Another Summer at Freddy's

by PyroFox117

AU. Sequel to "A Winter at Freddy's". Years have passed since the last danger Mike and his friends faced. They've all matured and have settled into peaceful lives. That changes when they receive information about something they never thought possible: how to kill Auric. This sets them and the demon on a final collision course. And not everyone will survive. Mike X Fem!Foxy

16. Umbra - Part 2

Hey, guys! I normally have more to say, but not this time, since I'm publishing this and the epilogue simultaneously - so don't miss the true ending, which also details my plans for future writing. For the time being, I just want to thank Kaijucifer and Soviet Fox for reviewing since the last entry. With that out of the way, get ready for the fight I've waited years to write. I tried to make it more stealth and strategy-based than the fight scenes I've written before, which tend to lean more on kinetic action. Still, it's a real knockout!

Monday, August 21, 2017, 10:15 AM

Mike gaped at the sight before him. Auric did not die. In fact, he still meant to kill them - allegedly, doing so would restore him to his immortal, incorporeal form with only one foot in the real world. Even if it didn't, he already wanted to murder them, and revenge was a better motivator than ever. Mike's frustration burned brighter than the orb of mystical fire in the monster's hand. The spell didn't kill Auric, it just made him possible to kill! 20 years of research and Henrietta didn't understand that?!

"What a fucking scam!" Mike shouted, fear vanishing as he hit the ground. The fireball flew through the space his head occupied a moment earlier (the heat still warmed his neck), crashing against the chain fence a hundred feet distant. That part of the barrier was gone: melted into liquid metal. It was over if one landed a direct hit.

"Remember the plan - we're not leaving until he's dead!" Foxy shouted, pointing her hook at him.

Mike was tempted to scream "what plan?!", but he knew as well as everyone else that she didn't have one. This wasn't something anyone prepared for. They had to trust their instincts and hope teamwork and strength in numbers were enough to win. Mike wished they brought guns. That would have solved everything.

Auric charged his next attack, and fear seeped back into Mike as he realized that he was still the target! A ball of golden fire. Out of all the ways he expected to die, getting immolated by a D spell was not on that list. He tried to scramble up, but Foxy, fast as lightning, reached Auric before he made his move. She swiftly slashed his hand with her blade.

It bounced off. She kept that sword sharp enough to behead someone in one swoop (saw it when they fought ENNARD), and her arm was stronger than any human's. Auric may as well have been made of stone. Wait. From a few dozen feet away, Mike saw the faintest glimmer of one drop of golden blood. That was all Foxy's best work achieved.

Maybe guns wouldn't work, either! If they did, they would have caused little more than minor flesh wounds. He was pretty sure everyone else saw that, so now they all knew how fucked they were. Foxy's eye widened when Auric turned his attention to her. Blind luck and pure skill were the only things that let her duck out of the fireball's way in time. Freddy's Axe Murder Mansion, the building behind her, was not so lucky. The front wall of the mostly wooden building went up like a pyre.

Mike knew it was life or death before, obviously. But now he saw how much damage Auric inflicted when he was fully unleashed.

People screamed. He saw Bonnie and Chica, the latter covered in dirt, start running for cover, and Mary bolted faster than he'd ever seen her move. This wasn't a battle; it was a culling. Suddenly, their numerical advantage didn't seem like a strength - it gave Auric more targets. Mike didn't want to say they couldn't win, because he saw Auric bleed before his eyes. But damn it if it wouldn't be the hardest thing they'd ever done. Mike didn't know where to start when it came to cracking his hide.

Sprang to his feet and started booking it, too. Jesus, where do I go?! One of the buildings was already burned. Couldn't Auric do that to all the tightly-packed structures?! As Mike sprinted for the outhouse, he saw from the corner of his eyes that Auric madly projected frost instead of fire. Maybe he doesn't like fire, either. It'd make sense that a being so closely tied to cold regretted turning up the heat.

Arrived several moments later, but instead of bolting in, he ran around the back, where he pressed his back against the plastic wall and started heaving. Long, damp grass spread before him, and the fence was only a couple dozen feet away. It was topped with barbed wire, but Mike was so full of adrenaline that he could have climbed through pieces of his flesh being ripped away. But against every instinct telling him to run, he refused. This was their one chance to kill Auric. It's us or him. If they ran, Auric would either pursue them the rest of their lives or keep killing in secret. A seven-foot shadow being was far less conspicuous than his old form, but there were still places in the wild he could hide, and now he was better at killing than ever, even if he could technically be harmed.

The only other option Mike saw was calling the police, if not the army. Auric would have been destroyed by the sheer number of assault rifles, if not heavy artillery, being brought to bear against him - but the entire world would know about the animatronics and the demon that fucked with Earth for thousands of years, and Mike couldn't begin to guess at the chaos that would cause. His wife and friends would be dissected, and he and June would go to some government black site for the rest of their miserable lives. Auric would die, yes. But the cost, not for them, but for the entire world, prohibited it.

A crackling noise came over the intercoms. At first, Mike thought it to be a random static discharge, but the sound quickly turned into a voice he knew well.

"Listen, everyone. I went to the main office and tapped myself into the loudspeaker system. For now, we can communicate through this - or, at least, I can communicate with you." Mary had a smart idea. For all the good it'd do. This place didn't have cameras, so he didn't see what information she could feed them. "I realize this will be of limited use. However, there is one other function I conceived of to utilize it for!"

A familiar song began to blare from every angle. Well, it wasn't exactly familiar, for he hadn't heard it in many years, but he recognized it from the first few notes. It was the initial song of the album Jeremy played during the battle against ENNARD - an event that was more relevant than ever. Mary was there, too, and she accessed the music with a mere thought by linking in YouTube instead of physically having the album on vinyl or CD. Or Walkman. Mike wished he could focus more on the current deadly situation!

To do that, he peeked around the edge of the outhouse, only to see Auric stomping through the park. The monster tried without success to find them. His aim with the fire and ice wasn't much to write home about, either. Auric still acclimated to being a corporeal entity, so he hadn't mastered spatial perception and coordination.

"Some of you have asked me why I kill, and I said it is because you yourselves do not value life!" he shouted from far afield, raising his fists skyward. "That is a lie. In truth, I just enjoy putting you in your place!" He grabbed the front of the burning building and pulled the façade off with his bare hands. Wood splintered everywhere, and Auric looked expectantly in. He must have thought someone hid in that exact spot, judging by the slightly hunched posture he adopted. Or maybe Mike was wrong, whatever.

Regardless, they could only afford to hide a couple more minutes before Auric found one of them. To state the obvious, Mike needed to think of some helpful ideas. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to conjure any abstraction which might save them. Nonsense buzzed in his head that he simultaneously tried to swat away and pull close. There must have been something!

Suddenly, his eyes flew open. He had an epiphany. Auric couldn't be hurt through cutting, piercing, bludgeoning or other kinds of physical trauma. What about energy-based means? He seemed uncomfortable with fire. Well, there was already a fire, and Mike didn't want to kindle any more. That might hurt Auric - but it would hurt Mike more. He had something similar in mind.

Electricity. That may have been the answer. Mike was somewhat familiar with generators - not how they worked, but what parts to avoid touching, lest they deliver a massive jolt. That was because of the small generator taking up a corner of Fazbear's basement. It had been installed when Auric started "playing" that former death-game, and Mike never bothered to get it removed, so he looked at it quite a bit over the years. Fazbear's Fright must have had one because there were no power lines in sight. It was probably more powerful than the one at his restaurant, too, which only had to run a few lights and cameras.

It'd be easy to find. All he needed to do was follow the power cords.

God, please don't let me or anyone else die. Please. He snuck away with that prayer silently on his lips. He got to behind Chica's Slaughterhouse when he heard loud footsteps thudding his way. The ground shuddered with each movement. It made no sense that it'd shake like a stampede, for Auric was only one creature a little larger than the average man. It was as if Earth itself tried to dislodge the abomination that trod upon it.

"I sense you, Warden," the thing previously known as Auric spat as Mike ducked through the rear door. An electric guitar solo heralded his entrance. The creature didn't really deserve to be called "Auric" anymore, since he was far more black than gold. "You foul the ethereal realm with your aura. It is as though you yell at me to notice you."

