A Guard's life

Valentine and lots of love

A/N:
Lots of love to you lovely reader! Spend a happy day with things that you adore! *D*
And like always, I'm far too edgy to make all this overly sweet... but I think it ended up nice anyway x3

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It had been a long time for Jeremy and the Puppet.
After the fire incident, the animatronic had become silent and shut down most conversations Jeremy tried to make with him. Contrasting that, Marion had refused to leave his side ever since, always needing skin contact.
Inside of the hospital, that was quite the problem, as staff wouldn't allow something as potentially dangerous as an animatronic inside a patient's room. Marion had coped with it by hiding under his bed, clutching a plushie or piece of clothing belonging to Jeremy, while they were visited by the doctor.
Now that he finally was healthy enough to be on his own, it became... well, HE wouldn't call it worse, but more worrying to be entirely honest.
The human had to even let the bathroom door open while showering, so Marion knew he could always get inside if something bad happened.
Jeremy really didn't mind. He was connected to the Marionette in a way he never felt for another person before.
For the first time in his young life he experienced responsibility for someone other than himself and a slightly twisted sense of reward for seeing Marion sticking so close to him.
Considering that the new establishment would soon be open and running, he thought about asking the Marionette if he wanted to take over a function of his choice inside of the new place. There surely was something even Marion would like to do and keeping him busy would probably be the most effective way to getting him back.
Affectionate he petted the creature awake. "Hey, Marion...? It's time to go to the new establishment! Dave said it would be ready for a first tour and we should get used to its size..."
The eyes of his companion lit up, but there wasn't much more of a reaction.
"I'll just take you along then! You'll see, it will be great fun once we are there!"
Staring continuously, he rested his head back onto him, between dozing and observing.
Jeremy walked past the calendar while getting his prepared backpack.
Fourteenth of February, valentine's day.
It was circled in a thick green marker, as Jeremy had been looking forward to this day since New Year's Eve.
Yesterday he made some chocolate, together with Marion, for each Guard a different kind and shape!
Also, he made notes that were telling the receiver why they were such awesome person and what they soon should do together (mostly different kinds of anime and video games were proposed) and how much it had helped him grow to get to know them.
Only for one he didn't knew what to do.
Once more he glanced at Marion, who had deactivated his eyes again.
Marion wouldn't like chocolate and he wasn't too keen on keeping notes, if not even owning things in general.
There was one thing he might could do for him, considering his crafting abilities.
But he wasn't a mechanic and would probably do more harm than good... and it was questionable if the Marionette was even interested in displaying more emotions.
A new mask wouldn't be anything Marion would be happy about...
...
There was something he might could give Marion.
Something very special to him.
He reached for the necklace he was wearing under his shirt. A necklace was generally considered girly, but his father had never said anything against it, since it was a present of his highly respected grandmother.
An heirloom.
A simple, flat, golden angel silhouette, which he was told brought peace and protection to whoever was wearing it.
Right now he couldn't think of anyone more in need of peace than his friend.
Trying to get back into a more positive mindset, he smiled as he walked to work. Marion would accept it, be happy, return to normal and everyone would be happy about the chocolate and getting along and everyone would be better friends after today!
As he arrived he was baffled. A giant main hall, filled with tables, a really impressive stage that could easily be seen from everywhere in the hall, except from the second floor, where a lot of different arcades were located.
On the other hand, if you tried hard enough, you could even see it from there, since you could look down from the railing.
"WOW! THIS IS AMAZING!" Jeremy run into the middle of the place, twirling around. "How is this even possible?!"
Dave came over proudly snickering. "You haven't even seen Freddy's Funhouse, Foxy's Forest or Ballora's Ballroom! There's nothing I haven't done to turn this into a magnet for entertainment-hungry families! It won't even be too pricey... after all we want the kids to come over whenever they feel bad!"
"YOU'RE SO GREAT DAVE!" He fell around him and squeezed him as closely as possible. "Here, I have something for you!"
Shortly taking off his backpack, he got out the gear-shaped chocolate, together with the sweet little note, making Dave's eyes widen in surprise.
He accepted chocolate and note, but didn't really answer at first. Once he got his shit together, he put the stuff away and tried to awkwardly get something out. "J-Jeremy... did you ever... like someone?"
"I like a lot of people!"
"You but... did you ever try to... make someone fall in love with you?"
"Uh... no... sorry?"
"If you were ever were planning on doing that, what would you... I mean, how would you try to do it?"
"I think love is just something that happens when the chemistry is right between you and someone else... if the person is the right one for you, it'll just happen!"
"That's highly doubtful. Thanks anyway, Jeremy..."
Dave was walking in circles, nervously biting into his lip from time to time. What do you do when you want to make someone like you? How do you do that? He never managed to make someone like him in any way shape or form before!
Phoney stepped in and paused, obviously just as stunned as Jeremy before.
The Purple Guy had already gotten sick of what he saw. The only reason this place was more like an unholy crossover of casino and amusement park, was because it would make it a cakewalk to get rid of humans here, especially in a fun and creative way.
Quickly he attacked his boss, whining like a hurt doggo. "PHONEY! I NEED HELP!"
"W-what?! Why?! This isn't going to be another kidnapping, right? That would be the third..."
"How do you woo someone?!"
"Woo? What?"
"I want to win Old Sport's heart! But I don't know how to do that! HELP ME!"
"Wait, wait, slow down... okay. You want to... uh... date him?"
"Yes! I want him to do that thing where you go through good and bad until death do us part! You know that legal contract to keep someone!" Confused out of shock, he tried to find the word. "Marriage and stuff!"
"Slow down! You're a bit extreme! Is Old Sport even interested in you?"
"I... I mean, maybe, I don't really know! Sometimes he appears like he is, but then it's as if he tries to avoid the topic or turn it into a joke... Should I kidnap him?"
Phone Guy sat down, shaking his head. "Honestly, it would probably work with you two... but it isn't really the... gentleman way."
"Gentleman... you think Old Sport likes gentleman?!"
"No, not really... Shouldn't you know it better than anyone else?"
"Hey, my favorite fucks, what are you doing?!" Mike was strolling in, looking somewhat... unstable. Before Simon could ask him though, Dave had already answered.
"Phoney is going to tell me how to date someone!"
"You? Date?"
"Today is the right day to show my feelings for Sportsy!"
"So, you actually wanna bang the Orange?" Mike tried his best not to let a short noise of disgust slip.
Shocked, no, completely terrified Dave looked at Mike. "NO! What are you thinking?! I LIKE him! I would NEVER shoot him!"
