I Don't Own Fanf

Goldie could barely believe his eyes, as he moved to stand, facing straight ahead as he watched as the Marionette floated into the backroom of the diner. The two just stared at each other. Marionette sizing up Goldie and he doing the same right back to it. He broke the silence first, of course he had to, the puppet didn't speak. Only ever watched and protected.

"I thought you were decommissioned" The puppet jolted a bit, they were still staring, Goldie wasn't sure the two ever... really talked face to face, only communicated in... whatever version of sleep they shared. Both spent a lot of time asleep.

"I was taken instead, Goldie. Locked away until I was found" Goldie did his best to not react to much at the sound of the puppet's voice, he hadn't expected it though, and it was shocking. He would have reacted stronger if today hadn't already been filled with more than a few surprises already. Instead, he just said pointedly.

"You talk" The animatronic in front of him left out a soft chime, before simply saying back.

"I could say the same, you can move now" Goldie... couldn't say anything to that, this was technically their first ever real meeting face to face, but he wasn't wrong. Movement and speaking was something outside of the bear's grasp for a long time now. Goldie's voice was stolen from him almost since the very start. Though...

"You called me Goldie, who said that? How did you know to come here?" With everything he saw being discussed so willingly by his other golden half, Spring Bonnie, he was more than a little concerned about an old... acquaintance suddenly just popping back up knowing more than they should. The puppet only drifted into the room, looking around at the numerous tools and left over items scattered about with a faint sense of distaste for the clutter before focusing back on the bear.

"A friend, you might have heard of him? Mike Afton? I hear he's your brother. Your... supposedly evil brother," Goldie almost couldn't believe he was hearing that name from the puppet of all things. Much less how the two would have run into each other, Michael had run, Goldie was sure of it, "I expected the man who you claimed so vile to be more... well, vile"

"You don't know him well then" Goldie tried to sound unaffected, he was usually better at it, but the bitter tone of resentment came out all the same. The puppet's face shifted, a look of annoyance, as they floated closer, Goldie felt the springs in his body coil in tension.

"I think I know him more than well enough. You painted a bad picture of a good man, Goldie" This time it was Goldie who took a step forwards, the internals of his suit lettings out a harsh static as his feet slammed into the ground as he took a step forwards, closer into the puppet's face.

"You're defending him? What did he do to get you on his side? Make a promise? Just wait until he runs, I'm sure you'll see his nature then" There was sharp dangerous chime at that, an sharp peel of something resembling a huffing snort coming from Marionette as they spoke up with just as much venom in their tone as had been in Goldie's own static voice.

"Run? The man was nearly killed twice and still came back to save me. Then I nearly killed him myself and he still wouldn't leave me in that hell hole the... Purple Guy locked me in. As far as I'm concerned, he's already better than anything you or Cassidy ever were. Not some mindless hunter or passive watcher... He's a Protector, he's like me" The way the Marionette spoke those last words showed the importance of what they thought they were saying. It just made Goldie infuriated.

"You don't know what you're talking about! A protector wouldn't kill like he did! He- If he was, then he never would have killed me!" Even as Goldie spoke his tone stuttered, it was... harder to say that, after the last few days of memories impacting him one after another. The damned puppet seemed to sense that weakness and pried at it like they would to a guard with their strings.

"Accidents happen, but even then, I don't care about the past, I care about defending the present I now have, to keep as many of us safe from our killer as long as possible. Mike wants that to, he told me, even after everything he's gone through the last few days, after even what I put him through as well, he invited me into his home without a thought, trusted me with his life, and gave me my freedom back. That's enough for me, you need to decide if this grudge is enough to risk the others over" Goldie couldn't handle this talk, not today, not after being betrayed by someone he thought never would, he didn't want to hear about how the one he always doubted had apparently never faltered.

