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.

12. Chapter 12

Authors Notes

Not a lot to say before going into this other than shit is about to get krunk.

Enjoy!

---

A Promise to Be Broken

Michael woke up feeling very alive for once and not in a good way. After fighting demons all last night, dipping in and out of consciousness in this crusade towards a few hours of rest, he finally was able to take a small nap before he woke up. His body had felt sore all over, especially parts of his midsection and chest, and his headache felt like his head was splitting open.

He slowly rose out of bed, sitting on the side of it and stared down at the floor. Michael's memories were sorta fuzzy from the end of yesterday. He could remember up to a point and then it started to be only bits and pieces. I had been at the restaurant… Then suddenly Vandana dropped me off here, I think… Michael sighed as his mind was very foggy. All that he knew is that he definitely freaked out yesterday and it wasn't just a freak out.

Last night, the night guard relived his own death. The memories of his flashback came in vividly, staining his brain with the haunting images of Ennard with Baby's voice peering in through the glass as their hand was on the lever right before his life ended. It had been something so firmly rooted into the core memory garden in his brain but something so poisonous to him that he tried to forget it. That memory probably wouldn't have been so awful for him since it was an old wound out of many that had tortured him before, but the knowledge that his sister, his killer, was still alive and kicking had been quite an unpleasant reminder. The reminder told him he was still in hell, that his job was far from finished.

Michael had never thought of himself as some unbreakable machine. It had been apparent that he wasn't an easy one to keep down as no slashes, stabs or blunt force trauma was going to get rid of him… well, unless it had the force to completely obliterate him. Yet if he was burned completely or melted or anything that would raise his body temperature to a point his Remnant would go past a surviving point, it was over. He would be gone from this world once again and he was not yet ready to leave. Not before he finished everything… if there was anything left to finish. The thought of anything else being left behind by his father was such a headache and, as he looked at the clock, he realized he had some time left before he had to be at work.

Recently, a few people had gone missing from the morning shift allowing Michael the opportunity to cover for their shifts. Though, it wasn't exactly like they were just up and disappearing, they had quit but with very… obscure reasons. The night guard had thought it weird at first until Arin assured him that it was normal. Something about how the job had been heavily taxing on one's body and mind. Michael thought that alone was weird as both he and Trudge practically had taken the day and night shift all the time with ease, but apparently they were the outliers there. It still seemed bizarre to the man but it was probably his overcautious nature. Either way, he still had time to rest so he flopped himself backwards a bit only to hit something solid in his bed.

While he vaguely remembered something last night with Vandana, the last thing he remembered to see in his bed was the same woman. She had been mostly covered up to the point the tops of her shoulders had been peeking out from under the covers and she was balled up in Michael's thick covers. Her face had this blissful look upon it, her lips barely parted from each other while her cheeks retained this slight hue of blush to it. It had been obvious she hadn't wiped away a good portion of her makeup as her lips still looked as dark and beautiful as they did the night before. Even a small cut in the side of her head barely showed up from underneath the make-up she still had on. In fact, one thing he remembered was how beautiful Vandana was last night as her lovely pale skin basked in the moonlight and her green eyes dazzled, dancing like shooting stars in the sky. Then a realization hit him.

He had remembered the few moments before his freakout vividly. He knew very well that he freaked out about Vandana's likeness to Baby before, but now it isn't triggering a single negative or painful feeling in his body. In fact, a warm, fuzzy feeling comes into his heart instead which was weird to him but not in a concerning way. He didn't understand this feeling he felt. He had only ever felt it once: when he saw Rox during the dance under the moonlit sky. Perhaps it has something to do with the moon. Mike thought, giving it little focus at all. Perhaps I'm turning into a werewolf from all the time I've spent around Rox lately. And then it dawned on him as he stopped staring at the gorgeous creature laying before him, a thought that never crossed his mind in his thought process until now. Why is she… lying with me… in MY bed?

Michael's mind raced as he tried to remember what happened after freaking out last night. He remembered speaking a bit about Evan and eventually how close she got to him… Had they… done something last night? Of course Michael had seen movies of this exact troupe before but what if it had happened to them? He shook his head, scoffing inwardly as he thought of the silly idea. As if something like that would happen to him. Michael lightly put a hand on the woman's shoulder, trying his best to avoid the woman's huge… 'assets', and shook her softly.

Vanny made a small groaning noise along with some movement, rolling from her left side to her back, and stretching before opening her eyes to see Michael. Her lips turned into a lovely, soft and kind smile as her eyes gave him something akin to bedroom eyes. The woman drank in the scruffled, devilish look of Bedhead Michael before she spoke up with a soft and slightly raspy voice.

"Hey, big guy." Vandana said with a soft, hushed and sweet tone. "Last night was amazing! I'd love to do it again sometime." Michael's face turned into one of confusion and slight shock as his mind brought back up the same question he dismissed not too long ago. After seeing the look on the night guard's face, the woman laughed a bit. "You know, you're so easy to tease. Don't worry, we didn't do anything last night." Michael's look turned into one of relief, but there still had been questions on his mind.

"I apologize…" Said Michael quietly, his voice raspy still from not having a chance to warm it up, "I don't quite remember anything past the end of dinner last night… You know, before I kinda…"

"Threw up all over the place and started to freak out?" The woman filled his sentence in with Michael nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, I would love an explanation if you don't mind. You freaked me out and, luckily, the only other person to see was our waiter. He was kind enough to check us out quickly so I could take you home." Michael mentally scolded himself for allowing this girl to pay for the entirety of dinner last night. He would remember to pay her back in some way in the future.

"I-I apologi-" Vanny put her hand up to his face suddenly, stopping his speech.

"Whoa, slow down there, cutie. There's no reason for you to get so worked up about it. Things happen, especially when old traumas come back up suddenly. Just take a deep breath and maybe let's get some breakfast. You don't have to be anywhere for the next 30 minutes to an hour, do you?"

"Mmh, no. I have a shift starting at 10 so it'll be a handful of hours before I need to be- wait, did you just call me… 'cutie'?" Vanny nodded with an innocent face.

"You're hella cute, especially when you look all flustered like you did." Michael looked at her a bit weirdly before shaking his head.

"Whatever, I'll make some breakfast." Michael went to get up from bed until he felt a hand grab around his wrist and he peered back behind him to find a very determined looking woman grabbing him. She had been halfway uncovered now, wearing nothing but a pretty tightly fitted black tank top. Michael's eyes had landed upon her chest for a moment too long, making him feel a bit embarrassed for leering at the woman the way he did.

"No, I'll make breakfast." Said Vandana, who was still staring up at him, blissfully ignorant where his eyes previously were at. "You had a very rough night and you're gonna take it easy." The night guard sighed as she let him go and bounced up from the bed and onto her feet.

"Do I have any say in this?" Michael said with reluctance in his voice.

"Nope!" The woman moved towards his kitchen with energetic and brisk steps, washing her hands and diving into the fridge before Michael had a chance to even make it fully into the room. "You know, you should really stock up a bit more. You don't exactly have a lot in here." Vanny said this as she looked at the mostly empty carton of eggs and bit of bacon still left in the fridge.

"I don't actually eat here all too much but breakfast and, even then, I'm usually only coming home to change and shower before going back to work to cover a dayshift."

"Yeesh, they really work you to the bone. I have a feeling that it's sorta illegal to work more than 16 hours a day." She started cracking some eggs and rummaging through pantries, looking for spices to mix into the eggs. Michael had made it to the table before sliding himself into one of the padded wooden seats in the kitchen.

"Firstly, it's my choice to work that much. I know they could probably make it without my help, but I don't have much else to do with my free time and I enjoy spending time in the Pizzaplex. Secondly, I think I barely miss that 16 hour a day law pretty often, but let's just keep that between you and I."

"At least you live relatively close to the Pizzaplex. Speaking of which, your home is really nice and the nature you have surrounding the place makes it even better." She stirred up some ingredients together before pouring them into the pan, never taking her eyes off of her work. "I'd kill to have a house so secluded like you do." She then paused for a moment to think. "Maybe I shouldn't have said 'kill', but I think you know what I mean." Michael nodded, softly chuckling at the display of thoughtfulness from the woman.

"I understand you quite well and, no, it's quite okay. It seems I told you about Evan last night and, while that wasn't my intention for our outing last night, it's okay to talk about." Vanny finally looked over at Michael, eyes filled with worry.

"I don't understand the full story, but you shouldn't blame yourself the way you do. Things happen and we make mistakes. Those mistakes don't shape us to be who we are." Michael sighed, realizing he didn't want to have this conversation after all.

"You and Rox sound exactly the same on this topic. Both of you are fools." Michael said with a bit of spiteful venom in his voice, his eyes darkening as he thought about it. The woman in the kitchen simply continued to whisk at the eggs in the pan.

"You sound like you're quite close with Roxanne. Every time I see you, I see her next to you."

"Well, she is my best friend. She can be a pain at times, but she's a lovely one to be with when she opens up with you." Vanny hummed in response and continued to fluff the eggs until they finished and finally dealt with the bacon in the pan next to her, seeing it crisp quite well in the oil. She moved to one side of the kitchen for bread before slotting two pieces in the toaster and moving back to the stove. It had been quite silent between them as she finished up breakfast, serving both of them some cheesy scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and a piece of toast covered in butter. Michael didn't realize he was so unbelievably hungry until his eyes had caught sight of the finished plates. He began to devour it down, making the woman who sat across from him smile.

"I see you like my cooking." Said Vandana who put a bit of egg and bacon into her mouth. The night guard nodded, continuing to eat quickly in front of her. "Don't worry, your food isn't going anywhere and I can make plenty more… or I can as long as we still have ingredients." They made small talk as they ate and the woman grabbed their plates after they finished eating with Michael shamelessly requesting for seconds. Not that Vanny minded at all as she felt a lot of feelings for the man and seeing him scarf down her food made her really happy. As she finished putting the washed dishes in the rack, she sat down again and stared at the man.

"Thank you for the meal, Vanny." Said Michael with a bit of shame. "I apologize for making you do all of this for me." She waved away his concerns with her hand.

"You didn't make me do anything, Mike. I did what I wanted because I wanted to do it for you." She smiled at him briefly before speaking again. "Though, if you want to repay me in any way, you could always tell me what was going on last night." The man shook his head for a moment.

"I only vaguely remember what happened last night at all. Would you be so kind as to recount the horrors of whatever I did in my stupor?" The woman nodded and obliged, recounting everything from the point she started seeing him shaking and becoming sickly looking to the moment she helped get him in the house.

"You looked at me a couple of times and your eyes genuinely glowed purple. I mean, you literally had glowing purple eyes, Mike. That's not something that just happens to anyone and, even then, that's not even my greatest concern which is a concern all on its own. What… what happened to you, Michael?" Vandana's eyes were full of concern and worry for the man and he sighed heavily, feeling bad for the answer he was about to give to her.

"I apologize deeply, but I can't speak about this." Vandana's eyes became passionate as she leaned forward towards the man.

"Mike, I'm concerned for you. You looked like you were dying last night. DY-ING!" The man shook his head, holding his ground.

"I'm sorry, but I can't talk to anyone about what happened last night and I would greatly appreciate it if you would keep it to yourself as well. I haven't even told Rox about the reason behind my freak outs." The worry in the woman's eyes increased.

"Wait, are you saying this has happened before?" Michael realized the fatal flaw in his sentence and sighed a bit before he responded.

"Yes- but, it's never been this bad before. It has to be because some stuff, some news about my deceased sister came to me recently. It was quite a heavy shock for me, but I can't even speak about that. I mean it, Vanny. I want to take this information with me to the grave."

