A/N: I'm gonna be honest with you, guys. This chapter was originally intended to focus on the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was going to have the Schmidt family visit the museum, and have the ghost kids visit different parts of the museum in pairs just like I did with the science museum in Chicago.
However, when I actually sat down to start writing and doing research, it just wasn't working out. I could definitely write a section on the Egypt section of the Metropolitan Museum, as that's easily my favorite part, but I don't remember anything else about it. It's been years since I last visited the Metropolitan, so my memory of it is extremely fuzzy compared to other places I've visited and written about. And I would have to do FAR more research into the Metropolitan's exhibits, research that I simply don't have the time or energy to do so.
So instead, we're skipping straight to Times Square! This will be the last place in New York City that I will describe in detail, although a couple of other places will be namedropped just to show that the Schmidt family has indeed been visiting a lot of places instead of just sitting around and twiddling their thumbs in a hotel room all day. Fortunately, there's another museum that I can describe instead of the Metropolitan Museum, one that's quite unique in what it shows and one that I have a much clearer memory of. Hope you enjoy!
Quick reminder that Mike communicates with his ghost kids telepathically so that other bystanders don't think he should be locked up in an insane asylum :P
Chapter 155 – Trip to the Big Apple Part 5
Visiting the World Trade Center hadn't been a mistake. It had given Mike an opportunity to impart some of his wisdom upon his children, and remind them that evil could exist and cause great harm in forms other than the wretched existence of William Afton.
That didn't mean that it had been pleasant for the ghost kids, especially when some of them could sense the tortured and horrific echoes of the tragedy that had destroyed that used to be there many years ago.
Mike recognized this, and knew that he would need to lean heavily into the "vacation" aspect of their trip (aka the reason why they were here in the first place) if he didn't want their trip to the Big Apple to end on a depressing note.
Over the next few days, as the end of December rapidly approached, he would take the kids to many different and fascinating locations. The Bronx Zoo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the High Line trail, and many others. Yesterday's event of the day had been the Lion King Broadway Show, a timeless classic that had given the children an opportunity to watch one of Disney's most iconic animated movies through a different medium and perspective.
Mike had decided to spend this particular morning taking the children to Grand Central Station, an iconic location of New York City that was an impressive sight to behold despite the fact that he wasn't planning on taking any trains out of the city.
"Holy crap," Fritz exclaimed as they left the building, having finished exploring it. "That place was a TRAIN STATION? It's so big!"
"I know, right?" Susie agreed. "The Main Concourse in the middle of the building looked more like a place from a giant castle than a train station! It kinda reminds me of Hogwarts, now that I think about it."
"Did you guys notice the ceiling?" Jeremy asked. "There were some constellations on there. I saw a crab, some guy that looked like a hunter, a horse, and some other things I couldn't really figure out."
"Aww, really?" Liz sighed in disappointment. "I forgot to look."
"You can look it up online once you get the chance," Mike replied. "But for now, it's time for us to finally go to Times Square."
"I was wondering when we were finally going to visit Times Square properly!" Charlie remarked. "It seemed like you were trying to avoid it on purpose despite it being one of the most obvious places to visit in all of New York City!"
Mike chuckled. "That's cause I wanted to save one of the coolest places for last!" he replied. "There's a lot of crazy places and stores to visit here, with one particular museum that I've really wanted to visit. I already have the ticket for it and everything, but let's check out some of the other places first before it gets too late and the lines get too long."
Times Square apparently wasn't too long or too arduous of a journey, because Mike didn't bother calling for a cab or a Lyft, instead choosing to walk all the way to Times Square. The streets were crowded with people as they always were, but not so much that Mike couldn't walk at a comfortable pace while the ghosts flew by his side. Within a couple of minutes, they had arrived at the bustling and energetic center of Times Square, the atmosphere positively bombarded with countless brightly lit advertisements, signs, and videos welcoming tourists from seemingly all sides. "Geez, there are so many places here!" Cassidy exclaimed. "We can't possibly see all of them!"
"Fortunately, we don't have to," Mike replied. "There's only a couple of places that I have set in stone for a visit right now…you guys can visit the other ones on your own after we're done."
He guided the kids over to one of the buildings, a glass building with a TV screen in front of it. The screen was positively covered with different M&Ms, with the words "M&M World" situated neatly on top of the pile.
"M&M world?" Gabe read the name of the store in bafflement. "This is talking about those chocolate candies that I've seen you, Alex, and Meghan eat sometimes, right?"
"Yep," Mike agreed. "But this is the first time I've seen an entire store built around candy like that. And judging from the size of this building, this is a pretty big store!"
"I really want to see what's inside this store now," Liz commented as she gave the building another look.
"Well, this is the first place I planned to visit no matter what, so might as well start now!" Mike replied as he walked into the store, the ghost kids following closely behind. As they entered, the ghost kids couldn't help but stare at their surroundings.
True to its title, the entire M&M World store was positively covered in M&M-themed merchandise. There were T-shirts, mugs, playing cards, backpacks, kitchenware, pillows…so many different and seemingly random things all decorated with the M&M theme and in different colors that were just as diverse as the M&M candies themselves.
"What the hell…" Fritz's mouth fell open as he stared at the many different pieces of merchandise available. "I know this is an M&M themed store, but this still feels like massive overkill!"
"I didn't even know it was possible to decorate so many different things with an M&M theme!" Susie exclaimed.
"They really weren't kidding when they called it M&M world, were they?" Jeremy mumbled.
"So many different gifts we could buy…you think one of our friends would like a gift from here?" Charlie asked her father.
"Maybe," he replied, "but I'm not thinking about one of these pieces of merchandise. I'm thinking of something else. Something that's going to be a lot more fun than just picking up something off one of these shelves." He stepped onto an escalator that led up to the second floor. The second floor showed even more pieces of merchandise…along with several tubes that extended all the way to the ceiling, with dispensers at their very end. The tubes were all positively filled with different color M&Ms, including some colors that the ghost kids had never seen before. Mike grinned as his eyes fell on the dispensers.
"Ah, here we go," he declared. "That's what I was looking for. We just need to go up one more floor first."
"ANOTHER one?" Cassidy wondered, but Mike was already maneuvering through the crowds and onto another escalator that led up to the third floor. Unlike the previous floors, this one was much smaller compared to the ones below, and there weren't as many pieces of merchandise around (although there were still plenty to be seen on the shelves). But now that they were on the floor, the ghost kids could see that there were even more tubes filled with M&M's available, and they could see several children taking bags and filling them with different types of M&Ms.
"All right!" Mike grinned. "Now we can get to work!" He took one of the bags and approached one of the dispensers. "So what should we put in these bags?"
"We should put a whole bunch of different kinds of flavors!" Gabe suggested. "Peanut, Plain, Peanut Better, Crispy, Pretzel, we can put a whole mishmash of M&Ms together in a single bag for the first time, and play a guessing game with which one Dad's about to eat!"
