A/N: It's finally here, everyone. After so many weeks and so many Curse of Dreadbear chapters, we've finally arrived at the Corn Maze! But first, we have to go back to Gabe and what happened after the Troll Plushtrap jumpscare XD

Also, if you're having trouble posting a review due to the deletion of the "Jamming with the Schmidts" chapters, try posting a review as a Guest. That might bypass the restriction of "1 review per chapter."

Guest: Unfortunately, given that I finished that story a long time ago and no longer have a copy of it on any of my computers, I don't think recovering the story will be possible.

M: …not really sure what you mean by that, tbh.

Jack0Lanterns: You're about to find out, lol

FrostTheFrozenFox: To be fair to Gabe, Night 3 IS legitimately hard. And the only reason why that title didn't go to Liz in the Plushkin Patch is because the Nightmares decided to throw her a bone and go "yeah, even we think this sucks ass, here's a way you can cheat for an easy win."

ObsidianPhantom: The arc is really going to end perfectly, based on how close Halloween is.

FireFlamerx9z: It was TOTALLY according to plan XD (although in-universe it's getting close to Halloween as well)

Thanatos D.E.M.: You're welcome, my friend.

Chapter 144 – Curse of Dreadbear Part 6

"I WON!" Gabe furiously shouted up at Dreadbear, who was looking down at him with a smug smirk on his face. "I beat Night 3 fair and square! Why the hell did I still die?"

"HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH…" Dreadbear chuckled. "I SEE YOU'VE ENCOUNTERED THE LITTLE SURPRISE MY LORD PLACED INSIDE THE GAME WHILE HE WAS PERFECTING IT. WHENEVER YOU TRIUMPH OVER A LEVEL AND OPEN THE PRIZE BOX, THERE WILL NOW BE A SMALL CHANCE THAT PLUSHTRAP WILL ATTACK YOU INSTEAD, SENDING YOU STRAIGHT TO THE GAMME OVER SCREEN. AND TO ME." The alternate form of Nightmare Freddy was sounding far too satisfied with his explanation.

"So you're telling me that I just lost all of my progress and hard work on Night 3?" Gabe demanded in disbelief. "Are you FUCKING kidding me?"

Dreadbear laughed at Gabe's frustration. "NOT TO WORRY," he assured him. "THE LEVEL YOU JUST FINISHED WILL STILL COUNT AS COMPLETE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER PLUSHTRAP JUMPSCARES YOU AFTERWARD. WE WOULD NOT DEPRIVE YOU OF THE VALUE OF A FAIR, HARD-EARNED VICTORY SIMPLY DUE TO A SMALL BOUT OF MISFORTUNE." The monster's grin widened. "THOUGH WE HAVE NO SUCH QUALMS ABOUT DENYING YOU THE SATISFACTION OF A PRIZE INSTEAD."

"Thank God..." Gabe muttered. He was still irritated about the fact that he'd basically been trolled by the Nightmares and denied a prize for beating Night 3…but the game still counted the level as beaten and won, and that was the most important part. He could always just play something easy afterwards to get that prize later. "So did you send Plushtrap after me just to be a dick?" he questioned.

To his surprise, Dreadbear's grin faded slightly, and the amusement in his glowing yellow eyes dimmed and was replaced by a more serious look. "WHILE SEEING YOUR REACTION TO YOUR UNEXPECTED DEATH WAS AMUSING TO BEHOLD, I DID NOT SEND PLUSHTRAP TO ATTACK YOU AND FORCE YOU HERE MERELY FOR MY OWN AMUSEMENT. QUITE THE CONTRARY, AS A MATTER OF FACT. WE HAVE MUCH TO DISCUSS."

"What do we need to talk about?" Gabe asked curiously.

"WHEN YOUR FAMILY FIRST ENTERED THE WORLD THAT MY MASTER HAD CREATED, I INTRODUCED MYSELF TO YOUR BROTHER," Dreadbear explained. "I INFORMED HIM THAT THERE WAS ONE PARTICULAR LEVEL IN THIS GAME WHERE LORD NIGHTMARE HAD HIDDEN AWAY A SECRET OF SIGNIFICANT IMPORTANCE. A LEVEL THAT WAS SEALED, AND WOULD NOT BE UNLOCKED UNLESS EVERY OTHER LEVEL IN THIS NEW WORLD HAD BEEN COMPLETED."

The former Freddy inhabitant's eyes widened in realization, his irritation at the Plushtrap jumpscare all but forgotten. "Wait, are you saying…?"

"THAT TIME HAS FINALLY COME," Dreadbear confirmed, his eyes glowing in the darkness of the graveyard. "YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED THAT GRIM FOXY IS NO LONGER GRACING US WITH HIS PRESENCE."

Gabe whirled around to look at the entrance to the graveyard, where Grim Foxy had always been. The fiery demon fox animatronic was still there, and yet…Gabe knew that he wasn't. He had stood in the presence of Grim Foxy many times after his defeats in "Danger! Keep Out!", and by now his imposing presence and demonic aura were unmistakable.

The Grim Foxy that now stood behind the gate had none of that presence, even though an outsider unfamiliar with the Nightmares or the supernatural world in general wouldn't ever be able to tell. The animatronic's movements were now very…mechanical…in nature. And there was no real life in the demon's eyes, either. He was now effectively just a construct, a program, and the consciousness of the true Grim Foxy had departed from the incarnation that even now scratched at the gate.

"THE FINAL LEVEL FEATURES GRIM FOXY, AND ONLY GRIM FOXY. IT IS KNOWN AS THE CORN MAZE," Dreadbear explained. "ONCE YOU TRIUMPHED OVER NIGHT 3, MY BROTHER SAW FIT TO DEPART FOR THAT LEVEL, AND ENSURE THAT EVERYTHING IS IN ORDER."

