HI SO UM Do any of you have a Toyhouse account and would be willing to send me an invite code so I can display the designs of these characters from this story haha thanks haha.

OMGNOOO I FORGOT THE SCENE WHERE MICHAEL AND EVAN GET DRUGGED BY WILLIAM AND HALLUCINATE ANIMATRONICS. UM. GUYS ILL INCLUDE IT SOMEWHERE OK.

There's barely any canon lore about the Afton brothers and when there is I forget to include it…sighhhh.

song is Epoch by the living tombstone because it's iconic and epic shhh

Enjoy the chapspter

Chapter 116

No Retakes

Michael dreamed of his little brother often.

He'd sleep and visions of his past would whisper visions of Evan to him like a lullaby. Sometimes they were good dreams; memories of playing in the creek by their house, getting sick off armfuls of candy from chaotic gas station runs, movie nights featuring maybe less than age-appropriate content.

But those dreams were few and far between. Most of the time the dreams were saturated with blood, the taste of pennies and bile in his mouth, chocolate birthday cake left uneaten, music and sirens and screaming in the background, and the big golden Fredbear animatronic up on the stage, chomp chomp chomping his teeth.

However, one thing both dreams had in common was the consistent distortion of Evan's face. In that weird way dreams were, it never struck Michael as odd when he was actually present in the dream. He just thought, oh, yeah, humans can have swirly faces with no discernible features, looking like watercolour and TV static. No big deal.

So seeing Evan's face, tangible and present and so so real, came as a bit of a shock to him. Naturally, he'd passed out, and woke up with a crowd of ghost children and gigantic demon bears watching him. Which was a sentence he'd never thought before.

Charlie was the first to notice he was awake and gasped. "Michael! You're okay!"

"Okay is a strong word," he muttered, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. A sizable lump was throbbing there.

Remembering the whole reason he'd passed out, Michael searched the area. "Where's…"

"Evan's over there." Charlie nodded to where Nightmare was sitting, and that was when Michael saw Evan perched on the gigantic demon's shoulder.

"He's like a parrot," Ruby said without thinking, then flushed. "Uh, sorry, I don't know why I said that."

Michael shrugged, "Don't be. You're right." He was still in awe. Evan! Evan was alive! Or maybe not alive, but he was here! For years he'd dreamed of a day where he could see Evan again and apologize, really apologize for everything Michael had put him through when they were kids.

And that unnerved him too, how after all this time, Evan still looked like a child. Had he been trapped in the Shadow dimension all this time? Michael didn't even want to think about how horrific that would be.

"This must be so hard for you," Charlie put her hand on his, sympathy swirling in her eyes, so similar to Henry's. She looked a lot like her father, actually—hair the colour of Biscoff butter, big brown eyes like a Labrador retriever, and an anxious yet gentle demeanour, but with the petite build, triangular face, and tan complexion of her mother, Katy.

Michael cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah, it is." The idea of discussing his feelings with a little girl did not appeal to him.

"You should go talk to him," Charlie continued. "I think it would be good for the both of you."

Cassidy cut in from where she was sitting and picking at the frays in her ripped black skinny jeans. "You should not go talk to him. Didn't end so well last time you two had a conversation, huh?"

Despite the empathy Michael felt for Cassidy—being a kid trapped in a building with William Afton for years on end was a shared experience they both wished they didn't have—he had to admit she was kind of a little tyrant most of the time.

"Thanks, Cass-"

"I hate nicknames."

"-iiiiidy, real nice of you to bring that up." Michael sighed. Cassidy, under all that snarkiness, was probably right, but Michael knew himself too well to listen to her. He couldn't just sit around and yap with a bunch of teenage girls while his brother who'd been lost for so long was sitting within eyesight. No, he had to go talk to him.

Michael stood up. "I'm going."

"No, you're not." Cassidy grabbed his arm, sinking her nails into his skin.

He yelped and jerked it away. "Jesus! You don't gotta claw my arm off. I'm just going to…talk to Jeremy," Michael said very reasonably. And if Evan just so happens to be sitting right next to him…

She narrowed her eyes, sclera an unnatural black. "Fine. But if you talk to Evan, next time I'm ripping your arm off. He's been free from you for eighteen years. Don't break that streak."