"But these just look like your same old M&Ms that you can buy at the store!" Susie countered. "That's boring! What we should really do is fill up these M&Ms with different colors that we wouldn't normally be able to find anywhere else! That way we can make a bag filled with M&Ms that we could only possibly get from this store, and make it even more special!"
"But most of those M&Ms are just the Plain or Peanut kind!" Jeremy countered. "Sure, they may look cool, but they're just the same old kind of M&M you can get from the store. Would those REALLY be considered special?"
"When was the last time you saw M&Ms looking like these?" Cassidy shot back. "I'm with Susie, M&Ms with different colors look WAY more unique than a few more flavors that we could probably find at the store anyway!"
"Guys, GUYS!" Charlie broke their argument while Mike watched on with barely concealed amusement. "You know Dad can just buy multiple bags of M&Ms, right?"
An embarrassed look fell across all of the ghost kids' faces as Mike struggled not to laugh. "Sometimes, you guys get all worked up over things and you tend to forget the simple solutions," he remarked as he picked up a second bag. "All you need to do to figure this out is get more than one bag of candy for whatever you want and remember that your dad has way too much money than he knows what to do with."
The ghost kids had the grace to look embarrassed. "Oh…" Susie mumbled, "…right."
"Something to think about," Mike replied with a mental shrug as he proceeded to open up his first bag and place it under a dispenser of pretzel M&M. For the next few minutes, Mike filled multiple bags with M&Ms, following the encouragement and advice of his children. Sometimes he filled the bags with different types of M&Ms, from Peanut to Crispy to even unconventional flavors like Raspberry. Other times, he filled the bags in ways that fit a specific color scheme or motif, such as multiple different shades of blue and green to create the image of an ocean, or different pinks and purples to create more feminine coloring for his daughters. By the time he was finally finished, he was carrying several full bags of different M&M types and colors, each unique from each other in some way. "Damn, these almost look like decorations," Mike commented as he left the candy wall. "Seems almost a shame to eat them. I'll probably give some of these to my friends if I get the chance."
"Don't forget to leave some for us!" Fritz reminded him as Mike made his way to the cash register.
"The heck are you talking about?" Mike asked in a tone that verbally showed him raising an eyebrow. "I'm the one who's gonna be eating them if you ever want to taste them." He looked back at the cash register, and his eyebrows really did raise physically when he saw the total price of the bags. "Holy crap," he muttered, "over a 100 dollars? Seriously?"
"I know," the cashier agreed, "it's shocking how much these bags cost when you fill them up with M&Ms."
"I mean, I can pay it just fine," Mike replied as he took out his credit card and handed it to her. "But still."
"It is what it is," the cashier answered with a shrug as she completed the purchase and placed the bags in a much larger yellow bag with the iconic "m" on it. Once she was done, Mike picked up the bag and walked out of the store, back into the bustling square of Times Square.
"You don't see something like that every day," Gabe commented. "I didn't think I'd ever see a candy store with a wall full of candy like that before!"
"There isn't anything like that anywhere near home, is there?" Jeremy asked.
"Not that I'm aware of," Mike replied. "But that's why we're coming here, right? To see a bunch of cool things that we can't see anywhere else."
"That's pretty much the point of taking a vacation to someplace new in the first place, isn't it?" Liz pointed out.
"You're not wrong," Mike agreed. "And speaking of candy, there's another store like that close-by, this one theme around Hershey's instead of M&M's. Want to visit it?"
"Heck yeah!" Fritz exclaimed. "Who doesn't love more candy?"
"You'd be surprised," Mike replied as he crossed the street to approach the Hershey's store in Times Square. In comparison, this store seemed smaller than M&M store in terms of square feet, but to make up for it, it was decorated far more extravagantly. There were many different signs that decorated a building, all displaying the name of a different candy that fell under the dominion of Hershey's. From classic chocolates like Hershey's Kisses and Reeses, to more unconventional candies like York Peppermint Patties and Twizzlers.
"Oh yeah, we DEFINITELY need to go in there," Susie declared.
Nobody had any reason to disagree, and Mike made his way into the building. The inside of the store was smaller than the M&M store, but it was just as decorative as the M&M store if not more so. The store contained typical tourist souvenirs such as mugs and T-shirts, just like the M&M store had, but it also contained several shelves full of humongous candy bars that were far larger than anything one could ever hope to find in a standard store. There were also several Hershey-themed decorations hanging from the ceiling, to the point that even the ceiling lights themselves took the form of giant Hershey's kisses with light bulbs within them. There was even a candy wall with dispensers of different forms of candy, although this one was much smaller than the one in M&M World and only took up a small portion of the wall. Still, that didn't deter Mike from walking over there, picking up a bag, and filling it with pieces of candy just as he had done for the much larger M&M candy wall.
"There's no way eating this much candy can be healthy," Jeremy commented as she stared at the bags of candy. "All that sugar in a single bag?"
"Oh hell no," Mike readily agreed. "Eating all of this in one go is practically a guaranteed 1-way ticket to diabetes, a sugar coma, and all sorts of nasty health problems. I already eat way too much sometimes because of you guys, no way I'm adding this to that dumpster fire right now."
"I miss being able to taste candy," Cassidy sighed a bit wistfully.
"Well, fortunately, that's why I exist," Mike commented as he took the bags of candy over to the cash register. The price fortunately wasn't over 100 dollars this time around, but it was far more than what you would have expected from a typical bag of candy. "We've pretty much got the whole possession thing down to an art form at this rate."
"I still have no idea how that works," Charlie admitted, "and I'm supposed to be the expert here!"
Mike mentally shrugged. "Sometimes, you don't need to overanalyze things. All you gotta do is go with the flow." He took one last look around the store. He didn't particularly feel the need to buy any other souvenirs (any more at this rate would likely start dragging him down a bit), but he did see a station at the far end of the store that looked rather interesting. Deciding to indulge his curiosity, he maneuvered past the shelves to the station, where an attendant was waiting for him.
"Good afternoon!" he greeted him cordially. "This is the Design Studio of Hershey's Chocolate World! Here you can create your own personalized candy bar wrapper! Would you be interested in trying this for yourself?"
"I absolutely would!" Mike agreed, speaking for the ghost children as he did so. The man smiled and pointed to a screen that showed several different kinds of wrappings. Some of them offered congratulations for a newborn baby with bright blue and pink colors to correspond to a boy and girl respectively, while others celebrated a birthday in several different colors and three lit candles underneath a Happy Birthday banner. He pretended to mull over the different choices, while in reality asking his ghost children which wrapper he should pick.
"Probably a birthday one," Charlie recommended after several seconds of discussion. "We don't know anybody who's going to have a baby, do we?"
"Nah, but this would've been a great gift for Ryan several years ago," Mike replied. Out loud, he pointed to the Purple Happy Birthday wrapper. "I'd like that one, please."
"Certainly," the attendant nodded. "And what type of candy would you like?"
This time there was a lot less discussion before the ghosts gave their answer. "Golden Almond!" Liz spoke for everyone this time around. "It looks really golden and shiny!"
