I Don't Own Fnaf

It was fairly early into the morning a little less than a full week since the group had gone back to Afton Robotics, Mike had spent most of that time still stuck home and bound to just about nothing, his mind rolling over the information during the long hours alone he had while Mari was off at work.

He still wasn't a fan of just how much he was still stuck inside. It was better, much better, it had been about five weeks in total now since the accident, and while any sign of bruising had finally faded away, he wasn't required to be on pain meds to not be in actual agony, and it felt like his body was really beginning to heal, he still didn't feel truly right. Maybe it was because his chest was missing more than a small number of things and as such he'd never really feel normal again compared to what he once was, but the main thing was just because he was still just tender and sore all over, and the constant reminder of it was like a press on the back of his head when he moved to quickly over bent down and was caught by a flash of pain.

He felt weak as well, but that was from the sheer inactivity more than anything, honestly, out of everything, the one thing he was looking forwards to the most was the physical therapy he'd have to do afterwards, given just how damaged his muscles had been from the scooper when it had stabbed itself through him, it would probably take a while of working at it but the idea of being able to actually be active at all in such a way was certainly appealing. Mike was not good at this being patient and resting thing.

He was honestly debating a lot of things that he could do for the day that would get him out of the house, he really needed to go shopping soon, Jeremy had been kind enough the last few things to go out and do it for him, but Mike was honestly missing the outside world way more than he had thought he would. It made him even more sympathetic towards what the animatronics all probably felt like being as cooped up as they were... Maybe he could look into that trip, get some of those touristy pamphlets or something, Utah had plenty of nature trails and camping sites. Maybe a trip up to Mt. Zion? Mike had only been up there once before to his memory, but he had been really young, it had been before either of his siblings had been in the picture even.

Mari would probably like it, so it was something to think about.

Thinking of the puppet though, the two had... mostly left everything unaddressed right now, not fully of course, but they had reached a state where it was just easier to not address the Afton that wasn't in the room. That didn't mean it was easy, he was sure they both were still thinking about it, but neither were quite willing just yet to break the silence and have the help of the other address their issues, probably because of how close both of them were to it for such different reasons. There was no way for that conversation to not be painful, and neither of them were in a place where they were willing to be hurt like that just yet.

But that doesn't mean they hadn't talked about anything, Mike had mentioned what he learned about the not so sleeping bunny, Mari hadn't... Well, that had been a conversation, one that left the puppet anxious, but in the end seemed more determined than anything to finally go and see the animatronic, it left Mike a bit worried, but at the end of the day, they had to sort out the Toy Bonnie situation sooner than later, and it's not like the animatronic was exactly a threat to Mari. Honestly, as far as Mike could see, no other animatronic has ever really had bad blood with Mari.

So, yeah, with Bonnie in his right mind, and hopefully over his wanting to kill Mike phase, it should go completely fine, plus Goldie would be over there as well, so it would work out fine, Mike was sure, but that didn't mean he wasn't a bit nervous. Maybe he was just bad at not wanting to be involved directly with whatever it was that was happening... Okay, it was exactly that as to why Mike was nervous about it, but he did his best to not let that show, for Mari's sake.

The puppet himself was just hanging around currently, as Mike thought over the last few days, just hovering about in the kitchen as the man himself moved about to get himself a simple breakfast. He was more than a little thankful that he's past the point that he could now eat more solid foods again personally. He didn't mind soft foods, but eating solely apple sauce and the same kind of canned soup for two weeks had been driving him a bit up the wall.

A sandwich might not sound like much, but it was great after having to be so careful with food for the last month of his life. He honestly hadn't really realized just how much he had gotten out of making proper meals before he had no real reason to do so unless he was just feeling like feeding his friends... Which implied he didn't do that already, but honestly that was more Jeremy's fault for thinking that it was just fine to only eat frozen microwaved meals all the time, not to mention the sheer amount of pizza that they all ate just as a byproduct of the job.

Anyways, it was a simple morning, a decent enough one at that, beyond the light rain fall outside, if was a normal enough morning, breakfast was being eaten, and like always Mike had a lot of thoughts on his mind. And so it was then that the doorbell rang as Mike's head snapped around in mild confuse to the source of the sound, glancing over at Mari at the same time as the puppet just shrugged back before vanishing in a flicker. No one they knew didn't know to call before coming over, for the exact reason of Mike's house was often the place most animatronics like to congregate, and not all of them were as quiet as Mari.

