Birds of a Feather

by Cassiun

Evan Afton never had an easy life. After his short life of fearing animatronics and promptly dying to one, he realized how awful this world could be. Though, after many changes he realized that animatronics were similar to him and so he vowed to help and take care of the ones who wanted a new life. Except, nothing is bound to go as planned.

14. Chapter 14

Authors Notes

Enjoyed the loving, fluffy scenes in the last one? That's good.

Titles, if applicable, will have the arc name in it now. It will be written on the right side of the title name.

Been pretty busy with school and sorta just enjoying life. Hard to write when I'm not in the right mindset to write but don't worry, I'm still making progress even if it's a lot slower than before… was what I was thinking as I started school and here I am… only 12k words.

Well, on the bright side, I am back so please do enjoy this chapter.

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The Downfall - Insanity

Perhaps it all started a long time ago with Roxanne's intuition or maybe it was just fate that he was the one to find trouble first, but whatever it was he knew exactly whose signature it was. It had started out very light, almost playful in a way, taunt with sticky notes showing up with cute drawings. Except, it was the 'where he found them' and the 'what he found on them' that had been alarming.

The night after the midnight party, especially concerning all the animatronics, had been very quiet. Roxanne had worked herself sleeplessly the past few days and, after a bit of coaxing and deal making with Michael, she had made her way to bed early. Freddy and Chica, too, had overextended themselves as they both stayed up all night for the party and went straight to work the following morning.

Unlike the other three, Monty and Bonnie had been sitting around somewhere perhaps just taking some time for themselves seeing as they both, or at least the gator, enjoyed spending some time alone. Whatever case it may have been, the Pizzaplex was uncharacteristically quiet for once.

It was only along the walk around the Pizzaplex, Michael realized how genuinely quiet it had been. Minus the quiet background music playing all over the Pizzaplex, there almost hadn't been a single thing making a sound.

Every now and then there had been a wild Friendoskeleton that appeared in the distance, seeming to peek out at Mike in a way that made him seem like he was hiding. Atleast, until the night guard waved at him which coerced the walking bag of robotic bones the give an exaggerated wave before disappearing once more. Michael chuckled at this, thinking how funny the mute animatronic was despite not being able to make much of a sound.

At one point in Monty's golf, he appeared out of some fake cut-out grass, throwing a pokeball at the man before making intense eye contact as he retrieved it and left once again. Sometimes, that fella had acted like some sort of anomaly in the Pizzaplex as he seemed to show up where he wanted to when he wanted, but it didn't bother the man much.

It had been around the time Michael made it back to his security office, which he had rarely spent time in nowadays due to Roxanne always dragging him back to her room, that he had noticed something there that wasn't originally there. Michael started his rounds by briefly coming inside of the room to check cameras and drop off some stuff, if he doesn't go straight to Roxy's room, before making his rounds for the night. In fact, he grabbed his laptop from the wolf's room before coming here and placed it down with full intentions of slaying some oversized beasts. Yet, there had been something there, in a very eye-catching color, that wasn't there when he left.

As Mike moved closer, he recognized the thing contrasting off of his black laptop as an orange sticky note neatly stuck on top of it. It had been from the stack Trudge brought in to use during the lemonade sales, which he lost the day prior to. He knew that the boy wasn't present today and, while it wasn't exactly hard for him to enter the building and pull this sort of prank, the young man swore to Mike earlier that day that he'd work on his Halloween day costume. It had been with intent to let the night guard know that he wouldn't be around so Mike presumed this wasn't one of Trudge's fabled pranks.

On another hand, it could've been any of the animatronics but he had checked on all of them during the walk, including Sun who was still a bit upset about being left duct taped on the rafters the previous night. No one should have had time to make their way in here during his rounds, yet the sticky note was sitting smack dab in the middle of the laptop. Michael made his way closer and had been weirded out by what was on it.

It had been a stick figure bunny and a man drawn in what looked like black sharpie. It labeled the man as him, the night guard, and labeled the bunny simply as 'Me' with no other real context. There had been obvious details like things from the Pizzaplex in the background and, oddly enough, stitchings on the rabbit as if the rabbit was supposed to be Frankenstein. It had been a peculiar addition but one that wasn't out of the ordinary seeing as October was around the corner. The bunny and, presumably, Mike were holding hands in a very childishly cute way, the small way a small child may draw their parents holding hands. The next suspect had been Glamrock Bonnie or Friendo, but that was going to have to wait until later.

For now, he'd pocket the nice childish drawing and put it to the back of his mind for later. Whoever it was, he'd poke a bit of fun at them for their drawing skills. Except, there wasn't a chance as another one showed up the same night in a place he was positive he had been before.

As he left to check up on Roxanne, right before his shift ended, there had been the same color of sticky note on the door into the wolf's room. It had been at such an angle that seeing it from the hall would be pretty difficult to do unless you were looking for it. On it had been a similar styled drawing, yet the characters had been colored in this time, albeit a bit messily.

The night guard had been colored in with a familiar purple while the bunny had been mismatched with a smattering of gray, white and a bit of beige. There had been a patch on the hip with some red, but it was hard to tell with the quality what exactly it was. In the bunny's hand had been something that resembled a carrot, which had been one of the two things not colored in and, finally, in between the two of them holding hands with both the bunny and the night guard was what seemed to be a child. It was also not colored in but he could tell that it had been a boy.

Whoever it was playing this prank had done pretty well going out of their way to place these notes where he would have the most likely chance to see them. While the notes were creepily cute and definitely some sort of joke left by someone to get a rise out of him, Michael instead found it in bad taste. It had especially made him feel awful when he thought about the bunny.

Michael unlocked and made his way inside of Roxanne's room to find her laying with her face against the bed on Michael's phone, still partially buried under the covers. After a soft cursing himself in his head, he made his way into the room and towards the wolf with pure intentions to get his phone back from her.

"Rox, what are you doing?" Asked Michael with a slight accusing tone. The wolf looked up at him, acting nonchalant about the entire situation.

"I'm just checking out your search history and, man, are you fucking boring. Try looking up some porn at some point. It's like you're not even interested in women." Said the wolf before setting his phone down on its face into the seat of the couch. The night guard quickly reached for his phone, barely taking a hold of it before Roxanne could keep him from grabbing it. "Hey, I wasn't finished with it."

"It's my phone, Rox. Besides, what about my laptop? Shouldn't you be using that?"

"I don't see it anywhere so I figured you took it out of my room." Roxanne made a weird emphasis on 'my' in the sentence, making the man roll his eyes at the taunting. At the same time, the night guard remembered he did take the laptop out of the wolf's room after she slept but the weird feeling he got from the last sticky note didn't exactly leave any room inside his head for something that wasn't as important to the subject until 10 seconds ago. On the top of which, Michael pulled out one of the sticky notes before showing it to Roxanne.

"I keep finding these all over the place." Said Michael, showing her a sticky note. "Found this one on your door. Did you hear anyone come by?" The wolf gave him a weird look.

"No? No one but you. Are you sure you aren't hallucinating and drawing these yourself? Drugs are bad for your health, Mike."

"I wonder how much I could take to make you seem less bitchy. Maybe something to keep you from kicking me in your sleep."

"You won't need me to sleep with you in order to kick your ass."

"I wouldn't need to get my ass kicked if I just didn't sleep with you."

"Awwh, cmon, Mike. I know you looove my soft fur." Mike had to admit to himself that he, indeed, did love a face full of her soft fur but like hell would he say that out loud.

"I'm sure your fans would be thrilled to know you're a cool, badass wolf during the day but a fuzzy body pillow during the night." Roxanne made a sound between a growl and a whine as she noticeably blushed a tiny bit before getting herself off of her bed.

"You know what? You're right." Said the wolf as she slowly stepped towards the man. "Perhaps I should change that. What would all the fans think of their big, strong night guard being reduced into a wolf's chew toy?"

From that moment on, both of them threw curses and teases at each other for the next little bit while they moved from wrestling onto the couch and Roxanne forcing Mike to pet her tail until it was about time for him to go. It had always felt weird for them to say goodbye to each other even though they knew they'd see one another soon enough, but it was still bittersweet all the same.

Roxanne had once brought up the idea of taking her home with him and, while the idea wasn't the most horrible, they agreed to do so on a day they shut down the Pizzeria. If Mike's memory served him correctly, it would happen the Monday and Tuesday in this upcoming week which, luckily, was the day after Halloween. After saying his goodbye's, Michael finally made his way to his car as Vandana called him. It had shown up as 'Vanny My Beloved' surrounded by some hearts due to a prank the woman had pulled on him the night before. The night guard chuckled as he pressed the green button on his phone before leaning on the front of his car.

"Morning…" Said a groggy sounding voice from the other side of the phone. It had been rare that Vanny wasn't already awake by the time he was heading out for work as she seemed to never truly sleep.

"Morning. Did you just wake up?" Asked Michael as he sipped on his coffee he made on his way out, trying to enjoy the sunrise and stay warm at the same time.

"Y-yeah… My head is killing me… Feels like my head is splitting open…" This worried the man a bit as he listened to her moans of pain.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Can you bring me something from the pharmacy? It seems I'm out of medication…"

"Uh, yeah sure. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks…" And with that light conversation, the call had been dropped and Mike made it a point to hurry. He couldn't help but be worried since he had never heard the woman feeling as bad as she did now. As Michael moved himself into the driver's side seat after unlocking his door, he realized there was a lot more to worry about.

For in the middle of the steering wheel was another orange sticky note and drawn on there was the rabbit covered in what seemed like blood including the carrot. As he looked closer, seeing if he missed the place where the night guard was drawn, he realized that the child that had been there was covered in blood, lying on the ground dead and suddenly Michael realized the carrot wasn't so innocent.

It had been a knife the bunny used to kill the child with. Suddenly, the man had a lot more to worry about.

-SB-

Evan had promised that he'd buy a costume for Gregory on his day off, so they, in addition to Chara, had found their way inside of a large party store in the town over.

Normally, they'd all come together to make costumes for everyone as the joy of wearing someone's well-made custom creations had been a thrill for both wearer and maker, Gregory had explicitly wanted to go out and buy one from a shop with the two of them. It would have seemed like a weird and sorta selfish request to some, but, to Evan and Chara, they completely understood. Not only that, but Evan had business here though it could wait until after they found what they came for.

As a child, it was an experience to be able to go out with your family and pick costumes out, perhaps dressing up as your favorite superhero or cartoon character before picking out a tacky bucket to keep your candy in. All around, the grabbing of the costume and bucket weren't all too amazing but it was the experience of being a kid in a store where the entire topic is about you that's so thrilling. This was something that neither Evan nor Chara had much of a chance to enjoy so they wanted to give Gregory that chance instead.

As the three of them made their way down the aisles of the store, Evan and Chara started to feel a stare come their way. It wasn't uncommon for there to be people that stared at the two of them, especially when they held hands the way they were doing now, or hugging and kissing all over each other, but what bothered the two of them was that they couldn't see anyone at that time. Chara briefly glanced over to Evan, who did the same quickly after, connecting their gazes and understanding each other in an instant. Neither of them believed anyone would want to hurt either of them, but it never hurt to be cautious.

"Oh, look!" Cried Gregory, making the pair snap their heads to look at the boy who had been pointing out a clown costume. "This is what Lizzy said she was modeled after!" Both Evan and Chara let out a soft sigh of relief, smiling at the child's enthusiasm.

Baby had given out her true name to Gregory for him to use for a while now, refusing for the boy to call her any other names unless they were variations. The two of them had seemed to get closer together the more time that passed to the point that, unless one went somewhere the other couldn't, they stuck together almost literally. Gregory helped Baby get rid of some unnecessary wires as the animatronic didn't exactly have anything to contain them or use them for. Instead, the remaining ones were bundled up and cased in duct tape to create thick cords that not only Baby could move herself with but also wrap around Gregory to be carried with ease.

Frankly, the two of them seemed to make a great team and worked on countless things across the house. The young boy would take apart old devices they had lying around the house and repurpose them, sometimes using Evan's workshop to put things together. In fact, the tablet Gregory always carried around, the same one the technician saw in the boy's arms as he was thinking about it, had been something he created using a few different tablets and some phone parts.

Evan had been in awe that a boy, who was barely older than maybe 10 or 11, had such profound knowledge and experience with gadgets and electronics the way he did. It had been to such a point that, if the boy had been older, he would've thought about hiring him to come work in the technician's company. The strange thing about this was that no matter how many times or ways he asked the boy how he learned all these things, Gregory simply smiled and shrugged while giving all the credit to some charitable man he met when he was younger. It was nice to know the boy had things he was inspired to do yet Evan's brain had jumped to the other strange thing about the duo.

Elizabeth had made it a point to watch and point out similarities between Evan and her brother. It had once been her father she compared him to but after being severely scolded by Mangle and Chara over doing such a thing, it wasn't something did anymore. Well, at least out loud. Obviously his sister had figured out who he was, but didn't have any real proof to back it up other than her spot-on intuition. She had gotten close on a few occasions to making the technician admit to being who he was, but Evan had swore to himself not to do it.

At least, not until he knew how to break it to Michael as well.

It had been about this time that Evan's phone rang, breaking him out of his train of thought. He glanced over at Chara, who was helping the boy find a proper size of clown suit to fit him, who glanced back at him before giving him a knowing look and a thumbs up, letting her human know that she'd be okay. He nodded, making his way towards the front of the store to step outside. As the technician did so, he realized how cold it had actually been inside since the temperature outside wasn't much different.

"Good morning, Michael." Said Evan as he answered the phone. Naturally, it wasn't exactly what a night guard would call their morning exactly, but the night guard was the type of guy to find time to sleep any time he could. Even if it meant sleeping with a certain animatronic wolf that the man swore up and down he has never slept with.

"I wish I could say the same, Evan." Responded a grim sounding Michael from the other side of the phone, instantly making the technician worried.

"Is something the matter?" A slight pause followed by a heavy sigh said it all, showing obvious signs that something serious was going on.

"First off, does Vandana work today?" It had been a strange question coming from Mike seeing as Vanny was yet another girl stuck to the man that he swore time and time again wasn't anything more than a friend.

"Can't ask her yourself?" Teased Evan, slightly trying to relieve some of the tension in the conversation.

"Would love to, but she's currently running a high fever and attempting to sleep it off. I just made my way over not too long ago after finding her collapsed on the floor when I came over to give her some medicine." This had been pretty shocking news for Evan as he just saw the woman the day before seeming perfectly fine. A sigh escaped the technician's mouth for a moment.

"Well, hell… No, she doesn't work today. Stuff seems to be slowing down a bit due to the holidays, so we all agreed to take the weekend off. Is there anything I can do to help you two?"

"Right now she needs to get some sleep. I'll be spending my time here until I have to leave for work. I'm seriously thinking about taking her to the hospital but she says she doesn't want to."

"Any reason why?"

"Hell if I know, but I'm not going to send her unless it's absolutely necessary." Evan sighed again, scratching his head.

"Okay, just keep me posted. I guess that wasn't the worst news you could have given me…"

"Then you'll be displeased to know I wasn't finished." Said Michael, making Evan listen closer. "While there isn't much to go off of, I have a really bad feeling that something is in the Pizzaplex." Evan listened in great detail as he moved back towards the car, sitting inside the driver's side, nodding his head as Michael started his story.

Back inside the store, Chara smiled happily as she found what seemed to be a perfect size clown suit for Gregory. Seeing the boy happy had been one of the most joyous things that's happened to the puppet in a long time. She had missed the wonders of protecting and entertaining children, even if she only did the latter on occasion.