Michael headed away from Ruby, Charlie, and Cassidy, cut through the group of former animatronics, and past the playing kids Jojo and Malcolm to where Jeremy stood, engrossed in writing something down on his clipboard.

Michael cleared his throat. "Hey."

Jeremy looked up, then beamed. "Hey, you're finally awake!"

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Really? You hit your head pretty hard when you fell."

"Yeah."

Understanding cleared in Jeremy's aqua eyes. "Ohh. You came over here to see Evan, didn't you."

"Yeah…but keep that quiet. Cassidy's already death-staring me."

Jeremy wrapped his arms around his chest and lowered his tone. "I don't know, Mike. I mean, Evan's kinda messed up. I haven't heard him speak in months, and we—"

"Wait." Michael frowned. "Months?"

Jeremy's face flushed. "Sorry, did I—um, I misspoke, sorry. Anyway. Evan knows what we did to him, is what I was trying to say. He remembers everything. The way he looks at me now…" He shuddered. "Like it could be different for you, obviously, cause you're his brother. But I don't know. And now I'm rambling, sorry."

"You apologize a lot."

"Sor—"

"If you say sorry again I'll actually give you something to be sorry about." Michael shoved him playfully. "But yeah, I hear you. I'll be careful."

"Somehow, I don't believe that," Jeremy said wryly. "Good luck, though."

Taking a deep breath, Michael gathered his courage and went to stand in front of Nightmare's throne to beg for forgiveness like a peasant about to be executed.

Evan's face was shadowed by the giant demon's frame on his shoulder, so it was hard to make him out. Nightmare's red reptilian pupil slitted as he noticed him. "Michael. Greetings. What brings you here, I wonder?"

"Is that, uh, sarcasm?"

"Yes. I've been practising."

"...That was sarcasm too, wasn't it."

Nightmare actually rolled his eyes. Michael had never seen him express an emotion before, let alone annoyance. Symptoms of hanging out with Cassidy, I guess.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to cut our conversation short, Evan. Have fun with your brother."

Conversation? They'd just been staring at each other.

Then Nightmare reached onto his shoulder and with one giant paw gently lowered Evan to the ground. Evan stood up, steadily, slowly, mesmerizingly, like a delicate butterfly emerging from a cocoon. And whoa, okay, he definitely looked different.

His warm brown hair was the same fluffy length, but his bangs were coloured violet like he'd dipped them in paint. Two black mothish antennae sat atop his head with bobbers in the shape of crescent moons facing inwards. His eyes were completely black save for little blue pupils, and inky tears were drawn down his chubby cheeks. Evan's gray-and-black striped sweater was worn and frayed and his long faded jean shorts were ripped at the bottoms. His arms and legs had a gradient from pale, purple-freckled skin to midnight black ending at his hands and feet, which were covered by cartoonishly baggy sleeves and Velcro sneakers.

Evan looked ethereal yet demonic, otherworldly yet human. Michael had been picturing him for so long it was kind of surreal seeing him in person, as if he was a celebrity.

Michael cleared his throat, but his voice still came out hoarse. "Hey, Evan."

Evan tilted his head to the side, the antenna swinging with him. He looked Michael over. Michael realized that his brother was probably taking in his new look, too. Last Evan saw him, he was just some stupid fourteen-year-old. Michael was paler now that he wasn't spray-tanning himself all the time, with heavier eye bags and a less grungy fashion sense. And obviously a few inches taller, hair a little grayer (which he was unfortunately inheriting from his father,) lines deeper. Michael would be thirty-one soon. And Evan…

"I, uh, I like the antenna." Michael pointed to the black bobbers on his head.

Evan looked up as if trying to see them for himself, cross-eyed, then looked back at him. His expression didn't change.

"Silent treatment, eh?" Michael sighed. "I deserve that. I deserve less than that. God, I don't even know what to say."

And so they stood there, speechless and silent and equally mute.

Then Evan took Michael's hand in his, traced the lines of his palm, flipped it over and ran his fingers over the blue veins that ran all the way up his arm, stopping at the sleeve of his band tee.

Evan's black eyes flicked up to meet Michael's silver-blue ones. Then, with surprising strength, Evan pulled him forward and started running, keeping hold of his hand like Michael was a dog on a leash.