Moving over, sandwich still in hand, he headed to the door, unsure of just who he was expecting, given he hadn't been expecting anyone in the first place.

Somehow, when he opened the door up, he still was surprised by who he saw.

"H-hello?" Phone Guy sounded nervous, his eyes flickering around the neighborhood, his body lightly shaking from what Mike could only assume to be nerves. Phone Guy didn't seem like the type who got out much, so... Mike figured he might regret this, but he pulled the door open a bit wider and stepped to the side, saying as he did.

"Hey, I- uh... Wasn't expecting you" That was an understatement, he honestly was dealing with the fact that Phone Guy knew where he lived, Fritz wouldn't have told him, but... Then again, this hadn't really been his house had it? It was his da... Well, it was his now, but that didn't mean people wouldn't have known that before he returned to Hurricane.

"R-right, sorry, I would ha-ave called, but, uh I was already out so..." Mike had the feeling something wasn't being said, but he just held that to himself as Phone Guy walked in, Mike closing the door behind him, before shooting a look up towards the stairs where Mari was floating up at the top off, to see who it was while being fairly hard to spot. The puppet did not look happy, Mike just shrugged, confused, but not all that worried, despite the puppet's general misgivings with the man, he doubted he was here for anything nefarious. Mari vanished soon afterwards, so Mike figured it was fine.

"Want any tea or coffee?" Mike led the man all the same into the kitchen just to be a bit more out of view from the rest of the house, Phone Guy just followed, though Mike was only too aware of the way the man's eyes traced around the house, paying attention to all the things that weren't quite the same to how it used to be, the idea that Phone Guy knew this house's layout in any way made something uncomfortable shift under his skin, but he just ignored that in favor of getting some tea ready when the man answered his question.

Mike might not have lived a lot of his life across the pond, but he could admit, he was still British enough to have tea on hand, even if he did usually much more prefer coffee. Within a minute, a cup was held in the man's slightly shaky hands, as the two sort of awkwardly stood around in the kitchen, a strange parallel to the first time the two had seen each other in this decade those long months ago.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" They were kind of hovering in the 'dining room' part of the kitchen, which was just the dining table at the other end of the kitchen that Mike honestly didn't really use much at all, he preferred to stand or be in the living room, on the couch, when he ate. Phone Guy seemed to hover by the table though, one hand resting on the back of one of the chairs, seemingly using it more for support than to have his hands busy with the other holding the cup of tea, as he looked awkwardly about the kitchen, much like he had the living room, before saying.

"U-Uh, well, I- I mean... I didn't-" He sputtered out more words, but it was clear he wasn't really comfortable here, honestly Mike was pretty sure the man wasn't really comfortable anywhere, something that he was unfortunately getting more and more of a view on what that was like. He felt himself shift a bit awkwardly himself, as Phone Guy paused, for a second to gather himself before saying, "I just, uh, wanted to make sure you were alright, I know the last time we talked was kind of, you know..." Mike slowly raised an eyebrow before asking probably a bit to casually.

"You talking about the fox or my dad?" Phone Guy winced a bit, before answering back.

"Uh, your dad, though, the, uh, well... Foxy was a surprise" Mike just nodded.

"The kid wanted to tag along, I didn't see a reason to say no, sorry if he spooked you though" He was lying a bit, but he did feel more bad about the situation that he honestly thought he would have, so he didn't think to much about it. Phone Guy just gave an awkward shrug, saying simply.

"I-it's... fine... I just wasn't expecting it-. Him?" Phone Guy said it more like a question, though the guilt of having to ask clearly effected his tone as well, as Mike just nodded.

"Yeah, still, probably could have warned you, but the animatronics are all doing a lot better now that they're out of Freddy's" Phone Guy just slowly nodded, before switching the topic back.

"Right, uh, what about you?" Mike had kind of hoped they could spend the time just talking about the ghosts, but he wasn't that lucky in his attempt to get away from the subject, so he just sighed, looking off to the side for a moment before finally coming up with an answer.