"I was pretty much thinking the exact same thing," Mike agreed. "Golden Almond, please."
The attendant nodded again. "And is there any message you would like for me to put on the wrapper?"
"Just this," Mike replied. "Happy Birthday, from the Schmidt family!"
The attendant smiled. "Good choice." He looked around curiously. "I don't see anyone else here with you, though. Is it just you here?"
"Yeah, just me for now," Mike lied smoothly. "My family's around the area, but not here with me at the moment. I just wanted to get them a special surprise first."
It really was incredible just how easily and effortlessly Mike was able to lie to other people, Charlie mused as she watched the attendant put the finishing touches on the candy bar in question. Mike had mastered the art of deception well, able to spout lies and half-truths from his mouth without people suspecting him of anything if they weren't already aware of the truth. In a disturbing way, it almost reminded her of William Afton, and how he had deceived everyone around him into believing that he was just a normal man, effortlessly hiding the murderous and psychopathic monster that lurked just underneath.
Thankfully, she knew the true face of Mike Schmidt. And he had proved himself over and over again as a man who couldn't have been more opposite from William Afton's true nature if he tried.
"Coming right up, sir!" the attendant replied. He confirmed all of Mike's choices on the computer screen, and a few seconds later a large golden chocolate bar covered in the wrapper that the family had chosen appeared, rolling down a conveyer belt towards them. The front of the candy bar proudly displayed the decoration that the family had chosen, the purple Happy Birthday label and the celebratory message underneath.
"Holy crap, we just made our own candy bar!" Susie exclaimed excitedly. "That's so cool!"
"This is one candy bar I hope Dad never eats," Gabe added as he carefully read the message to make sure that it was correct.
"Something like this is too special to waste on a snack," Mike commented as he paid for the candy bar and took it with him. He already had plans to display it somewhere, perhaps in his house's dining room or in his private study. With their mission complete, there was no need to hang around the store any further, and he didn't waste any time in leaving it and exiting back into Times Square.
"That's got to be one of the most unique stores I've ever seen in my entire life," Charlie commented. "To be fair, I haven't seen very many of them because I was in the Puppet's body before you guys showed up, but still!"
"I don't think I'll ever see anything like that ever again!" Cassidy remarked.
Mike smiled at that. "You never know," he replied. At the ghosts' questioning glance, he continued. "Somewhere in Pennsylvania, there's a place called Hershey Park. It's right next to the original Hershey Chocolate Factory. It's got an amusement park and a Chocolate World store that's basically what we just saw, except it's an entire building and it's got even MORE cool shit than just making a chocolate bar like we did just now.
The ghosts' eyes widened in shock. "Whoaaaaaaa…." Fritz gasped. "You're shitting us!"
"Nope!" Mike grinned. "I've seen it myself, even though I've never actually been there. One of my coworkers visited the place with his family. Looked a lot of fun! And there's a Hershey Hotel next to it that's apparently one of the greatest hotels in all of America, too!"
"Do you think we could go there next vacation?" Liz asked eagerly. "Please?"
Mike mentally shrugged. "Maybe, if we don't find another even cooler place to visit first," he replied. "But that's probably not going to be for a while. We still have bigger problems to deal with back home. A LOT of bigger problems."
The ghosts sighed, understanding what he was saying. There was only so long that they could go off on vacation when the threat of Glitchtrap's sinister presence and Fazbear Entertainment's corporate greed could unleash unbelievable amounts of havoc if left unopposed.
"But we don't have to worry about those bigger problems right this moment," Mike quickly added. "We still have some time left before we go back. Plenty of time to see what one particular museum that I've heard great things about."
"Really?" Jeremy asked, the ghosts' momentary gloom quickly forgotten. "What museum?"
"Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum," Mike replied. "It's a museum full of wax figures of famous people. Apparently, the wax statues are so well-made they look almost exactly like the real people they're based off of. Famous actors, Presidents, fictional characters. You name someone famous, and there's probably a wax statue of them inside."
"Now I'm wondering how many people I'll recognize in there," Gabe pondered. "Only one way to find out, right?"
Mike didn't say a word in response, merely flipping out the tickets he had bought online and printed. He strode boldly into the museum, the ghost kids following behind him as they always did. The lobby of the museum looked like the entrance to a fancy gala, with a wax-sculpted Statue of Liberty head in the very center. Behind it, the ghosts could see a spiral staircase leading up to the second floor.
"Now, before we begin, I do have something I want to say, and this is actually important, so I want you to listen carefully," Mike warned. The ghosts immediately snapped to attention, having lived with Mike long enough to recognize his "serious mode" when they saw it. "These statues are extremely valuable, and a lot of time, effort, and money went into them. I don't care if you're ghosts, I don't want you guys playing around with them in any way. If you accidentally break something because you were fooling around and thought you could get away with it, I'm actually going to be pissed."
Every single one of the ghost kids shuddered at the idea. They had already seen exactly what happened when Mike got well and truly angered…and it was not something they wanted directed towards them. Ever. "Got it," Fritz of all people was the one who answered for them this time around. No matter his chaotic and mischievous behavior, it was clear that even he knew when to draw the line.
Mike nodded barely imperceptibly before going over to the kiosk to the ticket station to show his tickets to the receptionist. The man scanned the tickets and then directed him up the stairs to the second floor. After a few seconds of climbing, the family found themselves facing three wax statues of very prominent modern culture figures: Miley Cyrus, Anderson Cooper, and Taylor Swift, all standing in front of a brightly decorated wall featuring New York City at night.
"Holy crap," Gabe muttered as he took a closer look at the statues, making sure he was fully intangible to not disturb them. "These are actual statues? I thought they were actual people at first!"
"The detail is incredible!" Charlie agreed as she inspected the Anderson Cooper statue. "How did anyone make something that looks so close to an actual person?"
"Is this really what Taylor Swift looks like?" Susie asked as she stared right into the statue's eyes. "I've never seen her in person before!"
"We have to look this up when we get the chance!" Cassidy exclaimed.
The family moved on from the statues, briefly admiring the confetti-like decorations hanging from the ceiling. They were treated with a beautiful view of Times Square through a wall-like glass window just beyond an arched pathway.
"Damn, this place looks even cooler from up in the air!" Fritz whistled.
"We definitely have to explore more of it later," Liz declared as they slowly made their way down the path and towards a narrow hallway. They passed two more statues on the way there, and walked into a brick hallway with colorful graffiti painted on either side. Right in front of them was a large neon blue arrow pointing right, clearly indicating where they needed to go.
"VIP, huh?" Jeremy looked at the bright red, neon-lit sign. "Must be for someone really special."
They followed the path down to a set of elevator doors, which had been painted over to look like heavy steel metal doors. The words "main stage" were written on them, along with a smaller sign asking them to wait outside them. Fortunately, they didn't have long to wait, as the elevators quickly arrived and started transporting them up to the top floor once they were all in.
"Going to the top floor already?" Charlie questioned with a confused look in her eyes. "That's a little odd, isn't it?"