Confused the Guard frowned, not expecting that reaction. "You... but you know what banging means, right?"
"I'm not an idiot, Mikey..."
"Just to be sure we're on the same page, define banging."
"Well, you either shoot someone while in a car, or simply run them over. You know, BANG!"
Even though it had its own logic, Mike decided not to reply, leaving Purple Guy to continue talking. "I and Sportsy banged A LOT of hookers while in Vegas, it was fucking great!"
"Urgh, if you ever want to date someone, you have A LOT to learn..."
That was the wrong answer as Purple Guy began to whine again in his annoying high-pitched tune. "We have one day to turn me into a date master! I even once tried to be in a dating sim and I didn't even do half bad, I almost wooed Phoney-"
"Excuse me, I would have noticed that." Phone Guy raised an eyebrow, obviously sceptic of his words.
"Ah, shut your receiver, you would date me."
"... You know what? Yes." Mike stepped back, afraid to catch whatever disease had gotten ahold of Phone Guy, but he had already continued. "It would make it so much easier to poison you or snap your neck at night."
Shortly they looked at each other and high-fived, while Dave was groaning. "That isn't even the topic! How do I make him accept me?"
"This might be a bit straight-forward, but how about roses? Those are pretty clear..."
"YES! I'LL COVER THE WHOLE BED IN ROSES!"
Mike ruined the fun instantly. "You want to cover his whole bed in thorns? And what about the annoying petals that would get everywhere? Not to mention that it would rot in about three days..."
"Did someone ever do that for you?" Surprised, no, genuinely shocked Simon turned around.
"No, I have some fucking common sense! Jesus, is having a brain a crime now?"
"N-no, I was just..." Now Simon was stumbling over his own words, being remarkably similar to Dave next to him.
It was a weird day, all in all and it had been only about five minutes.
Thankfully Jeremy came over to ease the tension a little with his smile. He held out chocolate for Mike who stepped back as if it was poisonous. "No thanks."
"What? Why? I made it especially for you!"
"I don't-"
"Don't try to fool me, you took my cookies before! I made it last night with a lot of love, so please accept it."
"Isn't it kind of weird to give people chocolate on valentine's day?"
"Why?"
"Urgh, never mind. Thanks I guess." Grumpy he pocketed the skull-shaped chocolate, together with the note, without even taking a second look at it, making Jeremy pout. Huffing insulted, he turned towards the somewhat frozen Phone Guy and gave him also some Freddy-shaped chocolate.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mike saw the Orange Guy signing him to come over.
Probably to do something stupid... but at this point he really wanted to get away from this situation and this was a good excuse.
Hearing Dave continuing with his weird plans only make him walk faster.
"Really, how about I... I could provoke a group of violent criminals to attack Old Sport and then heroically save him!"
"Orange Guy would probably find that out and be pissed off..." Phone Guy couldn't explain why he was trying to help Dave, but probably to distract himself from his own... thoughts...
Nervously he glance after Mike, unsure if he should spend his time today with him. Would that be too weird?
Would it be weirder if he avoided him today?
Slowly panic seeped into his mind and helpless he tried to return his focus onto Dave, who was messing up his own hair.
"I guess... but now I have to think about something that would work! Should I send him some top-of-the-class-dank-meme? He would like that, he LOVES my memes!"
"Are you sure about that...?"
"But memes aren't really what you would call romantic... are they? Are memes romantic, Phoney?"
"No. But between you and me, it's probably more romantic than anything you're even capable of thinking of in your fucked up head."
"My... fucked up... PHONEY! YOU'RE RIGHT! OLD SPORT AIN'T NO REGULAR GUY! WE'RE BOTH TOTALLY FUCKED! SO THAT'S WHY WE NEED SOME SPECIAL FORM OF ROMANCE! Yes! Thanks, but you won't be able to help me anymore! Now I just need some inspiration..."
"Wait, no, hold on for a minute! You know, just because you're a total psychopath and he's soulless, doesn't mean he is accepting of everything you do!"
"What do YOU know? Did YOU ever date someone? I think NOT! And even if, Sportsy is SPECIAL in every sense of the way!"
"Special needs I guess, but really there's nothing standing out about him. He acts like someone who's just as literally no common sense, not like someone who's complete alien to human emotions. Except empathy and compassion...."
"I'm gonna give him a lot of hearts! Now I'll just have to find some humans to harvest them from!"
"NO! BAD PSYCHO! BAD! We don't kill people in this restaurant!"
"Since when?"
"Since it's MY restaurant!"
"Huh... ahahaha, that's funny! If that's our policy, it would explain why Mike just stays alive like that one relative no one likes! Damn, those outlive the next generation and a half..."
"What are you talking about you son of an eggplant?! Could you focus for FIVE minutes?"
"How could I? I'm so panicked, Phoney! When Old Sport comes in a few hours, I'll have to be confident and have a good plan!"
"He isn't here?"
"No, he stayed back with Alice and Baby..."
"Alice?"
"The small ballerina."
"Ah... right, in that case..." Desperate he began rubbing his dial. "Dave, I'll be honest with you... do you really think that dating would be a good idea for you? I mean, you're both dangerously unstable, moody and irresponsible."
"And?"
"A relationship is something intimate, way beyond your comprehension! Every small slip up will multiply tenfold in your own mind if you don't react and deal with it properly!"
Somewhat blank Dave tilted his head and looked at him. "I don't care."
"It will hurt, beyond anything you've probably ever felt before! And you can't simply kill someone to make it alright for yourself!"
"Stop projecting!"
"What?"
"I said you should stop projecting your own fear onto my situation."
"I never-"
"You aren't helping at ALL! Urgh, I'll just stick to the human heart plan..."
"NO. Here, the key to a successful date is to make the day as unique and memorable as possible, while making your affections as clear as possible throughout the day... even if everything should be kept in check as to not smother your significant other."
"Unique you say?"
"Yes. Gifts aren't really anything for Valentine's day in my opinion, as it's either ridiculous short lived like chocolate or useless, like plushies or ornaments."
"Finally some solid opinions and advise... okay! Okay, I think I have an idea! See you around!"
Suddenly Mike dashed past them and grabbed onto Phone Guy's receiver and began talking without even dialing in a number. "We need more nail polish. A LOT."
After that he put it back onto his friend's head and walked away. "Sorry Simon, thanks Simon!"
"Wait, Simon?" Dave didn't even paid attention to Mike beyond that point. "YOU'RE SIMON?"
Confused and slightly taken aback by Purple Guy's sudden interest, PG stepped back. "Uh..."