"So we're finally gonna figure out what secret Nightmare found and hid in the game to keep Fazbear Entertainment from finding it and fucking it up somehow," Gabe acknowledged.

"INDEED," Dreadbear agreed, before adding, "HOWEVER, THERE IS ONE MINOR DETAIL THAT I WISH TO CORRECT. LORD NIGHTMARE REQUESTS THAT YOUR FATHER BE THE ONE TO PLAY THE LEVEL. HE WISHES FOR SCHMIDT TO WITNESS THE SECRET THAT HE FOUND, FIRST AND FOREMOST."

The words were spoken politely and phrased as a request, but Gabe wasn't fooled. Nightmare very clearly wanted his dad to be the one to play the Corn Maze, and there simply weren't going to be any other options. "I'll let Dad know," he replied.

Dreadbear's grin widened, clearly pleased that Gabe had been smart enough to get the message. "GOOD. NOW THEN, RETURN TO YOUR FAMILY, AND GIVE MY REGARDS AND MY MESSAGE TO YOUR FATHER," the monstrous bear animatronic instructed. "MY BROTHER IS MORE IMPATIENT THAN MOST OF OUR CLAN, AND HE WILL NOT BE PLEASED IF HE IS FORCED TO WAIT FOR TOO LONG."

"Yeah, yeah, gimme a sec…" Gabe deadpanned in reply, before pressing the button that would take him back to the Curse of Dreadbear menu. Once he was there, he took off the headset, not turning it off like he and his siblings would otherwise have done.

"Hey, Dad?" Rockstar Freddy addressed the family, but Mike more than the others. "Dreadbear wanted me to tell you something."

Mike raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked curiously. "What did he want to tell me?"

"The last level has opened," Rockstar Freddy passed Dreadbear's message to him. "It's called Corn Maze, and Grim Foxy is in it. And Nightmare wants you to be the one to discover the secret that he found and hid in that level."

Mike couldn't say he was surprised. Though Nightmare didn't have a hostile or even really antagonistic relationship with any of his children anymore, he was the only one who had worked really closely with the demon lord multiple times in the past…and also the only one that Nightmare actually respected to any significant degree. "I'll get right to it then," he acknowledged, reaching out to take the VR headset from Rockstar Freddy. "I want to see what Nightmare found."

"Don't forget to let us know!" Rockstar Chica eagerly asked.

Mike nodded his acceptance of the request and put the VR headset on, not wanting to waste any more time. When he looked through menu, he found that, just as Gabe had said, there was a level called "Corn Maze" under the "Afraid of the Dark" levels that prominently featured the fiery demon fox animatronic in all his unholy glory.

"I swear, if Dreadbear brought me here only to get prank-jumpscared by Grim Foxy, I'm going to be pissed," Mike muttered as he pressed the level with his hand. He quickly and impatiently read through the instructions (which gave the impression that this would be a free-roam level), wanting to see what exactly Nightmare had created to hide the secret he had found.

When the level loaded, Mike quickly realized that the maze wasn't actually made of corn. Rather, it had been created with long walls of wooden fence with various pictures painted on them, including corn stalks, a graveyard, and a pile of pumpkins. The sky above him was a dark purple bordering on black, and he was standing in a small clearing in front of two white cellar doors that were clearly locked. There were only two ways out of the clearing, one to his left and one to his right.

Before Mike could think anything else, he heard the sound of heavy metal footsteps slowly approaching him. The man quietly looked back and forth between the two exits to the clearing, wondering which way his new company would arrive. After a few seconds, he started seeing the faint glow of flames to his left, and when he turned to his left, Grim Foxy was walking towards him, his metal body wreathed in hellish flames. The demon animatronic's eye fell upon him, and he grinned once he recognized who had entered his game.

"WELCOME TO THE MAZE…" Grim Foxy hissed with his guttural, demonic voice.

"Glad to be here," Mike replied evenly. If he was afraid of the unholy monster in front of him, he didn't show it. "You've got something to show me?"

"INDEED I DO, LAD," Grim Foxy confirmed. He gestured towards the cellar doors with his hook. "AS YOU MAY HAVE GUESSED, THE SECRET THAT OUR MASTER DISCOVERED HAS BEEN HIDDEN AWAY, SEALED BEHIND THOSE DOORS. HOWEVER, TO UNLOCK THAT SECRET, ONE MUST GO ABOVE AND BEYOND THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO COMPLETE THIS LEVEL. A QUEST THAT GROWS EVER MORE PERILOUS WHICH EACH STEP THEY TAKE TO COMPLETE IT. FOR MOST, I AM THE GREAT THREAT THAT HUNTS IN THE MAZE, THE ULTIMATE PREDATOR WHO ONE MUST AVOID AT ALL COST."

"But not for me," Mike immediately picked on what Grim Foxy hadn't said.

Grim Foxy nodded in agreement. "MY LORD AND MASTER GAVE ME SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS THAT I WAS TO NOT ONLY ALLOW YOU TO TRAVERSE THE MAZE UNMOLESTED, LAD, BUT THAT I MUST ALSO SERVE AS YOUR GUIDE SO THAT YOU CAN FIND THE SECRET WITH ALL HASTE."

Mike smirked. "Well, that'll certainly make my job easier." He gestured towards the right side. "Want to get started?"

"BUT OF COURSE, LAD. BUT OF COURSE."

