I Don't Own Fnaf
Fritz could not believe he was doing this, could not believe he had once more been suckered into a promise that would no doubt eventually get him killed.
The worst part was just how obvious of a bad idea this was, he was meeting up with a no doubt dangerous and probably unhinged man in a secluded location so Fritz could talk to his dead brother. It must say something about Fritz, who before this liked to think his survival instinct hadn't been that bad, that he was actually here, standing in front of the dilapidated building that started the events that caused at least a large portion of his nightmares.
And there was Mike, leaning against the side of the building, just staring at him as Fritz walked up to the front after getting out of his car. The man looked the same as always, untidy and bordering on messy looking, with thick bags under his eyes that could only be gained from the night shift at Freddy's. He was in the same clothes, and for a moment Fritz realized from the four times he's talked to the man, he wore basically the same outfit, those jeans might be the same pair.
Which just painted an even more worrying picture about all this that Fritz did his best to not think too hard about it.
"Ready to see where my most recent hell started?" Fritz just shrugged at what could have been either a serious or joking comment, without any actual way of telling which it was supposed to be. That was the hard part about talking to Mike, he just sounded off, making it hard to understand just what was going on in his head, and that made him uncomfortable to be around. Not to mention how the man held himself.
"Let's just get this over with" Mike headed around the side and let him in through a side door, Fritz made a note that blackmail wasn't the only crime this man was completely fine with committing, and then decided that maybe it was a good idea that he had that taser in his jacket pocket. He wasn't that much of an idiot.
"So... Which one?" Fritz wasn't sure why he asked as the two were already heading to a clear back room to see exactly what he was asking, but Mike answered all the same, a hint of hesitance in his voice that normally sounded almost monotone. Showing probably just how hard this was for the man to be here, showing someone this. It made him seem more human, as unfitting as the word choice felt in this situation.
"Fredbear, uh, the original Freddy model" Fritz slowly nodded, he never heard of it before, but then again he did his best to keep away from learning more about the company he worked for. The things he knew already were more than enough for him to not be able to get a good night's sleep anyways.
Then they stepped into the back and Fritz had to stop as he stared at the bear.
It's him.
"Golden Freddy" Mike turned, instantly at the words Fritz spoke without meaning to, giving the man a quick glance.
"Golden Fredbear... You know it?" Fritz took a deep breath in before slowly nodding.
"You could say that, Golden Freddy... has a habit of showing up every few months, he's almost like a ghost story among the night shift workers before they vanish. Some swear they've seen him about, others never saw him before quitting. I never saw him but, Jeremy..." Mike seemed to connect the sentence that wasn't said, as he just glanced at the suit for a long moment, a look warring across his face, if only for a second, before it vanished back to that neutral look Mike always had before saying.
"At least you got up to something in the last decade huh Goldie?" It sounded scathing, but not pointed at the suit itself, Fritz just took a deep breath in before moving closer, he knew about the kids, had known for years longer than he liked, but there was a difference in knowing and seeing someone directly treat one of the animatronics as a person.
"So- He's, uh, here right?" Mike nodded, leaning down, staring into the black voids of eyes before saying quietly.
"Yeah, he's here, listening... Hey bud, Fritz is here, remember what we talked about? Well, I hope you made your decision cause we're here for an answer" Fritz was just uncomfortable.
As much as being in this room with the... siblings, creeped him out, he also knew this was a man who was talking to his dead brother, it felt too personal to just stand around, but he wasn't going to go back on his decision, he had to know all this was worth it, that there was really something to save in those four. Proof for his own eyes.
He almost wanted to forget that determination as a familiar sight of spectral light appeared in the hallow eyes of the suit, Fritz felt like static was building in the air, but Mike didn't seem to notice, instead his shoulders seemed to drop in relief as he whispered something to the suit, before suddenly straightening up to his feet as he said simply.