"THE SIMON? HOLY FUCK, WHY HAVEN'T YOU TOLD ME? Simon! MY MAN!"
Now fully terrified he began to back off. "What is the big deal...?"
"Aw, don't you remember me Simon? Our deal? I still owe you something!"
"W-what...?"
Dave smiled a disgusting grin. "What holds more worth for you?"
The smell of smoke filled his mind. "A-ah..."
"Five children against one adult, five quick deaths against one long torture. C'mon, don't do me like this! You were such an impressive guy! The first of your kind that I ever met!"
Sometimes Simon wished he still could puke. To get rid of the painful ache, of the sickening sensation in the back of his throat. Dave simply continued bubbly.
"Really, it is an AMAZING coincidence that you survived all this bullshit! Of all the phones in the factory, you most certainly deserve it most!"
"You... we..."
"Of course "we". Well, actually, you're right, Phone Guys create themselves... I usually have nothing to do with it. With you it's different though! I SO hoped to meet you again, Simon! A shame you don't remember me..."
"I... rain..."
"YES! It was a rainy day, your brother just had left and then you saw me..."
"Taking... them... to the saferoom... off limits for customers..."
"Listened to the tapes with great care, like you did all things. Came to stop me, remember?"
"You... looked at me through the holes of your suit and smiled. Your smile was... I... it was as if I was looking right into two LEDs... that man is insane, I thought. This man is really a crazed lunatic..."
"Huh, didn't think you were so rude."
"This man is crazy and he takes kids away from the public eye... he wants to do something horrible..."
"Mind your own business, Simon, or I may have to temper with your springlocks."
"What are you... planning to do with the kids?" Simon couldn't feel his body anymore, as they line for line played through that fateful day.
"Listen here... if you don't fuck off I'll kill you and take the kids into the saferoom to kill them as well. Unless... I'm in a good mood today. So I'll make you a deal! If you come back into the saferoom and trigger your springs YOURSELF, I won't harm the kids. If you want to survive, you'll have to leave, but... if you really want to save a bunch of ungrateful toddlers, which would probably let you die for a bar of chocolate, then..."
Phone Guy had stopped answering and was close to a break down.
Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Did I stress you...?" Dave was even keeping some sort of private space. "Sorry. I didn't mean it. I thought this was just friendly banter... You haven't opened your head yet, I see."
"I... I didn't want to..."
Almost compassionate he stroked his back in a calming manner. "Sh... it's all over anyway. You did what you wanted and now you're back with us again. You got to know Mikey and Jeremy, you made a name for yourself and you even beaten the factory in its own game! Be proud and don't think about the past anymore... if it hurts you, it isn't worth it."
"You... what's going on with you today...?"
"Huh? Nothing! I'm just in a good mood! I found you out that it's actually you, I have a good plan to make Old Sport mine, my new restaurant looks snazzy as fuck and all in all life is great!"
Phone Guy stepped away from the touch, shuddering.
Unsure of what he had done, Purple Guy retracted his hand. "Don't be afraid of me Phoney. You're part of the family now and family takes care of each other, right?"
"You're sick, Dave. There's something really wrong with you..."
"There's something wrong with all of us! What's the point?"
"I don't want to be part of your broken vision of a family! I'd get rid of you in a heartbeat if I could!"
"That's harsh... but siblings want to kill each other all the time, don't worry. Please. Simon. You're the perfect Phone Guy, the first I liked in the last decade! Don't ruin this. Old Sport wants to keep you and I want to keep you as well. Don't fuck this up for me."
With an almost sweet smile Dave watched him walk off. "We appreciate you here and we all just want the best for each other, right?"
Simon was hurrying, searching for Mike, his stomach filled with cold terror. If someone could help him relax again, then it was this constantly enraged son of a gun.
Mike was able to cuss his memories away... however that worked.
"M-mike? Where are you?"
Helpless he wandered the far too confusing, unfinished building until he found a small door, leading into a claustrophobic hall.
He found the saferoom.
There always was a saferoom.
The door was heavy and made out of the same material as in the previous place.
The inside's would also be the same, he knew that for an absolute fact.
Numb he peeked inside, but was quickly shown that he still wasn't the all-knowing man he was assumed to be.
"Chica, for heaven's sake, I told you, your nails look FINE! I did what I could without buying the DLC and I won't pay for those items out of my own pocket!"
Mike was sitting on a stool, hissing passive-aggressively, while having a banana between shoulder and ear, apparently using it as some sort of telephone.
"What do you mean the X-Ray shows broken bones? You don't even HAVE fucking bones!"
Baffled Simon stared in silence.
Mike cursed the Orange Guy in his own head. Why the fuck was he now part of the authorities? How's fucked up idea was that?!
And why a... hand-doctor? What even was that supposed to be?!
Foxy showed him his fucked up hand, with a billion of cuts, wounds and maggots.
"How the FUCK did you DO that?"
The pirate whined, guilty sounding. "Ay, I was trying to perfect my next play, but accidently misjudged a jump..."
Groaning the Guard began with the cooling lotion and gave his best not to touch the open flesh, for which he had to prepare some more band aids. They would run out of disinfectant at this rate.
Chica was having a gay old time, as she had been the first patient, since she just wouldn't stop screaming. Now she was busy gossiping with Freddy about the new animatronics and making remarks about Mike's abilities as hand-doctor, as well as fashion sense. Fuck them, they should pick their own fucking rings if they didn't like his!
"New and improved they say, but this "restaurant" doesn't capture the charm of Freddy's at ALL. It's all soulless greed of the big businesses! Also, I swear, those hips do lie! Can't even swing it properly!" With that she began giving examples of the "right" hip movements.
"Chica, stop distracting me!" Growling Mike resisted the temptation to stop the gentle treatment and simply smear it lotion all over Foxy's mistreated hand. "Why do you guys have nails by the way?"
"To be beautiful, obviously!" Bonnie snarked, moody from the pain he experienced.
"M-mike...? What's going on?"
PG stood in the door framing, holding onto it for dear life.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to fix whatever those idiots broke inside of their hands."
"Those... idiots?"
"The animatronics? They are most certainly aware enough to be called dumb by now."
"Are they... back?"
"Back? What do you mean by-"
Suddenly the saferoom was empty, except of him and the godforsaken suits.
Dumbfounded Mike stared down, where just a minute ago all of his equipment had laid.
What the fuck was even going on?
The door opened and Mike stepped in, frowning deeply.
Their eyes met.