The two began to walk towards the opening in the clearing to the right of the cellar doors. Immediately, Mike noticed a strange cardboard cutout that covered a good chunk of the wall right outside of the clearing they were in. It was a greenish-blue decoration that featured Phantom Freddy and Shadow Bonnie of all animatronics, with Phantom Freddy's face being removed and replaced with a hole where someone could put their face in. What really interested Mike, however, was the fact that when he looked at it, the entire cutout starting glowing with an orange background.

"Hey, what is that thing?" Mike asked, pointing at the cutout.

Grim Foxy looked at where Mike was gesturing to. "THAT, LAD, IS THE KEY TO SURVIVAL IN THE MAZE," he answered, sneering at it. "I AM ALWAYS HUNTING WHOEVER IS WANDERING THROUGH THE MAZE. WHENEVER I SEE THEM, I WILL IMMEDIATELY HUNT THEM DOWN, KILLING THEM AND ENDING THEIR GAME SHOULD I CATCH THEM. IN ORDER TO ESCAPE THIS FATE AND AVOID LOSING ALL OF THEIR PROGRESS, A PLAYER MUST HIDE BEHIND A CUTOUT SUCH AS THIS ONE. I WILL THEN PASS BY THEM, DISAPPEARING AND GIVING THEM A FEW SECONDS OF REPRIEVE BEFORE I BEGIN TO HUNT THEM AGAIN."

"Huh," was all Mike could say in response. He now understood how one was supposed to survive Grim Foxy's attacks in the maze…although he still didn't have any clue how one was supposed to actually win the level.

"ALLOW ME TO DEMONSTRATE, LAD," Grim Foxy continued. "I WILL CHARGE AT YOU LIKE I WOULD ANY OTHER FOOL WHO IS TRYING TO TRAVERSE THIS MAZE. YOU WILL HEAR A SOUND THAT HERALDS THE IMPENDING DANGER. WHEN YOU DO, PRESS ON THE CUTOUT AND HOLD THE BUTTON TO HIDE BEHIND IT, AND DO NOT RELEASE THE BUTTON UNTIL AFTER I HAVE PASSED."

Mike watched as Grim Foxy walked a few steps away, before turning his attention back on the cutout to make sure that it was glowing orange like it had been before. Suddenly, he heard the sound that Bonnie and Chica had made whenever they were attacking the Office in FNaF 1, and the area behind him began to glow a fiery orange light as a demonic snarl reached his ears. Quickly, Mike did as Grim Foxy had instructed, pressing the cutout. He was instantly teleported to behind it, the sound of panicked breathing reaching his ears as Grim Foxy rushed past, roaring like a frenzied beast with his hook arm raised high, poised to strike. Mike waited for a second or two after Grim Foxy had vanished, before releasing his hold and returning to the spot in front of the cutout he had previously been in. A few seconds later, the heavy metal footsteps from before sounded again, and Grim Foxy walked back to his location.

"I TRUST THAT MY DEMONSTRATION WAS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND, LAD?" Grim Foxy asked.

"I get how this works now, or at least part of it," Mike answered. "But how are you supposed to get out of here? And how are you supposed to get to the secret that Nightmare found?"

The demonic fox grinned. "WALK WITH ME, SCHMIDT, AND THE ANSWER WILL BECOME CLEAR SOON ENOUGH."

Mike shrugged and following Grim Foxy past the cutout where he had been hiding. On the other side of the wall, Mike quickly realized that there was much more to the decorations of the Corn Maze than just the cutouts that were meant to serve as protection and the paint on the walls. They were moving away from the center of the maze towards one of the sides, and Mike could immediately see a green gate that glowed brightly at the far wall, leading out into a dark wood with twisted, dead trees.

"THAT GATE IS ONE OF THE EXITS TO THIS MAZE, IF YOU CARE NOTHING FOR THE HIDDEN SECRET AND MERELY WISH TO ESCAPE MY WRATH AS SOON AS POSSIBLE," Grim Foxy explained. "IT IS ONE OF FOUR, EACH WITH A DIFFERENT COLOR. THE GATES WILL REMAIN SEALED UNLESS YOU CAN FIND THE APPROPRIATE KEY TO UNLOCK THEM."

"Let me guess," Mike deadpanned. "The correct key won't be around here?"

Grim Foxy laughed. "NOT A CHANCE IN HELL, LAD," he cackled, before adopting a thoughtful expression. "ALTHOUGH…I AM NOT QUITE SURE WHERE TO FIND THE KEYS. THEIR LOCATIONS CHANGE EVERY TIME THE LEVEL LOADS."

"Great," Mike rolled his eyes. "So we have no clue where the fuck they are."

"NOT QUITE," Grim Foxy corrected. "THEY WILL NOT APPEAR IN JUST ANY RANDOM LOCATION, LAD. THERE ARE CERTAIN…SPECIFIC LOCATIONS…WHERE THE KEYS HAVE BEEN PROGRAMMED TO SPAWN. LOCATIONS THAT ARE EASILY RECOGNIZABLE, YET SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE MAZE."

Mike took another closer look at his surroundings. Immediately, he realized that several of the corners had a special decoration that he hadn't noticed at first. A giant crypt marker with a bronze eagle spreading its wings in front of it, flanked by 2 smaller tombstones, with an empty sarcophagus in front of it. It was almost certainly a potential key spawn location, although none of the ones that Mike could see had any keys on them.

Grim Foxy scowled. "IT APPEARS THAT WE WILL HAVE TO DO SOME SEARCHING FOR THE FIRST KEY," he grumbled. He walked forward, Mike following closely behind, taking a couple of steps towards the green gate before moving to the right. There was another crypt marker hidden in the corner, but unlike the others, this one had a bright blue golden key hovering in the air above the sarcophagus. The top of the key was shaped like a spellbook, in keeping with the Halloween theme. "TOUCH THE KEY, LAD. YOU WILL NEED TO CLAIM IT IN ORDER FOR US TO MAKE ANY PROGRESS."