"Fritz, say hi to my younger brother, Goldie" It was obvious that wasn't actually the kids name even though he's said it twice now, the way that Mike said the name made that clear, the faint hint of sadness that the man couldn't cover under his natural blankness, but Fritz didn't care, as he bent low, his eyes widening as he swore he could feel the gaze of the bear move to him and stay there until a pressure could be felt in the back of his head, like the bear was seeing straight through him.
Fritz had to take a gulp in to both combat his suddenly dry throat and to once more steel his nerves against every instinct trained into his body to run at the sight of those kind of eyes in a suit like this.
"Hello there" He wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but all the same jumped nearly out of his skin when the suit answered back.
"He-Hello-o" His eyes spun around to Mike who had the audacity to look the slightest bit amused about his reaction before looking just as quickly back to the suit, suddenly feeling... not great about not keeping a closer eye on it... Him. A kid, one of the kids, and Fritz could speak to him directly...
He felt sick as a spirally wave of dizziness came over him.
"Oh god" Fritz did his best to fight back the wave of dread coursing through him as the two continued to look at each other. He was going to die, he knew it, because now that Fritz had proof, he couldn't... Fritz probably wouldn't be able to live with himself if he went back on his word, and yet if he didn't, he'd probably die.
Guilt was the main reason he wasn't running out, and because he had no doubt Mike would be able to tackle him before he was able to get out the doors, the man had incredibly long legs and clearly was more than willing to drag Fritz kicking and screaming into this madness.
"I think I had a similar reaction" Mike's dry voice wasn't helping as he moved over, reaching out and placing a hand on the bear's shoulder, a gentle gesture that was more than Fritz had ever seen from the man, given Mike's penchant for trying to intimidate his problems, as he said to the bear.
"Thanks bud, you can rest now unless you want to hang out for a bit" There was that tone again, a sad one, like he already knew the answer but was holding out hope anyways, Fritz didn't bother to hide his relief when the eyes flickered off, apparently saying hello was all the bear had signed up for, something he was very thankful for.
Mike just sighed before nodding to himself, unsurprised but clearly disappointed in something as he glanced back to Fritz before saying.
"So, you going to help out or should I be expecting you to change your name and flee the state any time soon" Fritz tried to act like he was honestly thinking about his answer, if only to make him feel better about his apparently much poorer sense of survival than he had thought he had, but answered honestly all the same.
"I- I'll help. It'll take time though, and you weren't wrong about the Pizzeria going under soon. I've seen this happen once already, I would be surprised if we have another month or two, hell, they might force the doors open until you die just to wrap up any loose ends" Fritz was expecting some kind of snarky answer about not caring from Mike, given the man clearly didn't care about his life, but instead he jumped back again at the suddenly spiking static coming from the suit he was still much to close to for comfort.
Instead of moving back like any normal night guard, Mike instead moved closer, placing a hand on the suit again though refrained from saying anything, a look of... something flashing over the man's face, confusion if Fritz had to put a name to it, which was confusing in of itself. Fritz was already kicking himself for mentioning possibly Mike dying in front of his already dead brother, clearly the younger of the two siblings didn't exactly want that to happen.
After a moment the static died back down and the suit once more returned to being motionless as Mike just sighed before nodding.
"I'll be fine, if I could survive last night then I can survive anything, look it doesn't matter anyways, we have time. I get the entire night shift with them, even if they are murderous, I'm sure they can at least hear me and I know at least Foxy isn't as interested in my head as he was before. And you'll have the mornings with them to be able to work on all those annoying programs that are no doubt affecting them, we can do this with the time we have. Once they know to trust us, then we can see if we can find out more about just who killed them and then move on from there by getting them repaired"
Fritz frowned, it sounded like a nice idea and all, but there were some clear points that felt lacking.
"And what about when the company shuts down and the animatronics are sent to the scrap heap like the toys were? I'm not saying the work isn't important, but if the end result is them being destroyed, then all this is basically pointless" Mike paused, before finally nodding.
