A Guard's life

Callback

A/N:
The title is because a lot of that stuff is happening in this chapter.
There are like... two small errors in the middle my friend told me, but it will do- I'm honestly a bit too tired right now to sniff them out. Feel free to point them out to me in the comments or DMs though, so I can quicker fix 'em! :3

-

Pacing around the room, Mike was muttering in pure panic.
"He fucking did that, he really fucking did that, what the fuck am I supposed to do?!" Since he had woken up, nothing but the last night had been on his mind and he didn't know how to handle it. "God fucking dammit, why did he do that, now I gotta-"
"Don't ya have bigger issues to worry about?" From his bed came a small voice.
"OH I SURE FUCKING DO, BUT MAYBE I FOR ONCE LIKE TO HAVE SOMETHING PLEASANT TO FREAK OUT ABOUT! SURE, I COULD FUCKING WORRY ABOUT A MINI-EGGPLANT SITTING ON MY BED TALKING TO ME, BUT FRANKLY, I DON'T WANT TO GIVE YOU THE TIME OF THE FUCKING DAY." Shortly he turned to glare at the small version of Dave who was sitting around, kicking his feet. "Honestly, when you first showed up, I hoped you were a horrible, traumatic hallucination that I would never have to meet again. YOU ARE TOO MUCH TO FUCKING BEAR IN THE WORKPLACE, HAVING YOU HERE TOO IS A FUCKING-"
A sniffle sounded and Mike stopped himself, in quiet terror. "Oh fuck me. Don't cry. DON'T YOU DARE."
"Then stop bein' mean to me!" The kid hugged itself. "All I ever did was helpin' ya!"
"You are not even DEAD, you are not SUPPOSED to hang around as a ghost and give me cryptic hints!"
"Well... depends on who ya ask..." The kid rolled onto his stomach and kicked his feet more violently.
"Don't serve me shit like "you're his childhood innocence that died", or I will fuck off and never look back." The man had enough of this shit.
"What? No! That would make no sense!" Pouting even harder, the kid began rolling around, resulting in him falling out of bed. "Ow."
"You deserve that."
"No!"
"Yes."
"No!"
"Fucking yes- now tell me what the hell you're doing here!" Angry he snapped.
"... Old Sport is bein' a meany and I don't like being there. He lets his pink strings all over the place and I don't like it. I don't like touching those, I don't wanna make Henry mad. Dunno where he is, but touching pink is BAD and he will come back to be mean to me. He already made Old Sport mean to me because I was a bad kid..." The kid looked miserable. "... he was okay at New Years! Because we shot bad spirits out of the sky! But now he went back to being mean... so I don't wanna stay with him." The kid shook himself, then looked up at Mike with a hopeful expression. "You're the only other guy who talks to me... my only other friend!"
"I'm not your fucking friend." Those words were HARSH, but slipped out of his mouth.
"Well- we can become friends!" Hopefully those big, wide, round spotlights focused on him.
What was he supposed to say?
"What ARE you?" Feeling stressed out, he inspected him again.
"Dave! Willy! WAVE!" The kid snickered. "I'M! THE BOY!"
"Yeah, but he is a fucking- normally you don't have multiple fucking versions of yourself running around, do you?!"
Davey had already gotten distracted, peering under the bed. "OwO?"
"What the hell did you just say?!"
"UwU?"
"... I swear to god-"
Suddenly looking intimidated, he ducked. "Sorry... s-sorry... I'm- I'm uh-" He tried to remember something. "Uuuuuuuuh- too much soul? Got a lot of it! So much, it can go! So I go! Wherever! Can't go if I'm hurting, but that's okay... I like to wander around! Henry said it might be normal? Or maybe I'm... two in one? I dunno. Don't feel like two in one."
"That makes even less sense." Skeptical Mike eyed him, but the boy only got defensive.
"That's all I remember, ya gotta believe me! I am good, I say the truth!" Helpless he was pleading with the older guy, who felt really shitty for scaring a child like that... even if it was... Dave...?
Turning away he scoffed. "Anyfuckingway- I don't care enough, not NEARLY enough. Now fucking excuse me, I have my own issues that actually I fucking ENJOY losing my mind over!"
"Adults are weird." Unhappy the boy was now rolling around on the floor forcing Mike to step over him while pacing.
"You are fucking weird. You are PURPLE. Were you actually born that way or did you fucking... bathe in purple ink? Or drank it? Is your DNA just so fucking cursed?" It wasn't meant in an insulting way and he talked actually almost calm.
"I dunno. Nobody ever tested me!" Happy the kid smiled up at him.
"Nobody? So wait, a purple child was born and nobody bothered testing your DNA or some shit?" Downright irritated the man paused.
Why he was so irritated is a mystery in itself, seeing as seemingly nobody ever checked Freddy's either and the place in general is MUCH weirder than a kid that looked a bit... demonic. Demonic toddlers were not unheard of after all.
Thinking about for a moment, Davey tipped against his nose repeatedly. "Well... if they would have FOUND something, it MIGHT would be something that was their fault, so they didn't risk it. Had a bad enough time when they accidently turned all the frogs gay."
"Excuse me, they did what?" It was getting too ridiculous. "Why the fuck would anyone do that?"
"MY WORDS! Truth is, the frogs were gay from the start!" Slapping with his small fist into the other hand.
