LATER THAT NIGHT
It was currently 3AM. Everyone in the house was asleep. Gregory was sound asleep in his bed. Freddy was asleep in his charging station and Michael was in his bed, sleeping too. But not soundly. He was tossing and turning and breathing almost to the point of hyperventilating. He was suffering from a really horrible nightmare.
In the nightmare, he was standing in his bathroom at the house he owned while working at Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, staring at himself in the mirror. His eyes started to glow purple. A wound on his chest began to open and out slowly slithered a metal cord and a glowing animatronic eye. Blood started coming out of his eyes, nose and mouth. A look of horror appeared on his face. Then a flash of the animatronic monster he saw at Circus Baby's appeared, which caused Michael to wake up suddenly with a short scream.
He breathed heavily, looking around, feeling relieved that he was back in his room. He sighed before lying back on his pillow and staring at the roof.
He hadn't had those nightmares for at least a decade. And they only started happening after the remnant was given back to him thanks to Gregory. Maybe when the remnant was returned to him, it was infected with some of William's power. That was something that Michael assumed. Considering it was the only thing that made logical sense to him.
Choosing not to go back to sleep, he turned on his bedside light and stood up from his bed. He left his room and headed to the kitchen to grab a drink. Which was a can of Fizzy Faz. After grabbing it, he walked over to the sofa, sat down and grabbed a book that he had been reading for the past week and a half. And it was called "Peter St Jones". A fictional story. And it was a story that deeply interested Michael since a lot of the things in the story, were things he could easily relate to. Peter had a younger brother who died because of something he did, his family was torn by crimes, he tries to fix his family's name but it all goes to hell.
"Michael?" Gregory spoke in a tired tone. Michael looked over at the living room entrance and saw Gregory standing there, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Hey kiddo" Michael smiled, putting the book down on his lap.
"I heard you screaming earlier. Is everything ok?" Gregory asked, walking over to him and sitting down on the sofa next to him.
"Yeah. Just a nightmare. That's all" Michael told him, smiling slightly.
"With what happened a few years ago?" Gregory asked.
"Something like that" Michael told him, nodding. Gregory gave an understanding nod. Gregory then noticed the bruises on Michael's hands.
"What happened to your hands?" Gregory asked. Michael quickly looked down at his hands and then back at Gregory.
"I just got into a fight with someone. They just said something nasty about my family. Mostly my brother. Honestly, I shouldn't have let it get to me but I let it get the best of me and I didn't really think" Michael explained.
"Well, I'm hoping the other guy looks worse" Gregory smiled.
"Yeah. Me too" Michael said, laughing a little.
"Anyway. I'm going to head back to bed" Gregory sighed, standing back up and heading towards his bedroom slowly.
"Yeah. I might do that too" Michael said, also standing up from the sofa.
"Goodnight Mike" Gregory smiled.
"Goodnight superstar" Michael smiled back. Gregory then headed to his room and shut the door. Michael also entered his room and shut the door.
THE NEXT DAY, AT SCHOOL
Gregory and Grace walked down the hall to their first class together. As they did, Gregory was pushed to the ground.
"GREGORY!" Grace exclaimed, rushing to Gregory to help him up. Gregory and Grace then looked behind them and saw Sean and his friends standing there and Sean did not look happy.
"I've got a bone to pick with you, loser!" Sean said angrily, looking at Gregory.
"Sean, leave him alone!" Grace said back angrily, glaring at him with a furious expression.
"Stay out of this, Grace!" Sean demanded.
"Your dad beat up my dad" Sean then said to Gregory. Gregory sat there, stunned.
"And don't play dumb with me. I know you did something that caused that" Sean added.
"Well, maybe if you hadn't have punched me in the face and kicked me in the ribs, maybe my dad wouldn't have confronted your father about it" Gregory said, standing up from the ground with the help of Grace.
"Speaking of your dad…by the way" Patrick then said. Gregory and Grace looked at Patrick.
"We found something interesting" One of Sean's other friends said with a grin.
"Yeah? What's that?" Gregory asked.
"Your father….isn't actually your father" Patrick answered.
"I already knew that" Gregory sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Wait! So you knew you were adopted by a freak!?" Patrick asked. Gregory looked at him with a sudden infuriated expression.
"He is not a freak! He is the best person I could ever know. He was there for me when others weren't. He protected me when I couldn't protect myself. He was the one that saved me from a psychotic maniac at the mega pizzaplex a few years ago" Gregory told him. They all stood there, shocked.
