Chapter Text
Mike had gotten used to things going unexpectedly.
Between his job at the Pizzeria and his other commitments, both pleasurable and forcibly, he had no time to think up a strategy should something like was going to happen. And, that annoyed him. Mike hated it when his plans were changed at the last minute. If there was a change to any of his commissions he could make adjustments whenever he needed, though nowadays it seemed he didn't have any time to work on his art. Nowadays his time was spent working at the Pizzeria, which he didn't mind anymore since things have changed and become a lot more easier for him, and helping Jeremy in his god forsaken quest to investigate the Pizzeria and its company.
Mike had been practically roped into helping him. A few months ago he hadn't minded when Jeremy had asked him for his help. He knew that there was something going on and the company wasn't doing anything about it, instead they were deflecting and diffusing the situation and denying any wrongdoings. Cleary, there was a problem. The building had been is disarray for a number of years. The animatronics hadn't received any proper maintenance work, even poor old Foxy was in terrible condition and he hadn't been able to preform in years. The building needed to be updated and cleaned. It needed a better security system because there had been to many unfortunate incidents happening.
Needless to say there was a lot of work that needed to be done and Mike had decided to lend a helping hand in changing that. He had been told numerous time that it was a lost cause, and that it was a matter of money, but Mike was determined to set things right. So, going behind the company's back, he invested what time he could and his own personal money into the project. Of course when he told his Godfather what he was going to do Scott had instantly questioned him in the matter, stating that whilst it was a wonderful idea the money belonged to him and him alone and that he didn't have to spent it all on fixing the Pizzeria. To the man's surprise it turns out that Mike actually had a large sum of money, thanks to his commissions and his inheritance. Besides, Mike told him that he wanted to do it. Not just for him but for the kids who fell in love with Freddy's and for Scott himself - he knew just how much the Pizzeria meant to him, despite living through his own tribulations.
But, with Jeremy, things were a lot more complicated. It turns out that things were a lot more darker then they original thought. People have gone missing, both night guards and daytime workers, but on top of that there had been a few kidnappings as well. Unfortunately, those who had been kidnapped were never found. In fact they had been killed. The first group had been somewhat accidently whilst the second had resulted in the Pizzeria before this one to receive severe backlash and had resulted in the death of a Police Officer.
Mike hated thinking about it. Especially since the Police Officer in question was his boyfriend's Brother. But, what made matters worse was that when he, Jeremy and another Police Officer called Diana Winters had found out who the kidnapper and murder was. It turned out to be Mike's own Father, Vincent Schmidt. Despite everything, including the words of comfort and the uncertain promises, Mike honestly felt betrayed by the man who had become friend for a period of time before discovering the truth. He knew that Vincent wanted him back and would've done everything to bring him home, going as far as kidnapping him one time. Mike couldn't hate the man, at least now he knew the reason as to why Vincent did what he did - he needed blood for Alec, his son and Mike's brother - but he couldn't trust the man anymore and was terrified of what he could do to him.
At least now he had moved in with boyfriend and he was healing. Both of them were healing. And, Mike knew Javier would do everything in his power to protect him.
But this... this wasn't what he was expecting.
He arrived at worked at his usual time, once again Jeremy was too busy to come in even though both of them were meant to work the night shift. Mike sighed, he had meant to inform Scott about Jeremy's negligence he just hadn't found the right time to do so. Before he entered the building he could've sworn he heard somebody breathing heavily. It had come from the alleyway close by to the Pizzeria and Mike had the time to investigate. Soon enough he found the source of the problem. There was a little girl sleeping amongst the trash, she had managed to use one of the bigger pieces of cardboard to cover her body.
Mike frowned as he knelt down, wondering where she had come from and why she was sleeping near the Pizzeria. Maybe she had been waiting for someone to let her inside the building and had fallen asleep whilst she waited. He couldn't tell if she was injured but as far as he knew there was no blood on her. He saw her shiver slightly as she tried to pull the carboard over her body some more. That's not good, Mike thought. He didn't know how long she had been out her and he needed to get her inside before she freeze to death.
He tapped her gently on the shoulder. The little girl stirred and made some sort of groaning sound. A few seconds later the girl woke up, revealing a pair of blue eyes that were similar to his own.
"Hello there." Mike greeted.
"Hi." The girl replied. Her voice had been nothing more then a whisper and Mike couldn't help but wonder if she was scarred of him.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"My name's Emily." The girl told him. "Who are you? Mummy told me not to talk to strangers."