Mike wasn't a psychologist, yet this seemed like projection. Auric was the one literally yelling at him! Speaking of psychologists, he needed to call Helen and tell her about everything they'd gotten up to. Another thing he genuinely looked forward to after so long. In hindsight, her help (or anyone's help) would have been nice, but the woman must have been a few years older than Jeremy had been when he died, so it was also perfectly fine for her to enjoy retirement in… huh, Mike wasn't sure where she lived despite talking to her a few times a year. Well, their next phone call would fix that. Everyone was due a reunion. Nobody they knew would be left outside. They could even get that Delta guy Mike only met once!

I'm getting ahead of myself, Mike thought, quickly but quietly walking through the building. He'd already been through once with Auric and taken a thorough look around, so he wasn't likely to get lost. He'd go through, get to the generator, and… well, he'd figure that part out when he got there.

As he walked, he found his eyes being drawn to a nightmarish statue of an evil Chica with a bolt gun used to execute farm animals to some poor woman's head. He felt awful. Not for the fake woman, but for the real Chica - who everyone (except people who were on the Internet too much) thought was a myth. If it hurt him so much to know people thought of his family as fictional monsters, he couldn't imagine how much it hurt them.

Then he saw another Chica animatronic: the one that was alive! She stuffed herself in a corner, facing away from Mike. He might have mistaken her for a "dead" one had he not surveyed the place earlier.

"Hey," he whispered, trying not to scare her.

"Gah." Even scared to death, she knew to yelp as a whisper. Something might hear her. Turned around with a small smile on her beak. Green eyes glowed slightly in the dark, and they still held a glimmer of terror despite her grin. Though her apron was scuffed and dirtied, it looked like her person was unharmed.

"Glad you're OK," she murmured back, following him through the hut. Mike didn't stop moving, even though he was elated to see her. The primary noise was the slight shuffling of their feet. Mary only played music on the exterior speakers, whether that was intentional or by accident, which barely reached inside.

"Is Bonnie, uh, here?" Mike already knew the answer when he didn't see the purple rabbit, but he needed to check. Chica shook her head.

"No. We got split up when a fireball hit the ground between us." Mike tried to remain calm, though his composure began to crumble.

God, he thought everyone was OK, but had people already died? Was Foxy gone? Could he and Chica have been the last two? These mosquitoes plunged their probosces into Mike's neck and drained him of energy.

No, he realized, shaking them off as quickly as they seized him. If he managed it, Auric would have screamed to the heavens about his victory instead of trying to knock down buildings like a cat that batted its favorite toy under a couch. Not long before they stood at the other end, peering out the door. These things were quick to get through if one ignored the scenery. Auric eschewed subtlety, though Mike didn't know whether it was because he was so confident in inevitable victory despite this handicap or if being turned mortal filled him with indescribable rage.

"I'm h-heading to the generator." Mike put his mouth close to Chica's ear - well, the hole in the side of her head she possessed instead of an ear - when he spoke. Perhaps Auric's hearing was better than it should have been. "Want to come with me?"

"I don't have any other ideas," she said with a shrug. Then she turned to look him in the eye. "I'll protect you, Mike. Don't worry." The journey seemed to take an hour, although it must have been two minutes at most. Just a matter of following the yellow wires, which were covered by cable protectors. His eyes were only on them half the time. For the other half, they searched the spaces between buildings, under benches, in garbage cans and anywhere else someone might hide. He saw nobody. This was a pretty big place, so he didn't break down from fear. They must have been here. Probably inside one of the structures.

One that isn't burning down. Heat licked his face as he passed Freddy's Axe Murder Mansion, which still roiled. The flames spread to the side walls, and it must have been structurally unsound at this point. Bonnie's New York Nightmare would be in danger of receiving the fire once the flames hit the other end, and from there, the rest of the park. No time to find a fire extinguisher to put it out, which Mike might have otherwise. The only place he thought safe from the inferno was the trailer, set well away from everything else, with the grass between it and the other constructions kept trim.

Speaking of which, they headed to that building presently. Mike wasn't surprised; they'd want the generator somewhere they could see it. Chica made good on her promise to protect him so far. Not that anything immediately threatened him, but he appreciated her being his bodyguard. The cords thickened as they progressed, conjoining around the back of the shed. A small fence, itself topped with barbed wire, blocked the way, but it had been opened.

It was here, chugging along and shooting fumes out of a pipe. Mary must have started it when she turned on the loudspeakers. Good, because Mike wouldn't have had time to go inside and find the key!

Well, he was where he wanted to be. The only thing left was to lure Auric. Shouldn't have been too difficult.

Quickly hashed out a plan with Chica, such that it was. Mike would taunt Auric to entice him closer, standing in front of the generator. Auric, Mike believed, was either so confident or so angry that he'd think little of it and go after easy prey. If Auric closed in, Mike would lunge out of the way when the monster attacked, and he'd hit the generator. A human would be able to stop their swing, but he, still getting used to momentum, likely could not.

Chica came in if Auric opted to spray him with fire or frost or acid or poison. She'd wait nearby, then run at Auric's back and shove him into the generator.

Mike noticed Auric only focused on purely offensive magic, which seemed odd. Would have thought he'd have increased his speed to blitz them or mind-controlling them into killing themselves. That must not have been how magic worked, at least not for Auric. Perhaps now that he was a physical being, he could only weave spells of this type, which he was unable to as a spirit. Or maybe Mike didn't know anything and made wild guesses. It's probably the latter.

There was no time to think about metaphysics, though. Instead, Mike stepped out from behind the trailer and yelled, "Rip me, like, apart if you want to k-kill somebody so badly!"

Auric obliged him without so much as a word. The demon turned from his searching down the main stretch of grass to stare at Mike. If looks could kill… The venomous gaze nearly struck him dead from hundreds of feet away. It should have been impossible to see his pinhead-sized eyes from this distance, yet he did just as clearly as before.

Then he charged, lowering his horned head as he did. The horns curved backwards, so Mike couldn't be impaled - though he might be bludgeoned to death. Smashed through a picnic bench, seemingly invincible. Let's see about that. Mike's sweaty hands balled into shuddering fists. Mike's heart sank as Auric slowed. Clumsily and with little finesse, but he halted 10 feet away from Mike, hunched over. Heavy breaths of air filled his new lungs. He'd never experienced exercise, either. To be fair, Mike found himself feeling that way more often as he aged.

"You are imbecilic to challenge me in this manner, Warden," Auric spat, inching closer. "Stupid because you think me a fool. Did you believe I would swing into the generator behind you?!" One hand summoned a small orb of white-blue lightning, dancing across his ebon palm to mock the potential execution method. Well, yeah, he did expect Auric to fall for it. But he also had a backup plan in case the beast didn't - something Auric was too dumb to not consider.

Auric's brief monologue gave Chica the time she needed to silently creep around behind him. The palm with the electricity was ready to fry him, for Mike was surrounded by metal fences on three sides. Mike's chest tightened. Backup plan or not, this needed to be timed perfectly.

Coiled muscles sprang away as Chica tackled him in the back. Auric's surprised lurch forward almost pinned Mike to the generator, which would have been the end of him. He could have sworn he felt one of Auric's talons graze the sole of his shoe… the monster trying to grab him.

Mike landed on his stomach, rolling over to see Chica got off Auric in the nick of time, landing on the ground a foot behind him. They were right; he hadn't figured out how to balance well yet, for he probably could have shrugged her off otherwise. Instead, his head and horns had been lodged into the still-running machine. Auric tried to yank himself out, yet he could not; the backwards horns held him tight, like a fishhook in the mouth of the fish.

Auric spasmed as Mike sprang to his feet and Chica frantically crawled away. This wasn't like the cinematic version of electrocution, where sparks flew and one could see the skeleton of the person being fried. There was a crackling noise. The machine lurched, too, though it didn't stop, even as the music from Legendary Tales distorted into gibberish. Finally, the monster went limp, and the music went back to normal. Smoke rose from the husk of this once-threatening being.

Did… did we kill him? Mike thought as he looked at Chica, both wide-eyed.

Auric's talons slamming against the dirt told him he hadn't been so lucky. Mike felt a noose tighten around his throat as the thing tore his head free with one fluid motion. He staggered, leaning against the metal fence while smoke curled around him. Not the golden smoke of old, but fog almost as dark as he was.

Mike somehow saw electrical burns streaked across Auric's chest. Though charred, they were lighter in color than the unhurt portions. Auric remained silent despite clearly taking some damage. Not a peep of pain betrayed how much agony must have coursed through his body. Instead, he slid his claws along the links of the fence like playing a xylophone.

