A/N: I'm pushing back one of my board exams for another couple of weeks, so updates will still be sparse. But you guys have waited long enough for a chapter, and it would be rude of me to leave you hanging for another half a month when you guys have been so patient.
WhyIsThePuppetSticky: The way I see it, Michael didn't really trust William, but he felt obligated to go down into CBEAR (even with how suspicious it was) because he needed to find out what really happened to her and help her out if she somehow still existed after death (like BV as Shadow Freddy). Sorry if that wasn't really clear. And for your other question, in this universe Rockstar Golden Freddy is a fifth Rockstar that Henry made along with the others that canonically exist (besides Lefty).
Jack0Lanterns: They'd probably be Chaotic Neutral if you were feeling generous, Chaotic Evil if you weren't.
DauntingInferno: There's actually a wider range of ages for the ghost kids than "7", but most of your math is pretty accurate for the most part!
Guest: I haven't gotten to Rockstar Chica yet, but it would probably be a bit different since Nightmare isn't going to be as kind to William.
Guest: I hear your concerns about Mike being "too perfect", and to that I say: don't worry. I have…plans…in that regard…
Slweaver: I'll take your suggestion into account when I have time to listen to the song. And that would be a bit of a gut-punch for Liz, wouldn't it? And as for Vanny…I can't say anything at this time.
ZoeyAndGuys: Thanks for reviewing! Unfortunately, neither Mike nor the ghost kids would probably want to carry out that idea, as interesting as it would be. The main reason being that if something fails, it would fail catastrophically.
GriffonicTobias: I actually have a different idea for how Nightmare Mangle might come into existence.
ObsidianPhantom: Glad you're enjoying the fic so much!
Guest: Probably not at the moment, I don't really use the DeviantArt apart from a really minor side thing tbh.
AlchemyWriter: That's pretty interesting, and it's probably something Freddy/Gabe would say in that situation.
NOTE: Skipping chapter 105 cause that was the interlude and I didn't want to continuously trigger my OCD by having every chapter number be one away from the number of chapters listed on.
Chapter 106 – Misc Family Moments 5
Why Making a New Fazbear Restaurant is a Terrible Idea
"Hey, dad?"
Mike looked up from the sofa. Everyone in the family was currently in the basement living room, with Mike reading a book and the ghost kids watching a movie that Susie had just paused for the sake of her question. "Yeah, Susie?"
"I was just wondering…" the former Chica had a thoughtful look on her face, "…since we technically have all of the Freddy Fazbear animatronics here in our house…if you ever had the opportunity to make a Freddy's restaurant, would you?"
The rest of the family stared at her. "Wow…" Jeremy was the first to break the silence. "That wasn't a question I was expecting."
"Wouldn't that be like…a terrible idea, though?" Gabe asked skeptically. "I mean, look what happened last time!"
"Well, I think Dad could do a better job running Freddy's than the morons who actually ran the company!" Susie argued.
"True, but the bar's not that high," Fritz deadpanned. "A halfwit baboon with an itchy ass could do a better job,"
"I have two answers for you," Mike finally spoke, the other kids silencing to listen to his answer. "The first one is a serious answer with an actual explanation. The other is a meme answer. Which one do you want to hear first?"
It didn't even take two seconds for the ghost kids to respond. "Meme answer!"
"Okay…" Mike smirked. "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA no."
"Pfffttt…" Gabe snickered. "That sounds about right."
"Can't really say anything different, to be honest," Liz added, trying not to laugh.
"Aww come on!" Susie protested, looking mildly offended.
Mike felt a twinge of guilt. "All right, I'm sorry Susie," he apologized, placating her. "But I did say this was a meme answer. You're actually asking an interesting question, so I'll give you my real answer now."
He took a deep breath and continued. "For starters, the fact that the Fazbear franchise is associated with all sorts of fucked up shit over many years. A ridiculous number of murders and disappearances," the ghost kids tried not to flinch or cringe at this, "the Bite of 1983, The Bite of 1987, and two more recent Fazbear businesses that got burned to the ground either the week before or after the grand opening. Yeah, one of them was a trap, but depending on how much Henry spread the deception some people might have still heard of it. Either way, the Freddy Fazbear franchise has a fucking awful reputation, and for good reason. So that by itself could kill any chance of running a Fazbear business before I even started."
