I Don't Own Fnaf

It had only been a few days, but it already turns out starting up a restaurant, even just a pizzeria, took a lot more effort than Mike thought. There was a ton of paperwork to be looked over, business and food service licenses to have for serving food and for general safety. Thankfully Jeremy was nice and knowledgeable enough to do the heavy lifting there, but as the technical 'owner' of the business among the three man team, Mike at the very least still needed to look over all the paperwork and know what everything was himself as well.

Then there was everything else, Fritz and Foxy got along... ok enough, Foxy talked now which helped some things, but it also seemed to mean he also got a lot more energy and wasn't quite as willing as before to let Fritz fix him up, or at least be sitting around for long periods of time without anything to do. It was definitely quicker though, and within a week or two of work Foxy should be in perfect shape for the first time in years, but it wasn't the case just yet.

Next was cleaning up and getting the diner itself refurbished and set up ready and in working order. Given nearly the entire thing had been cleaned out... that was an incredibly tall order, there was only a few left over tables, barely any chairs, and the kitchen had been scavenged for parts, even the old stoves had been taken out at some point and after some testing, turns out the small walk-in freezer, even after power was turned back on to the building, still didn't kick on like it was supposed to, same with the fridge which was probably why it had been left. Both of which Fritz thinks had blown circuits somewhere in them, he said he'd look them over and repair them, given it was much cheaper than replacing them, but he hadn't had the time to do so yet. Add into other such things with the diner, that being having to replace the old and peeling wall paper which was covered in Freddy's advertisement, needing to look into getting merchandise for the prize corner, and finding somewhere to get arcade machines from in the first place... Well, that's where the group really hit their main road block

Better to say, all of that, everything just mentioned, required a cash flow to so much as even get anything done, parts cost money, paperwork had application costs, cleaning materials and wall paper and machines all cost a ton, not to mention repairing the main stage and getting merch and everything else.

And given Mike was back on the search for a job, Fritz was barely making minimum wage with his own job, and Jeremy's job was at best just doing occasional work for his family, that he apparently didn't really talk to, none of the twenty-somethings exactly had the cash on hand to get the ball moving even if they already had the location and the main performers all ready, and even eager, to go.

Frankly it was a minor miracle Mike had enough to keep his own lights on now that he finally had gotten the power and water restored to his own place after months of living without it.

But speaking of the 'performers' that had been something of a surprise. Naturally his brother wanted nothing to do with the stage, even if he did admit after a while that having their own pizzeria was a good idea, and frankly Mike was inclined to agree. Mike wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle seeing Fredbear up on a stage at any kind of party again, much less knowing it was his brother who was in the suit. Not to mention while Fazbear Entertainment was defunct, the rights were technically in reserve... somewhere, and he wouldn't put it past some shitty stockholder to catch wind and try to sue their pizzeria over a completely unrelated bear animatronic.

Foxy of course was more than willing, the animatronic was practically vibrating out of his suit when Mike told the fox the news. He was beyond happy and proceeded to start reciting and rehearsing more than a few bits and routines at all hours. It was honestly kind of charming, even if Mike was the one who most often had to play audience for the fox when he wanted feedback It was either him or Fritz at least given he was the one who worked on the fox, though Foxy didn't mind pestering Jeremy much, though Jeremy still kept his distance from all three animatronics if he could help it.

Speaking of, there was also Mari, and surprisingly the puppet loved the idea. Mike was sure it was going to be like pulling teeth, or well, strings, to get the animatronic on board, and he had honestly thought that it wouldn't be surprising if it was just going to be a one fox show, but Mari leaped at the idea. Apparently he missed the prize corner, the two hadn't talked much more about it than that Marionette would be mostly staying in said corner to manage tickets and prizes and stuff, but it at least meant Mike didn't have to worry about one thing with how Marionette seemed more than willing to handle nearly everything involving the corner himself if he could.

Plus it was nice to see the two animatronics genuinely excited for something, both were more than often pretty quiet and not often all that cheerful beforehand. Now it seemed the idea of getting back to work was like a fire being put under them. Mike didn't get it, he tried to ask, Marionette just said something about being built for it, which instantly made Mike think of programming which he didn't have the best opinion of, but... if it made them happy, he wasn't going to question it.