"My turn."

10:30 AM

Phil's heavy breathing echoed through the hallway. He didn't know where his friends were. They must have still been alive out there, for he just heard Auric slashing and stomping at somebody outside. He didn't know what happened. Did somebody fight Auric with their fists? Part of him wanted to find out, but more of him desired to find others.

Where am I? He was lucid enough to ask that question with his heart no longer pulsing in his head. Didn't recognize the angles and textures of the walls at first glance. While inane, he'd lived in the park so long that he knew every room in every building. Except one.

Phil stopped in his tracks and shuddered. He'd finally entered Five Nights at Freddy's, though not of his own volition. Well, he always vowed to see this place one day, and this was the last chance he'd ever get. It wasn't just sightseeing, of course; that'd be the worst thing he could do at a time like this. There might've been others hiding here too. They must be somewhere.

His rabbit instincts started to assert themselves. He jumped at a mouse scuttling by and flinched at the sight of a latex severed head. These normally would have gotten no reaction, yet everything had changed both because of where he was and what occurred outside. It may as well have been the end of the world. The end of his world, anyway, small though it may have been. The worlds of all the others, too.

His gaze didn't linger long on any one piece or animatronic, though he was particularly unsettled by the ones of children creepily leering at him. Obviously, they were uncanny, yet he didn't understand the decision to paint smiles on their faces. Maybe to increase the creepiness factor. He'd been to Disney as a kid, and that Small World ride was eerier than any other theme park ride he'd ever been on. Just endless dolls smiling at him...

He went through that room, and he immediately wanted to turn around, because this one was much worse. He came face-to-face with something he wanted to see even less than Auric.

It was himself. Well, not literally him. It was an animatronic of a human man that he only knew to be himself because of the purple suit draped around its form. The facial structure was all wrong, the skin/latex color was a bit too light, and they even got the greased-back hair wrong. Of course, there was no reason to get those details exactly right. While Phil was sure his obituary and photo must have been on the Internet by now, few people associated his actual restaurant with the one from the legends. Even if they did, it probably would have been a bad look to portray someone who, legally speaking, never committed any crimes as a mass murderer.

The turned-off mirror of himself was in the process of heaving the last dead child from the previous room into a Freddy animatronic's back. A bloody knife was shoved into his jacket pocket, no doubt used to do the deed. Legend had it that "Mr. Fazbear" murdered all these kids and shoved at least four of them into the original four animatronics, where their spirits bonded with the metal and made them alive. Regardless of everything he'd done, Phil never let Auric kill kids. Then again, the demon never asked to. If he did... well, Phil would have liked to think he would have said no.

Nearly at the back of the haunted house by now. Phil no longer heard anything from outside, though that was probably because of the distance he put between himself and the front rather than Auric going quiet. Instead, he heard faint whispering from ahead. A chill crawled down his back, and, just for a moment, he couldn't help but wonder if there was something to those ghost stories after all.

Relief washed over him as he closed in. It was regular whispering with real words, not the creepy ghost gibberish he almost expected. Freddy and June crouched on the dirty floor, trying to figure out what to do next.

"Hi," Phil whispered back, trying not to scare them. Thankfully, neither minded much. They were already so tightly wound that a third person coming in couldn't make them more stressed than they already were. In fact, it seemed to put June in a slightly better mood.

"Hey, Phil," she said in a slightly louder voice. They didn't need to keep their voices low with Auric well away. "Good timing. We're trying to figure out how to get at Auric without any weapons or effective ways to hurt him." Yeah, he had no ideas. June cringed, turning away before asking, "Is anyone else with you?"

Phil shook his head. Freddy was stoic, as always, though a hint of sadness crept onto his face. Phil took the moment to look around at the decorations of this room. There he was again, unleashing the animatronics, Freddy included, on the nameless night guard representing Mike in the story.

"Nice place you got here," Freddy spat as he mulled over this inanimate version of himself. It was probably the most accurate depiction of them all. The strange thing was that Phil could correctly deny doing the bulk of this. He never killed anyone with his own two hands, or even a weapon wielded by them. Auric did all the dirty work. Obviously, that technicality didn't absolve him of anything. Even if it did, he didn't want to argue. Freddy was kind enough to leave it at that. They had worse things to fear.

Like Bonnie flying through the wall, for example. He smashed through the thin, wooden timbers back-first, right between Phil and the other two. There was no time to react, save to feel a queasy gratitude he hadn't been a few feet closer to anyone. Bonnie bowled over the gory animatronic of himself, screaming when he saw its dead gaze and smiling muzzle. Sprang to his feet, as did the rest of them. Bonnie, who weighed several hundred pounds, had been slammed through wood like he was the weight of a brick - heavy, but light enough to throw.

"How convenient. I knew I would find more of you vermin eventually." Phil's jaw dropped as Auric's gaunt form strode through the hole Bonnie's body created. He stood proud, yet he couldn't hide his injuries: burning flesh arced across his torso like a wide line of paint. Something hurt him. Not badly enough to cripple him, yet it was proof that it could be done. "Which one of you shall I kill first?" he asked, licking his chops with a long, black tongue.

Everyone scattered again. Auric may have been theatrical, yet he no longer played games. A burbling ball of liquid that Phil could only assume to be potent magical super acid (and not the drug, which Auric could have sold for millions if he cared about money) manifested in his hand, which was pointed straight at Bonnie.

"Everyone leave!" Phil shouted without even thinking, trying to tackle Auric. The monster was only a little taller than him, yet he barely budged.

"Ah, Phillip, it warms my heart that you should volunteer!" He threw down his hand with the floating liquid sphere, which Phil just managed to dodge. His suspicion was proven correct when the green ooze instantly ate through the floor and then several inches of dirt beneath. At least it wasn't strong enough to melt to the center of the Earth. Auric seized him by the throat in retaliation, gently squeezing. Phil's vision blackened slightly, and he wriggled in vain against his captor. He was accustomed to being strong now, lifting his couch and doing several dozen pushups without breaking a sweat. Now, he was reminded of being human.

The world flew by in a rush of color and light. He felt his back break... no, something broke against his back. A lot did, actually. Splinters dug into his body, and the cold fingers around his neck gave him frostbite on contact, but he thought he was OK otherwise. I just have to stand, Phil thought, trying to struggle to his feet even as his blurry vision sloshed around in his eyeballs. No such luck; he must have flipped half a dozen times while in the air.

His gaze only cleared after the clawed foot dug into his stomach. Auric loomed over him, blotting out the sun. Two golden eyes burned almost as brightly, though without any of the warmth. He thought he saw others from the corners of his vision.

"I gave you everything you asked for!" Auric shouted as he pressed his foot harder. Phil yelped as he felt his stomach begin to bleed. "I never deceived you about the bargain we struck; you agreed to everything. It was only through your own stupidity that you never received the 'love' you desired from these miserable creatures." Phil was in no shape to argue, and Auric was correct. He was complicit in everything and squandered the opportunities he had in this new life for things to be different. Maybe if he'd been honest from the start...

The demon pressed again, making Phil scream. Auric had his claws around Phil's remaining kidney, he thought. One swift movement was all it would take.

A car horn cut through his pain and the raging electric guitar, snatching his attention away from imminent death. It was close. His head twisted as he witnessed something he never expected. Auric himself was stunned. He'd seen things Phil couldn't imagine, yet this gave him pause.

Mike's car hurtled at them, bounding over divots in the grass and smashing through a fried food stand. The engine screamed as it accelerated. Its front was already dented, probably from hitting a pole, and pieces of fencing hung off it from where it smashed through from the parking lot. Mary was in the driver's seat, her porcelain face calm and stoic at the quasi-suicidal action. His tormentor had no time to react.

The undercarriage zoomed less than an inch away from the tip of Phil's snout. Any closer, and his face would have been ripped off. Auric wasn't so lucky. Metal screamed as the car passed over him. Phil's eyes shot along the deep tire tracks in the earth, leading right to Freddy's Axe Murder Mansion, which was fully aflame. But that wasn't what drew his attention.

Auric was pinned between the crumpled hood of the Civic and the burning building. He tried to push the wreck off him, yet it held fast. "Feel it now, motherfucker?!" Phil shouted, filled with schadenfreude. The demon looked at him with hatred, but it didn't matter. Mary's temporary sacrifice succeeded when all else failed.

It only took a moment for the flames to hit the leaking streams of gasoline springing from the fuel tank.

