The Broken Circus

Chapter 8: Broken Porcelain

It had just been a coincidence that Marla was driving by Daisy's. She wasn't planning on stopping there for anything, just driving by on her way to Mike's apartment to meet up with the others. Apparently, Carlton had gotten some news out of Clay, or out of Clay's office, and was planning on telling them all at once. Marla could tell from his tone on the phone that it wasn't going to be good but wasn't dire enough for her to be too worried yet.

Then she had happened to drive by Daisy's. She looked over at the store as she passed and then back to the road, and it was at the turn-in to the store that she abruptly changed course and pulled into the parking lot. Jessica had mentioned that she had seen Izzy here before Charlie had disappeared, and before Izzy herself disappeared. Nobody had seen her around campus recently. Not even Arty, who they assumed was dating her.

There was a very slim chance that Marla was going to find something here, but she still walked inside and began to scan the store.

Her heart almost stopped. She never really thought she would find Izzy.

The young woman was dressed very similarly to the last time she had seen her, her back turned towards her as she slowly searched through a rack of clothes. Moving one hanger at a time with her finger, each movement methodical and stiff. Marla noticed that her hair looked a little strange too. Maybe it was the light, but the end of her hair looked a strange, muddy grey instead of the blond the rest of it was.

While she knew how dangerous it was to approach her, knowing full and well that she was Baby and she was the one who had taken Charlie, Marla couldn't lose this opportunity. She ran her lines in her head as she approached from behind and then took the plunge.

"Izzy? Hey, I didn't think I'd run into you! It's been a while. How've you been?"

Izzy turned around so quickly that Marla was almost startled by it. Turning before she could even finish her sentence, like she already knew she was there. Almost like she was waiting for her, or somebody else.

"Hello Marla. I've been fine. I just got back from visiting family today," Izzy answered. Except something was off about how she spoke. Unlike typical Izzy- acting very timid and innocent Izzy- she didn't seem to be acting like anything. Her voice was devoid of most inflection and her face looked almost frozen.

As uneasy as it made her, she swallowed the cottony feeling in her throat and continued like all was normal. She gave a somber look and asked, "Have you heard about Charlie?"

Izzy mimicked the same expression. "Did something happen? I noticed she wasn't at school, and I heard people were looking for her. Did she leave?" she asked.

"She's gone missing, and nobody can find out where she went," Marla said sadly. She feigned ignorance just as well as Izzy did, lacing her fingers together in exaggerated nervousness and twiddling her thumbs. Not that she didn't feel particularly anxious talking to what she knew wasn't a person. "You haven't seen her, have you?"

"No, I haven't," Izzy said blankly.

"Oh… Well, just checking. I've been asking everyone and nobody seems to know anything…" Marla gave a breathy sigh and raised a hand to her forehead, shaking her head. "They think she was kidnapped."

"Really." That wasn't a question. There was no inflection.

"But… To be honest, I don't know what I think anymore…" She looked away as she lowered her hand to her chest and took a shaky breath. "Normally I wouldn't be telling anybody this, but I can't talk to my friends, and I can't tell my family. I know if I say anything they're all just going to hate me, but I know in the bottom of my heart what happened to Charlie."

"…Oh?" Izzy sounded a little curious. Her eyes widened and her head tilted a little. "What do you think happened to her?"

"…I think she left," Marla lied. She made eye contact with Izzy again- it was difficult, but she did. "Charlie's been under a lot of stress recently. She's been really on edge and hasn't been sleeping. I know she and John were fighting a lot, and I think… I think she might've just left… I know it sounds crazy and nobody would ever want to believe it, but Charlie's done this before."

"Before? Oh no. What do you mean?" Izzy asked. She began to inflect more, sound more interest. Marla wasn't going to get her hopes up that she was capable of sympathizing with Charlie, but that intrigue was going to help out a lot in a few minutes. She continued to bait the hook.

"Don't tell anyone, okay, but Charlie's tried to run away twice. Once when she was in elementary school and once before she enrolled at the college. Both times she didn't get that far, first time she was found and the second time she willingly came back… But now she has the means and know-how to totally disappear and not be found by anybody… I think that's why nobody's taking it seriously." This was entirely fabricated but Izzy looked like she believed it.

"Oh no. That's horrible," she said quietly. "I hope she comes back."

"I do too… For John's sake. I know Charlie's going to be okay on her own, but John's really taking this hard. He's just miserable. One more screw up and he's going to get himself fired, and he's barely supporting himself as it is!" Marla gave an exaggerated huff and threaded her fingers into her hair. She took a deep breath like she was calming herself. "We're taking him out to dinner tomorrow, but I just know the whole thing's going to be a disaster."

"I'm so sorry to hear that. John seems like such a good person, and I know he loves Charlie so much. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it looks like…" Izzy said timidly. There was something funny about how she said it though. "…Are you going anywhere today?"

"Over to Carlton's once I leave here. The community theater's doing a parody of A Streetcar Named Desire and I'm going to help him run some lines," Marla smoothly responded. She gave a small smile. "It's called A Bus Named Desperation."

"Oh… Do you know if Jessica's doing anything today?"