"Of fuck, I must be hallucinating again... great." The standing Mike shook his head and grabbed onto the Fredbear suit. "Listen, hallucination, how about you just stay right here, okay? I wanna enjoy some special time with my sexy boss, so you'd do me a GIANT favor and do nothing for a while, m'kay?"
Sincerely irritated, Mike looked at himself.
"Y-you're not me. I would never fucking say that!"
"Shows what you fucking know!" Snickering Mike straightened his cap. "Don't beat yourself up over it, you'll disappear in an hour anyway. But until then, please don't distract me from my booty-hunt~"
Slowly Mike stood up, disgusted and utterly helpless. "What the fuck is WRONG with you?"
"Oh, shouldn't you know, Mr. I'm-totally-real? There's nothing wrong with being curious about how far that telephone cable actually goes~"
"You..."
"I can't wait to become a MIKE-ro-PHONE."
"Microphone... excuse me, what?"
"See! You can't be me, because I don't fucking excuse myself for anything!"
Quickly he pushed his clone onto the wall and stared at him for a minute. Hallucinations weren't able to produce much detail, this should be-
"M-Mike, please... what are you doing?" Phone Guy was staring back at him, his metallic eyebrows giving him a somewhat scared appearance.
Quickly the Guard made a few steps back, shocked at his own actions and walked into someone, Phone Guy to be exact, who was standing at the door and looking worried at him.
"Are you okay, Mike?"
"Y-you're... not real..."
"What? What are you talking about, of course I'm real!"
The Phone Guy at the wall though was nodding. "Yes, it isn't! Snap out of it Mike, you're scaring me!"
"It's all because of this wretched suit! Why do we still have that?!" Phone Guy was standing over Fredbear, clenching his fists.
In blind panic Mike dashed out, fearing what he might would do to Simon by accident if he stayed. Those pills weren't helping at all, they were just making everything worse! Except if there was something else behind this hell.
How many Phone Guys died every year?
When he reached the main hall he was back in the saferoom and watched Jeremy getting forcefully stuffed into the suit.
The animatronics, burned and broken mechanically pushed the mangled corpse deeper into the shards, nuts and bolts, making his face almost indistinguishable from a bloody piece of meat.
Suzy was watching over the scene, her blackened body dropping a viscous fluid onto the dirty floor. Giggling she turned around. "I hope you didn't think I would disappear like that!"
"I..."
Details, Mike, details!
It was hard to imagine details onto a creature he only had seen once before and that probably didn't even had to obey any natural laws.
"Haha, did I finally managed to impress you? Surprise you?" Proudly her long snout showed her glowing bright teeth. "In heaven we'll have a lot of time to show each other our best... for now I'll just say I'm glad you came back for us!"
"Jeremy..."
"We'll all go together! Even the puppet agreed to come along with his friend! Please slip the Fredbear head over your head now, or we'll have to do it by force!"
The animatronics turned towards him, just noticing him standing there. Growling, hissing and steel scraping over steel was audible as they slowly moved in. Before he could step back though, two purple hands kept his wrists in an iron grip.
"I finally found the perfect animatronic for you! Mike the Monster! You're going to look so cool!"
Orange Guy came into frame, frowning. "Really, this isn't necessary..."
"Shut up and feed him the machine!"
Sighing he reached for his nose, keeping him from breathing, while preparing to shove a small robot into the mouth. When he had to breathe, Mike kept his teeth closed, hoping to keep the machine from entering into his body by blocking it off, but suddenly Orange Guy moved in and bit violently into his neck, forcing a yelp out of him and making him swallow the machine.
Screaming and trashing about, he tried to gag, he could feel it clawing into his stomach, drilling through his organs, killing him slowly...
Jeremy was standing over him, with a truly fearful expression. "I- I'm sorry, I just didn't know what else to do..."
"Don't worry Jeremy, it's the best for him." Simon was here.
Or maybe just in his head.
Maybe this was a comforting death hallucination.
Either way, at this point he was fine with both.
"Simon..."
"I'm here." PG crouched down next to him, holding his hand.
"I'm going nuts. The new medicine is horribly shitty."
Mike suddenly stood over himself, shaking his head. "No you idiot, your body is simply not used yet to the fucking medicine. Give it at least two more weeks before you bitch, after all with this new medicine, at least you have a small amount of money for yourself, without needing to fear having to starve yourself for half the week."
"Go fuck yourself."
Suddenly his copy began grinning, making him realizing his giant mistake. "NONONONONONO, I DIDN'T MEAN THAT!"
Real details, real details. He forced to stare into the eyes of his copy, which suddenly became empty holes with glowing dots. "Hey. Stop being so mean to yourself."
His face became slightly more serious. "I'm actually just trying to help you... you're literally helping yourself with me and I think you should listen for once in your fucking worthless life. There are BAD things down there in your brain, you know that perfectly well. But, Freddy's taught us we could simply ignore the bad and enjoy the fun sides. Everything can be fun as long you don't take it too seriously!"
"So you're saying that I should just laugh about my hallucinations?"
"Exactly!"
"That would probably end up in suicide! THERE'S NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT THIS!"
Mike was standing in the position he had seen his hallucination standing in, his memories fuzzy, hosting contradicting information.
No one else was in the room, except the suits, but suits aren't people, so it was perfectly fine to not count them, but they were still worth a mention, since without them the room would be completely barren and-
Argh, his head hurt...
Simon was waiting outside, silently joining his side.
They sat down in the main hall, both pausing for a while.
"I'll be frank. I have no fucking idea if you're real or not. My pills are doing dogshit to help."
Phone Guy nodded seriously. "I know."
"In that case, you would be better off leaving me the fuck alone."
The man didn't move an inch. "Right now I need some advice from you..."
"Definitely not real. The real Phone Guy would NEVER ask ME for advice!"
"Then there should be nothing wrong with giving me your opinion!"
Mike shortly paused, not used to this stressed out voice. Yeah, PG panicked from time to time, but usually his voice didn't shake.
Silently Mike closed his eyes, focusing.
So what if it wasn't real? If it was real it was important.
At least he wasn't at the brink of death this time.
"Okay, okay. What's up?"
"... I'm thinking about opening my head... but I'm honestly scared."
"How come? Weeks ago you were ready to hang yourself, what do you have to fear?"
"I had a brother."
"Yes?"
"And he... I think he was sick or something. I really worried a lot about him."
"You think he's dead?"