"Looks like it's going to happen sooner rather than later at the rate you're going at!" She raised her voice, worry evident in it. The room became quiet for a moment, silence so thick you could cut it with a knife. It wasn't until the woman opened her mouth again that it was broken. "Michael, I don't know if you can tell, but I care a lot about you. Please, won't you try at least this once to entrust a bit of information to me? Maybe you'll feel better."

"I'm… I'm sorry, Vanny. I can't. I truly am sorry. You've turned out to be a good friend and while we haven't known each other for very long, I feel quite comfortable around you, but I can't let anyone have that information." Vandana stared at him in his purple eyes before she nodded slightly and dropped her head. Michael really did feel bad, but the feeling of keeping this information safe was vital to him. Perhaps other victims knew, but it had been his fault in the first place that they got involved.

"Okay." Vandana finally said, looking back up at him. "Okay… but if something happens and it becomes too much for you to handle, please come to me, okay?" Michael thought for a moment and sighed.

"I can't promise you anything, but I will try my best if that time happens to come." The smile that disappeared off of the woman's face came back and she sighed softly.

"You have some nerve, Mr. Afton. Taking a woman to bed with you then keeping secrets from her right after telling her that she means a lot to you." Michael became flustered immediately.

"Hey, you're twisting my words and you were the one that crawled into my bed!" The woman laughed, getting up from the table.

"So easy to tease. Hey, I've got work soon and you left your vehicle back at the restaurant. Why don't you get ready and come with me so you can get your car back?" The man nodded, getting up himself, moving back to his room. He grabbed his wallet, keys and phone along with his watch that Vanny seemed to have taken off of him last night. Luckily enough, he didn't drop or forget anything back at the restaurant.

Unfortunately for him, and something he'd soon find out as he opened up the messages on his watch, there was something very important he did forget and he'd spend the entire day regretting it.

-SB-

It had been quite some time since Chara stepped foot into Evan's and Trevor's business. Once her human had gotten to the point he started to be gone nearly from sunrise to sunset, Chara stayed home with Mangle and, while it was mainly to make sure Mangle didn't feel lonely at home, it wasn't an exaggeration saying that the puppet didn't quite enjoy the experience as much as her human counterpart. She loved the time she got to spend with him, but rarely had it ever been comfortable.

As the pair stepped foot into the store, a yawning Vandana could be seen perched at the front desk typing away until she heard the bell attached to the front door ring out. She looked up at them and smiled, waving at them both. Evan noticed a bit of tiredness showing on the woman's face as she moved up towards her.

"Good morning, Vandana." Said Evan as he let Chara and himself behind the counter. "Busy with some new crazy project to the point that you didn't sleep too well last night?" The woman smiled thinly at the thought of all that happened last night.

"I had a date last night, if you must know." Said Vandana with a bit of sass, which had surprised Evan. He knew that the woman had a thing for him for a long time but he never touched it as he didn't feel comfortable putting his long time friend down. It's not like he didn't try, nicely as he could possibly be, but it's almost like she didn't believe that he could be with anyone but her. The news that came out of her mouth was marvelous though perhaps he'd have to see for himself how good this person was. At the same time, how bad could the person possibly be?

"Oh! I'm happy to hear. Anyone I know?" Replied Evan. Maybe it's the guy at that deli she was eyeing or that one dude who delivers our parts who has been hitting on her. Evan speculated as he saw the excitement on the woman's face. Even Chara, who had been floating next to the man, had looked excited for Vandana.

"Oh he's this absolutely charming guy with lovely eyes, we had such a wonderful time at Midnight Masterpiece and yes, you do know them." This made Evan start guessing in his head who it could be as the woman started listing off things about them. "He worked with us before."

Okay, thought Evan as he started playing along with this charade, I've worked with a good amount of people before.

"He seems to get along with you pretty well as he talked a lot about you last night."

That doesn't quite dumb it down as I can't think of just any one person like that…

"He works at the Pizzaplex!"

That really narrows down the options but… there's only a couple of guys we've ever really worked with from there… could it be…?

"Gorgeous purple eyes, kinda like yours." This last hint was a telling sign of who she was talking about.

Oh dear…

"It was Michael!" Vandana spread her arms out in surprise, a wide smile plastered on her face. "Did you guess correctly?" Evan nodded, not nearly as happy as she was but was surprised nevertheless. Michael hadn't exactly been the most social person and, on top of that, had been previously pretty close to Roxanne. Maybe it was due to his own biased feelings about relationships like the one he and Chara had but they seemed pretty sweet and happy together… well, when Roxanne wasn't too busy acting like she wasn't all that interested. While Chara and him weren't technically together in the first place, it didn't mean that others couldn't be. Vandana's excited and animated energy turned into one of slight confusion as she realized that both he and Chara hadn't nearly been excited about the news, especially Chara.

Next to Evan, Chara's mask had a face of utter disgust on it and her body posture had slightly backed away from the woman. While it seemed like quite an overreaction, Chara really didn't think too highly of Michael. Even after helping her out last time, she still couldn't get past her dislike for the person who tortured and killed her loving human as a child out of the many sins she thought he committed. She moved back into a neutral body position and face expression.

"I apologize, but you'd be better off taking a rabid dog to dinner. Anyways, I'm going to head back there first." Chara moved towards the door towards the back of the room and disappeared through it as the two humans remained silent for a moment.

"I apologize about that…" Said Evan with a bit of embarrassment in his voice. "She really, really does not get along well with Michael due to some past… run-ins. Though, I can't really say much about the circumstances other than that." Vandana looked at him with a thought set in her mind. Evan knows more about these things Michael won't tell me about… What could it possibly be? With that thought, she was reminded about how Michael was acting the night before. Maybe it would be a good idea to let him know about what happened.

"Oh, that's okay… I had something weird happen with him last night." Evan became alerted as she said that, but waved her hands at him in a defendful way. "He didn't try to hurt me or anything but he acted… weird. We got to this point in the date and he eventually started to freak out and threw up all over the place and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa." Evan said, stopping the woman as she kept rapidly recounting the events from yesterday. "Maybe try explaining from the beginning." Vandana nodded as she calmed down and started recollecting the events of yesterday in great detail. When the story came to the point right as she realized Michael was freaking out, Evan could already see some of the red flags. It seemed that Baby being alive affected the man more than they had thought previously, but how long had he been feeling this way?

"And I spent the night over there and made sure he would be okay. I'm not sure what exactly set him off, but I feel extremely bad about the entire situation." Evan sighed as she finished her story, rubbing his head. The technician felt that a call to his older brother would be in order sometime later today but there wasn't much he could do about it for the moment being.

"Well, if you do end up spending more time with him, there are a few things you should not mention. I know this may sound a bit weird and I'm not 100% sure about everything he's gone through either, but these should be pretty general baselines." The woman nodded, taking out her phone to write on her digital notepad. "So, talking about family, especially his siblings, without him bringing it up first is a terrible idea. Ice cream and scoopers and stuff like that is not ideal either." He got a weird look for the last part, but she wrote it down anyway. "Michael is… he's doing his best. Anyways, I need to head back there and catch up with Trevor before the work day starts." The woman nodded again and waved, watching the man disappear through the door towards the back of the room.

Everything had been quite weird last night and this entire conversation just made her more confused. Perhaps it was a sign telling her to stay away, but she didn't want to. Something told Vandana that she was already in a bit too deep and, even though she could be way over her head, that she wanted to support Michael. He was amazing to interact with last night before everything went down and, for the first time in a long time, she really enjoyed herself. A warm, fuzzy feeling permeated through her chest as she thought about the man and she smiled.

Though, for some reason, Michael made her think of rabbits and bunnies. She loved those fluffy little creatures so much, but the night guard didn't seem to share the same fondness she did.

-SB-

Back in the Nafto household, the household phone rang out. Mangle, who was nearby gluttonizing on the pancakes that had been made for her and the two who left not all too long ago, had been the closest to it so she picked up the phone and answered.

"Hello, hello!" Said Mangle in a slight sing-song voice. "This is the Nafto household!"

"Uh…" Said a hesitant sounding female voice from the other side. The number had not been saved into the phone so it could have been anyone, but it was weird that they were calling the household phone instead of Evan's phone. "Hey, Mangle…"

"Hey, uh… who is this?" Asked Mangle politely.

"Oh, I'm sorry. This is Katherine. You know… from that time. Well, a couple of times, heh…" Mangle instantly recognized the girl's voice after putting a name to it.

"Oh Katty!" Said Mangle, sounding excited. "How are your ribs? I heard that the injury wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been."

"Oh you know… 3 fractured ribs and a heavily bruised side but nothing completely broken luckily enough. The doctor said I was lucky to get out with only needing to get rest but I'm too bored at home. Perhaps I could come over for a little bit and hang out with Foxy?" Mangle went to answer but hesitated. The pink fox knew that the young woman wasn't going to do anything bad while here, but she still felt hesitant to have her around. After all, Mangle was the one who hurt her grandfather before.

"Uh, I'll give the phone to Foxy. I don't mind that you come over as long as you both don't break anything else. Foxy himself hasn't exactly had the chance to get himself fully fixed up after the last incident." Katherine hummed in acknowledgement as Mangle made her way down the stairs towards the basement workshop.

Inside the room, Foxy and Lillie had been resting in a recliner that had been buried in a bunch of boxes in the corner of the room previously and now was comfortably seating the pirate fox with Lillie laying on top of his chest. Once they had heard the footsteps coming closer to them, Foxy perked up his head to see his pink sister coming closer before holding out the home phone in her hand.

"You've got a call from your partner-in-crime." Said Mangle with a bit of sass making Foxy smile at her cheesily. He gingerly grabbed the phone from her and put it up to his ear.

"This be Cap'tin Foxy speakin'."

"Hey Foxy!" Said Katherine from the other side, sounding a lot more cheery than she did with Mangle. The pink fox assumed that the girl felt uncomfortable around her and, while it was understandable, she felt a bit sad about it.

"Ah, Katty." Called out the pirate fox to the young woman on the other side of the phone with a smile on his face while Lillie crawled up his body to hear the conversation better. "How be yer chest doin'?" Lillie whispered something to Foxy, which made him look at her with a funny look. "I mean 'er ribs. Nothin' more, lass!" The small doll giggled a bit as she saw him fluster up.

"My ribs aren't doing too terrible, just some bruising and a few fractures which should be fully gone in about a month's time. Also, say hi to Lillie for me!"

"She can 'ear yer every word, lass. Say hi to ta lass, Lillie." Lillie climbed a bit closer to the phone as Foxy positioned the mic closer to her small body.

"Hi, Kat!" Said Lillie with her hushed, lulling voice.

"Hi, Lillie. I'll be honest, I'm still not used to this grown woman-like voice coming out of a small doll-like animatronic…" Foxy laughed heartily while Lillie giggled with a more gremlin-like tone.

"Well, I have two voice boxes stuck inside of my body now." Lillie explained to the girl. "One was unable to actually produce words but now that I have Ballora's, I can actually use my old one to change my tone if need be." As she speaks, her voice pitch heightens to something similar to a child's voice but then goes back to normal before finishing. "Though, I'm more comfortable with Ballora's voice."

"Anyway, what did ye call us fer, lass?" Said Foxy, entering back into the conversation. "I assume it wasn' fer a small chat."

"Oh, right!" Said Katherine. "I just wanted to know if you two would like to hang out for a bit. I'm stuck in bed right now with nothing to do."

"Hmm… Will tat be arright? I mean, yer still hurtin', aren' ye, lass?"

