moving about in an animatronic, the new Baby was still bulkier and heavier than any of the Rockstars despite the lack of William Afton's…modifications. Then, Baby walked up to her father, the animatronic's green eyes glowing with emotion despite their robotic state, and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
"Ack!" Mike gasped. "Liz, you're…crushing me! Oof!"
Circus Baby eased up on her hug slightly, but not nearly enough to break the embrace. "She's perfect, Dad…" the animatronic murmured, her new voice sounding almost exactly like how Liz's voice did whenever she was in her Scrap Baby form. Mike could tell that if the animatronic had been able to, Baby would be crying. "She's absolutely perfect. I love her so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Hey, it's about time you finally got your own animatronic Liz, whoooo!" Fritz laughed appreciatively.
"Go Liz!" Cassidy cheered.
"Now you can join our concerts the right way!" Jeremy grinned.
"Oh yeah, the concerts!" Baby turned her head over to Melody. "Can my new Circus Baby…?"
"She basically does the exact same thing as the Rockstars, at least that's what Mike wanted based on the blueprints he gave me," Melody explained.
"Perfect," Baby asserted. "That's exactly what I wanted."
"We should celebrate!" Susie insisted. "Liz finally got her birthday present after soooooo long!"
"Maybe we could do another concert with Liz in the lead role?" Gabe suggested. "And then have her sing for Dad and Melody?"
"You'll have to download the song you want into Circus Baby first," Melody pointed out. "And I don't think I'll be able to hang around long enough for another concert." She looked at her watch and frowned. "Oh shoot, yeah, I definitely won't be able to stick around. I'm already running behind as it is."
"Thank you for bringing Circus Baby over here and listening to our concert tonight!" Charlie gratefully addressed her. "Sorry we held you up and all."
"Oh, no worries!" Melody smiled at her. "I had a lot of fun! And I hope Liz enjoys her birthday present."
Baby gave her a small hug. "I definitely will, Melody. Thank you!" she assured her. Melody returned the hug, then turned to leave the workshop.
"Bye guys!" she called out to them as Mike opened the door for her. "I'll see you guys later!"
"Bye!" everyone called back as the woman left the garage. Once she was gone, Mike turned his attention back to his children.
"So…" he posed the question, "how should we celebrate Circus Baby joining our family?"
The ghosts and Circus Baby looked at each other. "Uh…another concert?" Jeremy suggested uncertainly.
"Maybe a One Night at Mike's game with Circus Baby now instead of Liz's Scrap Baby form?" Gabe offered.
"Possibly…" Mike mused, though neither he nor the ghosts looked convinced. As they tried to think of more ideas, a light bulb suddenly went off in Charlie's head.
"I've got an idea!" she exclaimed. "Why don't we start with something a little simpler, but something that'll really show just how far we've come as a family? Why don't we all take a picture together with all of our animatronic forms with Dad at the center? We can finally have a real family picture for once!"
Everyone's eyes lit up at the suggestion. "That sounds like an amazing idea!" Baby praised, though the enthusiasm dimmed slightly as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "But…who will take the picture if all of us are in it? Crap," she gasped. "We should have asked Melody to take a picture for us before she left!"
Charlie only smirked in response. "Uh…hello?" she pointed a finger at herself. "Magic?"
The girl animatronic facepalmed. "Oh. Right."
"Let's do it either in the living room or outside, though," Jeremy commented. "This is kind of a crappy place to take our first full family photo together."
"Let's do it outside in the backyard, it's such a beautiful night tonight," Mike suggested, to which his children happily agreed. Mike cautiously pushed open the door, taking a peek outside to make sure that nobody was around. Once he was sure that his grounds were entirely deserted (with a quick peek at the distant front gate just to be extra certain), he made his way through the side gate that led to the backyard with the ghosts following close behind. The rest of the ghosts besides Liz quickly flew into the house to prepare their animatronic bodies, leaving behind just Mike and Baby out in the open lawn.
"How do you feel?" Mike asked, having wanted to wait until they were alone before asking Liz to spill out her thoughts.
"I'm…really surprised," Baby admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that I get my own special animatronic just like the others, and I'm so happy that you gave me my favorite animatronic back, dad. It's just…I never thought I'd see Circus Baby again. And it feels so…different compared to my ol…William Afton's."
"I made sure to get rid of every single bit of William Afton's bullshit programming before in his old blueprints before I gave them to Melody," Mike explained, his voice coming out a little rougher than he intended. "Apart from the same things that can mess with the Rockstars, you don't have to worry about a single thing with THIS Baby."
"I know," Baby put an arm around her father's shoulder, "and I can tell too. I feel so much…warmer…safer…in this new Baby. It just makes me feel a bit sad…thinking about just how messed up the old Circus Baby really was…something that was just supposed to sing and perform and make kids like me happy…how it could go so horribly wrong."
Mike repeated his daughter's gesture around her shoulder as well. "Well," he assured her, his voice brimming with the confidence that the ghost kids had grown to know and love, "even if it's just gonna be for us, Circus Baby can finally be what she was always supposed to be." He grinned at her. "Kinda like you, now that I think about it."