The way the boy moved around as he hugged the suit, the brightest smile donned on his small, pale face brought light around the area that could only be described as a miracle. It had been a miracle that any of them were alive and even more so that they could all live happy lives. At least, most of the time.

It had been around this time, a few minutes after Evan made his way out of the store, that the staring had begun again. Chara froze up, feeling around for a presence with her mental 'sense' finally allowing her eyes to land before a lady peering from the end of the aisle.

Neither Evan nor Chara really wanted to judge people on what they look like, especially since the two of them would be extremely hypocritical doing that, but as the staring woman walked out into view the thought that immediately entered the puppets mind was simple: Karen. Everything about this woman screamed that she was a Karen, including the signature judging look.

The "Karen" walked up towards them slowly, eyeing between Chara and Gregory, almost like she was trying to figure what to make of them. The boy between them had been oblivious to the woman's approach as he excitedly examined and picked at the candy buckets with their neat and spooky designs that caught the boy wonderstruck.

The woman ended up eventually stopping not too far away from both of them and it was only them that Chara realized she had been an employee, the manager at that based on her name tag, so perhaps she was curious about them. It wasn't unheard of that people still didn't know Chara or Mangle too well in some of the surrounding cities out of Hurricane but it was alright, there was no way that a manager was going to be awful, right? After all, they had to get the manager position somehow.

"Uhm, excuse me, Ma'am or whatever you are." Asked the lady, who apparently was actually named Karen. "Is this your…" She pointed at Gregory, who just looked up from his entrancement, as she stopped and stared at the puppet with squinted eyes. "What are you?" This had, thus far, been an okay start and Chara was happy to explain.

"Uh, I'm actually an advanced animatronic who works with a man by the name o-" Chara responded in a very recited way, only to shortly get interrupted.

"Okay, whatever." Said Karen, scoffing loudly. "Kid, is this your robot?" Gregory looked up at the woman innocently as a spark of annoyance lit inside of the puppet.

"Me?" Gregory said as he pointed at himself. "Uhh…"

"Yeah, you. There's no one else around with a floating perverted robot. I mean, c'mon, kid. They make these things better than they used to back in the day, but they're still too wordy." Another spark of annoyance attempting to start a flame. YOU asked ME a question, lady! Thought Chara, fuming internally. The puppet had to calm herself down, physically splaying out her hands to calm herself before continuing on.

"Ma'am, look, we-" Said Chara before abruptly getting interrupted, fingers snapping in her face.

"I wasn't talking to you." Said the manager, making the puppet almost have to hold herself back physically as she listened to the rude woman ramble to Gregory. "How do you turn this thing off? It's annoying and bothering me. Anyways… You can't be in here without a guardian, kid, so I need you to leave immediately." Gregory looked up at her in confusion.

"I have one, though?" Said the boy looking up at Karen in confusion.

"If you mean the man that went outside, then that's not okay either. You are not to be left unattended. Now, let's get you out of here." The woman grabbed onto Gregory's wrist, pulling him closer to her and making the boy cry out a bit. In an instant, Chara's programming set off inside of her, screaming that she launch herself onto the woman and take the boy as far away as possible. For a moment, it sounded very persuasive but attacking humans would do nothing but harm those around her. As she quickly thought of what exactly to do, her question answered itself for her.

Gregory bit the woman's hand, making her cry out in pain as she let go and the boy latched on to Chara. Karen looked towards the boy in anger before looking at the deep bite in her hand and resuming her gaze upon the boy, filled with fury. The puppet put the boy behind her as the woman approached.

"Leave us alone!" Yelled Gregory from behind Chara. "She's a better person than you are!" The comment from the boy threw Chara off, taking her by the heart as if she was complimented by the boy for the first time ever. The child she had started thinking of as her own was now seemingly reciprocating and it made her jump for joy on the inside. Yet, she couldn't celebrate just yet as the Karen had yet to move away, steam practically blowing from her ears. The manager stomped up, ready to grab up Gregory as a big body moved at the other end of the aisle.

"Hey!" Yelled out Evan as he started moving quickly towards Chara and Gregory before moving between them and Karen. "Who are you and what are you doing to my family?" Evan hadn't seen much, but the body language the woman showed said it all as she rushed her way towards his partner and the boy. She huffed and poked a finger into his chest, looking directly at him.

"Your brat and his doll have assaulted me!" Yelled Karen, who was jutting the finger harder into his chest as she spoke. "I want you all out of here now before I call the police!" Evan felt himself boil up in anger as he looked back and saw Gregory's slightly fearful eyes towards the woman but calmed himself down. There wasn't much he could do to her, but he knew she'd get her just desserts. With a business-like smile, he looked on at her.

"Of course. I will ensure that I never step foot again in this store." With that, he grabbed Chara's hand, who was holding Gregory's, and moved towards the exit. The woman huffed with a smile, feeling as if she won as she watched the trio walk towards the door.

"Don't come crawling back!" It was the last thing they heard as the automatic doors closed behind them and they got back into the car. Chara let out a static noise in rage as they made their way out of the parking lot. Her anger had boiled up inside of her chest as she thought of the way the woman treated all of them. A hand landed onto her thigh, snapping her out of her hateful thoughts and realizing it was Evan's.

"Are you two okay?" Evan asked softly as he kept his eyes on the road. Chara nodded softly, placing her hand on his before grasping it. The technician briefly looked into his rear view mirror to check on Gregory in the back seat to see that he was staring out the window, head propped up on his hand.

It wouldn't be uncommon for a boy his age to be crying or upset about what happened in the store and yet here he was calming staring out of the window. Evan knew that the boy had not been like any of his peers by a long shot. From what the man was able to get from the boy in his previous attempts to talk about his past, he hadn't had much of a past to remember other than his home life with his parents. It had seemed that the boy had struggled to remember much else other than his parents, which brought up a tale in itself.

Gregory's recollection had been spoken of quite fondly, almost in a way that made his memories sound like the most special and prized possessions that could be owned by a young child. They had seemed like amazing moments in his life, at least until Evan thought about the contents of these memories. Some had spoken of how much his parents trusted him to be alone often, which had been extremely alarming knowing that Gregory couldn't have been much older than four or five at the time.

Even with incidents like that in his life, Gregory still treasured his deceased parents very much which was a relief in Evan's eyes. Many people seemed to struggle with bad or missing parents, some taking their hatred out on the world due to it. The technician personally didn't remember his mother very well and, while he did vividly remember the sweet side of his father, he remembered how much of a monster he had been. It was a fate Evan wished on no one, especially not the young boy.

Evan could hear the boy shift behind himself in his seat, looking a bit uncomfortable from the looks in the rear view mirror. It had been their first outing to shop as a family since they had been together and, so far, the experience had been quite a sour one. While Evan didn't see everything, he could assume how awful it went.

"Hey, Greg," Said Evan, catching the boy's attention, "we can go home if you no longer feel like shopping." The boy shook his head, looking confused as he did.

"What about my costume?" Asked Gregory in a curious tone.

"We can always go another time." The boy shook his head again, confirming his decision.

"I want to get my costume today, though…" Evan looked back to his rear view mirror briefly to see the boy's said face before glancing over to Chara, who shrugged.

"Well, if you're okay after what happened, then I know a place we can go." Immediately, Gregory perked up, smiling with a wide smile. He unlocked his tablet as he spoke.

"Thank you! Also, that lady wasn't that mean. People have said worse things to me all the time in the past!" Both Chara and Evan shared a worried glance to each other, realizing the boy was talking about before they 'adopted' him. The puppet turned around to look at the boy, who was scrolling around on his tablet.

"Gregory," Said Chara softly to the boy as his eyes moved to her, "you don't have to worry about anyone calling you mean names anymore, okay? We'll make sure to protect you."

"And if someone does, let me know." Said Evan, still focusing on the road. "I'll make sure to give them a good talking to." Chara rolled her eyes as Gregory giggled a bit, smiling as the two reassured him.

"Just remember, you're never alone and you can always come to either of us if you need help or have any questions." Chara smiled at the boy after speaking those words, giving off warm vibes towards the child. The boy nodded with a smile before a thought came into his head.

"I do have a question." Said Gregory, making Evan smile. He was happy to hear that the boy was already relying on them and comfortable enough to be himself. Perhaps it hadn't been too long since they met each other, but the man felt that he and the boy had known each other much longer than that. The man shook his head, knowing very well that he didn't deal with too many adolescent children and the past few years had been busy for him so the likelihood that he met Gregory before wasn't all that great.

Either way, it was a good thing that he was here now. Whatever life he had before was no longer and Evan vowed to make sure to give this child the childhood he never had even though he knew next to nothing about actually raising a child. Perhaps he'd go to Trevor about it at a later date. Perhaps it'd be easier than he thought.

"Of course, sweetheart." Responded Chara, pulling Evan out of his thoughts and answering Gregory. "What do you want to ask?"

"Are you two married?" The painstaking question came back to haunt them as they both awkwardly thought of a proper answer to the boy's question. If Foxy had been here at this moment, he'd be howling and dying of laughter. The technician made a mental note to give the pirate captain a hard time next chance he got.

Perhaps raising a child wouldn't be as easy as he thought it'd be.

-SB-

It had been a few hours since Vandana had fallen asleep when Michael realized he left his laptop in Roxanne's room. Normally it wouldn't have been such a big deal but the night guard still had some final things to figure out about his costume. Luckily enough, Roxanne had helped him figure it out but they were saved onto his laptop. With the free time he had looking while watching over Vanny, he realized now would be a great time to do so. Michael sighed as he pushed himself out of the seat in the woman's kitchen and onto his feet.

Vandana lived in a pretty well kept apartment with two bedrooms and a singular bath. There had been a lot of stuff in general between the living room and the dining room, which hadn't been divided with a wall but instead a bit of a step, separating the carpet from the tile. The shelves in the living room were filled with assortments of DVD cases while the shelves in the kitchen were filled with boxes and jars of preserved foods and the like. Vandana seemed to be prepared for something akin to an apocalypse with the amount of food stored inside of her home.

Perhaps this is what a stocked kitchen should look like. Michael thought to himself before moving out of the rooms and into the very short hallway. He knocked softly on the door at the end of the hallway before opening the door when he heard no response. The night guard turned the doorknob and moved his way inside of Vandana's bedroom.

Inside, Vanny had been curled up underneath two thick blankets while sweat beaded up on her face, rolling down just as soon as they swelled up. For as hot as she looked, she requested for more blankets while complaining that she had been cold. Luckily, her closet had been filled with blankets and comforters so getting something that would keep her warm was no problem. With a bit of water, rest and time, she'd be good as new within just a few days yet that wasn't exactly what Mike was worried about.

Hours before, he remembered how he found Vanny laying against the floor passed out and looking as pale as a ghost. Of course Michael had been concerned about the woman before as she was his friend, but the way his heart dropped when he found her door wide open and her on the ground had been comparable to the time Roxanne told Freddy his secrets. For a moment, he thought the woman was dead and that thought sent fear rushing through him.

Michael moved over and sat down on the chair near the bed, putting the back of his hand against the woman's exposed forehead and checking for a temperature. It had apparently been enough to rouse the sleeping beauty from her slumber as her eyes cracked open and her body stretched a bit.

"You oughta get some more sleep." Said Michael as he felt her forehead burning up. Vanny smiled up at him as she grabbed his hand and held it to her face.

"You're so cute when you worry about me." Said the woman before she let his hand go, coughing roughly into her sheets.

"And you look awful when you're pushing yourself." The night guard stated bluntly.

"No wonder you don't have a girlfriend." Teased the sick Vanny. Michael rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah…" Said Michael as he wiped the sweat from her face. "I need to go pick something up from the Pizzaplex real quick. Is there anything you want while I'm out?" The woman shook her head weakly.

"Unless you find something that'll work better for this fever than what you already bought me, then I think just a glass of water will be fine." The night guard sighed as he scratched the back of his neck.

"I don't know much about medicine. I don't ever get sick or feel too bad so I've never had to use them."

"Never?"

"I did when I was much younger but…" Michael left the sentence incomplete as he thought about the time before he died. He had rarely been sick while he was alive, but he seemed to have caught something after the first night or two in ARI. Perhaps it was from kicking up the blankets of dust that settled down there that made him feel awful, but it could have been anything. Perhaps the stress of finding his little sister possessing an animatronic body had done him in. Though, even then, he wasn't very good at trying to medicate himself as he simply grabbed the first thing that seemed to cure his symptoms.

"You remind me so much of Evan." Said Vanny as she put out her hand to take his, grasping at his thumb. The comment sent his body into alert before he realized that she meant her boss. "He never got sick and was always going into places with unhealthy environments yet never once did he even catch a cold." The woman turned her head to cough a bit before resuming. "Same pretty purple eyes, too…" It had been obvious that Vanny had been delirious at this point and, while it was cute, it did make Michael question the things pointed out about Evan.

He knew that the man was some living dead like he was but retrofitted physically by William. He knew that he gained the trust of every animatronic he met along with being extremely close with at least one of them, but that seemed to be all. Evan was a good guy, but there was so much about him that stayed a mystery to Michael that when people pointed out how similar they were, he saw his little brother in the man. As much as they were similar, the night guard knew it couldn't be him.

After running through the situation in his head at least once or twice, he realized that his little brother had died in the hospital with no remnant nearby and, more than anything, he saw his body in the casket being lowered into the ground. Even if their father were to dig him up soon after, there would be no way to bring his brother back. Evan Nafto just could not be his little brother and Mike continued to cement this belief in his mind.

Vanny drew him out of his thoughts by trying to link her fingers with his, making him chuckle a bit. Michael thought the woman had been cute at times and now was one of them. Michael remembered what he originally wanted to do and got up before tucking the girl in.

"Okay, I'm going to leave for a bit. Make sure to call me if anything happens, okay?" Vanny nodded weakly before laying her head back down into the pillow. It didn't take too long to grab her a glass of water and set it on her bedside table. Just as he was about to leave, he felt a hand grab his wrist and looked down to see the woman grabbing him softly.

"Kiss me goodnight?" Said Vanny innocently and sweetly, throwing the man off completely. Michael took a moment to process the words that left her mouth before looking back down at her, still unsure how to answer a sudden question like that. Michael moved his head and patted her head, attempting to comfort the girl.

"I'll be back soon." Vanny let go of the night guard's arm as her eyes were starting to droop, allowing the man to leave.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at the Pizzaplex as Vanny's apartment hadn't been much farther than a few blocks away from the place. After sending out a text on his watch, he stepped his way out of the car and into the Pizzaplex, making his way towards Roxanne's room. Though, it didn't take much time until he passed a familiar looking scene with a well dressed Trudge and Friendo standing at their lemonade stand.

Their theme today had been a famous pair of Italian plumbers with Trudge wearing a red cap with the letter 'T' on it as well as a fancy dark brown mustache. Friendo had worn a green cap, which was pinned to his head in a few different spots, with the letter 'F' etched into it and his own fancy, curly mustache and fake eyebrows. Both of them wore blue overalls covering their fittingly colored shirts and wore white gloves on their hands. Trudge had been right as their costumes did get better over time.

"Mike!" Called out Trudge, who was waving to him. The night guard came over briefly, greeting them with an unenthusiastic wave. "I thought you didn't work today."

"I don't." Replied Michael simply. "I left something in Roxanne's room and came to retrieve it. Speaking of which, have you seen her?"

"Right here, idiot." Said a familiar aggressive female voice from behind him, which turned out to be Roxanne crossing her arms and looking at him smugly. "Can't stand a moment without me, huh?" Michael rolled his eyes.

"I was standing perfectly fine even before you got here." It was Roxanne's turn to roll her eyes as she listened to the night guard respond.

"Cmon, I was just pulling your leg."