"It's... difficult to know, but it's better knowing than not, it makes things easier and harder, answers a lot of questions but makes it a hell of a lot more personal than it was when Purple Guy was just some psycho" He didn't really know why he answered so honestly, maybe he wanted to talk about it in some way, or maybe it was just the man himself, Phone Guy seemed like, even now, the type who was good at getting information out of someone without them realizing it. The man was definitely the slippery type.

Either way, the man just let out a shaky breath, before nodding.

"Y-yeah, I get it, well, I mean, I don't, obviously, but you know, I sort of get it... Just, you're doing alright, right?" Mike frowned, just for a moment, unsure just where the concern was coming from, but in the end, just nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, it sucks, but I'm not, like, dealing with this alone or anything, though if you have anything else you want to tell me, I wouldn't mind getting it over with now" Mike said it more like a joke, but the man just fidgeted, a bit, as he just grimaced instinctively at the idea of something else. Phone Guy seemed to realize that, instantly holding his hands up, ready to make some point, when instead he froze, the man's eyes going wide with genuine terror as the faint sound of a familiar unamused chime echoed from behind Mike, who just... paused, frowned, and said casually.

"I don't suspect that you're somehow not going to ru-" Phone Guy was already gone, moving much faster than Mike would have given him credit for, bursting backwards and in a second out the backdoor that frankly Mike kind of forgot was there given how little it was used in favor of the garage or front... Right... Mike took a deep breath in, then out, before looking over to Mari who at the very least had the decency to look a bit abashed, though not all that apologetic.

"Bad time?" Mike was sure the puppet thought he was being cute, as it stood he could already feel a headache come on, as he said in the most dry and unimpressed tone he could manage, which was more than enough-

"I'm going to go get him before he breaks every traffic law in Utah, we're going to talk about this in a minute though" Mike remembered a time when his threats meant something to people... Not Mari, admittedly the puppet never being scared of him was something he cherished the feeling of, but still, the memories of such a time was a nice one as the puppet let out an amused sort of chime that showed him knew all to well Mike wasn't actually at all angry with him. Maybe annoyed, but never angry.

Moving quickly, while wondering just what it was with the animatronics and their desire to mess with Phone Guy, as he sped walked himself out of his own house, and watched with a faint shock that Phone Guy was actually still there, and not already a county over, he was in his car, a beaten up old thing that clearly had seen more than a few repairs over the years, a strange separation to Mike for some reason, the man's house had been surprisingly nice and he wore good clothes, if now a bit worn down, for this to be the car he used.

Still, Phone Guy was sitting there, his hands gripping so tightly on the wheel Mike was sure as he moved closer he would hear the strain at any moment, the man's eyes were widen as he stared off ahead, looking not the least bit alright. Mari must have done something to the man for him to have that kind of reaction this long after the two had seen each other last.

Moving over, he reached out and tapped lightly on the glass, frowning at the same the man flinched, his eyes, with a wild look in them, shooting over to look at him, as Mike could see the way Phone Guy's chest seemed to seize up and down as the man simply just stared up at Mike with a look that he was painfully familiar with. Mike had been joking when he had thought about the 'good times' when people were scared of him. He just wanted to point that out given Phone Guy was looking at Mike with nothing but abject terror on his face.

Right... Phone Guy was having a panic attack in front of him.

Mike honestly had no idea just what he was suppose to do, he hadn't ever really been on the other side of this before, and frankly he would have preferred it if he still wasn't, but here he was, as he looked around for a moment, trying to think of what he was suppose to do. There was the Mari Method, but Mike wasn't about to pull the man into a hug or really touch him at all, given Phone Guy looked more terrified of Mike then he had of the puppet right now, and Mike wasn't looking to get punched in the face, even if he had been willing to just randomly pull someone who was barely an acquaintance of his into a hug of all things.

So... Yeah, Mike was obviously the problem, he had no idea if it was because he was kind of grey and deathly looking or because he looked like his dad, honestly, neither made him feel all that great about himself if he was being honest, but the point was, he was the issue, so with that, Mike took a deep breath, raised his hands up in that universal, I mean not harm, gesture, before moving back a bit, before just moving to sit down on the pavement of his drive way, scooting a bit more than he was willing to admit to try and get himself comfortable and ignoring the little bit of extra time it took him to get himself lowered to the ground in the first place.

