A/N: Well, I'm glad that I waited a bit longer before I decided to write the chapter. Before this latest update, vacation absolutely stomped in terms of preference, but after this chapter the votes were a lot closer. Vacation still won, though only by like 1 or 2 votes (unless I miscounted, which if I did I apologize). I've decided to go with vacation first since I feel like the kids would value the opportunity to get out of the house and explore the world more than having animatronic bodies, especially since they've been begging Mike for a vacation more than once in the past.
The chances of me uploading a chapter next week are incredibly low due to med school exams, so instead I'll be going back and doing a few retcons that will fit the main timeline of FNAF better. As I mentioned before, all of these retcons and rearrangements will concern past events, so nothing in the present will change.
Midnight: Yeah, looking back I do realize that, at the very least, I rushed Charlie's sudden maturation into a teenager. I always imagined Charlie becoming a teen eventually as a reflection of her higher maturity level compared to the other ghosts, but I do acknowledge that I shouldn't have done it so soon after the Puppet was freed. Guess I make mistakes just as much as the next writer. Thanks for your honest opinion on the matter.
Chapter 53 – The First Vacation Part 1
"Well, guys," Mike addressed his kids with a grin, "we're finally in the clear. So many interruptions and issues that we needed to take care of, but now they're all finally out of the way. It's time we go on our first vacation!"
The ghosts broke out into excited cheers, prompting Mike to frantically try and calm them down. Even then, they were whispering excitedly to one another, wondering what their dad had planned for them after such a long wait.
"Where are we going?" Liz asked eagerly. "Someplace on the other side of the country?"
"I want to travel around the world!" Fritz declared.
"Can we go to Disneyworld?" Cassidy begged. "It sounds like so much fun!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Mike finally managed to interrupt them. "You're getting ahead of yourselves, guys. This is still our first time doing something like this. We have to make sure we can handle a trip to this side of the country first BEFORE we try traveling further away from home."
"Awwww…" the kids groaned, but they brushed off their disappointment quickly. "So where are we going, dad?" Susie asked.
Mike smiled. "Well, if I remember correctly, Alex and Meghan showed you pictures of places they went to on their vacation. How would you like to see them for yourselves?"
Everyone's eyes lit up. "You mean we're going to…"
"Yep!" their father confirmed. "Grand Canyon, Natural Parks, Las Vegas. The highlights of Southwest America, ready and waiting for you guys to enjoy them. What do you guys think?"
"Awesome!" Gabe exclaimed. "I've wanted to go there ever since the Marshalls showed us the pictures!"
"Then it's settled," Mike got up from his chair. "I'll need about a week or two to prepare before we're ready to go. After living in this house and this town for God knows how long, I need to get the fuck out of here. And if everything goes smoothly," he chuckled and winked at them, "we can talk about broadening our horizons in the future."
Ten Days Later…
Mike watched as a familiar car drove up to his house. The door opened and Melody climbed out, waving at him and his kids as she did so. "I still can't believe you're actually letting me borrow the keys to your house," Melody shook her head in amazement.
The man smirked. "Well, it's not strictly the house," he dryly corrected. "Just the gate and the workshop."
Melody playfully punched his shoulder and gave him a light hug. "Thanks for letting me work over here," she thanked him as Mike handed over the keys. Then, she turned her head over to the front door where she could see the ghosts watching her. "Have fun on your vacation, you guys!" she declared.
"We will, thank you!" Charlie called back. Melody did a double-take when she saw her.
"Wait, time out, time out…" her mind processes came to a halt. "Who are you? And wasn't one of you…"
"That's Charlie, all right," Mike explained before Melody could get any more confused. "We destroyed the Marionette and freed her. That's what she actually looks like."
"Oh, wow…" Melody shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I'm guessing that was one of the things that stopped you from doing this any sooner?"
