Definition of the title: the end of anything AND/OR everything.

Or rather...the end and just the beginning. (devilish smile)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Terminus

She was at the police station with Michael, listening to that accursed audio tape. She fiddled with her layered quarter-sleeved top - turquoise over black - with one hand and clutched the knee of her black leggings with the other, knuckles turning white. She was sure she was going to have a panic attack listening to all of this. Her mind was wild with the thoughts as every lurid detail revealed that her grandparents told her about in minimum detail:

They indulged Mom more than Aunt Nalani as soon as she was born, but that sometimes happens. Makes me glad I was a single child.

Nalani did good for herself despite the circumstances, but it wasn't like it was Mom's fault. She admitted it here, yet it's too late.

I never...I never knew my mom pulled a prank, but then again, this is coming from her sister who got blamed for something that was NEVER her fault.

My uncle was doing what he thought was right, and he died for it. It's a miracle Grandma and Grandpa stayed together.

And this was the last nail in the coffin: she never knew about Mom and Dad's deaths until it was too late. Maybe she felt regret long before that, but you never knew what you had until it was gone. Sometimes that happened, Mason and Akela said. Oh, God, they would be heartbroken all over again if they heard this. And after accepting all their children were gone long before now...

Detective Brackett noticed her mood and quickly hit the pause button. "You need a moment?" he asked gently. The complete opposite of what Mike had told her when he once mentioned how his arrest after Evan's death went. She didn't remember ever meeting him after Mom and Dad were taken from her, but she'd been barely thirteen at that time and was kept out of the line of fire.

Kaleia shook her head, leaning into Mike's shoulder. "No, just keep playing. I have to know."

He nodded and pushed the play one.

"I had to think all this through carefully, even if it meant taking more than a few months or even a year. I never went into police investigations or police academy, but I did have some skills in sleuthing that I acquired after I turned thirteen. After just that one last time I was whipped by Father's belt. I decided to relocate to Hurricane because I felt I had a new mission. I feel like something's died in me when my little sister did. I'm the disgrace, the black sheep of the family, after all.

"I managed to keep my old house back in Hawaii, all bought and paid for. It's for my niece and parents if they ever find a golden opportunity to return for any reason. Everything I have, I leave to them equally in the event of my death since I never married and had kids. I never saw myself as mother material; Ilene succeeded there. And men are just fickle creatures, or perhaps that's my karma. It's the least I could do, other than my mission in the name of my family and the others. They suspected William Afton, but there was no physical evidence, and the bodies of the kids are still missing to this day.

"Henry abdicated and left everything to William, after more deaths that followed, other than the ones of Evan Afton and Charlotte Emily, Gabriel Grace, Fritz Wilson, Susie Stampler, Cassidy Landis, and Jeremy O'Neill: his wife's. Imagine the surprise on old Afton's face when I showed up out of nowhere before being hired at his disposal 'permanently'. We'd spoken over the phone, he'd brought me over enthusiastically to help keep the pizzeria going. He'd brought to life the new toy animatronics, which were updated and upgraded versions of the old core four that were gonna be put on the stage before the disappearances. This location had come alive after the old diner, the new band of Freddy, Chica, Foxy, and Bonnie having been planned before Fredbear's closure; the toy animatronics were to ensure a safer environment, parts used of the old versions that had been scrapped and put away as backups. You know, connected to a criminal database to keep anyone in the system out of there. Didn't do much two years after 1983's bite, with the children. It's a miracle that place stayed in business despite the lawsuits that followed, but it might come to an end in time. I can smell it.

"I finally got on the inside not just with the interior and exterior of the walls, but with the toys. The white Foxy machine was there and kept being taken apart by the kids for whatever reason. Who knows; maybe it was purposeful for them to do something with their time, or something I didn't know about. I overheard it being dubbed 'Mangle', and oh, I laughed my ass off in private. If anyone, like Willy, heard me, then I'd be fired on the spot. I'm certain others on the staff whispered to each other, though, but these days, you trust no one but yourself.

"The broken down Foxy made it easy for me. That one was always tampered with, so I decided to pay closer attention to the technology even though it was never my forte. I was as discreet as I could be, showing a picture of William to Mangle's eyes, given that was the programming in the toys, and I believed it would do the trick. It almost worked just as the action took place during the daytime.

"Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned. I should have known better. I was too blinded by the bigger picture to realize that, of course, the creator himself would realize something had been different. I got lucky no one found out it was me, but the same couldn't be said with Afton. I truly learned what a crafty son of a bitch he was. There was an investigation, but no one pointed it to anyone, in particular, other than a 'programming error'. As a result, the restaurant closed down, also due to multiple health code violations. It was a blessing enough, but the nightmare continued. Back to myself and William: he cornered me, pushing my body against the wall of his office when he claimed he 'needed to speak to me about the future'. He had a KNIFE at my throat, ready to carve one line at will.