Mike's car fucking exploded with a deafening bang, sending debris and black, tar-filled smoke skyward. A huge chunk of the engine block landed on Foxy's Dread Pirate Voyage, setting it aflame, too. Mary would be OK. Well, her body was reduced to a crisp, but unlike everyone else, her mind was inside a supercomputer a state away, so she could be rebuilt - even if whatever body they made wasn't as good as what Auric could conjure.

"My car!" Mike shouted as he sprinted up, falling to his knees before the wreck. Phil cringed in empathy. That was another kick in the teeth after all the money he spent. Everyone emerging like animals waking from hibernation after a cold winter softened the blow. Everyone made it. Mike bent down to pick up Mary's porcelain face, which miraculously survived intact and landed right in front of them. What were the odds?

They looked on in rapture even as the blaze spread. They won. It was far more than the average person could survive.

Of course, as everyone so quickly forgot, Auric wasn't a regular person. Hell, he wasn't a person at all. Someone gasped, and another muttered, "Not again."

To Phil's horror, the remains of the vehicle were shoved away as the monster slowly staggered forth, being licked by flames. He was the Terminator. Parts of his body were charred, which, strangely, made them lighter in color than the absolute black of the rest of his body, similar to the electrical burns he already had. New gashes oozed golden ichor, and a puncture wound kept spraying it like there was no tomorrow. Pieces of metal jutted from his mass, a few going straight through him. They just needed to do that one more time, Phil told himself, and he'd go down. Unfortunately, Mary was no longer present to hijack June's truck, so it wasn't that easy. Auric also wouldn't let himself be caught in that trap again.

How is he not screaming or crippled with pain? Though not quite deadly, he sported grievous wounds. Auric seemingly had most bodily functions people and animals did, so he should have had a nervous system in unbearable agony.

Phil's only idea was that Auric's body didn't interpret this in the same way everyone else's did. Auric openly said the celestial alignment or whatever leading to the eclipse was painful, but that applied to a very different state of being than the one he experienced currently. Now, his nerves shot pain signals to his brain, but the brain might not have known those were bad, only being a few minutes old. It didn't really matter, but it did make the fight that much tougher.

"Well, I suppose that is one down," he said, counting wins a little differently from the rest of them. Auric popped his left shoulder back into place. He wasn't done with them yet.

…

Foxy barely believed what she saw. Her "father" lumbered forward, magic at the ready, with a piece of rebar jammed through his gut. Thick, golden blood blasted from dozens of wounds, vanishing into nothingness before it hit the ground. And he didn't seem to run out, judging by the arterial spray going strong.

So far, Auric had been electrocuted, immolated and hit by a fucking car! Though these all did a number on him - Foxy could see smoke coming from charred sections of his hide and golden bones sticking through the surface of his skin - he continued to fight. Could anything truly hurt him? She growled. They needed to keep hammering him, for there was no silver bullet.

Wait, she thought as he stomped closer. Silver. "Silver bullet" was a phrase because, according to legend, silver was a bane to supernatural monsters, like werewolves and vampires. Things that, while legendary, could well exist if living animatronics did. Auric was kind of similar… would silver hurt him? Sunlight didn't, and he had no need to ask permission before entering buildings, but this was the best idea she had. She felt a grimace cross her muzzle. It might have been a smile if she were more confident.

Her cutlass wasn't made of silver, and she probably didn't have more than trace atoms in her construction, yet she knew where to find some. They used many unusual ingredients in the "turn Auric mortal" ritual, one of which was a chemical called silver sulfide: a compound of two silver atoms and one sulfur atom. She didn't know much about it other than Mike ordering a few bottles from some chemical company which had Ag2S on the sides. Most had been sprinkled on the ground, but Foxy was pretty sure at least part of a container remained untouched. She'd just run over, grab the bottle and rub it on her sword - it was in the form of a powder, not a single huge chunk.

She looked at Mike. Wished she could have been with him earlier, but she didn't know where he had been. Now she did, and she needed to leave him again; he just couldn't keep up. Foxy sprang to her feet, silently cursing in pain and pushing her teeth together. Forgot she'd twisted an ankle earlier. She was still faster than anyone, and it wasn't close. She took off, hearing Auric pick up his pace to follow her. Running put the target on her back. Perfect.

She rounded the corner and reached the ritual site a moment later. That was when her ankle gave out. She yelped as she fell forward. Must have been a worse injury than she thought. That was no object with all the adrenaline pumping through her. She'd crawl if she couldn't walk.

This is insane, she vaguely realized as she closed the final gap. Even if the legends were true and applicable to something like Auric, this still might not work! What if silver needed to be in its pure metal form instead of being part of some other chemical?! Well, it's two parts silver to one part sulfur, so maybe it'll still be two-thirds as effective as normal. It was still the best idea she had unless she wanted to try a ramming attack like Mary did. It was this or nothing.

She reached the salt circle, though Auric implied the ritual used all its innate magic or whatever, so it wouldn't provide any sort of protection. The bottled silver sulfide wasn't technically part of it, so hopefully it'd retain whatever magic it had. Come on, where's the flask? She used the saber as a cane to stagger up for a better view. Most of the ingredients were scattered when everyone fled to the four winds. The pickled snake's jar had been shattered, leaving the dead thing to ferment in the sun, and the ape hand was crushed into jelly.

It has to be here! She scrambled, listing off everything she saw. Auric rounded the corner, only stopping a moment to leer with those golden specks. They struck terror into Foxy's soul. Not for her own safety, but that of everyone else. He was strong, fast and cunning. It was only through a cocktail of luck and Auric not being used to this body that he'd failed to dispatch anyone so far. And she could tell that fortune wouldn't hold much longer.

Auric charged. He may have been hurt, but none of the damage was caused by fighting in close quarters. He didn't fear the sword, which was about to be a costly mistake. I hope.

She flipped out of his path as he rushed forward, pain coursing through her leg as her ankle popped again. Out of instinct, she tried to jab him with her hook. No dice. His skin was tough as stone. As she fell, though, a glint of glass caught her eye. There, hidden in the grass, was the prize she sought. In that moment, it was more valuable than all the buried treasures she'd unearthed and gems she'd plundered put together.

Foxy dropped her sword, dumping half the bottle of black crystals on it, then flipping it over to pour the other half on. That was the whole supply, and she hoped enough stuck to the metal! Though ostensibly silver (valuable in itself), it looked more like powdered black pearl - one of the most valuable substances around. Wished there was enough to apply to her hook. Auric swung back around with Foxy suddenly feeling a confidence boost. Tried not to show it.

She remembered her brief fight with TOY Freddy, when she was trying to save Mike from ENNARD and had no fucks left to give. Pretended to be ready for a fair fight and then immediately stabbed him in the crotch when he got close. Auric already couldn't care less about fairness - but Foxy could still use guile to make him sloppier than he already was. Therefore, she needed to play possum.

Immediately regretted that as he punched her in the face hard enough to make her teeth rattle (though she didn't feel any break off). A claw across the neck nearly nicked her jugular. Fuck, that was close! She'd only allow him a couple more blows to lower his guard. A slash to the chest tore her shirt, exposing her bra through the gash. Oh, fuck this guy! Obviously, Auric couldn't have cared less about her tits and was going for a vital area, but it added insult to her increasing list of injuries.

He must have thought he had her on the ropes. Maybe he does, she thought, turning her head and spitting out a mouthful of brown blood. Instead of laying in more, Auric crouched and grabbed her by the neck.

"How fitting that you are the second to be disposed of," he spat. One claw raised her eyepatch to look her in both the working eye and the dead one while the rest of his massive hand lifted her by the head. "Though I regret it has taken me this long to kill one of you. Mary, of course, killed herself." Foxy said nothing. She'd let her actions speak for her as her hand slowly migrated to the scabbard.

"You were so brave and rebellious after the Warden came into your life," he continued, cocking his head. "You are about to discover that those closest to you cannot save you, and vice versa."

"You're right, Auric. Everyone close to me does get fucked up." Her saber slashed across his stomach. It bounced off last time. Now, Auric's flesh, or whatever this was, tore like paper to create a wound larger than any which came before it. He screamed. For the first time, he felt or betrayed anguish from the silvered blade.