"Uhhhh, where are we going?" Michael asked, failing to keep the fear out of his voice.

Evan didn't respond, just kept running and running until all of a sudden they were falling like they'd jumped off an invisible cliff.

"Oh God, you're gonna kill me, aren't you?" Michael groaned, tugging at his hair as they plummeted to uncertain doom. "I guess that's fair. Eye for an eye. Get on with it, then."

And just like that, they landed on the solid ground—still in the black void, of course. Michael tentatively squeezed open his eyes. A fluffy blue moth fluttered by, beautiful and glowing like bioluminescent algae. Its wings were mesmerising sapphire as it danced through the air.

Evan pointed to it, and the butterfly fell to the floor. It unfolded and with a flash of aqua light, it was Evan curled up on the floor in its place, but looking more like his old self—younger, softer, a normal little boy save for the anguish in him that no child should have had to experience.

The other Evan was crying, a familiar sound. But soon, a pair of giant red eyes blinked open from the shadows. Nightmare. "Greetings child." He tilted his massive head to one side. "Why so sad? I warned you this would happen. You died today, Evan Christopher Afton."

The other Evan didn't answer, he just continued to sob. The sound was starting to grate on his nerves, and Michael hated himself for it.

"You know, I don't usually visit those who enter my dimension, but you're quite the special case. Or not you necessarily, but your father. Not many mortals have figured out the secret to immortality and viewing the undead, but he's managed to do it." Nightmare made a deep, guttural sound like a laugh. "Of course, at a price. He's got a soul like tar and blood on his teeth, and if he does find himself dead, then he's also going to find himself locked up in a dungeon of fire far below this dimension. But when he goes there, he won't be my problem to deal with, so I suppose it's not all bad.

"My, Evan, you've really gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to your family. Two killers? Don't feel bad about getting killed, it was bound to happen eventually. It's no wonder you couldn't survive. When I look at your soul, it blinds me. Pure and white as fresh-fallen snow."

Michael wondered what colour his soul was. It was probably not the colour of fresh-fallen snow.

"Which is a rare sight. Typically souls like yours go to heaven, the gray ones go here, in Shadow, and the dark ones like your father go to hell. But, here we are." Nightmare's eyes widened, and the red glow from them grew brighter. "Ah, you're wondering about your sister. No, I'm afraid she isn't here, or anywhere really. She's down on Earth, in a body that's lonely and cold. Her soul used to be like yours, but the shadows have begun to corrupt it. Unfortunately there's not much you can do to help her from here.

"But you can do something from here." Nightmare tilted his massive head to one side. "You see, I like to…hire, per se, you mortal ghosts to do my bidding. Organize this dimension, reap new souls, the works. I've had many assistants over the centuries, but they've all moved on to a different life. For the past while, I've had to run this place myself. However, and this is where you come in, I've looked into your soul and liked what I've seen there. If you would be willing, would you wish to help me?"

Michael couldn't see the other Evan's face from where he was standing behind him, but he already knew the answer.

Evan had accepted.

The scene around them began to warp and change like when Michael had been trapped in his nightmare trial. Suddenly, the brothers were transported to an alleyway in a street. A long strip of black road held cars that honked at each other like Morse code. Garbage bags, crumpled soda cans, and scraps of food littered the cracked concrete they were standing on.

The sound of footsteps behind them alerted Michael, who swerved around. To his shock, there was a dead body mangled beyond recognition lying among the garbage bags, wet blood pooling under it.

"The hell…?" Michael murmured, looking around to see if the culprit was still lingering at the scene.

Michael watched as the other Evan, glowing cerulean like most ghosts did when on Earth, padded up to the bloody body and knelt beside it. He extended one small hand and some sort of silvery-blue blob floated out of the corpse. The other Evan played with it in his hands like putty until it faded to a dark gray colour. Then he unzipped the crossbody bag he wore and tossed it in there. Michael could see hundreds of other blobs in there, all glowing various shades of white, black, and gray.

Then the other Evan snapped his fingers, opening up a tall purple portal, swirling with shadows, and exited through it, presumably to deliver this person to their respective afterlife.

