Chapter Text
Mike whistled to himself as he brought a box of souvenir snow globes from the back and began restocking the shelves in the gift shop. Soos and Melody's wedding had gone off without a hitch and the happy couple were gone enjoying their honeymoon. Stan had taken over running the tours full-time again while Mike and the twins helped out whenever they weren't on an adventure. Today was a slower day though, so the twins were relaxing in their attic room while Mike finished up the last few chores. He was soon distracted from his task though by the sound of footsteps rapidly hurrying downstairs. The twins came sprinting into view, rapidly talking over each other as they frantically tried to explain something to Mike.
"Mike! I found something-"
"It's crazy CyBro! I didn't believe -"
"- didn't realize at first-"
"- so insensitive-"
"- hope I'm wrong-"
"- not right-"
"Slow down you two," Mike said calmly, cutting through the noise. "I can't understand what you're trying to say like that. Now calm down and one of you tell me what's got you two so frazzled."
The twins nodded, taking a moment to breathe, both to calm down and to just catch their breath after their mad sprint down the stairs. Once they had composed themselves, Dipper began explaining, "I was catching up on some of my favorite YouTubers and theory channels when one of their videos started describing something that seemed familiar… and I think it has to do with you…"
"Is it one of those theories about the zombie uprising happening?" Mike asked with an annoyed sigh. That had been a bit of a problem for Mike during his time as a walking corpse, especially because Ennard had been parading around his decomposing body in fairly public spaces with plenty of witnesses. As much as Mike had tried to keep his appearance hidden once he was in control of himself again, there would eventually be someone who realized what he was or someone would get a too clear picture of him and rumors would spread all over again. It honestly wouldn't surprise Mike if someone had found either an old photo of him or those old witness reports and made a video about it.
"Not exactly…" Dipper said, holding his laptop close. "It's… it's probably better if you see for yourself… especially as I'm not entirely sure I'm right…"
Mike was confused and a bit concerned by that reaction but nodded in agreement. The twins then had Mike come up to their bedroom and they all settled onto Dipper's bed, the twins pressing up against Mike from both sides to give him comfort.
The fact they felt that he would need comfort did not bode well for whatever this video was.
As Dipper opened up the laptop, Mike's confusion grew as he recognized the channel name from Dipper talking about someone that usually specializes in video game lore and he didn't recognize the game name of FNAF. Mike didn't bother asking about it as the was the point of them watching the video. Dipper pressed play and they began to watch.
"HELLO WEBAVERSE! WELCOME TO GAME LORE! I'm Pat Mat and today we're going to be talking about 'Five Nights at Freddy's' and the connections its lore has to real-world events."
Mike froze at the name and as a familiar-looking mascot was displayed on screen, a sense of dread filled him. The twins exchanged concerned glances as Mike's reaction confirmed their worries.
The video went on, with Pat Mat giving a brief summary of what the game does and then going into the secrets that could be found that revealed the hidden lore. Then it started going into the real-world connection, how this game and its story was probably based on a tragedy that happened during a long shutdown incident. When a picture of a real-world newspaper of the actual missing children's incident was displayed, Mike couldn't help but slam the laptop shut, cutting off the video as he breathed heavily.
The twins didn't say a word, just hugging Mike tightly as their older struggled with trying not to have a full breakdown.
After a few minutes of unsuccessfully regaining his composure, Mike forced out the question, "This… this is a real game?"
"Yeah," Dipper quietly confirmed. "And it's not just one game…"
"How… how many?"
"Three so far… there's a fourth one that's in development… All of them so far are about nightguards having to survive haunted animatronics."
Mike let out a choked laugh at that and said, "Maybe I should sue… Mike Schmidt was one of my aliases as a night guard when I was hunting down animatronics…"
"We could ask Paz for help!" Mabel said, trying to cheer Mike up. "She could probably get us in contact with some great scumbag lawyers!"
"True," Mike snorted.
"So this… this really is based on you?" Dipper hesitantly asked.
"Concerningly similar…" Mike grimaced. "Whoever made these games really did their research… I doubt they know the full story as I'm sure the only one that did other than myself was Henry… and I'm pretty sure that all his records were either destroyed, confiscated by the Fazbear Company, or part of the stuff I received."
"It's not right that there are people making money off the horrible stuff that happened!" Mabel huffed in anger.
"It's not, but people do things like this all the time," Mike sighed. "It's not even the first time someone's tried to capitalize on the tragedy and the rumors of hauntings… People like talking about scary stories, especially if it's based on true life… and I guess it means it's time I give you guys the full story…"
"You don't have to," Dipper replied, pushing down his own curiosity. "We promised we would wait until you're ready and we will."
"I don't know if I'll ever be fully ready," Mike replied with a rueful smile. "But I do trust you and I know you guys can handle it, you've survived the apocalypse after all… Honestly guys… it really is about time I told you and besides… with this game out there there's a chance you'll learn more even accidentally, like this video… I much rather you hear the full story from me than come across a sensationalized version."
The twins nodded and settled in as Mike began his story.