"Basically," Mike agreed. "Now then, before the kids and I head out, there's a little something that I wanted to show you." He guided Melody into the house and over to the living room. Melody's eyes widened as she saw an adorable little pink bunny puppet propped up on the table, which giggled cheerfully and waved at her upon seeing her. "This is Bonnet!" he introduced her. She's a little hand puppet I found a few days ago. I did a bit of reprogramming and she's good as new!"
Bonnet crawled over to the edge of the table and waved at Melody, who gushed at the little pink animatronic. "You are so adorable!" she cooed.
"We can't take her with us, so I was wondering if you could take care of her until we come back," Mike offered. "She operates on batteries so it's pretty simple to keep her active."
"I absolutely will take care of her! Thank you so much!" Melody exclaimed before grinning at Bonnet, who was making motions with her arms as though she wanted a hug. The woman immediately obliged her and picked her up. "I think we're going to be great friends!"
Mike smiled. After Evan had revealed the secrets behind the Funtime animatronics, Mike had immediately gotten to work removing the malevolent part of Bonnet's programming. William might have hidden his corruption deep inside a regular Funtime animatronic, but for something as small as Bonnet he hadn't bothered to be all that subtle or secretive. After a near miss from accidentally taking out the wrong module (which caused Bonnet to mindlessly try and attack him, though thankfully Liz and Charlie had both been on standby to subdue her), he had finally removed William's mechanical corruption and deemed Bonnet safe after multiple test runs during which he had stayed "alone" with Bonnet (with the ghosts invisibly watching just in case) and the hand puppet made no move to attack him. If anything, Bonnet seemed much happier now that she was free from William's influence, even if she couldn't convey it through anything more than cheerful giggles, and often took to following Mike or the kids around whenever they made their presence known to her.
"I think the two of you will get along just fine," Mike smirked as he and Melody left the house with Bonnet crawling onto the latter's shoulder. "All right, that should be it. Packing didn't take as long as I thought it would, though I guess that's not much of a surprise considering that I'm technically only really packing for one person."
He locked the front door and walked over to his van, where the ghosts were waiting. "Have fun, you guys!" she declared.
"We will!" the ghosts answered back as they floated into the van. Mike gave her one final wave and then got in the van as well. The engine roared to life, and Melody watched as it drove past the gate and out of sight.
Once it was gone, Melody turned towards the pink bunny puppet on her shoulder. "Do you want to see some of the things I've been working on?" she asked. An excited giggle met her question, and Melody smiled. "I've got so many cool things I want to show you!"
On the Road…
"So how long until we get to our first destination?" Charlie asked as the van drove onward.
"Well, the way I see it, you guys will get more out of a trip to the natural parks, while I'll get more out of Las Vegas," Mike replied. "We're going to the natural parks first because I know for a fact that I'm going to burn myself out if we go to Vegas first."
Liz tilted her head. "What do you mean you're going to burn yourself out at Vegas?" she asked, confused.
Mike smirked. "You'll see," he promised.
Gabe looked out of the window. "Oh my God…" he muttered. "There's just desert out here as far as the eye can see."
"Yep," Mike agreed. "That's the desert area of Southwestern United States in a nutshell. A bunch of really cool things with a whole bunch of nothing in between." His brow furrowed. "Actually, that could describe the entire highway system of the U.S., now that I think of it."
Fritz groaned. "That's so boooooooooring!" he complained. "Is EVERY road trip like that?"
Mike shrugged. "Well, depends on the surrounding area," he answered. "Depending on where you are, you might find some really interesting and beautiful sights that can really grab your attention. There are some parts of the world that have their own unique beauty that's worth seeing even if it's far away from a car." He grimaced. "Unfortunately, we're in the middle of a fucking desert right now and there's no mountains nearby, so yeah. Kinda sucks."
Susie facepalmed. "I think I'll just, I don't know, play games on my phone or nap or something…" she muttered.
"Can you imagine how screwed you'd be if your car broke down in a highway in the middle of the desert?" Jeremy asked.