"I know, I have an idea on that, don't worry about it for right now, I'm working on it. I'm not going to let them suffer any more" Fritz wasn't exactly sure just what the other man had in mind with that, but frankly he also wasn't sure he wanted to know given it probably had something to do with just taking the things, throwing them into the back of a moving van, and then seeing how many state lines he could cross before being caught. That seemed like something Mike would plan out, and frankly at that point Fritz wanted to be able to wash his hands of all this, he'd do everything up until then, but after that, all this could be in Mike's hands.
He was the one that made all this much to real once more for Fritz after all, and if that was a bit petty then Fritz was fine with being able to ignore that for the time being. Though another question began to pull to the surface as he thought about it all.
"Why do we need to wait to ask the others, we have someone who was killed by the same person right here right? I mean, it's not exactly a nice subject, but couldn't your brother just tell us who did it" Mike froze, like he was suddenly stuck in the headlines of a truck, Fritz frowned, about ready to call it out when once more static entered the air as the crackling teenaged voice spoke up once more.
"D-Don-n't remember" Mike suddenly spoke up a second later.
"He doesn't know what happened, that's why we need to ask the others, to see if they remember any of the fragments of what caused them to become what they are now. Like piecing together a puzzle" The answer felt rushed, but the man seemed to have an answer for everything, and he liked to stumble over his words when he needed to explain things already, so Fritz finally just nodded, before saying back.
"What does he remember?"
"Purple" Fritz blinked, glancing back, and realizing the lights were still there, he was used to one word answers apparently from the suit already and thought he wouldn't be getting anything else out of it. Mike looked confused for a moment, showing he hadn't been told this before now, as he glanced at the bear.
"Purple?"
"Re-member- purple" Mike slowly just nodded, confused, but finally just accepting it, Fritz was much the same given he had no idea what a color had to do with a bunch of murders, but also deciding quickly he wasn't really sure he wanted to know about that either to be honest with himself.
From there things moved on quickly, they really didn't have that much to talk about in all honestly, after making sure that Mike wasn't actually insane, Fritz really mostly just needed some time to himself so that he could think about what the hell he was getting himself into and had already signed himself up for as it was. Sure, thinking about it, he definitely had the less stressful of the jobs, but at the same time, the idea of working on the suits at all put a bad taste in his mouth, especially since it was clear that he'd have to spend a lot of his already kind of limited free time working on this supposed Fredbear, which was a suit model that Fritz had never even seen before.
But... Goldie, as Mike had called him, clearly was worse off than any of the others by the state of his suit, though that had nothing on the apparent mental conditions the other kids were going through right now, something he still had no idea just how in the world Mike would have been able to piece that one together so quickly just from having two cases to compare them to. That was another thing, Mike himself, there was so much around him that just made Fritz question just what the hell the man's life was like to get him like this.
He didn't question it though, instead choosing to look over the bits and pieces of information that Mike had already found on these so called springlock suits, the things looked horrific and incredibly dangerous to his trained eye, making it very clear why the things never left this place, though he was curious just what happened to the other suit, Spring Bonnie, given it was those plans for the suit that he was using to look over the bear, Mike just shrugged when he asked about it though.
Either way, Goldie was in bad shape, it was clear where Mike had been doing his best, and Fritz wasn't sure he wanted to know just what kind of nightmare it had been like before, but that didn't change the fact that most of the joints were broken, missing important pieces, or just straight up beyond repair. The main machines looked fine, for the most part, it was just most of the metal had been bent or mistreated so badly that it made it look like a mess.
Fritz would have to change out a far portion of the endoskeleton limbs, find a new endo head, and run tests individually on each servo that he could see, all of which looked battered, to see if they would work properly before knowing if he needed to change those out. After that point he'd have to have Goldie try to move around on his own for Fritz to know if anything else needed work.