"I'm taking some pain medication so I can't feel it too much. I'll be fine! I promise, Foxy. We'll have a blast together." Foxy thought about it for a moment before looking at Mangle, who simply nodded, before responding.

"What do ye have in mind?" There had been excited noises coming from the other side of the phone along with some ruffling sounds before Katherine started to speak again.

"Oh, I have plenty of ideas. I'll be over soon!" And with that, the call ended. Foxy sighed heavily as he realized he was actually needing to get up and do something today, but it wasn't a bad thing. He lifted the phone up towards Mangle, who took it from him.

"I don' know what I got meself into." Said Foxy sheepishly towards his pink sister, who simply shook her head with a smile.

"Well, as long as you guys don't go and do anything dangerous again, I'm sure you'll be fine." Said Mangle who was giving the pirate fox a particular look. "Just remember, you are injured, too. Don't push yourself too hard." Foxy flapped his hand at her.

"Aye, I know, sis. Don' need to treat me like a baby fox now." Mangle furrowed her eyebrows and poked his injured arm softly, making Foxy react in a bit of pain.

"Maybe if you didn't do stupid things and keep secrets and lie, maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't have to treat you like that." Said Mangle with a bit of anger in her voice. Foxy grabbed her hand and held it briefly, staring up at Mangle's fiery eyes.

"I'm sorry fer that, lass. I know you don' quite fergive me just yet, but I do feel remorse for treatin' ye the way I did." Mangle stared back at the red fox before sighing, face softening up.

"I know…" Mangle said softly, looking away and holding her brother's hand. "I just… I worry about you. I never thought I'd see the day you would be put back together and I've lost you once already. I don't need to lose you again." Foxy remembered how depressed he had been when he woke up in this basement years ago.

He wanted nothing more than to die and stay dead, but even the fire from Fazbear's Fright didn't kill him. The pain he felt on a daily basis paired with the raging negative emotions that he eventually gained control of and the overbearing guilt of knowing the murders he carried out in his rage had all weighed heavily on him. It weighed heavily on his body and even heavier on his mind.

One moment he was a living, breathing kid and was sitting in his favorite restaurant with his best friends until seeing them get slaughtered before his eyes and subsequently getting murdered himself then waking up only to realize he was just as bad as his killer. It had been crushing to all his friends and now he was the only one of them left. He wasn't even sure if Bonnie was ever going to wake up, though Evan says his soul is still sealed inside his suit so it gave him a tiny bit of hope.

Foxy remembered those dark times vividly. His depression spiked up from time to time, but he had a new meaning in life now. His grip slightly tightened on Mangle's hand, his face putting on a smile.

"It… it be a different time now, sis. I now realize I have tings to live fer n' places to see. I have ye n all these other chums 'ere along with me dreams. I love ye all." Mangle was touched to hear this from her older brother.

"Awwh, we love you, too, Foxy." Mangle said, smiling softly towards Foxy. "What kind of dreams do you have, hmm? Ooh, I wanna hear this!" Mangle excitedly sat on the table in front of her brother, staring at him with excited, interested eyes while swinging her feet like a child. "Maybe we can help you get there! Evan is so good at making our dreams come true in one way or another." Foxy scratched his chin with his hook as he saw that Lillie, too, was now sitting at the edge of the table, looking interested in what the pirate fox would say.

"It… it not be all too big o' a deal, but I…" He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Sometimes, I imagine us goin' back inta thee business o' entertainment, dancin' n' singin' all together with Chara handin' out ta toys n' protectin' the small laddies n' lasses. Nothin' e'er felt better than that." Mangle stared at Foxy with a face of shock for a bit.

"Really?! That sounds wonderful! Though…" Mangle stopped herself as she thought about it again. "I don't know exactly how that will get done…" Foxy shook his head with a smile and patted his sister's leg.

"It be arright, sis. None o' us arr goin' anywhere. It be time to relax n' enjoy life." Mangle smiled at hearing this. With a swift motion, she hopped off the table and hugged him, surprising the pirate fox a bit. They stayed in the hug for a long moment.

"Mmh… We're glad to have you back, Foxy." Said Mangle softly to him, still hugging him with arms around his neck. Foxy chuckled and patted her back.

"It's good to be back, Sis." Said Foxy, dropping his accent for a moment before putting it back on as they parted. "Ye oughta go get ready fer Katty ta get 'ere. I'm sure she'd love ta see ya in one o' yer pretty dresses that Evan had gotten ye." Mangle's face dropped a bit and she pointed her toes inward, looking really meek.

"Umm… I don't think I will hang out with you guys today." This made Foxy look at her questioningly, but mostly out of worry. Mangle was meek but she was a pretty social person. Having a girl that she could relate to over seemed like a big enough deal.

"Whaddya mean, Sis? I'm sure the lass would love ta see ya." Mangle shook her head, looking away from the red fox.

"I don't know, Foxy… Would she be comfortable around the same thing that wounded her beloved grandfather? I mean, she seemed pretty uncomfortable even on the phone before." Foxy shook his head.

"I think yer o'ertinkin' it, Sis. When she gets 'ere, I'll show ye." Mangle nodded, but was quite unsure of this idea. "Anyway, I oughta find me eyepatch." Mangle nodded and left to get dressed, still looking quite unsure of the entire situation. Foxy watched her leave and sighed as he heard the door upstairs close. Lillie patted the pirate fox's hand.

"You did good, Foxy." Said Lillie, looking up at him. "So why do you look so worried?"

"Out o' all o' us, me younger pink sister be ta one with ta least experience with 'er memories. I remember how awful it was went the rest o' us got them suddenly. I-" He dropped his accent with a sigh, his eyes full of worry as he stared up towards the roof. "I hope she'll be okay."

Lillie patted her captain's hand in a comforting manner, hoping that everything truly would truly turn out alright.

-SB-

Michael thought he had seen everything. From killer robots, to the dead raising back up to human and animatronic romantic relationships, he really thought he had seen it all. What he didn't account for was the unique entity named Trudge and his current partner-in-crime, Friendo.

They had been both standing behind a booth that was decorated in a very Halloween-esque way with cutely carved pumpkins sitting at the corners of the booth and a small drawn bat hung from the sign that was above their booth. The sign, colored in neat shades of orange and black, read 'Blood Lemonade: made by real vampires'. On the booth desk were cute orange and black cups full of a blood-colored liquid which gave off a faint citrus-y scent. Though, the thing that Michael was staring at wasn't the dainty little booth or the cartoon-esque drawn sign, but the two standing behind the booth.

Trudge had been wearing the tackiest of vampire count costumes ever to be seen. A red and black cape that crested up behind his head and tied up tightly with a thin golden rope around his neck. A necklace donned around his neck that was made out of a similarly shiny gold chain. It led downwards into a large pendant with a bright red ruby embedded in the middle of it. Trudges' hair was slicked back with an obscene amount of hair gel and, as he smiled at the night guard, showed his fake vampire teeth. Friendo had been donned with a similar outfit except instead of fake teeth, he had some drawn on and poorly taped to his face along with eyebrows.

Mike had never seen such a tacky scene in his life. These guys had put actual clowns to shame which, seeing as Michael worked with actual circus animatronics for a while, he felt he knew a thing or two about that. Trudge smiled at Michael widely, showing off his teeth, and Friendo, who was side-eyeing the young man, tried to follow suit.

"Would you like to try some bloo-" Said Trudge in a very cliche Transylvanian accent, one comparable to the vampire from the soap opera Michael tended to enjoy in his free time. The night guard held up his hand, while pinching the bridge of his nose, interrupting him.

"No, no no no… no." Said Michael, who couldn't believe his eyes or ears. "What the hell are you two doing?"

"We're vampires, Mike!" Said Trudge, dropping his fake accent and raising his hands, which Friendo mimicked with the same smiling energy.

"No, I get that, but why are you two dressed like you just crawled out of a mid 20th century black and white vampire movie?" Trudge didn't say a word for a bit, holding his pose and staring at Michael, as a few families and kids passed by before Trudge spoke.

"But c'mon, Mike!" Said Trudge, dropping his pose and putting his hands out in front of himself, trying to reason with the night guard. "Have some Halloween spirit!" Michael scoffed at the younger man's reaction, crossing his arms.

"I have nothing against Halloween as a holiday, but I think you two look ridiculous."

"Well, we have other costume ideas planned leading up to Halloween day!" Michael looked at him funnily.

"Knowing you, you'd show up tomorrow wrapped in toilet paper acting like a mummy." While Michael meant it as a joke, Trudge said nothing and it dawned on him. "No, you weren't!" Trudge simply said nothing and stared at the man, which Friendo did the same. Michael simply face palmed, exaggerating a sigh. "You know, somehow you surprise me every time I step foot in this establishment. What's next? I mean, I truly don't think anyone could possibly be wearing a more ridiculous outfit than yo-" And like it was fate, his head turned as he heard one of the animatronics walking closer to him and Michael soon learned to eat his own words.

Chica was walking strangely towards the booth wearing what it seemed to be a paper mache orange duck beak with flappy orange webbed feet. It was then that the night guard realized that Chica was walking weirdly on purpose because she was waddling. Her hands had been stuck in her armpits as she wore feathers on her arms, flapping them as she made small quacks with each step. Chica waddled up to the lemonade stand and stopped in front of Trudge, staring directly at him.

"Hey!" Said Chica nonchalantly. "Got any grapes?" Michael felt as if he was watching a comedy show unfold in front of him. If he hadn't known these 3 prior to this social engagement, he'd be looking around for hidden cameras and someone in a suit waiting to run out to scream 'gotcha!'.

"Chica," Said Michael, getting the bird's attention. "What… are you dressed as a duck?" She nodded vigorously at him.

"Yeah! Trudge said I should dress as a duck and ask him for grapes sometimes. He told me it would be funny." The man shook his head and decided that fretting over the entire matter would get him nowhere.

"Well, I'm glad you're all having fun, but I need to do my job. Have you seen Rox anywhere?" Chica's face became saddened as she remembered the outburst from her wolf friend.

"I… I don't know, Michael." Said Chica with an unsure tone. "She yelled at me yesterday and told me mean things, so I felt like she just doesn't like me anymore." This was concerning to hear for Michael as, while he didn't believe Roxanne would be malicious intentionally, she could be quite a prick when feeling angry. Perhaps it would be good to do some damage control while I can. Thought the night guard.

"I don't think she hates you, Chica." Reasoned Mike as he got closer to her. "I think she was angry for some reason and you just happened to be in her way." Chica sniffled a bit as she looked over to the man. This tended to be how things worked with Roxanne, so he just guessed and attempted to comfort duck-chicken anyways.

"Really?" Michael nodded in confirmation and she wiped her face a bit. "Well, she was still really mean."

"I'll talk to her when I find her, okay? Just enjoy your day. Your costume is really nice, so have fun with it." This made Chica brighten up a bunch as she smiled towards Michael.

"Thank you, Mike!" With that, she skipped off towards a crowd of kids, saying something about grapes and lemonade. Michael looked back towards Friendo. "Hi, Friendo." The (friendo)endoskeleton waved at him, giving off a smile-like energy. Michael started to walk away as he said something to the two behind the booth once more. "Anyway, I hope you two have something more interesting planned after the mummy costume. I'm half expecting to see you both with white bed sheets over your heads pretending to be ghosts."

While Michael walked away, searching for the wolf, he didn't notice the blank stares from both Trudge and Friendo. Perhaps it was better for the night guard not to know that he guessed their next plan perfectly.