There wasn't anything else he could do but wait it out, so that's what he did, not quite willing to just leave the man alone, but knowing any active help wouldn't do anything to make the situation at all better, so he just sat there, and waited. It wasn't fun, he was basically getting a front row seat at seeing what he was like when he had his little episodes, and... it really wasn't nice to think he looked anything like Phone Guy. The man wasn't really the peak of health... in any metric.

Then again, Mike was literally a zombie, so maybe he had no room to really say anything.

Either way, he ignored the fact he could already see a number of eyes peaking out from behind the curtains of his neighbors, they were the nosey type, Carol wasn't the only gossip, just the most active one, thankfully Mike hadn't had to deal with any of them, though he had no doubt there was more than a few words about him among the neighborhood gossip ring. No way that all of his neighbors didn't recognize him especially with ow long he's lived here now, and as well as the many times he's had to help transport strange bulky looking cloaked things into his house.

Mike didn't care that much, but it was either think about that now or feel incredibly awkward about sitting on his own driveway while waiting on a man he only kind of knew worked himself out of his panic attack. Eventually however, after about another five long minutes, the silence was broken by the painfully awkward sound of a car window being rolled down, as a shaky voice spoke out.

"I- uh, I just..." Mike moved to stand up, brushing himself off after he got his feet back out from under him, before saying.

"It's all fine, Mari shouldn't have startled you like that, are you alright?" The man just gulped, looking away for a moment, before saying tensely.

"Y-you're living with that?" Mike... Held back from frowning, and instead managed to say in a reasonable tone.

"Yeah"

"I-" Phone Guy cut himself off, like he had no idea just what he was going to say, as Mike just sighed, looking around for a moment, before deciding to do something dumb, as he moved over, racking his knuckles on the door, as he said.

"Come on, get out and move over, I'll drive you home" The man immediately protested, but Mike just gave him a raised eyebrow before saying over him, "I don't feel like seeing your face on the news tonight because you caused a pile up because you're shaking like a leaf, come on" The man's face went flush with some kind of combination of embarrassment and shame, and Mike instantly felt a bit bad about that, he knew he'd probably hate to be told something like that after going through an attack, but he didn't take it back as the man slowly just nodded, and soon they were on the road.

"I- I'm sorry, uh, just-" Mike waved him off.

"It's fine, I'll just call Jeremy to pick me up or something" The man probably wouldn't mind all that much, and it had been a bit since Mike had a proper conversation with his friend. He hadn't really been able to keep up with everyone outside of the investigative side of their friendship. It made him feel kind of guilty to be honest, but that was something he could work on, just like he could work on this, as after a minute of silence which Mike mostly just took to get used to the man's car, which handled horribly in comparison to his own car, he spoke up.

"So, wanna talk about that?" The man just shuddered, his eyes moving away from staring ahead to look out the passenger's window.

"I-... I don't know what's there to say that isn't obvious enough already... H-how can you feel... safe?" It wasn't a vulnerable question, it sounded more perplexed than anything from the man, it almost made Mike laugh, just a bit, at how the hell he was suppose to answer that question. Because it was Mari, the idea of not feeling safe around him, much less in some kind of danger... But that wasn't really the question, and they both knew it, so he just took a second, trying to think about just how he was suppose to answer it, before finally saying.

"Because they've changed... No, that's not right, they've gotten better. I- How much has Fritz explained about the whole... Everything about the animatronics?"

"N-nothing really, just that they aren't... dangerous anymore. We don't- We don't talk about them if we can help it" Rather more likely Fritz didn't talk about it because he didn't want this to happen to the man. Mike understood it, honestly, out of everyone, Phone Guy might just know the best about what it was like for Mike, they were the only ones who got stuffed and survived to retell the experience, and hell knows just how much that effected him, no matter what he liked to think about himself, that was still easily one of the worst things that he's ever gone through, only the scooper and Evan's death were worse.