Another flash, and Auric's right arm, the one which held her, was gone below the elbow. Her ankle betrayed her as she landed, sending her into the dirt. Even from this angle, though, Auric's golden bowels spilling onto the ground was a lovely sight. Bits of the intestine dissolved into nothing now that they were separated from the rest of Auric's bulk, and he tried to shove the rest back into his body. To her horror, the severed arm crawled in circles like a dying insect, taking a moment to shrivel up and truly expire. When it did, it fell onto its "back", spasmed once more and evaporated. Every part of him tried to cling to endless, cancerous life.

She scrambled for her sword, which fell into the dirt. Auric was closer, and he grabbed it with his remaining arm. It made him scream again. Even the touch burned him, so he threw the weapon away. Far, far away into the parking lot, where it was no threat to him. Frustration gouged her in the ribs. Another slice was all it would have taken. As it was, Auric had been maimed more, yes - but he was still more than a match for everyone else, and she was pretty sure they were out of ways to hurt him. That, and he just wouldn't die.

Foxy pulled away, and when she did, the only thing she felt was heat. All the major buildings blazed. If there was any good news, it was that the property was far enough away from the surrounding forest that the risk of becoming a massive fire was negligible. She hoped.

She ran, feeling heat lick her fur. Didn't know how it happened, but she found herself at the front of the park in a blink. May have been fast, but not that quick. Smoke inhalation must have made her mind hazy. Everyone except Phil was there, apparently having looked upon her last stand in triumph... and then despair as Auric ultimately shrugged it off.

"We need to get out!" June shouted, and everyone agreed. This wasn't really a retreat, more like a withdrawal to another battlefield. Nobody, Auric included, wanted to continue this fight in a blazing Hell. Exhaustion set in as Foxy continued. She looked down to see the reason; she bled from wounds in her torso, leaking brown blood. Only now did she feel it. Looking around, she saw her friends had all been hit in more or less the same way. It was a miracle none of them had been hit in just slightly more vital areas. Maybe God really was on their side, even if he didn't smite Auric with lightning from on high. Or it could have been blind luck. Foxy looked behind her to see what they'd escaped.

The park was gone. Pillars of smoke went up from the wreckage. One of the buildings collapsed into charcoal before her eye. Some of the outlying structures hadn't been touched, but 90 percent must have been unsalvageable. Even the front was ruined. One of the two pillars integrated into the chain fence which held up the gigantic sign had been knocked down by Mary driving Mike's car in, leaving it lurched precipitously forward.

Auric strode out. The stump of his arm shot thick, golden blood with the force of a firehose, yet it became nothing halfway between the emergence point and the asphalt.

They'd all been hit. While not dead or mortally wounded, nobody was able to put up much of a fight, or even run away, anymore. And Auric still had one hand left with which to perform magic. One hit here would kill them all. Except Phil. Was he still in there? If so, he was likely already dead.

"At last, I have you miserable creatures by the throat!" Auric raved, blood trailing down the corners of his mouth. Crippled as he was, he looked like he had the potency to kill them with one final and great effort. He'd won the war of attrition. A ball of fire, bigger than any before it, appeared in his left hand. "I am battered and bruised, yet I still triumph! You thought you could strike me down?! I am infinitely your greater!"

As Auric closed in, Foxy noticed two things. First, she finally saw Phil. Second, he was behind Auric. Behind and above him. He put a finger to his muzzle as he shimmied up the remaining pole that the Fazbear's Fright sign dangled from.

It had to weigh a few thousand pounds, about as much as the car Mary plowed into him. That left him with broken bones and cuts all over, which Foxy saw more clearly now than ever. Another powerful blow would be his end. None of them were in any shape to deliver it, though.

They were on the same page: keep Auric distracted for a few more moments. How they would do that was anyone's guess.

"Wait!" Freddy exclaimed, being the first to try his luck.

"Wait for what? Wait to pull your spines out of your backs? Wait to devour your hearts and bathe in your blood? Wait to kill a thousand more humans as vengeance for trying to protect them?! Wait to explore methods of torment I have scarcely imagined to punish you for inflicting this on me?!" His ranting became more unhinged with each rhetorical question, but he stayed planted where he was. "No, I have lost the patience for waiting. I will kill you and set about achieving all I have threatened." Foxy's eye shot to Phil every other second, and she had to hope Auric wouldn't notice. The rabbit sweated buckets.

"We'll be your slaves if you spare us!" June interrupted right as Auric finished his sentence. Foxy cringed at those horrible words, though her friend was so desperate that she didn't betray any such disgust.

Auric smirked, and he would have put his arms behind his back if one of them hadn't already been amputated. "A tempting offer, and one I expected from you simpering, verminous cowards. It would be the ultimate satisfaction to have you serve me of your own free will." Paused for effect, during which time he might have heard Phil untangling the thick wires and chains which kept the sign attached to the pole. Chica coughed to hide the small noise. "But you must die so I may be restored to the state I was. So die you shall."

"Auric!" Bonnie shouted, his voice cracking. "Uh... what's your favorite color? Besides gold, obviously." God, how much longer could they keep this up?! Auric was perplexed by this question.

"Are these really the ways you 'distract' me to maintain your worthless lives? You are all wretched and covered in excrement!" he spat. "Little awaits you but inevitable death, even if you did escape me! You are nothing but a spectacle to this world!" His arm swept back to the panorama of the burning park. Auric was right about that. If all went well, they were destined to be remembered as fictional monsters rather than the people. It wasn't fair... but their lives never had been. They managed to carve out places for themselves, regardless. Besides, Auric, a being who craved fame and glory, would be regarded as nothing but a bad memory. The final coil was being undone.

"Uh, not as much of a spectacle as you're a-about to be." Mike pointed up, where Auric casually glanced as the billboard uncoupled.

His golden eyes seemed to expand a split second before he was crushed by the combined mass of Freddy, Chica, Bonnie and herself in the form of gigantic, unflattering sign monsters. It hit the ground, and any hint of shattering bone or rending flesh was masked by the hunk of metal breaking upon impact. Finally, these strange versions of them gained a real body count.

Still, there was no cause for celebration. Foxy's eye narrowed on the cloud of dust kicked up, which was dispersed by a light wind. The fire burning through the haze evoked the image of Hell. They waited, barely daring to breathe.

A groan came from the rubble as a black figure bleeding gold clawed its way out, shifting some of the pieces. Foxy flinched in fear; they couldn't do it again. They were doomed. Then, as quickly as images of their deaths flashed into her head, she realized it was unwarranted. The movements were slow, halting and flaccid. The monster was no longer worthy of terror. Then he emerged, clawing his way out on his back.

Auric may have been alive, but just barely.

His remaining arm had been mangled, now bent the wrong way. Ribs poked through his stomach, and most of the skin on his chest was gone, revealing a gilded sternum. One of his horns had broken off, and that was just the top half. He didn't have his left leg anymore, and his right one had been crushed, in addition to most of the organs in his gut now trailing outside of his body. He was on the verge of death, and he'd finally realized he'd lost.

"Wait!" he called, attempting to raise his remaining hand in surrender. "Spare me."

Foxy couldn't believe those two words. Auric begged for his pathetic life - exactly what he claimed they would do. And this time, it wasn't a distraction. But it meant they won. They'd defeated this monster after everything he did to them. Right?

"Give us one reason," Foxy spat, meaning it to be wholly rhetorical. They were going to kill him no matter what he said.

"Because if I perish, you and your freakish friends will perish with me," Auric growled. That gave Foxy pause. She didn't buy it; words were the sole lifeline the demon had.

"I never broached the subject, as I thought myself invincible. I believed it would never become relevant." Auric turned his head to the side and vomited half a gallon of ichor before turning to Phil, who joined them after climbing back down the pole. "Do you recall that I utilized pieces of my soul to create these creatures?"

Parts of Phil's green fur had been singed or covered in ash, yet he nevertheless turned pale. "It's true. He brought that up in passing several times, but I never really thought about it. None of what he did to make you guys makes sense to regular people." True enough. It sounded like even Auric himself was ignorant of some aspects.

"If I die, those fragments will die with me!" he spat, still trying to crawl away. If only he had more than two barely-functioning appendages. "And you will not just die - you will revert to what you were! You will be nothing but amalgamations of metal and wire, stripped of everything that makes you alive!" The words made her ice cold. Every strand of fur on her body stuck straight out, and her tail hung limp like dead weight. He had to be lying. Please let him be lying! "I could not divest that power while I still lived, otherwise I would have the moment you betrayed me. But if you do this, neither of us will have a choice."

"You're missing an arm and a leg, Auric. It won't be much of a life if we let you go," Chica pointed out. Her voice trembled at what he just revealed. Still, she made an excellent point.