Marla shook her head. "I haven't talked to her, sorry… Hey but, actually, if it wouldn't make you too uncomfortable, would you like to meet up and have dinner with us tomorrow? I, uh… This is going to sound awful, but I think it'd be better if there wasn't an empty seat." Izzy's eyes seemed to suddenly intensify in color. It was hard to explain it, but it was like a backlight was lit behind them. "But if it's going to make you feel awkward, you don't have to."

"No, I would love to," Izzy insisted. "When tomorrow, and where?"

"Del's Venetian Bistro at eight-ish. You can bring Arty too if you want. Just as long as you could maybe tell him not to bring up Charlie?" Marla suggested, tapping her index fingers together.

"We'll see," Izzy said without much interest. "Thank you. I'll be there."

"Great! Hopefully that'll lighten up the mood a little," Marla said. She pointed a thumb over towards the shoe section. "I'm going to go check out the pumps. See you later."

With that, Marla swiftly walked away from the conversation. Izzy didn't stop her, didn't even seem suspicious from what she could see. She stalled for a while pretending to look at shoes before eventually leaving the store.

She didn't see Izzy on her way out. She was already gone.

…

Things were tense to say the least.

Jessica and Lamar got to Mike's house a good five minutes before anyone else. It was clear that the mood inside the apartment was solemn. Mike seemed on edge, having got up to answer the door and hadn't sat down since, instead circling around the apartment finding stuff to do. Sammy was bundled up in a comforter on the couch, completely wrapped up and hidden underneath it. Jessica had dared to unravel the bundle enough to see him.

She was relieved to see that Sammy's mask had closed up even further. The cracks were still there but now a bit more sealed. Though he seemed to be just as lethargic as he was before. She suspected that there was either internal damage or that it was from the emotional toll he had taken. She noticed the paint dried on the inside of the blanket and knew from Charlie that he was capable of crying.

John arrived a couple minutes later, having to get an adequate excuse to get out of work. He was just as keyed up as Mike was but managed to sit down to wait. His leg jumped anxiously as they waited for the others to arrive.

Carlton came in after him and he was the most wound-up of them all. Greeting them with an uncharacteristically short, "Hey," and then looking to make sure they were all there. "Marla's not here yet?"

"Not yet," Lamar answered.

"Alright," he simply said. He then sat beside him in one of the dining room chairs that Mike had brought out into the living room- everyone mutually understood that the Puppet needed its space, so only Jessica sat on the couch beside it. Carlton wasn't looking too great, with a somewhat distant gaze and his hands patting on his knees. It was clear that he knew something, and the waiting game only lasted for about a minute more before patience crumbled.

"What did your dad say?" Mike asked directly. He was leaning in the kitchen doorway, arms crossed nonchalantly, staring at the redhead like a hawk. He knew it was something big and he had a bad feeling about what it could be.

"I'll tell you all about it when Marla gets here," Carlton said.

"She's a pretty fast driver. Unless she gets pulled over, she'll be here any second now," Lamar assured.

"I admire that. That means it won't take long to bring her up to speed," Mike said. Then asked just as bluntly as before, "What did your dad say?"

Carlton stared back for a few seconds before rubbing a hand over his face with a muffled, "God." He dropped his hand into his lap before giving putting it all out with a single sentence: "William Afton is back and he's the one who took the kids."

"…What?!" Jessica said. Her eyes wide in shock.

"No," Mike said. His face blank in denial.

John abruptly raised his head with a look of shock and mortification that wasn't normally seen on his composed features. Lamar stared at Carlton with surprise, but he seemed a little more doubtful and questioning of it. Jessica beat him to it.

"Wait, wait, that can't be right. Charlie told Clay about what happened to him. You know, when he burned up in the Freddy Fazbear's Pizza fire? Did he just forget about that?" she asked. She crossed her arms and quirked a brow, lips pressed tightly together.

"That's sort of the whole reason why Dad was so quick to tell me, and why we're all meeting up like this. Charlie told him about Will burning, but now there's all this evidence saying he's behind it. He wanted me to, y'know, ask around." Carlton made some non-subtle eye gestures towards the lump on the couch. "…Ask around without asking me to do it. The point is there's all sorts of signs pointing at it being him."

"Like what?" John asked, leaning forward in the armchair with his fingers tight into the armrests. "Like we're looking at a copycat or like we're dealing with the real William Afton?"

"Like the real deal. For starters, they found van- let me start from the beginning. They found a kid this morning."

"Wait, hold on! They found one of the kids?" Lamar asked in surprise. Jessica and Carlton both confirmed. "I didn't hear anything about that! Why isn't that on the news?"

"It was on the news. They just glossed over it really quick," Mike muttered from the doorway. His tone grew a lot more somber as he cryptically asked, "…How did they find them?"

"Walking down the side of the side of the road, completely lost," Carlton clarified. Mike breathed an audible sigh of relief and collapsed back against the doorframe. "But she's totally fine!... I mean, as fine as a kid can be after being traumatized by getting kidnapped by a clown. And yeah, she said she was kidnapped by a clown. Or by a woman dressed like a clown, who took her into a basement with the other kids and kept her there for days."

Jessica heard movement and glance over at the other side of the couch to see the blankets shifting a little. Either so Sammy could hear better or even see Carlton. Either way, he was clearly listening.

"And she mentioned William?" John asked.