Mike nodded and reached out, touching the key. Immediately, it flashed and disappeared, making the same sound that the Tapes had made whenever he had touched them. At the same time, the device he was holding now had a blue spellbook symbol on it, representing the key that he had just claimed. "So now, if we wanted to, we could open the blue gate. Wherever the hell it is."

Grim Foxy chuckled. "ALL THE WAY ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE MAZE, LAD," he answered blithely.

"Of course it is," Mike muttered with an exasperated shake of his head. With the blue key found, Grim Foxy began to maneuver further in the direction they had originally been going, seemingly going around the corner of the maze in a clockwise direction. At first, the decorations were the same as the ones around the green gate (the crypt marker and the Phantom Freddy/Shadow Bonnie cutout), but as they rounded the corner the decorations began to change. The first cutout that Mike saw in this new section of the maze wasn't the Phantom Freddy/Shadow Bonnie decoration from earlier. Rather, it was a tall Bonnie (with a hole in his face) neatly dressed in a suit and playing the guitar in front of a large stack of pumpkins, with a Nightmare Balloon Boy holding onto a Jack-O-Lantern next to him. "Which key are we trying to find again?"

"THE RED KEY…" Grim Foxy hissed. "HIDDEN IN THE DOMAIN OF THE YELLOW GATE."

The two of them turned a corner, and Mike saw the first kiosk that lay within this new part of the maze. It wasn't a crypt marker, or anything related to tombstones at all. Rather, it was a haphazard pile of circular haystacks, with a pumpkin on top of them and two Fazbear-themed Jack-O-Lanterns at their feet, right next to a withered, dead tree. Unfortunately, the red key wasn't there, meaning they still had some searching to do.

"I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU, SCHMIDT," Grim Foxy suddenly broke the silence as they turned a corner, seeing a long stretch of path straight in front of them with a few paths that broke off at its beginning and its end. "INDULGE MY CURIOSITY, IF YOU WILL."

"Whether I'll answer or not depends on your question," Mike replied coolly, "but go ahead and ask."

"VERY WELL, LAD," Grim Foxy stopped in the center of the path. They were in a larger area, with 2 other kiosks similar to the one they had seen earlier. One of them held the red key, this one shaped like a spider rather than a spellbook. Opposite the kiosks, there was a wall of haystacks rather than a fence, and Mike could see the yellow gate on the other side. "YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN HAVE SUFFERED MUCH IN YOUR LIVES. THE TRAGEDIES OF YOUR CHILDREN ARE OBVIOUS TO US BOTH AND SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES, AND I KNOW ALL ABOUT THE TORMENT THAT SHAPED YOUR CHILDHOOD. OH, YES…" the demon hissed at the surprised look on Mike's face. "YOU MAY HAVE KEPT YOUR PAST HIDDEN FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD, BUT I KNOW THE SUFFERING OF YOUR PAST. I CAN SMELL THE FEAR AND SORROW, YEARS AFTER THEY HAVE LONG SINCE OCCURRED."

"…Is there a rest stop between now and the fucking point?" Mike demanded, trying to show off bravado by quoting one of his most favorite parodies in the world. But it was merely a front to hide how deeply disturbed he was at the fact that this demon knew about his past, and they both knew it.

"SIMPLY THIS," Grim Foxy stared down at Mike, his burning, fiery socket looking straight into Mike's own. "WITH ALL THAT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY SUFFERED, WITH ALL THE EVIL THAT YOU KNOW FOR A FACT EXISTS IN THE WORLD…WHY DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?"

Mike blinked, completely taken aback by the demon's question. "What?" was all he could say.

"YOU HEARD ME, LAD…" Grim Foxy bared his fangs at the man. "HOW CAN YOU BELIEVE IN A GOD THAT IS ALL-POWERFUL AND GOOD WHO ALLOWS SUCH EVIL TO EXIST?"

Mike couldn't say anything for several seconds. He had no idea why the fiery Nightmare animatronic was asking him such a philosophical question, and the fact that it had come from a variant of Foxy of all animatronics was throwing him further off guard. It could be anything from genuine curiosity from the demon's part, to an insidious attempt to corrupt him and destroy his faith. He wasn't sure what Grim Foxy's motivation was, and if he was completely honest with himself, it didn't really matter.

Because, random timing aside, it didn't make his question any less of a valid one to ask.

After several more seconds of silent thought, Mike finally came up with an answer. "That's a…loaded question, to put it mildly," he couldn't help but chuckle. "I think part of it comes down to logic, in a way. God could have created a living paradise on Earth, with no suffering and no death, no bad stuff in general. But he couldn't have done that if he wanted to give us free will and make our lives meaningful."

"OH?" if the demon could do so, Mike was certain that Grim Foxy would be raising an eyebrow. "AND HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THAT, LAD?"

"God might be all-powerful, but he can't make the universe and its rules contradict themselves." Mike explained. "At least not without breaking apart and rebuilding those rules completely. He can't make three plus two equal anything other than five, make something that's both a trapezoid and a sphere at the same time, or make it simultaneously both midnight and noon at the exact same place. And I think the same thing is true for making a world without suffering AND giving us free will and making our lives meaningful at the same time. It's just not possible."

"THERE ARE MANY WHO WOULD CLAIM THAT AN ALL-POWERFUL, ALL-LOVING GOD WOULD GIVE US WHATEVER WE WANTED, WHENEVER WE WANTED," Grim Foxy pointed out.

