A/N: Don't really have much to say, so let's move on to the next chapter! And as I promised in the last chapter, there will be plenty of lore exploration and secrets to uncover in the murkiness that still surrounds the dark history of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. A lot of this will be centered around lore from FNAF6, though the past history from other games will be addressed as well.
Since this chapter is almost certainly going to be one of the most important ones I'm going to write, I would greatly appreciate any feedback you can give me in a review. Whether it's encouragement or constructive criticism, anything that's not just being an asshole is welcome and will help me continue to improve as a writer.
I've also updated the fic's picture image. This one was made by chibineko, I did NOT make it.
And with that said, on with the show!
Chapter 36 – The Puppet's Family Part 2
Night had fallen by the time that Mike pulled up right outside the house where Charlie and her father had used to live. With the sky plunged in darkness and nobody outside, Charlie didn't have to worry about hiding her Marionette body from curious eyes like she had at the Marshalls' house.
"I just realized that we didn't let whoever is inside this house know that we were coming, or if they're even here in the first place," Mike muttered as they approached the front door. "I hope we don't piss off whoever your dad left to take care of the house."
"Dad made it sound like we wouldn't have any issues getting in," Charlie replied. "Still, you're right. We might run into some issues that we hadn't thought about."
"Hope luck's on our side," her new dad answered back as he rang the doorbell. For several seconds, nothing happened. Then, the sound of footsteps slowly approached the door, and the two of them could hear it unlock from inside. The door opened to reveal an elderly man, bald but with a white mustache and beard.
"So you've come at last," he murmured, almost too quietly for them to hear. He looked around to the left and right, then opened the door wider. "Come inside, and quickly. We have much to discuss."
Mike and Charlie looked at each other, surprised by the fact that the man had not only apparently expected them, but also by his secretive nature. The two of them walked into the house and the man quickly shut the door and locked it behind them. "My apologies for the abrupt greeting," he said as he guided them into the kitchen. "Henry was insistent that the darker secrets of Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria and anything associated with it be kept in the shadows as thoroughly and carefully as possible. After seeing these secrets with my own eyes, I have to agree with him." He took a seat onto a chair, and both Mike and Charlie did the same. "Allow me to introduce myself," he held out a hand to Mike. "My name is Nelson MacGregor. I was one of Henry's closest friends before his death, and one of his business partners in happier times."
Mike took the hand slowly and gave his own name, not quite sure if he could trust the man sitting a few feet away from him. Nelson chuckled. "You don't trust me, or at least not completely. I'm glad to see that, I'd consider you a fool if you did. Henry spoke very highly of you last night when he told me that you and Charlie would arrive here tonight."
Charlie's eyelights flickered in surprise. "He came to you in a dream, too?" she asked. Suddenly her father being in a rush made a lot more sense.
"He did indeed," Nelson confirmed with a smile. "Someone had to let me know who you were and why you were coming." His eyes fell on Charlie. "I remember when you were just a little girl, Charlie. You were always so bright and happy, you loved Fredbear's Family Diner more than anything. And then everything came crashing down." He shook his head sadly, and then a look of rage entered his face. "May William Afton rot in Hell for all eternity," he snarled.
An icy smile stretched across Mike's lips. "You don't have to worry about a thing, Mr. MacGregor," he assured him with a tone that caused Charlie to shudder. "I took care of that personally."
If Nelson was disturbed by the sudden menace that Mike emanated in that moment, he hid it expertly. "You wouldn't be the first father that Afton underestimated. And please, call me Nelson," he replied without missing a beat, and then his eyes fell upon Charlie again. A sad chuckle left his lips. "I have to say, though…I never would have imagined that you would one day return in the body of what Henry has always believed to be his greatest invention. Though even if you look nothing like what you used to, Charlie, I can still see the daughter he loved more than anything as clear as day."
"The Marionette did everything it could to protect me and keep me safe," Charlie answered, and then a sad sigh left her lips. "But it couldn't save me from William Afton's knife, no matter how hard it tried to. It was the closest thing that I had to a friend in the final moments of my life."
"You're talking about the Marionette as if it were alive, as if it could think on its own." Mike noted. "But…the animatronics…I thought they were just that, animatronics. I thought the only reason why they came alive and attacked me and the other Night Guards was because of the kids possessing them."
"That is true for the most part, Dad," Charlie explained. "The Marionette…it was programmed to give gifts out at the prize corner, that much everyone knew. But it was also designed specifically to keep children like me safe. I don't know if that makes it alive in the sense that you're alive, but it had a purpose and vitality that the other animatronics never had. I was wearing a security bracelet that would allow the Marionette to follow me around and guard me from anything that it perceived to be a threat."