"I will recover within a month. I am not as you are. Leave me be and let me mend," he offered, framing it as a good deal for everyone. "Then I will live out the rest of my life here on Earth, which you have now bound me to. Until you all die - of natural causes and old age, of course."

Auric grinned through all his mutilations. As he said once before, it was not in his nature to lie. Damn it all - Foxy believed he told the truth, and it made her heart twist in her chest. Her gaze wandered back to her friends. They were about to make the most important (and perhaps final) decision of their lives. And there wasn't much time to make it. The smoke coming from the park was not as thick now, but people in Salem should have noticed it soon and realized it wasn't fireworks being shot off. Then the fire department or police would come, and, well, they really didn't want to be present when that happened.

Foxy's stomach was in her feet as she and her friends shuffled into a circle several dozen feet away from Auric to talk about what they should do. There was no need to keep an eye on him; he wasn't going anywhere. It should have been an uproar. Maybe it would have been if they were not so tired. As it was, they all stood in a circle, barely looking at each other.

Mike was the first to speak, his voice desperate. "Please t-tell me, like, you're not actually considering it."

"We all knew the risks when we agreed to do this," Foxy answered, sidling up to him and putting his warm hand in her own. Both she and Mike agreed she might need to die to save billions. Still, she roiled inside at the potential sacrifice. According to Auric, they wouldn't just die. It would be like they never were. Their souls, if any they had, would fade, and only oblivion greeted them for eternity. Maybe that was what awaited after death, too, but it felt far less hopeful.

"But Foxy - "

She seized her husband by the collar and swept him off his feet. Mike was powerless as she leaned over to give him the biggest, most wonderful kiss she'd ever imparted. He just leaned into it, and neither wanted this last moment to end. It needed to echo into eternity. It did, yet it also seemed too brief. She felt tears spill down the fur of her cheek and onto Mike's face. The breath from his nose hit hers. His heart beat against her own, the two becoming one.

All these things happened in time, yet her mind almost existed outside it for one brief, eternal moment. In that space, there was only love.

10:45 AM

Foxy's strong arms lowered Mike. They might have never embraced him again. He didn't know, and that was always the scariest part. His body shuddered, racked by fear of many types. The most prominent, though, was that the love of his life would leave him.

"We're gonna send this bastard ta' Sheol no matter what it takes," Foxy demanded, lapsing into a particularly thick version of her pirate accent. Her body was wild with fear of a different kind; that all of these sacrifices would be for nothing. "Auric will never be able ta' 'arm anyone ever again! Never 'urt them the way 'e 'urt us! Isn't that what we wanted?!" she shouted, her orange eye practically glowing with rage. Rage at them for questioning what they set out to do and far more rage at Auric for making it necessary.

Mike looked to the rest of them to see if everyone else was on the same page Foxy so vehemently jumped to. This had to be a collective choice, though one which he and June ultimately had no say in. They were no longer the ones risking their lives.

"I know. I know we 'ave to do this," Bonnie croaked. "But I'm scared. I know we'll all die one day no matter what, but I don't want it to be like this." Mike didn't know what to say. Nor did Auric. Even if he told the truth about them dying, he famously didn't know what happened to souls after they were caught away. Maybe he was wrong about never existing. Mike began to pray fervently in his mind that it wouldn't be the end for them.

"I'm terrified, but Foxy is right," Chica said, her voice as strained as anyone else's. "We've given up so much. It can't have been for nothing." Mike turned to Freddy.

"I'm OK with dying. You think me reading all that William Blake has been for fun?" Freddy tried to laugh, yet it fell flat. He couldn't hide the terror in his soul. "Just remember us, guys. I don't want to be forgotten," he said to Mike and June.

"I - we - will," June replied. They could never forget the people they'd spent so much of their lives with. Mike would spend the rest of his days with a hole in his heart. Mary wasn't there to cast a vote, but everyone had to assume she'd go with the group decision. She lied to them in the past to protect them from the awful truth, but now that it was out there... well, she was as brave as everyone else.

There was so much to talk about, but little of it mattered. They'd made their choice, and it needed to be respected, despite meaning he'd lose some of the few people he'd ever loved. After this, the only ones he'd have were June, Sylvia (busy with a professional career and a husband) and two parents who, while he knew they loved him, lived on the other side of the world and wanted to be left alone. So mostly just June, and the two of them would be depressed together forever. At least she had family despite losing her dad. What would Mike do?

"Foxy, w-what is there to say?" he asked, his hand still in hers as his voice went stiff and his eyes watered. "I want more time." They'd been together for 17 years. That was as long, if not longer, than most human couples stayed together in this country. It wasn't enough. There was so much they still needed to do: finish writing their book, reach the end of One Piece, visit the ocean together, and a million other things. He knew it was selfish. That she was her own person and could make her own decisions, especially when they already talked again and again about doing whatever it took.

"I wish that, too. More than anything." She sniffled, and her crimson fur almost turned white. "I love you more than life itself. But I'd be betraying everything you taught us about being good people if we let him live." Mike tried to present a good example to these broken people clawing their way out of a horrible situation back when they were on shakier ground. He was proud to be a light for people who rarely interacted with others in healthy ways. Now, he almost regretted it. They might have decided against this if he'd been more selfish. But that wasn't the kind of people any of them were.

"S-so w-would I," Mike admitted as he burst into tears, no longer able to maintain composure. Water streamed down his face, and he fell to his knees. Auric must have relished this. It was the final bit of joy the monster would ever get to savor. Mike felt like a child again in all the worst ways: impotent, helpless and horribly afraid.

His mind stretched back 30 years to when he was six years old. He thought Foxy was the scariest thing on the planet even before what happened one fateful day. Now, they had a knife to the throat of what may have actually been the scariest thing on Earth (right in front of what had been billed the scariest place on Earth), and he was even more terrified for Foxy putting herself in the scariest situation he could imagine: losing the person he loved most. Everything had been flipped on its head.

A hand fell on his shoulder. Then another. And another. He looked up through bleary eyes to see everyone comforting him. Foxy lifted him back to his feet, a genuine smile on her muzzle despite everything. They were going to get through this together. One last time.

He'd let the animatronics tell Auric about their choice. He tried to convince them to stay their hands... and they had not been swayed. Their resolve was stronger than Mike's.

He could still barely limp the few dozen feet they needed. Nor could anyone else. Just because they made their choice didn't mean it would be easy to follow through on. Foxy also didn't come over straightaway; there was something else she needed to deal with before joining them. Too bad she needed to miss this first part.

"We've talked about your offer," Freddy said. Auric smirked despite his unfathomable injuries, expecting to receive his life on a silver platter with no consequences (which he'd then use to betray them years later, Mike was sure). "And it's not good enough. This is the part where you die." The monster chuckled, thinking they tried to scare him.

Only when Foxy returned with her still-silvered sword she'd recovered did Auric realize they weren't joking or trying to negotiate a better offer.

"No. No, please!" he begged, trying and failing to back away. It made Mike feel immense joy. "I will do anything. There is no task I will not perform!" Bonnie gently put his foot in Auric's path, which prevented him from moving a single inch. "Do you want wealth? I can get bank guards to rob them for you. Power? I will whisper into the ears of the influential to grant it to you. Fame? It is yours if you ask!"

None of that appealed to them. Well, maybe the "wealth" part, but only to recoup the money Mike spent on getting to this point. He and June were able to step up now that the animatronics introduced the novel concept of turning Auric into ground beef.

"All I want is for, um, you to shut up," Mike said, grabbing a piece of masonry he saw among the detritus. "Now bite d-down on this brick."

"Why should I?"

"Because, like, if you do, you'll get to live a few seconds, uh, longer." The promise of more precious moments of life immediately cowed Auric into submission. This thing that killed people since before the sun formed was at their mercy… and he was about to get the most humiliating treatment Mike could think of. Everyone agreed Mike should get the first shot at him. His foot hovered behind Auric's head, swaying slightly in the light breeze. It would have been so easy to drive the appendage forward to deliver the first blow out of many. Auric deserved far more pain than Mike could inflict.

I can't, he thought, lowering his foot. Mike really thought he'd want to torture Auric to his last breath, yet he couldn't bring himself to deliver a single blow. This wasn't for Auric's sake, but for Mike's own. It would be on his conscience if he inflicted unnecessary torment on someone, no matter how vile. Thankfully, he knew someone who was more than up for the task.