"He knew it was me because he had a secret camera that only he knew about, and no one else. He checked every so often without keen eyes. He caught me tampering with Toy Foxy, so he had me. He had the power to destroy me for the attempt on his life, but at the same time, he had the perfect leverage. You can see where this is going.

"For years, against my will and every chance I had to turn him in, I was his accomplice in secret. He showed me the secret tapes that police had searched for but never found, only suspecting that they'd been stolen. I was right in that he butchered those children, and hid their bodies in the withered animatronics - the ones he'd planned originally before locking them up in Parts and Service, for the toys. H-he-he also took the life of his own ex-partner's daughter. Not only that, but he was respons-responsible for the deaths of my little sister and her husband!

"Yes, he made me help him cover up the deaths of the night watches, in which the animatronics would come alive - call me insane all you want, but the souls of the children haunt them; they want revenge on the one who did it to him, but who would believe me? - and get the guards who wouldn't last very long. I'd help him dispose of the bodies afterward. I know where they are, and I never sleep anymore to the point of insomnia at times. I still live, but not with myself.

"I just hope Miss Monroe will make it out safely. I have a feeling she could poke around herself, but that she doesn't get herself sliced like meat on a bone.

"I've had enough. I have nothing else to say, but if I survive him coming for me, I'll go to prison for the rest of my life to pay for being complicit. But before I go, the children are in the mascots still, though all the guards from the past are currently buried -"

Kaleia shut down by the time the recording ended. By the time the location of the bodies was revealed, and when Nalani broke down hoarsely, repeatedly saying this, which the niece caught through her internal glitching:

"Mom, Dad...I'm sorry for everything. I just wanted to do one thing right, but I got caught up on the wrong side of the tracks as I'd done all my life. I'm sorry, too, Kaleia. Just know you have people who love you, and I hope you got a man who makes you his world, which I never had. Your grandma and grandpa deserve the last of their years happy, but I can't control if other people choose to tell them this or not. I just...just can't keep doing this."

~o~

The cops let him and Kaleia go for now, but they had to stay in town a bit longer because of this. Needed clearing up, Brackett said, and that meant they had to let Mason and Akela know about this mess, which made the blood in their bodies become ice, turning them momentarily into sculptures.

His in-laws would find out they'd been lied to even if it was with good intentions.

They would learn their daughter and son-in-law had become possessed machines along with the children whose families would also find out the truth and demand William Afton's blood and head.

They would also be told that their middle and only surviving child had been on a suicide mission, blackmailed into covering up the murderer's deeds while also planning his downfall, and said daughter was now in the ICU in critical condition she might not wake from.

The monster was still at large, but his victims' families would get a small amount of justice.

"This means they might be watching us," Kaleia said softly when they were alone in Nalani's room. The monitors beeped gently, rhythmically along with her heart rate. It was almost the end of the afternoon, and they were both tired as balls. The news hadn't gotten out yet because the police were keeping this under wraps in case William escaped town again. Roadblocks and the like were in place, but he could easily escape on foot.

"Yeah," Michael agreed, sitting in the chair across from the bed's right. His wife was perched at the end where her aunt slept. It was weird for her because she'd never been close to this woman growing up, and Mike only knew her from what Kaleia, Mason, and Akela said. There was also only one picture of Nalani on display at their house, speaking volumes: they still loved her but were too broken to mend.

"That also means Grandma and Grandpa will be here once they are notified, though I don't think they'll be called right away. Detective Brackett said his chief would keep the tight lid on for a day or two while they comb and close off the pizzeria."

And that meant the animatronics would be locked inside, tape closed off, but that wouldn't stop William or anyone else from getting in somehow. Their little group had to get together today to stop William, but how could they keep themselves or any of them from being in trouble with the police?

Did this mean Clair was gonna be taken out of there now that they knew the full truth?

As for the whole "remnant" thing, it was still hard to stomach, though the proof was in the tapes and papers, and there was worry someone in the scientific community or the government could try to acquire this knowledge and misuse it. The Funtime animatronics - Michael, Kaleia, and the rest hadn't heard about them since the cops got William's notebooks and journals.

Kaleia blankly looked at her aunt's sleeping face. She didn't even know what to say to her except this, monotone: "Aunt Nalani, I...well, I don't know how to go with all of this. I never really knew you as a person and never thought to get your side of things. Grandma and Grandpa never liked talking much about this. Now they're gonna know the truth, and while I'm afraid to see and talk to them, tell them the truth of what we've been doing, I gotta do it. So, I just want you better so that we can all talk, and then worry about afterwards. Most of all, I just really want you better. To pull through, because you're a fighter like the rest of us." She paused and hiccupped, rapidly blinking back the tears.