"It doesn't matter, it's too late, most of the animatronics have been broken apart, their souls are wandering the pizzeria, too angry to move on, but they can't hold to their bodies anymore" The puppet went still, looking horrified for a moment, and Goldie almost felt bad, but if he had to struggle with his emotions then he couldn't quite find it inside himself at the moment to care about the other's own.

"Y-you said their still there? I could... I could move them somewhere safe, the arcades are still around right? They can hold them for a time until we can repair their bodies" Goldie had to give it to the puppet, they were as kind as they had always been.

Now wasn't the time for kindness, a part of him hated to do this to an old friend, one he thought had been killed years ago, it didn't feel fair, but life, and in this case, death was never fair, both knew that well enough for him to respect the puppet enough to not hold back his words.

"They don't want to go back, not all of us are happy to still be here, the three once they finish off the killer want to move on, even if this doesn't give them what they want like we all thought it would, they still won't come back, just wait until they finally fade like the Toys did... Unless you force them to return to continue in a life they don't want to live" The puppet had been one of the most... accepting of their new life, even if that life meant hunting, they never looked to the past for what has been lost to them, it was admirable, but it left them blind to the aspect of reality that not all were happy with their new forms.

To say the animatronic looked close to heart broken would be an understatement.

"Are you sure?" That heart break quickly turned to a fleeting hope, "Wait, you only said three right? Whose the fourth? Who's left? We have to protect them!" Goldie simply frowned, but simply answered.

"Foxy, he's still around, though I believe the Purple Guy will be returning tonight to finish the job" Goldie lightly lamented the fact that Michael's dumb name for a hellish man had caught on to the point the both of them were using it like it did justice to the terror the man had put upon them all. The puppet however froze, a tense look on their face coming over for just a moment before it spoke.

"Mike was right then" Goldie tilted his head at the puppet as they simply floated there, clearly thinking of something that he didn't know about. It made him antsy, not knowing whatever it had been his brother had been up to. That's all it was, any concern for hearing of Michael's many near deaths played no part in it.

"What are you talking about"

"When Mike was attacked and kidnapped some man working for Freddy's, an owner or something, sent a message to his lawyer saying if Mike didn't sign the papers within four days, the animatronics would be scrapped. Mike figured that was is the killer, and that the four days was some kind of play on the four in the Pizzeria. I think he was right, for every day Mike couldn't have been there, an animatronic was destroyed, right?" Goldie frowned, but eventually nodded.

"Yes, but that's not the only reason that's been happening" The puppet gave the bear a confused look, and with a heavy weight to his chest, Goldie went on to explain what had happened the last few days since Mike had disappeared, about the first destroyed animatronic, about the two others, Jeremy and Fritz needing answers finally going back to the Pizzeria, about being confronted by Spring Bonnie... About how they were still there and just what Spring Bonnie had done to the spirits to make them easy to be destroyed. About what she would be making said spirits do now that they were out of their metal bodies.

To say that Marionette was pissed would be an understatement, they were literally vibrating with rage.

"How dare she defile my gifts like this" Yeah, the puppet was pissed alright, Goldie simply watched as they tried to pull themself together again, it happened surprisingly quickly, but then again, the puppet had always been motived by more than just their anger like the rest of them had been, "Mike is going to be destroyed when he learns about this... We have to get there and protect Foxy. Let Cassidy and Purple Guy kill each other for all I care, but he and the other two should not have to be in the crossfire for the plan she has put together"

"You're not going to try and convince the others to return?" The puppet froze in place, just for a second, a war of expressions trying to shift over their face before eventually it seemed to simply be to much as their default expression slide into place instead, the only thing showing off their mental war was the lights glowing from their eyes.

"They made this choice, Cassidy force it on them, but they are choosing to go through with this to hunt their peace right?" It was spoken softly, but with an air of sadness pouring out from the animatronic all the same. Goldie simply nodded. His bond with the others was fractured, with their bodies as anchors he couldn't feel them anymore normally, but after what Cassidy had said to the two, Jeremy and Fritz, about what she was going to use them for, Goldie extended his ability to know what was going on within the walls of the pizzeria to see them.