"So you're some kind of Grim Reaper, eh?" Michael murmured, resting his hands on his hips. "That's actually pretty cool."

Evan swivelled his head up and to the side to regard him coldly, looking anything but interested.

The scenery around them shifted one final time. This time, the other Evan looked exactly like the real Evan, leaving Michael to gather that this event was recent.

Katy and Jeremy were there too, along with Nightmare, naturally. Katy appeared to be playing dress-up with a bunch of crazy clothes—feather boas, tiny leopard-print tops, fluffy hot pink tutus. Michael wouldn't be surprised if she was a drag queen in a past life.

And Jeremy was lying limp on a beanbag chair, blue eyes glazed over, looking drugged out of his mind. Were there even drugs in the afterlife?

The other Evan was cross-legged on the floor, playing with two plushies, one blue and one red butterfly with those crunchy wings baby toys always had.

Katy twirled around, letting her long patchwork skirt fan out around her skinny legs. "How's this one look, Jer?"

Jeremy rolled over and made a strange, strangled sound like a combination between a feline meow and a canine growl.

Katy smirked, crossing her tanned arms. "I'll take that as a wow you look sooooo awesome Katy girl queen you are literally slaying!" Michael thought that he lost a few key brain cells hearing that sentence.

"Michael moved," Jeremy mumbled sluggishly. Michael alerted at the mention of his name.

Katy's pencilled brows creased. "Huh? Moved where?"

A line of drool slid from Jeremy's lips down his chin. "Cabin."

"O-kayyy?" She laughed, a little nervously. "Thanks for lettin' us know, I guess. Yo Ev, Jeremy's talkin' about your brother."

The other Evan whirled around to look at her, and that was about the most interested Michael had seen him look so far.

"Oh, Michael Terrance," Nightmare hummed, and Michael felt a chill roll down his spine when it appeared that the demon was staring straight at him. He wasn't, right? That was impossible. This was just some trippy vision of the past, and nobody could see him. "Your brother is quite the character, Evan. And Jeremy's correct. He's near Hurricane, at a cute little campsite. I wonder why that is."

Then Nightmare laughed melodiously. "My, what violent thoughts! Now, child, I'm not going to kill him. We aren't the cause of death, merely the messengers. You know that. However I could send a few nasty nightmares his way, if you'd like." He paused, probably reading Evan's mind in that freaky way he always did. "Of course you would. Alright. Katy, Jeremy, you two work up something and deliver it to him once he sleeps."

Katy slumped. "Boo, creative writing. Ummmm. Aw jeez, I dunno. Jer, you know more about Michael than I do. You make up something. What's he scared of?"

Jeremy stayed silent for a while before speaking. "He said…he said animatronics were creepy."

"Pfft, who didn't think that? I don't know how nobody figured William for a serial killer after taking one look at those metal beasties." Katy snapped her fingers, summoning her own Barbie-pink laptop and beanbag chair, flopping into it and beginning to type with long neon nails.

Then her mouth dropped open, and she giggled in disbelief. "Ho-ly crap, y'all. No friggin' way. Guess who literally just arrived in Shadow yesterday."

Nobody responded, and she rolled her maroon eyes. "Y'all are mad boring. The missing kids! The ones that William killed! That were, like, all over the news! And were possessing those animatronics! Or something. I never really kept up with who was dead and who was immortal and who was possessing who."

"Classy as always, Katy." Nightmare droned. "Well, I could send them his way, if you like. It seems they've already got experience killing people. I'm sure this'll be a bit of fun for them."

"Jer, I'm sending their profiles and whatnot to you." She tapped a few buttons on her keyboard and a large stack of paper printed from it. Katy carried the pile over to Jeremy and then dumped it all over him "Make sure ya get it right. Michael is in this cabin, okay?" She stabbed an image of Michael's little wooden cabin with her fingernail. "Not the one to the left with the crazy cat lady. Not the one to the right with the crazier group of teenagers."

Michael felt his stomach drop. Suddenly, he had a very good idea of what was about to happen. Or what had happened.

"This one," Katy finished, giving Jeremy a stern Look. "Capiche?"

"Mmmmm," Jeremy grumbled, and took her laptop, squinting at the map on the screen. He moved the mouse to select which place would have the nightmares, the ghosts of the missing children, sent to them.