The only good thing about it all was the springlocks were a mostly non-issue, while there were a few dozen springlocks that worked to latch the machinery together, most of them seemed to be there to pull the machinery to the sides so a person could wear it, the suit mode as Mike had called it. Needless to say, that was a function that neither of the two men were looking to restore, which was a very big relief to Fritz when he realized that.
The machine parts of the suit were very outdated, but at the very least it wasn't really anything new to Fritz, it was basically just a really old version of what was in the four he already had to deal with.
After about two hours of just making notes and looking the suit over, all of which Goldie had spent silent to everyone's comfort, Fritz finally managed to get a list done on everything he'd need to get done. A list he then said to Mike, who had been awkwardly standing around in the back of the room, trying to act like he was doing something, but clearly was unwilling to actually leave the two alone. By the end of it, he summarized it simply with.
"I can get most of the parts from Freddy's, no one cares about what's in parts and services anyways, I'm the only one who goes in there so I'd be the only one who notices parts going missing. This all is going to take probably a few weeks, three or four at most, it's mostly just changing parts out and making sure everything is in working order. I'll have to come by every few weeks, but it shouldn't be impossible to have Goldie here up and moving before the month is out" Mike nodded quickly, glancing over at the bear before calling out.
"Hear that bud? You can be up in time for Christmas" The bear didn't react, but Mike seemed genuinely pleased, if a bit weird, but that was normal for the other man so Fritz ignored it like he did a lot since getting here, as he stood up, wiping his forehead before saying.
"Well, if that's all, I want to take the rest of this weekend to pretend that I didn't just basically sign my life away... See you Monday morning Mike" Mike just gave him a nod, a thankful one at that, before turning back to Goldie as the older man decided to just head on out. He really did need that time to get his head in order, this was way too much right now.
As Fritz left, Mike stayed where he was against one of the back walls, staring ahead at his brother, sitting there in the room, not moving, with a strange feeling still circulating around in his chest. Relief, that was the main one, he still felt useless for not being able to fix his own problem, but the idea that Evan would be able to speak and walk without issue somewhat soon made something much louder in his chest care so much less about his own ego and pride to be the one to do it.
But that wasn't the main thing that Mike was thinking about.
Evan hadn't told him, Mike had been expecting it, honestly he had, but he just didn't have any choice in the matter, he had no right to try to force that on his brother, so he just left the choice into Evan's hands, and the kid (Teenager? Evan would be seventeen now if he continued to age in that suit, and he sounded older now), made the choice he hadn't expected, he hid who Mike was.
A monster.
Obviously it wasn't for his sake, that much was clear, Evan knew more than he let on about a lot of things, he knew exactly what was happening at the Pizzeria, and it was clear he only was letting Fritz in on it because he wanted to help those kids as much as Mike did.
No matter the state he was in, Evan always had been the kindest of the Afton family. Just, it seemed that got a bit twisted given his... state.
"Thanks for not ratting me out. I know you don't really want me here, but at least give me enough time to fix you and the others up, maybe blackmail Fritz into looking after you all and then I'll... leave" Mike was sure both knew exactly what he meant by that, as he continued all the same, "So, tormenting night guards with the others huh? Any reason why 'Golden Freddy'?" He said it in a teasing way, but the words felt off.
That was too big of a mouth full, he'd keep saying Goldie in the future. But knowing his brother had some way of doing anything, even if that thing was probably assisting in murder, was... Well, Mike wasn't really sure how he was supposed to really address that, but out of the two of them, it's hardly like Mike had any room to judge.
At least Evan wasn't alone here all that time? Everyone needs a hobby to stave off insanity, just he wished it wasn't something like... this.
"P-Purple"
Mike blinked, glancing at the suit, Evan sure was talkative today, Mike certainly appreciated that. Plus he thankfully is already getting used to the sound of his brother's distorted voice.
"Yeah, you mentioned that before, what's that about? Purple? What, do haunted animatronics have something against night guard's fashion sense because I have to say, we don't get much control in that bud" Mike didn't feel great about joking around about real people dying at the job he now worked, but humor had always been a poor comfort for him, that hadn't just changed now, it's just the subjects he joked about had been getting more and more serious, had been for a long time now.