"Your Mother's smart women. I'm Mike. Mike Schmidt." Mike replied. He frowned again. If her Mother told her that then why was she at the Pizzeria so late? Was she waiting for somebody? "Why are you at the Pizzeria so late? Its almost midnight and, if somebody else found you, bad things could happen to you. Do your parents know that you are here"
Emily shook her head, Mike could've sworn he heard her sniff slightly almost like she had been crying. That, or she had a cold coming on. "They... They don't know I'm here. I... I ran away from home. They were shouting again."
Ah. So that was it. Mike knew all to well what that was like. Before the incident with is Dad, before Javier and the Pizzeria Mike had been in a all to familiar situation. There was a time when he was living with a women called Aisha Thompson and her Daughter, Rachel. Living with Rachel had been a blessing in the dark. Despite her usual craziness Rachel had his back and was like a Sister to him, in fact she had been his only known friend for the time she was living with them. Then everything had changed when Aisha met Jonathan.
Everything was fine at first. But, one day he just changed over night, becoming more and more horrible with each passing day. At first it was just the snide comments Then a year or two later, Mike couldn't remember when he started to change, he started getting more violent.
Mike sighed. Jonathan's death was the only thing he couldn't prevent. In fact he had no part in it what so ever. Vincent had taken matters into his own hands and killed him. Mike was told that he did it for him and that nobody hurts his family. Mike shivered, sometimes he could still hear Vincent talking about that and everything else he promised him.
"Alright. Lets get you inside. Its far too cold for you to stay out here." Mike said. He helped Emily remove the cardboard and the junk that had surrounded her and help her to stand up. her He removed his blazer from his body and handed it to her. "Here. You can put this on until we get inside and afterwards if you need it. It might be a bit too big for you but it better than nothing."
Emily accepted it with a smile. Mike help her put it on before guiding her inside, he locked the doors behind them once he passed through the threshold. When he turned to face her Emily gave him a strange look and asked him why he locked the door. He told her that it was to prevent people from getting inside the building. Technically, after midnight there lives weren't in danger - not anymore at least - but somebody could break in and try to rob the place and there was always a possibility that they could get hurt. Mike promised her that he would protect if something like that happened.
Mike moved towards the door leading into the main party room. Just before he could open the door he heard Emily whimpering behind him. He turned around and saw her standing in the lit area. There were tears coming out of her eyes. He walked over to her knelt down in front of her.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Um... I don't like the dark." Emily admitted.
"Sorry, Emily. I should've asked you first." Mike apologised as he wiped away the tears. "Don't worry we have something special installed in the main party room for something like this. Take my hand and stay close to me. I'll guide you."
He stood up and offer her his right hand. Emily gladly accepted it. Mike guided the child into the main party room and turned to the light switches. He moved towards the box and pressed the third switch. He heard Emily gasp as a collection of lights lit up on the celling. That had been one of his ideas as well, though the light had been installed quite recently. It was for last years Halloween party and, whilst Freddy's had done nothing special in the past, Scott decided to change that and have the first ever Halloween party at Freddy's. Everything had to be perfect. The ambience, the food, the drinks, the performances, the treat trail.
Mike had suggested the idea of having fairy lights dangling from the celling. That way the children could still run around and enjoy the festivities whist being under safe lighting, and the Pizzeria would have the perfect ambience for the evening.
"Wow!" Emily exclaimed.
"Like it?" The redhead asked.
"I love it!" Emily proclaimed. "Its so pretty!"
Mike couldn't contain his own excitement when he saw Emily running around the place. He was used to praise like this now but it still refreshing whenever someone new noticed his work.
There again did Emily know about the changes?
Mike frowned as he recalled the conversation they had outside. She had run away from home because her parents were arguing again. No child should hear there parents arguing with each other and, by the looks of things, this was a recurrence. That probably meant Emily was running away from home a lot. If that the case then what were her parents arguing about? Were they aware of Emily running away in the first place?
Or, maybe they didn't care about her. Mike didn't want to think about it but there was always the possibility that Emily was being neglected, maybe that's why she ran away from home. They would've found her by now if they were looking for her. Perhaps they didn't care that she was missing.
"Mikey!"
Mike froze upon hearing that nickname. Panic filled his body as he was started looking around the room rapidly. There was only one man who called him by that name. Did he finally find him? Hadn't he and Javier been careful choosing where to live? It had to be close to the Pizzeria but also some where Vincent would never find him. He... He was going to get kidnapped again, wasn't he? He didn't want to go back. Where was Javi? He needs...
Mike felt somebody tackle into him, instantly knocking him to the ground. Tiny hands were gripping his work shirt as he heard somebody say he name gently. It sounded young and feminine. Slowly, he taking a few deep breaths in order to calm himself down. Vincent was not here, Mike told himself. He was fine and he had a little girl to watch over. He turned to left and saw Emily looking at him.