Mike's eyes widened in semi-joking horror. "Oh God no, PLEASE don't bring that possibility up," he exclaimed. "If that happened we'd either be stuck here for hours waiting for someone to rescue us!"
"I COULD just teleport you back to the house…maybe…" Cassidy suggested.
"And lose my van? No thanks," Mike retorted.
Liz's eyes looked out through the window and they widened. "Hey guys, look!" she exclaimed. "I can see mountains over to the side!"
The ghosts all turned to where Liz was pointing. In the far distance, three majestic brown peaks reached high into the sky. "Oh, that looks so cool!" Gabe exclaimed.
Mike smirked. "That ain't nothing compared to the places we're going to," he remarked. The kids started fidgeting excitedly. "Trust me, what we're gonna see if definitely going to be worth the long drive," he promised.
"If it's anything like what we saw in our friends' pictures, then I bet it's gonna be amazing!" Jeremy declared.
His father smiled mysteriously. If his hunch was correct, then his son had no idea.
One Hour and Thirty Minutes Later…
"Thank God, we're finally here!" Mike exclaimed as he drove into an empty parking lot space. "I don't remember the last time I drove for two hours!"
"I'm guessing you didn't go out of town much, dad?" Susie asked.
"Nope, not at all," he blithely replied. "Well, we're finally here. And before we go out, I think now would be a good time for Charlie to go over the ground rules again. Charlie?"
The former Marionette inhabitant nodded. "We don't all have to go as one group, but you must go in AT LEAST pairs. And when Dad decides that it's time for us to leave, he's going to invoke a spell that I've prepared that will recall of us back to his location. Does everyone get that?"
"Yep!" all the ghosts confirmed.
"Those are some pretty relaxed rules," Gabe commented as Mike got out of the car. The ghosts followed, all of them turning invisible. The family followed other tourists down a path. As the last of the tourists cleared, the ghosts' eyes widened in pure awe.
"Welcome to the Grand Canyon, kids!" Mike declared. Before them was the majestic Wonder of the World, a majestic canyon that stretched out as far as the eye could see. The many formations and cliffs were covered in various hues of brown and green that mixed beautifully with the color of the bright blue sky. The kids strained to see down into its depths, but the Grand Canyon was just too high up, leaving them wondering what lay within. They might have seen a small part of the canyon in the Marshalls' photograph, but a mere picture was pitiful compared to seeing the natural beauty with ones' own eyes. It was, without question, the most beautiful sight that the kids had ever seen throughout the entirety of their existences.
"It's so…beautiful…" Liz breathed.
"I could stare at this forever…" Cassidy murmured.
"This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen," Jeremy mumbled.
Even Charlie was stunned into silence as Mike grinned. Now was the time to bring out the big revelation. "And here's the thing," his voice in their minds brought them out of their reverie. "You guys have an opportunity that nobody else here has. Not even me."
All of them turned to their father. "What do you mean?" Fritz asked.
"I'm just a human being. This is the most I can see. If I wanted to go flying over the canyon, I would need to take a helicopter tour. But you guys? You're ghosts. You're not bound by height, by physical limitations, by gravity. You can explore the Grand Canyon in a way that nobody else can."
The ghosts' jaws dropped as the full implications of Mike's words hit them. "Y-you mean…" Fritz stuttered, "we can..."
Mike grinned and pointed towards the Grand Canyon. "What are you waiting for, kids?"
With excited screams and whoops, the kids flew out past the edge of the cliff and over the vast drop below. They were about to split up to fully explore the canyon when a thought suddenly occurred to Charlie and her smile faded slightly. She turned back to Mike, who by now was waving at them over the Canyon. "But…what about you?" she asked. The question seemed to break the ghosts out of their euphoria as they realized that the one person who was making this possible couldn't join in.
Mike shrugged. "Don't worry," he assured them. "I have my own ways of passing the time. This is really for you. Go enjoy yourselves."