"Not really, if you think about it," Mike replied. "We're starting from the top of the museum and moving all the way down to the bottom. Which makes it easier to leave when we finish here."
"Fair enough," Charlie acknowledged as the elevator slowed to a stop. The doors slowly opened...and immediately the ghost kids' eyes widened at what they saw.
The floor they had arrived on looked like it had been taken straight out of an extravagant gala. All around the room were the intricately crafted was statues of famous actors, actresses, and other pop star icons. In the center of the room was a fountain that looked like a seashell, with yet another pop start icon standing on the pedestal in its very center. To the left was an actual bar where people could order alcoholic drinks, making the whole room look as though it were an exclusive party where only the who's who of modern society were allowed…and they had all been invited.
"Holy crap, I recognize some of these actors!" Gabe exclaimed. "There's Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, and that one guy who plays James Bond!"
"You mean Daniel Craig?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, that's the one!"
"It feels weird looking at the actors and not the people they played in their movies," Susie mumbled as she took a closer look at the wax statue of Patrick Stewart. "I'm still wondering how they even managed to make these statues in the first place."
"They probably asked the actors and actresses to come over and stay still while they made the wax sculptures," Liz suggested. "I'd do that if I could get a cool statue of myself!"
"That would be so cool!" Fritz exclaimed as they finished looking at the last of the statues and identifying them based off the red plaques that were nearby. Mike took the time to take a few selfies next to some of the statues that he recognized, including some of the ones that they had talked about previously. Once he was done, they moved on underneath an archway and found themselves in a confusing mirror maze under a series of stone-appearing arches. Mike was the only one who had a reflection that could be cast on the mirrors, but it still took him a few seconds to distinguish the path leading forward from all the fake ones created by the mirrors. Still, they did make their way eventually, and when they did they found themselves in a large, music-themed room with several large musical notes hanging from the ceiling. To the right was a statue of a man sitting at a piano, while the left showcased a much larger piano on the floor where someone could step on the piano keys to create their own song. Mike smirked and played around with a few of the notes, before deciding to move on.
"Did you ever play the piano, Dad?" Cassidy asked.
"Nope," Mike replied. "Never really had the time to, for obvious reasons, and honestly even if I did I don't think it's something I would've really been interested in."
"That's fair," the former Golden Freddy inhabitant conceded as they moved on. The next room appeared to be more "stage acting" themed than music themed, as they found themselves in what looked like a replica of a backstage room where an actor could put on makeup and clothes for their movie performances. One thing that immediately stood out was a large, multicolored umbrella-like decoration in the background, as well as a rainbow-flashing coat-like structure in front of it that was meant to represent the "technicolor coat" in Joseph the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
"Times like this I wish I had someone else here," Mike replied as he stood behind the coat while his kids admired his posing from the front. "Would make it easier to take pictures."
"You could ask someone to take them for you," Charlie pointed out.
"Nah, I'm not gonna bother someone for that," Mike brushed off the suggestion as he stepped away from the coat. "Truth be told, I don't really give much of a shit about pictures anyway."
"I always did think they were kinda annoying," Fritz admitted as they moved on. The next room's statues were downright bizarre, as it contained several actors in catlike fur suits, with a female one looking as though it were actually speaking and moving its eyes. It was an impressive feature, but one that did nothing to detract from the overall weirdness of the atmosphere overall.
"Oh, right…" Mike palmed his face. "This is from Cats."
"Cats?" Liz repeated the name of the play, clearly confused.
"Never mind," Mike shook his head. "Let's just move on."
"Eh, I was more of a dog person anyway," Susie commented as they passed under a wooden doorframe with the words "Curtain Call" lit in bright red neon up above. The next room was from another play, one that was decidedly gloomier and more sinister in appearance, as it featured a woman in a white dress seated in a boat and looking up nervously while a sinister black figure with a white mask loomed over her from behind. All while sinister organ music played in the background.
"Ah, the Phantom of the Opera," Mike mused as the woman from the titular song began to sing its lyrics from all around them. "I remember seeing a performance of this back in my college days. Obviously, the production quality has only gotten higher over the years with technology and all that."
"Is it worth watching?" Jeremy wondered.
"People like to meme that opera is boring as hell to watch, but I honestly didn't think it was that bad at all," his father replied. "Might be worth watching a movie of it sometime."
The next room nearly blinded them with light in contrast to the darkness of the room they had just left, and this time it was a positive mishmash of different characters and actors. The first thing that the ghost kids immediately recognized was Scar and Rafiki from the Lion King musical, having just seen that Broadway show a day ago. Right in front of them was Marilyn Monroe, a beautiful woman in a white dress that was being blown about by artificial wind in front of a makeup cabinet. There were also other iconic characters and actors like Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood, Dorothy from "A Wizard of Oz", Bruce Willis, and even ET.
"I can't tell if there's an actual theme here," Jeremy commented, "or if they just decided to throw a whole bunch of actors and characters into this room and called it a day."
"I mean, they're all movie based. So they all have that in common, at the very least?" Gabe suggested a bit skeptically, before shaking his head. "I don't know."
"Still, it's really cool that we're basically looking at the who's who of the movie world right in front of us!" Charlie remarked.
And it wasn't quite over yet, for the tail end of the long room held more iconic figures like Steven Spielberg, Nic Cage, Jackie Chan, Will Smith, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, figures who who the ghost kids recognized from some of the movies they had watched with Mike and the Marshalls over the years. Mike took the time to take a few more selfies with the wax statues of the famous icons as the ghost kids closely inspected the statues and their similarities to the actual figures themselves, before finally moving on to the next room. The room looked like it was on a TV set with a TV host inviting a guest to speak. Neither Mike nor the ghosts seemed to recognize any of the figures in the room, so they didn't spend much time before progressing into a hallway that couldn't have been any more different from the previous ones they had visited.
The hallway was much more quiet and solemn compared to the wild and energetic atmosphere of the previous sections. The walls were covered with pictures of countless statues and busts of famous individuals, with a TV wall on the wall displaying an old-fashioned show, "The Life and Times of Madame Tussaud," in a backdrop that looked similar to a saloon from the Wild West. On the opposite side of the TV was an elderly woman smiling as she proudly held up the beginnings of a bust in her hand. One look at the sign made it clear why an entire section of the museum had been dedicated to her: it was none other than Madame Tussaud herself.
"Oh, so THIS is Madame Tussaud?" Liz asked as she looked at the elderly woman's face. "She wasn't what I expected."
"Do you think she wanted to make a museum of wax statues from the very beginning?" Gabe wondered. "Or was she just very enthusiastic about her hobby and her family or friends wanted to make a museum out of it or something?"
"Who knows?" Mike mentally shrugged. "But sometimes, all it takes is one person to achieve something great." He gave a nod of respect to the statue of the elderly woman before moving on to the next room. Similarly to the hallway containing Madame Tussaud, this room was filled with a solemn and dignified atmosphere, only with a background of shelves filled with books instead of wax statue heads. Displayed in the room were statues of some of mankind's greatest thinkers, artists, and philosophers, including Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, the Dalai Lama, and Albert Einstein.
