"Mike…" Gregory smiled in relief. He was about to take a step forward when Mike gestured for Gregory to stay back.
"Don't come any closer, I'm not going to be able to keep control for long," Mike quickly warned, clutching his chest with a grimace. "Do you still have the taser I gave you?"
"Y-yeah…" Gregory confirmed hastily, shifting Helpy in his arms to feel it in his pocket still.
"Good, you'll need that to protect yourself against Freddy," Mike said, glancing at the bear that was still twitching and shuddering as he struggled to fight back against William's control as long as possible. "And this too…"
Mike removed a pouch from his belt and tossed it over to Gregory. Gregory fumbled a little bit but managed to catch it. He wasn't given any time to inspect its contents or ask any questions before Mike continued speaking, "Go down this hallway, straight through the next intersection, and then the next right. You should find a large party room with plenty of places to hide and-"
Mike cut off with a shudder, his eyes briefly flashing magenta before returning to purple once more. Gregory swallowed in fear and worry at seeing for himself that Mike had only temporarily taken back control and it wouldn't be long before William was calling the shots again.
"Go, Gregory!" Mike gasped out the command, dropping to one knee as his body began trembling a bit. "I'll try and buy you as much time as you can… but you need to go! NOW!"
Gregory forced his body to move, tearing his gaze away from Mike, and started running down the hallway, refusing to let all of Mike's efforts to delay his jerk of father be in vain. He ran through the first intersection and then took a right like Mike had instructed and entered the party room Mike had mentioned. It was a large room, with lots of tables and chairs. Party hats stood waiting on all the tables for guests that would never come and balloons bunched together in clumps tied to various pieces of furniture as decorations.
Gregory didn't have time to take in more than that as Helpy patted his arm to get his attention before pointing at the tables, reminding the boy that he needed to hide. Nodding confirmation, Gregory weaved through the tables and chairs, picking one closer to the center to crawl under to hide. Since he was pretty much as safe as he was going to be at the moment, Gregory took the opportunity to see what Mike had given him. Setting Helpy and his Fazer Blaster down, Gregory opened it and tipped it over to pour out whatever was inside into his open palm.
It was another protection charm.
Gregory was confused for a moment, wondering why Mike would give this to him when he was already more than protected that's to Dipper's spell when it finally dawned on him. It wasn't for him… it was for Freddy, to replace the one that William had destroyed.
"Okay… I think I can work with this," Gregory said with shaky confidence. He spread all his items and tools out before him and looked it all over and started to come up with a plan.
Mike kept his word and struggled to keep William back as long as possible, buying Gregory as much time as he could for the kid to have a better chance at surviving. He was on his hands and knees now, body violently shuddering as William worked to steal back control.
"You haven't saved him…" William taunted maliciously as he gained more and more ground. "Only delayed his death by a few more minutes…"
Mike didn't respond, only gritted his teeth as he struggled to hold on as long as possible. Painstakingly slowly, Mike lost control of his body and was yanked back into his mind, but this time William's Shadow Bonnies were there waiting for him the moment he appeared in his mindscape and they immediately descended upon him.
Mike fought back as best he could, summoning all sorts of mental weapons and spells to help him mow down the dark minions, but for everyone he vaporized it seemed like three more spawned in its place. There were just so many and Mike was exhausted after the fight to take back control and maintain it as long as he could, so it wasn't long before he eventually became overwhelmed. They piled on him and their shadowy clawed hands wrapped around his limbs to keep him restrained.
"You really know how to get on my nerves don't you Michael," William said, his own mental avatar appearing in Mike's Mindscape. The Shadow Bonnie's yanked Mike up so he could see William's disappointed and annoyed look as he continued, "Despite all the effort I went through to discipline and mold you, you still have that same rebellious attitude you had as a teen…"
"I'm so happy you failed to make me into you," Mike snarled, yanking furiously at the hands holding him in the desire to sock his father in the jaw. "And it isn't teen rebellion that makes me want to fight against you at every turn, but a little thing called morals… something you seem to lack completely."
"I'm just trying to save this family," William replied in a superior tone. "As any father would. Clearly, you need a reminder of why I need to use such immoral actions, as you put it, to accomplish that."
William didn't give Mike a chance to respond before turning on his heel and strutting through the halls of Mike's Mindscape like he owned the place. The Shadow Bonnies floated after their master, dragging Mike along with them. Mike tried to break free again but was able and had no choice but to wait and see where William was taking him.
The hallways started getting darker and more twisted. It wasn't hard for Mike to recognize this part of his mind even though it was one he usually tried to avoid whenever he was in his mindscape. It was there area where his worse memories got blended with nightmares and Mike did like the implications of where this was going. Stopping next to a giant Fredbear Head with its mouth gaping open, William turned to Mike with a vicious grin.
"This will do nicely," William said coming closer and gripping Mike by the throat. "This should keep you busy while I finish taking care of the others. Hopefully, by the time I let you out of here, you'll be sufficiently reminded of your role in this mess and be more willing to help finally fix it all."
The Shadow Bonnies let go of Mike as William dragged him over to the gaping mouth and tossed him in, leaving Mike falling into the darkness.