"He's had some bad stuff happen to him in the past. His family name has caused him a lot of crap. But none of that is his fault. Since what happened with his family, he's been trying to fix what caused it to go to shit and you know what!? He's been doing a damn good job of it!" Gregory continued.
"So, you know what kind of family he's from and who he's related to?" One of Sean's friends asked.
"Yeah. You got a problem with that!?" Gregory asked. They just stood there, silent.
Gregory then began walking off.
"I don't care if he's related to the Afton's or not. He's still my friend. And none of you can make me change my mind! Especially you Sean!" Grace said, beginning to walk off.
"Grace" Sean spoke, trying to stop her.
"Why do you want to be friends with him?" Sean then asked.
"Because he's the only person that really cares. You never cared. You and I used to be such good friends. Best friends in fact. But then, you began hanging around these idiots. And now…..I don't even know you anymore" Grace told him as tears filled her eyes.
"If you want to have friends that actually care about you….stop being an asshole" Grace finished, walking off to join Gregory. Sean stood there, just stunned.
"Y-You really going to let her talk to you like that!?" Patrick asked.
"Shut up Pat!" Sean said, glaring at him before walking off. His friends followed after him.
As Grace came around the corner to catch up with Gregory, she noticed that he was gone. Maybe he had rushed off to class or something. But as she began heading to class with the thought that he was already there, she heard the sound of someone sobbing. And it was coming from the janitors closet next to her. She opened the door and noticed Gregory sitting inside with tears running down his face. She walked in, shut the door and sat down beside him.
"I'm sorry" Gregory sobbed.
"What for?" Grace immediately asked, wondering why he was apologising for her.
"For not telling you that Mike isn't actually my father" Gregory told her.
"Gregory, I'm not angry about that. Why on earth would I be angry about you not telling me that Michael Afton isn't your father? That's your business. Not mine. It's not my place to judge" Grace told him. Gregory looked at her, wiping the tears from his face.
"But, Michael attacked Sean's dad?" Grace asked in a shocked tone.
"I had no idea that happened. That would explain his bruised hands last night" Gregory said, sniffling a little. Grace nodded slightly. She then went back to what just happened earlier.
"Don't listen to what Sean and his friends said. They're all idiots" Grace told him.
"It's not just about that" Gregory said.
"Then what is it?" Grace asked.
"I've been alone for most of my life. I had no one to look after me and no one to care about me. Then one night, I snuck into the pizzaplex. Because I wanted to experience what everyone was experiencing. And that's how I met Michael. But at the time, he was in the form of Glamrock Freddy" Gregory explained. Grace sat there, confused. Gregory could see that and told her that he was getting to the part where it would hopefully make sense.
"After what happened on the stage, Michael and I began working together on trying to escape the pizzaplex considering I had been locked in there. And during the time we were both trying to find a way out, I got captured by a virus" Gregory continued.
"How can you get caught by a virus?" Grace asked.
"It wasn't actually a virus. More like a angry spirit in the form of a virus" Gregory answered. Grace nodded.
"Anyway, the virus infected me and I became William Afton's personal puppet" Gregory said.
"The virus was William Afton!?" Grace asked. Gregory nodded.
"So, how is Michael human then? If he was Glamrock Freddy to begin with" Grace asked.
"While William was in control, he removed a remnant from Michael's animatronic form. The remnant is what enabled Michael to take control of Glamrock Freddy and keep himself alive after he was resurrected before becoming a spirit. When the remnant was removed, it somehow separated Michael and Glamrock Freddy. It ended up giving Michael a body of his own. But he needed the remnant back otherwise he would die. So, with Freddy's help, he got the remnant back and now, he's my guardian. Because he wants to do what he couldn't do for his brother. Which was be a better person and be able to protect" Gregory answered. Grace nodded.
"Well, I think that Michael is doing an amazing job" Grace smiled. Gregory smiled at that.
"And I would love to meet him one day" Grace added.
"How about after school" Gregory suggested.
"Yeah. That sounds like a good idea" Grace smiled again. Gregory smiled again too. The school bell then rang. They both stood up and left the janitors closet and headed for their first class.
LATER, AT HOME
Michael sat on the sofa, watching TV when his phone rang. He looked at it and saw that it was Gregory. He answered it and put it to his ear.
"Hey Gregory. Aren't you supposed to be in class or something?" Michael asked.
"No. I've got a free period" Gregory replied, sounding a little annoyed.
"Everything ok?" Michael asked, immediately noticing the annoyed tone.
"Not really" Gregory sighed.
"What's wrong?" Michael asked.
"Why did you attack Sean's dad?" Gregory asked.