They couldn't talk, only wait, but it was enough to know this was the decision they were making, one unpolluted by anyone else. They had been put in this position by others, but... But thanks to the efforts of his brother and the others, they were aware enough to choose just what they would do now. And they made that decision themselves.

Marionette would respect that, no matter how much it hurt. Goldie wouldn't have minded giving the puppet time to understand this, but... But he needed answers of his own.

"Beyond that... What happened? With Mike, where exactly has he, and you, been" The Marionette paused for a moment before beginning to explain exactly just what had happened over the course of the last three days. Not mentioning just what had happened to him before he was pulled out of those hell hole by Mike, but everything he had seen since then, about how Mike had been hurt bad, kept going, how he talked to the puppet like a human, how they worked together, how he had been brought to Mike's home and everything that Mike had learned that he had shared with Marionette.

Marionette didn't mention his own past for a number of reasons, the main one being he had no desire to talk to Goldie about it, or anyone else for that matter. Not for as long as he could ignore it, he would. But the other... Marionette hadn't been told a lot about Golden Freddy's past, the bear himself probably didn't even remember most of it, things blurred together so easily that Marionette often forget simple things at times. He himself couldn't remember his name, his family, almost anything personal was just... gone. The cost of dying he supposed.

But that didn't mean Goldie hadn't told him nothing. He knew about 'Michael', a name and story told with hatred, of endless torment, of the week leading to the bear's death on his birthday. That had always resonated with Marionette, he didn't remember much about his own death, expect the lights of a car, someone he knew he wanted to trust, and the fact it had been his birthday. Not all of them were killed on their birthdays, most had simply been kids there to play or party with another kid. Birthday boys and girls had to much attention on them Marionette supposed.

The Purple Man must have learned that after Marionette was killed.

So he had always held that connection to the golden bear, that shared pain, even if the two shared the views of their deaths differently. Goldie held on much longer, he still did. Marionette didn't know much about just what Mike was like back then, if he truly was as horrible as Goldie had said, but that didn't matter to Marionette. The man had asked for the puppet's trust, and as surprising as it was, he was the first adult Marionette was willing to give that trust to. And as such he would defend him as well as he had defended the puppet.

Marionette put broken things back together after all, and Mike was more broken than most. Marionette saw that first hand just how broken he was in that motel room bathroom floor, and if Mike could regret that heavily, and could already be a better person than most in Marionette's estimations, then he deserved to be fixed, and so Marionette trusted him to protect the ones remaining in anyway they could. And so Marionette would do the same himself.

They were protectors, it's what they did.

So with that he turned to Golden Freddy and said simply.

"I'm going to head to the diner. I will make sure they are safe" Golden Freddy simply stared at him for a long moment, Marionette could never truly tell what felt on in that empty suit, it was still surreal in a way to see the animatronic moving around. but then again, it must have been much the same for him, hearing Marionette speak. Marionette never truly had anything to say that he couldn't before now get across with a few gestures or sounds. But this was important. He finally had something to say, so he would say it until that changed.

"And what? Are you going to float all the way over there? You've never been there before, you'll be lost long before you are seen" Unfortunately the bear had a point that he had to admit to. He couldn't just travel anywhere he wanted, he had to see where he was going, often it was usually best to have been there before at least once to truly be able to move around without being limited. Without knowing either thing, then he'd have to scour the entirety of Hurricane and just hope he stumbled across the right place. Mike had mentioned it was a new location, so it probably wasn't either of the pizzeria's that he had worked in.

"Do you know where it is then?"

"Never needed to" Before the puppet could try and find something to say to that, as his mind moved to try and find an answer for the situation, a voice spoke up behind the two of them.

"You know, I could just drive you both?"

Mike had never signed so much paper work so fast in his life, even when he didn't care that much about what happened to him, he still often made sure to read everything that was put in front of him if it was asking for his signature at the bottom of the page, that wasn't the case in this situation, instead he was skimming with sharp eyes before signing his name with barely half a thought. Ricket didn't exactly find the behavior all that appealing if the look the man was giving him was any consideration.