"He was purple" Mike paused at that, before saying.
"As in wearing or-"
"He was purple" Mike slowly nodded.
"Right, well I'll keep an eye out for someone who rolled out of a paint factory" Mike shook his head quickly though, as he said "How do you know that? Did the others somehow tell you?"
"N-Not them, they sl-sleep" Mike was confused, but eventually just managed to nod a bit, right, he was missing something, obviously, but before he could ask anything more the lights dimmed out again, and Mike had a feeling they wouldn't be coming back on, the kid had been talking a lot today and Mike had a strong feeling that wore him out a lot more than Mike would understand.
So he'd let Evan rest, he had plenty of time to learn more later, but for the time being, he had to get his own mind on right, today had been very strange.
Still, purple...
The night guards wore purple, it was the color of their uniform, unsurprising, probably a left over from his dad's influence, the man loved the color, hell Mike got that from him. The color of royals his father had said, Mike didn't really know much about that, but the color had been a comfort to him after... everything, a reminder of his family at least that he had enjoyed holding on to.
Just another thing that he had linked to his family that was now twisted up. The killer wore- or was just- purple, and now the animatronics attacked the night guards, probably because they remembered that distinct color even in death.
Well, there went any chance that Mike was going to be wearing that uniform Sunday night, he'd just take the badge off of it and use that in case he actually had to do the job of an actual security guard. Unlikely but he'd rather not take the chance.
In the meantime... Mike had to figure out how to connect to a bunch of dead kids before his next shift, and given his history with how good he was with children...
Right, well, this was probably going to be fine.
He remembered Michael, not all his memories were what they once were, but he could never forget his brother.
He could never forget the reason why he had become this, none of the ones bound to these suits could ever truly forget what put them there, and he was no different.
It wasn't always like that for everything else, he forgot things occasionally, without an anchor his thoughts drifted and his mind went with it, some days he couldn't remember his father's face, or his mother at all, he forgot he had a sister up until recently, same as his name, he forgot his childhood, but he never forgot Michael.
At least he hadn't thought he forgot his brother.
He could still remember that week, that horrid week, unlike everything else, those days, those nights, those were the times he could never forget. He remembered the terror, of being lifted up, being too scared to even fight, like his body had turned to stone, of being lifted up to Fredbear's jaws, of the pain and then nothingness that followed.
Of the laughter after each leap from behind furniture to scare him, of that horrible mask and those cruel blue eyes, of that contempt that they held for him.
The inhabitant of Golden Fredbear thought that's all his brother was, just like the purple man, cruel and sadistic in the worst of ways, dragging the innocent to their deaths through the crippling vehicle of fear. Being left alone, trapped like the rest that would follow him, even for a time thinking that it was him, Michael that had continued, had killed more and more after himself, only to be disproven later from... Him, the one who first told the bear about the Purple Man.
No, Michael had simply done what he had and then left, leaving him alone here, in this damned cold place for years with nothing.
He hated Michael, he had to, he should hate the man just as easily as he hated the Purple Man, more so, Michael was the one who killed him, even before he learned of the others, of the actions of another monster walking the halls of the Pizzeria. He should have hated Michael.
He knew he had, when he first saw his brother, older now, having grown in a way that he could not, stuck as he was, as came through that door, and looked at him in his new but now old form without actually seeing the person trapped inside. He hated Michael then.
It's why the bear felt so overwhelmingly pathetic when he could do nothing to stop himself from keeping the man from his own, should have deserved, death.
It wouldn't have been the revenge he helped the others seek out, it wasn't the revenge he himself would have wanted, but it would have been right, to watch the man die like he had died, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't, and for a brief moment the kid who had long since been forced to grow, in his own way, in the suit, had come back out and fought to stop the man in any way he could.