"Freddy?" Mike asked.

The bear nodded, understanding the human changed his mind. "My pleasure."

Freddy walked over and raised one foot while bracing the other fully against the ground. Everyone watched with anticipation - except Auric, who had no idea what was about to happen. Foxy shuffled over, smiling. "See?" she whispered to him, "I told you you're a good person." Mike felt himself blush as he looked at what was going to be the most cathartic event of his life. Even if he didn't participate, he'd still enjoy this. The muscles in Freddy's raised leg flew into high gear, sending the foot into the back of Auric's head with the force of a piston.

Black shards - Auric's teeth - scattered across the ground before vanishing. Everyone cheered as Auric yelled. He tried to say something, but only gurgled nonsense came out. This was a taste of the suffering to come.

Everyone else took turns while Mike stood back to watch. They whacked him with metal pipes and carved pieces of his flesh off with Foxy's silvered sword, like that ancient Chinese method of torture. June braved running back into the burning park for a few handfuls of salt, which were sprinkled into his oozing wounds. They didn't have the resources for anything more elaborate. This was plenty, though.

Auric screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed.

He couldn't talk anymore. Certainly not after Bonnie cut out his tongue. Mike watched with unbridled joy. Perverse as it may have sounded, this healed their hearts.

Then it was Phil's turn to have a go at Auric, who was close to turning gold again; his remaining body was a giant bruise. June had some mechanical fluids in the back of her truck. A few bottles of which just so happened to be flammable.

Phil dumped them atop Auric. The toxic chemicals seeping into his salted wounds must have been agonizing beyond words. Then he pulled out a lighter he got from June's truck. It must have been ancient, yet a flame still ignited at the top. Auric looked at the flaming point with... well, Mike didn't know or care what he thought.

"Burn, you son of a bitch."

Phil dropped the lighter with those immortal words, and Auric burst into flames. The screaming became almost loud enough to make Mike's ears ring. It didn't matter. The flames quickly died down around the roasting demon, but the screaming stayed the same.

He still lived. Against all reason, Auric clung to a semblance of life through supernatural tenacity and utter terror of whatever waited for him on the other side. Mike hoped it was Hell. Even reduced to a torso with all four limbs removed, along with his horns, teeth and tongue, he still squirmed. They let him keep those tiny eyes, though, which never seemed to grow beyond pinpricks no matter how close. His blood supply must have come from another dimension or he constantly generated it or something, because his wounds never ran dry. Some leaked and some sprayed, depending on whether they were attached to a major blood vessel.

They quickly ran out of ways to torture him as the minutes passed. No more chunks of flesh to cut away, so they were reduced to mere flaying, then they ran out of salt. Freddy grumbled about how they couldn't try their hands at waterboarding, and that was when Mike knew they needed to end this. That and the fact the fire department should have been arriving soon. Amazing that nobody came already.

"I think it's time," was all he had to say, and everyone listened. It was easy now that Auric's vocal cords had been cut, meaning he made no noise despite shaking in a kind of pain none of them could imagine. Even the animatronics couldn't have been subjected to anything like this when BRIAR experimented on them. "Let's end this." And end them, by extension. His friends - his wife - would be no more.

Foxy's grin faltered as she wordlessly held out her silvered sword. This wasn't something any of them got to do alone. Everyone placed a hand on the hilt as they stood over Auric's wretched form in a circle. His eyes stared up at them, pleading despite the lack of words. Mike knew he would do anything to live. That was too bad, because they had done everything to kill him. He looked at Foxy for the last time. A lifetime of memories flashed through his head, and his heart shattered that there wouldn't be more.

"I love you guys," he choked out before their last act as a family. They pushed.

The blade slammed through Auric's forehead, driving straight into his brain. The body was gone in a blink. It vanished in a puff of smoke like the rest of him, and he was no more. Mike expected a more dramatic exit. The greatest relief and sense of most abject loss he'd ever experienced combined to smother him like a blanket.

The air shifted, and he knew his family were no longer with him. They were gone as quickly as Auric was; he told the truth. Mike raised his head to look upon everyone in one of the most painful things he'd ever done.

They were different. They'd reverted to how he remembered them as a child. Though they looked the same at a glance, their "auras" (to use a word he'd grown to hate) vanished in a blink. They stood stiff. Robotic. Like they should have as animatronics. And it killed him as much as it did them.

That should have been the end. His wife and best friends were dead by their own choice. But he needed to know. Maybe this was an illusion, or else it could be shaken off.

"I - I'm still alive." Mike's heart rose, only to fall again when he pivoted to the one who said that. It turned out to be Phil, who stared at his hands and flexed his fingers, seeming shocked. Mike immediately hated himself for being disappointed. Phil had changed; Mike saw it, and so did everyone else. He didn't know how the guy was still alive, but it was a small mercy that they weren't technically all dead. June looked too dejected to say anything. She was just ready to hop in her truck, drive a few miles, pull over and remain in a catatonic coma for a day or two.

Mike got to Foxy, who stood still as the statue she became.

"Foxy?" He called his wife's name in a hushed tone. He saw no life in her. His hand brushed her fur, which suddenly became cold. He touched it enough times to know it was no longer real animal fur, either - it was whatever synthetic fabric had been stretched over a latex "skin". Her eye regressed back into flat plastic.

Then, suddenly, she - it - sprang to a twisted semblance of life. It wasn't moved by love or recognition, but because Mike wandered into its proximity detector.

"Yarr, me hearties!" the thing that used to be Foxy yelled in a monotone drawl, making him yelp and jump away as it clumsily wandered about. "Ta' day, Cap'n Foxy's going ta' tell all o' ya' a swashbuckin' tale 'bout 'er exploits on the high seas!"

This burst of movement triggered all the other animatronics, who raised their arms and spouted off one of their own canned, stock phrases. They got stuck in a repeating cycle of this until they had sufficiently turned around enough that they no longer "noticed" each other. Mike's jaw hung open at this mockery of the people he loved.

It was worse than death. If they just died, they'd still at least have bodies to bury. This was more akin to suffering massive brain damage and being on life support with no hope of ever awakening. They had been reduced to the most primitive versions of themselves. There was no life left. They were only machines.

He wanted to cry, but all his tears had been spent, and his deep well of sorrow dried up. There was nothing he could do but acknowledge the truth: his wife and friends sacrificed themselves to save innumerable souls. That should have made him proud. It just made him hollow.

11:00 AM

Phil stood between the only two people in the world who knew he was alive (and kind of gave a shit about him) as they prepared to leave their family behind. Why not? They were dead now, and their "bodies" wouldn't provide much in the way of clues to investigators, considering all the other Fazbear's memorabilia sitting around. Whatever survived the inferno, anyway. These weren't people anymore. There was no reason to bury them.

"They're gone," June croaked, having reached the same conclusion. She fell to her knees. Phil didn't want to admit it, for the hurt was too deep. What would he do? Was he still doomed to wander the Earth forever? Would Mike allow Phil to move in with him (he already had the Odd Couple theme playing in his head)? Or maybe he should walk into the burning park right that second and have that be the end of them all. He looked at the crackling flames. They began to shrink now that they'd consumed most of the flammable material, but they were hot enough to feel faintly from over 100 feet away. They'd kill him quickly enough.

Then maybe, just maybe, his soul would go where they went. Wherever that may have been.

That was when the core of an idea began to form in his head. Though small, it presented one final lifeline for the pathetic things that used to be people.

"Guys, wait," he told Mike and June as they headed for her truck. Someone must have been coming by that point, so there was no reason not to depart. "I have an idea. I don't know if this will work, but it's the only thing which might." The concept took a more concrete form as he paced, trying not to look at any of his former family in their plastic eyes.

"What?" Mike asked. His expression was one of complete dejection. Didn't dare say it, but he looked almost as dead inside as the animatronics. Phil wondered how he should phrase this.

"I'm still alive," he said, gesturing to his own body. "It must be because, even though Auric made me like this, I'm still a preexisting person from Earth. Auric put me into this body as I died instead of taking me from another universe or conjuring me from nothing… or whatever he did with the others." They'd never figured that out and never would now. Regardless, Phil continued his speech.

"He said he used pieces of his soul to keep them alive. Just tiny shards, but it was enough to power them for, what, a thousand years? I'm still connected to them, or I should be. Maybe I can do the same thing Auric did, but with my soul." His human soul. June was quick to point out the hole in his concept.