"Let's get going. I don't want to be gone for too long." Michael started walking towards Rockstar Row, waving at Friendo and Trudge, who waved back. Roxanne followed close behind, acting as if she hated the idea of following him.

"Seems like I'm not the only one you can't stand to be away from." Said the wolf in slight disgust, receiving a 'really?' look from the night guard. "What?"

"She's sick so I want to look after her. Nothing more, Rox." Responded Michael, passing by families as they spoke. It wasn't long before they reached the room and the man found what he needed, scooping up his laptop and bag before facing the wolf who had been standing behind him, staring directly at him.

"Are you going to be back tonight?" Asked Roxanne with a less than gentle tone. The raised eyebrow, crossed arms and the way she stood had said it all as the wolf didn't think the man would be coming to work tonight.

"Of course, I still work here." Said Michael with a bit of confusion. Roxanne huffed at the response.

"What about that woman?"

"Who? You mean Vandana?"

"Obviously, Mike. There's no other woman you ditch me for." Michael frowned at that statement.

"I don't ditch you for anyone, Rox. She's my friend, too. Anyways, what about her?" Roxanne huffed again, looking displeased with having to spell it out for the man.

"Aren't you going to stay the night and make sure she's okay?" Mike went to respond but paused for a moment, thinking about it. As far as the man knew, there had been no one she could call to stay with her. While there were relatives in a nearby town, Vanny didn't seem too eager to go visit them. Mike's head looked towards the showcase window, away from Roxanne, as he realized that the wolf might be right. Perhaps it was the best idea to stay there with her for the night, especially if she's still as ill as she was when he left.

"Maybe you're right, Ro-" Mike said before stopping as there had been something strange outside of the window. When they both came in, there had been an influx of families passing by the windows towards their destinations or simply checking out how the Glamrock gang lived yet now there had been no one there whatsoever. This might have been something he could have shrugged off as some sort of coincidence if not for what he saw next.

Peeking out from the right side of the window a stitched up gray bunny peered at him, waving its padded and stitched hand at him. Its eyes had glowed slightly with a red hue, pupils dotted the middle of her eye in black, and its smile had spanned from one side of her face to the other in a state of permanent glee. It had been obvious it was a rabbit due to the floppy gray and pink eyes it housed on each side of its head, dangling with the slight movements of the rabbit.

In an instant, Michael remembered the notes earlier that day with a similar colored bunny with a knife in his hand and realized that something had been terribly wrong here. The night guard pushed past Roxanne and made his way out of the door, looking around. Where the bunny had been was empty along with the hallway. Michael looked around quickly as the wolf followed him out of her room finally, looking at him like he was crazy.

"What the hell is your-" At that moment, the man spotted the bunny frolicking her way down the hallway and around the corner, a knife in hand. Michael made a mad dash towards it with Roxanne close in tow, starting to worry about her friend. They had eventually been led towards the room nearby that they had a party in and eventually they followed her in only to find that the room was empty. The night guard rushed forward, searching around for the bunny to be somewhere. There was no way he was imagining things and there weren't any other exits. She had to be here.

"Mike, Mike- MIKE!" Yelled Roxanne finally, looking at him in worry and a bit frightened. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Michael looked back at her, eyes wide and wild, before opening his mouth.

"There was someone in a bunny costume, an adult, just skipping around holding a kn-" He said before getting interrupted.

"What bunny? Do you mean Bonnie?" Mike was taken aback by the question.

"No, it was some gray, stitch patched bunny. Wait, you didn't see it?" Roxanne shook her head, looking at the man weirdly.

"No, I didn't. What bunny?" Mike shook his head and continued to look around, turning things over to check under and inside of possible hiding spots.

"This bunny came in here and just disappeared. I mean, they've gotta be somewhere, Rox." Roxanne slowly attempted to help look for this mysterious bunny and, after a few minutes of non-stop looking, neither of them found a trace. Michael sat down in a chair with a frustrated look on his face and his head deep in thought. Roxanne looked over at the man in worry as she came up to him.

"Mike…" Said Roxanne, receiving a glare from the night guard immediately before he softened up.

"Roxanne, it was here. I don't know what happened to the person I-..." He became quiet as his head started drifting back into thought.

"Are you sure it ran in here? I mean, you're not getting sick and seeing things, are you?" Michael shook his head as he got up, walking towards the entrance.

"I don't get sick, Roxanne, I-" As he looked towards the shutter door, he froze while staring directly at the door. Roxanne looked at him weirdly for a moment before following his gaze, seeing some orange and black square in the middle of the metal shutter door. Michael finally moved closer, his eyes trained on the square as he already knew what it was. His hand grabbed at it, bringing it to a viewable distance for both him and Roxanne.

"What is it?" Asked the wolf as she tried to get a better look. It had been a similar sticky note to the ones he found earlier but contents were different this time. This time, it wasn't himself nor a child in the photo but Roxanne. It had been the bunny standing over a bloody Roxanne with a knife. The rabbit wanted to hurt his best friend. With a gasp, Roxanne backed up with a bit of fear in her eyes and held an angry but scared face and tone.

"Mike, if this is a joke it isn't funny." Roxanne's hand on her maw was shaking slightly as Michael looked at her, trying to process the information he just took in. There was so much he was worried about at this point and he knew there was very little he could do about this alone.

"Rox…" Started Michael with a serious tone. "Let's talk to Freddy. I think I have something to admit to you guys."

-SB-

After that incident, a week passed by and it was Halloween. Since then, Michael and Roxanne spoke to Freddy about the night guard's encounters with the stitch patch bunny running around the Pizzaplex, disappearing wherever they cornered them at. With an agreement to keep this a secret as they didn't want to incite panic nor did Mike want anyone to know about this copy-cat coming along, they vaguely told the other three animatronics about the situation and to keep their eyes out. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to matter.

The only person to have seen the bunny girl up to this point was Mike and it stayed this way the entire week. While he was patrolling or working, he'd catch glimpses of her from the edges of his vision or barely peeking out from corners and no matter how fast the night guard ran or where they ended up the bunny would disappear. There had been a point that Michael started suspecting there were trap doors all over the place, yet he couldn't find anything. They were all dead ends and none of the crew, including Mike, could find any evidence on who this bunny was or where they went. Luckily enough, no one seemed to be getting harmed or going missing thus far but the anticipation was driving the night guard close to the edge.

On a separate note, it took Vanny most of the week to get better. Michael had spent most of the week going back and forth from her home to work as the woman was too weak to move around. She had been very grateful for everything the night guard was doing for her and even felt a bit bad that she had to rely on him for a good portion of things. Even then, Michael didn't mind it. He knew that if he happened to get into a similar situation, which he had already once during their date night, that she'd take care of him.

One thing Michael noticed while taking care of her was her fondness of sewing. The blanket she had on her bed had been a bunch of smaller blankets patched together which apparently were some blankets she had as a child that were kept through the years. Despite the embarrassment of the story, it seemed like a pretty sentimental item in Michael's eyes. Vanny had even made her own costume for Halloween, one that she planned on wearing around him whether she was feeling better or not.

"I refuse to miss out on my favorite holiday just because of some fever." Exclaimed Vandana a few days ago while Michael had been making food for her. Normally, the man didn't care too much for the holidays, especially Halloween, but, between Roxanne and Vanny, they both pestered him into trying to have more holiday spirit. It was something that the night guard didn't understand too well but had a feeling he'd learn plenty about in the upcoming months.

The sun had been going down when Roxanne came to get the man, insisting that they get ready. Michael sighed as he was reluctant to wear the costume his wolf counterpart had picked out for him, but there was little to no chance of him escaping, especially since she had already been dragging him towards her room. With a locking of the door and shutting of the curtains, both of them disappeared into the room for the next hour.

Perhaps all the Glamrock animatronics were getting dressed but no one was more excited for their costumes than Roxanne was.

-SB-

In the Nafto family household, there was a bit of scattering as everyone had been working on getting themselves ready for Halloween. The sun was setting as they all scrambled to finish their costumes. Everyone except Evan.

Evan didn't have a whole lot to deal with as he was dressing up as Chara this year. Last year, was a puppeteer for his puppet partner, who decided to shrink herself as small as she could be, put her wires around two crosses and prettied herself up before they made a show out of it in front of Evan's business. This year, though, he wanted to see how it felt to be the marionette.

With his costume put on and his facial make-up finished, he looked at himself in the mirror to check his handiwork. His body had been covered with a thin, black fabric up to right under his chin and black gloves covering his hands. On his arms and legs, there had been four white stripes running up his forearms and calves giving him the signature body look of the marionette. The technician's face had been covered in a bright white facial paint with his cheekbones dotted in red, purple tears coming down from his eyes and red lipstick on. There also had been two golden buttons on his chest where Chara's were, making him stand out from any other rendition of the Marionette.

His costume looked about flawless as all the fabric clung to his body snugly and the paint had been put on well. Evan remembered a small detail as he looked to the bed next to him and grabbed a porcelain mask that resembled the one Chara wore. It had been a backup that seemed to fit his face pretty well, so he made some slight modifications so that it would work as a workable mask for himself. Weirdly enough, it felt snug on his face and looked quite good on him. With everything on his side ready, Evan decided it was probably best to help the others get ready. With someone already in his mind, he moved out of the door and knocked on the door next to his.

"It's unlocked!" Yelled Chara from inside of her room, allowing Evan to make his way in. The inside of Chara's room was pretty simple for the most part as she used her room more for storage and interaction than actually living or sleeping in it. There had been a simply made bed in the farther corner of the room dressed with covers and pillows that quite honestly resembled the starry night sky. There had been a large colorful box nearby that had been for the puppet to sleep in along with boxes piled up in different sections of the room. Immediately in front of Evan had stood Chara in front of a make-up table with a mirror on it and a full body mirror posted right next to it. The man's eyes widened in surprise as he saw what exactly the puppet was wearing.

It had been a costume of Lefty, the black and dark gray bear that lured and trapped the puppet inside the fake pizzeria Michael made years ago. The costume had basically fit on her like a onesie with a hoodie. The hoodie itself had been fitted well enough to snugly fit over the puppet's head and her face poked out from the mouth of the bear. There was a face on top of the hoodie along with a sleek, shiny red top hat that seemed to be made from their 3D printer in the basement. On the chest itself had been a red bowtie sewed to the onesie along with a golden star in the lower middle part of the chest. As for the puppets' legs, they were painted to absorb the color of Lefty's legs, fully selling the entire costume. It had been a wonderful yet slightly horrifying design.

Chara looked directly at Evan as he stared at her, checking her out up and down, and she spun once or twice with her hands splayed out in a showing fashion. Despite the horror the man felt for the puppet, she had been smiling widely.

"How do I look?" Asked Chara as she posed, putting one hand on her waist and another to prop up her chin. "It took a long time to make and the hat was a piece of work to keep on the hoodie." Evan moved his way up and put his hands on the puppet's waist, looking her in the face.

"It's… it's very well made and you look absolutely gorgeous." Evan responded, still unsure how to feel about this. Chara's smile became warm as she cupped the man's face, looking at him properly, too.

"You look pretty damn good yoursel- wait, are you me?!" The puppet cried out in excitement as she looked him over again, confirming her suspicions as she moved up closer. "Holy hell, you do look good. I didn't know you wanted to be me so much." She winked during that comment, making Evan roll his eyes.

"After last Halloween, I had been interested in dressing up as you. It was a hard surprise to keep as we practically share the same living space but… seeing this reaction makes it all the more worthwhile." The puppet hugged the man tightly with a bright smile in which Evan simply patted her head.

"You're so wonderful." Chara said through a few warbles. The man decided that now was a good time to ask his question as he looked down at her with a slightly concerned face.

"And… you're okay wearing a Lefty costume?" Evan asked. His partner looked up at him in confusion.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"I just thought that… I mean, he was like a death trap for you, wasn't he?" A few emotions briefly shifted upon Chara's face as she looked up at the man and thought of how to respond, but they were a bit too fast to really pinpoint, but they didn't seem to be pleasant ones. With a sigh, the puppet opened her mouth.

"Well, that is one way of thinking about it and, while that was its intended use, I saw it more as a good will gesture from my father." Previously as they searched through ARI and the information found in a Handy Unit, which took frustratingly long to properly work on, they realized that there was plans to lure and destroy the remaining animatronics, including William Afton, into the pizzeria and kill them all together using the place as one large oven. At first, it had been a surprise at all that Evan's father was 'alive' and while the news started out as one of relief, it ended as one of worry.

The plans showed that there were particular animatronics they were looking to get rid of. These same documents had been the way they found out that Michael and Baby were alive as the plans spelled out the night guard being the owner and Baby being one of the animatronics in question. Alongside her name was Chara's, who had been put near the blueprints of a black and gray bear named Lefty who was supposed to lure and trap the puppet inside of it. Chara felt a bit heartbroken over the fact that her father had plans to kill her second chance in life and, for a while, she resented him.

"Mmh… still, didn't you dislike how he wanted to use this thing to kill your second chance at having a future?" Asked Evan, looking down at the puppet in worry. The puppet shook her head.

"After we talked the night before he… died, he just wanted me to be free. He thought that my soul was trapped in my body and I was in agony but even after talking to him, he was severely out of it. He was convinced that I was being controlled by my agony and needed to be free… but I knew he loved me… somewhere in his heart…" Chara hugged herself to Evan, who comforted her with a hug of his own and rubbing her back.

"It's okay, if you really feel that way then I support your idea. I'm happy you took something positive away from that whole scenario. Honestly, I thought I had lost you for good back then." The puppet looked at him with a smile after pulling back slightly from him before kissing him softly, in which he reciprocated.

"I'm here in front of you now and all yours." She said with a loving tone. "Though, maybe we should go check on the others before it gets too late." Evan nodded with a smile and they detached from each other.

"In that case, I'll check on Mangle if you wanna check on Foxy." Chara rolled her eyes.

"You just want to get my sister alone with you for a while." Evan smiled, rolling his eyes and decided to respond to his partner's teasing in a different way this time.

"Are you saying that because you think I want to be with Mangle or because you think Foxy somehow fucked up his easy-to-wear costume?"

"Both." The puppet responded immediately, making them both laugh. Evan pecked her quickly before moving towards the door.

"Well, I'll let you get to it. Call me if he breaks anything."

They both smiled and waved at each other until they were out of sight. Evan quickly made his way to Mangle's room as he wanted to try to get to Gregory soon after. With a knock at the door, Mangle cracked it open and peeked outside of it, seeing Evan. The pink fox quickly opened up the door and pulled the man in, catching him off guard, before closing the door quickly behind them. The man gathered himself as he looked around for a moment, the room being dimly lit.

"Mangle, just came to check on yo-" Evan stopped himself mid-way through his sentence, gawking as he saw what seemed to be practically a spotlight on Mangle, which happened to be a bright desk lamp shining down from a high shelf onto her, and seeing how she was dressed.

Mangle had decided to dress up as a witch this year, but not just any witch. She wore a tightly fitted black and orange skirt and top that sparkled in the light which accentuated her curvy body very well. The skirt itself had been one black layer of cotton fabric on top of a few alternating layers of thin, sparkly mesh fabric with the colors of orange and black. The upper part of the costume had been a continuation of the black cotton fabric with a thin orange and black string lacing up the front of the costume, showing a bit of a window to the chest and bell-like short sleeve cuffs finished out towards the shoulders. Her hat had been a pretty simplistic black witch cap with holes for her ears. Overall, Mangle had Evan's attention and she knew it.

"How do you like my costume?" Asked Mangle as she spun around once and winked at Mike, teasing the man. Evan smiled as he checked out the pink fox again.