That didn't mean he didn't hate Michael. He just couldn't find it in him at the time to want him to die.
No, he just wanted Michael to leave, and Michael should have just left, that's all his older brother was good for, causing a mess and then running away, leaving those he hurt to continue to help others.
But then Michael came back, and he kept coming back, and he just wouldn't leave.
And so he kept hating him, kept trying to get him away, kept trying to make him leave.
Why wouldn't he leave?! He didn't need Michael, he never needed Michael. Not now, not EVER.
His first words in years said out loud to a living human being was to express that, to express his hate. To tell the man to leave, because he couldn't forget what Michael did to him, he could never forget it, he never wanted to forget it.
But that didn't mean he couldn't forget other things.
Goldie.
He refused his old name, had forgotten it for too long over too many times to want to keep the anchor to his old life full of what he could only remember as torment, but that only meant he had been like the others, going by what the rest had called them, Golden Freddy. No one remembered Fredbear, he preferred that, liked not being remembered, it helped keep himself from the past.
But Goldie? He forgot about that, forgot about the plushy he used to carry around, forgot so much about his childhood, never wanting to remember, knowing somehow that it would only be more of Michael and his hatred.
That one word, Goldie, had changed that.
Memories were coming back, times that he let himself forget, scared, in a different way than he had been in life, to see now in his death.
They weren't like that, they weren't hard to see, at least not in the way he had been expecting. It was like remembering Goldie was making him remember everything in which Goldie had been around for, and that was nearly everything.
He couldn't now recall any memory in which he wasn't clutching onto the form of the plushy that would one day be a visage of his current form.
It was ironic in some ways, but it was mostly just difficult in others, because he could remember so much, too much.
Most of it was about Michael, probably because that was the only link to his past that he was now forced to interact with.
It probably wouldn't have been that bad if the memories were what he was expecting, while it was hard to imagine hating his older brother more, it was hardly impossible, might even be appreciated after how confusing the man had been over the last week of interactions that he couldn't get away from, stuck as he was.
But those weren't the memories he got.
A monstrous older brother wasn't who he remembered.
And that left the now named Goldie so much more confused.
The fact that when Michael said he would leave once he was done here, no longer felt quite as... satisfying as he thought it would be, did nothing to help the matter.
Mike's first night on his second week went by painfully, something seemed to have changed, the animatronics trying to murder him, obviously, but at least they weren't nearly as bad as they had been for his Saturday shift, more akin to what it had been like on Wednesday. Then again, Mike wasn't sure what could be worse than that shift in all honesty, then again Monday's were apparently the least active days, but they were already this bad so maybe something was off? But after Saturday and how unnormal it had been...
He decided to just not think about it. Foxy never made a run at least, the fox seemed to be the only one who didn't want to kill him anymore, he had to shut the doors more than a few times, though thankfully Freddy never moved but Bonnie and Chica both showed up a few times and liked to stay around. Mike just spent the time with the animatronic at his door talking, like he wasn't mildly terrified.
He kind of ranted, but for the most part just spoke about nothing much, just talked to the animatronic like they were a person, even pausing on occasion like he was waiting on a response, the only thing he got was things that sounded like choked gasps of breath which were unnerving. Mike had no idea what that did, if it did anything, but it made him feel better at least to talk to them, and by the end of the night, after the hours chimed at six, he moved over to pirate's cove and just... sat around, pulling the curtain out enough so he and Foxy could see each other, and talked.
Thanked the Fox again mostly, before mentioning a few things, how he had always been his favorite when he was a kid, how his mask was actually one of the original model designs for Foxy, other things... He also dropped off a few children's magazines and coloring books. It felt stupid, but no one went in the Cove so it was the best place to put things, though if someone argued a bias, they probably wouldn't be too far off, not that Mike would admit to something like that.
The fox hadn't really reacted much, just watched him, but that was fine, Mike had no idea if the poor thing's voice even worked at the moment, unlike the rest that at least he knew had to perform during the day and as such heard their voices, which was a painful mix of nostalgia and sorrow.