"That's fair... They aren't monsters, they never were, you know?" Phone Guy winced, but slowly nodded, as Mike just sighed, frowning to himself as he tried to think about how to explain it, this was different than Janet who knew nothing going in, this was Phone Guy, the man who knew everything, quite possibly more than Mike himself did still, but he found the words all the same, "They were just kids back then, some of them still are... I'm not going to justify what happened, from my perspective everyone in the entire place is at fault for one thing or another"

Phone Guy flinched, and, yeah, Mike wasn't going to sugarcoat it, they both knew the man was probably guilty of at least a few things, at the very least he hid more than a few disappearances, no way he hadn't over the many years he worked at and for Freddy's. But he wasn't blind that in some ways it was on the animatronics as well, but they... Well, they were kids, kids in a position where they didn't have any idea what to do and with nothing but fear and anger to propel them, something Mike knew all to well. It was complicated, and he was bias for the animatronics, most of them at least, but that wasn't what this was about, as he continued to speak.

"They didn't have the best chances, and they were actively sabotaged against being better even if they wanted to be," Mike wasn't going to go into the Spring Bonnie and programming rabbit hole in it's entirety, but he did need to mention it, "But they've overcome that, they're... They're people at the end of the day, just different. I feel safe around them because I know them, they're my friends... Honestly, they're more like my family"

He didn't know why he added that last part, but it was true, Evan, well, he just was his family, but the other two? Foxy... Foxy was honestly just like another kid brother to him, in a way that just thinking about it in this moment made his chest tighten with an almost ironic sense of dread and relief. And Mari... Well, the puppet was self explanatory... Still, he left the air quiet for a long moment, before Phone Guy slowly spoke up.

"You... You're nothing like your father" Mike felt his eyes go wide at the unprompted comment, turning to stare at Phone Guy in shock, before jerking his eyes back to the road as he said.

"Where'd that come from?" The man just shrugged, though he seemed... less anxious, no longer fidgeting around, not comfortable still, but calmer than Mike thinks he's seen the man before.

"I-... It's nothing really, just... You're a good man Michael" Mike was speechless as the man let out a pained kind of laugh, before saying softly, "I-... I'm sorry I ran out, but I-... I can't see them like that, any of them, especially not..." Mike was much more curious about just what Mari's done, though he waited a moment, instead saying.

"It's fine, I'm hardly going to force you to talk to any of them, being honest, you're not really on any of their favorite people list either, but the offer's on the table if you ever want to go to the Cove... See what Freddy's should have been" That got an almost proper laugh from Phone Guy, as he said, his eyes moving up, straying ahead, noticing they were getting pretty close to the man's house.

"Y-yeah, I assume I wouldn't be... Thanks, maybe... Maybe one day, but, uh, not today... I-... Listen, if you need anything, ask, I might... I might not be great about all of this, but I- I owe it to them, to everything that Fazbear Entertainment has caused, to at least..." The trailed off again, but Mike got the message, he wasn't sure he'd take the man up on it, but it was nice to know he was willing, whether it being out of guilt or something else, in the end did it really make a difference?

"Thanks Phone Guy"

"...What?" ...Oops.

"Uh... Well this is you're stop! Nice seeing you, thanks for checking in" Mike chose to not make eye contact with the man as he pulled the car into the driveway and quickly exited it, he had planned on waiting on the man's porch or something, but Mike suddenly had a great and sudden interest in getting a walk in, Jeremy could pick him up a few blocks from here.

Marionette recognized that he shouldn't have scared the man off... But in his defense, he didn't particularly like 'Phone Guy', and frankly he didn't want the man talking about even more stuff to Mike, they had enough on their hands as it was without more being dropped in their laps. Of course that plan had worked out well enough to get the man out of the door, only Mike followed, and the puppet could only watch with a lamentation that the two were now driving off somewhere while he stayed behind.

It was a lapse in judgement to think that Mike of all people would just let the topic drop instead of just getting himself in a place where the puppet could interrupt him again, but he couldn't do anything about it now, so he just sighed, as he watched them go off. He had the feeling Mike wouldn't be home before he had to leave for the Cove, a shame... but it also put off the scolding the man would no doubt try to inflict on him, so maybe not the worse thing.

As it stood, he still had a bit of time before work and now he had no one to spend it with... Maybe it wasn't a great idea, but one idea all the same did come to mind on just what he could do.