Speaking of Mike and Mari, or more accurately their living situation, the power had been turned back on, same with the water, mostly because Marionette complained about it and it was embarrassing to Mike to live with someone when their building didn't have those two things. Though it was honestly so much nicer than Mike thought possible. He had gotten used to it, but damn it had been so nice to be able to use a microwave without having to run down the street to a gas station. Or be able to have actual food in the fridge and not worry about it.

The cleaning effort on the now-in-papers Schmidt household, had been... going, even though Mike was sure Marionette would love nothing more than to never rest until every inch of the house was spotless, Mike made the puppet take it a bit slower, working room to room, or at least the ones he was willing to less with, his siblings rooms were marked off limits and the puppet hadn't pushed. Still, they were spending time going through things, getting a bunch of boxes and moving things up into the attic which thankfully hadn't had much use before now. It was quickly filling up with old items and things that Mike had no reason to keep around but couldn't find himself throwing away or wanted to risk seeing in his day to day life for the memories attached to them.

Mari was understanding of it thankfully, though he did fuss more than a bit about how he could handle all of the heavy lifting while Mike continued to recover, given he was barely within a week of getting his arm in the cast that it would be in for the next two months according to his doctor... Mike understood the puppet's concerns, but still occasionally waved them off. All the same, it was slow going, so far they had only managed to actually and properly clean up the living room and kitchen, while also starting on his father's room.

It was the master bedroom of the house, on the second floor at the end of the hall and had one of the few surfaces in the entire home that wasn't the floor that Mike could lay on without his feet poking off the side. It felt... sort of wrong, to move into his father's old room, but once Marionette realized that Mike's room still had a broken window in it still, only be covered from prying eyes, and that the wall was beginning to mold, Mike made the decision that he valued his ears more than he did his dead dad's privacy.

Frankly it was mostly just moving clothes out along with any nick-nacks and items that were around and moving the few things Mike owned that he'd want in the room, to the room, which was also mostly just clothes, the few that he owned. It was certainly nice to sleep on a bed that fit him at the very least instead of a bed made for a teenager.

While for Marionette, apparently he had used to sleep in his music box, Mike found that both kind of weird and kind of cute in a weird jack in a box kind of way. Mari just gave him a look at the comparison before mentioning it was just comfortable for him to rest in. Obviously they hadn't had Mari's box on hand anywhere, the only idea they had to where it would be was in the warehouse, the one that Mike and Mari both weren't looking into going back to on account of being arrested for trespassing among other reasons.

So instead Mike just got a particularly large and sturdy cardboard box and just plopped it in the living room until they either fixed the issues with Mike's old room, or eventually cleaned out and sorted through one of his siblings' rooms so Mari could move in. Probably his old room given Mike wanted to hold out some hope for his brother wanting his own room back, and the fact that Elizabeth's was painted bright pink. Plus Mari already was used to Mike's old room, so it worked out.

Mari didn't complain about the box, but he also didn't seem to be enthused with it either.

Thankfully though, the answer to most of Mike and the others' problems would be answered in a way that he honestly hadn't expected.

It started with a call from his lawyer, the man still wasn't much of Mike's fan, especially after what he pulled a few days ago, but thankfully Ricket was an old fashioned kind of guy who refused to leave a job half done, though Mike wouldn't be surprised if the old man was taking his time on some things. They had talked for a while, and Mike was told of something he honestly had been expecting.

He had a lot more to sort through than he thought, as he hung up the phone with a faint sense of confusion and honestly a bit overwhelmed as he sat down on the couch in his now cleaned up living room.

"What was the call about?" Mike lifted his head to glance back to Marionette, who was already looking at him with a look of concern. He supposed his reaction probably warranted it, as he decided to break it as quickly as possible.

"You know that warehouse we meet in?" Marionette let out an affirming chime, though it did sound slightly strained, "Yeah, I own it apparently" That got a much louder chime of surprise as Mike went on to properly explain now that he got the shock factor out of the way, "Apparently my father was the one who bought it and signed it as a secondary storage location that could be used by Freddy's, but after he... left, they never changed the name on the contract. I don't know if it was out of laziness, or Miller did it to keep his name off a location that he was using, but now that he's dead and Freddy's is under, I got a claim on it. Apparently Fazbear had been trying to hide it from Ricket until now"

It was just one more thing to look after and handle, not to mention it meant that Mike would have to go back there and deal with looking over the... things Miller had left behind. Those files still plagued Mike's mind, a large portion of him knew he wanted to know more, to have all the answers he could hope for, but on the other hand, he knew what it was like to regret knowing the truth. He knew where he would eventually land, but he had thought he would have more time, and would be breaking the law, when he decided to deal with it all.