Mike's eyes widened. "Damn, that's pretty advanced for 1983," he whistled.
Charlie shook her head. "It was an incredible animatronic, but it wasn't perfect. The day I died, the door was locked and it took the Marionette some time to find a way to open it. It didn't help that I was outside of the building so the signal from my bracelet was weaker to begin with." Her words suddenly began to falter. "Th…there was no one to help me…" she stuttered as she struggled to hold back her sobs. "It…it was so dark…s-so c-cold…I…I…"
Mike immediately rushed over to her and wrapped his arms around her body in a tight hug. "Breathe, Charlie..." he murmured in her ear. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. Take in deep breaths. That's it. In and out…"
As Charlie followed her new father's instructions to calm herself down, Nelson looked on with silent approval. He was liking this man, Mike Schmidt, more and more with every passing moment. Eventually, Charlie was able to calm down enough to continue her story. "The Marionette finally managed to get through to me, but it was too late. And because of all the rain, its inner workings became damaged as well. All it could do was lay down beside me, trying to wake me up from something I could never wake up from. And then…"
"…you possessed it," Nelson finished. "Your soul became one with the Puppet."
"Yes…" Charlie confirmed, "…but I was a long time before I finally woke up and realized that I was inside the Marionette's body. When I realized what had happened to me, I was so…angry…at my death." She lowered her head in shame. "You know what happened next afterwards."
Mike and Nelson both knew what she was talking about, but both opted not to comment on it. Her guilt over her past actions was bad enough without either of them rubbing it in. "I'm guessing that whatever sentience was inside the Marionette that day was lost because of the damage," Mike instead commented.
Charlie nodded. "It sacrificed its life to try and save me, and I'll always honor it for that. In that darkest of moments, it gave me comfort when no one else could."
"Now I understand why you're still wearing the Marionette as a body for so many years," Mike murmured. "You're the only one whose animatronic wasn't a prison of some kind."
"That may be so," Nelson added, "but the reason why your spirit inhabited the body of the Marionette in the first place is still the same as it was for all the other animatronics."
Charlie looked up at her father's old friend. "The reason why all the animatronics became haunted?" she asked.
"Indeed. That secret is hidden inside the computers and files, where only myself and now you can reach it. But I'd like to learn more about what happened to you first, Charlie, if you don't mind." Nelson shook his head sadly. "I always sensed that there was something…wrong…about William Afton when he first started working with Henry," he confessed. "Something dark about him. But he seemed to work so well with William, and there was nothing concrete I could point to that would convince Henry to break ties with him. To this day I still curse myself for being a fool."
"It wasn't your fault, any more than it was dad's," Charlie assured him.
Nelson smiled at that. "You're still the same sweet, kind child you have always been, Charlie. I'm glad to see that years of rage and vengeance could not erase that. But as I was saying, I do have some questions of my own, as I'm sure that your new father does."
"Go right ahead," Charlie said invitingly, "it's only fair after we intruded like this."
"Henry told me that you developed quite an impressive array of magical powers," Nelson asked curiously. "And I'm not talking about giving the animatronics life. Even now, with your new family, you continue to display magical capabilities that the other ghosts do not. May I ask how you came across those? The Marionette was a special animatronic, to be sure, but it was never capable of doing what you can do by itself."
"I was actually wondering that myself," Mike admitted with a sheepish grin. "I've seen what you can do, and it's really cool, but I still have no idea how you're able to pull something like that off."
"I didn't develop these by myself," Charlie explained, secretly glad that they were moving on to more comfortable topics. "And despite what everyone believed, I wasn't entirely alone either. When I was moved to the 1987 location, I came across two…frankly bizarre figures. They looked like…shadowy forms of Bonnie and Freddy, I think is the best way to describe them."
Mike instantly tensed. Could she be talking about…
"They taught me how to draw upon my inner power and manifest it in the form of magic," she continued, not noticing her father's sudden change in demeanor. "They didn't teach me anything specific though, and instead they left it to me to figure out what I could do with my newfound power." Despite the mask, her face took on a pensive look. "I still wonder what they are and where they have gone, now that the tragedy surrounding the Freddy franchise is over and done with."
"I'm just glad that you had some form of company with you in those lonely years," Nelson commented as Mike slowly relaxed.