He had put it off for about a day now since learning, but the puppet truly didn't want to spend much time debating rather than just doing. And it was better to do it now, before work than having to go in and try and do it in the evening afterwards, because... Well, honestly, Marionette didn't have much of a reason, he wasn't... eager for what was about to happen, but there was a need to do it anyways that drove him through his next line of action.

it was a simple enough matter, maybe not a massively easy one, the warehouse was more on the other side of town than the ten minute drive from the house to the Cove, but the strain wasn't anything overwhelming to appear there. He's certainly done bigger jumps to more unfamiliar places, and those were the ones that tired him out, but that was besides the point, as he floated around for a moment in the central area, stalling just long enough to look around and see that it had seemed Goldie had already been picked up by Jeremy.

A good thing, he didn't want the bear to know- no that sounded bad, he didn't want someone else here while the coming conversation happened.

Drifting ahead, he felt the faint tick of nerves pull in the form of the comb pick of his music box click audibly in response to the strange stress he felt as he floated in front of the doors of the metal crate that held him, Toy Bonnie... Only Bonnie now the puppet supposed, there weren't any others left to claim that name anymore to need something like a prefix. It was a painful thought, that grief, it wasn't something Marionette liked to keep his thoughts on, and now wasn't any different, as he leaned in and knocked carefully on the doors to announce his presence before he could fall into a even worse line of thought.

The sound of nothing answered him, as Marionette thought about calling out, but for some reason the words caught themself before he could get them out, the idea of speaking suddenly almost as nerve wracking as anything else. As instead he reached out, placing a hand on the latch to the doors, before, after a moment of hesitance, pulling it open, and moved inside quietly.

A soft but pained chime echoed from his chest at the sight of his friend as he moved further in. He... he hadn't come back and really seen Bonnie since... Well, since he learned Bonnie was still around, it was... It was something he felt more and more guilty about, but it had been almost easy to get so wrapped up in everything else he could pretend that his own history wasn't right around the corner, waiting on him to address it.

Bonnie being deactivated, at least to everyone's wrong knowledge, had been something he used as an excuse, to let himself get wrapped up with everything going on with Mike, an escape from his own baggage under the pretense of helping out the other's own. And that wasn't necessarily wrong, he truly did want to help Mike, he wanted to make things better for the man in any way he could, but the puppet knew he was also using it as an excuse to hide from things like this.

They hadn't really thought about who he was in weeks now for example, they could have, he was sure they had enough clues to make a conclusion of some kind, if he really asked Mike, and the two worked together on it, they probably could come up with something, but... But he wasn't yet sure he wanted to know, despite the fact he was sure he was going to learn one way or another...

None of that was important here, not really, it was just another excuse and thought to distract himself from what he was doing here, staring ahead at Bonnie. He looked like he was in better condition, Marionette wasn't an expert or anything, but the clear lack of rust was a good sign right? Though his suit was still thoroughly damaged in a way that hurt to look at, the unmoving, still nature of the bunny didn't help but reinforce the image that Marionette had of him and the other toys, lifeless, even if the puppet knew better, it was hard to forget that moment, so many months ago now, in this very warehouse, where he found them all again.

The words were still stuck in his throat, would Bonnie even recognize his voice? Would even want to talk to him? Their last interaction weighed heavily on the puppet's mind no matter how much he tried to just see it as something understandable, that this was still his friend, but... But the image of the frantic, manic animatronic having to be held down by his own hands and strings, to be forced to be turned off for not only his safety but the safety of others.

Letting out a short if uncomfortable chime, he moved over, hesitating for a moment too long as a clear and obviously annoyed voice spoke out from the animatronic in front of him.

"He told you" Marionette let out a surprised sound, before answering back carefully.

"Y-yes... I wanted to speak with you, so he told me, no one else though" The animatronic hadn't moved still, just laying there on the table, Marionette wished he would do something, but in the end, he didn't, instead just speaking out into the air.

"Bastard" Marionette felt a familiar surge of protectiveness come over him, mixing with the hurt he was already feeling, as he spoke before he could hope to hold it back.

"He wouldn't have had to if you just told us you were awake again" The bunny let out a harsh distorted by static huff at the idea, saying back just as sharply.