"Can you kill ghosts?" With twitching hands Mike turned away in order to keep himself from anything stupid.
"Yes." And with that all happiness, all mania had vanished.
Both of them stood in silence for a few seconds.
It stretched further and further, growing unbearable-
Until Mike groaned.
"Can't I go back to have fucking amnesia? Because this is beginning to be fucking draining again." Defeated the adult sat down on his bed, pressing his hands against his eyes.
"You can't." It sounded sad. "Believe me! Tried it long enough! Just sittin' stuff out! But it just made me sad. I don't think I'll ever be happy again."
"Now that's bullshit."
"Yeah, but ya believed it for a minute, didn't ya? You're all big 'n grumpy on the outside, but you're really a big ole softie."
The kid snickered and his companion regretted being able to see him. "I should be taking my pills."
"I dunno what's weirder, a guy talkin' to someone he can see or a guy talkin' to nobody but himself, knowin' he's doin' so." Neutral the boy watched him. "Ain't it a little reassurin' to have somebody answer?"
"You do nothing but to distract me- I'm not any fucking closer to a solution to my issue of choice!"
"Ya want me to help?" There was a hint of surprise in the Purple Child's voice and rightfully so, it was a good question.
One Mike had to ask himself. But, after a moment of hesitation he shrugged. "... can't fucking kill me, can it?"
Silently he noted to cut back on the word fucking- he overused it at the moment and he should know better. There were so many beautiful and melodic curses, yet here he sat, like a broken record. God, the event yesterday really took a toll on him, didn't it?
"Okay- my opinion- here it comes!" Dramatic he raise his arms, as if preparing a magic trick. "When you go into work today? Just- grab him and make whale noises."
"... oh yeah, right, the LOGICAL conclusion, ARE YOU SHITTING ME-" Welp, it HAD been a bad idea to ask the question the unreal child.
"I mean- it would confuse everybody so much, that nobody would ask about the thing!"
I mean-
He probably was right.
But that would just create more problems that would have to be overplayed.
Before he could shoot back, Dave continued. "Or you can do the power move and take up as much space as you can, then smooch him first and have HIM have the issues!"
Anger melted into embarrassment and the Guard turned away to cough. "Uh- yeah. I guess."
"See! I'm great help!" Proud the kid climbed onto a near chair to stare at the man. "But now, what about the other stuff?"
"What other stuff?" Irritation returned, with a slight hint of suspicion as the kid jumped off the chair again and approached.
"Ya know. Sad kids in the forest?" He almost looked insulted that he dared to forget.
"Sad kids in the- oh. Oh lord, you mean the robots." Suddenly, a sting was going through him, incredible sadness that wasn't his own.
"TomAYtos, TomAHtos, they deserve some help, don't they?" Never before have spotlights looked so accusing.
"I- fuck- why don't YOU take care of it? Why for Satan's big red balls am I supposed to take care of the shit YOU did!?" Guilt wasn't something Mike had an easy time to handle, so he tried to get it off his back as quickly and easily as possible.
"Do I look like I can be takin' care of it?! I struggle to put on my shirt in the mornin'!" Desperate the kid flailed his arms.
"Are you actually, god-forsaken serious?" Sometimes he was surprised that Dave STILL managed to disappoint him, after ALL he already knows.
"I mean- sometimes...?" Flustered the kid looked away. "Not a lot anymore! But- anyways! You're the ghost guy! This is what ya signed up for!"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I SIGNED UP FOR THIS SHIT!?"
"WHAT DID YA EXPECT IS GONNA HAPPEN IF YOU SIGN A WEIRD BLOOD CONTRACT WHILE BEIN' ABLE TO TALK AND SEE GHOSTIES! YOU CARRY THEM AROUND LIKE YA OWN THEM, SO OWN UP, B E C H !"
Rubbing his temples, Miek stood up again. "What the FUCK is happening- what do you mean I carry around ghosts?! Those Toy-fuckers have left me ages ago!"
"Toy fuckers?!" Distressed Dave looked at him, making him regret what he said.
"No- Those- asshole ghosts attached to the Toy animatronics." Already it had lost the proper angry sound it was supposed to have and now he just felt miserable. They haven't been all that bad.
Thomas, Richard, Sally, Gary and... Suzy.
The memories were equally as angering as they were miserable.
He wondered where the four spirits moving on went.
And he didn't even want to ask himself in regard to Suzy.
"I tried this shit once. Didn't really fucking work out. I'm not really that keen on helping some brats who were more than willing to fuck someone's life up." It didn't make the man proud to say that, but really, after the last experience, he'd rather not risk anything more.
"... they're just kiddens." The boy sounded sad.
"Well, so are you right now and I'd still break your legs and shove them down your throat if you weren't a fucking ghost."
"- it's been- it ain't there fault, old guard! And those in the woods- they didn't attack ya, did they?!" There was a hint of desperation shining through, irritating Mike.
Not to mention, hot guilt boiled through him and at this point he was sure something was fucking with his head. "They tried plenty of times until they finally grew bored of it!"
"... Mike..."
For some reason the man expected to suddenly have a huge burst of anger- usually people begging for favors had that effect on him. No, not- begging for favors directly, it was more the way they talked-
Slowly massaging his his face, he tried to fight back against the crippling headache setting in. "Later."
"It's always later, isn't it?" The voice sounded off and Mike snapped, snatched the pills on the nightstand and taking one.