The kids smiled at him, their doubts assuaged. Then, they began to split into pairs and explore the Grand Canyon in their own ways. Susie and Cassidy laughed as they soared together over the canyon, taking in its vast dimensions and delighting in the grandeur of the rocky formations.
"Hey, Cass!" Susie exclaimed. "Look over there! Doesn't that rock look like a temple of some kind?"
"You're right, Sus!" Cassidy agreed. "Let's go check it out!" The two of them flew over to the Vishnu Schist. She gave a disappointed sigh when she realized that there wasn't any crevices or openings into the formation. "Aww…" she moaned, "I was kind of hoping that there actually was some kind of secret temple inside this rock!"
Susie shrugged. "I mean, I don't think that was actually going to be a thing. I do have to say that it would be pretty cool though."
"Pretty sure they'd find some way to get tourists inside if that actually turned out to be a thing," Cassidy commented. The sound of whirring began to sound behind them and they turned around. "Hey, I think that's a helicopter!"
The two ghost girls approached the front of the helicopter, making sure that they were invisible. They looked inside the window and waved at the figures inside, knowing that they couldn't see them. Susie giggled as the helicopter passed them by, its inhabitants completely oblivious to the supernatural entities that had just greeted them.
"There's so many cool things to see up here!" Cassidy exclaimed. "I want to know how much of the Canyon I can see before Dad calls us back!"
"Hold on," Susie interrupted. "Let me just check to make sure that our connection to dad is still there," she closed her eyes and concentrated. To her relief, she could feel the magical link to him nice and strong. "Okay, we're good to go," she declared, before a mischievous grin started to spread across her face. "Wanna race?"
Cassidy pointed to a distant rock formation. "First one to that formation over there wins."
"Ready, set, go!" the two girls flew off, laughing and giggling as they went. Susie managed to get a slight edge and began pulling ahead of Cassidy, not noticing the mischievous grin on the younger girl's face. Susie was about to reach the formation that Cassidy had pointed to when the former Golden Freddy inhabitant magically appeared in front of her, right above the cliff.
"I win!" she declared with a laugh.
Susie playfully shoved her. "You cheated!" she complained. "You can't use teleportation!"
Cassidy raised her eyebrow and smirked. "Why not?" she asked. "You never said I couldn't."
The former Chica inhabitant rolled her eyes. "I can tell Dad's rubbing off on you," she muttered as the two of them lowered themselves onto the cliff face. The two of them laid down on the rock and looked up into the brilliant blue white sky. They would continue exploring in a few minutes, but right now they just wanted to relax and enjoy a view that only they would ever be able to experience.
"This must be what true freedom feels like," Susie thought as she watched the birds fly away in the distance. "I wonder if the others are enjoying this as much as we are."
/
"Check out these cool rock formations, Jeremy!" Gabe pointed to a particularly large formation in the canyon. "There's so many layers of different rocks, it's amazing!"
"I know!" Jeremy agreed as the two boys floated up to get a closer look. "I mean, just looking at each layer by itself, it's just a large pile of rock. But put them all together and you get something that looks like God did an art project!"
"I mean, the Grand Canyon probably WAS one of God's art projects," Gabe pointed out.
"That's true," Jeremy conceded, before smirking. "I will laugh so hard if the reason why God made the Grand Canyon was because He was bored and decided to make it just for shits and giggles."
"That would be hilarious," Gabe snickered.
Jeremy's expression turned thoughtful. "In all seriousness, though, I wonder if we can find any landmarks in the Canyon."
"This is the Grand Canyon," Gabe deadpanned. "The entire thing counts as a giant landmark."
"No, I mean like really special places in the Canyon," Jeremy clarified. "If the whole thing is already majestic to begin with, wouldn't it be a real accomplishment to find the few places that are a cut above and beyond the rest?"
Gabe thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, you do have a point." He suddenly smirked. "Why the heck are we even analyzing this? We can fly, we can do whatever we want!"