"If I didn't know that my other Dad had made his business as a trap, I'd have wondered what the hell he was doing," Charlie remarked. "I still don't know how William fell for it."
"William's a fucking idiot," Mike retorted. "Or an arrogant piece of shit who thought he could get some more easy kills. And turned out to be a fucking idiot anyway." Snickers broke out from the kids. "But even if we take out all of the insane shit, if we make the really big assumption that William either didn't go apeshit and murder you guys, or got caught and was either tossed into jail or executed, ideally being tortured and introduced to a fucking guillotine if I had my way…"
"Dad!" Charlie scolded. "You're getting off topic!"
"Right, right, sorry…" Mike shook his head. "Even if there was no Fazbear tragedy, the plain and simple truth is that at the end of the day I have no idea how to run a business. Or start one."
"Really?" Susie wondered. "But weren't you some kind of big boss guy at the place you used to work at?"
"I was a head engineer at Eisensteel," Mike clarified, "but I never took care of major administrative stuff like how the business actually ran. So I wouldn't know the first thing on how to get started, or how to manage finances, or how to keep the thing running period. And I don't have any close friends who know how to handle that sort of thing either. So I'd be dead in the water from that angle too."
"This all sounds really complicated," Cassidy mumbled.
"Oh, it only gets worse from here," Mike answered dryly. "Even if, against all odds, we got this thing started, there's still all the things I'd need to take care of in the restaurant itself, since I'm not an incompetent fuckwad like the old management. I'd have to worry about hiring chefs to make the pizzas and servers to give the food out, decorating the place so that it looks nice, maintenance for the animatronics, janitorial staff to keep the place clean, getting spare parts for the animatronics, paying the staff, enforcing the rules, stopping the kids from going too crazy, and especially keeping the place safe so that we don't have yet another fuckfest to add to the list of everything that went wrong with the Fazbear franchise. The list of shit I'd need to deal with goes on, and on and on, and on!"
"I have NO idea how anyone can run a business by themselves," Gabe admitted. "In fact, I'd hate Fazbear Entertainment a little less after hearing this…except for the fact that people can run businesses just fine and not be absolute shit at it like they are."
"There's people who can handle that kind of thing just fine," Mike replied. "I'm just not one of them. The most I do with money nowadays is paying taxes, and that's pretty much it."
"Do you ever think you'll go back to work?" Liz asked curiously. "From what I can tell, a lot of people around your age are still working."
"A lot of people my age, or any age for that matter, don't have a lifetime supply of money from the lottery," Mike deadpanned, earning a few giggles. "I think at the end of the day, I'm just happy with how things are right now."
The ghosts smiled at their father. "So are we, dad."
"And let's hope that we never have to worry about the Fazbear franchise coming back ever again!" Fritz declared. "If Dad's not running it, then I don't trust whoever is to not fuck it up!"
"Too true, Fritz…" Mike agreed, and it took all of his effort to hide the troubled concern he was feeling within him. "Too true…"
The Big Decision
It wasn't often that Mike directly called for the family to meet together in one room, so when he asked for the ghost kids to gather in the living room for a family meeting, they knew it was important.
"All right, guys…" Mike began once they were in the living room. "As you probably already know, we're gonna be approaching summer soon, and that means it'll be time for another vacation."
"Oooh!" Cassidy replied with delight. "I love our vacations!"
"Couldn't we technically go on a vacation whenever we wanted to?" Fritz wondered. "I mean, we pretty much do the same thing during the summer that we do during other parts of the year, and Dad's rich so money's not a problem."
Liz lightly whacked Fritz's shoulder. "Don't ruin the moment!" she scolded.
"Ahem," Mike coughed. "Anyway, like I've been mentioning before, this time I'm going to be taking you to one of America's big cities. Because frankly, I'm still cringing over the fact that it's been nearly two years since we've gotten our family started and I still haven't shown you guys one yet."
"It's all right, dad," Jeremy quickly assured him. "We've had loads of fun on the vacations we did have!"
"I appreciate the thought," Mike smiled back. "But it's about time that I fix that rather big mistake, since Las Vegas doesn't really count as a typical American city. Have you guys thought about what city you want to visit when summer rolls around?"