Nervously laughing, Simon hid his lack of a face. "If that would be the only thing. If I remember everything and he's dead, I will feel guilty that I haven't opened my head earlier. I'll be guilty of his death. If he's alive though, I still can't take care of him! The factory... I might have won ONE round against the factory, but that was only because of the documents. After I showed them the blue prints, the manager herself came to talk with me. She said I should consider myself lucky and be careful. If I take care of my brother, then they will get rid of me in a heartbeat."
"I could take care of..."
Both looked at each other, knowing how stupid of an idea almost slipped out of Mike's mouth.
"No disrespect, but I think you aren't really patient enough to deal with sick people..."
"We could ask Jerry, I'm sure he'd love to take care of someone."
"Mike... I don't want to know who I was. What if there's some trauma that will take control once my memory is restored?! What if I'm actually a horrible person? What if..."
"Simon, you angsty fuck! You're OBVIOUSLY a good person!"
"What makes you think that?!"
"I just KNOW it!"
"Which brings me to another point! The thing with Miller, you said knowing wasn't all that important!"
"GAH! Stop putting words in my mouth! I said that I didn't need to know a name, to know that we would have to get rid of him!"
"So why would I need to know my past to be happy?!"
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WANTED TO OPEN YOUR HEAD IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"I JUST WANTED YOUR OPINION!"
"IN THAT CASE! Do it! After all, it apparently haunts you to not know these things. You'll never stop asking yourself who your brother is and what happened to him, you'll never stop wondering who you were before."
"What if I become someone else, once I'm my full self again? What if this isn't who I really am? Memories shape a person after all... what if I remember that I HATE people like you and Jeremy and try to hurt you two?"
"Simon. You are you and there's no way you'll change that now. But if you stay this scared, then you'll never be able to really be free!"
"What is freedom? We are all controlled by circumstances and-"
"SHUT UP! I'm WAY too unstable for this conversation!"
"... Alright. I open my head."
"We."
"What?"
"Think I'll fucking leave that to you?! You'll probably fuck everything up, there's no way in hell you're doing it on your own!"
It seemed as if Simon was going to say something, but he leaned back instead. "Thank you."
"Geez, as if I'm doing anything... at all..."
"About your hallucinations..."
"DON'T."
"Shouldn't you request the old medicine back?"
"I can't. At least until two weeks after starting using it."
"Why?"
"Because... my body needs to get used to it first..."
Mike was trying to hide something. "Mike? Please, just tell me what's wrong."
"Fucking FINE! I lied to Doctor Deern, that there's nothing wrong with it, so he wouldn't keep me away. I'm sick of tests and I... I didn't want to... stay there. If I'm there, no one's keeping an eye on this shithole after all!"
From time to time, Simon wondered if it wasn't better to open Mike's head instead, since there was quite a bit wrong with him. Or at least he couldn't quite figure him out. Deciding that both of them were probably tired of their own fears, PG tried to change the topic to something more... laid-back.
"You don't like Valentine's day, do you?" Phone Guy scratched his neck, awkwardly.
Mike decided to relax a little, as he understood the friendly offer. "C'mon Simon, I hate every day."
"But you're... I mean... when Jeremy gave you the chocolate, you..."
"Well, yeah, it makes me uncomfortable. Giving gifts today comes with a really heavy implication and I hate that."
"Uh... so..."
"Also, it's really disgusting in itself. It's just to a forced day that forces to "prove" your feelings, making the "proof" meaningless. The big cooperations just desperately want to turn love into a buyable product and everyone is falling for it as if we don't have a brain. If you fucking like someone, the day shouldn't matter. If your partner can't hang out with you on Valentine's day it shouldn't be anything to be angry about, at least not more than on every other day it doesn't work out. Love is now more for status than for real connection."
Surprised Phone Guy tilted his head. "You thought about this a lot..."
Embarrassed Mike sat up straight. "W-well, I was a teen once as well, even if it's hard to believe!"
"And you were insecure about not having a partner...?"
"SHUT up! We all were stupid when we were younger!"
Laughing at his flustered face, Simon sat closer and patted his back. "You've grown out of it, right?"
"Right."
Loudly the last employee made his arrival clear. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREEEEEEEEEEEEEE'S THE ORANGE! AND! ALICE! THE SUPERHEROS OF THE BROKEN CHAIN CALLED FREDDY'S!"
Too lazy to stand up and come closer, Mike simply screamed his question. "WHY ARE YOU LOOKING LIKE A TRANSGENDER CLOWN?"
"Girlstime with Alice and Baby... doesn't it look good?" Old Sport inspected his colored nails.
"It looks like something that would crawl out of conservative's worst nightmare..."
"Luckily it's just normal paint!" The Orange Guy began to lick of the color on his nails and face to soon enough appear norm- Usual again.
"SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORTSYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Out of a rift between the dimensions, Dave pounced onto him hugging him with all of his limps, making both of them tumble onto the ground, laughing. Yet, just as quickly up as he was down, Purple Guy picked up Alice and carried her over to the two Guards sitting in the main hall.
"Here, take care of her for some time, alright? Alice, stay with them and behave! Don't bully them too much, okay?"
The small animatronic giggled and looked at Mike, who was getting a bad vibe already. "Oh hell no..."
"Thanks, see you later!"
And with that he bolted back and picked up his friend, who had just managed to get back up on his own, and carried him away, babbling excitedly.
"I have a really good plan for today!"
"Ah- wait up, I haven't even seen this whole place yet...!"
"Aw, come on, there isn't anything interesting here... well... maybe the secret passage would be something worth checking out. BEFORE THAT THOUGH!" Dave made finger guns. "I wanted to complement your nice ass, but you'd probably be weirded out and that would be a BUMmer!"
Laughing Old Sport fired back. "ASStounding that you're worried about something like that!"
"Pff, I should have seen it coming that you'd become CHEEKy with your puns!"
"Come on, we shouldn't ASScalate this situation anymore!"
"Was thinking the same a minute ago, BUTT fuck it I ain't no quitter!"
"You really want to get to the BOTTOM of this rabbit hole?"
They grinned brightly at each other, snickering like mad dolphins on crack.
Smoothly Dave went in for the next attack. "Hey, your name is getting pretty old, so how about I call you mine from now on~?"
"I see someone had magnets for breakfast, I really feel the attraction!"
Smiling Purple Guy had to accept his defeat. No matter what he threw at him, his friend could fire a twice as cheesy line back. Quickly he pulled him aside and signed towards a fairly small appearing vent.
"Do you see that? That's going to be our secret passage!"
"I don't know what your vegetable genes give you for superpowers, but I won't fit through that thing."
"Ha, no, it only appears so small to make sure no one else tries to get through it, once you open the vent you'll see that there's a lot of space in there!"