Marionette had much less of an issue with it, as he let out a light and delighted sounding chime.

"That's wonderful! There was so much stuff in there that we could use for the diner!" Mike didn't say anything for a moment, mostly stunned by how easily Marionette took the idea of the warehouse being their problem after all the pain it caused them both, but in the end he just managed a smile and said.

"You know, you make it very difficult to be a pessimist when you make good points" Marionette just looked amused.

"I do try my best" Mike just waved him off so the puppet couldn't be too smug as Mike began to think out loud of the positives about this development.

"I remember seeing some old arcade machines in there, I bet I can get Fritz to take a look at them to make sure they're working right. It'll save us a fortune instead of having to buy them ourselves. Who knows what else we'd be able to find there... It's another electricity bill I'll have to eat the overhead of for a while though, but we can probably sell off some of the things in there for the time being to give us some more capital to work with... I'll have to talk to Jeremy and Fritz about how we should handle it all"

"We'd have to go over and organize everything, making an inventory of it all to know what we're working with" Mike nodded, having stood at some point as he paced around the living room to give his brain some action to help him think.

"I can ask Jeremy if he can handle that during his free time since he's mostly got all the paperwork on hand, we just need to get it signed and processed now. Or maybe I can bribe Goldie into handling some of it, he's strong enough to move everything around that might be covered, and it's not like he's doing much right now just sitting around at the diner listening to Foxy do his hundredth pirate song, and I can't imagine that's all that fun"

"I can also help" Mike... paused, as he glanced back at Marionette who seemed like he genuinely wanted to do so, before shaking his head.

"Nah, you're already helping clean up two places as it is, I haven't seen you actually take a break since I brought up the idea of the pizzeria, you need a break if anything" Mari seemed to take offense to that, putting his hands on his hips and said with a weird looking quirk to his mask's eyebrow.

"Do you really want to have a talk about overworking yourself mister Schmidt? You're still black and blue and you've been nearly doing more work than the rest of us put together while on a job hunt. I think I can handle a bit more organizing" Mike frowned, but as it stood, the puppet did make a good enough argument that he couldn't just dismiss it, they all were running around like crazy as it was.

"Fine, but if you need a break let me know alright? Cause we both know you aren't going to be telling anyone else about it" Marionette let out a chime of amusement at that, but Mike was serious, Mari hadn't said a single word to either Fritz or Jeremy yet, apparently while he was willing to work with the two men, he wasn't willing to trust them enough with his voice just yet. Mike made the decision to not push it, though that didn't mean he didn't let the two know that Mari could speak. It wasn't something that was worth making a secret over in his opinion.

The two were a bit weird about it, neither were all that trusting of the puppet either it seemed, for whatever the three went through together during their time together back when they all worked at the same Freddy's location, but Mike wasn't too worried about it. Even if Jeremy was more than a little skittish around Mari, nothing seemed to be that bad, or at least not bad enough that anyone was actively bringing it up. The fact that Mike was still alive after a number of nights of being in the same house as the animatronic seemed to do most of the work in convincing the two that Marionette was safe to be around.

"I'll call Jeremy now, let him know, and then head over to the diner to talk to Goldie about it... We should get a phone line set up over there, it would make getting in touch with everyone easy, plus we'll need one to have people be able to call in for party reservations..."

"One thing at a time Mike"

"I know you aren't the one that just said that" Marionette just chimed again in amusement as he floated off to give Mike a moment to get in touch with the others. But he didn't jump to make the call just yet. There was a faint dread in his chest when it came to the warehouse, and it wasn't even because he nearly died in it, though that was a part of it. It was the rush he got, that feeling of being alive he had gotten when he was there.

The feeling never came back, Mike never really felt since then like he really wanted to live all that much, needless to say Mike still wasn't doing... great mentally, he was better but not in a good spot just yet, he was just pushing forwards like always, keeping himself so busy that he couldn't think about the darker parts of his mind. The idea of being back there though, in the warehouse, where he had that experience, made him feel queasy.