"You have no idea just how hard those years truly were," Charlie replied with another sigh. "I wasn't exactly lonely, per say. I always had my new family, William Afton's fellow victims, to keep me company. I followed them from the 1982 pizzeria to the 1993 pizzeria, and I kept my vigil even through the destruction of the animatronics, Purple Guy's death, and the rise of Fazbear's Fright. But it was so incredibly exhausting, trying to keep them from falling into complete and total despair while at the same time not giving in to the urge to surrender into that same blackness."
"I'm sure you did the best you could," Mike said comfortingly as he put a hand on her shoulder.
"All I could do was press on," Charlie continued sadly. "I would have stopped William Afton from destroying the animatronics if I could have, but the others warned me not to. They needed one of us to stay alive and undamaged, so that we could one day find help in some way. They trusted me to find someone to save them, though I swore that I wouldn't leave them until I had no other choice."
"I assume that the burning of Fazbear's Fright was the tipping point?" Nelson guessed.
The girl inside the Marionette nodded again. "With its destruction, I knew that the time had come. Nobody would come and save us...if I wanted to find someone to end the tragedy once and for all, I would have to seek him out myself. And even though I didn't have any clue whether he still lived in this house, or whether he would even recognize me or would be able to help us at all, I sought out the one person who I thought would even be willing to help me."
"Henry…" Nelson and Mike both said at the same time. "It's only natural," Nelson added, "for a lost child to seek out her parents in times of great need."
"Yes…although unfortunately, he misunderstood my intentions when our paths first crossed, after so many years." Mike gave her a sympathetic glance as he remembered what she had tearfully confessed to him on their car ride here. "He had been planning a grand trap, one that would finally burn down all of the remaining animatronics and bring a conclusive end to this decades-long nightmare. I didn't want to be seen by anyone besides him, so I snuck into this house just in case my father had moved away or something."
"And was that when…?" Mike began, but Charlie already knew what he was going to ask.
"Yes," she confirmed, "that was when he trapped me inside Lefty. And that was how I finally found my father again."
A Few Years Ago…
The moment she first heard the tune "Grandfather's Clock" play, she knew that something was terribly wrong. There was some inner mechanism in the Marionette that always drew it towards the source of that specific jingle whenever it was played, and even after so many years it was still operational. Charlie couldn't do anything but watch as her body moved on its own accord, following the jingle all the way to a new animatronic that she had never seen before. Her body approached the bear that she would later learn was called Lefty and climbed inside, where she lay secure and unmoving as she desperately wondered what was going on.
Her first terrifying thought was that the Purple Guy had somehow found a way to trap her yet again, had finally cornered her and would now finish what he had started. But that didn't make any sense – the murderer had been trapped inside Springtrap for years now, and wouldn't have any way to access the materials that would be needed to create Lefty. Then, footsteps slowly approached, and Charlie's eyes widened as she saw the man that her father had become.
The girl could barely remember what her father looked like when she'd still been alive, but it was clear to her that the years had taken a heavy toll on Henry. He seemed so incredibly tired and sad, and beyond that Charlie could see that something had broken inside him, a fundamental piece of his soul that was forever lost.
"Hello, my daughter…" Henry greeted her, and she could hear how exhausted he was through his voice. "It has been so very long since…that day. The day that you suffered something that no child should ever have to suffer. I have cursed myself for letting it happen almost as much as I cursed William Afton for being the monster who would cause all this. You should never have died and been forced to endure this cursed existence, let alone the other innocent souls. But now…now I am finally ending it."
He knelt down onto the floor in front of Charlie, who was still immobile. Tears were flowing out of his eyes, though he brushed them away with his arm. "So many times, I wanted to give up. Give up…and put myself to an endless sleep. But I could not. Not when I was the only one who could do something to end Springtrap's madness and the horror that he had caused. And after years of planning, I finally have the means to end it all. And I can finally end your suffering as well, my precious baby girl. I can't imagine the agony that you must have gone through all these years, and it was my fault for allowing it to happen in the first place. But even though I could not do anything to stop it…at least I can be the one to finally ease your pain and the pain of those who fell to William Afton's cruelty along with you."
He got up and was about to leave, but Charlie couldn't remain silent anymore. By some incredible miracle, her father knew about the tragedy and had already taken steps to bring it to a close. But there were still things that neither of them understood, things that were stopping them pursuing their mutual goal together. "Dad…" she breathed.
Her voice was barely above a whisper, but her father would never forget the way it sounded. He whirled around. "Ch…Charlie?" he asked, wondering if he had imagined it.
"Dad…" she called out again, her voice stronger this time and leaving no room for doubt. "It's…it's me. Why…why did you trap me in this? Why…would you ensnare me in this…this suit?"