As Michael moved through the Pizzaplex looking for Roxanne, his eyes scanning through the crowds, he found the faye surrounded by at least a dozen pint-sized fans who were all asking for autographs and questions. Even from afar, Michael could see that there was something going on with her. She looked sorta like she didn't sleep at all along with seeming sorta distant. Normally, she'd be eating up all this attention they were giving her but she just didn't seem to be in the mood for it. As the night guard moved up towards her, she spotted him.

In a brief instant, a few negative emotions had shown up at once. Sadness, betrayal and, most of all, anger. Though as soon as it showed up, it soon left as she moved her eyes back down towards her young crowd, giving them a fake smile and ushering them along. It wasn't long before it was just him and her in the immediate area and Roxanne aggressively stepped up towards Michael before grabbing his shirt and promptly dragging him along.

"Wait, Ro-" Said Michael before getting interrupted with a growl.

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." Said Roxanne through her growl, punctuating each word as she dragged him towards Rockstar Row. It wasn't long until they got inside her room and Michael was half pushed, half thrown towards the couch as Roxanne closed the door. He watched as she moved towards him, her vicious attitude exuding through her movements, and she pinned him against the couch. Michael was very confused and looked up at the female wolf with equally confused eyes.

"Uh, hey-"

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Mike?" Asked Roxanne, throwing Michael for a loop.

"What?" The wolf rolled her eyes, looking at him with a glare.

"Don't act stupid, freak. You had me worried but it seemed that you were fine. Were you too busy messing around with that slut to come and see me?" Michael was utterly confused as he racked his brain for an answer, but not receiving one.

"Rox, wha-, I'm confused. What's going on?"

"You promised to see me last night once your date was done."

"No, I-" Michael stopped himself as he vaguely remembered telling the wolf he would come over after the dinner date was finished and they'd spend time together. He mentally facepalmed, beating himself up a bit over that. "No, you're right. I did say that."

"Then where were you?" Said Roxanne with more aggression, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him off the couch.

"I was out with Vandana and-"

"Oh, so that whore is more important than me, huh?" Michael furrowed his brows a bit.

"Don't call her a whore, that's rude as hell, Rox. She didn't do anything wrong to you, so why are you taking your anger out on her?"

"You couldn't come last night because you were too busy with her, right?"

"No, that's not it. I-" A knock on the door rang out through the small room, making both of them look towards the door. A moment later, the door opened and the smiling, cheery face of Cooper showed up. He stared at both of them and looked around a bit before speaking.

"Should I… come back another time?" Cooper said a bit playfully and the pair both realized the position they were in. Roxanne growled a bit before pushing herself off of Michael, allowing the night guard to get up.

"No, uh, we were just talking about something." Said Michael, who dusted himself off and side-eyed Roxanne. She was staring at him with the same angry look, but a bit different. She looked… hurt. I'll explain it to her later. Michael told himself.

Michael hadn't seen Cooper in over a month, minus his dreams. He still received random texts and drunken cash deposits that Arin told him not to accept from the older man, but never did he see him much in the Pizzaplex anymore. He knew that he was around, especially since Arin had been frantically looking for him on several separate occasions, but normally when Cooper would show up, it didn't end well. Cooper smiled and wrapped an arm around the younger man's shoulders, leading him out of the room. There had been a familiar cut in Cooper's head that was pretty scabbed up but before he could ask about it, the man started talking in an excited flurry of words.

"Oh, there's a lot of things we gotta do today!" Said Cooper in a chipper tone, but with the bags under his eyes Michael could tell that he was probably just hopped up on coffee. "I have some ideas for what I wanna add to our Halloween day decor, but I want your opinion on it! After all, I want to use some of the stuff from older locations, especially Fazbear's Fright, to spice things up a little bit. Also, get this, we got a surprise coming in soon enough! We got lots to do and so little time for it!"

While Michael felt that this wasn't going to end well, he knew that the stuff Cooper still owned from the stuff he brought in previously was okay to use. The night guard bit the bullet and nodded at the older man.

"Sure, why not?" Said Michael, who was getting dragged out of Roxanne's room.

"Great! I know exactly where to start…" While Cooper kept ranting on, Michael could only think about how Roxanne looked before he left the room. He didn't mean to hurt her. The thought of Roxanne's face looking so miserable had struck a nerve in the man. He'd help out Cooper and explain things to her as soon as possible.

"Oh, Mike, have you tried that blood lemonade? It's to die for!"

Well, first Michael would have to keep his sanity. Another run in with Count Trudge-ula might as well have been the end of him.

-SB-

It wasn't long before both Chara and Evan took a break for lunch. It had been a busy day and, for one of them, a messy one.

"Cmon, Chara." Said Evan as they were driving to a diner nearby. "It was just a misstep, it happens!" The puppet pouted heavily as she was still drying herself off with a towel.

"I fell out of their window and into the pool, Evan!" Chara said with an annoyed and slightly hurt tone. "I looked like such a fool! This wasn't even the first fuck-up of the day, either! Earlier, I broke that woman's vase and the place before that I nearly set the entire building on fire!" Evan sighed as he put a hand on his companion's thigh.

"You didn't mean to knock down that vase, it was an accident. The woman literally sat that vase near our work spot as we came in, so it's no one's fault but hers. The business we went to was about as dangerously managed as one of the old Fazbear pizzerias so that wasn't your fault either. If anything, it's my fault because all you were doing was following my instructions and helping me out." Chara, too, sighed as she put her hand on his and they drove in silence.

Evan knew that his puppet companion wasn't having the best of days. Time after time something had gone wrong around her and, while he couldn't blame her, she didn't seem to be taking it all too well. It had been very rare nowadays that they both went to work and, since it was supposed to be a pretty easy day, they wanted to relax and get out of the house together.

"I just…" Chara sighed and dropped her head, giving up on the conversation. Evan clasped her hand with his, entwining their fingers together.

"Look, let's just take it easy, get some lunch and try again later, mkay?" His partner nodded softly, not looking any better. Evan hoped that everything would go great today, but some days you can't help but have bad days and he wasn't about to fault anyone for that.

It hasn't taken them very long to get to what was known as "Dan's Diner". It had been a place nearly smack dab in the middle of the city of Hurricane that was usually busy around breakfast and dinner, but fell off in comparison to a large cafe down the street making it a prime spot for anyone who would prefer smaller crowds.

As they made their way in, the middle aged man behind the deli bar smiled as he spotted them.

"Ah, Evan!" Said the man with a smile as Evan and Chara moved closer to the bar. "It's nice to ya!" The man spoke with a heavy Brooklyn accent that didn't quite match his look. His name tag read 'Dan' on it and his face even sorta looked like a Dan. Evan smiled in response but Chara tugged at his shirt sleeve, catching his attention.

"I'm… gonna find us a seat." Chara said before floating off without awaiting a response. Both Evan and the man had watched her float away before they looked back at each other.

"Is… she alright?" Asked Dan with a slightly worried face.

"Today's been rough on her." Explained Evan. "One of those days where nothing is going right." The man nodded, understanding.

"I'm sorry ta hear. Maybe it'll be a nice break ta sit in ma vacant diner for a bit." The word diner had been said as 'die-nah' as the man's heavy accent ate and spit back out the pronunciation.

"That's why I love coming here around this time, Dan. Speaking of which, how is your daughter's Cafe doing?" The man, Dan, smiled widely at the mention of the Cafe.

"Wonderful! My little girl is following in ma footsteps and it just brings her old man's eyes to tears. Though, she's only open around lunch time, so that's where everyone's at now. You should try her food sometime."

"I will next time we come out this way. Maybe I'll bring both of the girls, too. What is different about her food, though?"

"While I enjoy makin' food that captures that good ole homestyle taste, hers is more professional and proper. Lunch has always been her favorite part of the day, too, so she made it to be somethin' like a luncheon." Evan nodded, happy to hear. The technician had been something like friends with his daughter as she grew up.

"That's great to hear. Anyway, we'll be over at a table and ready to order in a few minutes." Dan nodded at him and Evan moved down the aisle of lunch benches to find his puppet.

It wasn't long until he found Chara sitting next to the window in one of the booths, head resting in her hand with her arm propped up on the stared out of the window with her body slumped into the table.

It had been a long while since he had seen his partner in such low spirits. While she was not as energetic as Mangle, she normally was a very spirited and high energy lady. Evan sat down in the seat and slid himself down the booth until he had sat at the window end of it, facing off with Chara.

The puppet's eyes looked over briefly at him before she picked her head off of her hand and looked at him. Her blue eyes shone out from her mask, but were missing the sort of flare they normally had. Her face was a static one, a smile without any emotion. Chara had been quite good at physically hiding her emotions, but Evan had spent so much time with the woman that he could see through her facade.

"Did you find anything you like?" Asked Evan as he picked up his menu, trying to gauge the mood with a conversation. Chara shook her head before sliding her menu to the opposite end of the table.

"Just order me whatever you're having…" She said with a mostly monotone voice. Evan's smile thinned and he put the menu back down. He reached her hands and grabbed them, getting her full attention.

"Hey, we can go home if you want. We don't have to be out here or anywhere if you prefer. We can do whatever and whatever you want." Chara's hands held his softly but her facial expression was unmoved.

"You have work, Evan. You can't just abandon work just because of me." Evan tightened his hold on her hands slightly, becoming a bit more passionate.

"Chara, I would give anything to make sure you're taken care of."

"But I would feel bad that you would neglect a few of your customers…"

"I could always postpone them and work harder tomorrow if it means I could see your beautiful smile." Chara's face moved a bit, her eyes shimmering as she glowered towards her human, before someone cleared their throat. Snapping them out of their gazes, they looked at a small boy with the name tag of 'Mati' looking at them with an irritated look.

"Ya done yet?" Said Mati tapping his pen against his notepad. The boy couldn't have been any older than 15-16 years old and his accent had been something similar to Dan's, but Evan had never seen the boy in here before. "Also, what's up with that?" He pointed at Chara, who simply stared at the boy with an emotionless smile.

"Hey, don't talk Chara that way." Scolded Evan, making the boy put his hands up in the air and his face put on a confident smirk.

"Ooh, my bad. Didn't know I was insulting your doll." The boy put his hands down and started scribbling on the notepad before whispering. "...Some fuckin' wackjob perverts in this town…" The boy looked up, face looking irritated once again. "So ya gonna order or not?" Evan felt slightly angered by the boy, but calmed himself when he was reminded about the boy's age and turned around to look at Chara. Normally, she'd be up in the boy's face talking about his manners and defending him, but she had simply looked at him with the same emotionless smile as before, unmoving.

"Look, we'll take two number 5 specials and that'll be all. We don't want any drinks." Evan said this all as nicely as possible as the boy scribbled down the order on a paper and pocketed it.

"Yep." Was all Mati said before leaving, moving behind the counter and disappearing once again as the technician irritably thought about the interaction they just had. Every now and then, a foreigner would visit or move in and end up interacting with Evan, Chara and Mangle. Usually it was pretty decent, along with them being somewhat awkward about the entire thing, but that was a normal response.

While Evan knew very well that they were animatronics with living souls inside of them and now practically living flesh, newcomers on the outside only saw a machine loving freak with his creations. There even had been a couple of people in the nearby towns and cities that felt this way but, luckily, just about everyone native of this city had known about him and his girls for a quite a long time and, along with that, they had a very positive outlook on Fazbear Entertainments locations until just recently. Even then, Evan and his girls didn't get any sort of flak from the natives.

Though, once in a blue moon, there had been people who felt disgusted by what they saw. 'A deprived man who catered his creations to be eye candy and/or worse' had been some of the lighter things Evan had been called. There was even a time someone tried to attack him and his girls, believing they needed to be taken care of by that man's hands personally, but there wasn't a man alive who was strong enough to face off with Evan, much less Chara and Mangle alongside him.