"Who are these guys?" Cassidy wondered aloud.
"Some of the best and brightest minds mankind has ever produced," Mike explained. "These are men and women who have changed the world with their books, their paintings, and their works. He gestured towards a frizzy, gray-haired elderly man with a mustache. Albert Einstein was always one of my favorites…even if learning about his science was a pain in the ass during college." The ghosts snickered a bit at his comment. "Still," he nodded in respect to the statues as he had done to Madame Tussaud's, "if you're looking for a role model to follow, this isn't a bad place to start."
"I should look up some of their works when we get back home," Charlie mused. "Now that you say that I want to learn more about them."
"Nerd!" Fritz snickered. Liz smacked him on the back of his head with her hand. "Ow!"
"Nothing wrong with satisfying a little curiosity," Mike replied as they made their way into the next room, one that was filled with a certain grandeur that the other rooms simply hadn't matched. The first section of the room looked like a Greco-Roman forum, surrounded by white pillars lining the edges of the room with white marble stone connecting the top of the pillars together. In the middle of the circle were three firefighter statues lifting up an American flag to join the group of other flags hanging from the ceiling. Standing in front of the pillars were some of mankind's most famous leaders, including George Washington, Pope Francis, William Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandala, Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy, and many more.
"How much do you know about these people, Dad?" Jeremy asked as he floated up to the statue of George Washington. "I only know a little about most of them."
"Depends," Mike replied with a mental shrug. "Some of them I only have a basic understanding of who they are. Others, literally everyone in this country should know who they are unless they were living underneath a rock."
"Are any of them still alive?" Susie wondered.
"I think most of these guys are long gone," Charlie replied. "Pope Francis and Bill Clinton are still alive, but I think that's it."
"Man, I would've loved to see them when they were still alive," Gabe commented a bit wistfully. "Imagine talking to George Washington or Martin Luther King Jr.!"
"The tradeoff for that is that we wouldn't have nearly as much access to technology," Mike replied a bit facetiously. "I'm not sure the novelty of speaking to famous person once in my lifetime would be worth losing access to the Internet forever. If you want to talk to them, you can wait til you get back to Heaven."
"Fair enough," Gabe conceded as he and his siblings finished looking at the statues.
Past the stone forum was a section of the room that seemed dedicated to the Presidential Office of the White House. To the left was a podium used by the President of the United States with American flags in the background and an arch with the Preamble of the Constitution to their right. To the right of the podium were the smiling figures of Barack and Michelle Obama, and to the left of the podium was the stern-faced statue of Donald Trump.
"Huh," Mike gave the statues a confused glance. "I guess they haven't gotten around to putting up a statue for Joe Biden yet."
"Who's that?" Cassidy wondered.
"The next President after Trump," Mike replied, surprisingly curtly. "And that's all I'm going to say about that. I refuse to get you wrapped up into politics, it makes everyone all pissy and you have no reason to get involved in it since you're already dead and can't influence the politics of the real world anyway. Trust me when I say that in this case, the less you get yourselves wrapped up in that mess, the better."
"We'll take your word for it," Liz muttered.
Mike turned around to face the Presidential desk, a smirk growing on his lips. He walked over to the desk and sat down on the chair. "Greetings, citizens of America!" he declared in an overly pompous and self-important tone. "As your new President of the United States, I, Mike Schmidt, promise to make Fazbear Entertainment actually give a fucking shit about employee safety for once! I also pledge to initiate a nationwide extermination campaign of glitchy rabbit virus ghosts. Any and all such ghosts will be shot down on sight and wiped off the face of the country! Such is my pledge to you as your President!"
The ghost kids were practically rolling in the air laughing at their father's antics. "You've got my vote, Dad!" Susie declared jokingly.
"Heh, I just couldn't resist," Mike replied as he got up from the desk. "But honestly, trying to lead any country would be a goddamn nightmare for me." He walked towards the exit with the ghosts following. Bizarrely, the next passageway wasn't a dignified hallway, but rather a simple stairway leading down to a subway station, similar to pretty much any subway passageway one could find in New York City.
"The heck?" Fritz gaped. "How did we go from the office of the President of the United States to this crap?"
Mike's eyes took notice of a statue of a man in a beige suit with a strange contraption strapped to his back at the bottom of the staircase, and the penny dropped. "Oh, I think I know what this is," he replied with a smirk. "But I think I'll keep you guys in the dark."
"Aww, no fair!" Cassidy whined as they started descending down the stairs, though she knew better than to try and probe Mike for more details. The lights from the staircase were flickering on and off ominously, reminding them a bit of the prank contest that they had tried to play on Mike several months ago. They found themselves in a subway tunnel that was consumed with darkness, save for a sickly green glow that seemed to light up some of the walls. At the end of the tunnel was a subway train, in which brilliant bolts of blue lightning were blasting away at its depths.
"What the heck is going on?" Susie wondered. "I feel like I'm in some kind of horror movie!"
"Ehhhh…it kinda is, but at the same time really isn't," Mike threw them a hint. They left the subway behind and entered another dimly lit hallway, this one looking like it could belong in a mansion of some kind. As they passed the portraits on the walls, they suddenly came to life, blinking and staring at them.
"Anybody else getting Haunted Mansion vibes?" Gabe asked. "Cause this is really reminding me of that ride back in Disney World."
"It's not just you," Liz agreed. "I'm definitely getting flashbacks of that too."
"You know…I just realized something. We never actually tested whether we can make the pictures in Dad's house move like that," Fritz suddenly realized. A mischievous grin spread across his face. "Oh man, I know what I'm doing what I get home!"
"Eh heh heh…no," Mike shot down that idea immediately. "You're not fucking up MY pictures just so you can screw around for a prank. I'm shutting that idea down right now."
"Aww…" the former Foxy inhabitant groaned in disappointment as they entered into a new area. In contrast to the dark hallways behind them, this one was a brightly lit garage setting, and to their right was a table covered with bizarre-looking gadgets. In a way, it reminded them of Mike's garage workshop back at home, although none of them had ever seen tools as unique and as bizarre as the ones on the table before them. A bit further down was another statue of a man in the same beige uniform as the previous statue, although this one was working on a large mysterious contraption on a table instead of wearing one on his back.
"You know…" Jeremy looked curiously at the device. "Some of this is starting to look familiar."
Gabe and Charlie snickered, having realized the new theme of this section of the museum…and the irony of their current situation. The former Bonnie inhabitant looked at them suspiciously. "What?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nothing!" the two of them replied innocently. Jeremy narrowed his eyes, not believing them for a second, but there wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment anyway. He instead chose to focus on the next room, one that looked like it could be in a fancy hotel…if it weren't for the fact that there was a piano playing by itself near the middle of the room.
"Thank God I never bought a piano," Mike declared as he watched the keys play themselves. "Otherwise I'd have to deal with you pranksters playing it all day and keeping me up all night. No thanks!"
"We wouldn't do that!" Susie protested.