Henry was too shocked to speak for a moment, but he quickly recovered. "I…I…" he turned his face away in shame. "I didn't know how much of my daughter was left," he confessed. "I didn't know if you had been lost completely to the need for vengeance against those you believe had wronged you. If that had been the case…then releasing your soul was the only mercy that I could give you."
Charlie felt her shame renew itself as she remembered the two Night Guards she had murdered and the many more innocents that her friends had slain. "Dad…it's…it's still me…" she tried to argue. "I don't want to kill anymore. I stopped wanting to kill a long time ago. And I'm…I'm not in pain. This existence…it isn't as much of a curse as you think it is. My friends have suffered far more than I have. All I want…is the very same thing you want. I want to end the tragedy and stop William Afton once and for all."
"Charlie…"
"Please, dad…" she begged, desperation filling her voice. "Please...let me help you. You can trust me. I won't do anything to hurt you. And you don't have to do this alone. We can do this together, the last act we can carry out as a family. Please, dad…don't break us apart again after we've finally come back together."
Henry didn't move for several seconds. Then, finally, he sighed and knelt down in front of Lefty. "If there is a God," he prayed silently, "please, don't let this be some cruel trick. Please, let this truly be my daughter, free from the murderous madness that once consumed her and her friends." Then, very slowly, he deactivated the machinery that were keeping Lefty and the Puppet immobile. Once the last one was shut down, he closed his eyes and waited.
He could hear Lefty's machinery activate and felt a pair of metal arms encircle his body. At first, he wondered if he was about to be killed by his first and last creation combined in one, but the arms around him didn't have enough pressure to crush or kill. Sobs began to reach his ears from the animatronic in front of him, and that was enough for him to realize that the Puppet was crying. Crying…and hugging him through her new body.
"I missed you so, so much, dad…" Charlie was crying openly now, no longer able to hold back her emotions. "Thank you. Thank you…for trusting me."
Henry awkwardly pat the back of Lefty's head as he gave her a gentle and relieved smile. His daughter had finally come back to him, in body, mind, and soul. Of that, he had no more doubts now. Father and daughter sat there for several moments in silence as they basked in their reunion and the emotions it brought them both. Then, Henry slowly got to his feet.
"There is so much I need to do, baby girl," he said, eyes hardening in determination. Having Charlie at his side fueled him with a drive and determination that he had been struggling to find only seconds before. "The first thing I need to do is to work on the Marionette."
Charlie tilted Lefty's head and gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean, dad?"
"The mechanism that keeps you docile with Grandfather's Clock needs to be removed," Henry explained. Charlie was happy to see that he was already becoming far more vibrant now that they had been reunited. "Now that I know that I can trust you, it is a vulnerability that our future enemies might exploit, and I won't allow anything that will leave you helpless."
"And then afterwards?" Charlie asked.
Henry gave her a grim smile. "We have a lot of work to do."
Present Day
"Like I told you, Charlie," Mike said with a knowing smile, "your father trusted you to do the right thing in the end."
Charlie's eyelights twinkled. "I know, dad. And for us, doing the right thing meant months of preparation and planning. Creating the trap pizzeria, luring the animatronics over there." The merry look in her eyes faded. "But there were flaws in our plan. The biggest one was when I returned to Fazbear's Fright, only to discover that my friend's souls were gone. I don't know how my father knew about Ennard, or Molten Freddy as he would later be known, but he somehow knew that their spirits had been gathered into that mechanical abomination." She shook her head sadly. "Ideally, we would have found them before that creature did, but there was nothing we could do about it except adjust our plan to accommodate for that development."
"How did Henry know about all this?" Mike questioned. "I mean, I know that your dad was a genius in the sea of incompetent fucktards that was Fazbear Inc., but it seems like he knew far more about what was going on than you'd expect any regular human being to."
Charlie shrugged. "I couldn't tell you, to be honest," she answered. "Apart from going back to Fazbear's Fright, my dad didn't let me leave the house, as much for my own safety as much as it was to avoid causing panic and possibly alerting Springtrap to our actions. And there were some things that he could only guess at, rather than know for certain. His belief that Baby's programming would eventually corrupt Liz was an educated guess, though we know now that he was completely correct."
"At least Liz is safe with us now," Mike confidently stated. "Safe and free to be the bright, happy, and kindhearted child that I know she was always supposed to be. Just like all the others."
"By Liz, do you mean Elizabeth Afton?" Nelson asked. When both Mike and Charlie confirmed it, a look of relief appeared on his face. "That girl deserved better than to be twisted into a monstrosity. I'm glad to hear that she's in good hands."