Five minutes later, he was alone again in his room.
And for once he could actually physically feel his loneliness.
For a moment he stared at the wall across of him, listening to the deafening silence.
Then he stood up to put on his shoes and left the place.
Might as well go to work instead of letting those invisible eyes keep burning into him.
It was getting a little better as soon as he began moving. The air, despite still being cold as balls, was warmer as it had been the past weeks and he could pretty much taste the difference in the air.
At least something that was mildly more comfortable.
A cynical part asked him if he thought it was for the animatronics that were out more comfortable as well now. Silently he cursed himself.
When he arrived, the door was unlocked, it was most of the time at this point, for multiple reasons. Firstly because it was a waste of time. Secondly, if the robots WANTED to leave, these robots wouldn't be stopped by the doors. Even if the doors were strong enough to hold them in, they would find a way over the fence... or just break through a wall. Lastly, IF someone wandered in, they would have a SECOND distraction, for free!
Ah yes, how sensible. What a shame it would be to waste money.
Not that Mike would cry a tear after the people who would enter a Freddy's at night, they were all idiots, including he himself.
But still, sometimes the cold-blooded approach Simon, despite everything, had towards the company made him raise an eyebrow. Sure, Phoney wasn't at fall for the situation here, but he sure as hell did his part to make keep this place miserable.
Shaking off these thoughts, he wondered if he was suffering for some sort of...
... how he fucking would know, the only term he knew was disassociation!
Something that made him see Freddy's and everybody in it out of two completely different perspective at the same time.
He vaguely remembered there WAS a term for it.
Cognitive... dissonance?
With a groan he gave up. Maybe he should ask his therapist the next time he visited him.
Yeah. Right.
"Doctor Deern, everybody at my place of work is a giant, dangerous psychopath with no regards for human life, but I somehow still think they're okay people and actually hang around them." Saying these words out loud he listened to how ridiculous that sounded. Holy shit, what was going on with him?
Nothing good, seeing as he was now talking to his therapist who was nowhere to be found.
But he hated the silence right now. "I want to fucking die."
Did he look crazy talking to himself? Sure.
Better question, did he care? Not even in the fucking slightest.
... maybe he should stop standing in front of the door, he was pretty sure he was getting weird glares by early morning passerbys- wait, no there were none, because they were a small way away from the busier parts of town-
Enough with that, this would lead nowhere.
Quickly he threw open the doors and entered, looking around and spotting PG almost instantly, as always lurking near the stage to keep an eye on the machines he obviously didn't trust.
Something was nagging Mike in the back of his mind and it seemingly wasn't ready to give up, despite him having taken that cursed pill. Thankfully, if it kept like that, he had no hesitation to take another one.
YOU HEAR THAT?! YOU- WHATEVER?! HE WON'T HESITATE!
Meanwhile PG was mildly fascinated by the way Mike acted. The guy didn't even greet him, no, he stepped in, stopped pretty much right in front of the door, stared at him, then at Baby and then into nothingness, grinning to himself.
Oh lord, either he broke Mike with his little stun yesterday, or Mike was about to break him today as revenge.
Flustered he rubbed his neck that started to feel warm.
Gosh, darnit, he should greet him, before the man got more bad ideas. "H-Hey, uh- Mike."
WOW. Now that came out awkward.
Didn't seem to bother Mike though, as he determined approached, staring him down. Something about him seemed... off.
"Mike?"
Yet, despite what it may looked like at first, when he was in front of him, he only reached out to gently grab his wrists.
Then he opened his mouth and it sounded even weirded. "Where is Jeremy?"
The tone of his voice irritated him, it almost felt unnatural. Though, he refused to worry- he wanted to believe that it was because Mike was playing an elaborate prank on him. This time, he wouldn't even acknowledge that though. "At home. He had the nightshift, so he deserves a minimum of six hours to sleep- you, uh- you know I don't let him stay here in the morning after his shift."
Irritated Mike looked down at his hands, still grasped around Phoney's, but he made no move to let him go. "Ah. Yeah, no, that's... true. Hey, quick hypothetical question-"
If there was ONE thing Phoney knew about, then it were HYPOTHETICAL questions.
"-if I were to try and release a bunch of souls, stuck to machines wandering a place, would you do it daytime or nighttime?"
Okay, now this was beyond a small funny prank. "Mike HECKING Schmidt- I- I swear to BREADBEAR, if you go around-"
"No, not me." The guy made a small movement with his head, but at least he sounded better again. "Jeremy. We both know he wants to do it and we can't keep him from doing that shit forever. Even if we'd tie his hands to a ferret and stuff it down his pants, he will still have nothing on his mind but to go and fucking murder himself. There he's just absolutely firm. We will have to do something ourselves."
For a moment Simon just stared at the man.
Growing nervous and irritated Mike stared back. "I-"
"You never stop to amaze me."
God. That had been too much. He was red as hell. "What's that the fuck about?!"
"Oh, I don't know. I've been- I, uh- I guess that's just in my nature as a Phone Guy, but I can't... decide on things... or actually do them, I can't make great plans and try to ignore-"
"Shut up! Stop putting yourself down." Now he was refusing to look at him, he was so incapable to deal with the words.
Still.
His grip stayed where it was.
Maybe for his own comfort, maybe for the comfort of the phone-headed man.
Either way, it felt right.