While it had been an understandable reaction to be weirded out or even grossed out by what people saw on the surface, Evan wasn't exactly normal either. At first when he fell in love with Chara, he thought it was a bit weird for a human to fall in love with an animatronic, but after a bit of thought he realized there was a lot of irrationality to it.

His in case, he wasn't exactly fully human anymore. He was a soul haunting his own well taken care of and heavily modified body, thus making him practically immortal. He couldn't age, he couldn't die (mostly), and more than likely couldn't reproduce, not that he's tried. His mind was originally of a child that ended up dying and experiencing decades of severe trauma from nightmares of death and murder from when he was alive to coma nightmares to living nightmares slapped on top of it all when his father was ripping him apart and putting him back together. Pair that with the fact that the things, no, the people he spent the most time with was Chara and Mangle, it wasn't any surprise that he saw them as family and Chara eventually as a romantic interest.

Evan was jolted from his thoughts by Chara who moved one of her hands holding his to grab the tray being handed to her by Mati. He didn't realize that so much time passed and, even now, Chara's face had still held the same reserved look as it did before. Evan felt bad that he left her to sit here while he was lost in thought.

"Will that be all for you today?" Said Mati with the most uninterested tone as he continued to scribble on his notepad. Evan shook his head, not wanting the boy to stay around too long. "Alright, well this is ya total." The boy held out the receipt for the man and he put some money out into the boy's hands, which he counted. "Wait, where's the tip?" Evan had to hold himself back from making any rude remarks at this moment and slowly spoke his sentence.

"Tips are for those who deserve them. You did your job, but you did your job poorly. You slandered me and my partner more than once in the small time we talked and you still think you deserve a tip?" The boy put on this disgusted, unsatisfied look as he looked down on the two of them.

"What? Hurt that I don't think ya slutty lookin' robot was pretty enough? What, should I have said somethin' like 'Oh, Mr. Pervert, ya sex doll is lookin' so fine today!', piss off." Evan's eyes widened and he sat up straight and looked the boy directly in his eyes, his body moving on its own.

"Watch your mouth, kid. I am not above telling your manager that you're harassing a customer." The young boy scoffed, giving the man an arrogant look.

"Oh yeah? What'll ya do? Cry to the manager saying, 'Oh no, Mr. Boss Man! Your worker here told me about myself and I'm so butthurt!' Get a load of this guy and his useless ass robot. I bet she's a burden to you everywhere you go, making you look like the fool you are. All she is is a dumb, stupid, ugly, worthle-" Chara slammed her hand on the table, shutting the boy up and getting both of their attention. Slowly she stood up before pushing past the boy and floating outside, out of Evan's sight. In the quick glimpse of what he saw from her face, her face was twisted with rage and sadness. Evan stood up and moved closer to Mati before looking down on him.

"Kid, be very, very lucky that you're young. Too young for me to ask you to the parking lot." Evan's eyes looked down at the boy with bloodlust, making Mati freeze up in his spot. Evan rarely ever got angry but when he did, he couldn't control himself. He hated it because he could always control his memories except when he was angry. He felt the memories rise up of his father looking down on a child, who looked scared and helpless like this boy before him, before plunging the knife that he gripped in his right hand before bringing it down into- Evan took a deep breath before letting it out slowly and unballing his fist, looking back down at the boy who was frozen in his tracks.

"Take your change, take your shitty attitude, and run." The boy scrambled away, knocking over one of the diner stools, and ran behind the bar and out of sight. Evan took a few more deep breaths before he remembered about Chara running out and the food they left on the table behind him. The technician decided it would be best to find Dan first before doing anything else though that wasn't a hard thing to do as Dan came out from the door behind the bar and looked around with concern and confusion.

"Hey, Evan." Asked Dan as he stepped from behind the bar and up to the younger man. "My boy said there was some monstrous person in here. What's going on?" Evan sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I apologize, but your boy has been extremely rude this entire time. He did nothing but slander Chara and I from the moment he laid eyes on us and then lost his temper when I wouldn't tip him. I just happened to get a bit… worked up about it." Dan nodded his head, sighing as well.

"I apologize for that, Evan. Mati is my sista's kid and she's going through a rough time so she sent him down to me to learn some life lessons for a while. I knew he was a serious piece of work, but to think he would treat ya like this… I apologize greatly on my nephew's behalf. I can pull him out here right now and make him apologize to you if you want." Evan shook his head, understanding what happened.

"I think I've seen and heard enough from him today. If I could get some To-Go boxes, that'd be wonderful." Dan nodded, moving to the counter and grabbing two styrofoam boxes and handing it to him.

"Again, I apologize. I'll be sure that he knows manners by the next time you come back and… tell Chara I said hi. I never got a chance, but she's welcome here just as much as you are." Evan did appreciate the gesture and said his goodbyes after packing the burgers, but his mind had been completely preoccupied with thoughts of Chara.

Chara, even more so than Evan, rarely got mad. Having the patience to deal with children at their best and their worst had been in the job description for the puppet for a long time, but it had been a very bad day for her and the things that the boy said could have been the final straw for her. The man could vividly remember how she hit the table hard enough to scare everyone nearby shitless before running off in anger.

The man walked up to the car thinking about what he would say to calm her down before he heard a peculiar noise. Chara is a very emotional woman and, at the same time, a very composed person, but even she had things that broke her. Evan thought she would be angry but instead he could hear quiet sobbing from inside the vehicle. The man's heart dropped and he focused on the only thing his mind could focus on: his loving companion.

Evan quickly slid into the driver's seat as he opened the door, grabbing Chara's attention. He threw the boxes into the back seat and looked at Chara after closing the door. She had been curled up in the floorboard of the passenger seat, tears actively rolling down her face and dripping like fresh paint on her black fabric skin. Evan's face softened into this look of understanding as he scooped her up into his arms and held her tightly against his chest, sitting her on lap. Chara grabbed his shirt and cried into his chest, balling her eyes out.

"I'm so sorry, Chara. I should've done something about him sooner. Hold onto me tightly and I'll drive us out a bit, okay?" Chara didn't answer, but held onto the man tightly as he buckled them both in and drove out of the parking lot. It had been a pretty quiet ride to their destination minus the sobs that eventually turned into soft sniffles. There had been times they stopped at a light for more than a few seconds, so Evan would rub her tears away and caress her back comfortingly. Eventually, they made it to their destination.

It had been a very popular sightseeing and hang out spot during sunset, but seeing as it hadn't been much after 1pm, there was no one here. It had been a nice grassy field leading up to a cliff, making it a pretty romantic and scenic place to be. Evan parked shortly before the grassy field and carried Chara in his arms out towards the cliff edge. He sat them both down in the grass, holding onto her carefully.

It had been a peaceful and somewhat chilly day, wind picking up a bit now that they were higher up and no trees were stopping it from cutting into them, but they didn't care. It had been a very memorable place for the pair to visit as all three of them had come here often years ago before they became so busy.

"I thought that maybe a break would be good for you." Said Evan finally as he looked down at the puppet who was leaning up against him limping, using him like a chair. Chara looked up at her human with sad eyes before turning around to look at him face to face.

"Evan…" Chara said weakly, her words seeming very uncertain, "am I a burden to you…?" This threw the man for a loop, not expecting to hear this from her.

"What? No!" Said Evan passionately, looking at her in worry. "I've never thought of you as a burden or even a problem."

"B-but all I do is fuck up and hold you back!" She looked down as she spoke somberly. "I-... I feel so useless… I can understand if you think of someone like me as a burden." Evan grabbed the puppet's chin, making her look up at him.

"Chara, you are not a burden to me. You're one the best things that's ever happened to me and, even if we ignore the fact I wouldn't be sitting here now if it wasn't for you, I can say you're amazing at just about everything you do."

"Oh, stop. You're just saying that to cheer me up…" She tried brushing him off but he doubled down, wrapping an arm around her and making her squeak.

"No, I truly mean it. You're the one who always helped and made food when I struggled to learn for years. You taught us all how to patch up clothes and sew, you make sure that all of us are taken care of even when you yourself aren't doing all that great and you've always had my back through thick and thin. There's no one else in life I could count on more than you." Chara's cheeks blushed as she stared her human into his eyes and tightened her grasp on his hand.

"You know, you do this too well…" Chara said with a slightly playful tone. "How many girls do you tell this to?" Evan chuckled a bit.

"Oh, just one. She's this black and white striped beauty with a soft touch and warm heart." Evan brought his face a bit closer. A smile crept up the puppet's face as she moved her face closer, too.

"Oh? She sounds like an absolute banger of a woman. I'd love to meet her." Their faces were inches apart, mouths close together.

"Oh, you'll love her. I know I do." As he finished, their lips pressed together locking them into a kiss. They passionately moved their lips together, soft, warm human lips brushing against warm, porcelain ones. They weren't any less soft and, even if they were, neither of them seemed to care.

It was a few moments before they pulled back from one another, eyes locked as their gazes stared deep into one another. They held each other's hand with a tight, loving grip with neither of them wanting to let each other go. Both of them smiled like a pair of goofballs at each other before Chara broke the silence.

"Evan, I love you." Evan smiled warmly as he heard those words, his heart melting as he looked down at his most important person.

"I love you too, Chara." Chara sat down on his lap, back pressed up against his chest, and held his hand while the man wrapped his arms around the puppet girl tightly, staring off into the distance. A single thought about them came to the man's mind, one that was wonderful yet troubling.

Maybe we can try again. Thought Evan as he enjoyed the warmth between him and his beloved companion. Perhaps they could try again, but that thought would wait until later. For now, they'd bask in the sun and each other's embraces for as long as they could.

Nothing would get between them this time.

-SB-

Why did it have to be such a busy day, today of all days? Michael thought to himself as he started fast walking past a family and through the hall towards Rockstar Row. He had been doing important tasks all day as fast as he could while more piled up for him. For some reason, everything was going wrong in the Pizzaplex today and everyone was busy. It didn't help that he would constantly see Roxanne as he passed by giving him an aggressive look, one riddled with hints of sadness. Mike couldn't help but feel guilty but he had lots of work to do and very little time to get it all done. Speaking of which, there had been a large problem that would start affecting business the longer it went on.

Apparently, Roxy had been missing for the past half an hour and she was supposed to be manning her Raceway at this time. This would've been a fine task to have by itself but the amount of tasks he had been given along the way had made getting his original task just so much harder to do.

"Hey, Mike." Said Trudge as he was carrying a load of boxes, still outfitted in his vampire get up. He handed the night guard a box from the bunch, somehow not dropping the tower. "Can you take this to Roxanne's room? Thank you." Before Mike could even put up a fight, Trudge had practically sprinted off with his tower of boxes. He looked closely at the box in his hands and saw it was something that they ordered online at some point. There really wasn't any telling who it came from since the packaging itself didn't have much other than addresses and who it was for, but luckily it got to him when he was on his way to her room.

Michael entered Roxanne's room while looking and listening out for any sign of life but to no avail. The night guard placed the box on her desk and looked around, seeing something weird. The wolf's room had been somewhat of a mess. Of course, they tend to keep the curtains open during the daytime hours, but no one ever went in other than the workers. In the places that couldn't be seen easily through the glass, stuff had looked like it was thrown off of the shelves onto the floor and some of it looked broken. Was this… because she was angry? Thought Mike, apparently not realizing the severity of the situation until this exact moment.

A tap from outside the glass drew Michael's attention, making him look out to see a familiar green gator staring at him. The man made his way out of the room and met Monty outside, who clapped him on his shoulder with a signature Monty smile™.