"Why? So I could be lectured by a bunch of night guards? Or just turned off again? Shoved away like I'm some troublesome bot that's glitching?" Marionette couldn't help but wince at the vitriol that was held in the bunny's words, as they moved and stabbed deep into the puppet's chest.

"I- It's not like that Bonnie! We want to help, we still do, it's why Fritz has been coming in and repairing you, you-... We know you weren't alright when you did that, we aren't going to hold it against you!"

"Yeah, right" Marionette expected something more, but that was it, nothing more, just clear disbelief and a disinterest in talking about it by the way the animatronic spoke those words, that stabbed something in the puppet's chest, as he kept talking, trying to convince the bunny.

"It's true! W-Why would you think I would let anyone do something like that to you?" Marionette didn't like the way his tone almost sounded pleading, btu he needed to know, needed to understand just what he had done, he knew he had messed up, he knew he waited too long, but he- But Bonnie had to know if it came down to it the puppet would always do his best to protect him right?

He didn't expect the broke, bitter, and worse of all, harsh laughter that seemed to cause the animatronics' body to shake from the force of it, it was... a painful one, laced with agony, as the animatronic all but spat at him, the bunny's body jerking up and staring right at him with spectral white burning eyes that caused the puppet to flinch back.

"Because you already have! I- I was alone! For so long I was alone, waiting for- for that man to come back and break me more, surrounded by my friends' empty husks. And then I learned how to escape this damn place, how to use that damn prison to have new eyes, and I looked and looked, and looked for you! And did I find? You living in that man's house, working at a pizzeria willingly like some show dog, and I tried to show you I was here, I tried to get your attention, tried to remind you of those you ABANDONED and when you didn't I TOOK MATTERS IN MY OWN HANDS"

The animatronic had slowly been moving as he spoke, his words becoming louder and louder, more and more harsh and wrathful, moving from standing to almost stalking right at Marionette, who couldn't help, in spite of everything, but back up, slowly, from the sheer intensity of the animatronic's voice, the pressure almost physically pressing on the world, as the puppet's back smacked up against the wall of the metal crate, as Bonnie got closer and closer, as he shouted those last words while staring up at the puppet who felt like his chest had been crushed inward.

Finally the raw tension broke, the lights were still in the bunny's eyes, but the pressure lessened, as the two stared at each other, as after a long moment Marionette realized the animatronic was trembling, his whole form shaking, as he spoke a few last words.

"You looked right at me, and- and left me, was... was I not worth it? Is that why you didn't save me?" Marionette felt something in him break as he watched from the broken and ruined face of Toy Bonnie, familiar trails of purple leaked from the remains of his eyes.

Those left behind, and those who were the last to remain, an... interesting parallel in my opinion, one I had great pleasure in realizing after I wrote this chapter and realized the narrative connection between Phone Guy and Toy Bonnie, though of course I'll obviously take credit for that genius as if I planned it all along!

...But seriously, this was a lot heavier than I thought it was going to be going into this, the talk between Mari and Bonnie shifted quickly from what I had planned, but I think this is infinitely better, the rawness to it... Bonnie is a kid, the youngest animatronic in the story so far if what's been established is to be lead to be believed, he's just a kid. A very traumatized one, not that that says much in this story, but... I don't know, I could go on and write a whole other chapter's worth of words explaining it, but I don't think I need to, he's a kid who was abandoned by the one person he thought would always care for him, and then had that faith broken down over and over in his own eyes. And is now confronting the source of such hurt.

Hence the parallel between him and Phone Guy, who is a walking basket case of issues and problems that he's mostly just allowed himself to stew in without any real attempt to move past it, and was suddenly face to face with Mari, who, let's be honest, is terrifying and would no doubt have given the man a ton of trauma flags. It's interesting, but that might just be me. Anyways, we're around the mid point of this part of the story, and it's been a while I think since the last time I asked, so what's everyone thinking? Still enjoying it or have we reached the part of the story where everything is to complicated and trying to do to much to stay invested in it? I could certainly understand both, this is definitely the most dense section of the story character plot wise, because everyone has something going on, but it kind of had to be here, because here is the first time these things can happen, it's all been set up for this, and then afterwards we can move into more smooth waters. But that's neither here nor there really, just me rambling. So I'll end it off here, See ya!