After a short cough, Mike continued. "I don't even have a good plan, aside from just catching Jeremy doing what he isn't supposed to. Guess my fucking hope is that we can help him out when he inevitable is going to get attacked by killer robots roaming. Learning by doing, as much as it kills me to have him traumatized due to the robots he fucking worships."
"It's more than what I came up with in the last months." Completely embracing his own pathetic nature, he shrugged. "As soon as you come up to me and say 'listen up, b*tch, I have a plan-' oh- sorry about that." As the loud censor beep sounded, Mike had jerked back a bit. "Forgot that would happen. Uh- well- what I meant to say-"
"I get it, I get. But I'm just doing this because I'm really an asshole and now that it ruins my sleep, I want to get it done."
"Sure, uh-" Had he insulted Mike? Made him uncomfortable? "I just wanted to-"
But he was once more disrupted as Mike suddenly pulled him into a tight hug. "I know. Thank you."
The situation was weirdly emotional, despite nothing really being said. Tightly Phone Guy hugged him back.
Finally. Movement again.
Change, even if it might only be little.
After a long minute, Baby interrupted. "You two are worse than my dads, how is that even possible?"
Between insulted and flustered Mike gave he a glare. "We aren't two obsessed psychopaths."
"Only a matter of time." She scoffed, her green eyes despite her mocking words looked jealous. "The sooner you accept that, the better."
"Don't interrupt the adults talking." Weakly Simon complained.
Mike opted to ignore her. "Call Jerry, tell him he has today, tonight and tomorrow free. He'll be all over that fucking chance to get away from his job and do his stupid mission. We'll be waiting for him there."
"That sounds like a plan. A pretty uh- hasty plan, but a good one nonetheless." Agreeing the Phone Guy nodded.
To both their dismay, Baby didn't feel like letting herself be ignored. "You are going and attacking robots? Can I come along?"
The men reacted together. "NO."
Before some sort of discussion happened again, Simon moved away. "I- I, uh- will be calling him now."
So he did.
He said the same thing he would always say.
About Jeremy's good work.
About how he deserved the rest he wanted.
Thanked him for helping out, as if he had really been needed.
Today and tomorrow, tomorrow night was nightshift again.
Jerry sounded so relieved and happy as he told him how much he appreciated it.
When he cut the line, the Phone Guy felt like a complete scumbag.
He would never feel right, spewing lies and trying to hide his own agenda with nice sounding words.
Then a sense of dread hit him, as he asked himself if it maybe was already too late.
The detective could have very well returned, lured the robots away and now was using them against them.
How would he know?
He couldn't.
So he clenched his fists and quickly walked back to Mike.
-
Ethan Cross was by no means an impatient man.
Was.
At this point he knew Jeremy was part of their gigantic conspiracy to murder children
He had kept him away from the forest for far too long to be believable.
Sure, sure, he said his boss was the on keeping him busy, but who would believe that.
There was something utterly wrong with Freddy's.
There was something utterly wrong with Jeremy.
Multiple times he wanted to leave by himself, go into the forest, deactivate the machines and search for evidence-
stuffed into them-
Oh, he remembered the call. He remembered it too well. He listened back to the recording, it couldn't have been anyone else than the Phone Guy.
The voice had shivered.
Evidence.
In the robots.
They told him.
But they weren't be able to keep it.
The bit of DNA they could find could have been everything.
Rotten blood became darker and darker, black and brown stains, like the coffee on his table-
Yes.
Almost he went himself, with a large weapon, something to tear them apart.
But then the dreams started.
They were overflowing with organs, such small organs, puking them out in utter agony, puking out everything they had inside until there were only stains left.
Teeth, white glowing in the shadows of the maws.
Eye slowly getting bigger and bigger until they popped, popped out of the suit-
Glowing dots everywhere.
In the windows.
In the suits.
In his head.
They were at the side of his bed, watching him sleep.
When he woke up from such a dream he stumbled to the bathroom and puked too, wishing he could also empty out himself.
That night he wasn't able to go into the forest.
Another time he had been invited to a party and they were singing happy birthday.
He had a headache, so he stopped singing.
They made up for his silence by singing louder.
Louder.
He couldn't get up anymore.
Louder.
When he woke up again he was bleeding from his nose, his mind a static mess.
Something was going wrong.
He had to go to the forest though.
Nothing else seemed to matter.
There was no way he could find justice for anything that had happened.
Not even for himself and his ignorance.
Freddy's needed to be destroyed, completely and restless, animatronics should become OUTLAWED due to what happened here.
And for that he needed those aggressive monsters roaming the forest.
No matter if true or not, he would make the company to having held them there on purpose.
The animatronics were dangerous, far beyond the mere fact that children could be shoved into their maws. Compared what the animatronics in the forest were capable of, it was a joke.
When he was sure the place would get shut down, he would enter the Purple Guy's living place.
Take him out.
And everybody associating with him.
Silently he asked himself if Jeremy would stand in his way.
... but at this point, he himself was beyond redemption anyways.
What would one corpse more make for a difference?
Sitting on the bathroom floor, after another feverish night, he pressed his fingers into his eyes, wondering if he could on accident blind himself by that.
When Evelyn heard about his job, she always glowed.
He could still hear her.
My dad is a hero! He finds and faces bad people! He protects us all!
... there was no way to justify shooting on an innocent man to get a guilty one as well, was there?
Was there?