He managed to talk to Fritz a bit as they changed off shifts in the morning, he just looked awkward and uncomfortable as possible, but gave Mike a nod back, an empty bag in his hands clearly to be used to take some parts from the parts and service room. They didn't really say anything more than that, they weren't exactly friends or anything, just two people working together to help some haunted animatronics.
You know, like people do in normal day to day life.
Anyways, the next day came, he spent some time with Evan, he didn't talk much, but that was fine, Mike just liked knowing his brother was there. It was fine, but it did make him think about a few things, especially given the name that he had been using for his brother now, given... everything.
He didn't have time to think about it, having to go back in for his night shift for Monday night, or Tuesday morning depending on how one looks at it given it did start at midnight.
The night wasn't anything special, it was hard of course, harder than Monday, but nothing special, it was kind of hard to imagine Mike having been stressed as he was this time a week ago, but then again, two weeks ago he had uncovered the concept of ghosts, so maybe Mike's somehow already impressive threshold for insanity was just to high for the night shift to affect him that much, it was a nice if somewhat depressing thought.
Foxy did a run that night, but... didn't attack the door, just kind of tapped on it, which Mike wasn't sure just what all that meant, but appreciated it all the same given it meant he finished the night out with more than enough power. He spent the time when any of the animatronics came and stayed by his doors about who he was, not... everything of course, but mentioned his name was Mike, how he was sorry this happened to them, how he wanted to help, things like that to try and let them know he had nothing to do with what happened to them.
That just seemed to piss the three off, but it was nothing compared to his Saturday shift, so it wasn't anything to mention about really. He stuck around, just for a bit, to talk to the cast while they couldn't jump at him, they didn't react all that well really, or at all, so he migrated over to pirates cove for the last few minutes before seven when the day crew would show up. He didn't go inside still, it felt like intruding in a weird way given he had already leaped into the small stage while wearing the Fox animatronics' prototype head.
Still, it made Mike feel better knowing that he was probably getting somewhere with at least one of them, Foxy had always been different according to what Fritz had said, been an outlier, in one way or another, and that clicked something in Mike's chest that he really knew he shouldn't be proud of, he wasn't doing anything, it was nothing he was responsible for., it was all the kid inside that suit But knowing that the animatronic that was made for him, that Foxy the pirate rebel, had been the one that always stood out made him weirdly prideful in a way Mike didn't like to think about for long.
So maybe he was more than a bit biased, but could anyone really blame him? Well, yeah, Mike blamed himself a lot already, so it wasn't that hard, but he allowed himself to indulge in the feelings, just a bit, it was hard to feel not... shitty over the last few weeks of going through the stressful emotions, and his old therapist did tell him to hold onto the good ones when he had them right? That woman probably was onto something as much as he never liked to admit it.
Anyways, all that was just filler to what Mike was doing now, after leaving from that shift, heading back to his old house, both to sleep but also to find something. He was in a weirdly nostalgic mood and to bring back up the fact with Evan and the whole Goldie thing, it made Mike want to look for something.
It took a bit, longer than he thought it would, but that was because it was harder to go into his brother's old room than he thought it would have been, he still hadn't entered any of the other bedrooms yet, and something felt almost wrong about this being the first one he stepped into outside of his own. but he managed to do it all the same, but he found it all the same.
Goldie, covered in a layer of dust, was there, hiding under the small dresser, probably had fallen at some point from being tossed at the dresser after... everything that happened. Picking up the plushy, Mike just looked down at the thing for a long moment before brushing it off with the sleeve of the gray jacket he had taken to wear as a replacement of his security guard jacket.
The thing always used to creep him out when he was younger, the eyes just looked weird on it, not buttons like the other stuffed toys that the diner sold. He had to repair the thing a number of times as well, until his father finally took over, after one to many crying fits of Evan's, mentioning how he hated that damn sound, before repairing it to be basically good as new, it never tore after that to Mike's memory, or if it did then Evan never went to him afterwards to get it fixed again.