Mike gave her an unimpressed glance. "Maybe you wouldn't, but what about those two. He briefly glanced towards Fritz and Cassidy, enough for the former Chica inhabitant to get the point.
"…that's fair," she reluctantly conceded. Before she could say anything else, however, a growl came from their left. All of them turned to see two elevator doors being blocked off by a makeshift gate…and a fat green slimey ghost reaching out towards them with its hands, a goofy smile on his face as it wobbled around.
"OH!" Jeremy realized. "Now I finally get it!"
"Yep!" Mike grinned. "And if I'm correct, then the next room should have the Ghostbusters themselves!" And sure enough, the next room contained all four Ghostbusters, standing heroically in their beige suits as they held their ghostbusting weapons out towards unseen spectral targets. The Ghostbusters theme song was also now finally playing, enough to wipe out any lingering doubt from the family's minds.
"Who ya gonna call?" Liz asked with a grin.
"GHOSTBUSTERS!" everyone else shouted gleefully.
Mike chuckled. "Kinda surprised it took some of you that long, but we got there when we got there."
Charlie giggled, before a pensive look came across her face. "You know…it's probably a good thing the Ghostbusters don't exist in real life, all things considered," she posited. "Otherwise there could be technology that could trap us in those metal boxes, which is actually pretty scary if you think about it."
"Technically, that kind of stuff already existed," Mike countered, and for once his expression was devoid of any humor. "We set that shit on fire for a reason. You guys should know that better than anyone."
The ghosts all cringed as they realized what he was talking about. "Yeah…" Charlie mumbled, "now I'm REALLY glad that ghostbusting technology doesn't exist."
"…Move on?" Liz suggested, a recommendation that everyone else was more than happy to agree with. They left the Ghostbusters behind, entering a seemingly generic New York-themed room which only had a backdrop of the city, a Sabrett hot dog stand, a taxi, and two wax statues of men that they didn't recognize. "Wait, what the heck?" she asked. "This seems so…"
"…generic?" Gabe offered.
"Yeah, that!" Liz finished.
"Maybe there's something else in the next room to explain this?" Jeremy ventured.
"No way to find out except to keep going," Mike concluded. He looked up at the TV screen, one that offered to show them the "Eighth Wonder of the World." The man frowned and stroked his chin. "Hmm…" He turned his gaze to the next passageway, and his eyes widened. "Oh. Okay, now I see what's going on."
The ghosts followed his gaze…and stared at the next hallway. One that was decorated in a way that was so radically different from the New York-themed room now that it couldn't have been any more different if it tried. The hallway had been styled in the form of a dense jungle, with both a heavy tree-themed background and actual (fake) trees being placed in the hallway itself to create the illusion of a dark jungle. It reminded the ghost kids very much of King Kong ride they had experienced in the Islands of Adventure, although this one was focused on jungles and trees as opposed to a cave.
"Ooh, spooky," Cassidy commented as they strode into the jungle. There was a statue of an explorer inside the jungle, likely the main character of the movie, but it was quickly forgotten in the positively gigantic face of King Kong. The monstrously sized ape's face was so large, it covered the entire wall from the floor all the way to the ceiling. King Kong glared fiercely at them with its red eyes, its mouth stretched in a permanent growl. "Someone actually made a wax sculpture of this guy?" Susie asked incredulously. "One big enough to cover the entire wall? How did they…EEK!" she exclaimed, as the ape suddenly blinked, giving it the impression of life. "Holy crap, that scared the crap out of me!"
Jeremy snickered. "Imagine if Charlie could somehow give life to all of these statues," he commented. "We'd have walking talking doubles of all these people in real life…AND have fictional characters come to life as actual people!"
Charlie rolled her eyes. "That's not how that works," she deadpanned. "Like, not in the slightest."
"Yeah, that would just be way too chaotic for its own good," Mike commented as they walked away from King Kong's gigantic face. It turned out that this wasn't the only giant statue of a monster, as they stumbled upon the reptilian face of the T-Rex only a few seconds later. "I don't even want to THINK about how much wax they had to find just to make these statues," he commented dryly.
"Probably enough to cover our whole house," Liz commented. "If they had to start over every time they messed up…which is probably pretty likely."
Their conversation was interrupted by Cassidy, who pointed excitedly at two figures close to the end of the jungle-themed hallway. "Look over there, guys!" she shouted. "It's Katniss Everdeen and Indiana Jones!"
Everyone turned to face the direction where she was pointing. "Holy crap, you're right!" Gabe exclaimed. "It's actually them!"
The ghosts quickly floated over to take a closer look at the statues. "I never thought I'd get to see Katniss Everdeen up close and personal!" Susie exclaimed.
"Damn, does Indiana Jones look badass!" Fritz agreed enthusiastically, clearly thinking along the same lines as his sister.
"Now I REALLY wish we could take pictures here," Gabe sighed as Mike proceeded to take a few more selfies with his phone.
"Advantages and disadvantages," his father said sympathetically as they finally departed from the jungle hallway. They found themselves in a surprisingly simple and spacious room, with a café/bakery near the area they had just left and the statues of a few female models and actresses scattered throughout the room. They didn't recognize any of them, so the family decided to just move on. Especially given what was coming next.
"Is that MARVEL?" Jeremy asked excitedly. "Are we about to see the superheroes from the MCU as statues too?"
"Seems like it," Charlie replied with a smile. "Let's see how accurate those statues really are."
They proceeded down the hallway, and right away were met with two iconic figures from the movies: Nick Fury and Captain America. Nick Fury was giving them a piercing, stern glare, while Captain America was holding up his shield and looking up heroically and defiantly at an imaginary threat.
"Damn, they even got the expressions right!" Gabe whistled appreciatively.
"This is probably the closest we're ever going to get to seeing the actual superheroes up close and personal," Liz commented. "I hope we get to see Iron Man soon!"
Her wish wouldn't be quite granted just yet, however. The next part of the exhibit didn't have Iron Man, but it DID have the giant Hulk-Buster armor that was based off Iron Man, along with the hulking green figure of the Hulk himself. Both figures towered over them, arguably as large as the King Kong face from before. "Close enough, I guess?"
"The real Iron Man is probably deeper in the exhibit," Charlie offered. "There's no way they don't have a statue of him, he's way too iconic to the MCU."
"Yeah, that would be a massive ball drop if they screwed that one up," Fritz agreed.
"I think there's a show that we can see or something," Mike mused as he turned to face two doors that looked like they led to an auditorium of some kind. "I think it's normally around here."
"That would normally be the case," a voice belonging to a female attendant interrupted him. Everyone turned to see her giving them an apologetic glance. "Unfortunately, the show itself is currently cancelled due to repairs."
"Aww man!" all the ghosts sighed in disappointment. "You've got to be kidding me!" Cassidy threw her hands up in disbelief.
"The show might be cancelled, but you can still cross the auditorium to get to the rest of the exhibit," the attendant offered sympathetically.