Maybe... Maybe he should look in on getting some help with that, these thoughts weren't helping anymore, if they ever did, and he simply had too much to live for now to put time into wondering if he wanted to die. Too many people were counting on him now, and he wasn't even sure if he made sure it was that way or not to strong hold himself into caring about his mind, but it seemed to be working effectively anyways.

He'd think about it, for right now, he pulled out his phone, punched a number that this time he had made sure he memorized, and spoke into it when the line connected through.

"Hey Jere, got some news and something I need some help with if you're up for it"

"So... this is what you were trapped in?" Mike just nodded, as the three of them, Mike, Jeremy, and Goldie, looked at the sight of the Springlock trap... Chicatrap? Spring Chica? The springlock suit that Mike had been trapped in. Left in the same spot it had been when Mike had gotten out of it. Goldie just moved over, picking it up with ease before moving it against a wall so it wasn't in the middle of the floor as Mike just kept his eyes away from it as Jeremy spoke, his own eyes scanning around the warehouse.

"Well, the place doesn't look that bad, it's clearly been organized in some way. We'll have to look into the containers to see what's in them, but I bet there's some kind of storage manifest somewhere in this mess, then it's just making sure everything that's logged is actually here. Maybe make some things easier to get too and see what we're working with" Mike just hummed, his eyes flickering towards the back office, as he said.

"I think I have an idea where it might be, I'll go looking, you can start looking around though, see if anything jumps out that's in sight that we know we can use at the diner" Jeremy just nodded, moving to head out to do just that, while Mike made the choice to head to the office in question and just get it over with. His brother's voice stopped him before he got too far.

"What's in there?" Fritz had done more work on both Goldie and Foxy's voice boxes, making the static practically completely gone at this point, as Mike froze at the question, before glancing back, "You don't want to look through the office... Why?" Mike just sighed.

"Miller kept... files on the animatronics in there, about who he suspected was in which among other things... It's messed up, but we can't just ignore them" Goldie didn't give Mike an excuse, instead just said.

"You mean you can't" Mike just huffed, but nodded all the same.

"Yeah, I can't" Mike suspected that would be the end of it, but as he walked away, Goldie spoke up one last time.

"They're either gone or safe now, don't think too hard on it Mike" It was good advice, and even more, it was the first time Goldie had ever called Mike by, well, Mike. It had always been Michael... Mike wasn't sure if it was a good step or one he was putting too much thought into, but he decided it didn't matter, he took the advice as it was, and simply moved to get this over with.

The office was the same as it had been the last time he had been in there. He hadn't managed to go through the office just yet to see if he could find his father's old passwords, but he had time for that later, he was just here for one hard enough pill to swallow for the time being.

First things first, Mike went through the desk, pulling out the first set of folder files that he already knew what they held. Opening them all up just long enough to see which animatronics there were here, it was just the toy line it seemed, there wasn't anything on the original four, though Marionette was missing as well, which was honestly a tad disappointing. Mari didn't seem all that interested in who he used to be, at least from what the two had discussed, the puppet didn't seem like the type to dwell on much, but that didn't mean Mike was the same. Not to mention having the blueprints to Mari might prove useful in the future if he ever needed any maintenance.

Mike didn't bother to look to closely to at most of the files, only committing the names to memory of who had once been to their animatronic bodies, and double checking over most of the files, not looking closely at the 'tests' that had been done, but at the status of each animatronic.

They all were decommissioned, or at least, all but one was.

Jeremiah Tris
Age: Thirteen
Qualities: None
Awareness: Minimal
Status: -

Mike found that strange lack of an answer in the file for Toy Bonnie, but it didn't say just why that was the case anywhere in the file, no matter where he looked in it. It could have been that Miller just hadn't put down that the animatronic had been destroyed like the rest, but it seemed almost sloppy in comparison to the others which all were filled out with the right information, while this one was just... lacking. There wasn't even anything there to imply this version of Bonnie was somewhere else, doing something or being held elsewhere, it just didn't have an answer.

It was strange, sure, but in the end, it wasn't anything Mike could do anything about for the time being. Marionette and Goldie both were certain that the entire toy line had been destroyed, so Mike didn't bother to hold his breath on some sort of miracle. All the same, as he put the rest of the files up, with the mind to destroy them later on when he had a metal trash can and some matches, he did keep the one about Jeremiah on the top as he put them up and began to move through the other drawers.