"Wow, I mean… wow." Said Evan, echoing himself for a lack of better words. "You did this all yourself?" Mangle nodded shyly, proud of herself but still shy in nature.

"Yeah. It took quite a long time, but judging by your reactions it was all worth it." Evan realized how much he was staring before he cleared his throat, snapping himself out of it.

"I was just admiring your handiwork." The fox giggled as she watched him compose himself.

"You look good yourself, Evan. Did you dress up as my sister?" The man nodded.

"Yeah, it was something I've been thinking about since last Halloween."

"So, when do you plan on dressing up as me?" Mangle teased the man in which he was expecting that question.

"Pink looks better on you, so I think I'll keep it that way." The fox pouted in response. Evan simply smiled and patted her head, which she gladly accepted. "Anyways, are you ready to go?" Mangle nodded with a smile, looking excited.

"It's been awhile since we've all gone out as a family!" Evan smiled in response.

"This time we have more family members, so we oughta have fun so they can have a taste of how it was when it was just us. Speaking of which, I should go see how Gregory is faring."

"Wait actually, I'll join you guys in a bit. I think I want to finish some touch ups before I go anywhere." Evan chuckled a bit.

"You're already absolutely stunning as you are, but I won't stop you." Teased the man, making the fox blush and start pushing him out of the room.

"Go flirt with someone else, you!" Said Mangle before shutting the door on him, making the man laugh even more.

"So worth it…" He said to himself before turning around and knocking on the door basically across the hall from before hearing a brief response that sounded like he could come in. With that, Evan opened the door and pushed his way inside.

Gregory's room had been a bit of a mess, unlike the others, but not because it was unkempt but because there had been parts for multiple projects lying around. From old computers to big pieces of unrolled paper that seemed like blueprints, the floor was cluttered the same way a mad scientist's desk would be. Otherwise, the room had been pretty plain as the boy didn't really request anything to decorate it with and went more for function and fun. Baby had sat in a wooden kitchen chair next to the boy's bed, simply relaxing in her neatly arranged and zip-tied wires. She waved and Evan, in turn, waved back briefly before he saw Gregory appear from the closet.

The boy had been wearing a pretty standard killer clown costume with blood trickling down the corners of his mouth and off of his paper mache cleaver he made. It seemed that Baby more than likely was a big help in all of this as her fingers seemed to be stained in fake blood, which would be a pain to remove later. Gregory turned to see Evan before smiling and quickly moving in front of the man.

"Evan!" Cried the boy before he bounced to a stop in front of the man. "I'm a scary clown!" Evan chuckled as the boy posed for him, trying to seem menacing. He patted the boy on his fuzzy clown wig while giving him a thumbs up.

"You're the scariest clown I've ever seen, buddy." The boy beamed, staring up at the man.

"I guess you didn't get a chance to see me in my prime then." Said Baby, darkly joking with the older male.

"Lucky me." Said Evan flatly, unsure of how else to respond to that. Gregory, on the other hand, had plenty to say about that.

"Lizzy, you aren't scary!" Said the boy, scolding the clown animatronic. Something akin to a chuckle came from the female robot.

"Perhaps you're right, Gregory." She said with a fond smile. Evan was happy that Baby had changed while being around the young boy as the Baby Michael had mentioned before was not something anyone in this family had seen.

"Well, we're almost ready so I came to check on how ready you are." Said Evan. Gregory looked around before grabbing his sack that had 'Bag-O-Tricks' written on it.

"I'm ready! Well, after saying goodbye to Lizzy." The boy turned around to look at his wiry friend who simply smiled at him. Gregory moved over to her to hug her tightly, which she accepted with her own. "I wish you could come with us…"

"You can't take me around Michael, you know." Said Baby softly to the boy. "We don't get along with each other in the same room, so it's best that I didn't. You can always call or message if you need me. I'll always be there for you, my little boy who could." Baby ruffled Gregory's hair as he laughed a bit and pulled away.

"Stop calling me that! It's such a weird nickname."

"Yet it's the nickname that fits you the best. After all, who else could have overcome all that you have?" She smiled at him warmly before turning him around. "Go have fun, I'll be here when you get back."

Gregory moved his way past Evan and out towards the living room, more than likely interested in something he had left there. It had been at this moment Evan realized he had been alone with his sister for the first time in awhile. It was rare that Gregory ever parted ways with the female clown especially since Baby had only been a top half of an animatronic so mobility was quite difficult without someone to help her around.

The man's eyes landed on Baby, who had already been intently staring at him. Weirdly enough, the wiry clown had looked a lot better now than when they first retrieved her from the lab-like place underneath Daylight City. Gregory had cleaned up and repainted a lot of the facial plates that Baby had, making her seem almost normal… minus almost the rest of her body missing any sort of covering plates. Evan quickly thought about leaving the room, his body agreeing with this idea, but he was stopped by a quiet yet unwavering voice from behind him.

"Evan." Called out Baby with a bit of a hushed voice. The man jumped slightly even though he expected something to happen between them. His body still hadn't gotten used to the fact that his sister was somehow still alive. This paired with the danger of Baby figuring out who he was, being alone with her wasn't something Evan looked forward to.

"Yes, Baby?" Replied the technician, looking down at her from across the room, partially turned around. A moment passed by before she responded, her eyes never leaving him.

"Do you think there's any way that Michael could… forgive me?" This question surprised Evan completely as it was the last thing he thought he'd hear from an animatronic. The man had been so used to his family members hating Michael that he associated her in the same light. Evan scratched his head as he thought up an answer.

"Well…" The man looked away, hand in his hair. "Let me ask you it this way… do you think you could forgive someone who killed you and disgraced your body?" Baby's body was still, eyes unmoving off of the man in a very unnerving way. A few moments went by like this and Evan started to feel a dread build up inside of him, making him feel as if he brought up something sensitive. It was only then that the clown answered.

"If you love someone enough, yes." Said Baby with a simple, innocent tone. "We're supposed to be a family." This logic had made very little sense to Evan, but he understood that family meant a lot.

"Even if it was a family member, forgiving them would be hard…"

"I have done it before. After all, I forgave father dearest." The silence in the room had been deafening. Evan had to take a moment to process what Baby said to him before he understood it. He knew that Baby had died due to being overly curious with an animatronic meant to capture and kill children in the cruelest ways, but this had been the first time he heard about this.

"I don't understand…" Started Evan before he was interrupted.

"Oh, I quite see that. I know you probably have been told how I died, have you not?"

"Michael mentioned it was an accident, you became too curious and died as a result."

"Well, while that much is true… I overheard something that made me realize how much I needed to break free." They both heard footsteps getting closer towards the room, forcing Baby to get to the point. "In all, my death was not an accident. In other words, it was planned."

This bit of information stunned Evan as he realized what Baby had been trying to point out. She didn't just die because she was curious about the animatronic that looked like her, but because their father planned that she'd go and see Baby by herself. While he felt there had been holes in this logic, it explained a lot.

It had been around this time that Foxy poked his head into the room, wearing a black hat with a red ribbon on it. On his shoulder, Lillie had been there dressed up in what seemed to be an orange frilly dress, making her look like a performer of sorts.

"Am I interruptin' something'?" Asked Foxy as he looked back and forth from Evan and Baby before receiving a head shake from the latter.

"Of course not, Foxy." Responded Baby with a cheery tone, one different from the serious one that she had before. "Feel free to come in. I want to see how well you've dressed." The fox, followed by Jeremy, moved their way inside of the bedroom, revealing their entire body.

A very fitting pirate captain's hat is donned on the fox's head as he adjusted it slightly, getting it from being as crooked. A fitted but rugged looking coat jacket on top of a white long sleeve button up was being worn by Foxy and a similar dark brown colored pair of pants fell down to his ankles with a leather belt keeping them up. On his feet were oversized leather boots that looked like they'd be a clown's day off boots. All in all, Foxy looked like a true pirate captain. The fox patted himself down briefly before smiling a toothy grin at the occupants of the rooms.

Next to him, Bonnie had been dressed up as a formal black-and-white magician coat, pants, top hat and all. His dapper look had been quite different from his naturally girlish style. It had been a nice change as Evan was able to see a different side to the bunny than he had previously.

"Mighty fine, arrn't aye?" Foxy said in a smug fashion, adjusting his coating and raising his head in pride. A chuckle escaped Evan's lips as he shook his head, impressed by what he saw.

"Aye aye, captain." Said Evan as he looked up to the fox, who looked at him with his own sort of amazement. "You're looking just as amazing as well, Bonnie." The bunny nods before leaving towards the hallway.

"Aye see ye be changin' yer colors fer tonight." Said the old sea fox, pointing at his get up with his hook. More footsteps could be heard from the hallway as Chara popped her head through the doorway.

"Everyone is ready, Evan." Said Chara to the technician, allowing him to nod.

"I'll be there in just one moment." Evan waited until everyone filed out of the room and the hallway before looking back towards Baby once more. The man felt bad leaving her here but after seeing the episode Michael had last time he saw her, there was no way he'd allow the two of them to get close any time soon.

"Watch the house for us, okay? Try not to trash the place and clean up if you have any parties." Baby simply raised an eyebrow at the man. Of course it had been a joke to try and ease the previous mood from before and he hoped that Baby would pick up on it. Naturally, he wouldn't have to worry about anything wrecking the house.

"Does that mean I could invite people over as long as I clean the place up?" The question surprised him as Wire Baby threw her own sassy joke towards Evan. Suddenly, the man didn't feel so certain about his home's security.

-SB-

Vandana's house being completely lit up when Michael's car drove up to the front of her home was the last thing he expected to see. Previously, the woman was better to the point she could move around but was still running quite the fever. The entire intent coming here was to check on Vanny before attending the Halloween party they were going to be having during and after the working hours at the Pizzaplex. Yet, there had been a figure standing at the opened front door, waving her hand while wearing something that set off the night guard's instincts all at once.

As Mike parked the car and made his way towards her, the light splashing out behind her revealed a pair of bunny ears and whiskers that strangely resembled a figure he'd been seeing an awful lot recently. With a bit of courage and a lot of curiosity, the man stepped his way closer to the figure awaiting him. As he got closer, the details were starting to fill out.

Vanny had been wearing a cute pair of bunny ears attached to a headband along with a nose piece complete with whiskers and two buck teeth. On her hands, she had gloves that had something resembling toe beans on the fingers and palm. They all had been colored the hue of a snow white bunny and the ears partially drooped to the sides of her head. Her body had been covered with a blue nurse's outfit and, in her off-hand, held a duffle bag with a Caduceus on the side. Her entire outfit was a bit tight fitting for her, exemplifying her curves. Vandana posed a bit for the man, turning a bit to show herself off.

"Do you like what you see?" Said the woman with a teasing tone, no sign of the past sickness in her movements or voice. She smiled brightly towards Michael who simply stood there dumbstruck at not only what seemed to be a miracle, but the very provocative costume she was wearing. Then it hit him, she was wearing a costume and waiting for him at the door.

"Were you… waiting for me?" Asked Mike, who was still staring at her. She nodded, not losing her smile.

"Of course! You've been talking about this night quite a bit so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss it!" Vanny jumped towards the night guard, hands behind her back and leaned over a bit after her landing. A puzzling look snuck onto the woman's face as she looked him up and down, her smile getting wider. "Oh dear, I didn't know you'd be so good looking for Halloween." She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside where he could be seen.

Michael had been dressed up as a famous villain from a movie he saw with Roxanne. His hair had been dyed green and his skin was layered with much lighter make-up, giving him an almost pale complexion. Scars had trailed up his cheeks attached from his mouth, giving him a bigger, much more unnatural feeling. Around his body was a green button up shirt and a purple suit jacket and dress pants. All in all, Michael really fit the bill of the Joker well at this point and, from Vanny's point of view, his make-up really did wonders for him. The man shrugged, scratching his head a bit.

"Roxanne has gotten a lot better with her make-up." Said Michael as he stood straight up, adjusting his coat. "So, when did all of 'this' happen?" Asked the man as he gestured to her.

"What do you mean? I'm all natural, handsome." Said Vanny before winking at him, obviously teasing him. Michael rolled his eyes but couldn't help the smile crawl onto his face.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Retorted the night guard, receiving a tongue begin stuck out at him.

"You're no fun." Pout Vanny before answering. "I suddenly started feeling better earlier when you left. I guess the fever got tired of dealing with me and went to bother someone else." Michael didn't have a lot of experience with fevers or sickness at all but he knew that they don't end in a small amount of time. He had been over here a few hours prior and she was still struggling to fight her fever and yet here she was standing in front of him without so much of a sniffle. It had been very odd to say the least but, with how ill she had been, Michael had simply felt relieved.

It had been a rough week up to now with several points where the man thought he would have to take her to the hospital. Despite all the pain she seemed to go through, she continued to request that she not be taken anywhere and that he stay by her side as much as possible. It was the least he could do for her at this point. It wasn't like he'd get sick anyways.

Though, as he checked her out from head to toe once again, he noticed how tight fitting her clothes had actually been, especially around the waist and chest areas. A slight blush crept onto the slightly purple man's face as he tried to shake away the thoughts he was having. What is going on with me? Michael thought to himself as he straight himself up, getting a funny look from the woman in front of him.

"What?" Asked the night guard, unsure why he was being looked at funnily. A slight giggle escaped the bunny lady's mouth as she used her hand to cover it.

"You do like what you see." Commented Vanny, calling Mike out on what he thought was his well-hidden blush. He cursed himself internally.

"Uh, well, we need to get going if we want to get there in time." Said the man, attempting to change subject and avoid eye contact, eliciting another giggle from the woman. She hefted her doctor's bag along with her as walked past him and out the door. "Are you going to be okay with that?"

"Mike, I'm fine. Really."

"No, I mean your bag." Mike pointed at her bag that looked a bit bulky and heavy, but Vanny quickly moved it behind her.

"No, I can't have you stealing parts of my costume before we even get to the party!" She joked before stopping and leaning in close to the man before whispering directly to him. "Of course, you can take off any part of my costume once we're home."

A shiver rushed up Michael's spine as something akin to butterflies filled his stomach. The few times he felt like this was when he was around Vandana or Roxanne and, while he was mostly oblivious to what they meant, he understood what she was trying to say. Except, something felt off. Perhaps it was the feeling in his stomach or that he wasn't used to this kind of talk. Not that it made him feel inherently uncomfortable but something about it left him second guessing.

Left without words of response, Vanny smiled widely before spinning around and walking towards Mike's warm car.

"Let's go, Mike!" Said the bunny woman, who was clutching at her arms for warmth. "It's freezing out here!" The man shook away any feelings he had at that point. Perhaps his bad gut feeling was nothing more than paranoia. A lot had happened in the past week that kept him on edge but he refused to allow tonight to be ruined because of it. The man closed the door, walked to the car and got in. It wasn't long before they headed towards the Pizzaplex and were engrossed in discussion with one another.

Mike didn't feel anything off with her now but there was still that aching dread in his chest as if he was anticipating something. Lately, everything has been chaotic in his life. One of his good friends had been so sick that she was practically one foot in the grave while his other friend constantly hid in fear due to the imminent threat of the bunny stalking the hallways of the Pizzaplex.

The mysterious bunny itself had been a problem that was driving Mike up the wall. A copycat killer appeared after all this time even after he did so much to keep the secret under wraps. It didn't matter much, though, seeing as there was an entire family of people who still knew most of what he did and even a peep of it getting out was enough for some lunatic to decide that they wanted to finish whatever his father started. The thought angered the man so much that he found himself staring into glimpses of purple after too much thought into it. He had to calm himself down.

Luckily, he would be at the Pizzaplex tonight when everyone was at their most vulnerable. Evan and his gang would be, too, so he felt reassured that whatever was going on would hopefully get solved sooner rather than later. At that moment, a hand rested on his thigh making Mike jump a bit.