"And it's going to stay that way until the day I die," Mike assured him.
"I hold you to that promise, my friend," Nelson replied, before gesturing towards Charlie. "I'm sorry, we were interrupting you. Please continue."
Charlie nodded. "We spent two months perfecting our plan, creating a fake pizzeria that would lure the animatronics in, a false opportunity to murder more innocents that they would not be able to resist. There were some things my father did on the side related to our project that I didn't ever see, but I was busy doing my own part so I didn't question it. And then, the day finally came. My father hired someone to manage our false pizzeria, and the animatronics came one at a time. First Molten Freddy, then Springtrap's new ruined form, then Scrap Baby, and then me."
"You went into that pizzeria willingly, knowing it was a death trap?" Nelson asked incredulously. "Why?"
"Someone needed to be the one to make sure that the other evil animatronics remained trapped there," Charlie explained. "Dad was fairly certain that there would be no way for them to escape, but he had learned long ago that only fools left things to chance. I went in there to make sure their fate was sealed. Lefty might have been meant to be my prison at one point, but now it made for excellent armor. The other animatronics were worn down and decrepit, but Lefty was new and well-made. Its higher quality gave me the ability to fight off any of the older animatronics or flee if things became too dangerous. But as it turned out, we had the perfect ally that neither my father nor I expected."
"Michael Afton," Mike said quietly.
"That's right," she agreed, and a quiet laugh left her mouth. "We didn't know it at first, but Michael Afton had taken the job, for he was just as dedicated to ending the Fazbear tragedy that his monster of a father created as we were. And despite being little better than a walking corpse by that point, he deflected the attacks of the other animatronics with a skill that could only come from years of experience of being a Night Guard. We could not have found a better person to ensure that the animatronics would remain sealed inside the pizzeria until we burned it down at the end of the week."
"Henry intended for that pizzeria to be a final resting place not just for them, but for you and him as well," Nelson commented. "The only one he intended to let out was Michael Afton, though the man ultimately stayed because he sought eternal peace as well. And yet you are here now, while the others have passed on to the afterlife."
"I had to make sure that the animatronics truly were destroyed, and the only way I could ensure the end of the tragedy was to teleport out of the pizzeria before I was consumed by the flames," Charlie explained to him. "It appears that my father had the same idea, but he stayed inside the building to see their destruction with his own eyes." She sighed and shook her head. "Because of that one moment of miscommunication, I won't be able to follow him to the afterlife for years to come, but I am certain that both of us are willing to pay that price if it means that all the souls are freed and the nightmare is ended. And after seeing their ruined remains with my own eyes, I can finally say without a shadow of a doubt that it is finally over."
"And with that, one chapter of your life ends, and another one begins," Mike said as he smiled and put an arm around Charlie's shoulder, who held onto his hand and returned the gesture with an affectionate look in her eyes.
"I may not have known you for very long, Mr. Schmidt, but I can already tell that if God appointed you as the guardian of William Afton's victims, then He chose wisely and He chose well," Nelson praised. "I have only seen Charlie this happy when she was a little girl, before this entire mess started."
Mike grinned. "I do my best."
"Heck yeah you do!" Charlie added, and all three of them laughed for several seconds. Then, Nelson's expression became more somber.
"You have told your tale and your secrets, Charlie," he declared. "And now, it is time for me to tell you mine. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say your father's." He got up from his chair and beckoned for Mike and Charlie to follow him up the stairs and to Henry's old room. A large desktop was waiting for them. Nelson sat down on the computer and began to open up three files that Mike recognized as blueprints. One of them he recognized as Lefty, detailing Henry's plan to capture the Marionette inside his body before Charlie had convinced him otherwise. The other two were of machines unfamiliar to him, and he guessed that they were from Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental rather than Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. But there was one word shared between both files that caught his eye.
"Remnant?" he read the word aloud. "Why do I feel like this is significant somehow?"
"Because it is, Mr. Schmidt," Nelson answered, his face suddenly taking on a grim look. "More than you could possibly know. For this substance, Remnant…it is the true reason why the souls were trapped inside the animatronics in the first place.
Mike's and Charlie's jaws dropped. "Even…even the original ones?" Charlie gasped. "Even Spring Bonnie…and me?"
"That is correct, Charlie," Nelson confirmed. "It was used on the animatronics that would form the foundation of Fredbear's Family Diner, its original purpose meant to stabilize the structure of the animatronics and keep them from falling apart. But unbeknownst to all at the time, it also has the property of trapping souls if too much of it is concentrated in one location. The earliest animatronics – Spring Bonnie, Fredbear, The Marionette, even the original four, they were all made with this Remnant."