There were more files, but thankfully for Mike's sanity it wasn't anything too horrible, in the bottom most drawer it was a folder filled with an item log for everything in the warehouse, there was even a large sheet in the folder that was used to show when items were taken in and out. Clearly this was the place used in between pizzeria's in the past, which made sense given just how much Freddy's like to recycle things from past locations.

The handwriting was different all over the place, and the signatures were all more like a scrambled mess of letters. Most of the words on the check out list were also crammed together, clearly someone was to lazy to actually print off more of these logout sheets and so put multiple items on the same line, making it a headache to tell which items on a single row were actually still in the warehouse or had been taken out for some location and never returned.

The main log of everything that had ever been in the warehouse would probably be easier to use for the big things, though the idea of individually logging every plushy sounded like a nightmare that just wasn't worth the effort to Mike. All the same, he collected them all and put the papers on the desk. No matter what, it would at the very least it gave them a better jump off point than going through everything one by one. It would still be an incredible effort, but it was better than nothing, so Mike sorted it out and got it ready for Jeremy to take a look at so the man could make his own plan of attack at the mess of things.

With that sorted out, Mike moved onto the other side of drawers, opening them up only to pause for a moment at the sight of a badge of all things. An employee one from the looks of it. Mike reached down and flipped it over in his hands for a moment before feeling his eyes widen in mild shock.

It was an Afton Robotics' employee badge. Mike had honestly forgotten about it, the company that was, his father had technically owned and founded it but... It was mostly for tax benefits from what Mike remembered, he had no idea what happened with it after he left, and frankly Mike barely remembered anything about it in the first place. It was more a concept on paper than an actual place. Sure, there was an actual workshop from what Mike could vaguely remember, but that had been owned by Henry, it's where most of the animatronic work had been done, Mike hadn't been allowed anywhere near it.

What was it doing in a place like this? Mike figured the 'business' would have gone under after his father's passing, but knowing Fazbear Entertainment, they might have gotten their hooks into it. Either way, there was nothing there of note that he could think of, and Mike frankly had enough to worry about right now than some papers his dad used to get around paying some extra bills. He could look into it later if he had to, but for right now he just pocketed the badge mostly out of nostalgia for seeing the thing again more than anything else.

He chose to not think too hard about just why Miller would have had it in the desk the man stole too much from the Afton's as it was in Mike's opinion, he figured he was allowed to reclaim this much, even if he willingly dropped his claim to the name itself not too long ago now.

The rest of the files and papers he found were just reports and bank statements about Freddy's that was probably illegal for Mike to be looking at, not to mention there was hardly anything on the papers that was all that interesting to look at, beyond the fact that it showed just how willing the company was to save on a penny without a single thought towards keeping their locations up to code. Mike decided to just put it in the 'to burn' pile once he got the stuff for it and put the records back into place.

Grabbing the folder of the inventory, Mike headed out of the office, glancing up at the upper floor were there was an observation room, before deciding that he would handle that later, he wanted to get these papers to Jeremy for the time being and then bring the folders with the animatronics back to the house so he could get rid of them, and maybe let Mari have a look at them if the puppet wanted to before hand. He had asked if Marionette had wanted to come with him, but the puppet had said no. Probably bad memories... thinking about it though, that reminded him.

Looking around for a moment, he couldn't see Jeremy or his brother anywhere, so he decided this was a good enough time as ever, moving around before quickly finding himself in front of the crate that he had found his room mate in. Moving forwards without much concern, Mike walked into the crate and looked around.

It was... cozy? More cozy than he had certainly been expecting. The floor wasn't the same metal as the rest of the container, instead being made of a fabric that made it more like a big coarse rug. The walls were obviously metal but they had a number of... things on them, posters and papers with simple drawings on them. Mari's box was in the corner, looking like a big gift box that Mike remembered from Marionette's time at Juniors, though he didn't honestly know if Mari was the puppet yet to be around for that or not at the time. They hadn't talked much about their pasts.

Still, it was good to see, Mike would bring it out to the car in a bit, though he might have to wedge it in, the thing wasn't massive, but it was still a large box made to fit an animatronic. Mike didn't see Marionette's cross anywhere though, meaning he'd have to find it later, or maybe just get Fritz to make a new one, given they couldn't exactly have Marionette floating around to give out prizes. Hopefully it was just on one of the many shelves around.