Michael felt his insides clench at her words. He leaned over and took her right hand into his left, thumb massaging the back comfortingly.

Back at the motel, hell broke loose in terms of their group and what next.

"Michael Schmidt, what the hell?!" Henry was the first to shout instead of Clara, or before she could, by the looks of it.

He flinched. Been a while since his uncle figure raised his voice that way, Mum, too. "What were we supposed to do? We could have lost a good link outside Clair."

"William is on the run, and what if he gets out of the town?" Clara pointed out.

He shrugged. "Roadblocks are there, Mum. I thought of that, too. But that also means the police are gonna close off the pizzeria and keep the animatronics inside while they recover the kids. Who knows if that'll take the rest of the day or when they will show it on the news, but I won't be surprised if someone gets it out from any of the cops or whoever at Nalani's apartment building."

"Besides the point, you both went in recklessly and wound up talking to the police," Henry said sternly. "Your grandparents will now know they've been lied to, Kaleia, so I hope you know what you're gonna tell them. Mike, you both could have been found out or killed by William before we even -"

"Henry, enough! You're right!" Clara snapped at him. "They both know what they did, and what's done is done."

"But now Clair is taken off," Jeremy said, rubbing his fingers together. "That means either she goes off the book with us, though that'll also mean her badge and gun handed in for suspension or leave, or we go alone and just try to cover our tracks now that the entire town knows." And maybe the entire country after this.

Melinda sighed, folding her arms and turning to look out the window. "God, guys, it's all coming to an end."

~o~

The news hit all the televisions before the day ended, and they were watching in their rooms individually. She and Henry held onto each other as they reclined on their bed.

"With Fazbear CEO Nalani Kai hospitalized in critical condition, as it's unknown if she will recover or not, it seems a decade-long mystery has finally been solved, with the bodies examined and confirmed to be eleven-year-old Gabriel Grace, nine-year-old Fritz Wilson, eight-year-old Susie Stampler, and nine-year-old Jeremy O'Neill after each being uncovered in the animatronic mascots at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place. The children's families are now being notified as we speak, but the remains of Cassidy Landis, aged ten, are yet to be recovered. Ms. Kai was attacked in her apartment earlier this morning, the call to 911 was intercepted by a neighbor, and a man was reported to have been seen breaking out through the back. It's believed to be fugitive William Afton, former founder of Fazbear Entertainment, who has been revealed to inhumanely experimented on the dead, giving his machines life-like animation of some kind. It's still a load to swallow.

"In audio footage permitted by Hurricane PD, Nalani Kai exposed dark secrets that many locals had known to be true but could never prove. Aside from a difficult childhood and upbringing, she was once commissioned by business partners Henry Emily and William Afton to bring to life the restaurants of Fredbear's and then Freddy's. After the disappearances, including her younger sister, she launched a lone wolf investigation of her own to uncover the truth regardless of the outcome. She exposed the location of the dead children, the many night watches who vanished -"

Henry reached and turned the television off. "Finally." He exhaled sharply.

"Yeah, finally," Clara agreed. She was so relieved after all these years of first suffering on the surface and then locking it away until it was brought back out.

But then the peace was shattered by the sound of the phone ringing, startling them both. No one else knew they were here, unless Mason and Akela found out, got here in no time, and - no, wait, she had to be overthinking it. Nervously, Clara reached over and picked the phone off the receiver. "Who is this?"

A deep, dark chuckle made her freeze. No, oh...no...

"Never thought you'd hear from me again, would you, love?"

She hissed. "Don't call me that, William." Purposefully saying his name made Henry shift roughly behind her, scooching behind her to press his ear to the other side of the phone's ear. "You're gonna be found in no time, you know that. You have nowhere to run."

"Don't be so sure. I still have more tricks up my sleeve. See, I know you are all here: you, Henry, Michael - and of course, that pretty wife of his, and their friends. Fitzgerald or something, I believe, from the day our son was killed."

"Evan AND Mikey are both my sons. You lost the right when you shifted the blame from yourself onto him. A mother knows better." Except for Cassidy Landis' mother.

William scoffed on the other line. "I'm not gonna let you bait me, Clara. That's not why I contacted you. The lot of you and Nalani are responsible for creating this mess, and I'm gonna clean it up. If you think you can stop me while the police still can't, then try coming tonight to end everything."

Henry, having listened to what he could and grasping enough of the conversation, then leaned into the mouthpiece. "What do you want of us, you bastard?" he snarled.

After a snort and a rumble of laughter in one, William answered, "Honestly, this isn't a movie, and you both know it, but what the hell? Let's say that there's a certain rat in the maze waiting to get out as soon as the clock strikes the witching hour..."

Dun dun dun, who could Wily Willy be referring to? (cold sweat) Stay tuned!