"She mentioned 'Billie the Bad Bunny'," Carlton said with air quotes that then turned into a shrug with a deadpan expression. John grimaced a little from the name alone. "But that's not all. She said that she was taken in a white van, just like the one the police suspected. Flashback to yesterday or whenever, Dad apparently finds out that Circus Baby's is owned by a guy named Dale Miller- who nobody can find, by the way. They look into it and can't find a Dale Miller, but they CAN find a DAVE Miller who owns a white van, who is also missing. So, Dad pulls up his file- bang- it's Willie Afton."

"He's absolutely sure that it's William Afton?" Jessica asked. Her doubt was starting to be replaced by fear.

"He said to me, and I quote, 'I'd recognize that slimy smile anywhere' and then went off on this angry rant for what felt like ten straight minutes. After 'Billie the Bad Bunny', I don't blame him. So, this guy's been working for a security company under a false name and- surprise, surprise- just like 'Dale', he's disappeared off the face of the earth."

"Did the girl say anything about Charlie?" John interrupted to ask.

"…Not that Dad told me, so I'm guessing no. I don't know why he'd tell me all this and leave out that part…"

Actually, no, Carlton knew exactly why Clay would leave out information about Charlie. All of them knew it and just didn't want to say it.

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Mike butted in, suddenly snapping out of his denial, and replacing it with anger. "William burned to death inside of that restaurant. No, not to death, burned past the point of undeath- whatever the hell you'd call that! How is he now supposedly a human snatching kids?!"

"…Maybe he's not. They are calling him 'Billie the Bunny'. Maybe he's an animatronic too," Lamar suggested. Carlton snapped his fingers and pointed at him.

"That reminds me. Dad said something about a clown. A totally different clown-."

"Wait, let's just back this up for a second, because that still doesn't make sense," Mike said, firmly yanking the conversation back to him. All eyes were back on him. "Fire kills animatronics. That's one thing that we know from the fire. Might've not killed Baby because she wasn't burned all the way through, but I'm having a hard time believing that Afton himself also survived that fire."

"It makes too much sense."

The way the room seemed to shift when the unexpected voice spoke up was uncanny. Only a couple recognized it, but the others knew who it was. If not from the direction, then from the static still humming on it from a damaged body still recovering from extensive damage. Mike's fury was briefly cut into by startlement, and he looked towards the couch.

The comforter lifted as the Puppet sat up underneath it. It was still draped over him, with only his arms showing as they reached out and gripped the edges of the couch cushions. His voice was calm, a little too calm. Hollow.

"He always comes back. That is what we all believed; that he would always come back… But the truth was that he never truly left. He was always there, always waiting for his chance to strike. Silent for years as he waited for the world to forget about him, only to remind them once more in the most unspeakable of ways. They forgot him, but we always remembered, and we were always waiting for the next time he would return. Always hoping it would be the last time.

Our father, Henry, knew this pattern well. For years he watched William until he decided that he couldn't let it go on any longer. Only then did he decide to craft a plan to stop him: the fake pizzeria, and the fire. The perfect trap to capture him and any remnants connected to him and get rid of them all once and for all. Erasing the nightmares of Freddy's, William's evil, and his own shame all at once. He could cauterize the wound that bled for so long.

Henry sacrificed everything to stop the evil he helped create… and did so by putting his faith in a shoddily crafted plan that didn't even work because just like everything Henry ever did in his entire life HE COULDN'T FOLLOW THROUGH!"

And in one fell swoop, all that false composure was gone, and the bitterness rang through. Very literally, as his agitated music began to crank from his chest, now hollow and crackling from damage. His fingers twisted into the cushions before balling up into fists and slamming into them with a muffled thump.

"The one thing he could do to make up for all of his mistakes, and he fails! Couldn't contain him?! Couldn't stop him?! Could certainly contain me! Did Charlie tell you what he did to me?! B-Bound me in a b-b-bear! T-Tried to burn me! He wanted me gone more than Afton! AND NOW HE'S BACK AGAIN!" Sammy wailed in anger.

Everyone in the room was absolutely floored by the scene. They seemed almost petrified, staring in disbelief as this being that most of them had barely seen at all suddenly went on a scathing diatribe about his own father.

Then he went quiet- or hesitated in his rant. He was still making static noises and discordant chimes, and it was then that John dared to speak.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, Sammy. Your dad was wrong in what he did, even if he was trying to make up for his mistakes, but we can't worry about him now. We need to worry about finding Charlie," he said. A sentiment that Sammy would've eagerly agreed with delivered at the worst possible time. The Puppet's head snapped in his direction underneath the comforter.

"Let me tell you about our father and Charlie," Sammy began dangerously. He shifted and his long legs unfolded underneath the comforter and rested against the floor. Suddenly he pushed up onto them, staggering on the striped stilts as they wavered under his weight, the comforter falling back and revealing his form in full.

Mike came forward with his arm outstretched like he was going to catch him. "Hey! Whoa, whoa!" he began, but went ignored as the Puppet's glowing pupils were leveled on John. Its mask normally stretched in a wide smile now had a tense look in its eyes over a grimace, changing before their eyes as if the porcelain could contort like skin. He swayed on his legs before staggering towards John.

John stood from the armchair but didn't run. This whole thing left him in shock, his heart pounding in his chest, but part of him knew he wasn't in danger. It was hard not to be intimidated when the Puppet stood over him though.