With "a lot" he meant about enough space for one and a half crawling man, yet you shouldn't be too picky about these kind of things. Dave entered and made clear that he expected Old Sport to follow, who curiously obeyed.
Inside of the vents were colorful markings at each split and there were even possibilities to climb upward.
"When it was build the company believed it was made to be part of Freddy's Funhouse, which it obviously isn't, the second company was told it was a mistake and to reuse it as air vents. The colors sign which room you'd enter if you follow the path, I'm not fully sure about the ways upward though. Right now, there are wall bars... Should I take some of them down and use a rope instead? We could always carry one around and once we would be up there we could get rid of anyone who'd chase us quite easily, yet if we don't have a rope, or someone else gets rid of it, we couldn't get from the downward area to the second floor..."
"Where does the gray area lead to?"
"The office, of course! So the animatronics can get the Nightguard easier! Which means there are cameras in there, just a heads-up."
"I haven't seen see office yet! Show me!"
"The office is in the employees only area, together with the toddler-strangle-room."
"Saferoom?"
"Saferoom."
"We literally now have kid-abducting-machines and you still build a room for that?"
"Well... it... uh... has a lot of other functions! Never mind that, here, I show a neat feature of this vent! At certain points you can take off some plates and spy on the people down there... or fall and break your neck, whatever floats your boat."
They looked down to witness something eerily similar to a poker round between Mike and Alice. The small ballerina was almost invisible from the angle, so maybe Mike was playing against himself, while Phoney was lying on the ground, laughing hysterical.
Disturbed Dave closed the opening again. "Alice is going to be so broken after this. It's not every day that you lose all your money and pride in one swoop..."
"Ah, don't worry I MAY have taught her a thing or two... after all I'm a good father!"
"You taught her to play poker?"
"Basic education!"
Pondering that point shortly, he could see the different values that learning to poker would teach, for example weighing risks, judging character and predict actions, all while learning to shield your own motives. Then a completely different thought distracted him.
"SPORTSY! This isn't the only secret passage! There's one outside as well, so we can get quickly and unsuspected from A to B. Also, you can easily kill someone there, which you should refrain from if you're in the vents..."
"LEAD ME TOWARDS OUR MURDER PASSAGE!"
As promised they exited through the fairly standard office, two doors at each side, one door for the vent and a computer, where the only addition were the option for controlled shock.
Without even minding they went past Mike and Phoney who had been tied up with his mechanical cord.
Alice smugly stood next to them, hands in her hips and giggling satisfied, while Mike tried to convey as much annoyance as possible with simple groaning. "Stop with that smugness right now!"
Laughing she twirled around.
"No, fuck off, that was NOT part of the deal! Untie us!"
Shaking her index finger at him, she sat back.
"Don't fucking act all that innocent all of a sudden, you're the biggest liar I've ever met! By the way, how does your cord even reach this far, Simon?!"
"My cord is actually a lot longer than you can see here, but I can enable and disable a block that keeps it at a certain length. When I ripped it off, I blocked it from gaining length."
"Why did you disable that block when she began this nonsense?!"
"U-uh, I just..."
Alice snickered, driving Mike to kick after her. "NO, shut up! That's NOT it! You know, he probably just didn't want to get his wire ripped out again by you mini-psycho! Right?!"
"O-oh, uh, OF COURSE, I-I mean..."
She kept going and Mike gave a slight screech. "Why am I even TALKING to you?! You don't even DESERVE to be talked to!"
Phone Guy tried to get into a more comfortable position. "Can you actually talk to her?"
"Who the fuck knows at this point, but would it make a difference?"
Slightly smiling Simon shook his head. "No, not really..."
Victoriously the small animatronic sat upon the table, looking down at them mischievously. Somehow now PG began helplessly snickering as well, making Mike growl. "What is now so funny for YOU of all people?!"
"Nothing, it's just... when I think back, just a few months ago you were squirming away from my touch as if I was contagious, now you're seem not bothered by me anymore!"
"A-AH... What are you even TALKING about?! OH MY, MIKE ISN'T OVERREACTING TO ME ANYMORE LIKE A FUCKING BITCH! THAT MUST MEAN HE... he..."
Phone Guy could judge Mike's redness by the heat he could feel in his neck.
"Since when are you such a smug bitch anyway? Urgh, never mind, tell me what I have to do to get out of this hell."
Alice leaned forward expectantly, continuously giggling. Mike on the other hand got stiff. "What?! FUCK NO! Why are you girls so fixated on the lives of others anyway!?"
Insulted she turned away, crossing her arms.
"You piece of shit..."
Simon felt slightly bad for Mike, especially now that he could feel a lot more tension through Mike's back. Most likely this caused him quite a bit of stress. "Please, Alice, let us go! We have to look after your friends after all."
She crossed her legs and gave a fairly sarcastic laugh, making Mike really tense up. "I'm not a fucking psycho, cunt, I wouldn't do that!"
"What did she say?"
"She meant I could just rip your cord apart... disgusting little monster."
"Alice, can I do something to get us out?"
Standing up straight, she jumped down and walked over to the man, beginning to rummage about in his pocket.
"W-what are you doing?! T-that's a little rude!"
Smugly she took out a small note and some chocolate, sitting down, unfolding it and began reading. A few minutes later, she inspect them, before ripping the note into shreds. Satisfied the tiny creature began to unwrap them, laughing.
"She said we would both die alone." Mike made a huge step away from Simon, who was confused beyond belief.
"That note... t-that note, it was just my shopping list! There wasn't anything weird on it I swear!"
"Yeah..." Mike still kept his distance.
"BELIEVE ME! The chocolate, I admit, I thought about giving to you s-since you always are so down a-and I thought that chocolate might help, b-but I thought better of it, since Jeremy already made you some... R-really, I'm not trying to be weird!"
"That ain't the problem, I believe you more than I would ever believe a piece of mental cancer."
"So, it's fine, right?" Simon tried to touch his shoulder, just to see Mike jerk away. Disappointed he completely lost all energy in his body.
Mike sharply inhaled the air, before gently patting PG on the head. Turning his way as if that would obscure his red cheeks in any way he sighed. "Fucking stop with the emo-attitude! Today is just... weird for me."
"Ah, don't worry, it's the same for me. I guess this new restaurant has us both on our toes, right?"
"Right."
Alice was obviously displeased, but began climbing the ill-tempered Guard anyway.
"We are going to check after Dave and Orange, see you later."
"If there's any problem, shout as loud as possible."
"The only problems that there are going to be are when I catch those two and give them some payback for this abomination of an animatronic... and that won't be my screams you're going to hear!"