Could he tell his daughter that by sacrificing one man, he could save a hundred others?
But, if it became morally acceptable to sacrifice human lives...
... then it was only a discussion about the prize.
The modern world was very good at devaluing things.
Or maybe it became just apparent that nothing he held value for everyone.
It was bitter, too bitter for him to bear.
That last hurdle.
When Freddy's was done, he was free.
At first, he didn't even hear the phone, lost in his own nightmarish world of dying robots and crying children.
Then, when he was able to hear it, he almost didn't accept the call.
Too tired.
Too exhausted.
Though, despite that, he finally accepted.
"M-Mr. Cross? It's me, Jeremy!" The young and uncertain voice of the young employee came out of the speaker, making him instantly a bit more awake.
"Jeremy. When will we got the forest?" If Jeremy came along, he at least had some backup- even if he didn't trust the boy, he would probably want to save his own skin, no matter what.
"That's what I wanted to talk about!" Finally he sounded excited after months and months of "sorry" and "we can't". "We can go this night, I have free days!"
"Great." Until tonight he would be able to rest up properly, and set up what he needed. There would be no backing out now, not over his dead body.
His probably soon dead body. "Where do we meet?"
"U-uh..." The kid obviously hadn't thought about it.
No time. "I will come pick you up from your place. When will you be ready?"
"W-well, since the animatronics usually are more active at night- e-especially after midnight..."
"Twenty minutes before midnight. Be ready then."
"I will!"
And more he didn't need to hear to end the call and stand up, shower and fall back into bed.
This evening he would be rested, no matter what.
In the worst case he had a stock of sleeping pills.
... gathered them over a long time.
For the worst case.
But to his own surprise, this time no nightmare plagued him and when he woke up, he actually felt... alive.
Not in the good way, but certainly in the way he needed to be.
Tense, angry and determined.
Suspicious he looked around checked the time, but all was alright, he still had three hours to get ready.
For a split-second, he was certain he saw glowing eyes at the window, but when he actually LOOKED, there was nothing.
Uneasy he stared for a while, then took a breath.
For now, no reason to worry.
Just stay alert if something tries to get in and while he was leaving.
Those eyes had followed him for long enough, it wouldn't change anything.
Nothing would change this anymore.
Filled with a tension that made every bit of his hair stand up, Ethan began getting ready for what he would have to do.
Gun in case it was a trap set by the boy, a Taser which should be able to intimidate the animatronics, a crowbar- he hoped he wouldn't be reduced to that- and a camera.
If he brought irrefutable evidence, they would send people to take care of it, the RIGHT people to take care of it. They would know what they are up against.
The camera battery should last for a while, he planned on filming the whole trip so there was no chance of accusations of manipulation.
When he sat down in the car, he activated the camera and gave calmly the rundown.
It was important to be exact.
Who knew if he could be later on.
... who knew if he would even be able to appear in court or in the police station.
The drive wasn't an excruciating long one, but every second seemed to stretch into three and for parts of the road he truly was tempted to go over the speed limit.
He didn't.
A few blocks away he parked and climbed out of the car, scanning the area for any sort of danger, then proceeded to creep up towards the house, slowly and carefully, ready for an attack.
If they were on the look-out for him, they would expect him by care- maybe he could surprise them-
All in vain.
There was no surprise attack.
Just Jeremy, with his bag, looking nervously at the man, but smiling.
Ethan demanded to see what was in the bag.
First Jeremy refused, until he saw the distress on the man's face and hesitantly opened it.
An animatronic was in there, but deactivated.
Jerry begged him to not touch it, it didn't like it.
... he didn't have the time for it.
So, he took the bag and shouldered it himself, returning to the car.
No words were spoken.
Not until they arrived at the forest.
The boy next to him looked anxious, moving around a bit. "S-so. We- we have to go in there- we have to find Chica."
For a moment Ethan paused.
Well.
Any robot would do.
But still...
"Why that one in particular?" He looked at the kid. Last time that robot had seemed to have a hint of rationality, but-
How would the kid know about that though?
"Because I-" There was a nervous twitch in his fingers. "... I hope she may recognize- u-us."
"Your hiding something." And you are bad at it.
Instantly the boy sunk into himself, quietly admitting to it. "... it's not- I don't mean to hide it, but... I don't want to- if I'm wrong-"
The man's voice was low. It wasn't threatening, it didn't need to be. Even if he didn't feel like Jeremy was a trustworthy, or upright guy anymore, he showed all the signs of being anxious and easily stressed out anyways, so- he didn't want to make it worse. "Tell me."
Still.
His voice left no room for any sort of talkback.
"Sir, if I tell you and I'm wrong, then- i-it will hurt you badly." Pleading he held his own arm, a gesture Ethan had seen now quiet often from him... no matter who he talked to. It seemed to be genuine.
But being genuine didn't mean anything in this situation. "I said tell me."
"... uhm." Now even more shocked, almost afraid the boy looked around. "I- a-ah... you- your- so- the animatronics a-are possessed-"
Silence.
"... a-and I think- she might be your daughter."
There was no way to process the emotions he was going through. Nothing. It was as if his insides froze and stopped, as if he had been violently kicked into the stomach and out of time. He couldn't feel his fingers anymore, his throat was burning.
Scared Jeremy looked at him. "M-might- I- there a-are- they could be- b-but I looked at the r-records and usually they- they get shipped in sets- they-"
It wasn't smart, but Ethan didn't care.