"What's going on?" Asked Vanny softly, the feeling of the paw pads from her gloves through the legs of his pants. The man sighed roughly before shaking his head slightly.

"Stressful week." Is what he chopped it up to, giving a brief yet concise answer.

"Is that so?" She started to rub his leg slightly. "Perhaps you should take some time off and relax." Mike shook his head.

"My job isn't the problem. Just… I have a lot to worry about nowadays." The woman looked at him questioningly, but the man couldn't quite see it.

"Have I been stressing you out?" Asked Vanny, who's heart dropped from the thought of his answer.

"No, no!" Reassured Michael quickly, giving a quick glance to her in the dark car. "No, it's not like that. I… well, yes, I have been worried about you. I didn't think you were going to make it for a bit there. I'm not used to worrying about much else other than myself and sometimes the animatronics." A smile suddenly jumped onto the woman's face as she hummed out a bit, patting his leg.

"I'm glad I mean so much to you." Mike chuckled in response, realizing that Vanny had been right. She did mean a lot to him and while he mulled the thought over in his mind before, he never truly recognized it 'til now.

Yet, for some reason, the pit in his heart felt heavier.

"Let's try to have fun tonight, alright?" Mike said to her, who nodded. "And don't fight with Rox."

"But Miiiike!" Pouted Vanny jokingly before he laughed.

Tonight is going to be just fine. Mike told himself. Yet, he couldn't shake that dark feeling he had. While the night guard knew they were all here to have fun, he'd have to steel himself to deal with that rabbit.

He had to. Michael wouldn't allow another to get hurt due to his father's actions again.

-SB-

Evan watched from the curb as a car pulled up next to theirs. They had been waiting a bit for Katherine and her friends to join them and, with how packed the Pizzaplex had been currently, he was lucky that the company had reserved them parking spots up close today. As the three teens stepped out of the girl's car, they made their way towards Evan's group.

"Captain!" Cried Kat as she threw her arms around Foxy's large frame, receiving a gentle pat on the back from his good hand. "You look amazing! Just the way I'd imagine my captain to look!" The two of them had grown quite close since the first time the young girl came over to hang out with the pirate fox. In fact, the rest of the animatronics in the home, along with Gregory, had grown quite fond of her as she came over pretty often to spend time with her captain.

In fact, she had dressed as a pirate herself in order to match with Foxy. He promised to make her his honorary 2nd-in-command, his right hand lass. The idea of joining the pirate captain on his adventures once again had made her feel nothing like they did the first time around. This time, she wholeheartedly wanted to experience this offer together with her animatronic friend. Hopefully, without nearly dying this time.

Lillie bounced her way down to Kat's shoulder, wanting to show off her costume. The girl allowed for the minireena to jump into her hand and watched as she spun around in the girl's hand, glistening in the light from nearby.

"Lillie, you look absolutely beautiful!" Cried Katherine excitedly, losing herself in the moment. Evan smiled at the warm hearted scene, but remembered there were two others than no one but her knew. He cleared his throat a bit loudly, calling them out of their moment.

"I hate to break the mood, but aren't you forgetting something?" Asked Evan, pointing behind her at her two friends. An embarrassed look donned the young girl's face as she detached herself from Foxy and cleared her own throat. She turned around and pointed at the two behind her.

"These are my friends from school. This is Amanda." Kat pointed at a girl who dressed strangely close to what could be seen as a Glamrock outfit. She had been rapidly typing away at her phone and waved without so much as looking up or stopping her typing spree before putting her hand back down to continue the digital onslaught.

"And this is Mati." She pointed at the boy behind Amanda who crossed his arms, giving off a punk attitude that fit well with his costume. He had been dressed just like a greaser with his leather jacket on and hair gelled back. He wore shades that were cool looking but, secretly, Evan wondered how the boy even saw to get out of the car. Strangely enough, he looked familiar and the name rang some bells. As he stepped forward, he sighed heavily.

"Why the fuck do I have to apologi-" Started Mati before getting slapped hard in the back of the head by Amanda, her eyes finally coming up from her phone screen.

"Do you want another ass whooping, Matthias?" Said the girl sharply, her hand still raised. Mati had cowered a bit as everyone watched in silence before he turned around towards Evan and Chara.

"I'm sorry for being rude the other day. I spoke my thoughts out loud and ended up offending you both. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me." The apology sounded somewhat rehearsed but that was the last thing on his mind as Evan realized that this boy in front of him was the same one who made Chara cry in the diner on that day. He felt himself get a bit angry but Chara answered first.

"I do hope you learned your lesson this time." Said the puppet as she came closer to the boy, looking down upon him. "You happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time saying the wrong things. If you truly mean your apology, I'll forgive you. However, don't expect to be forgiven so easily a second time." The boy, feeling intimidated, nodded quickly before retreating behind Amanda. Evan calmed himself down as Chara slipped back next to him, putting her arms around his.

"Well, time for introductions on our side." Said Evan before going around his group to briefly introduce everyone. Again, he noticed that the sparkly girl, Amanda, had looked up from her phone to listen to the introductions. Once everyone was introduced and satisfied, they headed their way inside the Pizzaplex where they would await for someone to get them as Michael instructed him. As they walked from the side of the building to the front, Amanda rushed to his side, the opposite side of where Chara was still clinging to him.

"I just want to say I'm a huge fan of you three." Said the girl immediately with a face that sparkled with more than just glitter. "I heard so much about you, Chara and Mangle growing up and how much you guys helped our community. You even helped out my father's business when he was hitting rock bottom. I really, really cannot thank you enough for everything you do for our town."

Evan was taken aback and, from the glance he gave her, so was Chara. After the recent discrimination against them, hearing such heartfelt thanks for their work from someone who didn't even know them was a surreal experience.

"Well, of course." Answered the technician after a moment, smiling warmly. "It's what I knew how to do and I wanted to help people the way I wanted to be helped. Of course, not everyone takes kindly to us."

"Don't mind Mati." Amanda waved her hand dismissively. "He's just grumpy that he didn't get to stay with his mom this year."

"You two seem very close." Commented Mangle from behind them, making the girl jump a bit.

"M-Mangle! You gave me a heart attack… I'll forgive you because you're so beautiful." Mangle blushed at the comment, waving her dismissively. "But there's nothing going on like that between Mati and I. I just live next door to his uncle and, since he was a young boy, I would hang out with him every time he came over. Come to find out he didn't have many friends where he was living anyways so I'd text him a lot to keep him compan-"

"Mandy!" Cried Mati from behind the group, making the girl laugh. "Why would you tell them that?"

"Awwh, c'mon, Mati. You should try to have friends other than just me." Evan, Chara and Mangle simply giggled or chuckled at the banter between the two teens, reminding Evan of his own relationship with his family members. This entire interaction reminded him about the good people in the world and not to let the negative ones ruin your mood. Chara moved her hand to his and entwined their fingers together, getting his attention.

"Let's make this a forever lasting memory. It's a beautiful night for it, after all." Said the puppet as she looked him into his eyes. He squeezed her hand a bit in response.

"It's always a beautiful night when you're spending it with me." Responded Evan before shortly continuing. "Even more so now that there are two of you." Chara rolled her eyes but smiled brightly. The group continued to mingle together as they made their way inside. Even though the front was packed with clumps of people waiting in line for their way in, it wasn't a bother to any of them. Being able to spend time with each other and get out of the house was all they all ever needed.

Time passed by and finally everyone was let into the Pizzaplex. It had been a bit faster of a process seeing as the staff already knew that they were coming and they had priority tickets for the show tonight. Waiting past the front entrance was none other than Trudge and Chica themselves, who were surrounded by a crowd as Chica's Vampire and Trudge's Frankenstine costumes were pretty realistic. Of course, with them being the star couple in the whole business, it made sense to see them together.

After a moment, Chica spotted the group before waving and excusing herself and her boyfriend from the crowd and towards Evan's group. The vampire chicken hugged Mangle tightly, excited to see her friend again.

"Oh, it feels like it's been so long!" Exclaimed Chica as they pulled away from the embrace. Trudge moved up to Evan and shook his hand, a smile on his face.

"I see you were inspired to be her, but why didn't she dress up as you?" Asked Trudge. Evan chuckled before answering.

"I already make her get dressed like a technician and go to work with me often enough. She'd kill me if I made her do so on Halloween of all days." Chara nodded her head, causing everyone around to laugh. Gregory, who had been hanging in the back of the group with Jeremy, Foxy and Kat, tugged on Evan's arm.

"Can we go play games?" Asked the boy innocently. A voice buzzed from his other arm on the Faz-Watch he took everywhere with him.

"Greg, be polite." Called out Baby's voice from the watch, scolding him the same way a mother or big sister would.

"Please can we go play games, Evan?" Asked Gregory again, giving the man puppy dog eyes. The man sighed with a smile.

"Let me talk to everyone before we split up. Then, you can go." The boy celebrated, going back towards the few people he was hanging out with before. "Everyone, listen up. I have some words before we split up." The group all turned their attention to Evan.

"Now, I know that it's a big place meant to be having fun but, remember, most of you weigh more than the average person. You can hurt people if you are not careful. No matter what, make sure that you are careful of your surroundings and watch out for anything suspicious as well. If something is wrong, please come find me or Chara immediately. Michael will also be around soon so he is also a person you can go to if you're having trouble." Foxy grumbled at the last part of the spiel, grabbing Evan's attention. "I understand that Michael isn't your guy's favorite person but if you can't find me or Chara for whatever reason, find him. He shouldn't be too hard to find in the first place since he has a bright purple and gray wolf stuck to him 24/7."

This elicited laughs from across the group as they've all at least heard about the relationships Michael has been having recently regardless what the night guard may call them. In addition, most of the animatronics were somewhat briefed on the mysterious bunny figure roaming the halls of the Pizzaplex and were told to let someone know if they see them. With the serious part out of the way, Evan smiled as he knew what was going to happen next.

"Okay, go have fun, you bunch." Said the technician and, with that, they started to spread out into their own groups until only Chara and Evan were left behind. With a relieved sigh, Chara looked at her human with a smile.

"I'm glad everyone has someone to be with tonight." Said the bear-wrapped puppet as she started pulling Evan towards a few pop-up attractions at the front. "Let's try this one!" Immediately, they started heading towards a stand and Evan smiled. This morning, both of them were anxious about this entire outing from fitting in to the mysterious bunny but, for now, all they want to do is have some fun.

And fun they shall have.

-SB-

A while later, Michael and Vanny made it through the loading bay door where there was much, much less traffic. The sound of the crowds of people bustling about echoed in from the lobby to this room, sounding quite inviting. From the moment the night guard left the building, his watch had been blowing up with texts from Roxanne which hadn't gotten any better over time. With a simple response, he let the wolf know he was now in the building and on his way to Rockstar Row from the cargo bay.

Vanny stretched her back out as she slowed her pace down, making a small high pitched yawn. It had been awhile since she had been on her feet properly, much less taking a nice walk with her favorite person in a wonderfully familiar place.

"I've been so excited about today that I could barely wait!" Cried the bunny woman, who seemed to bounce with each step. Truly in bunny nature, she had been unable to stand still as if she was suddenly made of energy. This was a lot different than the previous deathbed looking Vanny he had seen early this morning once he got off work. There were a lot of strange things going on here but, instead of being bothered by it, he'd accept it. Having his friend suddenly feel a lot better was a miracle so he'd simply accept it as is.

They made their way through the Pizzaplex and into Rockstar Row where there had been a crowd waiting nearby Roxanne's area. It had been obvious who was at the center of it all as she had been loud enough to be heard down the hallway.

"Yes, yes, thank you!" Cried Roxanne amidst the crowding of colorful and spooky costumes. "My costume is amazing, isn't it! Just like me! What? Who is what? My Joker? He should be here any moment now." Roxanne had been loving the attention she was being shown. So much so, she didn't realize Michael and Vanny had already been at the front of the crowd just barely out of her sight. With a slightly less than subtle clearing of his throat, the night guard brought attention to himself by the onlookers nearby and a suddenly very shocked look on her face.

"Am I late?" He asked, smiling widely as he could. He knew very well that he was late in the wolf's eyes and, normally, she'd chew him out for it but she couldn't do so while around her adoring fans. Then, a thought enters her fluffy head and an uncharacteristically happy smile creeps up on her face.

"You're just in time! Come here and show them how we match!" Said Roxanne, still smiling widely much to Mike's dismay. Cautiously, he makes his way over to the wolf as Vanny sees who Roxanne is dressed as exactly.

Roxanne had seemed to refashion some of her old acting clothes into a Harley Quinn outfit. Of course, it was the lighter, more showier version of her outfits where she wore a black and red zip up crop top with tight shorts that's the same color as her top but a lot like the ones she normally wore. Down her legs are thigh highs that go about halfway up the thigh colored and decorated in black and red with the opposite one having opposite colored markings to the other. All-in-all, it's a pretty faithful recreation of a Harley Quinn outfit straight from scratch.

Vandana suddenly cursed herself for not putting in a bit more effort into her costume, she simply watched as Mike moved over towards Roxanne before getting grabbed and spun around to face the crowd with her. The wolf's arms had been locked around the man in an embrace. An eruption of 'awwh' and 'so cute' erupted from the crowd as she embraced the man in front of her. After a moment of this, she squeezed him harder putting him into a tight embrace. So tight, it was borderline painful.

To the audience, it seemed as if nothing was off especially after watching Chica and Trudge be all lovey dovey in front of everyone. To them, this was nothing. After a moment, Roxanne bent her head down to whisper into the man's ear.

"Payback, idiot." Said the wolf in a low, aggressive tone before letting him go and waving at the crowd. Mike smiled and waved as well while talking through closed teeth.

"I know where you sleep, wolf." He said quietly to her.

"Luckily, I know where you sleep as well. Next to me." Mike wanted to roll his eyes but continued on with the charade. For the next 10 minutes, the crowd asked questions and greeted Roxanne before most dispersed, leaving a few smaller groups of onlookers and Vandana, who made her way back to Michael's side a few minutes before.

It was then that the night guard felt a pair of eyes on him throwing daggers directly in his direction. He looked around a bit, spinning in place before realizing he couldn't see anyone nor feel the sensation again. That dreading feeling grew again in his stomach and he started feeling as if he was going crazy. What the fuck is going on…? He thought to himself. A hand grabbed his arm, shaking him a bit.

"Mike? Mike!" Called Roxanne, staring down at him. He snapped his head towards her voice, getting out of his own thoughts. He noticed that Vanny and Roxanne had moved in front of him and both looked at him with a face of worry. Roxanne, in particular, looked a bit spooked herself. It wasn't unusual since she had constantly looked like that this week since they found that sticky note. It was no wonder she had been following him like a dog anytime he had to go somewhere inside of the Pizzaplex. She vaguely admitted she was afraid for her own safety.

"Is everything okay, Mikey?" Asked Vanny, who grabbed his opposite arm. Michael nodded, not wanting to send Roxanne into panic but he knew that she could see something extra in his eyes. Vanny, however, took him for face value. Perhaps she didn't know him as well but it was a perfect way to segway out of a possible situation.

"Well, in that case, let's go!" Vanny grabbed Mike's hand and pulled him in the direction of the main foyer. For a moment, the night guard checked to see if the wolf was going to follow them before he was suddenly tugged back.

"Where do you think you're going with him?" Said Roxanne aggressively. The woman simply tilted her head to the side while putting a rabbit-pawed finger to her chin.

"To have fun, obviously." Retorted Vandana who still kept a tight grip on the man's hand. "What kind of fun could we possibly have standing around here?"