"But you're a person. Auric is… was something much more."

"I know it could kill me, but I don't care," he demanded. That was a lie. Phil wanted to live. But he wanted the people he loved to live more. It'd be a worthy sacrifice to surrender his life for the people he loved above all others. Of course, he had no idea whether this would work. Like Mike said, Phil was just a guy. A guy who'd been an anthropomorphic rabbit android for 17 years, but still. If it didn't, he'd be more alone than ever.

Mike and June looked at each other, and he sensed the weight of the world between them, for the same burden hung on Phil's shoulders. There wasn't much time left. He'd need to hurry if there was any hope of this working - but how did one try to raise the dead, let alone with any sort of speed? Phil had never been a religious man, which might make this already monumental task even more difficult. Mike, at least, had one foot in the spiritual to steady himself.

"Can I have Mary's face, too?" he asked. Must have sounded like psychotic in any other situation (and perhaps he did at that moment, too), yet he thought he needed it. He had his friends' old bodies right in front of him, which perhaps still had some of their residual energies. The only part of Mary remaining intact was her mask-like face, which June had pocketed as a memento. That would have been beyond fucked up in most situations, but, again, it made sense here. At least to them.

While June's expression was quizzical, she did as Phil requested and handed over the mask. It was miraculously fine except for a few small chips, though he didn't think that mattered for what he had planned. He took it and approached the others, laying hands on them like a faith healer. Normally would have scoffed at such a thing. Now, it was all he had.

Phil closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose, exhaling through the mouth. Then again. This was how some people meditated, he knew. Attempted to tap into something within himself which he couldn't even name. He reached deep into where he believed his soul to be and rooted around for any semblance of comprehension. Eventually, he believed he grasped something with the most tenuous of holds.

Then Phil tried to extend his will to the other animatronics. Not with words or rituals like Auric did - those had already been done, and he needed to believe a connection remained between him and the people he loved. Auric claimed strong emotions could tear the veil asunder and reshape the world. That was how he brought the animatronics to life - leeching off the unbridled joy or fear of children, which had included Mike.

Well, there had been so many strong emotions felt by the now-"dead" animatronics, plus Mike and June, that there should have been enough residual energy to make this work without anyone else. That was what he hoped, anyway. Both he and Mike had been present when this started. Some part of them was used to bring the animatronics to life. He hoped that would happen again.

Something stirred in him as he touched each robot in turn. He felt nauseous, like his stomach was being turned inside out. But it wasn't his stomach; it was the totality of his essence being altered and laid bare. He felt himself slipping away. The hemlock was to his lips, and he kept drinking, no matter how toxic it may have been. He didn't even know if this would revive them. Maybe it'd just kill him. He guessed that was OK. Not like he had much else to live for, even if part of him wanted to cling to empty life.

He did this for a few minutes. His steps began to slow. His vision blurred and his ears rang. Tried his hardest not to let anyone know.

Am I even doing anything? he wondered as his mind started to go. Maybe Auric's death didn't kill him immediately because of those reasons he listed earlier, but now it caught up to him. Maybe he was feeling himself turn back into a robot. He gritted his teeth and braced himself. No, I must be doing something! he thought, pleading with God or whoever was out there that this could have some effect! It had to work.

He wanted to do something good for once in his life. Didn't want to be a complete failure.

But he was. Too weak to go on, he collapsed on the blacktop. Couldn't hear much of what happened next, though there was some kind of commotion. Mike and June running up to him, probably. He looked through hooded eyes at the flaming scare park. This was it.

"Phil? Hey, Phil?" someone shouted from above him. His ears rang, so he only heard those words in low tones with a constant hum of tinnitus over them. "Are you there?!"

"Yes," he answered, though he knew he wouldn't be for much longer. Wasn't able to hear himself. The only thing he clearly picked up was the pulse of his own heart, which began to slow.

"You saved us!" What?

He was rolled onto his back, revealing Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy standing over him. They were alive. He did it! Sheer excitement allowed for one last gasp of lucidity, even if he couldn't bring himself to stand.

"You saved our lives." Now he knew it was Freddy talking. Mike and June were there, too, with the former embracing his wife like the two would never let each other go.

"I love you guys. I want you to know that," Phil said. He'd always wanted a family, and his actions finally proved it. "I'm sorry for everything I did to you."

"I forgive you," Freddy said without reservation. "Yeah, you did bad things, but that doesn't matter anymore. You're my brother. I love you, too." The others just nodded: Chica, Bonnie, even Foxy pulled away from Mike for a second. Though, really, if even Freddy said that, he knew they would feel the same way. That was it, then. He went to his grave with the one thing he always wanted.

The last time Phil died, he seemed to be surrounded by a great darkness until Auric pulled him into his own little pocket of the mental plane to pitch Phil his offer.

This time, though… there was light.

…

They were dead. Phil was dead. Auric was dead. Two monsters, in their time. Two people who made Foxy's life worse than anyone deserved. The difference was that one of them realized how wrong he was and tried to do better. He succeeded. Now, they'd never be able to repay him for this ultimate act of kindness and brotherly love.

Foxy stooped to check his body after he stopped breathing. Mike was about to start CPR (something he opted to get certified in in case one of the kids at the restaurant went into cardiac arrest), but Foxy shook her head. Somehow, on a spiritual level, she knew it would be impossible to come back from this. He died so they could live. That was the end of it. And, somehow, a part of his soul replaced the bits of Auric that used to animate them. His final gift, and a guarantee that some of him would live on as long as they did.

She'd cry if she thought about it much longer, and there were more important things on her mind.

It looked like Phil's body still had all its organic traits: one look inside his open mouth confirmed the presence of the wire-crossed "flesh" they were infused with. She didn't know the significance of that, though it meant he still "existed" in some sense.

"How do we get home?" Mike asked, snapping her from her thoughts. They were down a car. The one they had couldn't fit six people and a dead body - because they were going to bury Phil a second time.

"I guess I'll have to drive home with some of you, drop those people off and then come back for everyone else," June said, relieved yet resigned to even more labor. "Who wants to stay in the woods and be miserable for a day?" Foxy and Mike raised their hands at the same time. They'd stay with Phil's corpse. Freddy, Bonnie and Chica would be able to fit.

This was going to be a long day and a long night, since June would probably need to sleep before coming back again. Still, Foxy couldn't see any of them complaining. It'd be a far easier time than the last few days had been. June said nothing as she prepared her truck. For his part, Mike still shook. All the tension of a month of terror slowly worked itself out of his body.

Foxy didn't know how to feel. She'd just died. Phil died for real. Auric, too. This was the craziest thing to ever happen to them. The only thing keeping her grounded was all the other weird stuff they faced, even if it never quite reached this level.

"Did you guys see, uh, anything?" Mike asked after he stopped shivering. "When you, like, were dead, I mean."

"I don't remember," Freddy answered. It had been the same with Foxy. "Just so you know, Mike, it wasn't traumatic. I didn't feel myself turning back into an inanimate object. It was like flipping a switch. It was the same when I came back."

"It was like a warm embrace," Chica elaborated, putting a finger to her chin. "I know only a few minutes passed, but it felt like a lot longer. Not maddeningly long, but a while. And... and I think we were somewhere, even if I can't remember where."

"I agree with that," Bonnie replied with a nod. "But I also felt happy. Really happy, like I do when I'm around you all.

Mike thanked them for telling him. She could tell her husband was disappointed to not get the answer he sought, even if there were some vague details that might have aligned with what he believed about Heaven.

"Hey, maybe God wanted us to forget so we don't spoil anything for you," Foxy suggested, only half-believing it. "It needs to be a surprise, or else it's not exciting." Surprisingly, that perked Mike up.

"You might be right," he said, leaving it at that.

They could have talked, celebrated or a hundred other things. But there was no time for that. Not when Foxy heard the faint wail of sirens in the distance. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and June piled into June's vehicle while Foxy grabbed Phil by the collar of his purple jacket and began to drag him into the woods. Yeah, the next 24 hours or so were going to suck... but she had Mike with her every step of the way.

She sighed through her nose as they entered the woods. It was over. They'd lost time, money, possessions and a true friend. None of that would be easy to claw back, and it was impossible with the latter. But Auric was gone, and the universe was a better place for it. And they would never have to be afraid again.

Foxy looked at Mike as they limped. He smiled bashfully. It was amazing how far both had come. She turned back at the corpse she dragged.

You came a long way, too, Phil.