"He could do that if He really wanted to, I don't doubt it," Mike countered. "But then good as we know it would lose all meaning. As much as it sucks to live in a world with death, evil, and all the other terrible crap that goes on, it's because of that suffering that the good in the world actually has value." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I love my kids, and my kids love me. This should be obvious to anyone with a brain. But in a world where everyone loved each other all the time without ever hurting each other, a world where nobody ever lost each other, then there'd be nothing special about the love we have as a family. That happiness would just end up being more of the fucking same, like pouring a glass of water into the ocean. It'd disappear in a sea of that same happiness, and wouldn't mean a goddamn thing in the long run."

Mike's lips stretched into a smile. "But in our world, a world where suffering, death, and evil have happened and can happen at any moment, one kind act can make all the difference in the world. Like if you take that same glass of water, and instead of pouring it into the ocean, you give it to a man who got lost in the desert and hasn't had a single goddamn drop of water in ages. You've not only made that man so much happier; you might have saved his freaking life. And that's the case with my kids, and heck, even with me. My kids have suffered a different form of hell for decades with their souls trapped in animatronics, and my own childhood was a steaming pile of dogshit too. But having lived through that loneliness, misery, and suffering…it makes the years we've spent as a family together so much more valuable. I haven't had a real family since Oskar died…and I can tell you right now, the years with those ghost kids have been the best in my entire life by a fucking landslide. Nothing else even comes close."

Grim Foxy stared silently at Mike, his expression unreadable as he tilted his head curiously at the man "SO YOU'RE SAYING THAT IT'S ULTIMATELY A GOOD THING THAT YOUR CHILDREN SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF WILLIAM AFTON, LAD?" he challenged.

Mike shook his head. "Not at all," he countered. "I don't think it's a good thing that my kids got killed by that fucking psychopath. I don't think it's a good thing that they got their souls enslaved. If I had any say in the matter, those kids would be living normal lives with the families they once had. But evil, suffering, and death is the balance that has to exist for good, happiness, love, and life to really have any meaning. And that's really where free will comes in. Nobody's all good or all evil."

"I WOULD ARGUE THAT WILLIAM AFTON COMES PRETTY CLOSE TO THE LATTER, LAD," Grim Foxy interrupted in a dry tone.

"You're not wrong," Mike smirked. The two of them snickered at their little joke for a few seconds, before he continued. "Everyone has a choice, no matter what happens to them. They can choose to be more good than evil, or more evil than good, and by how much. And over and over again, humans have shown that they can do the greatest acts of good, just as much as they can do the most horrible, evil acts imaginable. But those acts can make a difference, because both good and evil exist. And if that's why God allows evil in the world, then I can respect that. Because I'd rather God set things up so that my actions and the actions of good people can make a difference, rather than if He set things up so that nothing ever did."

Grim Foxy said nothing. To be honest, he could kind of understand where Mike was coming from. Nightmare treated his demons quite well, all things considered, but he was very much in the minority. The demon animatronic knew that most demon lords treated their underlings like absolute garbage, willing to throw them into the meatgrinder against other demon lords for the stupidest reasons, or tearing them to pieces for even asking a question. Their clan was one of the very few that was united, with virtually no infighting, and dare he say it, actually gave a fuck about each other. It was a demonstration of virtue in a domain that was positively drowning in eternal evil, and though Grim Foxy was naturally averse to admitting the value of goodness as a demon, even he had to admit that it had worked wonders for them.

"SO YOU SAY THAT EVIL HAS TO EXIST FOR GOOD TO HAVE MEANING," Grim Foxy mused. "FAIR ENOUGH." His eyes suddenly narrowed. "BUT THE HUMAN RACE AS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR A GREAT DEAL OF ATROCITIES AGAINST ITS OWN KIND, LAD. THE HOLOCAUST, 9/11, EVERY SINGLE GENOCIDE, THE CRUCIFIXION AND BETRAYAL OF JESUS CHRIST. THESE ARE ALL JUST SOME OF THE MANY ATROCITIES THAT CAN BE LAID AT THE FEET OF HUMANITY. WHY WOULD GOD NOT ACT TO STOP THESE ULTIMATE ACTS OF EVIL, HMM?"

Mike scowled. "That's the down side of free will, unfortunately," he conceded. "For free will to truly be free, then that includes letting people choose to do evil, with all the shit that comes afterwards. God can warn people against doing evil things, and He can punish them for it after the fact. But He can't outright stop people from doing evil without violating the nature of free will. Otherwise, if God directly intervened to stop evil, He'd have to do it EVERY SINGLE TIME every human committed a sin ever to be fair. And at that point, we're back to the world where everything is good all the time, and good loses all meaning."

He shook his head. "To be honest, I still think God should have directly intervened when shit really hits the fan," Mike admitted. "The world would be a lot happier if he blasted Hitler with a lightning bolt when he was a teenager, or if he hit William Afton with a car accident before he could ever make his first robot. He works in mysterious ways isn't really a satisfying answer to most people, I get that," he surrounded the phrase with air-quotes. "But I think God nowadays is going with a hands-off approach for the most part. Letting humanity make their own decisions and actions and letting them deal with the consequences, instead of intervening all the time and basically dictating our lives."

"AND YOUR RACE HAS DONE SUCH A WONDERFUL JOB WITH THE WORLD AND WITH EACH OTHER, LAD," Grim Foxy sneered, the sarcasm dripping with every word.