"Our father abandoned Charlie because he was so upset about my loss, but where was he when it happened? Where was he when Afton cornered us in that costume closet and ripped me out of my life- in front of my sister? Gone! Just like our mother- gone! And the only one left is Aunt Jen, a shrew, always so bitter and judgmental towards her! Everyone decided that they wanted a new life once my disappearance ruined theirs. Everyone turned their backs on her in my name-!"

Purple fluid welled up in the eye holes of his mask. "But I didn't want that! They mean nothing to me! She's the only one I care about…"

John's look of shock fell to empathy as the terrifying Puppet crumbled before him.

"…and I gave her to him."

John stepped back as Sammy collapsed to his knees the middle of the floor. His arms limp at his sides and his head hung forward over his lap. A clump of purple paint dripped from his mask and splattered onto his leg.

"I… led her right to him… She didn't want to go, she was still safe, but I was so sure… She's all I have, and it could already be too late to get her back." Sammy's voice crackled as he covered his face with his hands and began to weep into them. He didn't care that they could see. He was numb to all the programming telling him not to be seen, totally consumed by his grief. Tears dripped in rivets between his fingers as his body shook and shuddered.

His chest whined metallically, and broken tunes rung from his music box, barely allowing his voice to make it through. "What was the point of all the suffering if he was just going to take her in the end? I wasn't enough for him- his worthless toy."

Jessica rose from the couch and went to him, crouching down behind him and laying her hands on his trembling shoulders. He cringed inwardly at her touch but didn't pull away.

"Don't say that," she said more firmly than she intended. "It's not your fault that Charlie was taken. It wasn't her fault. It's the fault of that sick psycho. If it even is him and not just Baby following his MO... You didn't know what she was going to do, you just wanted to find those kids, just like Charlie did. If you hadn't been with her, she would've gone on her own, trust me… We both know she's been willing to put her life in danger to protect others."

Sammy knew exactly what she meant and knew she was right, though it didn't feel like it took the burden of guilt off him at all. He lowered his hands so he could grab at his arms, mask twisted up in pain and with tears still pouring down the porcelain and onto his chest. He was shaking and twitching, crying quieter but still crying nonetheless.

It was uncomfortable for everyone. Like a wake-up call after days of being in denial, thinking it was all going to be fine and that Charlie was going to be found. Sammy's hopelessness was contagious.

John wasn't ready to give up. If anything, it lit a fire under him.

"We're going to find her. If the kids are being kept somewhere alive, then chances are she is too. All we have to do is find out where they found the girl and start looking. Which means we're going to have to get more information from Clay…" Whether he wants to give it or not, they understood. He looked to Carlton who gave a nod in understanding. "We're going to need to track down Baby too…"

"Shouldn't be too hard. We just have to look for any white vans being driven by clowns," Carlton remarked. John gave him a look, to which he defended, "I'm being dead serious. The girl said she was taken by a woman dressed as a clown. We all know that's got to be Baby, or whatever she's going as now."

"Which lends credence to the possibility that this is just Baby pretending to be Afton," Jessica said. Her voice had taken a particularly bitter tone mentioning her, clearly aimed towards the would-be kidnapper instead of anyone in the room. Though she wouldn't deny that some of the frustration was aimed back at herself as well. "I have half a mind to give her a taste of her own medicine."

"Clocking her with a wrench? Sure," Mike agreed.

"That too, but I was thinking we could show her what it feels like to be snatched off the street. Clay's not going to do it and we know who she is. It's not like this might not be her, we know it's her."

"Maybe so, but we can't go grabbing people off the street. She'll play innocent and we'll go to jail, and we'll get lucky if we don't accidentally get pinned to the timely stream of kidnappings," Lamar pointed out. "Now I'm not saying we shouldn't do anything at all, but I think whatever we're going to do we have to be careful with."

Jessica was about to argue when she noticed Sammy move. She was the only one who noticed his hands lower to the floor where his fingers dragged across the carpet tensely. He was getting upset again and she laid a hand back on his shoulder.

"You got any ideas in mind?" Carlton asked.

"…I mean, we're never going to be able to, but if we got her on camera confessing to the kidnappings or admitting to being Baby, then we'd have something to go on," Lamar suggested.

"Yeah, no. There's no way she's confessing to that. She's been walking around being 'Izzy' for months, why would she slip up now?" Carlton said flatly. "Even if she does, Dad will say it's inadmissible in court and not do anything about it."

"Look, as frustrated as we all are with Clay-," Lamar started. He cut off when she noticed the living room light faintly flickering. Mike and Jessica noticed it too but seem unconcerned, so he chose to ignore it. "As frustrated as we are with him, we should cut him a break. He's not just putting roadblocks out to trip us up, he's trying to make sure what happened in the last Missing Children case doesn't happen again. That this time it gets solved."

Sammy turned his head and tightened into himself. He began to quietly tick, which went unnoticed.

"But he didn't take Charlie seriously enough and look where we are now," Jessica said somberly. "…I guess none of us took it seriously enough. We got too comfortable with Izzy being a threat but not doing anything."

"Maybe, but we're making up for that now. We have to for Charlie," John said. He took a few moments to pull his thoughts together before turning to Mike, "We'll need to borrow one of your tasers. If we start poking around, there's a chance Baby might try to stop us. We can't kidnap her, but maybe we can corner her and get enough evidence to get a go-ahead from Clay. Even if it's not a totally legal one."