He spun around on the spot and ran into the forest.
"MR. CROSS! E-ETHAN!" The kid was behind him, he didn't care.
There was nothing even hinting at that being a possibility. There was no reason to believe it. For all he knew, this was his trap.
Yet, if there was a hint of a chance that it was Evelyn-
He began screaming, his throat feeling sore already, something he ignored. "EVELYN! EEEEEVELYN!"
The sound of starting motors began roaring in the back.
He turned.
Maybe the fur was once blue- or even purple. Now it was only grey, the dark wasn't making things easier and the only light it got was red.
Quickly the animatronic moved towards him, but it tried too hastily and almost stumbled- something that would have been funny, if it wasn't the one thing that had saved him from getting his head crushed.
Panicked Ethan got the Taser out, as the second swing was aimed at him, one he also barely avoided- it still scratched the side of his head, resulting in a burning line- not that he noticed in his adrenaline fueled state.
They were just getting started as Jeremy joined. Poor, young Jeremy, who had little to no idea what he was doing. "STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"
Of course.
Scream at something that was noise and motion activated.
Naturally, the thing snapped around and moved towards Jeremy instead, having correctly asserted him as an easier target to get rid of.
"B-Bonnie- please- you're not- you don't want to hurt us! We can help you!" Yes. The boy was scared. But that wouldn't stop him.
Grabbing the Taser tighter, Ethan made his move and hit it with the weapon into the back of his neck, firmly into the exposed endoskeleton, pushing it with all his bodyweight into it. Naturally, the weight didn't even seem to bother the machine, but at contact with the electricity it began screeching and shivering, shaking off the detective in the process.
"E-ETHAN! DON'T- IT'S A KID! YOU'RE HURTING HIM!" Freaking out even more, Jeremy stepped closer, his fear for himself instantly exchanged with fear for the machine.
And maybe Ethan WOULD have felt guilty. If the machine wasn't already up and about again, now angry at the person who distracted him and blamed for the horrible pain he had to face, ready to grab and just crush his little neck with his sole functioning hand-
He wouldn't be quick enough to get him again, but that didn't stop Ethan from dashing again-
Stopping and stumbling when he felt something leaving the bag the man still was carrying on his back, leaping over him and attacking the machine instead, with a speed that was unnatural.
Long thin claws sparked electric blue energy and then were rammed into the animatronic, lighting up the new attacker in its brutal, cold light.
Like a giant black snake the Puppet had wrapped around the machine, who was screaming and screeching in agony, echoing through the whole forest.
Finally, that made Jeremy step back and stumble, falling down with a whimper of shock.
With just as much speed as the attack had started, it ended again, the Marionette now floating mid-air, slowly turning to look at the detective.
Glowing, white dots.
Its voice sounded like it came from all sides. "Hello, Mr. Cross. This was very foolish of you. Even if Jeremy was worse."
The animatronic, still not deactivated, but visibly scared slowly tried to go backwards, but refused to actually run away, still making angry and pained noises, fixating on the new, powerful enemy.
Weirdly enough, it was at this point that Ethan realized he had completely forgotten why he had come here in the first place.
Slowly he got out his camera but the Puppet avoided it, so he decided not to try, instead focusing on the machine lurking by now getting confused by everyone's lack of movement that he would be able to see.
But while his eyes focused on the robot, his hoarse voice spoke to the Marionette. "I- is my daughter here?"
"We will see that when we find Chica."
"C-can she remember me? Will she-?"
"Maybe she will, maybe she won't. You said you were in the forest before. What did she do?"
A sob broke out of his throat, he couldn't take this anymore. "Have I- I aimed a gun at my own child-?!"
"Everybody is somebody's child." The creature sounded cold and distant at the beginning, but then slightly soften. "She will understand. I think if she is in there, she would want you to keep yourself safe too."
They both snapped out as a new animatronic screech sounded. Foxy had arrived, focusing on them with its red glowing eyes, screeching in anger as he saw Bonnie's scared body-language.
Without missing a beat, it attacked, running towards them without any troubles, an animatronic build for destruction and speed. The last bit it jumped, maw first, aiming for the Puppet, who's response was a hiss of anger in return.
"You are ungrateful BRATS."
Being joined in by a friend emboldened the bunny animatronic too, he approached again, but more careful, eyeing the detective with clear intentions.
The camera had been swapped again to the weapon- filming these events had already become a secondary afterthought for obvious reasons.
Floating and supernatural, the thin, long machine had no issue keeping two of them under control- Foxy was crashing again and again, as he became less and less coordinated with his angry attacks, which made it a bit easier on him.
Jeremy only sat there and hid his face in terror.
And while looking at him, Ethan realized that indeed the machine sounded more like the screaming of an angry child, the closer he listened.
... he was imagining it.
Carefully moving, he helped the kid up. "How are we supposed to find her now?!"
"I- I think they're both coming- they heard us, they can hear us-" Was the whispered response.
Indeed, breaking out of the bushes, there she was, frantically looking around. At the sight of the Puppet she screamed a just as mad scream, but when she spotted the two humans, she broke off, going quiet, moving her head. Two smaller, shorter screams followed.
She approached a bit closer, her gargled noises getting the attention of the other two animatronics- Bonnie moved back, but Foxy was getting louder and angrier.