The ghosts looked at each other and nodded. "We actually have," Charlie spoke for the group. "We've looked through the cities and decided that Chicago is the one that we wanted to visit."
Mike nodded. "One of the more understandable and predictable choices. Out of curiosity, any particular reason why?"
"We talked to Alex and Meghan a bit and looked around online," Gabe answered. "And it seems like Chicago is easily one of the most famous cities in America. Like, when people think of a city in America, Chicago is one of the first that people think of."
"And there's a lot of cool things there, too!" Susie eagerly agreed. "I want to go to the top of the Willis Tower, see the Navy Pier, and visit all the cool museums!"
"Interesting…" Mike mused. "Not that I disagree with you, but the last few times I heard you guys talking about this it sounded like you wanted to go to New York City first. What changed your mind?"
"Well, we were going to pick New York City first," Liz admitted, "but then Alex mentioned something about how New York is really fun in the wintertime. Like, they set up a whole bunch of cool things for Christmas and New Year's."
"And we wanted to save New York City for the winter," Gabe concluded. "Cause then we'll be able to enjoy that AND everything else on top of it!"
"What makes you think that we'll be going on a vacation for the next winter at all?" Mike asked in a flat tone. The kids flashed him looks of either disbelief or skepticism, causing him to burst out laughing. "Nah, I'm just fucking with you. I didn't think about your plans for New York the way you guys did, but I actually like this idea better. All right, looks like we have a plan!"
"YES!" Fritz cheered. "We're gonna have so much fun this summer!"
Mike got up from his couch. "Well, now that we know where we're going for the summer, you guys need to look up things you want to do in Chicago. No real point in going to a city if we don't do anything there. If you guys need me, I'll be looking up possible dates for hotels and plane trips and the like." And with that, the man was gone.
"Uhm…did we actually come up with any major plans for what we wanted to do in Chicago?" Jeremy asked.
"Not…really…" Susie admitted uncertainly.
"Do we even know what we want to do in there besides like the three things we heard about from Alex and Meghan?" Cassidy reluctantly brought the question out.
"I don't think we do…shit…" Fritz mumbled. The ghosts stared at each other uncertainly for several seconds as Charlie facepalmed at their lack of preparedness…and then immediately started whipping out their cell phones and frantically typing words in search engines.
"Back to the drawing board!"
A New Nightmare
Meanwhile, in Hell…
"HEY, BROTHER? I'VE GOT A QUESTION."
Nightmare looked up from his throne to see Nightmare Chica at the other end of the throne room. He nonchalantly waved his claw at her, a gesture for her to continue.
"WHEN ARE WE GOING TO APPLY THE AMNESIA SPELL TO WILLIAM AFTON? IT'S BEEN A WHILE, IF I RECALL CORRECTLY…"
Nightmare thought for a moment. With William Afton slowly learning the attack patterns of the animatronics in his rather unique punishment, the time would soon come to wipe away not only the knowledge that he had gathered but also his memories regarding the details of his torments. This would leave him only with the vague but inescapable feeling that he had suffered greatly and would continue to suffer, helpless without any idea on how to fight the animatronics once again.
Still, he had to choose that time wisely. Wait too long and William Afton might actually be able to win one of those games, an outcome that would be satisfying to absolutely no one of importance. Erase his memory too quickly, and Afton would almost certainly be butchered within seconds of starting the round, and while that particular outcome was one that he had no problems with whatsoever, some of the demons who enjoyed watching a good challenge would almost certainly be irritated.
"WE'LL WAIT A FEW MORE ROUNDS," Nightmare decided. "IF WILLIAM AFTON PROVES TO BE MORE COMPETENT, THEN WE WILL WIPE AWAY HIS MEMORIES AND HIS HOPES RIGHT THEN AND THERE."
Nightmare Chica nodded and left the throne room. Nightmare sighed and leaned back on his black throne, a smirk on his lips. There was something to be said for indulging in a little sloth now and then…
"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Nightmare's blood-red eyes flashed open, his smile vanishing. "HRM?"
"GRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!"
Nightmare's eyes narrowed as he scanned his throne room warily. "WHY IS SOMETHING ROARING OUTSIDE…?"