"He's supposed to be spending tonight with me." Growled the wolf again, hand still firmly planted on his metal arm.

"Shouldn't you be… practicing or something? There's no way you have this much free time."

"I can do whatever the hell I please." Mike could see sparks rising between the two and the tensions climbing at least meant that Roxanne wasn't feeling bad but the hostility was starting to get a bit out of hand fast.

"Can't we all just go together?" Said Mike, looking back and forth between the two holding him hostage. It seemed like something suddenly clicked in Vanny's mind as she interrupted Roxanne, who seemed ready to oppose the idea.

"I like the sound of that." Said the bunny lady, nodding her head. "There should be a lot of games here we could play. Perhaps compete for a 'prize' of sorts." As she said this, Roxanne seemed to understand where this was going. Unbeknownst to Michael, who was ready to try and make them get along with each other when the wolf inevitably denied the idea, they had just started a rivalry for him. In both of their eyes, the passion of competition burned brightly.

"Fine." Agreed Roxanne, making the night guard look at her confused. "Lead the way, Van- whatever your name is… And get your hands off of Mike!" Vanny stuck her tongue out at the wolf before continuing to pull the man along. Michael simply realized that he started something that he might end up regretting as he was being held onto tightly by the two women.

"Do I have a say in this?" Asked Michael.

"No." Immediately the two women responded as they escorted him to the nearest game attraction.

Michael wasn't sure whether to be relieved that they were attempting to get along or be horrified by what was going to happen next. In the back of his mind, he thought about the dread he had felt earlier after he felt that hostile stare. He'd keep his eyes out while the girls had fun.

And hope that his gut feeling was wrong.

-SB-

A pair of eyes gleamed from the bit of light from the slit in the wall. They cursed themselves for almost being seen, not realizing how sharp the night guard could be. Even being as far as she was, she had no idea how he could sense her from so far away. Perhaps it was from all the nights of surviving animatronics.

Smoke wafted in from behind her, reeking of the pungent odor of tobacco. She coughed quietly as she shooed it away from her face, looking back into the completely dark room.

"He's here." Said the pair of eyes with excitement. She'd been waiting for this moment for a very long time, though it hadn't been all too long ago she was employed. Another waft of tobacco smoke pulled her from her thoughts as she coughed. "Can you fuck off with that?" The place the smoke was coming from started laughing in a hoarse, deep voice. One that sounded like smoking is all they did for the past long while. A bit of shuffling happened as a hand could be heard coming down onto someone's body, but not in a harmful way.

"It's your turn, old chap." Said the grizzly voice. "Keep your promise and I'll tell you more." With that, a figure left the room.

"Can we trust that guy?" Asked the eyes. A few moments rolled by before another cloud of smoke was exhaled towards the eyes, making her cough again.

"It's not like he has a choice."

-SB-

On the far side of the Pizzaplex in Bonnie Bowl, Mangle scored a strike for the 3rd time in a row. She had been on top of the leaderboard for most points along with Monty and G. Bonnie, who happened to just appear in the middle of the group moving here for a game or two. Chica mentioned how they had a special Halloween prize grab for whoever could do their best in bowling and Mangle was instantly hitched. Unfortunately for the rest who came with her, being Trudge, Jeremy and Freddy, they weren't nearly as good at the game.

Though, it didn't seem as if the purple magician bunny really minded. The moment that he and Freddy saw each other, they immediately lit up and entered discussion. Freddy, who had decided to be a Skeleton, had his body painted black and white to show a bear's skeleton all over his body. He and Jeremy sat across from each other as the purple bunny decided to show the bear some of his old magic tricks he learned during his time working in the original pizzeria.

"I didn't know you were so good at magic." Exclaimed Freddy as the bunny pulled a coin from behind the bear's ear. Jeremy winked at him, giving him a big smile.

"It's something that I had a lot of free time to learn after work." Responded the rabbit as he pocketed the coin. He had spent the past half an hour going through several magic tricks for the bear, who seemed absolutely fascinated by them.

"They seem like fun! I bet it took quite some time for you to learn all of those." Jeremy paused for a moment, thinking.

"Yeah… Yeah it took quite some time…" Said the bunny, spacing out. In his head, he remembered all the time it took to learn it, especially since part of the time he only had one arm. Hell, half of his body wasn't his to own. That damned plastic rabbit, thought Jeremy angrily, the things I'd do if I- He realized what he was doing before looking up at Freddy, whose eyes were full of worry.

"Is everything okay, Jeremy?" Asked the skele-bear in his polite fashion. The bunny smiled warmly, pushing the negative thoughts out of his mind.

"Yeah, I just forgot which magic trick I wanted to show you next." They both smiled at each other as if some joke had been told while both G. Bonnie and Monty moved by the two, noticing them.

"Oh hey! It's my favorite brother!" Said G. Bonnie as he stumbled towards Jeremy, hugging him while throwing his weight on top of the magician bunny. G. Bonnie himself didn't really care too much for Halloween it seems as he didn't have much done for Halloween except a bit of marker drawn on his head by kids, making him look a lot like a cat with the ears drawn on. Monty dressed in a fashion that a surfer would be dressed in, nothing but beach shorts, shark tooth necklace and a surfboard, which he wasn't currently carrying.

"Oh, Bon, how are you?" Asked Jeremy as he talked to his bunny counterpart. While they did see each other earlier, the weed bunny didn't want to interrupt Jeremy's nor Freddy's time with each other. This brought a thought in mind.

"Oh, I'm great, dude. I'm sure Freddy is, too, now that you're here." The bear's eyes latched directly on the weed bunny's figure, staying extremely silent. The magician bunny had been confused.

"What do you mean? Are you okay, Freddy?" He turned his head towards the skele-bear, who quickly nodded his head.

"Don't listen to him, lil' bro. He was excited to hear that you were coming to the party tonight. I mean, you shoulda heard him all this week, man! He couldn't stop talking about you. 'Jeremy this' and 'Jeremy that'. Dude, you're like his long lost lover or something." Jeremy's eyes landed back onto the bear, who was extremely silent and wasn't making any eye contact anymore before he got up suddenly.

"I-... I think I have somewhere I need to be." Said Freddy before rushing off towards an uncrowded hallway. G. Bonnie looked back towards Monty, who looked equally confused.

"Whaaat?" Said the weed bunny. "Was that on the list of things I shouldn't have said?" Of course, Jeremy wasn't listening to the banter going on next to him. Instead, his mind and heart was jumping for joy at the information. So much so that he didn't see Freddy until he was almost out of sight. With his emotions gone from happy to concerned, Jeremy rushed over to see what was going on.

After a couple of minutes of barely catching glimpses of the bear, he finally caught him sitting next to a security door in a back hallway that didn't seem to see much traffic. Freddy had been sitting down with his head in his hands, unmoving. Now that the bunny didn't have to run, he slowly walked over and sat next to the bear, who didn't even look up at him. It had been weirdly silent as neither of them spoke until Jeremy opened his mouth, but didn't have time for words to leave them before Freddy spoke.

"I apologize for running away so quickly." Confessed Freddy, who still had his head buried in his hands. "I just… didn't know what to do."

"It's okay, Fred." Said Jeremy, patting the skele-bear's back softly. "Wanna talk about what exactly is ailing you?"

"Did you not hear what the other bunny told you? I must have freaked you out by the look on your face." The bunny's heart dropped as he realized what exactly was the matter.

"My face?"

"Yes, your face looked like you were told bad news. I must have made you feel uncomfortable in some way. I did not want my good friend to feel this way. I just had so many good memories with you in our small time together. I truly do apologize." For a moment, both of them were silent as Bonnie wasn't sure what to say just yet. After a moment of thought, Jeremy had an idea.

"Freddy, look at me for a moment." At first, the bear did not comply but, after a few moments, the bear looked back up at his friend with a very sad face. A pang in Jeremy's heart rang out but he kept true to himself. "It looks like you might've been crying. Here, let me- Oh…"

The bunny reached for his handkerchief that had been sitting in his breast pocket, but it was suddenly gone. He looked around his body, fully grabbing the attention of the bear, before looking like he had an idea. With a swift motion, the rabbit pulled his handkerchief from Freddy's ear, making the bear gasp.

"I truly don't know how it got ther-" A finger moved to Freddy's lips, shushing him from his sentence.

"And that's okay, that's the beauty of magic." Jeremy wiped the eyes of Freddy as he continued to talk to him. "I'm very glad you talk so much about me. So much so, that I was stunned in my tracks. You did surprise me, but in such a wonderful way. Frankly, being with you has felt like magic all on its own and I would love to spend more time with you if you'd be willing." Freddy looked directly at the bunny with wide eyes, a happy look returning.

"Yes, of course I'd like to spend time with you!" Said Freddy with a new 'hop in his step'. He threw his arms around Jeremy, who returned the hug, and sat there for what might have been a couple of minutes. At least, until the bunny realized what they had been doing and became embarrassed. He pulled away softly and cleared his throat, trying his best not to scream in joy. He was attempting to find his words but, once again, Freddy took the initiative.

"Can I see another magic trick?" Asked the curious and eager bear. A warm smile crept back onto the bunny's face.

"Of course. I'll show you as many as you want until you get tired of them."

-SB-

Roxy Raceway, like most of the big star attractions, had done some work to make their attractions a lot more accessible than to just those wanting to participate in the attraction itself. In the Raceway, there had been a good amount of booths set up by employees, or those who rented out a booth spot, along with a lot of room to do other activities. One that had caught the pirate fox group's attention would be the Storytelling corner.

The Storytelling corner, as it had advertised itself to be, wasn't much of one currently. No one had been on stage and, instead, there were children running around or gathered in this area hanging out with friends and family. It seemed that the point of this was so that small-time actors could come up and not only tell stories but even enact them if they so choose.

At first, Foxy had been excited to see it and even talked of getting up onstage just moments before. It had been a long time since he had acted out his whole pirate spiel for an audience, but then he froze as he just realized what he thought. It had been a long, a very long, time since he had gone up on the stage. Back when he was still 'in the business', he acted off of the rest of his crew's stuff and could barely remember some of the solo acts he gave much earlier in his performance life.

Giving a deflated sigh, Foxy simply followed behind Gregory as he originally had. This caused both Lillie and Katherine to look at the fox in a bit of worry.

"Is everything okay, Foxy?" Asked Kat, who was looking the pirate captain down for an answer. Unfortunately, he didn't give her a look back.

"Aye, lass. Yer ol' pirate cap'n 'ere be realizin' how out o' date he be." Said Foxy downtrodden, simply watching Gregory move towards a crowd of children about his age. "It been a long time since aye've last performed in front o' an audience. Aye jus' don' tink aye'm cut out fer this anymore." Lillie simply patted his head while Kat looked at him with sympathy.

"You don't have to perform if you don't want to, Captain." Said Kat, still roleplaying as his first mate while comforting the big, red fox. "As much as I'd love to see my captain back in action, we won't force you up there." The pirate captain grunted before looking at the girl.

"But what if aye do want ta be up there?" Argued Foxy, showing his mixed feelings on his face. "These kids wouldn' even know who aye be! Not ta mention that me stories be old as time…"

"Oh c'mon, Foxy!" Said Kat, slightly breaking out of character. "I think the kids would love you, not to mention that we all love your stories." He huffed once more, deflating a bit again.

"Lass, it be awfully kind o' ye ta feed yer cap'ns ego but I don' tink these kids will…-" Foxy went silent as his eyes spotted Gregory being followed by a heap of children in tow, all staring directly at the pirate captain himself with bright eyes.

"Whoa, you're a real pirate?!" Cried one of them, fully catching the fox's attention. "That's so cool!"

"Show us something amazing!" Cried another, jumping excitedly.

"Tell us a story!" Cried another. Soon enough, Foxy had been surrounded by his own entourage of babbling children, all wanting to hear his stories and more. A bright smile spread across the pirate captain's face as he started to address them and figure out his next move. Kat smiled as she stood next to Gregory, leaning in to whisper to the boy.

"How did you manage that?" Kat whispered, not taking her eyes off Foxy's sudden mood change.

"Just told them that we had a real pirate." Gregory said with a shrug. "After all, Foxy is pinned up in several places across the Pizzaplex. Just about anyone who has heard a bit about Freddy's knows of him." This made plenty of sense but Gregory's sudden mature nature threw the girl for a loop as she had previously seen him acting like any other kid his age. Perhaps the boy was always like this and just let himself go, but Kat didn't bother thinking too far into it as she was happy with the predicament Foxy found himself in.

"Now now, lads n' lasses…" Started Foxy, getting the children's attention. "Aye do have a few stories aye can tell ye." The children roared in excitement and the happy pirate captain tried to calm them down, smiling the entire time. "All hands on deck fer ol' Cap'n Foxy's adventure!" The children roared louder in excitement as Foxy continued to direct them, slowly moving his way over towards the stage.

"Take yer places n' get comfy fer this will be a wild ride!" Called out Foxy, getting on the stage with crowds coming closer. He waited until people had got situated before he started to open his mouth and nothing came out. This had been a strange occurrence so he attempted to open his mouth once again before closing it, realizing nothing was coming out.

In a shock, Foxy realized he wasn't sure what he would say. There had originally been tonnes of stories he had swimming throughout his head but, in this moment, his mind was blank. Perhaps it had been from stage fright due to it being a long time since he had performed for anyone but, with his mind suddenly blank, he wasn't sure where he'd go with this.

Whispers were heard from offstage as people stared directly at Foxy who had been frozen in his tracks. Another fear of his was suddenly playing itself out and he beat himself up inside for thinking he could do this without the rest of his crew. Perhaps I should just walk off stage and stop making a mockery of myself… Foxy thought in a serious but sad voice in his head. As he almost started to move off stage, a pair of booted feet stepped next to him and patted him on the back.

"What's wrong, Captain Oh My Captain?" Rang out the voice of a familiar female next to him. "I know, you must be sad over the loss of your ship." Kat steps into the corner of his view, clenching her fists while looking angry. "We'll get that blasted wicked pirate, Silver, before too long. Isn't that right, Captain?" Suddenly, Foxy looked at Kat slowly, mouth still agape. His eyes met hers, who was full of embarrassment from suddenly jumping on stage.

It was then it hit Foxy. Kat had jumped up on stage in order to help him out of his stupor. It was laughable, actually. This girl hadn't known him for much more than a couple of months tops and yet she was throwing herself out into the open to help him out of a funk. It really was humorous to think that the mighty Captain Foxy had needed the help of his friend, no, his first mate to get started.

Suddenly, a hearty, rough laugh could be heard from all around the fox pirate before he realized it was himself. He had laughed really hard about the situation he was in and his worries so suddenly that it caught even himself off guard. Why was I so worried? Foxy thought to himself as he kept laughing, hook coming up to shield his face from possible tears coming down. I have my crew right here. With that thought, his hand came up and straight back down, clasping the girl on the shoulder roughly.

"Yer right, my first mate Katty!" Said Foxy with a newfound vigor, shaking his hook. "That bilge water rat bes' be runnin' wit' his tail tucked between his scrawny legs! Why don' we, fer tha new members o' our crew, tell 'em what happened between me n' ol' Silver?" Cheers sounded out from the crowd and a smile came back to the old pirate captain's face.

Off stage, Gregory looked up with a smile on his face. From out of his watch, a voice came.

"You did a good thing, Gregory." Said Baby, a warm voice permeated through the watch.

"I just…" Started the boy before his smile faltered very briefly and looked down at his Faz-Watch. "I just want my new family to be happy."

"And happy you do make them. Hopefully, you can find happiness with them, too." Gregory stopped for a moment, his face sunken in as he looked downwards. A shadow replaced his expression as a monotonous voice came out instead.