Mike remembered being relieved at the time, now he just felt sad, and honestly? Disappointed as well, in his father that was.
Mike had mixed feelings when it came to his dad. He's had plenty of time to think about the man, it was hard not to when it was impossible to look in a mirror without seeing a bit more of the man every time he did so.
His father wasn't a bad man, distant, neglectful even, he could admit to that, and he certainly had... bad points, especially after everything that happened with their mother, but the man still kept the fridge stocked and kept the bills paid, and Mike learned at an early age to not ask for more from the man or risk... a 'talking to', as the man himself would put it. And as the oldest at the time, with not even Lizzy really even being able to speak yet, Michael just... did the rest, the best he could, and his father continued to just work all the time, but that was fine.
He cared, Mike knew he cared, because he saw him care, sure, never really at Mike himself, but he was the one that got Evan that toy originally, along with a Spring Bonnie plush that vanished after a while, and he basically spoiled Elizabeth whenever he 'had the time', and it's not like the man didn't let them all go out as a family for trips on occasion, usually with Henry and his own kids, that Michael back then basically saw as just more siblings, or maybe more like cousins, to take care of with how often he saw them.
But he wasn't blind to the fact that from the ages of eight to fifteen, Michael Afton was the one who kept everything in order at the house, kept his siblings together and safe, until he... didn't. But back to the point he was thinking about before falling into his old memories, looking back at it now, Michael really just wished his father took care of Evan as much as he seemed interested in keeping care of this damn weird toy in order now in Mike's slightly clenched hands, his fingers digging into the body, feeling it's stuffing.
He remembered thinking about how unfair it was to Michael himself, to do everything... And now that he was older, an adult himself, he knew it probably was unfair, but Mike was the one that lashed out, that broke something that could never fully be repaired. He did that, no one else, much less a distant and kind of occasionally crappy father.
*Creak*
Blinking in shock out of his thoughts, Mike glanced down to the plushy he now nearly has a death grip on, finally noticed the strange... bulk the item had to it. As he felt his fingers press against something that was digging back into his hand from how hard he was squeezing the bear.
Slowly letting go of the tension in his hands, Mike frowned as he glanced down at the toy for a second. Did the thing have a speaker in it? No, he knew it didn't, he definitely would have noticed something like that back when he was younger and had to restuff the thing more than once. Besides back then, the suits themselves barely had voice boxes, much less something they would have put into the toys.
With that, he slowly moved the bear around, looking it over with curiosity, before making an admittedly impulsive decision.
Mike left the room to look for a pair of scissors.
Things are getting interesting, characters are interacting, bears are remembering, and Mikes are uncovering.
In all serious, things are getting started in terms of visiting the past, finally, sort of, Evan is starting to remember things that happened in his past, and it seems that he and Mike both might be misremembering things. Mike himself recalls a few things about his childhood, and, well, let's just make it clear William was a bad parent, but it was also the 70s and the most common parenting styles back then were a lovely mix of neglect and abuse, and like all people who come from tragic homes, they don't often realize just how bad things were for them until someone else points it out. So, yeah, to Mike, his father wasn't that horrible, though a fair portion of that is hindsight being blinded by extreme amounts of guilt, cause what's a Michael Afton without crippling amounts of self loathing?
Past that, Fritz meeting Goldie was funny to write, and there was a fair portion of foreshadowing that happened here and things mentioned in passing so that's pretty cool, I won't point out anything in that regard right at this moment, but it's cool that we're getting to the good stuff. I hope the pacing is working, it's really tight and fairly quick, but I'm pretty sure it's working out.
Beyond that, we're reached the end of what I've already posted, so now we're going on that once a week thing I mentioned a few chapters go instead of daily, cause I can not keep up with this insane word count per day thing. Anyways, See ya.