The main doors to the throne room barged open and what could only be described as a horrific jumble of mechanical parts barged into the room, a multi-legged metal monstrosity with several arms and legs, and even a smaller, second head. The creature's head was the only part of its body that seemed relatively intact. It was quite similar to Nightmare Foxy's, except that instead of being orange it was white and pink. But just like the other Nightmares, its mouths were full of razor-sharp fangs. The creature rushed towards Nightmare, who had been caught completely off-guard and was too stunned to properly react. The monstrous amalgamation leapt at Nightmare, landing squarely in his lap…and started licking his face with its long tongue.
"WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU?" Nightmare shouted, still trying to process the fact that there was a being that looked very much like a new Nightmare sitting in his lap…a Nightmare that he was absolutely certain that he hadn't created.
"BROTHER!" a cheerful voice called out to him. Nightmare resisted the urge to groan as he watched Nightmarionne float into the throne room, looking inordinately pleased with himself. "I SEE YOU'VE MET MY LATEST CREATION!"
Nightmare's eyes narrowed. "WOULD YOU PLEASE KINDLY EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?" he demanded.
Nightmarionne grinned. "REMEMBER WHEN YOU GAVE ME PERMISSION TO USE SOME OF YOUR POWER FOR A LITTLE EXPERIMENT?" he asked. "WELL, I'M PLEASED TO REPORT THAT MY PLANS HAVE TURNED OUT TO BE COMPLETELY SUCCESSFUL!"
Nightmare stared down at the "success" in question. "WHEN I GAVE YOU MY PERMISSION FOR YOUR EXPERIMENT, I DIDN'T EXPECT YOU TO BE CREATING AN ENTIRELY NEW NIGHTMARE!"
Nightmarionne shrugged. "I MAY NOT HAVE…REVEALED THE FULL DETAILS. AND I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO TRY AND MAKE ANOTHER ONE OF OUR KIND MYSELF."
Nightmare palmed his face with his hand and growled under his breath. The idea that someone besides him would have dared to create a Nightmare aggravated him to no end…but he had never explicitly forbidden Nightmare Fredbear or Nightmarionne from doing so. Mainly because he didn't think it was possible…but it didn't matter. Technically, Nightmarionne had done nothing wrong. And so long as this new Nightmare didn't attack or betray any one of them, he didn't have a legitimate reason to hate it or order its destruction.
"I TRUST…" Nightmare hissed, causing Nightmarionne's grin to falter slightly, "…YOU UNDERSTAND ANY FUTURE EXPERIMENTS OF THIS KIND ARE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN, AND THAT IF YOU WISH TO OBTAIN PERMISSION FOR THEM IN THE FUTURE, YOU WILL DISCUSS SUCH PLANS WITH ME IN FULL DETAIL?"
Nightmarionne noticeably relaxed. "OF COURSE."
"ALL RIGHT THEN, ASSUMING THAT I DECIDE THAT THIS ISN'T AN INSULT TO MY AUTHORITY…" Nightmare pointed at the Nightmare still sitting in his lap, "WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS THING?"
"OUR NEW PET!" Nightmarionne explained eagerly. "WE DIDN'T REALLY HAVE ONE OF THOSE, UNLESS YOU GIVE A VERY GENEROUS DESCRIPTION TO OUR TORTURE VICTIMS, SO I DECIDED TO TRY AND MAKE ONE. I WANTED TO MAKE AN ESPECIALLY POWERFUL HELLHOUND…ONE IMBUED WITH OUR NATURE."
Nightmare studied said pet more closely. The more he thought about it, the creature was certainly quite…canine…in nature. "I CAN SEE THAT ITS CURRENT FORM IS BASED ON ONE OF THOSE FREDDY FAZBEAR ANIMATRONICS," he mused. "MANGLE, I BELIEVE IT WAS CALLED?"
Nightmarionne nodded. "INDEED. EVEN BY HUMAN STANDARDS, MANGLE'S APPEARANCE COULD BE CONSIDERED QUITE…DISTURBING. AND I TOOK WHAT WAS ALREADY THERE AND MADE IT TRULY HORRIFIC."