Jeremy laughed. "Yeah, you do have a point." The two of them started to fly around the Canyon, enjoying the beautiful sights just like their sisters were. But unlike their sisters, they were still keeping their eyes peeled for any specific hallmarks of the Canyon. It wasn't until several minutes later that Jeremy noticed something. "Hey Gabe, look over there," he pointed at the walls of the cliff face. "There's something about that wall that looks different from the other parts of the Canyon."
Gabe's eyes followed Jeremy's finger. "Hey, you're right!" The two of them approached the cliff face to get a better look. As they did so, their eyes widened in shock. "Is that a TRAIL?" he exclaimed.
"Oh my God…" Jeremy said in disbelief. "There's actually a trail along the wall of the Grand Canyon." He stared at the edge of the trail, which fell away to a steep drop leading down into the depths of the Canyon. "People actually WALK on this thing!"
"Thank God I'm already dead so I don't have to worry about falling off or being afraid of heights," Gabe muttered. Before he could say anything more, a pair of hikers passed by them, taking only a few seconds to admire the view of the Canyon before continuing. Once they were gone, Gabe looked over at Jeremy. "Why don't we follow them?" he suggested. "I kind of want to see just how far down this trail goes. Heck, it might even go all the way down to the bottom!"
"Sure," Jeremy agreed. "If this trail really goes all the way down to the bottom, I really want to see what's down there. It can't just be all nature, can it?"
Gabe gestured towards the downward side of the trail and started following it with Jeremy close behind. Even though they could speed through it with their flight, they would deliberately take their time so that they could enjoy the views from different height levels. "Only one way to find out."
/
"Holy crap, I had no idea there were so many things down here!" Liz exclaimed.
Unlike their sisters, Fritz and Liz had decided to dive deep into the canyon first instead of enjoying the view at the top. Both were curious to know what exactly was at the bottom, especially Fritz. And neither of them had expected to see the vibrant ecosystem that the Grand Canyon housed in its depths, complete with grasslands, rivers, and even animals. "It's like a whole 'nother world down here!" Fritz agreed enthusiastically. "This place really is amazing!"
Liz tilted her head as her ears caught a sound. "Is that…running water?" she asked.
Fritz could hear it too. "Let's go check it out!" The two children followed the sound, both noticing that the flow of the water was becoming more turbulent and rapid. They turned around one corner and…
"Holy crap!" Fritz yelped. Though neither of them knew what it was called, the two adoptive siblings had unwittingly stumbled upon the Colorado River, whose waters were now churning violently as they rushed towards an unknown location. "That water looks scary as hell! I bet it would crush us against the side of the canyon if we were still alive!"
Liz giggled. "Well, it's a good thing that neither of us are alive then," she commented. "Besides, I thought you were supposed to be the pirate in family!"
"Errr…yeah!" Fritz backpedaled. "It'd take more than some fast-flowing water to scare me! Especially since it can't hurt me!"
Liz raised her eyebrow, but before she could call Fritz out on his bravado she was interrupted by delighted and adrenaline-fueled screams. "What the hell?" she exclaimed as a large raft filled with people suddenly zoomed past them, all of them carrying paddles and wearing helmets, goggles, and life vests.
"This is the best thing ever!" one of them shouted with glee as the rapids carried the raft down the river and out of sight. The two ghost kids stared at the spot where the raft had gone, then at each other. Neither of them said anything for several seconds, and then a mischievous grin began to spread across Fritz's face.
"I have an idea!" he declared. "What if we found another raft and anchored ourselves to it. That way we can enjoy whatever these guys are doing, because from what I can tell it looks like a lot of fun!"
"That's…actually a really great idea!" Liz's eyes lit up. "Heck, if this works out, then maybe anchoring ourselves to something like roller coasters in the future might work too!"
"That's the spirit!" Fritz laughed. "But the only way we're gonna find out is if we try!" The two of them waited for another raft to come by, lowering themselves so that they were floating only slightly above the level of the water. Soon enough, another group of rafters came by. As it passed under them, the two ghosts anchored themselves to the raft and found themselves instantly pulled by the roaring current. "Whooooooooooooo!" they screamed, enjoying the impromptu thrill ride that they had claimed for themselves. "This is so much fun!" Fritz yelled. "I'm the real captain of the seven seas! No river is gonna stop me!"