"If they can forgive me."

-SB-

Around the same time Foxy and Katherine hit the stage, Michael, Roxanne and Vanny had moved by. Of course, the group of three had seen what went on and had been happy for the acting duo. It had been a welcoming change as Michael had been actively dragged around from attraction to attraction being stuck between the competitiveness of his two female best friends. Somehow, he became the prize and they were currently tied.

While this was strange, and frankly complexing, to Michael, he had been relieved that they got along together. While Vanny didn't seem to explicitly dislike Roxanne, the vice-versa had not been as true.

To Michael's realization, Roxanne really didn't like anyone getting close to him. Perhaps she thought they were going to take the time she wanted with him away from her or something like that. The moment that he spent a bit less time with her to spend it with Vandana, she started hating the woman's guts. Perhaps this event will make the two bond a bit so they all could spend time together. Michael didn't have much experience with friends outside the two of them but the thought of enjoying time with them both was a pleasant one.

Vanny stopped moving suddenly, her eyes widening. Both the night guard and the wolf stopped as well as they were slightly behind her, giving the bunny woman a questioning look. Her eyes briefly looked at Michael and she grabbed his arm.

"Hey, uh, you two go on without me for a bit. I just…" She paused for a moment, making the man look closer as he thought maybe she started to feel extremely ill again. "I just *really* have to use the lil' bunny's room. Sorry!" Roxanne huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Well, hurry it up!" Growled the wolf as she crossed her arms. "We have a competition going on!" Vanny smiled as she slowly walked away.

"On it! Make sure you watch my- I mean, our prize… real well." Vanny smiled before quickly moving away and out of sight. As if on some sort of queue, a walking puppet and a floating bear, something that looked a lot like the one he helped Henry design, started moving closer. It took a small second but he realized that it was Evan and Chara. The technician walked up to the night guard, looking each other up and down to inspect their costumes.

"You look good." Said Evan with a smile, impressed by how well the man pulled off his costume. "Joker, right?"

"Yeah, Roxanne had the idea." Said Michael as he looked at his male counterpart. "And you're… her?" Mike pointed at the puppet, who simply eyed him a bit. "And you're…"

"You know what I am, Michael." Said Chara flatly. "I want to be nice to you on this holiday so I'd prefer if you didn't act like an idiot."

"Watch it, Ribbons. He's my punching bag." Called out Roxanne, who seemed to go on the defensive. Chara simply looked over at the wolf before nodding.

"You're right, my mistake. Michael, you do look good today and so does your partner." Roxanne opened her mouth before closing it, deciding what Chara said was good enough.

"Thank you…" Murmured the wolf uncharacteristically before her eyes landed back on the puppet. "But what are you supposed to be? Some sick Freddy? I mean, why is it all black and gray?" The puppet smiled, head poking out of the hood a bit, staring at the night guard across from her.

"I wonder about that… Anyways, we came to say hi briefly while we checked up on everyone."

"You two can hang out with us for a bit if you'd like." Offered Evan, who immediately was shot down.

"No thank you." Replied Michael. "We're waiting for Vandana to get back, actually." The technician gave the man a funny look.

"Vanny is here?" It was now Michael's turn to look at the man funnily.

"Yeah, she came here with us. I figured she would have told you."

"Well, that's new to me. She was deathly sick from the last time I heard anything."

"She suddenly recovered today. I'm just glad that she feels better." Evan nodded in a similar sentiment.

"Well, we'll be going then. Tell Vanny I said hi when you see her." Evan waved as he and his puppet-bear partner moved on towards Bonnie Bowl. Michael sighed a bit, thinking a bit more about Vanny being sick the way she was but it wasn't long until his thoughts were broken.

Grabbing Michael's hand, she pulled them towards an employee's only door before rushing in with him. Suddenly, the loud background noise dampened quite a bit and was replaced by the buzzing of one of the overhead lights. Roxanne kept her back facing the man as the quiet buzz continued to fill the room they were in.

"Rox?" Asked Michael, unsure of why she pulled them in here. "We should go back out and wait for-"

"Why couldn't it just be a day between us two?" Said Roxanne, cutting the man off. "Why can't you just hang out with me anymore?" This confused the man as he had spent a lot of time with her on his shift.

"Rox, I spend just about every day with yo-"

"No!" Yelled Roxanne, still not turning around. "You have to be here. It's your job… but when you leave, you never decide to come back and see me. It's always her." A pseudo-silence came once more as Michael gave himself a chance to properly respond to this. It was as he opened his mouth he realized that she was sorta right.

Since the date he had with Vandana, he split the time he had between the two as evenly as he could. While at work, he'd spend lots of time with Roxanne while going around and checking on his other friends while when he left work, he would usually have Vanny over. Yet, he only ever did go out of his way to see the woman and never the wolf. Hell, even when he was working the only time they had to hang out was when they were tired.

It must have made her believe that he cared less about her. After all, you spend time doing the things you like. Michael took a deep breath in before letting it out and tried answering her again.

"You're right." He said, allowing the words to float in the air for a couple of seconds. "You are right. It seems I've been neglecting our time together outside of work and I didn't think much about it because we spent so much time together during work. I didn't take your feelings into consideration so allow me to right this wrong in any way I can. Within reason."

The room had plunged back into its pseudo-silence once more as Roxanne's tail moved around a bit, doing what she normally does as she thinks hard on something. It had been a few more quiet moments before a voice spoke.

"Then spend the rest of the night after the party with just me." It had been a simple request. Perhaps that's all she ever wanted all along with some alone time with the man. Why she didn't want to spend it with Vanny made no sense to the man as they were all friends but he promised he'd give her whatever she asked for.

"Sure. Anything else, Your Highness?" Said Michael, trying to pull them back into their normal joking mood.

"A hug." Replied the wolf instantly.

"What?"

"A hug."

"Uh, are you sur-"

"I want a hug."

"..."

"..."

"Okay, turn around, then."

"No." Michael almost facepalmed hearing this response.

"Then how am I-"

"Just hug me."

"It won't be a hug."

"Just do it."

"Why?"

"Mike, I swear to God…"

"You don't even believe in him…"

"..."

"Okay, okay, fine. You win." Roxanne's tail started to move a bit more once she heard those words but her body didn't move anymore than that. Cautiously, the man moved up to the wolf before reaching his hands around her and embracing her warm, fuzzy body. He had done this many times as they slept together as personal space seemed to be a thing of the past between the two, but it felt especially nice to him this time around.

For a few moments, they stood in silence as Michael embraced his friend. As he tried to pull away, Roxanne's hands grabbed his and pulled them to continue embracing him.

"Rox…"

"Shut up."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Okay, don't actually shut up."

"Let go of me, then."

"...Don't want to."

"Rox…"

"Just… a bit longer…"

"...Fine…"

"... You know, you're… important to me." This comment came out of nowhere but Michael still agreed with the sentiment.

"You mean a lot to me, as well."

"I mean, a lot."

"Well, it's natural to really like your best friend." The wolf huffed in response. "What?"

"You just don't get it, do you?" Said Roxanne, a bit of a sassy tone in her voice.

"I think I do."

"Well, obviously not well enough. After all, Vandana and I have been giving you plenty of hints on how we feel." This comment couldn't have been any clearer and yet…

"Well, I love being friends with you both. That's why I want you two to get along." Another huff was heard and his hands were let go off before she turned around to look him in his eyes.

"You definitely don't get it. Just…" She paused, looking at the time and realizing how late it had gotten. "Just, keep an eye on me during the show. It'll tell you all about how we feel." With that, she walked past him.

Michael stood there for a second, lost in thought. How they felt? Thought Michael as he turned to see the wolf already left. For some reason, these words gave him a bad feeling. That same dreaded feeling from earlier revived, giving his stomach a sickening pang. Perhaps it's nothing… He thought to himself as he moved to follow her out. It wasn't unusual for him to misunderstand something or be paranoid about it, especially recently.

Even after keeping an eye out, he never saw the patchwork bunny again today. Perhaps it's for the best, but something keeps bothering him in the back of his mind. There must've been something he's overlooked.

He wanted to do his best for his friends so he decided to simply buckle up and make today work. Maybe he'd finally figure out what his two chick friends were always making fun of him for during tonight's performance.

Just maybe.

-SB-

Mati and Amanda had been walking through the Pizzaplex aimlessly when the boy opened his mouth.

"Do you think I could score myself a girlfriend here?" Mati asked, smiling courageously. They had been friends for a long time so perhaps he could ask Amanda for her honest opinion. The girl looked up from her phone to give the guy a sort of side eye.

"You'd be lucky if anything could walk up to that ugly mug without insulting it." She simply said before looking back down and continuing to move.

That night, a young boy's pride was destroyed in an instant and had yet to be recovered even in the following days.

-SB-

Chara and Evan walked away from a stand smiling largely as Chara gripped the G. Bonnie plushie to her body. The stand they just moved away from was one of those rigged pin knockdown games where you throw a ball. Even though it had definitely been rigged, there wasn't much they could do when Evan's pitching arm was stronger than normal humans.

"The look on that guy's face when he realized his trick wouldn't work against you." Said Chara as she wiped away a tear.

"Even if I didn't do it, I knew you would." Said Evan back, finishing his laugh.

"Oughta show them early on that we're not pushovers!" Chara cheered, raising her plushie before realizing something. "We should go back and win more. I need to collect the rest!" Evan simply chuckled.

"Maybe we can on an attraction worth spending money on." The puppet nodded her head in agreement, not wanting to give that cheater another dime. "The plush reminds me… Did you see how close Freddy and Jeremy were when we checked on them?" She nodded her head again, even more so rapidly.

"They're just so cute together! It's about time Jeremy found someone who likes his magic tricks."

"I always thought they were cool." Admitted Evan.

"So did we, but we helped teach him all the tricks he knows. After all, the majority of his waking life was inside the pizzeria." Evan nodded in understanding, feeling sorry for the bunny.

"We oughta take him here more often. The way Freddy's eyes light up when he's around Jeremy is just so special."

Something the couple enjoyed doing was talking about other people's love interests. Just about everyone they knew that was in some sort of relationship, or attempting to get into one, they gossiped to each other. Even Michael's predicament was something they found fascinating.

"You know…" Started off Evan, thinking a bit hard about something. "Michael did say Vanny was here." Chara nodded.

"Yeah, I do remotely remember something like that. I was going to mention it was a hazard to bring a sick patient into a building full of children but, from the sounds of it, she seemed to have made a full recovery."

"Which is weird because I had talked to her just this morning and she still sounded like death."

"Maybe the power of love carried her to health?" Said Chara jokingly, making the man laugh. "I thought that she had maybe acted sick a bit more so she could get Michael to take care of her more." Evan waved his hand.

"She's not that kind of person."

"Of course she isn't but… the mental image was there." The man nodded, agreeing on the funny mental image as they continued across the Pizzaplex towards their destination. The Monty/Weed Bunny pairing told them that they could find a nice, relaxing place to be in an extra party room they had. There was an old music box they found in the pile of salvageables that Cooper had brought months ago. Perhaps it had been overlooked when throwing away some stuff, but it found its way into G. Bonnie's room.

Around this area, there was almost no traffic minus the few stranglers who wanted some alone time to themselves. They both were almost there when the first few notes had rang out into their ears, stopping their movement altogether. This melody was awfully nostalgic for both of them as it was something they heard a lot as children. Children who were alive. Chara's hand slipped into Evan's, making the man look back at her.

A purple streaking tear ran down her face followed by another one. Evan's eyes, too, were getting a bit wet as they both realized it was Bonnie's Lullaby echoed down the hallway from the room with its door ajar. Chara started to move forward, followed by Evan in hand, as they made their way to the door and dove directly in.

The room had been engulfed in stars slowly moving around the room from a globe sitting directly in the middle of the room. It had emitted from the same thing releasing the melody. It had looked a lot like a music box except it ran even without the hand crank moving it. Chara's hand slipped away from his and she moved up towards the box, holding out two shaky hands towards it.

"It's…" Said in a hushed, sad voice from the puppet who didn't take her eyes off of the contraption in front of her.

"You… know what this is?" Asked Evan, who continued to stare at it, too. She nodded slightly, not getting missed by her partner.

"It was my father's project." She said, putting her hands around the square base. "He wanted to make these music boxes play by themselves for me. He made them so I could listen to them while I slept. He wasn't… always around to play them for me."

"So, this was yours?" She was quiet for a few moments before shaking her head.

"I died before I got to see the finished product. I… saw it in my father's workshop one day when I came to see him and knew exactly what it was. The music had been slowed down a bit as it was supposed to be something played for when I went to sleep…" The room was filled with the music once again, the stars revolving around the room. Evan moved closer to his partner to hug her, in which he immediately felt wet drops on his arm.

"We can leave if you need…" Whispered Evan, only to be met with a slight head shake.

"Please stay here with me." It was all he needed to hear. The couple stood there for a while, basking in the music and weeping tears. Evan remembered this song fondly himself. While there were many bad memories growing up as a living, breathing child, he remembered the simpler times when he had been more blissfully ignorant. This song would play in a much calmer, more vacant part of the diner. He could never figure out where it came from, but it had been there nevertheless.

Half an hour went by as they stayed together and comforted each other before Chara finally looked up at the man. Her costume had been utterly stained in purple as if she was a bear that dug messily into a grape jam jar. It had made the man chuckle as he started to clean his partner's face off with his hands.

"You know…" Started Evan as Chara looked up at him while he cleaned her off.

"Hm?" Simply replied the puppet.

"I realized I'm such an imperfect copy of you. After all, I can't exactly cry a perfect shade of purple." This made the girl laugh weakly, putting her hand up to his and rubbing it.

"Just be yourself, Evan. I think you're perfect just like that."

"No matter which one I decide to be…" He held up his purple stained arms for her, "I'm gonna be covered in purple." They stared at each other for a moment before they both laughed, spirits rising from just moments ago. Evan looked down into his partner's eyes, who was sitting between his legs on a bench near the table. Her eyes were absolutely stunning and breathtaking, no matter how many times the man stared into them. It had been akin to a drug being this close to her as it always ended in kisses but he held off for a moment. "Are you okay?"

"I think so…" Said Chara as she looked up to him with a small smile. "I didn't think I'd ever hear that melody again." Evan nodded.

"Mr. Fazbear always has a way of losing the good stuff and hiding the bad stuff." It had been a joke they told each other about how the business was famed for being terrible at keeping anything, especially lives of their own customers and employees, in the company.

"Think Monty and G. Bonnie would mind if I took this home?" Evan thought for a moment.

"I don't think so but… we oughta ask." Chara laid her face into the man's chest, resting it there for a bit. It had been nice to relax in each other's embrace after a long day of Halloween prep for the whole family. It was then they heard an announcement on the PA from a familiar old man.

"The show will begin in 15 minutes." Called out Cooper from the loudspeaker before hanging up. This had been the sign to stop sitting here and get a good seat with the rest of the family before they were all taken up. As he tried to move, Chara's hands grabbed tightly on his fabric.

"Can we just… stay here like this for a bit longer?" Asked the puppet softly. A sigh came from the man as he wrapped his arms around the girl once more.

"You oughta be lucky I care so much."

"Oh boy, what would I do without you?" They both laughed slightly as they enjoyed each other's embrace. The music continued to play around them, engulfing them into their own world where it was just them for that moment. It had been, in every right, a lullaby but one thing realized that it was his favorite song and hers. Perhaps it was their song and they just didn't know it. A song for a couple lost in time. A song played for the missing children. A song played for the dead.

Oh, and how beautiful it was.