Nightmare examined Nightmare Mangle again. Nightmare Mangle certainly had a formidable and terrifying appearance, arguably even more grotesque than the already hideous forms the Nightmares wore. And yet…"UNLESS IT IS MUCH STURDIER THAN IT APPEARS, NIGHTMARE MANGLE WILL NOT BE OF MUCH USE IN A PROLONGED BATTLE. EVEN WITHOUT THAT, ITS INTELLECT IS BESTIAL AND LESS REFINED COMPARED TO OURS."
Nightmare scratched his chin thoughtfully. "STILL…IT MOST CERTAINLY HAS POTENTIAL. PERHAPS AS A MORE BESTIAL TORTURER? OR A HUNTER SHOULD THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPEN AND A DAMNED SOUL ESCAPE OUR DUNGEONS WITHOUT THE AID OF A DEMON LORD? I WILL HAVE TO DWELL ON THIS."
Nightmarionne's grin returned. "I THINK IT WILL BE LOADS OF FUN TO HAVE A NEW PET JOIN OUR RANKS," he declared. "THE OTHERS WILL LOVE IT!"
"OH, I'M SURE…" Nightmare drawled. "JUST BE AWARE THAT IF IT SHITS ON MY CARPET, YOU'RE THE ONE CLEANING THE MESS UP."
Nightmarionne's eyelights flickered in a way that would be analogous to a human's eye twitch.
"NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT," Nightmare growled. "I WISH TO ACQUAINT MYSELF WITH THE NEW MEMBER OF OUR CLAN THAT YOU HAVE SEEN FIT TO CREATE."
Knowing that this was probably the closest his brother was going to give to a proper welcome for Nightmare Mangle, Nightmarionne decided not to push his luck and bid a hasty retreat. The Nightmare was no fool; he knew that it had been a risk to create a new Nightmare behind his brother's back. But considering that Nightmare hadn't slaughtered his creation in a snarling rage and turned his fury on him after throwing aside its broken corpse, that was probably a good sign.
Once Nightmarionne was gone, Nightmare glanced back down at Nightmare Mangle, who was still sitting in his lap and looking up expectantly at him. "HE REALLY DID BASICALLY MAKE YOU INTO A DOG, DIDN'T HE?" the demon lord muttered. Nightmarionne's creation didn't seem to possess the same level of vindictiveness or viciousness that the other Nightmares did, despite sharing their absence. It was something that he would have to work on.
He hadn't lied to Nightmarionne about his thoughts on Nightmare Mangle, though. There was absolutely potential to be had here. And the other Nightmares would certainly be interested in the new presence that had so unexpectedly joined their ranks.
But the most pressing issue currently on his mind wasn't on how to maximize Nightmare Mangle's potential to make it a worthy addition to the Nightmares. It wasn't even what role Nightmare Mangle could most effectively perform in the future, either as a fighter or as a torturer.
"NOW THEN…" Nightmare mused as he gazed intently at the new Nightmare. "I WONDER HOW YOU CAN HUNT DOWN WILLIAM AFTON…AND BREAK HIM."
/
A/N: Yep, I actually did it. I took the old "Mangle is a dog theory" from WAY back in FNAF2 and applied it to the creation of Nightmare Mangle. And apparently Nightmare didn't know how to handle this revelation any more than you probably did :P. So yeah, Nightmare Mangle is the first major Nightmare to not be created by Nightmare himself, and its also the dog of the family. A grotesque, mutilated demonic monstrosity and technically a hellhound, but still a dog XD. And I'm using "it" for now mainly because I don't know what gender to make it.
As for the reason why I decided to pick Chicago over New York for the Summer even though New York was a really popular choice? I forgot until just now that New York has cool things to do in the Winter that you can't do anywhere else, like Rockefeller Center and the Apple that signals the New Year at Times Square. So I think I'll get much more out of a New York City trip in the Winter instead of the Summer. As for the reason why I picked Chicago? It's just as much of an iconic American city as New York, and I actually know quite a bit about it already.
And yeah, Mike has no intention of making a new Freddy's restaurant ever, tainted legacy of tragedies or no tainted legacy. There are just so many problems that he's not prepared to deal with it, and that he doesn't want to deal with even he could.
The next chapter definitely won't be for another two, maybe even three weeks. But I promise, after that, we'll be right back on schedule.
Hope you guys enjoyed!