"And that's the reason why they all became possessed," Mike murmured. "Even Spring Bonnie and the Marionette itself, which were never affected by outside forces like Charlie's magic at all."
Nelson nodded. "That is correct. However, only these originals were made with Remnant. When Fredbear's Family Diner started losing money after Charlie's death and the Bite of 1983, Fazbear Inc. stopped ordering animatronics with Remnant to save money, and Emily Robotics discontinued using it entirely soon after. That is why no other animatronics became possessed by other souls, such as the spirits of the killed Night Guards, in future restaurants."
Mike couldn't help but snort despite the gravity of the topic. "So the one time that Fazbear Inc. actually does something right, they do it by fucking accident. Of fucking course." He suddenly realized who he was talking to. "No offense," he added quickly.
Nelson chuckled dryly. "Believe me, Mr. Schmidt, my opinion of Fazbear Inc. is very much the same," he assured him, before turning to Charlie. "When you came across the spirits of the murdered children, your future family, they were already trapped to existence inside the animatronics because William Afton had stuffed their bodies inside those Remnant-encased suits."
"And that's when I found them…" Charlie murmured. "Found them…and gave them life."
"What you call giving them life may not actually be the correct way to describe it, at least not entirely," her father's old friend commented, causing both Mike and Charlie to look at him in surprise. "As both Springtrap and Baby proved, the spirits within them would ultimately be able to possess the animatronics anyway. But it took both many years to do so, or at least that was the case for Springtrap. I don't fully understand it myself, but from what I can gather, Charlie, what you did with your magic was drastically accelerate the speed at which the ghosts of the murdered children would be able to take control of their new forms. It would have taken them many more years to reach that point on their own if you hadn't done anything."
Charlie stood there wordlessly for several moments as she processed what Nelson had just told her. Then, she collapsed on her knees and started crying. "It wasn't my fault…" she gasped out, and Mike suddenly realized they were tears of relief rather than sorrow. "I didn't enslave my friends. I didn't trap them in their own Hell. It wasn't my fault…"
"Nope," her new father assured her as he stroked the Puppet's head gently, "it looks like at the end of the day, you didn't cause this mess. What did was something beyond anybody's control or knowledge." He looked back at the monitor with the blueprints. "Wait a minute…so William Afton continued to use this soul-binding Remnant even after Fazbear Inc. stopped using it? So he KNEW that he'd be enslaving kids' souls in those Funtime animatronics?" His eyes suddenly blazed with rage, hatred, and disgust. "THAT SON OF A BITCH!" he roared.
Nelson shrugged. "I cannot tell you that," he replied, trying not to show his fear at Mike's sudden fury. "I doubt even Henry knew whether William Afton came to realize what Remnant could actually do and twisted it further to his own malicious purposes."
"Oh I bet he fucking did," Mike spat with venom in his tone. "If I ever see Nightmare again, I'm going to give him a whole new list of tortures just because of this!" he snarled.
"May I ask what you're talking about?" Nelson asked, confused.
Mike forced himself to calm down. "You don't want to know," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Trust me."
Nelson wisely decided not to comment further, and Charlie took this as a good time to change the subject. "Nelson…" she asked after a few seconds of hesitation. "Did…did my father leave any tapes behind? Anything about what he was doing? I'd…I'd like to hear what he had to say, if you don't mind."
He smiled at her. "It would be an honor, Charlie. He was your father after all."
"I'd like to take a look around, Nelson, if you don't mind," Mike requested as he looked around the room. "Apart from wanting to give Charlie some time to herself with her father's final words, I'd like to see if there's anything around here that could help me make Charlie and the other kids' lives better back at home."
Nelson shrugged. "Go right ahead," he invited. "Take anything you think might help you. I'm certain that you can put whatever you find to better use than I have."
"Thanks," Mike gratefully replied as he left Charlie and started looking around the house. There wasn't anything in the upper rooms that he found particularly noteworthy, and as he searched the lower rooms he was beginning to think that maybe it would be more of the same. That is, until he entered a small study with a bookshelf inside it. On top of that bookshelf was a picture with an ornate frame protecting it. The picture must have been several years old, for it pictured two young girls standing in front of Fredbear smiling happily at an unseen camera. One of them was a brown-haired girl with brown eyes that Mike assumed had to be Charlie when she was still alive. But he recognized the other girl instantly.
The other girl…was Liz.