Nobody wanted to interrupt this potentially crucial situation, yet-
"Evelyn? Are you- are you there?" It just broke out, his voice was weak and tired.
She looked at him for a long moment, then hesitantly moved closer, instantly stopping again when the man moved himself.
Not away this time though.
Now he stepped towards her.
She shrieked a bit- he had forgotten he still held the Taser.
Pretty much just throwing it at Jeremy he got rid of it, thankfully he had remembered to deactivate it and for once in his life, Jeremy was not a clumsy fuck and caught it, holding it with an expression of dread.
Nothing was now stopping Ethan from approaching the machine, who seemed still a little nervous, but wasn't making noises anymore.
For a moment they both didn't move and just looked at each other.
Then the animatronic began making a pained sound.
First it sounded just like small noises.
Then it became clearer, she wanted to say something.
"... dad... d-dooon't... cry..."
For a moment he was surprised, then he raised his fingers to his own cheeks.
They ended up wet and glistening in the lamps of his daughter's eyes.
... Ethan hadn't even realized that he had started to cry.
He hugged her and she tried to hug back, her broken stumps not really doing anything, but she leaned into him with twice as much emotion.
She smelled of dirt, rain and smoke.
"It's okay. It's all okay now. Hush- I found you. Your save now, I will protect you." The pained noise he got in return tore his heart into pieces. "This time, I will."
Jeremy spoke up, relieve was drenching his voice. "This is good! We- we can bring them to the restaurant and then have them safe and warm there!"
Protective Ethan looked back to stare at the employee. "She isn't safe there."
"Well- uh- where else would we get them? I sadly have no space..." These words were indeed earnestly apologetic and to Ethan's own dismay, he knew it was true.
"We would have to-"
Before he could continue, music started playing, as none other than the bear himself stepped out of the forest, laughing deeply.
He sounded rather... relaxed.
The other animatronics though... started to look aggressive again. It began slowly, but quickly turned more and more tense.
Evelyn stepped back and distress was clear in her erratic movements.
She screeched first, her companions following swiftly, in something that looked like a wordless fight.
Fear crept up Ethan's spine and quietly he whispered at the Marionette. "Do you understand what they are saying?!"
"... we have a problem." It was stated calmly, as a matter of fact more than anything. That didn't made the situation any better though.
The fight seemingly had finished, for a moment it had seemed as if they were about to gang up on their fourth member, with the detective being willing to fight them off with nothing but his hands-
Suddenly Chica dragged him backwards though, with nothing but her beak and quickly swapped places with him, now standing between him and the group, pushing him back more and more, as gently as a giant robot was capable to.
"Evelyn- what is happening? What is this all about?" Unsure if he should fight back he allowed her to do so for a few moments.
More than enough.
Freddy's attention was back on the human, clutching a weapon that was useless in his hands and his puppet, who was getting ready for a rather unfair fight.
Three against one.
Angrily it took a non-existing breath and showed some teeth, those always seemed to get out when he was suffering from extreme feelings of anger. "What a bunch of traitors, turning on like this."
Freddy laughed and Marion recoiled. "No- I have not betrayed you! We had to change tactics, I- I DIDN'T LIE TO YOU!"
It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were talking about and Jeremy stepped forward. "P-Please! He really didn't! O-Okay, maybe he- maybe he didn't know any better, but- sometimes that- people make mistakes! Horrible mistakes, but mistakes still- they CAN change, they can- Please- Isaac!"
The robot snapped to look at him.
The boy had repeated the names again and again at home, learned all three sets of them.
Five children disappeared that day at Freddy's.
Close to tears he continued. "Paul- you aren't- this! None of you are! Timmy! Jacob-! You are children! It's been long enough!"
At their mention, Bonnie and Foxy stared at him too, now the boy was the center of attention.
Anxious the Puppet was tempted to attack and at least try to disable one of them- decided against it though. Jeremy... he didn't really believe that Jeremy had this situation under control, but he should at least have the chance to try, right?
Seeing as he got somewhere with the machines, the boy calmed a bit. "Please... it's been really rough, hasn't it? But- we can take care of it! We can fix this! Let's... let's just get out of here, somewhere nice..."
Slowly Freddy's- or rather, Paul's glare wandered over the human, then over the puppet.
Then he laughed again, louder and slower this time.
And with that, Foxy jumped forward, aiming at the Puppet that moved so quickly, it almost appeared as if it teleported.
All three of them were on the move now- if Marion would have been alone, he would have been able to deal with it. He was quicker, older and by far more experienced in actual combat.
But Jeremy was here and without a hint of regret Freddy walked towards him, ignoring the Taser in his hand. Why would he even bother to worry about that? It wasn't even activated. The kid didn't know how to defend himself.
And sometimes these people had to be sacrificed.
Naturally, the puppet was instantly on him, claws exposed sending wild shocks through the bear, which worked well enough to make him scream in pain, but it gave Bonnie ample opportunity to grip him tightly and not let go, even as he got electrocuted-
The perfect opportunity for Foxy to jump in-between, it's sharp teeth and hook just rip away whatever he could.
An ugly crunch sounded through the forest as the fox and the puppet fell onto the ground, before his next attack though, Foxy had to move its maw back, resulting in a long slash over its already ruined snout, frizzling with electricity.
Ethan had of course tried to run to help them, but his daughter had shoved him to the ground and was holding him down with her foot, careful to not accidently crush him. "EVELYN, STOP THIS! YOU CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN!"