But in the meantime, Mike continued to look around the crate, there was a small table and a number of toys of all things that were splayed around, confirming to Mike that it wasn't just the plushies that Marionette had in the crate, and most disturbingly there was cameras and a single speaker that was built into the top of the crate that Mike would have to stretch up to be able to get to. There were two cameras, one in each corner to make sure nothing would be missed from the angle, and the speaker was seemingly built into the back of the crate's wall itself.

Mike had a good feeling he knew exactly what the speaker was for.

Mike wasn't blind to the fact that Marionette hardly ever asked him to wind the aminatronic's music box so the puppet could get some rest. He hadn't brought it up, half figuring half hoping that Marionette simply just didn't need nearly as much sleep to recharge as a normal human did, but... He had a feeling it was a lot less of a simple answer.

There had to be a reason Mike had heard the music box playing in the warehouse after all.

He felt vaguely sick standing in the crate now. This whole thing, it was some twisted and fucked up test, like the toys, just this one hadn't ever ended. Trapped and observed, with nothing more than children's toys of all things, and the constant chiming of his own weakness... Mike couldn't much imagine it, or more over, he didn't want to, he knew a thing or two about being stuck in a prison.

Without another thought, Mike reached down and picked up the surprisingly heavy music box and walked out of the crate, determined to not look back as he kicked the metal doors closed to at least get some of his aggravation out. Mike felt almost like he had trespassed into something he shouldn't have ever seen, the fact that marionette knew Mike was going to be looking for his box for the puppet, and had even approved had done nothing to help Mike feel better about the situation.

He only stayed around long enough to say bye to Jeremy and his brother, giving the folder to the man, and to get the good news that Jeremy had found a restaurant grade stove oven that they could hopefully use in the back along with a number of other smaller things that should come in handy, like decorations and a whole cache of old foxy toys and merch that they could use as a buffer until they would have to order more merch from an actual supplier.

Jeremy could obviously tell something was off with Mike, but thankfully the other man didn't push it too hard, it was a hard thing to adjust to being told that Jeremy could just sort of do that without meaning to. It felt invasive, incredibly so even, but it was also Jeremy, and Mike made the decision that he wouldn't let it change how he interacted with the man.

All the same, he had Jeremy help him get the box into the back of Mike's car before quickly heading out after making sure everything was good there with them. Jeremy just said that he would call Mike when Goldie needed a ride back, given Jeremy's care wasn't quite big enough for the animatronic without a fair amount of uncomfortable squeezing.

With that he headed back to the house, Mike wasn't really sure what he was going to do when he got there in all honesty, his mind was whirling around with a number of things at the moment.

Mike made the decision to leave the box in the car until he got the vehicle into the garage, as it stood the garage controller in the car to open the door automatically was out of batteries and Mike hadn't cared yet to replace them, if only because he already had been dealing with his nosey neighbors enough as it was, and bringing out a box in the open that was half his size that looked like a gift box wasn't going to do him any favors in that regard. Instead he just quickly moved inside without too much thought.

Marionette greeted him, not quite at the door, but was around the couch of the living room only a few feet away.

"Hello, back already? I hope it went we- Oh!" Marionette was caught off guard as he let out a pleasant but shocked sound from his chest, not that Mike could blame him, the man himself hadn't really realized what he was doing until he did it, and by then, he had already pulled the puppet into a hug. He could feel a faint warm buzzing coming from Mari's chest, along with the faint vibrations of ticking of his interworking mechanics, it was kind of soothing.

After barely a second he felt a pair of lone thin arms wrap around him as well, returning the hug, though Mari after a second couldn't help but ask.

"Uh, while I don't mind the sudden hug, any reason for it? You're not really the touchy type" That was an understatement, Mike wasn't exactly known for starting any kind of psychical contact, for the puppet this must have been incredibly out of character. Hell, for Mike it was as well, but instead of dwelling on it like he might have normally done, Mike just said back, still holding onto the puppet.

"I got your box" Marionette tensed in his grip, and for a moment his hug became more like a tight grip on Mike, like he was using the man as an anchor, but it faded quickly enough.

"You saw my... room then" Mike just stayed quiet, it was answer enough, "Are you ok?" Mike let out a disbelieving huff at that, finally pulling away, though still staying in about an arms distance away, as he said.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the one who's supposed to be asking that" The puppet was unperturbed.