Mike sighed. "You're not wrong there," he reluctantly agreed. "The Bible even pretty much says that the world is full of shit, and I can't disagree. But that world we talked about before, a world where nothing bad ever happens ever, with no death and suffering…that's basically Heaven, right?" he smiled. "But instead of a paradise given to us for free with no drawbacks, it's a world that we have to earn. It isn't just the fact that we have to believe in God, Jesus' sacrifice and the stuff that you'll hear a preacher say all the time. We have to show that we're willing to become better people, and try to live our lives in a way that reflects that. I freely admit that I've still got some work to do on that score, and so do my kids, but we know that we have to do it." He frowned as he remembered the terrified expressions on his children's faces after he had faced off against Glitchtrap. He didn't regret destroying Glitchtrap and the threat that he had presented, but he had to admit now that the cruelty and sadism he had demonstrated towards this latest incarnation of his family's sworn enemy was far beyond the boundaries of what could be considered morally acceptable behavior. "That's how we can prove that we deserve to enter Heaven together, and how we prove ourselves different from a lot of so-called Christians who claim to serve God but do terrible shit on the side with no regret or remorse whatsoever."

Before Grim Foxy could say anything, Mike broke into a smile again. "Besides," he commented, "God forgave my kids. Let's not bullshit here, my kids are murderers. They've killed people, innocent people. God could have sent them straight to Hell the moment they were freed from those animatronic bodies, and He'd be completely within His rights to do so. But He didn't. He chose to give them a second chance. He chose to give them another way that they could get to Heaven, and through that He gave me the best family I could ever ask for. And that's more than enough proof to show me that God is good."

Grim Foxy didn't say a word, his expression once again unreadable as he was lost in his thoughts. The demon could have been seriously considering Mike's words, or he could be hiding his frustrations at being unable to break Mike's faith. Mike hoped that he'd given Grim Foxy a satisfactory and insightful answer if it was the former…and nothing but frustration and disappointment if it was the latter. "INTERESTING…" the demon fox finally broke the silence. "VERY INTERESTING…LORD NIGHTMARE WOULD BE QUITE FASCINATED BY THIS CONVERSATION, LAD, WERE HE HERE TO WITNESS IT. BUT LET US MOVE ON. WE STILL HAVE THE SECRET OUR MASTER DISCOVERED THAT I NEED TO SHOW YOU."

They began to move again, once again going around the edge of the maze, which Mike had quickly realized was shaped like a square, at least as far as the outer walls were concerned. The cutouts had changed again, this time showcasing Ennard holding a set of three balloons, standing in front of barrels and boxes of toxic waste that Plushtrap was holding onto. The kiosks were arguably the most disappointing, being a simple wooden bench with pretty much no further decoration, although it took them a while to find the green key, which was stuck in the farthest corner of the maze. The key was shaped like a tombstone this time, and it disappeared once Mike reached out to claim it.

"WE HAVE MADE MORE THAN HALFWAY PROGRESS TO UNLOCKING THE SECRET, LAD," Grim Foxy growled. "LET US SEARCH FOR THE YELLOW KEY IN THE LAST PART OF THE MAZE THAT WE HAVE YET TO EXPLORE."

"Sounds good to me," Mike agreed. They made their way across a path they had not yet travelled, passing by the blue gate as they did so.

"WERE YOU TO APPROACH THAT GATE NOW, LAD, YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO WIN THE LEVEL UNDER THE NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES, SINCE YOU NOW POSSESS THE BLUE KEY," Grim Foxy explained as they passed it. "BUT THAT IS NOT WHY WE ARE HERE, NOW IS IT?"

"No it isn't," Mike shook his head as they walked past the blue gate. The other side of the path was blocked with a short metal fence instead of the tall and impassible wooden one, and Mike could see what looked like the abandoned remains of a basketball hoop and the broken-down remains of a carousel. He wouldn't be surprised if those were two locations where the last key could potentially spawn, although the key was nowhere to be found even if it could.

"I have a question for you," Mike suddenly looked up at Grim Foxy. "You asked me a very personal and complicated question before, I think it's only fair that I get to ask you one in return."

"ASK YOUR QUESTION, LAD, BUT UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE NO OBLIGATION TO ANSWER," Grim Foxy hissed.

"Okay. So I've read the Bible in my spare time at least on Sundays, and it always seems to portray demons as working together and united. But the way it's commonly seen in fiction, and based on what I've heard from Nightmare, demons are fighting each other all the goddamn time with unity pretty much nonexistent outside of a few moments at best. So which is true, at the end of the day?" Mike questioned. "Can demons actually be united? Or is it a bunch of infighting and dysfunctional bullshit?"

Grim Foxy pondered the question for a few seconds as they entered the fourth and final side of the maze they had not yet visited. Once again, the cutouts had changed, this time featuring Funtime Foxy dressed up as a witch brewing a greenish potion in a black cauldron. On one side was a slightly ajar treasure chest with the Marionette creeping out of it, while on the other side was a Plushbaby similarly dressed in witch clothes, waving a hand in front of a lonely tree stump. The kiosks were also much more decorative than they had been in the last segment, a pile of twisted trees covered in spider webs.

"TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, LAD, WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT THE ETERNAL CONFLICTS BETWEEN DEMONS IS FOR THE MOST PART TRUE," Grim Foxy began, surprising Mike with how quickly he gave his answer. "EVIL IS SELFISH BY ITS VERY NATURE, LAD, AND IT DOES NOT LEND ITSELF WELL TO COHESION AND UNITY. DEMONS BY THEIR VERY NATURE ARE DEFINED BY THEIR EVIL, AND MUCH MORE OFTEN THAN NOT THEY SEE THEIR SERVANTS AS TOOLS TO BE USED AND DISCARDED, AND THEIR PEERS AS RIVALS WHO POSSESS WHAT THEY DESIRE. IS IT ANY WONDER, LAD, THAT CONFLICT IS SO COMMON AMONGST DEMONS, AND ANY ALLIANCES AND PARTNERSHIPS FLEETING AT BEST?"