That didn't cause him to stop what he was doing, while also asking questions about the man that had put all of this in order. Miller.

Ricket didn't have much more information, only had the man's name and his position within the company, labelled as a sub owner, whatever that meant. According to Ricket it just meant that the man technically oversaw a lot of large decisions enough to be considered what was essentially the CEO without actually holding the position, but not having that much power that he could override or fight against any shareholders. It was all mostly boring business talk more than anything.

The main thing that Mike focused on was the name he was given.

Dave Miller. Mike finally had a name, he knew just who it was, and he had a good idea what the hell he was going to do to the man if he ever saw him again.

As it stood, he just did what he could. Finishing the paper work in record time before sending Ricket to start the filing process while Mike took a moment to dig through the bag he often kept with him, he had grabbed it on the way out of the house, he had thought the bat would fit in it, but it didn't, but he didn't want to risk keeping it out in the car either, there were things in it that he didn't want to risk. One of those things was a sketch book.

Mike instead of wanting to draw, needed to get a few things written out, he needed to get everything on paper just in case something went wrong, that way his thoughts and conclusions could be used by the others just in case something happened. He couldn't handle something like this happening again, just because he was taken out of the equation he had no idea just how much stuff could have gone wrong, and the idea that he could have prevented it messed with him more than he liked to admit. It was a constant distraction to his thoughts as he worked on getting all this legal stuff over with.

Of course, as Mike finished writing everything down and moved to put the book back, he noticed something much more important. He was so used to seeing something in the bag that now that he was focusing on it, it was obvious to see what was missing.

His mask was gone.

Mike just frowning, wondering for a moment if he left it anywhere before quickly discarding the thought, he always kept it in his bag, because he forgot it once when he was working at the pizzeria and regretted it. He made sure that if he wasn't wearing it then it was in the bag for the next time he needed it. So the fact that it was missing of all things was kind of concerning. Without caring to much just what he looked like, Mike quickly tore into the bag as best he could with one hand, pulling out the various things inside of it that had been building up over the last few weeks, but it was gone, it was just missing, nothing else, just the mask. It didn't take a genius to figure out just what the most likely thing that had happened was.

The Purple Guy broke into his house when he was... out, and stole his mask of all things. The idea the man was in his family's home made a gross feeling of violation rush over him before he could stop it, the idea the man had taken his time looking through the place where his family's pictures were made him feel sick. And with all the cleaning Marionette had been getting up to, Mike would probably never really be able to tell just what the man had done in that house while he wasn't there...

Mike was getting cameras installed if he lived through this, and he was getting uncomfortably ok with the idea of killing the man himself if he had to. The others might have a bit of a line going, but Mike had the feeling they probably wouldn't mind all that much if he skipped a bit.

Pulling himself away from the dwelling thoughts and the stark bareness he felt at his mask missing, given he genuinely and truly loved the item, given just how much history it had and how much it had helped him throughout his time at Freddy's, Mike couldn't help but feel the sudden loss of it in a way he hadn't been expected, but the anger was good enough to keep his thoughts focused on wondering just why out of everything the mask was what was taken.

What was the purpose of taking that mask? Out of everything, for all Dave Miller knew, a one of a kind photo of his entire dead family would be much more of a loss if this was just to mess with Mike, so why the mask? Why go through the trouble of breaking and entering and taking something Mike didn't even really use anymore? He kept the mask in his bag out of habit more than actually needing it. Besides, even then, with the animatronics being more aware, they knew it was him in the mask anyways, so it didn't even work as a protection anymore.

...No... It wouldn't work as a protection, but it would work as a disguise, maybe not against the main three, they would smack him around whether or not they could see his face or not, but there was one who that mask would instantly lower the guard of wasn't there? Maybe it was just paranoia that made the thought occur, of chasing down this line of thought that already was making a bit to many speculations, but Mike couldn't help but think there was something important going on here.