And just as Michael predicted, Jeremy misclicked, sending Freddy, Cassidy, and all the others to the cabin beside him.

Ruby's cabin.

It all made a terrible sort of sense to Michael now. Evan wanted revenge. The ghost kids were, technically, well trained serial killers, so they were perfect for the job. Nightmare came up with the idea to send them to Michael in his sleep. Katy and Jeremy, while Michael respected them, were terrible at their jobs as always, and instead of delivering them to him, mistakenly delivered them to the ghost's apparent best-friend-forever Ruby right next door.

"So you're responsible for all this?" Michael noted, glancing down at Evan. He was so small, so innocent-looking. Michael used to do everything for him—cook him meals, run his baths, walk him to school, so much that Evan had once accidentally called him 'Dad'. It was hard to believe his sensitive, helpless little brother was so independent and capable now.

Michael shook his head. His silvery blue eyes were beginning to mist like the cloudy sky above a deep ocean. "God. You've grown up so much, Ev." Michael tugged at the hair at the nape of his neck. "You know, I used to imagine I'd help guide you through life. I wanted to give you advice on being popular and sneaking out and getting girls once you got old enough. And see you go to prom and finish high school, then you'd probably graduate from some fancy university for geniuses.

"I kind of figured Liz and I would be all messed up from our crappy parents, stay in Hurricane and screw around while you went off and healed and became some rich brilliant billionaire of a big tech company. And you'd thank me for, like, parenting you throughout your childhood and stuff. You were always such a good kid. Smart and responsible. Everyone in our family swore like sailors and you never said anything worse than darn. Straight A's even though the teachers hated you. You even managed to keep the peace in our family. You were always meant for something great." Michael smiled weakly. "I've been trying to picture what you'd look like if you'd lived. All grown up. You'd be taller than me, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah," Evan whispered finally, hoarse and unreadable. "I would."

"Evan, I'm sorry." Michael murmured. "I'm so, so sorry. I don't even know what to say." His voice broke as his eyes clouded, swimming with tears. He looked up at Evan, who was standing unlike him. "Please just tell me what to do to make you stay. Tell me how I can fix this," he pleaded.

"I can't," Evan said simply. "You can't. I need time."

"That's the one thing I can't give you right now," Michael mumbled, shoulders shaking. He put a hand to his mouth to try and conceal the noises, squeezing shut his eyes. Tears slid down over the rough stubble of his cheeks, wet and clear and salty on his lips.

Evan watched them drip. A slow smile stretched his cheeks. "Crybaby."

Michael cough-laughed at that, a little surprised. "Ha! Yeah, I sure am." He scrubbed his face dry with his fist, exhaling. "What a turn of the tables this is, huh. Damn."

"Damn," Evan echoed, testing out the word on his tongue. His smile grew wider, eyes darting around as if to check he wouldn't get in trouble. "Shit."

Michael grinned. "Fuck."

"Fuck."

"Aww. How adorable. Sibling bonding."

"Hi, Nightmare," Michael sighed without bothering to turn around and face him. "Really love to ruin the moment, eh?"

"If you two are done with your little profanity session, I have something I'd like to discuss with your group."

"Yeah, fine." Michael stood up and stretched, his bones all cracking. Evan listened, impressed.

Michael's stomach was still in a knot, despite things. "Hey, Ev, are we…are we good?"

Evan looked at the ground, picking at a loose string of his sweater sleeve. "I guess."

"Okay." Michael blew out a breath. "You guess. Okay. I can work with that."

They headed back to the group, where everyone was crowded around Nightmare, Jeremy, and Katy, listening to whatever they were saying. Naturally, Evan ran to go stand beside Cassidy. Michael smiled softly. He remembered when the two of them used to run around playing magic bears and annoying his father and sister.

When Michael came next to them, his eyes flew wide open when he felt razor-sharp nails slash his arm. He clutched it, wincing. "Ow! What the hell, Cassidy?"

"You went to go talk with Evan," she hummed, sickly sweet. "I told you not to do that."

"Like I was going to listen to you," he hissed through gritted teeth.

She shot him a glare. "He's my friend."

"He's my brother."