"Hey, Mike-a-Like!" Said Monty, jolly as ever. "I see yer still lookin' fer Roxy, huh?" The night guard nodded in response.

"Yes, she seems to have disappeared. You wouldn't know where she might be, would you?" Monty thought about it for a moment before seeming to come up with some sort of idea.

"Well, the last time I saw her was when she was walkin' near ta cargo ports in ta side of the Pizzaplex. I dunno if that will help you much but I think that was the last place I saw her." Michael thought it was weird. There wasn't much around the cargo decks except for the door outside. It was then that he had an idea of where she could possibly be. Mike smiled a bit, thinly however.

"Thanks, Monty." Said Michael looking at the gator. "That helps a lot." Monty smiled widely at the praise.

"Awwh, o' course! That's what best buddies are for! Ya gonna be here tonight, right?"

"Well, it is still my job."

"Can we try playing that card game again?" Michael thought about it for a moment, knowing what the answer would probably be.

"I don't think we'll have enough people to properly experience the game, but I know some people who would love to play the game with us." Monty looked at him excitedly.

"Oh? That's great! Who is it, Mike?" The man smiled a bit and patted the gator on the back as he walked by.

"It's a secret, but you'll know them when you see them again. I've got to go. Thank you, Monty." They waved in farewell to each other and Mike started to move with purpose towards the cargo deck, looking around to see if he could find another around. It didn't take long for the man to realize that no one was inside but the door leading to outside had been cracked open slightly, leaving obvious evidence.

Michael made his way outside and looked towards the field with which he had spent some time sitting in and saw a bit of gray fur in the distance, confirming his suspicions. He steeled himself a bit before making his way towards the hill slowly. It was peaceful until Roxanne noticed the man getting closer, her head snapping over towards his direction and her sad face turned into one of rage.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Do I look like I want to be bothered?" Yelled Roxanne, practically growling at the night guard.

"Rox, I-" Started Michael, but got cut off soon after.

"No, fuck you! You're just going to say other nice things and lie again and keep even more secrets, but I'm done with it. I-" She cut herself off before looking away. "I just need some time away from that…" Her voice sounded a bit broken but not in a static-y way, but emotionally. Mike's heart dropped a bit more than it had been already, his chest building up with guilt. He really didn't understand the pain Roxanne was going through until earlier that day but even then, he didn't think it was this bad. Michael moved closer to Roxanne, trying to comfort her.

"Roxanne, let me explai-" A clawed hand swiped at him, narrowing missing by centimeters.

"Don't you fucking dare come closer!" Michael stepped closer to the Wolf, dodging another swipe. "No, stop this, Mike! You can't talk your way out of this! I-I can't… I-" Michael stepped forward again, grabbing her hand before having it ripped out of his hands. "Mike, please…" The man grabbed her hand one more, throwing himself closer.

"Roxanne!" Michael nearly yelled, making the wolf flinch a bit and they both stopped in their tracks. "Let me explain myself. I promise that I can explain it if you just listen to me." Roxanne looked back towards Michael with a hurt look.

"How am I supposed to trust that? You broke a promise last night…"

"And I'm regretting it so much. I'm sorry I did that, but I couldn't help it." Roxanne's face turned annoyed as she heard the last part.

"Oh, was your date so important that you couldn't come see me at all? Too busy k-kissing on your bed or something? What could it have been, Mike?" Michael had so many questions of what she thought went on between him and Vanny, but he realized he just needed to be blunt to get through to the wolf.

"I freaked out so badly last night that I remember almost nothing after a certain point in the date." Roxanne's eyes widened, her back straightened up as she heard this.

"What…?!" Roxanne said with sudden confusion and worry.

"I… I started shaking and throwing up at the restaurant we went to before my vision blacked out." It had mostly been the truth, but he remembered one last thing. He remembered that he was calling out to Evan in his mind, pleading for forgiveness, which was weird considering it was Baby who was on his mind. Roxanne stared at Mike, her mouth opened in shock a bit before moving to him.

"Mike, I- What happened? Are you hurt? What…" Mike smiled as she grabbed him and looked him over like a worrying mother.

"Well, I'm glad you came back to your senses, faye." Roxanne growled a bit, not looking too pleased with the joke.

"Michael, I'm serious. What happened?" Michael opened his mouth but got cut off again. "And don't you dare tell me it's a secret. You're supposed to come to me when you have these freakouts and yet you're only seeing me now."

"I wanted to wait till I was here to talk to you, but we've been so busy that it's been practically impossible until now." Roxanne opened her mouth but Mike's watch rang, a call from Freddy ringing out. The night guard answered it immediately.

"Michael," said Freddy, attempting to look through the watch at the man, "have you found Roxanne yet? She hasn't answered her watch and it's nearly time for our afternoon show!" Michael looked up at Roxanne, who looked away from him, holding her own arm and pretending she wasn't there.

"Yeah, I'm here with her now. I'll get her inside as soon as possible." Freddy sighed in relief before his eyes furrowed.

"Are you outside?! What would you be doing out there?" Michael cursed a bit, luckily not getting heard by the bear.

"We can talk more later, lots to do." Michael ended the call, cutting Freddy off from what he knew would be a lecture. If the man had to choose to have one now or later, he'd put it off as long as possible.

"Come on, Rox. We're short on time." The night guard started walking but soon stopped when he realized that he wasn't being followed. He looked back to Roxanne looking at him with eyes of remorse and uncertainty. "...Rox?" She fidgeted a bit more before speaking.

"I'm sorry, Mike, I should have trusted you." The man turned himself to face the wolf, coming back a bit closer.

"No, I can understand your feelings now that I have had time to think about it. You had all the right in the world to be mad at me before, but everything's better now, right?" Roxanne's face gained a bit of annoyance.

"No, Mike! You freaked out worse than you have! You've blacked out before, but never have you had such a freakout like that before! I mean, I-... Mike, what if it happens again? What's going on with you? I'm…" She left off without finishing her sentence but the man understood.

Roxanne was worried about him. It made a lot of sense, too, since he's never lost it the way he did before until just yesterday, but there wasn't much to do about it now. Before, he had the privilege of having dull and numb emotions so things that might have set him off before were just like passing annoyances. Now, after he's experienced a new life full of love from his friends and has opened up more than he ever thought he would, he's become a lot softer.

Even if he wanted to do something about his traumatic episodes, he'd have to face Baby again. Michael shivered a bit at the thought of the crawling feeling of wires moving around underneath his flesh, creeping through his body and-

…..Okay.

Michael allowed his purple vision to fade as he felt himself get worked up in his own thoughts, taking slow, deep breaths. This bothered Mike to no end. Something had been wrong with him and, while he knew it was a trauma of the past, it felt… almost wrong. It was less like an old wound had opened up, but a festering one that had been opened and rotting, unaddressed before now. It had been now that the night guard felt familiar hands grasp his shoulders.

"Mike? Mike!" Cried out Roxanne in worry as she looked him over. Mike pushed her off of him, rubbing his eyes a bit.

"I'm here, I… I know you want to talk about this, but I can't right now. Trust me, I'd love to spend some time talking about it but I just can't." Roxanne shook him a bit, holding his shoulders once again.

"Mike, you were just freaking out!" The wolf yelled, trying to get it through to him. "I saw it in your eyes. You spaced out and…" The man put a hand on her paw, staring directly at her.

"I want to tell you, but I'll just freak out again. Besides, you need to go already. Your fans are all waiting for you." The wolf stared at him in his eyes for a moment, neither of them backing down. Roxanne was the one to give up, sighing in frustration.

"You're mine tonight, you got that?" Said Roxanne, putting a bit of weight on his shoulders to look down on him. The man rolled his eyes but smiled slightly, glad to have worked something out.

"I'm surprised you haven't tried to fit me in your pocket and carry me around with you by now." Michael ducked out from under her weighted hands making her stumble a bit and she looked at him irritatedly.

"I'll show you what'll fit in a pocket…" The night guard stared at her for a moment.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" A slight blush crept on her face as she realized she said that out loud.

"It's… uhm, like… ugh! Just shut up, freak." They started walking towards the Pizzaplex as they bickered.

"Say please."

"Why?"

"Say it."

"Please shut up, freak."

"No." The wolf growling in annoyance.

"Ugh! You're so fucking annoying!"

"I'm sorry."

"Wait, really?"

"No." Michael chuckled as Roxanne growled in frustration again. He had been glad his best friend was back to how she normally was, but his own issue stayed in the back of his mind. He remembered the other version of himself showing up as he 'purpled out' and his purpose there was clear.

He wanted to eliminate what they failed to eliminate before. He was going to make sure that Baby was gone this time and the bloodlust he felt towards her was evident. The last thing Michael needed was to go over there again while he wasn't in control and fuck everything up for himself.

Maybe he'd call Evan just in case. Maybe he could give the man some insight.

-SB-

After an extended break, and a plentiful exchange of sweet words and actions, Evan and Chara made it back to work. For the rest of the day, not much had gone wrong for either of them. From customer to customer they had worked, fixing up large gadgets one after another until it had been much later in the day and their last customer happened to be a familiar friend of theirs. As they knocked on the 2 story house door, hand in hand, Dr. Lohk opened it with a smile.

"Ah, if it isn't my favorite two troublemakers." Said Dr. Lohk before ushering them in. "Come come, just make sure to take your shoes off by the door." The pair made their way in with Evan taking his shoes off as soon as he stepped in before they both made their way towards the living room. The house itself was smaller than Evan's, being a 3 bedroom and 2 bath, but was much nicer and newer than the one the technician lived in. The living room had been pretty homely with the many photos nailed to the wall and potted plants growing lively in a couple of corners in the house. In the middle of the room next to the large 3 piece couch was a wooden coffee table holding what looked like a wall mounted TV laying on its back.

"This TV has been giving me issues since the moment I got it." Said the doctor, motioning to the TV itself. "It had been given to me by my son, but it seems when he took it apart he broke something inside and now it refuses to stay on the wall mount properly." Evan took a look at it and, even without using his special vision he could see the evident problem.

"Well, it had been put together improperly. I'm honestly surprised it's put together at all." Evan dropped down to one knee, letting go of his partner's hand, while Chara looked around a bit. The older man noticed this and smiled.

"Chara, it's been a while." Said Dr. Lohk, receiving a smile from the puppet.

"Yes, it has. How have you been?" Chara replied.

"Oh, just fine. I see you're looking around for Lucy." The puppet's attention was immediately grabbed, eyes full of interest. The older man chuckled breathily before pointing his thumb towards the stairs. "I believe she went upstairs. Her current favorite place is next to the window in the farther room. I'm sure she would love to see you." Chara beamed in happiness and looked towards Evan, who gave her a thumbs up.

"Thank you!" The puppet said before making her way a bit too hurriedly up the stairs towards the promise of a fluffy cat. The doctor shook his head a bit.

"You should get her a cat." Suggested Dr. Lohk as he watched Evan take apart the TV next to the coffee table, sitting back in his recliner.

"I'm not sure how well that would fare." Said Evan. "It's a household full of living animatronics. Maybe if the opportunity arises, I'll think about it. Enough about the cat, though. How have you been lately? I know we just saw each other at the hospital, but I know you tend to keep your personal life and business life separate as much as you can." The older man nodded, reaching over to the table and sipping on a hot mug of joe.

"Mmh, you're right. I went to my wife's gravestone today. It was our anniversary. It would've been 53 years of putting up with my shit… if she was alive." Evan looked briefly, a slightly sad expression donned on his face.