Impatient Alice led him outside onto the construction zone, but soon got confused and pointed to the ground.
"He's down there?"
She nodded vigorously.
"Alright, he'll probably show up through those holes..." Mike followed the trail of smaller and bigger gaps in the ground, until he spotted an unsupervised crane.
An idea popped into his mind. "Hey, Alice, how about we greet your creator in style?"
Parallel to this situation, Dave and Old Sport were having a grand old time!
"Right now it's a little barebones and you can still differentiate those openings from each other, but soon enough this will be built to be as puzzling as possible! And the echo is something I specifically required!"
"So, we get someone down here, chase him around and kill him when he's too worn out to fight back?"
"If we want to, yeah! We could try to drive them insane as well!"
"Sweet!" Old Sport began to wander off, but was stopped by his friend.
"Careful, or you might get lost! Here, take my hand~"
Seeing a great opportunity to annoy and embarrass Dave, Old Sport stepped back, grinning. "What if I don't?"
For a moment Dave looked shocked, but soon enough he grinned even wider than his counterpart. "In that case..."
All of a sudden Purple Guy bolted away, laughing like a maniac and while Old Sport began running as soon as he realized the plan, yet he was already lost at the next choice of openings.
The psycho's voice rang through all places. "Come on, find me~"
"I can't! Where are you?"
"Don't make a wrong choice, or you might not find the exit on your own! Maybe you'll have to beg me to come pick you up~!"
"Argh, Dave, you fiend! I'll find a way, don't you underestimate me!"
"It's sweet when you're trying to impress me!"
Amused Old Sport picked the middle way, convinced that it would take twenty minutes at MOST until he would find an exit or Dave would get bored and come to get him anyway.
Enjoying the mystery behind every corner, Old Sport wasn't worried in the slightest as the earth began to softly rumble, until he heard Dave's voice again.
"Ooookaaaay... this is awkward. Sportsy, you know that these tunnels aren't really... stable?"
"Oh-oh."
"Oh-oh indeed, Old Sport... uh... okay, I'll have to get you. No, wait, I'm closer to the exit, you have to get to me."
"How? I swear to Breadbear, if you manage to trap me down here for three weeks, I'll-"
"Try following my voice! Yeah, I know, the echo makes it really hard, but not fully impossible. If you close your eyes and are really silent, it might work. Just... uh... try to be quick?"
"I don't really have a choice, do I? Okay, just... say something..."
"You're coming closer to me."
Shortly pausing, Old Sport began to track back, as there it sounded the strongest.
"Closer."
The tunnels made it sometimes sound as if he was unbelievable close, just to sound far away in the next second. The echo bounced from wall to wall, but right now it was possible to follow it...
With closed eyes it was dangerous though. After walking into a wall and tripping over a stone, he learned his lesson and walked slowly and carefully.
"Closer."
Hoping that it would help, he began to slow down his breath.
"Closer."
Step by step he felt the differences in the ground, small stones and sandy patches were alternating between each other. Weird how you much more you noticed when you hadn't anything else to concentrate on.
"Closer."
Air was blowing through the place, probably just as lost as he felt. It made his skin crawl a bit and he wasn't sure if it was because of the cold or the thought itself.
Even wind could get trapped by this maze.
"Closer."
Unsure Old Sport guessed that he was pretty close now, as Dave's voice kept almost consistent in volume now. Amazing how Dave apparently managed to memorize this hell. Dave was an odd person, if you thought about it...
"Closer."
Suddenly he was walked against something soft, warm and big and before even being able to react, he was tightly embraced. Taking by surprise the Orange Guy was reddening in less than a second. "A-ah, don't scare me like that!"
"You're cute when you rely on me~"
"Y-You're freaky when you want attention!"
"Can you blame me for wanting some affection?"
"I can blame you for putting us in danger..."
"Shut your mouth, Sportsy, or I'll shut it for you~" With a wink he made clear that it wasn't meant as that much of a threat. "Besides, you've already seen me embarrassed before, this is called justice!"
"Geez, you're really bad at flirting..."
"W-what?! But I put so much effort into this!" Another rumble shook the ground reminding them that they should leave. Dave was too busy pouting to care though. "You're a dingus, Old Sport! A mean one at that! That just calls for revenge!"
"Fine, I'm down for that, but please let's just leave, alright-"
Without warning Dave took his face and kissed him.
Afterwards he simply snickered and left outside, leaving the dumbfounded and brightly burning Old Sport behind.
Goddammit, Dave would manage to actually end him by stopping his heart.
Following him out, he barely was missed by a giant wrecking ball.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING?"
"WHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA, THAT'S WHAT YOU FUCKING GET TO LEAVE ME ALONE WITH YOUR DEMONS! WE ALLIED AND ARE NOW STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!" Mike was sitting inside of the construction machine, grinning insanely, his eyes glowing brightly. "NOW! PREPARE TO DIE- I MEAN SUFFER SOME INJURIES!"
"READY WHEN YOU ARE!" Dave was jumping around, alive and excited for some reason.
Not hesitating to go along with that bait, he swung around the wrecking ball, destroying parts of the surroundings, while missing the human by an inch. Not exactly missing, but rather being dodged, since Dave was reacting in the last second.
"I wanna too! Try to get me!" Old Sport wasn't ready to miss out on this fun.
"YOU ALL GET YOUR SHARE, DON'T YOU WORRY!" Mike was operating and began driving towards them, too slow to actually risking to kill them, after all the machine wasn't made for speed, but considering that he now had the tactical advantage...
Old Sport and Dave used the tunnels like whac-a-moles, jumping in and out, trying to trick and distract the Guard, who was having more and more fun with trying to kill his co-workers.
The colorful duo suddenly appeared together and as Mike attempted to do a strike, Dave threw his partner up, helping him land on top of the wrecking ball.
"MAKE ME FLY, MIKEY!"
"I'LL GET YOU OFF, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!"
They went round and round, as more and more stuff got destroyed and soon enough Mike found a way to loosen Orange's grip, so he prepared for the final-
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Phone Guy came to ruin all the fun again. Aggressive the psychos exchanged a glance, prepared to give their boss a piece of their mind.
To everyone's surprise it was Mike though who began telling him off.
"We're just having some fun! Stop freaking out so much!"
"How is THIS fun?! You're destroying EVERYTHING! We can't legally do that!"
"Whatever! No one actually CARES when something breaks, no one actually cares about anything! It's my turn to have fun and you come to RUIN it! I just want to squish them into a pulp, why do YOU care?!"