"What a rush!" Liz laughed as the raft surged onwards, "Sledding is boring compared to this!"
"Oh, crap!" one of the rafters suddenly exclaimed. "We're gonna hit that rock! Steer away, now!" The ghosts watched tensely and with not a little fear as the rowers started hitting the water with their paddles and sighed with relief as they were able to successfully evade the rock before the raft crashed on it. They might have been completely safe, but neither of them wanted to think about what would happen to the rowers if their raft overturned or they got smashed against the rocks.
"I don't blame Dad for not wanting to do this," Liz commented as the raft continued, now on a much safer stretch of river. "This doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd be able to do."
"Yeah," Fritz agreed. "I mean, he's not old, but he's not young either, and even I have to admit that this looks really dangerous especially if you don't know what you're doing."
"Thank God Charlie put the silencing spell on us before we got out of the car," Liz remarked as the current started to weaken and the ride finally slowed several minutes later. "Otherwise we'd be starting up ghost stories about laughing kids in the rapids."
"With how loud we were yelling, definitely." The kids detached themselves from the raft as it stopped at the shore. Then, they turned their heads back towards the Colorado River's rapids. The same thought entered their minds.
"So Liz," Fritz grinned, "wanna go for round 2?"
One Hour Later…
"Hey guys?" Charlie's voice broke into their thoughts. "How are you doing?"
"Good!" Susie replied. Normally she wouldn't be able to hear any of her siblings' thoughts because of the distance separating them, but Charlie's stronger magical affinity allowed her to overcome that hurdle without too much difficulty.
"I found something really interesting deep in the Canyon, and I want to show you guys," Charlie explained. "Can you sense where I am?"
The kids focused for a moment. "Yeah, I can," Gabe confirmed. "We'll be there as soon as possible."
"Great! See you then!" Charlie replied. She broke off the connection, but the kids could still sense where she was. They flew towards her presence like a beacon, and it wasn't long before they all met up with her.
"So what were you doing?" Liz asked as the last of them arrived.
Charlie shrugged. "Oh, just looking around," she answered before her lips stretched into a smile. "And while I was looking, I found this." She guided them through a part of the Canyon and into a particularly large clearing. The kids' eyes bulged as they took in the sight before them.
Unlike most of the Grand Canyon area, the area they were now in was a miniature forest, the trees blending beautifully with the rock surrounding it. There was a large natural pool in the center, and filling that body of water was…
"A waterfall!" Fritz exclaimed.
"It's so pretty!" Cassidy gushed.
"This is the most out-of-place thing I've seen here so far," Jeremy commented with a grin, "and I love it!"
Susie frowned slightly. "I only wish we could take pictures of this," she mumbled. "But we can't because we're ghosts and flying cell phones would freak everyone out."
Gabe shook his head. "There's advantages to being ghosts and there's disadvantages, Sus. You can't have one without the other. That's just how it is."
Susie sighed. "I know."
"Well, let's just enjoy this view as much as we can," Liz suggested, trying to cheer her sister up. "I mean, how many people can say they've been to the top of this waterfall before?"
The former Chica inhabitant smiled. "You're right, Liz." The ghosts floated up to the top of the waterfall, where they could peer downward and watch the water fall into the pool below. All of them marveled at the sight in front of them, and a few of them even waved at a few hikers who had stumbled into the area of Havasu Falls like they had, even if the exhausted explorers would never see them.
"You know, I thought that when Alex and Meghan showed us their pictures of the Grand Canyon, they were seeing one of the most amazing things ever." Charlie said after several seconds of silence. "But now I realize that they hadn't even scratched the surface."
"I wish Dad was here," Jeremy admitted. "If there's anyone who deserves to see what we've seen, it's him."