"I think J.R.R. Tolkien once described evil as either pure selfishness or pure madness," Mike commented. "And that while good can't always overcome it, evil will always destroy itself in the end." A statement that he agreed with more than he didn't. God might destroy evil forever at the very end of time, but that didn't mean evil hadn't scored more than a few victories throughout the long span of Earth's history. And evil also had a tendency to fuck itself over in the end. Case in point: William Afton willingly walking into Henry's trap pizzeria like a complete moron, when he knew it was suspicious, because he just couldn't resist the urge to kill more kids.

"THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT CAN FORCE DEMONS TO SUBMIT, HOWEVER, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY DO NOT WANT TO," Grim Foxy continued his explanation. "THE DEVIL IS ONE OF THEM. FOR THE MOST PART, LUCIFER CARES LITTLE FOR THE SUBJECTS OF HIS REALM AND THEIR DOINGS, ALLOWING THEM TO SQUABBLE WITH EACH OTHER PARTLY FOR HIS OWN AMUSEMENT, AND PARTLY TO SEE WHICH DEMONS WILL PROVE SUPERIOR OVER THE OTHERS. BUT WHEN THE OVERLORD OF HELL TAKES A MORE ACTIVE INTEREST IN MATTERS, AND GIVES DIRECT COMMANDS TO HIS DEMONS, THEN THEY MUST OBEY OR RISK SUFFERING THE DEVIL'S WRATH. A FATE THAT NO DEMON WITH EVEN THE BASIC SENSE OF SELF-PRESERVERATION WOULD EVER DARE TO GO AGAINST. NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT WHILE MANY DEMONS DESPISE EACH OTHER AND WILL GLADLY SLAUGHTER EACH OTHER ON A REGULAR BASIS, THEY CERTAINLY HAVE NO LOVE FOR HUMANITY EITHER. AND SOME DEMONS CAN ALMOST CERTAINLY WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE A HUMAN'S LIFE MISERABLE, AT LEAST INDIRECTLY AND IN THE SHORT TERM."

"So the short version is that demons only really work together if they're forced to by the Devil, or if they want to screw around with some unlucky shmuck," Mike summarized, shaking his head in bemusement. "Makes sense given how damn petty a lot of them seem to be."

Grim Foxy grinned. "WE ARE DEMONS, SCHMIDT. WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?"

They turned a corner and finally found the yellow key at a kiosk located right next to one of the Funtime Foxy cutouts, this one with the head of a Jack-O-Lantern. Mike reached out to touch it, and as he did so, a haunting chime began to sound, making several rings that echoed all throughout the maze. "What just happened?" Mike asked. "Are we done?"

"NOT QUITE," the demonic fox growled as he bared his fangs in a sinister grin. "FOR THERE IS IN FACT A FIFTH KEY THAT HAS YET TO BE FOUND. ONE THAT WILL NOT APPEAR UNTIL ALL FOUR OF THE OTHER KEYS HAVE ALREADY BEEN DISCOVERED. THIS FINAL KEY IS THE ONE THAT WILL UNLOCK THE SECRET."

"And where exactly is this key?" Mike wondered.

Grim Foxy roared with laughter "IT CAN BE ANYWHERE, LAD!" he bellowed. "IN ANY OF THE LOCATIONS WHERE ANY OF THE FOUR KEYS CAN BE FOUND. THERE ARE SO MANY CORNERS AND ALCOVES SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THIS MAZE THAT CAN HIDE THIS ONE, FINAL KEY. AND WITH EVERY KEY COLLECTED, I BECAME FASTER AND MORE RELENTLESS IN MY PURSUIT. AND IF I GET MY CLAWS OR MY HOOK ON THAT UNLUCKY FOOL WHO FAILS TO HIDE IN TIME, THEN THEY HAVE TO START THE WHOLE THING OVER AGAIN! HA HA HA HA HA!"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised that you're enjoying this way too much?" he muttered. "But here's my question for you, Grim Foxy."

Grim Foxy grinned. "ASK AWAY, LAD," he invited.

"Do YOU know where this key is?" Mike asked with a raised eyebrow.

The grin faded a little. "WHAT?"

"Do you know where we can find the last key?" Mike repeated the question.

Now the demon's grin was gone entirely, and frustration started to appear on his face. "SHIT," he growled, realizing what Mike was trying to say.

That pretty much told Mike everything he needed to know. "So you don't know where the last key is," he commented as he looked around the maze, taking a few seconds to admire the towering windmill as he did so. "Which means we're going to have to go looking through the entire goddamn maze to find it."

"IT SEEMS THAT IS INDEED THE CASE, LAD," Grim Foxy growled.

Mike groaned. "Fan-fucking-tastic," he grumbled.

What followed was a frantic search through the entire maze that was downright farcical in nature. Mike and Grim Foxy split up, deciding to each cover half of the maze. With his faster movement speed that was still active since Mike had four keys, Grim Foxy elected to cover the half of the maze where the blue and red keys could be found, while Mike decided to cover the area around which they had searched for the green and yellow keys. For the next few minutes, they tried searching at every single kiosk, retracing through paths they had already taken and trying to find new ones, all to find the one single kiosk in the entire maze that held the purple key.