Mike nodded and left to get one out of his bedroom. Now John looked back towards the mostly silent puppet on the floor with sympathy. He didn't want to upset him again when he had just calmed down, but he really was the key to all of this, especially now that he would willingly talk to them. Maybe he could get him to talk to Clay too, which could convince him to use some of the less conventional tactics he used during the Butcher Trap raid. He knelt before Sammy.

"Sammy, We're going to need your help with this," John began in a hushed tone. "I know it's hard, but if we all work together then we can find Charlie and the rest of the children. Whether it's Afton or Baby… It doesn't matter who it is. If it's Afton then maybe we can finally stop him once and for all, and if it's Baby then we'll stop her from hurting anyone else. We can stop them from taking any more children and breaking apart anymore families."

Sammy was silent but John could see his fingers balled into fists and shaking on the carpet. He gave a deep sigh and continued to try and reason with him, "I understand what you're going through is-."

Whatever sympathetic word John was going to continue with was cut off by a loud pop as the lightbulb shattered above their heads. Jessica squeaked and sprung back while Carlton ducked out of his chair. John and Lamar just flinched at it.

It was clear from the steadily growing dial tone who was responsible for the light bursting. They all knew it, save Mike who came running back in with a mutter of, "The hell?!"

He went ignored as John heard the low voice of the puppet return, flooded by the radio static.

"He didn't just kidnap them," Sammy said in a dangerously quiet tone. He raised his head, face marred with anger and tears. "He tortured and murdered them. He took pleasure in listening to them- us- scream and cry. Baby's no better. She always loved her 'Daddy' so much, she would do anything to follow his example… and now one of them has my sister." Sammy's gaze narrowed. "So, no. You don't understand what I'm going through."

For the first time in ages, John was forcefully reminded of Joe as all the horrors he imagined were confirmed. The dread that he had been kept down in Afton Robotics was nothing compared to the possibility that he hadn't.

"Alright, I think it's about time to give him a little space," Mike suddenly spoke up. He gestured for Lamar to get up and pointed him and Carlton to the door. "Sorry to rush you out, but if the TV breaks I'm screwed, I can't afford a replacement."

Which was a cover, of course. Everyone knew this and nobody was fit to argue. The only one who might've considered it was John, but that was only because he knew he couldn't handle the answers to the questions he would end up asking. Jessica hesitated the longest before readjusting her purse on her shoulder and going to pass by, brushing her fingers on Sammy's shoulder.

Much to her surprise, fabric fingers reached up and caught hers. She looked down to see that Sammy had his head turned away. He squeezed her hand in an almost apologetic way and she returned it, understanding it, and then he let his hand drop to his side. She almost felt bad leaving him there, but there was a small part of her that was still shaken and knew they both needed space.

Mike followed her to the door and when they arrived, she turned back to him. "What about him?" she whispered.

"He'll be alright. He just needs a minute," Mike assured just as quietly. "This is just… All of this is insane. He needs a minute of cooldown."

"…Think we can wait outside just in case?" Jessica asked. The man paused a long moment before giving almost a defeated sigh.

"…Yeah, that should work. Just give me a little bit," he said. Even he didn't sound convinced, but she believed him and nodded, then stepped out onto the porch. He closed the front door behind her and just stood there staring at it for a second. Then, once he deemed himself ready, he headed over to the puppet.

The moment the door shut, Sammy allowed any false composure to drop and crumbled once more. He wept into his hands with sobs so heavy that his whole body shook and swayed. It was just loud enough that Mike could hear the distinctly 'damaged' tone of static return and he hoped he hadn't managed to damage his mask further.

"Hey. Hey. Let me see," Mike gently coaxed. He took ahold of Sammy's wrists and pulled them back from his face. While the shrunken cracks were accentuated by the purple fluid, they didn't seem to be any more prominent. Mike released his wrists at his chest, only to have them limply drop to the puppet's sides once again.

"I can't stand it," Sammy said, his voice barely making it over his sobs. It didn't seem like he was talking to Mike, but instead rambling to himself. "I can't take it. I can't. I can't watch him get away with it again. Why does he get another chance? It's not fair!"

"No, it's not," Mike agreed. He took a steadying breath before reaching around Sammy's back with one arm and fitting the other underneath him. He lifted him under the knees, keeping the puppet's long but light body folded so he could easily carry him back to the couch. "I think that's enough legwork for today."

"I'm sorry about the light."

"Don't worry about it. I'll replace it later."

"I'm just so angry I can't stand it."

Mike set Sammy down atop the comforter once more, the puppet sinking into the center with his legs and arms still out. It was a little cute for a second, until with a choking crackle the sobs returned with a vengeance.

"I'm so sorry, Charlie," he garbled through his weeping. "S-S-So sor-r-r-ry…"

"And there goes your voice. You are going to have to calm down before you hurt yourself."

"May-y-y-be that's a g-g-g-oood thin-ng."

"Don't be overdramatic." Mike sat down alongside Sammy and started to lift him upright. The puppet was limp, his head laying back over his arm so far that his tears started to pool and leak onto his forehead. "We're going to find her."

"How?!" Mike was startled how quickly Sammy's tone flipped from agony to anger, head suddenly shooting up and the white dots back in his eyes. He was an emotional mess, but Mike took it in stride.