And the idea of missing it once more twisted up at Mike's insides like nothing else. The anger burned just a bit brighter, and after a moment Mike decided just what he needed to do. And the answer to that was simple.

Fuck the game, he was going to do whatever the hell he needed to to make sure this ended, that the animatronics were safe, in every way he could.

Mike was pissed, he just also happened to be trying very hard to not act like he was. Ricket wasn't impressed when he came back and was told by Mike that he had to go do some... things, and that Ricket needed to stay here and make sure that the paper work went through the proper channels by the end of the day. And by that, Mike was cursed at for a moment before being told to sit down and shut up and wait like a normal person.

Needless to say Mike wasn't in the mood for the man's... entire way of everything.

Mike wasn't exactly proud to say this, but he was pretty good at intimidating people when he needed to be, he didn't need to be, but he did anyways. And if a long winded threat of dragging the man's grandson into the firing line of every other gangster Mike happened to not actually have the phone number did anything, it proved the old man could turn an interesting shade of pasty white.

Needless to say within the next half an hour of getting a few more things sorted out, he left the court situation within Ricket's better be capable hands, having floored it out of the parking lot back to the diner. It took way to long to get it all done in his opinion. It was getting close to the midafternoon at this point and Mike didn't feel like missing Jeremy and Fritz for what felt like the hundredth day in a row. If he was lucky Goldie did that weird mind link spirit stuff to get the two's attention.

He really needed to get a new phone, this was just ridiculous.

With that he headed back to the diner, speeding more than a little bit, only to pause as he quietly made his way towards the back, hearing the faint conversation between the two animatronics discussing how to get to the diner. Mike didn't know exactly why Marionette needed to get there so suddenly, but he decided that it couldn't be a good thing as he stepped in with a call.

"You know, I could just drive you both?"

It was admittedly amusing to see the two dangerous robots spin around and stare at him with shock.

Fritz and Jeremy had been camped out in the office for nearly an hour at this point, it was getting late, both were tired, but they continued to wait. Fritz was staring at the monitors, looking them over.

It had taken a few minutes once they got back into the security office but in the end Fritz had managed to do what he had set out to do. He had noticed it originally when they had been in the sealed off room with Spring Bonnie, a single camera had been in the room, a singular blinking light to said camera had also been there. Meaning that the camera had power from the building but it wasn't connected to anything.

At least it hadn't been, but Fritz practically set up the monitor in this office so it wasn't hard to track down the feed output and add it to the office monitor's output feed. It... didn't really do much, all it showed was the same room that they had been in not to long ago, and Spring Bonnie wasn't really the talk to herself kind of animatronic, but it still showed the room.

It would also show what the animatronic would do when Purple Guy appeared.

The quiet between the two men lasted, they hadn't done much, the buildings wasn't on reserve power just yet so Jeremy had long since shut the doors down just in case Foxy had another... episode, but so far the fox had only returned to it's cove and hadn't made any kind of appearance since. Fritz didn't trust it, he knew Foxy had to be going through hell at the moment, but that didn't mean he was going to lower his guard.

Finally though Fritz broke the silence.

"What did... What did Spring Bonnie do? When we entered the room, you looked messed up" Jeremy was startled by the break of silence, sending a wary glance at his friend for a moment, but Fritz wasn't looking to pressure the man, just... just wanted to know what that had been, because Fritz wanted to know if there was a way to never have to see something like that again.

"I... I don't know exactly, but whatever it was, it hurt. It was like... It was like I was being bit again" Fritz grimaced but Jeremy kept going, "Like, it felt just like the bite, the building pressure in my head, the way it felt like dozens of pins stabbing in... I was angry, but I knew it wasn't my anger, I don't think I've ever been that angry before, but it wasn't like it normally is. It felt like my anger, like my pain, but I knew it wasn't, I know my own emotions"

"Think she was trying to... overwhelm you? Make you relive it to get you away?" Jeremy shrugged.