"Maybe, but you're the one hugging people" Mike just pulled back a bit and stared at Marionette for a moment before shaking his head. Mari clearly didn't want to talk about himself, if the way he was trying to focus the conversation on Mike's perfectly justifiable reaction was anything to go by... After a moment Mike decided he wouldn't let it rest, not really, he didn't want the puppet keeping all that bottled up. Though it was clear asking directly wasn't going to net him anything.

"It reminded me of juvie" The puppet gave a curious look as Mike did his best to not look away, before deciding he couldn't keep his voice causal while maintaining eye contact, instead he moved to the kitchen, looking to distract himself by making something for lunch, probably a sandwich, while he spoke. Marionette dutifully followed after, clearly interested in the story Mike was preparing himself to talk about.

"Not every kid in there was for something serious, half of them were just there for stealing a few to many times or other things that barely seem worth the month or two they would be staying there. Half the time though it felt like the people in charge couldn't tell if they wanted to treat us like kids or like criminals. I... I never got that luxury, I was in for murder until I got transferred to a state prison, but the others? I remember a kid one day being given toys to play with and the next having to spend a whole week alone in some mockery of solitary confinement because he got in some stupid argument over said toys that ended in a pretty bad fight. Sometimes it felt like they were trying to help us get back on the right track, and sometimes it just felt like they were just there to watch us, day in and night out, judging... I hated it, I think I hated that the most throughout my time in the system, being watched and never having the power to do anything about it. Being... powerless, only able to do what you're told and hoping nothing worse happens while people who couldn't care less about you just… watched"

Mike paused for a moment, just remembering it all, those weren't good years of his life, but he survived them, and he's survived worse since then, but that doesn't mean he liked to think about them, and honestly Mike hadn't ever actually talked about it either. It felt weird to talk about it with anyone, but with Mari... Eh, there was something about the animatronic that Mike just made him want to help the puppet as much as he could, he didn't really understand it, but it was freeing in a way that it just couldn't be with Jeremy and Fritz, and not as awkward as it would have been with his brother. Their relatable situations certainly helped make it easier, so he chose to not think about it too hard.

"I won't say it's the same, I highly doubt it could have been, but there's nothing quite like being the sixteen year old sharing a cell with a forty-seven year old man named Butch" Butch wasn't actually that bad, treated him like a kid sure, but he hadn't been too bad of a roommate, kept Mike safe for the first few months until... "My point is, being stuck in a place you don't want to be is something that sucks and it leaves impacts even after you've left"

Mike honestly wasn't really sure what he was trying to say in that, he never talked about his time in jail, so he didn't really know how to recount it in a way that would make sense, but it seemed that his efforts to help the puppet open up were worth something as after a long moment, as Mike was just finishing up putting away the parts that he had used to make his sandwich, Marionette spoke up.

"I don't know how long I was in there, I was asleep for portions, and when I wasn't the music box rang out every few moments, just a few chords, but enough to keep me from being able to do much of anything. I got used to it, sometimes it didn't play at all and I was allowed to just... exist. There wasn't much to do, sometimes things would show up, books, school work, puzzles..." Marionette went silent for a long moment, clearly struggling with what he was remembering, but after a moment he continued, "I destroyed them at first, but... I started to work on them eventually, I learned stuff, did the puzzles, solved the problems I was given, and often when I woke up there was something more for me to do. Coloring books, toys, the plushies..."

A faint static hum began to thrum into the quiet air, Mike wasn't facing Mari at the moment, it was probably for a good thing on both their parts, it was hard to recount when you were being watched, and it was hard to see and hear someone begin to break apart, instead he just stared down at his sandwich and listened, refusing to miss a word.

"I... hated it, it made me feel like nothing more than some pet, something to toy around with and see just what it took to get me to do what they wanted. Being rewarded with toys for children. I'm not a child Mike, I haven't been for a while, especially not when I was there, it made me feel sick, both at the situation and at myself because I kept doing what amounted to tricks for whoever was watching... Anything to stave off that horrible loneliness and solitude"

Mike could hear the beginnings of static distortion in Marionette's voice as the puppet finished speaking, the faint thrumming going more intense as Mike finally turned around.