He couldn't blame Sammy for being so distraught when he himself was just as angry. In fact, now thinking about it he was way more than angry. He was downright furious. Some psychopath with a bunny complex and a sick sense of humor who had murdered innocent children, and Sammy, and was trying to do the same to Charlie and others- whether it be through himself or monstrous animatronics popping up after his supposed death- suddenly waltzed back in and picked up where he left off, ruining the lives of as many people as he could in the process. Including more than a few people who Mike happened to be close with.

He wasn't furious, no. He was out for blood.

"I'll tell you exactly how," Mike said, voice tense as he fought to keep his emotions in check. He reached out for the edge of Sammy's mask to carefully tilt it upward so he could see it in the light from the kitchen. The twisted-up glare on Sammy's mask flickered to one of surprise in an instant, the static dying down in his chest as his eyes widened. He looked up at Mike who squinted closer.

"If these keep closing up at this rate they might be gone by tomorrow, maybe the next day, and once they are you and I are going over to Circus Baby's and getting in there ourselves. No police, no tagalongs, just you, me, a couple of tasers, and a baseball bat." He met Sammy's gaze with fierce determination in his eyes. "We'll go all in and we're not leaving until we find Charlie, the kids, and Afton so we can drag him outside and light him up."

"…I don't think… What if she's not…?" Sammy began hesitantly. The fear made it back onto his mask as he dared to ask, "What if she's already… gone?"

It was strange how unprepared Mike was for the question, especially since that possibility had been in the back of his mind the whole time. He wasn't a naturally optimistic person and he was aware at the crimes covered up by Freddy's, and the sheer amount of death that entailed. If the source of all those murders had now taken Charlie, it was possible that he had done it less to keep her captive and more to finish the job.

Sammy waited for an answer. The tears were already leaking out once more as he did. There was no doubt that he was thinking everything that Mike was.

"Then we… Then we'll bring her back here… and I'll do whatever it takes to give you two the best life I can," Mike said in a solemn voice. "One way or another, we're bringing her home."

The eyes of Sammy's mask widened in slow realization of what Mike meant. He hadn't ever considered the possibility of what would happen if he couldn't save Charlie and was forced to save her. It was like being hit by a brick wall, physically paining him deep in his chest. He didn't want to do it, to make her like him, but if the offer was there then he would have to take it rather than losing her.

Mike had given him an out. He had given him permission to do it and promised to help him. Nobody really helped him except for Charlie. A few offered support, such as Jessica and Charlie's other friends, but even he could see the fear and hesitance in their eyes- which in hindsight he probably didn't help. Even his father had seen what he had done in saving the children and decided he was too dangerous to be kept alive.

Mike was telling him it was alright and that he was going to help him do it. Mike wasn't disgusted or afraid of him or what he had done, he just wanted to save Charlie as much as Sammy did. He was exactly what Sammy had wanted.

Except relief was the furthest thing from what Sammy was feeling. That fear and despair hit him just as sharply, piercing straight through his chest. The thought of Charlie having to suffer like he did was painful enough, but the fear that he couldn't save her was even worse. It had been days; if she had been killed just after being taken then it would be much too long to save her. Either she was too far gone to save, or she had been kept alive, possibly in constant torment.

That wasn't the only fear either, because if this was William then there was no telling what he wanted from her. Maybe it wasn't just to kill her, but something more insidious, like his plans had been for Sammy. He could've already had a suit picked out for her and was just waiting for the opportunity to use it.

In his mind's eye he imagined a slender model of Circus Baby that looked vaguely like Charlie, but with the glassy brown eyes of a doll, like Ella's own. Dressed up like William's personal plaything, devoid of her being beyond her soul as a battery.

It was just all so overwhelming. Anger, fear, sadness, guilt, regret, remorse, and just the smallest sliver of hope, the smallest ounce of adoration that was swamped by the panicked sensation of sinking. He was ticking so loudly in his chest that it was making his entire body twitch, his mask was devoid of anything but shock as he stared at Mike. It was all too much until he wasn't even thinking straight, just trying to hold onto that small glimpse of hope.

But Mike was going to help him. Mike was here and he was going to stand by him. He wasn't alone this time, maybe it would be different. Maybe they could save her, them, everyone. Maybe he could make up for it all. They could save them.

"…Still with me, Stripes? I think I'm losing you," Mike murmured. Some of that fierce resolve softened into concern. "Look, I wasn't saying that I think it's too late. I just meant-."

Suddenly Sammy's arm shot upwards, and his fingers hooked behind the back of Mike's neck. It was so quick that he barely saw it, seeing nothing more than a black blur in his vision and then feeling the pressure on his skin. Long finger poised rigidly but only resting on his skin. It was enough to get the man to straighten up, but that was all he could do before the puppet closed in-

-and pressed his porcelain lips to Mike's own.

It was the strangest sensation he had ever experience. The puppet's mask felt like glossy porcelain, but it seemed to move fluidly against him, just how it looked when it changed expressions. Firm, but pliable. Cool to the touch, but not cold. Not that he could think of any of that when he was too busy staring in shock and trying to process what was happening. He had been totally blindsided.