"Because he said something about my family and you. And I wanted to confront him about Sean hitting you" Michael replied.
"I told you to back off! I don't want things getting worse!" Gregory told him, clearly angry now.
"I'm sorry, I was only trying to help" Michael apologised.
"Well stop alright!? Because now, he knows about the family name. And about you. And I guarantee its going to get worse" Gregory sighed.
"I'm sorry, Gregory. Really" Michael apologised, feeling absolutely awful.
"I gotta go alright? See you later. And don't bother picking me up" Gregory said before hanging up the phone. Michael moved the phone away from his ear and looked at it with a guilty look.
"Damnit!" Michael said, dropping his phone down on the sofa and burying his head in his hands.
AFTER SCHOOL
Grace and Gregory exited the school and began the walk to Gregory and Michael's house. And as they walked, they talked about things. Mostly what happened with Gregory. And that included what happened while William was in control of his body.
"While William was in control, I was forced to see things. Things I wish I could unsee" Gregory sighed a little.
"What did you see?" Grace asked, curious about it. Gregory looked at her.
"You sure you want to know? It's pretty bad" Gregory asked.
"I've seen and heard of worse. I'm pretty sure I can handle what you're going to tell me" Grace told him, raising her right eyebrow a little.
"He got spring-locked" Gregory ended up saying. Grace looked at him in surprise.
"Ouch! That's a way to go" Grace said, sighing a little.
"Yeah. And I was forced to watch it. And it was horrifying. Just watching as he was being crushed from the inside by the spring-lock suit he was wearing at the time" Gregory sighed. Grace looked at him with a sudden realisation look on her face.
"The spring-lock suit. Was it a yellow rabbit?" Grace asked.
"Yeah. It was an old looking yellow though. Why?" Gregory asked.
"My dad, our school principal….when he was younger he saw his brother, my uncle, being lured away by a man in a yellow rabbit suit" Grace replied. Gregory looked at her, stunned.
"Your dad is the principal?" Gregory asked. Grace nodded.
"Uncle Jeremy became one of the many missing kids back when Freddy's Pizzeria was a thing" Grace told him.
"Wow! I never knew that. I'm…I'm sorry" Gregory said, feeling bad over the fact that William Afton had killed her uncle.
"No, it's fine. He died well before I was born" Grace said, smiling slightly. Gregory nodded slightly.
"Anyway, what else did you see other than that psychopath?" Grace then asked.
"Michael, fighting his father. And burning the places he worked at as a security guard" Gregory answered.
"Why did he burn all those places down?" Grace asked.
"To try and erase all the bad things his father had done and to try and fix the Afton name" Gregory replied.
"And I also saw the first time Michael died. And that gave me nightmares weeks after I gained control of my body again" Gregory continued.
"He's died before?" Grace asked. Gregory nodded.
"The first time….an animatronic monstrosity killed him using a machine called "the scooper". When the machine hit Michael, he was impaled with the scooper and it ripped out a lot of stuff. Creating space for the animatronic to slither its way in and control his body" Gregory said.
"That's terrifying and disgusting" Grace said, her face contorted in disgust.
"I know. And like William's spring-lock failure, I wish I could just unsee it" Gregory said back.
"So, how did he come back to life after that if it killed him?" Grace asked.
"His sister and brother brought him back to life with a remnant. And when William caught wind of it, he began hunting Michael down. That's why he wanted to hurt Michael. Because Michael had something that he wanted" Gregory answered. Grace nodded.
"Does he still have his siblings around?" Grace asked, guessing the answer was probably a no.
"No. His sister died around fifty-ish years ago. Same with his brother. Both at the hands of animatronics. But to this day, he blames himself for their deaths" Gregory replied.
"Why? It's not his fault" Grace asked.
"I know. And many people have tried telling him that but he won't accept it" Gregory answered.
"His sister was killed by an animatronic called Circus Baby. He tried getting to her in time before Circus Baby killed her but he was too late. A few years later, he decided that he wanted to terrify his little brother. At the time, he was an absolute dickhead. But that had to do with the trauma he'd been through a few years prior. He took his brother up to an animatronic and lifted him up to it. Then, the animatronic bit down on his brothers head and he died a few hours later. And he blames himself for his brothers death especially because he had a part in it" Gregory continued.
"Wow! That's a lot! I can't believe he blames himself for all that, knowing it's not his fault" Grace said, sighing a little and feeling bad for Michael.
"Like I said before, no one has been able to make him think otherwise" Gregory sighed a little.