"He's your VICTIM, don't you remember?"

"I'm surprised you do with that tiny brain of yours."

"Tragedies are often memorable."

"Sure they are. That's why I remember you."

"Can we go five minutes without fighting, please?" Nightmare droned.

"Yes, some of us would like to, oh, maybe go to heaven." said Mangle with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, if we're even going there," Bonnie pointed out. "I've seen Foxy's search history. Not pretty."

Foxy's red ears flattened as his fur fluffed up and brandished his hook, snarling. "For the last time, ye scallywag! BOOTY MEANS TREASURE!"

"Okay, buddy. You can yap about that when you're looking up at the pearly gates."

"Jeremy, got any more of those cute pills you were taking the other day?" Nightmare watched, exhausted, as they all bickered. "I think I may…require them."

"Boys, please." Katy smirked, then roared; "EVERYONE SHUT UP OR YOU'RE ALL GOING TO HELL."

Well, that worked.

"I was going to explain this in further depth, but you all decided to waste precious time. I'll be sending two of you to heaven right now, but I haven't enough energy to do the rest of you. Whoever doesn't go can wait on Earth until, say, six AM—"

"Of course," chuckled Ruby, who Michael had forgotten was even there.

"Humans really have a lot of nerve interrupting a god of death, don't they?"

Ruby's face immediately went serious and she straightened. "Sorry, Nightmare. Mr. Nightmare. Uh. Your Majesty? Sir…?" She paused, then tentatively saluted.

Michael face-palmed.

"So help me, Ruby Roxanne…continuing on. At six AM I'll send the rest of you to heaven. And yes, that's where you're going, despite any questionable search histories. Fritz."

"It. Means. TREASURE!" Foxy screeched, lashing his tail.

"Whatever you say. Now, I will of course be wiping most of your memories of Ruby while you are down there, to protect you from staying down on Earth. Yes, it is temporary, Susie. You'll get your memories of her back once you're in heaven."

Chica blushed at the call-out, but didn't say anything.

"Now, it is important that you do not go near anything you could possess. Living mortals are alright, but anything like dolls, stuffed animals, robots, can all be inhabited by you. And once you possess them, you are them, and therefore out of my control." Nightmare rested his cheek on his fist, leaning back on his throne. "With that in mind, you may now select who you'd like to go to heaven first."

Freddy and Charlie exchanged looks, then the former stepped forward. "Nightmare, we'd like to send Jojo and Malcolm."

"Whaaat?" Jojo gasped, bouncing excitedly. "Really? You mean it?"

"Wow. Heaven." Malcolm's eyes grew big. "I wonder if it looks the same as it does in the Lego Bible I read at the library."

"Are you certain this is who you want to send?"

Freddy nodded. "Yes. They're the youngest, and they deserve to pass on before the rest of us."

"Wow wow wow," Malcolm repeated, shaking his hands as he was getting more hyped up. "I wonder if we'll see our parents. Will we, Joey?"

She shrugged. "Maybe! I don't remember what they look like though."

"Oh, right." Malcolm frowned, biting one fingernail, then shrugged, going back to bouncing. "Whatever. We'll find them!"

Jojo hugged Freddy. "Thank you lots, Freddy!"

"No problem, Joey." Freddy patted her back. "We'll see you soon. You take care of your brother."

Malcolm decided to give Freddy a handshake instead. "I'll take care of my sister."

"You do that."

Charlie hugged Jojo, squeezing Malcolm's hand. "Oh, gosh. You two know I love you. You're like the siblings I never had." Her brown eyes were misty. "I'll see you up there, okay? I love you. I know I already said it. But I do."

"Jojo, Malcolm, come here please." Nightmare beckoned for them with a wave of two giant, clawed fingers. The two kids followed suit and a golden light began to envelop Nightmare's hands, and surround the children with the same aura.

Malcolm held up his hands. "Wait! Nightmare, I wanted to give you this." He reached into his pocket, and pulled out one of his toy cars, the red one. "Here. Take it."

Nightmare did, holding the miniature thing in his huge paw. It was practically ant-sized to him. "This is…in all my existence, no one's given me a gift before." It was the closest thing Michael had heard to emotion in the demon's voice. "Thank you, Malcolm."