He wasn't the only one either. It took a grand total of three seconds before Sammy realized what he had just done and wrenched himself back just as quickly as he had thrown himself forward. Hand that had grabbed Mike now drawn back and frozen in the air as his mask returned to a look of fear and horror.

"I… I-I'm sorry. I d-d-don't know wh-what I was th-thi-i-inking," he forced out. His music box ticking so badly that it caused his voice to tremble and catch. "I was just- I was just- I was just-."

"No, no, hold on. Don't work yourself up," Mike jumped to defend. He still looked flustered and definitely hadn't had time to unpack whatever that was supposed to mean, but he decided to put that aside and defuse the situation. "You're going through a lot, I'm going through some stuff; we're stuck in the same living nightmare. Times are tough," Mike continued to ramble, trying his hardest to explain it rationally. Then he waved his off and gave his most nonchalant, "We're good."

"Y-Y-You're n-not mad?" Sammy tentatively asked. His hand protectively pulling to his chest.

"Only if you would've chipped a tooth," Mike remarked.

He sounded honest enough, even managed a little smile, so Sammy was willing to believe him. He wasn't going to risk pushing it though, slumping against the back of the couch instead of getting anywhere near touching him again. If anything, at least this whole thing snapped him out of his panic. He was still distraught, but he had a clear head for a moment and was intending to use it.

"When do you want to go?" he asked. He knew Mike would know where he meant.

"When you're ready to go," Mike answered."

"But I am ready. I've waited long enough."

"Yeah, no. When have you ever had to walk anywhere? And I know all that background noise on your voice isn't just nerves. We'll see if the rest of those cracks close up by tomorrow night. Alright? Alright," Mike said with absolutely finality.

Sammy wanted to fight with him on it. What did it matter if he was a little weak- he thought before suddenly having a vivid image of Baby overpowering him again and also taking Mike. He couldn't lead another person to that fate. He would wait another day, he reluctantly decided as he curled up into himself on the couch.

"How about the Mystery Gang out there? Ready for me to let them back in?" Mike asked. Sammy visibly flinched and slowly rolled sideways and back into the comforter cocoon. "…We'll give it a few more minutes."

Said gang was currently sitting out around Mike's porch in silence. Carlton and Lamar were on the steps, Jessica leaning against the wall beside the front door with her arms crossed, and John slowly pacing nearby. All of them lost in thought, either processing what happened inside the apartment or trying to figure out where they were going next. Finding out the perpetrator hadn't eased their mind any. If anything, it gave them all the more reason to be afraid.

And that was when Marla showed up. She parked behind the others, half still in the road, and hastily hopped out of the car before jogging over. She looked flustered and wide-eyed as she approached, signaling that something happened.

"Oh hey! You just missed the show," Carlton greeted with a strained smile. He was about to ask what was wrong, but she beat him to it.

"I ran into Baby!" she blurted out.

Everyone reacted instantly, with John snapping to face her and Lamar getting a face of befuddlement, and Carlton's eyes slowly widening.

"With your car?!" the redhead choked.

"No! Not- no. I ran into her at Daisy's. I just- I got this feeling and I went in to check and she was there," Marla raced out, talking a mile a minute. "And I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just let her go, but I couldn't just confront her, and I definitely didn't have enough time to call because she was right there, and I knew she could just up and disappear again. So, I just went up to her and I…" Marla held her hands out and gave a matter-of-fact, "Asked her out to dinner."

"…What?"

"I thought it was a good idea at the time!" Marla defended, tossing her hands up. "I thought- I thought maybe, since Baby doesn't realize that we know who she is, we could keep an eye on here. You know, pal around with her, see if she slips up somewhere. At least keep her distracted!"

Carlton looked horrified. Considering what he heard from his father and the Puppet, it was understandable why. Yet before he could say anything, he was beaten to it by Jessica.

"That's exactly what we're going to do."

Carlton spun around to look at her in disbelief. Even Marla looked a little surprised by the comment. Jessica ignored them both and turned to John, who was looking at her inquisitively.

"We don't know what Baby's plan is, but we do know that she loves attention. She's wouldn't have followed us around for so long if she didn't. In fact… In fact, I wouldn't put it past her to be baiting us. If she was avoiding us, she wouldn't just wind up at the same outlet store that she's found Charlie and I before. Maybe… Maybe we should do what Charlie said and play along," Jessica said. Her face grew firm. "We were just talking about dealing with Baby. Here's how we do it."

"This is way different than throwing a sack over her head and tossing her in the trunk! This is us hanging out with Baby and pretending she isn't a psycho killer clown!" Carlton voiced. She looked between John and Jessica's faces before his own fell with disbelief. "And you two aren't hearing me at all, are you? You're totally set on this."

"There's not much else we can do. Jessica's right, Baby can disappear if she wants to, and if she does there goes our only lead on Charlie…" John agreed. For a moment his face betrayed him, and he showed that regret and concern in a look that look very similar to the Puppet's, and he only managed to barely shake it off. Though that dread still lingered on his features. "This is all we have to go on, so we've got to suck it up and do it."

"…Then fine, I'm in, but I feel like this is going to blow up in our face," Carlton reluctantly agreed.

"Same, but I'm a little more optimistic," Lamar chimed in.