After almost twenty minutes, they finally arrived at the house. They both walked up onto the front porch and Gregory grabbed out his house key and unlocked the door. Once it was unlocked, he pushed it open and they both walked inside.
"Hey Gregory" Michael spoke, nervous if Gregory was still upset with him.
"Hey" Gregory said, sighing slightly and showing a short smile.
"Who's your friend?" Michael asked, soon noticing Grace.
"This is Grace. Grace Griffins. She's my best friend from school" Gregory said, looking at Grace and then back at Michael.
"It's nice to meet you, Michael" Grace smiled, holding out her hand for a handshake. Michael smiled, nodded and shook her hand.
"And before you ask, I told her everything. And she doesn't have a problem with it. She's one of the only people that doesn't care if the family name is bad" Gregory told Michael.
"So, you don't care that my father was a murderer and a psychopath?" Michael asked her.
"No not at all. And my dad doesn't really care either. He's gotten past what happened to his brother and he knows that it's not your fault for what your father did" Grace told Michael. Which made Michael realise that her father was the principal at Gregory's school. He smiled slightly and nodded. Then Freddy came into the room.
"And this is Glamrock Freddy. Or just Freddy" Gregory said to Grace, gesturing to Freddy.
"Hello friend of Gregory's" Freddy spoke in a happy tone.
"Hi Freddy" Grace smiled.
"How was school?" Freddy then asked the two.
"It was good" Gregory replied with a smile. Freddy nodded.
"So, what do you guys do around here?" Grace then asked.
"Mostly we stay at home. Playing games. Watching TV. Listening to music" Gregory answered.
"What about Freddy?" Grace asked.
"I have a charging station that I am able to use every few hours. When I'm not charging, I help Michael and Gregory around the house and make sure they are both safe" Freddy said.
"And we're thankful for that, Freddy" Michael smiled. Freddy nodded and then walked off.
"Grace, do you like figurines at all?" Gregory then asked Grace. She looked at him and nodded quickly. He then led her to his room and showed her a display cabinet full of collectors action figures. Most of them were Freddy Fazbear related. Others were from his favourite video games, TV shows and movies. She looked at all of them in amazement.
"I think you're one of the only people who don't think that collecting action figures is weird" Gregory smiled. Grace looked at him and smiled.
"I've never thought of it as weird. I've always thought of it as something cool and awesome" Grace told him. Gregory smiled at that.
LATER, AT NIGHT
Gregory sat at his bedroom desk, working on his homework. Then a knock at his bedroom door was heard. He sighed a little as he put down his pencil and turned his chair around.
"Come in!" Gregory called out. Michael came in and closed the door behind him. He then walked over to Gregory's bed and sat on the end of it, facing Gregory.
"What do you want?" Gregory asked.
"I….I came here to really apologise for what happened" Michael replied. Gregory rolled his eyes and turned back around to face his desk again.
"Gregory I….I know I shouldn't have done what I did. And I'm sorry that I've made things at school worse for you" Michael said, trying to get Gregory to listen to him.
"Yeah! You're right! You shouldn't have done what you did! But it's done. It's happened. And because of what happened, Sean is going to give me more of a hard time" Gregory sighed, turning around quickly and showing an angry look on his face. Michael could only sit there, feeling awful and feeling sorry for what he had done.
"I thought….that after everything you've been through, you would no longer let your anger and feelings get the better of you but, you still let that happen" Gregory said.
"I'm not perfect, Gregory" Michael told him, shaking his head.
"I know that. And neither am I. But at least I try to not let anyone get to me" Gregory said back. Michael just looked at him.
"And you were the one that taught me that. But then, you go and do exactly what you tell me not to do. How does that make any sense?" Gregory asked.
"It doesn't" Michael answered, shaking his head. Gregory nodded.
"Now, I know that you had every right to be angry. Sean's dad talked shit about you and your family. But….learn to take your own advice" Gregory told him. Michael nodded. He then took a deep breath and stood back up.
"What would you like for dinner?" Michael asked, slowly grabbing the door.
"I'm not sure yet. I've got things I need to do first. Doing my homework and heading out to pick up something" Gregory told him.
"What are you getting?" Michael asked.
"I can't tell you. It would ruin it" Gregory replied, smiling. Michael knew after that that Gregory was getting him a birthday present considering his birthday was in a few days. Which he had forgotten about. That and he never really cared about his birthday because no one really celebrated with him and there was always something bad happening on his birthday which would ruin it.
"Ok well, let me know when you decide" Michael smiled back as he then left the room and closed the door behind him. Gregory turned his chair back around to face his desk and then, he continued on with his homework.