"God, this is such a pain in the ass," Mike muttered. "I can hear the fucking Benny Hill theme playing right now." And this was WITHOUT Grim Foxy hunting him down. If he had been playing the level under the normal conditions in which it was meant to be played, he would have been forced to waste several extra seconds hiding behind the cutouts while the fiery demonic fox charged at him every single time he saw him.

Eventually, Mike finally found the key, in a small alcove at one of the farthest corners of the maze. Unlike the other four keys, it didn't have a Halloween-themed decoration for a head, instead only having a simple ring. It also looked far different from the keys he had collected, for it was a golden key that seemed to phase in and out of reality as parts of it glowed with purple flashes at a time. Mike reached out and grabbed the key, and when it vanished, every single symbol that represented a key on his device turned purple. In the far distance, the man could hear the sound of something unlocking.

"EXCELLENT, LAD! YOU HAVE FOUND THE FINAL KEY!" Mike turned to face Grim Foxy, who was approaching him down one of the corridors. "NOW I CAN FINALLY GUIDE YOU TO THE SECRET THAT LORD NIGHTMARE HAS KEPT HIDDEN."

He beckoned for Mike to follow, and the two proceeded down a path. As it so happened, they weren't too far away from the section of the maze where they had first started, as Mike quickly recognized the stone crypt markers that could hold the blue key. Grim Foxy guided Mike away from the green gate and towards the center of the maze. The very same place, Mike realized, where they had started.

Grim Foxy led Mike into the clearing at the very center, where the white cellar doors waited. As Mike approached them, the doors suddenly swung open, revealing a set of steps that led down into a dark cellar.

"BEFORE YOU GO DOWN INTO THAT CELLAR, LAD, I WILL SHARE ONE SECRET WITH YOU," Grim Foxy announced, a smirk on his face. "YOU'VE MADE FOR SOME PLEASANT COMPANY, AND SOME INTERESTING CONVERSATION. BUT DO NOT TELL ANYONE THAT I TOLD YOU THIS."

"Okay…"

Grim Foxy leaned forward until he was looking right into Mike's eyes. "EVEN DEMONS MUST SERVE GOD, SHOULD HE DEMAND IT," he revealed. "WE ARE UNHOLY BEINGS BY NATURE, ALL BUT CONSUMED BY EVIL. WE MAY HATE THE HEAVENLY FATHER. WE MAY CURSE HIS NAME WITHOUT END. BUT IF GOD GIVES US A DIRECT COMMAND, WHETHER TO SERVE THE CAUSE OF GOOD OR TO BE GONE FROM THE EARTH AND RETURN TO THE ABYSS FROM WHICH WE CAME, WE ARE COMPELLED TO OBEY NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE MAY DESPISE IT. LORD NIGHTMARE IS ONE OF THE FEW WHO ACCEPTS THIS HIDDEN TRUTH, WHEN SO MANY OTHER DEMONS REFUSE TO EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE IT UNTIL THEY ARE FORCED TO, KICKING AND SCREAMING. EVEN LUCIFER, AS POWERFUL AS HE IS, CANNOT COUNTERMAND AN ORDER GIVEN DIRECTLY BY THE ALMIGHTY."

Before Mike could ponder this secret and its ramifications, Grim Foxy pointed down into the cellar with his hook. "THE SECRET THAT LORD NIGHTMARE DISCOVERED AND CONCEALED IS DOWN IN THAT CELLAR, LAD," the demon declared. I WILL NOT BE FOLLOWING YOU. GO NOW, MIKE SCHMIDT," he ordered, his eyes narrowing as he spoke his last words. "THE INFORMATION WILL SERVE YOU WELL IN THE TRIALS TO COME."

/

A/N: Were any of you expecting the Corn Maze to be a philosophical chapter, of all things? I don't think so 😊. Mike's alliance with Nightmare means that Grim Foxy would naturally be helping Mike find the hidden secret rather than trying to stop him from getting to it. And that would make for an incredibly boring chapter if I didn't fill it with something else instead. :P

A while ago, one reviewer brought up the question of Theodicy. The question of why an all-powerful, Good God would allow evil to exist. And this brought me all the way back to one of the first multichapter fanfics that I ever read and got me into fanfic in the first place. A Fire Emblem fanfic called "Wayward Son," written by an author named Gunlord500 who has long since departed from the site but was one of my first inspirations for writing. And in his fic, he featured his own personal explanation for the question of Theodicy, and why a good God would allow evil. He wrote one of the most convincing and insightful explanations for Theodicy that I've ever read to this day, one that even now heavily influences my perspective on the matter, and I have tried to feature that explanation in Mike's words without copying his arguments word-for-word. If you're interested in reading that explanation, it's in Chapter 63 of his fanfic, "A Blessing for a Prince."

Regardless of whether you're a Christian or not, regardless of whether you agree with the arguments presented or not, I hope that the paragraphs I've written in this chapter today offer you some food for thought on Theodicy. That being said, if you want to debate this with me further, I have to apologize in advance because I unfortunately don't really have the time to do so due to my intensive schedule with my residency. I know that sounds like (and honestly kinda is) a rather huge cop-out, but that's also the unfortunate truth of my real life.

As for Grim Foxy's statements on demons, demons are actually fairly united in the Bible, with one particular story where a man is possessed by many demons at the same time. And yet countless media, including this fic, has shown them as an extremely disorganized and chaotic group of beings that are always at each other's throats. So I wanted to add an explanation to reconcile the two differing perspectives. And considering that Jesus could command demons to get the hell out of the people they're possessing (no pun intended), I think it's safe to say that God absolutely can force demons to submit to his will and obey Him if He deems it necessary.

Next chapter, we're finally getting to the "secret" I've been referring to throughout this entire chapter. And I think you know what it is 😉

Hope you guys enjoyed!