"Okay, then we're all in agreement. We meet Baby- Izzy at Del's and see what we can legally weasel out of her. None of us brings up Circus Baby or Circus Baby's unless she does it first, and if she does, we assume she's baiting us and keep our cool, and we all act like we're trying to avoid talking about Charlie, so it doesn't look like we're prying. We can do this," Marla instructed the other, who nodded in understanding. "Now that we've got that sorted, should we go in and bring Sammy and Mike up to speed on the plan? Why are we all outside?"

"Sammy got upset so we're giving him a break," Jessica informed.

"He started bawling and breaking lightbulbs," Carlton whispered to her. Jessica gave him an unenthused look.

"Really? Oh geez, I knew he was going to take this bad, but I didn't think he was going to take it that bad," Marla sympathized. She didn't even know the full brunt of it either, not having all of the information from Carlton. "And I STILL haven't even got a good look at him!... How long have you been out here? I might go in and check on him."

Carlton hissed and Lamar gave a courteous warning of, "He's a lot scarier when he's angry."

"So is Clay, but that doesn't stop me from dropping in," Marla said nonchalantly. She walked past them knocked on the door before opening it a few inches. "Hey, I just got here. Can I come in? See how Sammy's holding up?" she asked sweetly.

After a brief pause, long enough for a shrug, they could hear Mike reply with, "It's your funeral." Apparently, Marla took this warning with a grain of salt and headed inside, leaving her friends on the porch.

"…Let's give him a few more minutes," Jessica offered.

"Yeah," John agreed. "I'm the last person he wants to see."

Jessica gave him a sympathetic look before taking her place against the wall again, crossing her arms and looking down at her shoes. She was all ready to go along with this plan of theirs, but she still had a twisting feeling in her stomach. A gut feeling that suggested this was a mistake- and one they were making a little too late.

She knew in her heart that Charlie was still alive and out there waiting to be found. That there was a reason Baby must've taken her.

Her mind filled in the blanks with the most horrifying things.

…

It had been a while since Charlie had returned to her cell and time was passing at an agonizingly slow pace. She was starting to get hungry again, but she wasn't about to ask William for food. Especially when part of the reason she was so hungry was because she had to be so cautious with what he gave her. She kept her mind off it well enough, trying to force herself through the last dregs of an uninteresting book.

When this was eventually interrupted by the sound of footsteps out in the hall. She recognized their familiar pace and knew the door would soon lift enough to send a lunch tray underneath. It was a little bit of a relief, both to sate her hunger and momentarily her boredom. It was a momentarily distraction from the tedious hours stuck in this room.

…But that wasn't all that it was. It was the opportunity she was waiting for to see what remained of William Afton.

She had made the decision earlier after piecing together that he was either trying to torment her or outright kill her. She wanted to see the man that was keeping her here, or whatever he was now considering that Sammy had drawn him in a rabbit suit. She needed to know exactly what she was up against.

This was the only time William came by her room- and she knew it had to be him. She had been around Izzy enough to recognize her walking patterns. Or at least, to know that the gait was different. Not to mention that the shoes she spotted under the door were men's shoes- albeit a garish green that no sane person would be caught dead in.

God, that thought alone sounded like something Jessica would say. She missed her so much. She missed everybody so much, but she had to stay focused. She only had the briefest of windows to see who or what was standing out in the hallway.

As the footsteps drew in, she quietly slid out of the desk chair and crouched down on the floor. She lowered herself on her hands and knees and kept her eyes directly on the bottom of the door. Her eyes narrowed as she heard the sounds stop outside of the door. There was a pause before the door abruptly raised. Despite being prepared for it, she flinched at the suddenness of the noise.

She could see those green shoes again, though now she also caught a glimpse of equally bright pant legs above them. They matched in the same garish green with yellow stripes mixed in. It almost looked like he was wearing some sort of uniform or costume, but she couldn't ever recall a time when those were the signature colors for a business, nor any characters that would've matched the color scheme.

Though any of those thoughts were cut short as she saw him slide the tray smoothly underneath the door before it dropped closed again. For only a split second she saw his hands, most of one and part of another, and everything changed.

"Wait…"

She recognized those hands.

It was hard not to when she had grabbed one of them only a few hours before.

They weren't human hands, but the wiry endoskeleton hands of the masked endoskeleton who had haunted her only a few hours ago. They couldn't have belonged to any other animatronic either; they were just too distinct.

"It's the clown! That's who's been bringing me food?!" Charlie thought in shock. Still stunned, she pushed herself up and slowly slid back into the desk chair. It took her a minute to process everything this reveal meant. Including, but not limited to: "It's been able to get in this whole time. The whole time I thought I was safe in here; it could've opened the door and came right in."

But that brought a new question. One that made her rethink an old theory as she looked back to the door. "…So why didn't it?"

It acted docile during the pain of being worked on, it acted aggressive in the vents- until it became afraid, and the whole time it had been bringing her meals. She wondered if it was even preparing them, which would've explained why much of it was either prepackaged or looked microwaved. This strange endoskeleton clown had been the one attending to her, not William.

Charlie had never been so sure of one thing, and that was that this clown was in the direct servitude of William Afton. Either he was remotely controlling it, which she wasn't entirely convinced of, or it was just loyally obeying his commands. Just like Baby must've been- she suddenly remembered what Baby meant about 'needing' her and it all started to click together.

She wasn't sure what she was going to do now, but this changed things dramatically.