"I'll do that, thanks," Mike replied gratefully. The attendant opened the theater door and allowed Mike to pass through. The family quickly crossed the auditorium and passed the empty seats, giving one last wistful glance at the blank screen before entering the other part of the exhibit. NOW they saw many of the other heroes that they had been looking for, including Iron Man, Thor, Doctor Strange, Black Widow, and many other heroes who had become an essential part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
"Yes!" Liz cheered. "That's what I'm talking about!"
"I think this is the closest we're ever going to get to actually seeing these superheroes up close and personal," Gabe commented. "Unless we somehow see the actors at a show in person and they're roleplaying as their superhero or something. Which is probably never going to happen in a million years."
"I hope Dad gets a lot of cool pictures of these guys!" Fritz added.
"Got you covered, Fritz," Mike replied with a wink. He had been taking several more selfies with the different heroes while his children had been talking. "I think I gotta agree with Liz that Iron Man's one of my favorites. I love a good antihero."
Liz grinned at her father as he finally finished his last few selfies. "You have great taste, Dad!"
"Of course I do," he blithely replied as they finally walked through the last part of the hallway of heroes. As they did so, they began to hear upbeat, intense music that was getting louder the closer they approached it.
"Do you guys hear something?" Jeremy wondered. "Or is it just me?"
"No, I hear it too," Susie confirmed. "Sounds like…dance music?"
"Is there a party going on that we don't know about?" Gabe asked.
"We're about to find out," Mike declared. They reached the end of the hallway, which had transformed into white brick that sharply contrasted the hallway of heroes they had just left. Right above the doorway was a black sign that read "Fashion Experience with Alessandra Ambrosio." Bright stage lights were flashing in the room, which had several wax statues of famous models and actresses in elegant dresses either posing flamboyantly or gazing coolly at them. In the middle of the room was a black rectangular stage, where models could strut out from behind the curtain to stand in the spotlight in front of an (imaginary) adoring crowd.
"Hey, dad! You should get on that stage and show off some dance moves!" Fritz suggested with a snicker.
"Yeah!" Liz agreed eagerly. "That would be awesome! And hilarious!"
Mike gave them a very dry look. "No," he deadpanned. "Sorry, but I don't feel like embarrassing myself in public."
"Awww…" the ghosts groaned in disappointment.
"You're not missing much," he assured them as they moved on to the next room. "The last time I danced was all the way back in college, and my dance moves sucked ass anyway."
"Would Mr. Marshall say the same thing if we asked him?" Cassidy asked slyly.
"…I plead the fifth," Mike mumbled under his breath, earning more giggles from the ghosts.
The next room appeared to be dedicated to athletes of different kinds, ranging from soccer players to football players and even Olympic athletes. There were also several "sports games" near the athletes' statues similar to what one would expect to find in an arcade, giving any visitors the opportunity to play basketball or baseball right alongside some of the most capable athletes of their respective sports.
"Man, I really wish we could play these," Jeremy sighed a bit wistfully as he looked at the basketball arcade game. "It's so tempting to just pick up a basketball and toss it into the hoop."
"I know," Charlie put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "but we can't. Even if there weren't any other tourists who would freak out at seeing a floating basketball move by itself, there are definitely security cameras that would pick something like that up too."
"Did you ever play sports in college, Dad?" Gabe asked his father. "I know you went into robotics and engineering, but did you do anything else in your free time?"
"Not really," Mike denied. "I did do a little tennis, swimming, and running on the casual side whenever I had the time. But if you're talking about actual, full-blown sports with a team and a coach? Nope. Didn't have the body for it, and it didn't interest me all that much to begin with."
"I'd probably be the best sports player out of all of us!" Fritz boasted.
"That or you'd be too crazy enough to actually be any good," Cassidy snarked, earning a dirty look from her brother as the others chuckled.
They reached the end of the spots room, and as they did so they started to hear upbeat, energetic music again, similar to the previous room that they had just departed from. They entered a brief passageway brightly lit with purple lights and colorful panels, and soon found themselves in another dance party-esque room. It was even bigger than the room they had been in previously, and this time the party seemed to be in full swing. Colorful spotlights and stage lights flashed all around, casting the wax statues of more actresses, models, and singers in an enchanting and almost otherworldly illumination. In the center of the room was a DJ, his right hand lifted up with a grin on his face as he prepared to unleash some beats onto the party.
Susie smirked at her father. "You know, Dad, that offer to bust out some moves is still on the table," he jokingly suggested.
"Ha ha," Mike deadpanned. "And again, the answer to that question is still going to be no."
"Do you think it would be possible for us to set up a dance party like this at home?" Jeremy wondered.
"It's not gonna be with a giant DJ set, that's for sure," Mike commented. "Cost aside, I don't even know where I'd fit that kind of thing if I see it. And we obviously can't bring a DJ to the house without exposing all of you or making him ask some questions about why I'm bringing a DJ seemingly just for one person."
Fritz sighed. "You know, some days I think that being a ghost is awesome," he commented. "And then other days, I feel like we're missing out on a lot of shit because of it."
Charlie shook her head. "It is what it is," she replied sympathetically. "Just try and make the most of it whenever you can."
"That's a statement that doesn't just apply to being a ghost," Mike agreed. They left the dance party behind, and arrived at a gift shop that marked the end of Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Similarly to the two candy stores they had previously visited, this one was full of many different pieces of merchandise, some of which was focused specifically on the Wax Museum and others which revolved around New York City in general.
As they passed by a wax statue of Charlie Chaplin, Mike approached the cashier. "Excuse me, do you know where I can make a wax hand?"
"Of course," the cashier replied, pointing down the hallway. "Right down there, and you'll find it at the end before the elevators."
"Thanks," Mike replied with a smile as he followed her directions. The hallway itself proved special in its own right, as it was a red Wall of Fame with many different certificates and plaques. Each of the plaques held a picture of a celebrity to one side, with a handprint on the other and a message thanking the museum for allowing them to be a part of the artistry of the Wax Museum. At the end of the hallway, they found the station that Mike had been looking for. By good fortune, nobody else was around, meaning that Mike had free reign to take part in the activity immediately.
"Good afternoon, sir!" another employee cheerfully greeted him. "Would you like to make your very own wax hand?"
"That's what I'm here for!" Mike blithely replied. The employee dipped his hand in cold water to thoroughly clean it, and then slathered some lotion on it. "You know, part of me is tempted to make a middle finger hand as a joke," he admitted.
"…Why am I not surprised?" Charlie mumbled.
The employee rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't be the first person to try that. Normally, I wouldn't allow that, but since there isn't anyone else around I'll let you get away with it this time."
"Oh!" Mike smirked. "Thanks!" He made the universal crude gesture with his hand, and with another roll of her eyes, she placed a cast on Mike's hand and then lowered it into the pot of wax. Mike flinched, but the experience was surprisingly merely warm and relaxing rather than the hot and painful process that he had expected. After a few minutes of waiting, the employee guided Mike to take out the hand, and the ghost kids' eyes widened in shock as they saw the hand completely encased in the wax.