"Mike...?" Phone stepped a bit away from the cabin of the crane, having noticed the weird glow in his eyes and the untypical slight twitching.
"What is it? Huh? Jealous because you don't have the testicles to do this yourself? Fuck off, Phoney!"
"Since... since when do you call me Phoney?"
Mike stopped, staring down at the controls.
For a split second Simon feared that he would get crushed by a wrecking ball, yet his friend stepped defeated out of the machine and shook his head. "Sorry, Simon. It's been a really rough day."
"I'm just worried about you."
Dave and Old Sport grinned at each other and began to chant. "KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS!"
"There's no way I'm going to waste my energy on this. Short answer; he doesn't even have a mouth. Come on, let's go and take a look at the arcades."
Four pairs of eyes watched them wandering off, of which two were located on top of not yet fully constructed roof.
Jeremy and Marion were sitting next to each other, in silence. They held each other's hand as it was the only way Jeremy could get any kind of answer for his words.
"I really like how great everyone gets along! They are all so good at working with each other..."
The animatronic weakly pressed his hand, agreeing in a disagreeing manner.
"But you have to at least agree that they really care about their friends!"
This time the pressure was more firm, making Jeremy smile. For a while they sat in silence, enjoying the amazing view and freedom it gave them.
The sun had already crept over the sky, signaling that they soon would have to leave. As Jeremy addressed that fact, the Puppet didn't response at all.
"Marion?"
No reaction.
"I have something for you... here!" Carefully he let go of the claw and took off his necklace.
Finally the Marionette moved, slowly raised himself to take a closer look at the object.
"It's... an old ornament that gets passed down in our family." Awkwardly snickering, the boy nervously watched his friend. "My mom always said I should give it to someone that I want to be with until I die. I guess she meant a wife, but... hey! I want you to have it! After all, even a protector needs protecting!"
Jeremy...
For the first time in an eternity he heard this voice again. Out of an impulse he squeezed the animatronic as strongly as possible.
J-Jeremy, please... that hurts...
"You're lying!" But the human released him anyway, almost crying out of relief. "I thought you w-would NEVER speak to m-me again!"
I was... thinking. Quite a bit.
As if understanding how precious this ornament was, he softly clenched it in his fist.
Would you please help me put it on?
"Of course! Here!" Happy Jeremy closed it around the thin neck, giving a thumbs-up when seeing the result. "It fits you perfectly!"
Jeremy!
Now his voice got more energy as well, making the boy want to scream out of pure bliss. How quickly the necklace magic had worked! Amazing! "Yes?"
I also have something for you. Please accept it.
"How couldn't I? I'd love a gift from you!"
Gifts? Some gifts are more... curses.
"No! If it's a gift, there will be some good to come from it!"
Ah, for heaven's sake... here.
The Marionette took Jeremy's wrist and wrapped something around it. It was a white bracelet, with a tiny button on the side. As Jeremy pressed it, it began glowing green, simultaneously with Marion's eyes.
If you activate it, I will always know where you are. Use it when you have a problem and need me.
"Silly Marion! You're always around anyway, aren't you?"
It's... more of an emotional... gesture.
"O-oh, sorry! I will cherish it! Forever!"
It is actually something from... a long time ago.
"Really? Tell me!"
Never mind, it isn't that interesting. Basically... it was the sign about which kid to pay close attention to.
"Haha! That's now me? YEAY!"
Marion leaned onto him, softly stroking his hair.
I can't make you any great promises...
"Just stay with me and I will always say my life was happy!"
Really...? For you it's that simple?
"Happiness doesn't need to be complicated!"
Maybe you're right.
"Most certainly!"
There's actually one more thing.
"Anything for you!"
We need to take back control.
Smoothly the creature raised to its full height and stared over the scenery before them. The red glow of the dying sun drenched the whole world in blood.
It would be foolish to think Henry would give up this easily. Freddy's is still haunted and we have to make it right, as well as freeing those pitiful children that were brainwashed into believing that William could replace their lost family, as long as they follow his path of harm and hatred.
"Maybe Dave really just wants a family?"
Jeremy, you have not seen them yet. Please do not talk about things you cannot understand.
"You're talking in that weird way again..." The boy whined.
That is because I need to regain my confidence! I shall not let myself being tricked into my old, powerless mindset! I WILL FIX EVERYTHING! I am on the same level as Henry and I WILL prove it! I am the one in control, this restaurant is mine by default, as I am the one inhabiting it.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Marion noticed slight worry in Jeremy's expression, but as soon as the human noticed that he was being looked at, he smiled brightly.
"You are the best Marion! Don't let anyone ever beat you down! But... you're better than this Henry-guy, right? Maybe you shouldn't... let him... influence you this much..." His words became slower, as now a real frown was plastered over his face. "I'm sorry, I... I guess I don't really understand anything. Please believe me when I say that I just worry... also, I don't really trust you, I think you might try to hurt people again!"
I won't lie to you: Yes, I will try to end William and Henry.
"I don't want that..."
When anything happens, I will make sure you won't have to feel guilty about it.
"B-but..."
William as well as Orange Guy know that I plan to erase them, there's no way you could help them in any way.
"It's not just about them... Revenge will only lead to more revenge! You can't be free, you can't be happy if you do nothing but planning to hurt people! A-and... I want you to be happy!"
Once more Jeremy hugged him tightly, managing to get a smile out of him. He was thankful for Jeremy's existence, even if it was most certainly tiring.
You should not worry this much. I'm not a child... I know what is good and what is bad for me.
"Your age doesn't have anything to do with it. Neither children nor adults really KNOW what's good or bad for them, but no one cares about adults, so their suffering is ignored..."
As long as I have you by my side, I'm sure I won't lose myself inside of my vortex of hatred.
Now Jeremy was the one who stayed silent, instead grabbing his hand and leaning into his friend. A while they stayed like that, until the boy snickered a little.
"At least you're talking again."
Marionette smiled gently.
I made my decision and am now ready to return to a more social life.
"That makes me glad." The sun had almost disappeared, some brave stars had conquered the sky.
It was time to go home.

------------------------------------------------

A/N:
OVER. 10.000. WORDS.
I'm sorry, but I really couldn't find anything I wanted to cut out... I hope this extra-long chapter is fine?
You could see it as a Valentine's present...? Please?
Welp, thanks to BadPinkUpLines for beta-reading and thank YOU for reading in general! You guys mean a lot to me and I can't imagine spending my Valentine's Day rather than reading your commenst! ^w^
Stay happy and healthy!