"Maybe, it's the only thing I can think of what she was trying to do, but I don't think it was that. I don't know why, but I think she was trying to do something else, it was masked behind the pain and rage, but it was like she... I think she was trying to get me to do something by making me too angry to think to not do it" Fritz gulped, the idea that she could control Jeremy was a scary one.

"Is, uh, is that because she just can or a... you thing?"

"A me thing I'm sure. You know I'm not exactly a... normal person anymore" He sounded bitter, Fritz just sighed, not sure what to say, but speaking anyways.

"Normal enough" Jeremy scoffed.

"I should be brain dead, people don't just be normal after a chunk of their brain is removed. I've been asked to be studied before you know? I turned them down, said trauma most of the time, didn't want to relive the experience, but I shouldn't be able to do more than just stare and maybe drool a bit" Fritz felt vaguely nauseous, they hadn't really ever discussed much about Jeremy's thing, mostly because neither liked to talk about it or even bring it up. But the mood was about as low as it was going to get anyways, apparently there wasn't much reason not to at least speak about it now.

"I mean, hey, at least you're still here, you might not be here by normal means, but haunted metal plate in your skull keeping you together or not, you're still here, living. That's more than most can claim after working at Freddy's"

"Yeah" Jeremy didn't say anything more, and Fritz didn't push, they simply went back to watching the cameras. Waiting for something to happen, waiting for some kind of closure, no matter the form it would end up taking.

Neither of them were expecting what they saw though on one of the front cameras. Jeremy was the one to say what was on both of there minds.

"Is that Mike?" He sounded shocked, Fritz... was a bit more realistic, as he leaned in close to get a better look at the man who honestly did look a lot like Mike on the admittedly not to high quality cameras.

"No, I don't think it is, same height, but look at him closer" Jeremy leaned in next and saw it soon after.

"You're right, Mike wouldn't dress like... that" Fritz was going to say Mike would have needed to gain about twenty pounds of flab, but that was also fairly accurate.

The man on the cameras was dressed with some kind of business suit on, he looked almost professional which contrasted to Mike's almost homeless attire, not to mention the man was a bit more portly, making him almost frightening in just the sheer size of him. Fritz hadn't been kidding when he said he and Mike shared a same build, the man was just as much of a giant that it made sense that he was able to get the jump on the younger man. But they didn't look that much alike outside of height and frame.

No, on a closer, or even a proper first look in person and not on a static filled camera, it was clear the man was not Mike.

So why did the person who just walked through the pizzeria's doors have Mike's mask on?

Fritz was the one who spoke what they both were thinking.

"I guess that's our Purple Guy"

He looked down with a long breath, he was staring at the killer the man who caused so much death and destruction, and it was overwhelming. But it was because he was looking down that he had to look back up when Jeremy let out a shocked gasp as he said.

"I- I guess that's our Mike as wel-... Holy shit" Fritz head snapped up, watching with wide eyes as Michael Schmidt himself walked in front the front of the pizzeria, a look of rage Fritz had never see on his face, looking half beaten to death, a cast on one hand and a metal baseball bat in the other. But even more crazily, as he stepped inside, he was flanked by two familiar animatronics.

Golden Freddy and the god damn Marionette.

Fritz was to busy having his own crisis to really be able to handle the fact that Jeremy looked about three seconds away from the panic attack as he stared at the puppet on the screen.

And then all hell broke loose.

Ah chaos reigns, my favorite.

There is so much I could talk about here, from Dave Miller's first real name drop to Mike's realizations and frankly badass entrance, to Marionette's and Goldie's conversation, to everything else going on, but instead of doing all of that, I'm just going to enjoy this moment before the storm that is next chapter comes crashing in. You lot are in for a massive amount of end notes next chapter, no need to put down a ton of my thoughts here now when I know you'll be water boarded later on. So, in the mean time, See, ya.