Baby leaned her head against Mike's shoulder, taking care not to move too forcefully and accidentally injure him. "We really are one of a kind, aren't we?" she murmured.
"That doesn't have to be a bad thing," Mike replied gently. "Not anymore."
"I know," were the animatronic's only words before she sat down on the grass of the lawn, humming contemplatively. Excited shouts began to approach them, signaling that the ghost kids had possessed the Rockstars and were on their way out into the lawn. The Security Puppet was leading them, holding a smartphone in her hand.
"I'll take my picture using my phone only so that we don't spend too much time," the Security Puppet was explaining. "Afterwards, I'll send the photos out to everybody else's phones. Sound good?"
"Yep!" Rockstar Freddy replied as Mike and Baby got up off the ground to take their picture. After a few moments of examining the area, they quickly decided that the house itself would make the for the best background for their picture. The animatronics took up positions around Mike, with Rockstar Freddy, Rockstar Bonnie, Rockstar Chica standing to his right, while Rockstar Foxy and Rockstar Golden Freddy moved over to his left.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" the Security Puppet exclaimed. She went back into the house, and a few seconds later floated out, levitating the slumped over form of Lefty. "Lefty's part of the family too, even if nobody's possessing him right now."
"Good point," Mike nodded in acknowledgment as the Security Puppet lowered Lefty onto the ground next to Rockstar Golden Freddy. Finally, once everybody else was in place, Circus Baby lumbered over to Mike's left side and the Security Puppet floated over to the right, Rockstar Chica and Rockstar Foxy moving to let them claim those positions respectively. While all of the ghosts would have loved to claim the spot next to Mike for their picture, they understood that this was meant to be Liz's special day, and that the Security Puppet had done more for Mike than any of them ever had. If anybody deserved those spots, it was those two.
And besides, there would be plenty more pictures in the future, now that their animatronic family was complete.
The Security Puppet focused her gaze on her cellphone, which started to float into the air and away from them until it was a few feet away, where it could easily capture all of the animatronics, the house in the background, and even the night sky.
"You ready, Charlie?" Mike asked.
"Yep!" she immediately replied.
"All right! 1…2…3…Say Pizza!" Mike declared.
"PIZZA!" the animatronics all shouted, smiles and grins on their faces as the smartphone's camera flashed and captured their first family photo. Charlie took several pictures with the camera telekinetically to make sure that they would have at least one good picture, before moving the phone back over to the family so they could see the results.
"Aww…" Rockstar Golden Freddy murmured as he saw all the animatronics and Mike grinning goofily on the Security Puppet's phone screen. "We look so cute and happy in this picture!"
"So adorable!" Rockstar Chica cooed. "I love it!"
"We should take more of these!" Rockstar Bonnie insisted. "Maybe in the house or with Alex and Meghan or Melody!"
"We can take our next photo in the living room," Rockstar Freddy advised. "It's probably the best place to take one inside the actual house itself."
"All good ideas," Mike commented. "But we don't need to rush anything. It's a beautiful night tonight. Why don't we just take things easy and lie down on the lawn just like we did when you guys first came here and just relax under the night sky?"
The animatronics happily agreed to their father's suggestion and, one by one, lay down on the grass of the backyard. Like Mike had implied, it was very reminiscent of the first time they had gone stargazing, only this time they could actually enjoy the sensation of lying down physically, even if they couldn't actually feel the soft grass underneath them due to their metal bodies. To their surprise and happiness, their robotic eyes, especially Baby's, brought the sky above them into sharper focus, allowing them to enjoy the view with a little more clarity than they were normally used to.
As the family laid down on the grass and marveled at the stars, some of them trying to find patterns and even constellations in the many twinkling lights above them, Circus Baby turned to look at her dad.
"I know this took you a year to get for me, dad, but I don't care," she declared, her shining emerald eyes and her voice filled with gratitude. "This is the best birthday present I've ever gotten in my entire life!"
/
A/N: A somewhat shorter chapter than usual, but one that's still important, as the last member of the family finally gets her own animatronic at long last! If you predicted Mike making a new Circus Baby for Liz, then congratulations, you guessed correctly!
I was thinking about making this into either another concert chapter or One Night at Mike's chapter, but I had a bit of a busy week this week from online med school stuff and I simply didn't have the time. Also, I wanted to make this chapter its own unique thing that actually had some importance to the plot, and not conflate it with just another filler chapter.
I think for my next plot arc I'll have Mike brings the kids around to a big city! Yeah, somehow I (and by extension, Mike) haven't brought the ghost kids to one of America's main cities yet outside of Las Vegas, which doesn't really count. Melody and even the Marshalls would probably never let Mike hear the end of it if they knew about that! :P Let me know in the comments what city they should visit first, though I'm thinking of one right now that's not in the Western United States cause the kids haven't even been to the other parts of the country yet.
Anyways, that's all for now. Hope you guys enjoyed!