It was only met with broken sobs and with horror Ethan realized that yes, she could. She had so many of times.
She had partaken in these events.
He could feel her agony in the little shivers her crying resulted in.
No more screaming from his side, silent acceptant that in the end he still was incapable of doing anything, despite knowing what was going on.
Jeremy, while still in shock, finally managed to activate the weapon. "Y-YOU- DON'T HURT HIM! Please-! I- I don't want to do this-" His hands were shaking and in front of the giant animatronics he looked smaller than usual.
The animatronics moved a bit, only Bonnie, who was closest towards Jeremy, the other two kept looming over the thin Marionette, who was glitching a bit as it moved upwards, ready to rip the animatronics apart.
In pure anger his glitching voice echoed, so loud and broken that the humans thought they might be hearing it right inside of their own head and nowhere else.
"I PuuUtT yYyYoOOu i-iInTo ThESEee SSssUIIiTS- I C-CccAan taKkE yooOouU bbAcck oUt AgAIN!"
Freddy and Foxy were ready, adjusting their maws, more than willing to rip the creature they blamed for so much of their misery apart.
For the third time, Foxy was jumping forward, though it turned out to a trick to get Marion's focus, as Freddy suddenly moved forward, quicker than his body would imply he was able to, grabbing the arm of his enemy to rip it off-
A stone hit him at the side of the head.
Nothing more than a pebble.
A smooth, gentle and... tired... voice sounded. "Stop this. All of you. This is enough. This doesn't help any of us."
It smelled gold, like the candles on Christmas evening.
Mike stood there, his eyes bright with golden dots.
He radiated... peace.
Next to him, looking a bit freaked out was Phone Guy, who just asked himself how he got stuck in this situation.
There were no noises anymore, nobody complained or screeched.
The Guard approached without any hesitation, reaching out for Freddy and gently petting them. "... we're sorry. We're so incredibly sorry, both me and my friend."
He signed at Marion who was now clutching his arm, watching the scene.
"I don't think there is a way to thank you enough for the patience and dedication you showed. We wanted to protect you and help you, all of you and all that might would follow. We haven't yet reached our goal and had to pay with so much. You had to pay with more than I could have ever thought. I'm sorry, I would have decided differently, if I would have known." There was such an earnest tone in these words and Jeremy had to hold his face in order to not cry.
He could feel these emotions.
Everyone here could.
And so they were at rest.
Even if unhappily so.
Irritated the Marionette broke the silence. "Y-you... Mike, you have- no, you're-"
"Shhh..." Gently he held his finger in front of his lips. "Sorry for not informing you earlier. But we have to change tactics and you just wouldn't listen to me. I'm sorry."
"... I thought you left me."
"You know I wouldn't." With that he looked around, going by to pet every single of the animatronics and help up the poor detective. "Hello, sir."
There were many unspoken words attached to this, but at the time being they stayed unspoken.
This Mike with golden eyes looked around at them, sadness crossing his expression. "I would love to aid you, to give you shelter, but for the time being, you must stay here."
"But- we have to! I won't leave her-" The detective protested, but was silenced by a sad glance.
"I know what you feel. But here, they are safer. It might be cold and uncomfortable, but here they can at least run away... Mr. Cross, there are people out there, people that want to hurt their souls and innocence. The restaurant is the unsafest place there could be. Please."
For a moment it seemed as he would want to continue fighting over this, then he stepped back and nodded.
Phone Guy awkwardly coughed. "U-uh... they could stay at my house for the time being...?"
With clear hesitation, Mike leaned his head from side to side, considering the option. "You would have to be careful with that. There is a lot of rage and fear in them. While you are not in the house, you would have to let them out, so they can try to escape if something happens."
"... y-you know what?" There was a weird sense of defiance in his tone. "... I can do that! U-uh, no problem. I owe you... still a lot after all."
A soft, big smile followed these words. "Thank you. May I request that we stay at your house too, for this night? I would hate for Mike to be alone like this... and I must rest." At the last part the energy in his voice fully dropped. "... I apologize, I cannot... hold up for very long in these types of situation..."
"No-" The Marionette accidently made that noise, then embarrassed held his hand in front of his face.
Assuring Jerry petted his arm.
Phoney nodded. "I- I, uh- understand. E-everybody is welcome."
Torn Ethan looked around. "You- my daughter will come and be there too, right now?"
"Uh- I suppose? Yes?" Uncertain he shrugged.
"Then I will... stay for the night."
Only Jeremy shook his head. "A- a lot of things happened- I want to go home. Or to the restaurant, so I at least can help Marion a bit."
Golden Mike smiled. "Marion, eh?"
The Puppet groaned and stayed quiet, tugging the kid away. Even if he didn't admit to it, he was tired too, the fight had taken much of him.
When they disappeared between the trees, the other group turned around, walking deeper and towards the haunted house Simon called his home.
They deserved the rest for tonight.

-

A/N: Wow. ~8.500 words. Long ass chapter, I apologize!
Seeing as this was... more action-packed and I don't really know how to write that, here a reminder: ALL COMMENTS, IDEAS AND CRITICISM IS WELCOME, APPRECIATED AND HELPS ME OUT A LOT.
EVERY COMMENT, NO MATTER HOW SHORT OR LONG IS VALUABLE TO ME.
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS IN GENERAL!