"Holy crap!" Jeremy exclaimed. "That's so cool!"
"Now Dad has his very own wax hand!" Susie added excitedly. "Just like the statues in the museum!"
"Do you think this is how they actually made the wax statues in real life?" Liz wondered. "Or did they do that differently?"
"It's probably different," Gabe answered. "Making a hand is probably a lot different from making a whole person."
"That's fair," the former Baby inhabitant conceded.
"This honestly doesn't feel half bad," Mike commented as the attendant applied some cold water onto the hand to cool the wax and take off the cast. "It feels pretty comfortable, actually."
"That's an expected reaction," the attendant replied. They waited several minutes for the wax to dry and harden. "While we're waiting, would you like to color this hand and fill it with cement?"
"Absolutely," Mike agreed. "It'd be a waste not to, and I really don't want the hand to fall apart in the first few seconds after I get it."
"What color are you going to make it, Dad?" Cassidy asked. Seconds later, the attendant asked the very same question.
Mike smirked. "The only color worth coloring a middle finger with. Red, of course!"
Charlie rolled her eyes. "Why does that not surprise me in the slightest?" she mumbled as the other ghosts giggled. The attendant seemingly looked just as exasperated as Charlie did, but didn't make any comment as she removed the wax from Mike's hand and dipped it into a bucket of red colored wax. After several more seconds, she took the hand out, revealing that Mike's middle-finger statue was now completely red.
"This really reminds me of the Fuckstick now," Susie giggled.
"Should we try using this instead of the Fuckstick the next time we play One Night at Mike's?" Gabe suggested.
"Might be a little too heavy for me," Mike replied as the attendant began filling the hand with cement, "but one of you guys could try it out when you're subbing for me."
"Good enough for me!" Fritz eagerly replied as the attendant waited for the cement in the hand to dry and gave it to him a few minutes later.
"Is there anything else you'd like to do?" she asked, with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She wasn't being outright hostile, since Mike hadn't been discourteous or rude to her in any way, but the ghosts could tell that even she was just about done with the man's antics at this point.
"Nope, that's about it," the man replied with a friendly smile. "Thanks very much for the hand."
"No problem, sir!" she replied. "Just take the elevator down to get to the exit."
Mike nodded and did as he had been instructed, the ghosts following. They descended down the elevator and left the museum, re-entering the bustling streets of Times Square. "You know, I just noticed something," Jeremy realized, taking a look around. "Is it just me or, is there are a LOT of people around here?"
"I mean, it IS a big city," Liz countered.
"No, seriously!" the former Bonnie inhabitant insisted. "Even Chicago and Las Vegas weren't this crowded back when we visited them."
A slow grin crept across Mike's face, instantly catching their attention. "Oh, I think I know why," he answered with a hint of mischief in his tone. "There's a big event that's going to be happening at the end of the year…and it's the last and possibly one of the most important things we can do tomorrow."
"What?" Susie asked eagerly.
Mike winked at her. "You'll see…" he promised.
The Next Day…
Out of all the many sights and wonders that the ghosts had experienced, the one they bore witness to now was a strong contender for the most amazing thing that they had ever seen on Earth ever since they had been freed.
The ghost children were flying high in the sky, far above the streets of Times Square. If they had thought that the streets of New York City had been crowded before, they were now positively jam-packed with people to the point that they could not identify a single piece of open pavement. From this high up, the crowd of tourists looked less like people and more like a blend of colors, with the occasional purple streamer or bright light flashing from them.
The view of the rest of the city itself was equally as enchanting. Night had long since fallen, and just like with Chicago, the countless twinkling lights of the windows from New York City's skyscrapers offered a brilliant contrast to the night sky, a sea of lights underneath a horizon of darkness. This effect was even further enhanced by the advertisements, neon lights, and TV screens that they had previously seen in Times Square, which now positively saturated the square with light in a way that was almost blinding.
And yet, as amazing as these sights were, they were merely a minor consideration to the Schmidt family at the moment. Because all of their attention at the moment was focused on one specific building. A building that held a glowing crystal ball on top of it that was seconds away from descending, a ball that represented the "Big Apple" that was New York City's iconic nickname.
"Ooh, it's almost time!" Cassidy exclaimed as she took a look at the time on one of the billboards. "The apple's about to fall!"
"It's almost the New Year!" Susie agreed excitedly. "I never thought we'd be able to see this in person!"
"Kind of a shame that Dad isn't here, though," Liz replied with a sigh. Without supernatural ghost powers, Mike had little choice but to watch the Apple fall from his hotel room. He had fortunately possessed the insight to check into a hotel in Times Square itself, and specifically ask for a window that looked out of Times Square and towards the crystal apple, but it didn't make his absence any less disappointing for the ghosts.
"It's okay, Liz," Gabe reassured her gently. "I'm sure Dad will be able to enjoy the view even if he couldn't be here with us."
Liz smiled gratefully at her brother, but before she could say anything Fritz suddenly grabbed her arm. "Look!" the former Foxy inhabitant exclaimed, pointing at the TV screen underneath the crystal ball. "It's falling!"
11:59 PM had come, and the ball had started to descend just as Fritz had pointed out. Right underneath the ball, the TV screen had started to count down from 60 in golden letters. As one, the ghosts joined the count down towards the New Year, their excitement increasing as the numbers got closer and closer to 0.
"10…9…8….7…6…5…4…3…2…1...!"
The ball hit the building, and an explosion of fireworks erupted from the side as the number 2027 lit up in bright golden letters, signifying the beginning of the New Year.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
The ghosts leapt and flew in the air, hugging each other and cheering as they celebrated the beginning of the New Year. Charlie smiled as she watched them play in the air, her eyes fluctuating between her jubilant siblings and the golden 2027 that now glowed brilliantly in the night sky.
"Happy New Year indeed," the former Marionette thought contentedly as she thought about the many great moments they had shared in the past, and would continue to share in the future. "Happy New Year to us all."
/
A/N: Holy crap! This was a massive CHONKER of a chapter! 24 pages on Word and over 11000 words! Easily one of the longest chapters I've ever written, for a VACATION episode of all things!
Actually, there's a big reason why this chapter is as long as it is. With the beginning of April, I've started my month in the ICU, which is easily going to be one of the hardest and most intensive months of my hospital residency, both in terms of time and energy (if you know anything about hospital ICUs, you'll know why this is the case). Because of this, I don't know when I'll release the next chapter. It could be in 2 weeks. It could be a full month. And more than anything else, I wanted to wrap up this vacation arc so that I could settle things on a relatively solid note before possibly entering radio silence for a full month. It might be the cleanest chapter I've written (it could and probably should've been split into 2 or possibly even 3 chapters depending), but given the circumstances I figured it was best to just get it out now instead of waiting possibly a full month just to finish this arc with a single chapter.
With that being said, we'll be going back to good old Utah starting next chapter. And with our return to Utah, we'll be going right back into proper FNaF-related stuff. Up to and including Special Delivery, if you can finally believe it!
This was quite the long chapter, but I hope you guys enjoyed!