Mike didn't so much land as suddenly found himself standing upright on the ground. He felt smaller than he was used to and all his human limbs were intact. His hair was longer and brushed up against his shoulders. And of course, the most damning thing of all, he could feel a familiar Foxy mask resting on his face.
"Wow, your brother is kind of a baby isn't he?" Came a familiar voice from Mike's side. Mike glanced to the side to see nightmarish facsimiles of his old friends. The masks on their heads looked more organic, mouths full of many sharp teeth and twisted into murderous grins.
"It's hilarious," Mike could feel his own face twist into a vicious grin as those words forced their way out of his throat. Mike felt himself turn to look at this nightmare's version of Evan, a much smaller child than he had actually been at this time to emphasize just how young and helpless the other had been in the face of his bullies.
Feelings of anger, cruelty, and glee flooded through Mike at the sight of his brother cowering under the table, stronger and slightly twisted echoes of what he had actually been feeling that day. With a cruel laugh bubbling up from his throat, Mike said "Why don't we help him get a closer look! He will love it!"
William stood in front of the giant Fredbear head with a satisfied grin, pleased to see that Mike had been successfully trapped in a nightmare of his own making. Why would William need to waste energy containing and torturing Mike when Mike could be doing it to himself after all? Leaving his son to stew in his own guilt-conjured world, William focused more on the physical world.
William gracefully rose to his feet as the illusion flickered back into place, brushing off imaginary dust as he adjusted to having complete and total control now. Glancing at Glamrock Freddy, William gave his 'virus' the focus it needed to subdue the animatronics' AI finally completely. The trembling came to a stop as the bear's eye turned completely magenta, Freddy rising to his feet mechanically as he awaited instructions.
"Go find the brat," William commanded the animatronic. "And when you find him, kill him as slowly and as painfully as you can. And once he's dead, bring his broken and battered body to me. I'll want Mike to see it in person when I let him out."
"Yes, master…" Freddy replied dully before he started lumbering through the maze after Gregory.
William watched the bear disappear from sight with a pleased look. Only one last one to take care of now.
Meanwhile, in another part of the maze, Dipper felt tense as he walked through the maze. He could see shadowy nightmares scurrying about out of the corner of his eye, but whenever he turned to look they were gone. They never attacked, only watched him, but that just made their presence feel even more ominous. He felt like they were just waiting for something and Dipper had a feeling he wouldn't like whatever it is they were waiting for…
"That bastard keeps jumping around!" Cassidy snarled in anger, the ghost girl appearing not far from Dipper. "It makes it really hard for me to tell you which way to go so you can help me end him!"
"Then stop trying to guide me and help someone else," Dipper suggested, frustration coloring his tone. "I can take care of myself just fine and I've faced far worse things than William. Go help guide and protect Gregory. We need to make sure William doesn't claim any more victims."
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Cassidy replied callously, clearly uncaring about what fate may befall the boy. "And once I've retrapped HIS soul in my new and improved torture chamber, there won't be any more victims anyway."
"…retrapped..?" Dipper said with slowly growing horror as the implications of that statement dawned on him. "You mean you kept him from moving on in that final fire?"
"I'm sure he would have found a way to stick around even if I hadn't done anything," Cassidy said dismissively. "Stubborn old zombie has a way of sticking around like his rotted stench. And I wasn't going to just let him go without being able to exact some PERSONAL revenge."
"Cassidy… you're the cause of this whole mess," Dipper informed coldly, uncaring that he was risking angering this obviously volatile spirit. His brother was possessed and his soon-to-be nephew's life was in danger and the spirit before him was one of the reasons for that.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Cassidy snarled. Her eyes burned with anger and her hair turned into flickering flames. "It's that's BASTARD that's behind everything and I'm here to make sure he PAYS for what he's done!"
"My Grunkle Ford was helping in the preparation process of that final fire," Dipper replied, staring down the angry spirit before him. "He studied the supernatural for years and knows how to help banish spirits from this plane permanently. William would be gone now if you hadn't interfered. By keeping him in your own prison rather than letting him face whatever fate awaited him in the world beyond, you gave him the chance to gain strength and once more plague this world. The children that were killed by him since then… those fall on you as well…"
"NO!" Cassidy shouted in denial, form flickering between a more nightmarish version and that of a scared girl. "It was my right to have my revenge! This isn't my fault!"
Dipper was about to say more when he was distracted by a beep coming from his phone. Pulling it out, he found that Mike's tracker was sending out a signal again and guiding him to another part again. Dipper knew this was an obvious trap as the only reason the tracker would work in the heart of a ghost's lair was if that ghost wanted it to work, but that was fine with Dipper. It would get him to his brother and he'd be able to help free him from the monster possessing him.
"I'm going after Mike," Dipper informed Cassidy without even glancing at her. "I'm going to save him and then we'll banish William for good. If you want to come with me that's your choice, but I'm not going to let you keep William tied to this world any longer. This needs to END!"
Without waiting for a response, Dipper kept walking through the maze, using the signal as a guide.
Cassidy watched him go before eventually hesitatingly floating after him.