"Sorry to hear." The man shook his head, a thin smile evident on his face.

"She wouldn't have wanted me to mourn too long over her, but I wouldn't ever remarry. I got her favorite flowers and made her favorite cup of coffee. They say the spirits of the dead can still receive these things if you put your emotions into it." Evan nodded slightly, working on the TV.

"Something like that. Either way, real sweet of you. I'm sure she loves it."

"And what about you? Or, should I say 'you two'?" This confused the younger man a bit.

"What do you mean?" The older man scoffed playfully.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. I mean you and Chara. I know you two broke up years ago, but I still see you guys holding each other's hands and acting just like a couple. Did you two get back together?" Evan paused a moment before sighing, not looking up from his work.

"No, we're not back together. I love her very much, but it… just hasn't been on our minds. After all, we don't need labels to show our love and I think Chara agrees."

"It doesn't look like that to me, Evan. You two still cling to each other just like you did not too long after I met you and you've yet to find interest in another woman."

"Who says I haven't?" The older man chuckled a bit hearing this.

"Oh? Like who? Mangle doesn't count." Evan's head whips up a bit, looking at Dr. Lohk.

"Hey, she's like my little sister."

"Of course, of course though… you could've fooled me. You guys used to go out on dates and spend time together and do things just like a couple would yet you call her a sister. You're a strange one, young friend." It had been quiet for a moment, minus the technician working on the TV, but the doctor leaned forward in his chair, eyes set on the younger man. "In all seriousness, what's going on? You love Chara, don't you? So why not just be happy together?" Evan sighed, pausing in his work to set his attention on the older man in front of him.

"Look, I just don't think we need these silly formalities in order to be together." Evan said, sounding a bit irritated, but putting on a convincing tone to persuade the older man. "I've had thoughts about it recently, but we're perfectly fine living our lives loving each other the way we always have." Dr. Lohk's smile dropped, his eyes not coming off of Evan's.

"Is it because of what happened before the accide-"

"With all due respect, I would prefer it if you didn't talk about that." Evan said quickly, cutting the doctor off. "I can't even remember most things that happened around that time and some memories before then are fuzzy, too. I just… I remember her looking at me in eyes of fear and I died a little on the inside that day. I may not remember much else, but all I know is that we didn't handle being in a formal relationship very well and I refuse to put her through that again. I… I couldn't live without her."

Things had gotten quiet in the living room as the technician started working on the TV again. The doctor regretted poking as hard as he did at the subject. It had always been a bit touchy, but the older man saw Evan quite fondly even though he did give him a lot of risky business to deal with. All Dr. Lohk wanted for the young man was to live a happy life despite all the trauma he had been put through. He deserves that and much more. Had been the thoughts of the doctor since he knew him.

"I apologize, Evan. It seems I went too far." Evan shook his head and began to apologize, both of them listening to each other apologize and eventually get back onto a more casual topic. Though, it seemed they weren't the only ones listening in.

Upstairs, Chara heard just about everything. The cat she was looking for had been chilling at the edge of the stairs, seemingly waiting for her to arrive and was now perched on the puppet's lap as they rested at the top of the stairs. Chara could remember vividly what had happened that night Evan couldn't remember and she was glad he didn't. Something had been wrong with the man at the time and, for a moment, she didn't see the man she fell in love with. She saw a monster.

-SB-

The tension in the car had been thick enough to cut with a knife. Evan and Chara had been driving back from a day of work after arguing back and forth just about all day. Lately, all they did was fight and Evan only ever felt incredibly irritated, his head pounding constantly. Even after a visit to the hospital, there wasn't anything evident that Dr. Lohk could find nor did the medication he prescribed help so the puppet tried to do everything she could to assist her boyfriend. It hadn't been exceptionally long since they started dating but, while she was ecstatic at first, now it felt like a nightmare.

Saying that all they ever did was argue and fight was almost not an exaggeration. There had been times things felt back to normal, like they both were on cloud nine enjoying the love that they shared together, and other times Evan apologized for all the hurtful things he ever said, doing whatever he could to make up for it. She hated how he was acting now, but she didn't want to leave him. She was determined to see through whatever this rough patch was.

Chara looked at Evan, who looked deep in thought, tired and in pain. She almost attempted to reach for his hand but remembered how they just fought because he thought she was too clingy. It had never been a problem before, not in the years they had been together. The puppet worried heavily about the man and realized that his eyes glossed over and that he was slowly starting to make his way off the road.

"Evan!" Shouted Chara in panic, making the man jump and swerve a bit before steadying himself back on the road, which wasn't immediately easy to control since it was pouring rain pretty hard. Evan briefly looked over at Chara, face fitted with rage.

"What the fuck, Chara?!" Yelled Evan, making the puppet flinch. "Are you fucking stupid? Do you want me to crash and wreck this?"

"You were driving off of the road." She attempted to reason with the man.

"The fuck I was. If you just wanted to die, you should've done it by yourself you stupid bitch." Chara had been taken aback, but it wasn't the first time she heard it from him.

"You know what? Fuck you, Evan. You've been such an asshole recently and, while I know you're in pain, you don't have to take it out on me.

"I wouldn't be doing anything with you if I had the choice. You're so fucking annoying that I have zero idea why I started dating you in the first place."

"What the fuck, Evan? I thought you loved me, but you're nothing but a petty, pretentious douchebag." It had been at this time they arrived in their driveway in front of their house. He quickly parked the car and turned to move his face closer to hers, face seething in rage.

"Listen here, you little bitch." Said Evan, sounding somewhat different than normal. "I don't love you. You. Are. A. Machine. Who the hell would love a machine that just bitches all the time and fucks up just as much? I made you and you'll listen to whatever the fuck I say when I say i-" A slap resonated through the car and Evan's head bumped into the driver's seat.

Chara slapped Evan out of instinct so hard that she surprised herself but she steeled herself, unable to deal with this verbal abuse anymore.

"I'm sorry, my love, but I cannot do this anymore." Said Chara as tears started to drip down her face. Evan's face had this look of bafflement and confusion, his mouth hung open as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't. "We should take a break and… Just… Please get better soon. I want my Evan back. Please…" Chara made her way out of the vehicle and ran inside, the drops of rain rolling down her mask just like the tears leaving paint streaks. Chara and Mangle soon had hugged it out, comforting each other inside Mangle's room and hoped they'd never see this side of Evan again.

Not even hours later, Evan had been rushed into the hospital in an ambulance. After crashing the car, he flew out of the front window and miraculously survived. His memory, however, was shattered with many missing spots and lots of fuzzy pieces due to the impact his head had with the window. He hadn't remembered a single thing up to right before they started dating.

-SB-

The guilt Chara had from her last moments with the man were heavy. She hated how he treated him then, but she still loved him more than anything else in life. Evan was her reason to live and the person who made her happier than anyone or anything ever did in her decades of life. When visiting him while he was unconscious still, she would give it her all to fix their relationship. A hint of purple swirled up inside her irises.

Even if it meant doing the one thing she swore not to do ever again. The thoughts were quickly casted aside as she heard her name be called from downstairs. She petted Lucy, who was in her lap, once more before ushering the cat off of her.

"Chara!" Called out Evan. "It's time to go!" She floated down the stairs and met both of the men at the front door, Evan hugging Dr. Lohk. The doctor turned and spread his arms out for a hug, both him and Chara hugging it out quickly.

"Thank you very much for stopping by. Now I've got something to watch the game on." Evan smiled and nodded, looking a lot better than he did earlier.

"Of course! Just give us a call if something else needs fixing and I'll be out here when I can." They said their farewells before heading back into the car with Evan sighing in the driver's seat. Chara looked at her human companion with a smile, who seemed to notice and smile back at her.

"Evan." Said Chara softly, looking him into his eyes.

"Chara?" Responded Evan, matching her mood while locking eyes with her. They both went in for the kiss, grabbing each other's faces as their lips collided in passionate love for one another before they rested their foreheads together. Chara put her hand on top of his, smiling softly and looking lovingly at her partner.

"Please don't overwork yourself and remember you can talk to me. I love you with all my heart, after all." Evan's smile widened as his heart fluttered in his chest and he grabbed her hand, fingers entwined with hers.

"I love you, too. I love you more than words can describe and… thank you." The puppet smiled back, tightening her grip on his hand. While they both were loving each other, basking in the other's warmth and love, they thought about the dark thoughts from earlier briefly before pushing it away.

That dark past could be addressed another day, they both decided. For now, they'll love each other. After all, they didn't need to be in a relationship to be in love. Chara was perfectly fine with having her Evan back and that's what truly mattered.

Getting home after picking up something quick to make from the store, they made their way inside to find the occupants of the house all sitting on the floor in the living room playing cards along with a familiar face.

"Cmon, Foxy, hand your 7's over." Said Katherine with an awfully smug face to the despairing pirate captain. He sighed, handing over 3 cards to the girl before she slapped them all on the ground. "Yes! It's my victory again!" It was evident everyone in the circle, including Baby, was having fun despite losing. It was only then they all noticed the couple making their way through the door, bags in hand.

"Evan!" Said Gregory getting up from his spot next to Baby, running over to hug the man around his waist. Evan and Chara both smiled as the technician patted the young boy's head and they both looked at the gathering.

"You guys had a party and didn't invite me?" Said Chara, teasing the room. Katherine stood up, smiling cheesily.

"Oh, hey!" Said Katty, happy to see the two. "I asked them if I could come over and play some games with them."

"I'm glad you've made your peace about us all." Said Evan with a smile, moving with bags in his hands towards the kitchen. The girl scratched the back of her head nervously.

"Well, I realized after spending time here and some more time talking with Foxy that you guys aren't bad. Though, Baby does freak me out a bit." She said that looking at the spaghetti monster they called Wire Baby.

"I didn't exactly ask for this." Said Baby calling out from the floor. Evan snickered in amusement, listening to the banter going on in the living room.

"Dinner will be made shortly. We're having Mexican food tonight!" Cheers rang out from the living room, making the man's smile brighten even more. The house had been quite lively, just the way the man liked it. While he called them all family, the house had rarely felt like there was much of one living there since he had gotten so busy, but coming home to this scene warmed his heart.

Once Evan put down the bags, Chara grabbed his hand, getting his attention. She had a smile on her face and looked back to the crowd in the living room and saw how everyone had been interacting joyfully with each other as they started a new game of cards. Evan softly tightened his grip on his partner's hand as Mangle made her way over to the two.

"Can I help you two with dinner?" Ask Mangle with a smile on her face. She was obviously having fun in the group but seemed like she could use a break. Chara nodded in response to her question.

"Of course, sis." Said Chara. "You can help me cut up the lettuce and tomatoes."

"Ooh, yes! I am so good at making chopped tomatoes." Said Mangle excitedly, washing her hands immediately. The puppet chuckled as she moved next to the pink fox.

"The last time you did that, we had salsa instead of diced tomatoes." Mangle looked at her sister with a pout.

"That was only one, okay?!" They both laughed as they continued to bicker and tease each other. Evan smiled as he watched them interact together. He loved both of them and always felt this overwhelming sense of warmth in his heart when he was with them both. Nothing felt better than spending time with his two most favorite people. Then his mind wandered to a dark place from earlier.

While he remembered a moment of terror from Chara, he couldn't even remember seeing Mangle. It could have been that he did something horrible to her, but he never saw any indication of it. On top of this, he wondered why his puppet companion never mentioned what happened before when they were supposedly dating. She said that the technician had a lot of things going on then that burdened him and she really didn't seem to want to talk about it.