Thick globs of purple were leaking from the puppet's eyes, trailing down from his mask, covering the tear lines, before dropping with thick splats onto the floor and a bit on his own chest. Mike felt something in his chest squeeze, he moved forwards and just pulled the puppet back into a hug, the animatronic half hanging on him it felt like as Mari clung back onto Mike.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Mari, but you're free now" Marionette tensed for a moment, but didn't say anything, instead he just kept holding onto the hug until it seemed the puppet finally ran out of tears to cry, as Marionette dropped his head onto the crook of Mike's neck and just stayed there for a moment. Mike didn't take anything from it but the puppet needing a moment to collect himself.

Mike knew all to well the time you needed to sort yourself out after a break down, though it made the man remember his own little stunt in that motel bathroom, and like then how he took comfort in the first hug he had been given in years, wondered how long it had been since Marionette had been hugged in turn as well. He wasn't much of a tactile person, but he had a feeling he wouldn't mind making an expectation, given the puppet often seemed a bit more touchy, often giving small pats on the shoulder or other such small comforts with Mike already, this wouldn't be much of a change.

"You know I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't think about or talk about my time in that place... I lasted a week before you got me spilling my guts" Mike felt vaguely bad about that, but he heard himself saying something else.

"Do you feel better though?" The puppet shuddered, but nodded.

"Yeah... Yeah I do" Mike just hummed, giving his honest answer in return.

"Then I don't regret making you break that promise" Marionette just huffed, slowly pulling back to give Mike a look.

"I have a feeling you don't regret most things you do to me" Mike managed a smirk.

"Is that a dig about me forgetting to take the trash out?" The puppet suddenly exploded with exaggerated movement.

"Yes! How can you forget it! I remind you constantly and yet it's always there the day after pick up!" Mike just huffed, glad the tension of the moment had passed, but knowing there were still things that hadn't been said, the puppet seemed to have no interest in dwelling on them now just after he was recovering from his deserved mini melt down. Mike couldn't imagine the hell Dave put the puppet through, he just knew he wanted nothing more for the man to still be around to let Mike show him just what he thought about it all, but those weren't productive thoughts and anger spirals never helped him out, so instead he just went with it and moved back around to grab his sandwich when-

"Oh no!" Mike spun back around, half concerned for a moment, only to have to hold back a sudden peel of laughter as Marionette looked down at both his chest and Mike's now definitely ruined shirt, both being covered in the weird purple tear things Marionette had leaked on them both.

"It's not that bad, come on, let's get you cleaned up. I need a new shirt anyways" Mari just continued to fuss about the stains as Mike led the puppet to the bathroom. His sandwich was left on the counter, but that was fine, he could eat later once Mari was sorted out.

We're in the next act everyone! Start of Welcome to the Show season two, haunted robot boogaloo!

Just to get some things straight, there is definitely going to be some mystery and spookiness here, hell Afton Robotic's has already been name dropped in this chapter even if it'll be a while before we get there, just... It's not going to be the main focus for the next two or so dozen chapters that I believe this second part of the story is going to take up. There's only so much tightly weaved interconnective narrative intrigue set over incredibly short time periods that I can write contentiously before I just can't anymore. Not to mention, while we're finally in a section where I have full creative freedom and don't have to be held down by the direct story of Fnaf, I'm pretty sure doing the same thing over and over would be pretty boring anyways. Meaning we're basically going from mystery/horror to more of a drama/slice of life kind of genre focus for the next fair while, with portions devoted back to the original themes this story was based on.

So, if people are into this story because of the character interactions, growth, and relationships then let me tell you what, you're going to love this section. It's about time these characters got to finally move past the shadow of Freddy's that has been haunting most of them for a long time now. Now without a psycho murderer on the loose, we can have those character moments as they try to make something of themselves with the people they've built bonds with. This is the time where everyone get's to actually start the process of healing from their traumas.

Admittedly it's going to mostly be focused on Mike and Mari for most of this section, at least for the next few chapters especially, given they are the most dynamic and one is the main character, but everyone will have time. Of course, there is still going to be an overarching plot as well, just... as background noise, so keep an eye out, if the last section proved anything, I'm pretty good at foreshadowing at this point, and this time around I don't have to make it as obvious, though I'm sure some twists are already well on their way of being guessed at, feel free to share those, always fun to read everyone's ideas. Anyway, See ya.