Mike's eyes widened as he studied the picture carefully. If he was right, then that meant that at one point before this mess had all started, Charlie and Liz had been close friends. Possibly even best friends. He reached up and took the picture off the bookshelf, before putting it away in a bag he had carried inside. He didn't know what he was going to do with this information and he couldn't dwell on it now, but this was far too important a detail to leave lying around.
After not finding anything else significant, he decided to go back up the stairs and meet up with Nelson and Charlie again. Charlie was sitting alone, listening as Henry's final words reached her eyes. "I never knew just how much sorrow my death caused my father," she murmured sadly as the tape ended. "It's a miracle that he managed to stay strong as long as he did, and didn't fall into despair a long time ago."
"He had the two most important things in his life to keep him sane," Mike replied as he wrapped her in another hug. "His sense of duty…and you."
Charlie reached up and stroked Mike's cheek in thanks as Nelson sat down on the computer and began opening up other files. "What are you looking up, Nelson?" he asked.
"The animatronics that Henry was going to feature in his false pizzeria," the man explained. "Many of them, understandably, were never actually made." He showed them some animatronics that were so cheaply made it was downright ridiculous, then some simpler designs, and finally some of the newest ones. Mike's eyes bulged as he saw the design for one robot with large cymbals, a stretched out mouth and face with black eyes, and eight legs.
"Oh my fucking God!" he exclaimed in horror. "What in the actual fuck is that thing? It looks fucking terrifying!"
"That would be Music Man," Nelson answered, unable to keep the amusement at Mike's reaction out of his voice.
"That is the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my entire life!" Mike declared. "Jesus Christ, at least Nightmare looks badass as well as scary as Hell. But this? This is just fucking creepy! Who the hell thought this design was a good idea?"
"It was never actually made, Mr. Schmidt," Nelson replied.
"Thank fuck for that!" Mike retorted, causing Charlie to burst out laughing at her father's outburst. After she recovered, she gestured for Nelson to continue. The man looked through the files until he finally opened five files. To Mike's surprise, they looked like newer and slightly modified versions of the animatronics that he was familiar with. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, even Golden Freddy.
"These are the Rockstar animatronics," Nelson explained. "The newest versions of the original five animatronics that I'm sure you recognize. And they are unique in that unlike the others…these were the only ones that were actually made."
Mike's and Charlie's jaws dropped again. "Wh…what?"" Charlie spluttered. "I…I vaguely remember seeing these designs but…dad…he actually had them made?"
"Indeed. Your father was a very careful man, and he had this planned for a long time," Nelson explained. "He had underestimated William Afton's cunning once, and in his eyes, that was what led to your death. He would not make the same mistake again. If he wanted to successfully lure Afton into the fake pizzeria, he would need to give as much truth to his grand lie as possible to make it thoroughly convincing. He would have been suspicious if a new Freddy's pizzeria was announced but no animatronics were being made to support it."
Mike looked over at Charlie. "Was William Afton that cunning?" he asked.
To his surprise, Charlie outright snorted. "No," she scoffed. "His death and resurrection as Springtrap made him more violent and bloodthirsty than ever, but it came at the cost of some of his intelligence and cunning. He just rushed straight for the pizzeria, eager to continue his murdering spree. He didn't bother to investigate, or check to see if any facts were off, or anything like that."
"Even then, from what Henry told me, Afton sensed that something was amiss," Nelson commented, "but as you said, he was too consumed by bloodlust to pay attention to his instincts, and he has paid the eternal price for that stupidity. But going back to the Rockstar animatronics – they were originally created to give as much life to the lie as possible. But since the tragedy ended without them ever being used, Henry now intends them for another purpose entirely."
He looked over at Mike. "If you so wish, Mr. Schmidt, these animatronics can serve as physical bodies for your children to inhabit if they so desire." Mike's eyes widened and Charlie's eyelights flickered in surprise as Nelson continued. "They are not coated in Remnant, for Henry would never come anywhere near the very substance that caused so much pain and suffering in the first place. As such the ghostly children should be able to freely enter and leave these bodies as they please. Although their ability to move around the Earth would still be limited, you and your children may find opportunities and open doors that were previously closed off to you. Henry left them to me in his will along with this house, and although I did not understand his reasoning at the time, I certainly do now. If you want them, they are yours."
Mike thought back to his conversation under the night sky with the ghost kids, how all of them besides Liz had expressed interest in having animatronic bodies as long as they weren't enslaved in them like they had been before. Now that he knew what had trapped them in the first place and that it wasn't a threat anymore, these Rockstar animatronics could very well give his children something that he could tell they wanted, even if they hadn't expressed it too openly.