-SB-

"We were up there on the stage for soooo long!" Cried Kat as she continued to explain excitedly to the full group, including Michael, as they got situated in their seats for the show. "The kids and the parents loved us! Well, they loved Foxy even more. Ain't that right, Captain?" She threw an arm around the fox's neck, who bellowed out a hearty laugh in his seat.

"There'nt be a lie comin' from the lass's lips." Said Foxy, who patted the girl's back a bit hard. "Our adventures made them landlubbers have open mouths like a bunch o' fish outta water!" The group laughed and talked in their own sections as each person wanted to share what they did. Mangle had actually been talking to Chara at the moment while Evan took the high spirits quietly in stride as Michael moved up to Evan, sitting on the opposite side of the puppet and the pink fox.

"Not with Vanny?" Asked Evan, who saw he showed up alone. He shook his head.

"She said she needs a minute to breathe." Responded the night guard, looking like he had something on his mind.

"Are you okay?" Michael nodded absentmindedly. "You don't seem to be okay." The man looked at the other for a moment before sighing.

"Just worried about some stuff." Evan nodded, looking away.

"Makes sense your head would be full of thoughts when you've been surrounded by two girls fawning over you."

"It's not like that, Evan…" The technician raised an eyebrow at this.

"Oh? I feel like it definitely is. Just about everyone can see that but you."

"I assure you, we're all just good friends." Evan sighed at this statement, looking back towards the night guard with a serious face.

"Michael, it's okay to be humble. However, too much of that looks more like ignorance. Though, I'm sure you're just joking around…" The seriously confused face the night guard wore told it all as Evan sighed again. "You weren't joking, were you?"

"I don't understand what you're trying to get at."

"They both like you. A lot."

"Yes, I get that. I like them a lot, too."

"Oh, so you do understand!"

"Yes, they're my best friends and I cherish them a lot." Evan facepalmed, sighing heavily.

"Oh boy, I should've thought otherwise… Look, why don't you ask them directly?"

"What for?" Asked Michael, who was confused. "Isn't it obvious what their answers will be?" Evan simply chuckled.

"Yes, to everyone but you. Why don't you go find Vanny? It won't be long until the show starts. I'll save you two a seat." Michael nodded, still not 100% sure what they had just talked about but thought it was a good idea to at least get a breath of air away from the crowd.

As he left the main area, he realized how much quieter it had been outside the room. He thought for a moment where to start looking for Vanny but realized he would probably find her a lot quicker if he actually started moving. It was then his thoughts were pulled back to the conversation he and Evan had.

To him, anyone liking him more than just a friend was impossible. He was a corpse and, while he didn't look as purple as he did before, he was still a good hint of it along with looking kinda like a corpse to begin with. It's not like he took all that great care of himself as for how looks goes. The most that was ever done to him was when Roxanne decided to do his make-up. While he did look a lot more normal, the man wouldn't call himself anything close to 'handsome'.

Not to mention, he had already told both Roxanne and Vanny that he was a murderer. They knew very well that his hands were stained with the blood of innocent kids all this time. They may have said that it wasn't his fault, but he knew better than to listen to that. If it wasn't for him, those kids wouldn't have been dead. Especially his little brother, Evan, who died in such a horrific way in front of his very own eyes. No one could love a murderer.

Perhaps, though, he could disprove this once and for all by doing as Evan suggested. He could go to both of his friends and ask them if they liked him more than just a friend and, when they inevitably make fun of him for even asking such a silly thing, he can prove it to his business partner. Though, he felt like it was going to be a headache.

A bit of movement caught his eye nearby and he thought it had been a sign of Vanny coming from that direction. His heart dropped into his stomach as he realized it had been the last person he was thinking of seeing at this moment: the mysterious bunny lady. She held a kitchen knife in her hand while peeking around the corner, giving him a look of curiosity. Mike's mind was racing as he tried to think of what to do next before the bunny motioned him to follow her and disappeared around the corner.

"Hey!" Yelled Mike, calling out to stop the bunny lady. He made a mad dash towards the corner and turned it to see her barely disappearing around another. He sprinted once again only to once again see a bit of her barely disappear as he made his way around the bend and so, the chase continued once again with Michael barely keeping up with the woman who was strangely just as fast as he was. Even without taking regard for his body's wellbeing at this moment, he could barely keep up but even when he was a bit slower, she still barely disappeared. It was as if she was taunting him.

Eventually, they made it to a part of the building he rarely ever went through as a lot of it was still wrapped up with warning signs saying it was under construction. Even so, he pursued onwards fully intending on stopping this bunny here and now. After a few more turns, he stopped to hear a door like the one back in one of the original pizzerias close and he saw a ramp pathway going down into a very mechanical looking door with a familiar button on it. He made his way over before pushing it, opening to reveal a very barely lit room and, from the light pouring in from the doorway, saw the silhouette of Vanny sitting at the edge of a floor, feet hanging off the edge.

"Vanny?" Is all Michael could muster as he was a bit out of breath. She looked back at him before waving for him to come join her.

"Mikey! I didn't think you knew where to find me." She said, sounding a bit embarrassed. He walked closer and the door closed behind him, spooking the man a bit. "Don't worry, there's a button on both sides so we'll be okay to leave whenever we want." The man looked around the dark room but couldn't see a whole lot.

"Van-Vanny." Michael said, stuttering a bit as his mind was still racing. "Did you see a patchy looking bunny girl come through here?" The girl looked up at him, thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"You're only the second person I've seen here in the past 5 minutes. The first one was Mr. Cooper. He said I could relax here for a moment if I wanted." This sounded extra strange and he knew that something was wrong, but he scolded himself for losing the bunny girl.

"Cmon, Vanny, the show is gonna start any moment now!" The girl shook her head and got up, passed by him towards the door and stopped, the both of them totally quiet for a moment.

"No… I mean, yes we can go but I have something very important to tell you. I've been… meaning to tell you this for a while. In fact, both of us have."

"Both of you…?" Started Michael before he remembered what Roxanne said to him earlier about both of them feeling the same way about him. He nodded his head, understanding what she meant. "Okay, I get it. I'm ready when you are."

"Michael, I… I think you're a wonderful person. I really wouldn't be lying to say that you are my ray of sunshine in these dark times and it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say I look forward to seeing you everyday." Tears could be heard in her voice as she continued, wet drops sounding out from the floor. Her back quivered slightly in the slight light shining through a crack in the wall. "I… I…"

"It's okay, Vanny. You can tell me. You're my best friend and I'm going to be here for you no matter what."

"You promise?" Said the woman quietly.

"I promise." A sniffle sounded out before she wiped her face, moving to turn around.

"Michael, I-!" She cut off as she stopped in her tracks, unmoving as if she was a statue. Even if she was breathing, it would be hard to see as she truly was completely still. After a moment, her head turned to look up into the man's eyes and that's when he noticed a red glint in them. It had been weird as he realized there were no red lights inside the room but didn't get too far into that thought process as he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.

It took a minute of staring downwards to realize what had happened, but all MIchael knew was that Vanny's hands were close to his chest. Between the two things was the same kitchen knife he saw in the patchwork bunny's hand. Blood spilled out from the wound piercing him right under his ribcage and the sharp pain became a bit worse. It was now that he realized that Vanny had stabbed him in the chest.

Michael's face contorted into one of shock as he slowly looked up from the knife to his assaulter's face. Her eyes glowed a dim, violent red as tears flowed out of them like a waterfall. Sobs were cutting into the man's hearing, sounding out from the woman's mouth. Her eyes, her tears and her sobs told the night guard that she didn't mean to do it. Yet the twisted, wicked and large smile she had been wearing on her face, one akin to that his father once donned, told him otherwise.

"I-I'm sorry, Mike…" Faintly called out Vanny between sobs. "I'm sorry…" A pair of ears poked up from behind her followed by a familiar patchwork face. The mysterious bunny poked her head from behind the woman's back and whispered into her ear.

"Do it." The figure hissed out quietly. The sobs became louder as Vanny begged for forgiveness once more, thrusting the knife harder. A pair of hands reached around the woman and pushed the man, forcing him off the ledge and dropping directly into the dark void below him.

The last thing Michael could remember seeing before the world turned dark was Vanny reaching out towards him, her hand hoping to bring him back from the wrong she did.

After that, it was nothing but pain.

-SB-

Due to Evan and Chara's decision, the group decided to stay around for a while while the party was ongoing. They weren't sure if they would stay for the employee party itself but there was something seriously concerning everyone right now.

Roxanne had holed herself up in her room after the show. Once it was done, she had rushed off the stage and towards our group in order to see if Michael heard it but no one in the group had seen either Michael or Vandana since they both disappeared before the show. After some running around and angry questioning, she had shut herself inside of her green room and hadn't been out for the past couple of hours.

So, the group searched for the missing duo. Looking high and low for them, in spots they never knew were a thing and even in others green rooms didn't prove successful. Freddy had tried tracking Michael with his Faz-Watch but the signal had seemed to have disappeared. It was like they both magically vanished from the face of the world and, naturally, Roxanne was taking it the hardest.

With a bit of coaxing from Freddy, he helped us get our way inside of Roxanne's room to talk to her which was met with a flurry of things being launched out the door. In the end, Evan and Chara were the ones who successfully made their way in as she didn't seem to want to throw anything at them. Atleast, not anymore.

Saying Roxanne wasn't taking it very well was the biggest understatement of the century. There had been more of her make-up flowing off of her face rather than staying on it and her room had genuinely looked like a tornado had a grudge with just about everything in here. The wolf had been in front of her mirror but not looking into it as she was sobbing too hard to care.

"What do you want?" Snapped the weeping wolf, trying to brush away the smearing make-up and tears from her face. "Did you find anything?" Evan shook his head grimly.

"It's like they up and disappeared. They can't even find him on the Faz-Watch." Explained Chara in a soft, soothing tone in an attempt to somewhat pacify the wolf. Another soft sob came from her as the news was delivered, sending a pang of sadness into their hearts.

"Look, I'm sorry abou-" Started Evan, before getting cut off by a flying hand.

"What do you know?" Spat Roxanne as she glared at him. "You have everything that you ever needed right in front of you and she'll never leave you. I only had-" A sob came out of her throat and she curled up on the chair. "He promised me he'd be here. He promised!" There wasn't much more that they could do but try to be there for morale support. It angered Chara that Michael would fluke out on someone he said he cared so much about just hours ago but it didn't feel right.

Michael, while he had been scum in the past, had changed a lot. Everyone could see how much Roxanne had meant to him as he grew extra close to her in such a short time. Perhaps he had never had a good friend before, but they knew he cherished the one good friend he had. Even with Vanny coming into his life, it's not like he'd drop Roxanne for that girl suddenly.

His signal disappearing had been quite fishy, too. While there were many things pointing to him running off with the girl, why not just abandon the watch? Along with Vanny enjoying where she lived, they couldn't see them running off together and starting a new life. Something else had to happen. Something felt sinister. As they walked out of the room, a familiar old face.

"Well, if it isn't my second favorite person in the industry!" Called out Cooper as he greeted the technician with a hefty handshake.

"Uh, hey, Cooper." Responded Evan awkwardly. "Right now might not be the time for this…"

"Oh, you mean Michael disappearing?" Said the man nonchalantly. "I'm sure he'll turn up for work tomorrow. He's never missed a day without a good reason, after all. The couple looked between one another before looking back at Cooper.

"I hope so. If he does, make sure to tell him I'm gonna kick his ass." Cooper nodded, taking this statement purely as a joke as he chuckled when he heard it.

"Oh, don't be so hard on the boy! After all, he's been having such a rough time recently with that whole bunny thing going on." This brought great concern to Evan and Chara.

"Wait, you knew about that?" Asked Chara, who swore Evan told her that Mike said he only mentioned it briefly to the crew and no one else.

"Oh, of course! How could I not notice a new bunny joins the crew? To think that guy's room is always so messy… Anyways, I got some gifts to give out. If you see Mike first, let him know to accept that money I sent him!" And, without listening to another word, Cooper sent off in full speed back to the party room leaving the couple absolutely wordless and full of worry.

"Let's get everyone out of here." Said Evan finally and shortly after receiving an affirming nod from his partner. The two of them made their way to gather up the group with quickness, but missed that someone had been staring from afar at them.

-SB-

Pain was all that Michael could feel. He could see, but after the damage from landing and maiming his face, his eyes, mouth and nose didn't exist. This phenomenon had happened before, but this wasn't something the man's thoughts dwelled on.

While his metal arm was only somewhat dented, his remaining natural arm had been broken in several places, snapping as he hit wooden beams and metal supports on the way down. He'd be lucky if either of his legs were still in a functioning state and he could feel that chunks of his body were missing. If someone saw him now, they'd think a brutally murdered corpse was coming after them. Yet, even this wasn't the thought that plagued him. In Michael's mind, he only asked one question: Why?

Why did she stab me? Thought Michael. Why did she push me? Why was she with the bunny? Why was she here? Why, why why WHY? Why did she lie?

For a bit, Michael contemplated this same thought over and over in his mind before there was so much noise in his mind that it was deafening. It was only then that his mind cleared up. It had been clean and empty of all its contents and yet the man tried to force himself to get up. His mind was simply echoing a single thought and nothing else like how his voice would echo off the walls in the void he fell into. Even without working legs, working eyes and a broken body, the man stood up in determination. Purple seeped from where his eyes would be and tears flowed down his face yet he wasn't sad. He only felt hatred.

This was what they wanted me to experience? Thought Michael as he remembered the words from before. This is what I deserved? I shouldn't have ever trusted them! The man mentally beat himself up for letting his guard down around the two he used to call his best friends.

I swear I won't EVER let anyone else make me feel the same way! He opened his maimed mouth and roared out with his broken vocal cords. His hatred filled the space around him, vibrating the air nearby. It was then that the man made his step forward with one simple goal in mind. Revenge. He wouldn't allow the two who wronged him to live, he swore. Afterwards, he'd make sure to end this entire story himself. Get rid of all the people who still knew the secrets he tried desperately to hide.

He couldn't even trust himself to keep them now. How could he? After all of this, he realized that living a life plagued with what he did wasn't living anymore. He couldn't trust anyone anymore.

After all, that was what he believed caused his downfall.

-SB-

"It seems they moved quicker than I thought." Called the female voice. The boy sighed as he realized the severity of the situation they were in.

"So, what now? We can't exactly do this without Michael." Said the boy. A moment of silence filled the air before a thought was formed.

"The wolf, Roxanne. Do you think she'll do anything for the man?" It had been a brilliant idea as the boy didn't want to get his family involved with this whole matter.

"I suppose there's only one way to find out." The boy moved to start a second call and, after a few rings, the watch picked up.

"Mike?!" Called out Roxanne through the phone as she tried looking through the watch. "Mike, is that you?!"

"No, but I can help you find him." The other side of the line got quiet briefly before a growl was heard.

"What have you done to my night guard?!" Barked the wolf.

"We simply want to help you find him. After all, he's in a lot of trouble. Don't you want to save him?" The line was quiet once more before the boy heard a labored sigh.

"What do you want from me?" A smile grew on the boy's face as he realized they were right. Perhaps things would run even smoother this way.

---

Author's Notes

First off, I wanna apologize for dipping out for so long. Life really does get in the way of your passions at times and this wasn't any different. Frankly, I'm glad to be back to writing and expanding this universe.

Secondly, I played HW2 to completion (well, I watched someone play it and started to play it myself) but it's 10x better than the original HW. I recommend playing it yourself if you can.

Other than that, no afterwords really to give. Holy hell, that was a story to write. More cogs are turning in the story machine and I'm exhausted after writing this. Please leave your feedback and I'll read it whenever I can. Thanks for reading the story and I hope to see you in the next one!