Evan shook his head. I need to stop falling back into negative thoughts. He thought to himself as he watched his two favorite girls whisper mischievously to each other while they glanced back at the man. His mind wandered back to Chara's slight breakdown earlier today and how much better she had looked as the day went on. Having a bit of reassurance was nice, but it felt strange. Why did she think she was a burden to him? She was nothing but helpful and kind, more so than anyone he's ever met in his life. Whatever it was, he would make sure to look out for it from this point moving forward, ensuring he wouldn't ever neglect his puppet partner ever again.

It had been at this time that Mangle moved over while Evan had been in deep thought, staring off towards a point near where her and Chara were previously standing. She moved up in front of him, putting her hands on his shoulders and kissed his cheek, snapping him out of his trance. He opened his mouth, starting to get flustered and red, but words weren't coming out of his mouth. Both Mangle and Chara giggled loudly as they saw the technician get worked up over their little prank.

"Hey, pay attention to us!" Said Mangle, looking directly into Evan's eyes with a soft smile. "No need to think too hard about it. Just do what you always do. We love you as you are." Evan calmed himself down a bit, realizing it was just to cheer him up as he didn't realize he was looking grimly. He smiled and patted her head, receiving a nice 'mmh' noise from the pink fox.

"Okay, let's fix dinner and have fun tonight." Both female animatronics looked at him with a smile before they got to work. Dinner was something simple and easy to make, but since it was made with love, everyone was sure to like it.

Perhaps we should do this more often. Thought Evan as he saw their smiles. This moment could be a perfect example of perfection in the urban dictionary and he wouldn't give it up for anything in this world. Though there was one problem.

He forgot mild salsa. Though, with any luck, Mangle would be making it accidentally soon enough.

-SB-

His shift hadn't quite started before Michael and Roxanne ended up in her room, laying on the couch with Michael laying in Roxy's fur as she stroked his hair. The past 24 hours had been a bit too much for the both of them and, after cleaning up the wreckage in her room and patching up her relationship with Chica, they were completely exhausted to the point their package that came in earlier had been left unopened on the desk. The latter wasn't very hard to do since the bird animatronic was usually very understanding, but to think that Roxanne had exploded on Chica the way she did. He looked up at her, seeing her look down at him. They both stared at each other until Roxanne finally said something.

"What?" Said Roxy with an attitude. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." Michael found this humorous and decided to push this a step farther, moving to lay on her with his back and take out his phone. The wolf watched him scrolled through his phone, eventually landing on the camera app. "Wait, Mike, I was just-" A click from his phone could be heard and a few pictures were taken before she could fully struggle. The night guard decided to look down at them, nodding approvingly.

"Oh, this one is especially good." Said Michael, lifting up his phone to show her closer. It had been them laying cutely together as they were now, but Roxanne's mouth was shaped weirdly while she was speaking, getting caught in the photo. Narrowly pulling it back before the wolf could grab it from him, Mike moved the phone out of her reach.

"Delete it." Roxy commanded, attempting to get up. Mike threw the phone across the room onto a pile of clothes before turning around and holding the wolf down. "Dammit, Mike! Let go of me!"

"Nope. You told me you'd stay right here and make sure I was feeling all better. Your words not mine." Mike teased the wolf about her statement she said as soon as they got inside the room, making her falter a bit.

"But- Ugh… You better not show anyone that and delete it later." Michael found it weird she gave up so quickly. Maybe she just had a long day. Michael thought, eventually letting go of her as she eased back down into the couch. It had been quiet for a bit before either of them spoke up, just resting from their long, arduous day of work.

"Mike…" Roxanne eventually said, the man responding by slightly looking up at her as he continued to rest his face in her soft fur. "You're gonna be okay, right?" Michael had to think about the answer, knowing very well he wasn't okay.

"Rox, I… I think my best bet would be to be here with you." He finally answered. "There have been so many times you've helped me through similar times and I think if I were to have another episode like I did last night, the place I'd want to be would be by your side." Roxanne blushes noticeably, but not to Mike who was barely looking up at her. Something warm sparked inside her chest as she heard his words. She said nothing in response but continued to play with his hair, smiling to herself.

It had been a while they stayed like this, enjoying each other's warmth until Roxanne had something to ask.

"You aren't going to keep that photo, are you?" Said Roxanne curiously.

"Dunno. Might make it my wallpaper." The wolf's eyes widened when she heard this, attempting to move towards the phone. This started a wrestle over the phone that would last the next 20 or so minutes followed by Michael keeping the phone away until he would make some sort of pact with the wolf.

True to his word, the photo became the man's wallpaper on his phone.

-SB-

It had been nearly midnight as Evan tucked the young boy into bed after reading him a story. At times, Gregory had acted a lot more mature for his age, but it was times like this that he acted his age, getting excited by the smallest of things. With a kiss on his forehead, Evan left the boy and his sister alone in the room, shutting the door behind him. Chara, who was watching from the hallway, smiled at the man.

"Gosh," Whispered Chara, "You are such a good father figure." The man smiled as he made it down the hallway and back into the kitchen where only Mangle was left. Katherine had said goodnight much earlier, saying it was time for her to get some sleep since she needed to keep her sleep schedule intact and heal her ribs. Foxy and Lillie made their way back into the basement, saying that their show would come on soon. It had turned out to be quite the night, everyone involved enjoying their participation.

Mangle watched them walk into the kitchen, her mouth still full of food. She wanted to ask the man something but she struggled to get it out before Chara acted. The puppet turned the man around and kissed him softly, both of them locking directly into a passionate, fiery kiss. As they broke off, they looked lovingly at each other before Chara spoke.

"We oughta go to bed." Said the puppet, hands in her human partner's. "We have a busy day tomorrow." Evan looked a bit concerned.

"Are you sure?" Said the technician, rubbing his thumb on her slender hand. "I don't wanna force you if you don't want to go." Chara shook her head lightly.

"I love being able to spend time with you. Besides, I get lonely here when you're gone." The man smiled and nodded his head before letting go of her and walking over the pink fox. He wrapped his arms around her while kneeling down before kissing her forehead. Mangle's cheeks reddened immediately, her arms going around his neck in a tight embrace.

"We're going to bed, Mangle. Have a good night." Mangle opened her mouth, wanting to ask if she could sleep with them tonight, but after seeing their loving display earlier, she felt a bit out of place and decided against it.

"Goodnight. 'I'll clean up before I head to bed." Evan let go of her, patted her head and both him and Chara made their way back into the bedroom before disappearing.

Mangle had a wonderful day. The person she thought would hate her didn't try to avoid her during the card game and she had a blast playing with her old family, new family and even a friend. It had been such a wonderful time to be alive for her, but that was the most concerning thing thus far. She just felt incomplete.

It felt a lot like being sad, but she felt like she was missing something in her heart. Maybe she should have asked her sister and Evan if she could sleep with them after all, but she didn't want to sound like some scared kid. Mangle was a strong, independent woman and she could sleep on her own for one night.

Yet that aching feeling in her heart didn't go away. She felt a longing she didn't understand and it confused her more than anything. She had everything she could possibly want in life, so what was wrong? Then she shrugged it off, getting up to make more food.

Maybe food was the answer. Maybe the hole she was in need of filling was her mouth and these Tostadas weren't going to eat themselves.

-SB-

Vandana tossed and turned in her bed, attempting to sleep but she couldn't. Her brain was full of ideas for her project and her fingers were itching to work. She worked heavily on it already today, from the moment she got home from work to the moment she went to bed, but it wasn't enough. She felt like a drug addict who had gone without their fix for the day, struggling to feel okay. In an instant, she sat up and got out of bed.

She walked into her kitchen where the project had laid partially unfinished. She wanted to make her suit beautiful, but she had run out of thread before she got to bed and the store closed at least 2 hours ago. Yet, she was standing here thinking of what to use for it. It was then she had an idea. Perhaps this suit could use some patches. Perhaps it would be fine if she used whatever she had. She couldn't be known, though. Being seen inside this suit would've been bad and realized that the thought that hit her mind was crazy.

Why didn't she want to be seen? It was only for a special occasion after all. Her mind decided to settle it as a design choice, waving it off as some sort of fluke. Recently, she had a lot of crazy thoughts run around inside her head, but they always came in when she was working on this suit. Perhaps she wasn't sleeping enough, perhaps she was just finally going crazy.

Vandana's mind eventually shifted to Michael as she worked on her project, feeling better now that she had something to work with. Her chest filled with a warmth and she knew that she had to see the night guard soon again. She had many friends and a few boyfriends in the past, but none of them had ever made her feel as special as she did yesterday night, even as bad as it had ended.

Vanny sighed, thinking about Michael's trauma. She hoped the man was alright, but maybe that was a baseless worry. As far as she knew, he was chilling with Roxanne which made the woman feel a bit jealous. What does the wolf have that I don't? Thought the woman with a bit of annoyance. She didn't want her new love interest to be taken away by an animatronic just like the last one. Maybe it's because they talked so much and spent so much time together, unlike her and Michael. In that case, maybe she'd text him. She patted herself on the back for thinking up such a great idea, but what would they talk about? Her mind mulled over this idea. Vandana would definitely text the man as soon as she could.

As soon as she felt satisfied with her stitching. God, was it a pain to get right.

-SB-

The old man with a cane walked up to Glamrock Bonnie with a wicked smile, petting his long beard with his free hand. The bunny animatronic had his chest opened and was laying on the table, motionless. Next to him had been a cube of metal, hot to the touch, with a sort of sloshing coming from inside of it as the old man picked it up.

"It's time, Gabe. Wake up, for you and your kin have a new task." With that, the man dropped the cube into the animatronic's chest, shutting his chest. With an electric shock, Glamrock Bonnie's eyes lit up, hand began to move as it woke up into a cold back room filled with bowling balls.

-SB-

Foxy and Lillie had been sitting together as they watched their drama, which was getting to a good part, on the television as it happened. Bonnie's eyes lit up like car lights, body seizing up behind them as it made a great deal of noise, effectively alerting the two nearby. Foxy got up quickly, watching in awe and fear as Bonnie fell to the ground, barely catching himself.

"Blow me hole n' call me a landlubber…" Said Foxy, somehow staying in his pirate facade as he watched Bonnie, his best friend, move for the first time in years.

"Help him!" Called out Lillie, who was standing at the corner of the table. Foxy snapped out of his trance and quickly moved up to Bonnie, grabbing him and helping stand him up. There had obviously been something wrong in his legs so the pirate captain moved him over to a free chair, pushing him roughly into it. Bonnie's eyes looked up at Foxy as they stopped shining brightly, looking more like he was on rather than being a spotlight now. He blinked a few times and balled his fist up a few times, looking around for the first time in many years. Luckily, in front of him, someone who looked like a handsome version of his best friend had been there, making him blush a bit. Foxy got closer, startling the bunny a tiny bit.

"Jeremy," called out Foxy with worry, "that be you, aye?" Bonnie opened his mouth, feeling weird after not moving at all in many years before finally speaking.

"Yes…" He said shyly, looking up at the pirate fox, "I… I'm back. I think…"

Bonnie had been back and, in Foxy's eyes, his best friend ever had finally woken up.

---

Authors Notes

WRITING A BAD SCENE ABOUT EVAN WAS SO PAINFUL I CANNOT DESCRIBE. It's not that the writing is bad (subjectively) or that I'm a bad writer (very biased and opinionated) but it pained me to see my characters act like that. Oof.

Anyways, been feeling a bit slow recently because I've spent most of my free time playing minecraft. We have a server for it on our discord server, so please do come join so we can all have fun together (definitely not because I wanna show off my cool base).

I hope yall enjoy this chapter and I'll see yall in the next one!