"What do you think, Charlie?" Mike asked his daughter.
Charlie shrugged. "I don't see anything wrong with it personally, although I believe that appropriate precautions should be taken if we're going to go through with this."
"Not going to argue with that," Mike agreed as he turned back to Nelson. "Would you mind holding on to them for just a little bit longer? I don't know where you're currently holding them, but I'd like to wait for the right time before I decide to bring them in."
Nelson shrugged. "That's perfectly all right with me," he replied as he closed the files down. "I will give you my contact information before you leave so that we can continue this topic of discussion later. It should go without saying that you are welcome back here at any time."
"Thank you, Mr. MacGregor…" Charlie thanked him as they made their way back to the entrance hall.
He chuckled. "You're very welcome, Charlie," he said warmly as he took out his phone. He and Mike exchanged contact information, then the man reached out to open the front door.
"WAIT!" Mike suddenly exclaimed. With everything that had been going on, he had completely forgotten to ask one of the most important questions. "Nelson…I forgot to ask…is there any place that still has this Remnant thing?"
Nelson thought for a moment. "Both Emily Robotics and Afton Robotics no longer use it," he answered after several seconds. "I already told you about Emily Robotics, and William Afton never got along well with his board of directors. Afton Robotics stopped using Remnant soon after Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental closed down, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the Board of Directors decided to go against William Afton's wishes and stopped using it since they would view it as an unnecessary expense. But that doesn't mean that there isn't some out there. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that the only Remnant that's still remaining is in the Scooper at Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental."
"That place is still open?" Mike asked incredulously.
"Well, no…" Nelson clarified. "It was closed down a while ago, and the amalgamation of its animatronics certainly hasn't helped matters. But the building itself hasn't been entirely abandoned yet, from what I can recall. If you plan on doing something about the Remnant that's left, I would suggest waiting for a few more months. There are some rumors that Afton Robotics may soon shut down completely, and once they do then the building will be all but abandoned entirely, and give you much more freedom to destroy what is left of the Remnant without being spotted by someone." He shook your head. "It is not worth going to jail and stripping your new children of their newfound lives just to wipe clean a final and obscure stain of the past," he advised.
Mike thought about what he had just been told and knew that Nelson was right. "Then for now I guess we'll have to wait and see," he said as he held out his hand. "Thank you so much, Nelson. You've helped clarify things for both me and Charlie in so many ways."
"It is a pleasure, Mr. Schmidt. Take good care of Charlie and the others," Nelson replied as he knelt down to give Charlie a hug. "They need as much happiness as you can give them."
"I couldn't agree more, my new friend," Mike answered as Nelson opened the door and held it open for them. Charlie and Mike didn't say a word until they were back in the safety of Mike's car and Mike turned on the vehicle to take them home.
"Thank you for taking me here, dad," Charlie gratefully told him as he started the journey home. "So many questions now answered, and I can finally be at ease with the new knowledge that I have gathered."
Mike rubbed his daughter's head affectionately. "You and me both, kiddo," he said with a smile as they drove on. "You and me both."
/
A/N: And there you have it, readers! So many secrets finally uncovered and addressed, as well as my personal interpretation of how they played out in the FNAF verse. I apologize if you may not entirely agree with me in terms of interpreting the hidden lore, I'm simply writing things out in the way that I believe make the most sense. The only things that are (probably) unique to my fic universe is Henry and Charlie working together the whole time to set up the events of FNAF6, the rest of what I've written about the past I could see actually happening with varying degrees of probability. And I genuinely believe that when the Puppet "gave the kids life," she was merely speeding up a process that was already happening anyway because of the Remnant even if she didn't know it.
Remember back in Chapter 15 when I brought up the possibility of Henry creating more animatronics that the ghost kids could one day possess freely without causing the problems that led to the FNAF tragedy in the first place? Here they are, and here's my explanation as to why Henry would even create them to begin with. That does leave only Liz without an animatronic to possess, unless Charlie gives her Lefty or something…I'll think about that one later.
I'm not sure if I'll bring in Nelson again in the future. He was mainly here to help explain Remnant and stuff to Mike and Charlie. He definitely won't be a high priority side character like Melody or the Marshalls, regardless of whether I use him again or not.
Oh, and one last thing before I sign off. Music Man is one of the most fucking terrifying things I've ever seen in this franchise. Fuck the originals, fuck the Puppet, fuck Springtrap. Only the Nightmares and possibly Scrap Baby are as terrifying as that thing, and they were meant to be scary.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed!