"You're welcome. Heaven now please." Malcolm giggled, and held his big sister's hand, practically vibrating with excitement.

Nightmare's red eyes swirled with mirth. "As you wish." The gold light appeared around them one again, yellow and bright as sunshine burning a field of wheat with a glass of lemonade. And then, just like that, in a burst of sparkles and glitter dust, they were gone.

Charlie sniffled. "I'm going to miss those kids."

"Don't worry, you'll see them tomorrow," Evan piped up.

"Ack!" Charlie yelped in surprise, then flushed. "Sorry, Evan, I forgot you were here."

"That's alright. You're a lot bigger than I remember."

"Yes, I'm a teenager."

"Really? I thought you'd be much older by now."

Cassidy crossed her arms. "Me too, but your dad and his mini-me had different plans for us."

"Me and Michael are good now," Evan corrected. "Anyways, see you all in heaven."

"What?!" Cassidy snapped. "You're forgiving him for literally murdering you?! Just like that? Michael's worse than your father, Evan!"

"Your sense of justice is a teensy bit off there, kid," Michael muttered.

Evan shrugged. "It was an accident though."

"Murder is still murder! And what about how he tortured you for years with no reason? He's a bully!"

"He said it was horrible."

"Yeah, and I'm a human! Oh wow look I'm right, guess that means I'm a fricking biologist!"

"Don't say frick." Evan frowned, apparently forgetting his previous conversation. "Nightmare said you guys were leaving now."

"Well—" Cassidy hesitated. "Well, wait. Look, Evan, I'm angry that you're being manipulated by him, but I still want to hang out with you! It's been almost twenty years, and you're my best friend!"

"I want to hang out with you too. And we will. I can go between dimensions, remember? I can go to heaven, or I can bring you to Shadow." Evan beamed. "It all works out if you're kind and you forgive people, see? And maybe someday Elizabeth can meet us up here too."

"Whatever," Cassidy grumbled. "I mean. Yes. That sounds nice or something."

Katy stepped forward, her raspberry lips curled up as she gave Charlie a once-over. It was funny how much shorter she was. "I'll miss ya. Come visit your mom sometime, okay kid?"

"Pardon?" Charlie giggled. "That's silly. I don't have a mom."

"Uh-oh, drama," Ruby whispered, crunching on popcorn that she had now for some reason.

Katy barked a laugh. "'Course you do. How else were you born?"

"My father had me." Charlie furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Wait." Michael raised a hand. "Charlie, you— you know how babies are made, right…?"

Her cheeks went pink. "Umm…not really."

Michael's forehead was starting to go red from how much he was slapping it.

"Right, you might wanna ask ol' Henry that when you see him," Katy huffed, shooting Michael a wide-eyed glance.

Then Michael decided to spare himself the details and blocked out all the tearful goodbyes between Ruby and the ghosts for the gazillionth time by making faces at Jeremy.

Nightmare sent the ghosts on their way, and then Michael woke up.

And for the first time in nearly twenty years, he hadn't even had a nightmare.

A/N

Yay it all works out. Or does it.

And that's the end of Jojo and Malcolm's arc btw! They were fun to write, honestly. Especially how Jojo was kind of evil in the beginning. It was a complete accident that their names and characters matched up with Balloon Boy and JJ but then I just decided to roll with it haha. I thiiink at this point in the story they're like 10 and 8 LOL that's cool that they aged and stuff.

The reason I'm ending their storyline is because they were meant to be parallels to Elizabeth and Evan, like if they'd grown up without…a bad environment? (except Joey and mal were like orphans and then killed and then like held hostage and tested on or whatever but idk then they ended up with Charlie who's nice and a good role model sooo idk man u get my point)

And now that Evan and soon Elizabeth are back in modern times, I don't need four little kids who all act the same running around that group haha.

Two more chapters! And since they're already pre-written, I'll be uploading the next one in 6 days on Friday the 5th cause I gotta stay relevant at the top of the page LMAO.

Oh and uh…happy almost Canada Day! Eat some poutine, eh? And almost July the fourth! Eagle cheeseburger guns yeehaw. I ate a burger last night so you Americans can be satisfied or whatever.

Have an amazing day/night!

~glowst