"I hope he found some other way to have some kind of fun while we enjoyed ourselves," Gabe added morosely. "If he was just waiting for us for the past hour doing nothing I'm going to feel really bad about all this."
"I'm sure he figured something out," Charlie assured him. "Do you guys have anything else you want to do or have you seen enough of the Grand Canyon?"
Cassidy smiled at her. "I'm definitely good," she answered. "I had so much fun today."
"Me too!" Liz laughed. "Fritz and I had so much fun anchoring ourselves to a raft and rushing down the rapids!"
"There's actually entire campsites down here at the bottom of the Canyon!" Jeremy grinned. "We even found a freaking ranch that people apparently sleep over in!"
"It's amazing just what the world has in store, isn't it?" Charlie asked serenely, to which all the kids happily agreed. For thirty minutes, they stayed at Havasu Falls, alternating between exploring the surrounding area or simply relaxing at either the top or bottom of the waterfalls. Then, Charlie felt a tug at her essence. She looked over at the kids and their expressions made it clear that they had all felt it too and immediately recognized what it was.
Their father was calling them back.
The kids immediately relaxed and let the magical link that Charlie had set up between them and Mike do its work. They closed their eyes and immediately felt a rush around them for several seconds. When they opened their eyes, they were back at the top of the Canyon and Mike was standing in front of them. "So…" his voice entered their minds. "Did you guys have fun?"
"YEAH!" the resulting answer would have deafened Mike if it had been spoken through his ears instead of in his mind. Even now he had to shake his head a bit to throw off his disorientation.
"That's good to hear," he replied with a grin of his own. "If being able to literally fly through the Grand Canyon however you wanted didn't make you guys happy, I had no idea what would."
"What did you do, dad?" Charlie asked.
Mike shrugged. "There was this really nice Skywalk made entirely out of glass. If you looked through the floor you could see straight down to the bottom!" He chuckled. "Thank God I'm not afraid of heights."
"Damn, that's pretty cool!" Fritz whistled.
"And I also took a helicopter tour around the Canyon so I could really explore it as much as I could," Mike added as he began walking away from the Canyon, the ghosts following close behind. "Unfortunately, there wasn't any way for me to go down to the bottom, which is a bit of a shame. But I'm not really bothered by that, there was more than enough for me to see just at the top."
"Wish we could take pictures of what we'd seen," Susie lamented.
"Hey, this part of the vacation was more for you than it was for me," Mike assured her. "Believe me, when we get to Las Vegas, there'll be PLENTY for me to do and then some."
"I hope so, dad," Liz replied with a smile. "You deserve this vacation just as much as we do if not more."
The family got into the van and Mike drove out of the parking lot. "This isn't the only natural landmark here, you know. Heck, some might argue that it's not even the greatest one. There's a few other cool places around here that you guys can explore just like you did with the Grand Canyon, if you can endure the boredom of doing a whole bunch of nothing in between."
"Ooh, what are they?" Susie asked, already excited at the prospect of another exploration session.
Mike grinned. "You'll see when we get there," he promised. And with that, the family fell into silence as each of them reflected on the adventures they had had so far. For the kids, it didn't matter where they went to or what they did from this point forward.
What they had done already was more than enough to make this vacation worth it.
/
A/N: Let's be real, if you were a ghost who could fly around the Grand Canyon without having to worry about things like walking or falling or all those mundane human things, you'd be exploring it as much as possible too.
The ghost kids might be finally free from their past, but even in a new family they had some restrictions imposed on them due to practicality and, one could argue, duty. This is the first time that they could truly feel freedom without having a care in the world. Even though the circumstances that made them into ghosts might have been horrific, you can't deny the perks when they finally come into play.
Anyways, this chapter focused mostly on the ghost kids since Mike couldn't join them in their adventures for…obvious reasons. But don't you worry, Mike will have his moment in the spotlight during this vacation too.
Hope you guys enjoyed!