"What's wrong, Emily?" The night guard asked.
"I... I saw something move over there." Emily replied, pointing towards the stage.
Mike turned to look where Emily was pointing. He saw a tall purple rabbit walk of stage as a yellow chicken and a brown bear active for the night. Ah right, he probably should've told her about that.
"Its okay. Its just my friends." Mike told her.
"Friends?" Emily questioned.
"I should have told you earlier. You see in order to have the animatronics available for preforming in the morning they have to go through what we at Freddy's call a 'free roam mode' which allows them to walk around the place at night. Without it there servos would lock up if they were turned of for far to long and they wouldn't be able to preform in the morning." Mike explained.
That was the condense version of the mode. Before the upgrades and becoming sentient they were still roaming around but it was a lot more different then what was happening now. Back then it was game of cat and mouse with the night guard's life as the winning prize. The animatronics were behaving strangely, they would stare at the camera and try and get inside the office. Sometimes he could hear Freddy or Goldie laughing or Chica in the kitchen making a mess, or Foxy humming.
Now that they have been upgraded Mike didn't have to worry about the animatronics anymore. They were now friends and they had helped him, Jeremy and Diana with their investigation. In fact they had been the key to solving several disappearances that took place at Freddy years ago. They were the reason as to why the night guards were disappearing at night. It wasn't there fault, however.
Firstly, they didn't know the difference between a person and a endoskeleton, they thought they were the same and that the endoskeletons didn't have their costumes on which was against the rules at Freddy's. Secondly, they were being control by another animatronic called the Marionette. The Marionette had taken away their memories away and was forcing them to look for the night guard. Thirdly, and this was the reason as to so many night guards went missing, they were looking for a murderer.
After the first group had been murdered their spirits had been found by the Marionette. He had offered them 'life' and in exchange they would help him, after all there was only so much one person could do on there own. The younger children were unsure and they looked towards the oldest for guidance. Gerald, the oldest of the group, was unsure himself but he could see the desire in their eyes and decided to accept the puppet's offer. However, what he didn't tell them was that their new bodies were going to be the animatronics. That, and they didn't know what the murderer looked like.
Eventually, the rabbit noticed him. He walked over to him just as Mike was sitting up.
"Heya Mike!" The rabbit greeted. "Why are you on the floor?"
"Somebody knocked me down." Mike told him. He felt Emily grip his shirt again. "Its alright. There not going to hurt you. They love children."
That's when the rabbit noticed Emily. "Mike, why is there a child here at night?"
"I'll explain later." Mike replied. He then turned to face the girl again. "Emily, these are my friends. The rabbit is Bonnie, the chicken is Chica and the bear is Freddy."
"I know who they are, silly." Emily said with a giggle. "I just couldn't see them properly."
…Right, that makes sense. That, and she had been to the Pizzeria before so she probably knew what they looked like as well. Whatever, it was too early in the morning to question her.
"Aw! Well, aren't you adorable?" Chica cooed.
Mike blinked, finally noticing Emily hugging Chica. She moved on and hug Bonnie and Freddy as well. It looked like she was becoming friends with them fast. The animatronics were always friendly with children. It had been that like for long time and they were still getting used to new faces and adults. There again they had been children once themselves so it wouldn't be too hard to make friends with others. Maybe that just carried over to their new bodies.
"I still need to find away of freeing the children from those bodies." Mike thought. "Not just them but the others too. I wonder if Scott and Uncle Fran have managed to find the Toys yet."
Mike felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned his head to the right and saw Freddy looking him.
"I need to talk to you." The bear told him. "Its about our little night guest here."
Mike nodded. He then turned his attention back to Emily who was talking to Bonnie and Chica. "Say, Chica. Why don't you and Emily go see Captain Foxy? He should be awake by now."
"Good idea, Mike." Chica said. "Afterwards we can go to kitchen. I think we spare one of my special cupcakes."
"Really? Thank you, Ms Chica." Emily replied.
"No problem, sweetie." Chica said. "Come on. Its this way."
They watched as Emily took Chica's hand and was guided towards the door leading to Pirate's Cove.
"What's going on, Mike?" Freddy asked. "Why is Emily here so late at night?"
"To be honest, Fred, I'm not enterally sure myself." Mike admitted. "I found her sleeping in the alleyway besides the Pizzeria. She didn't tell me much but she did tell me that she had runaway from home because her parents were arguing again."
"Again? So, this has been going on for long time?" Bonnie questioned
"Maybe. Its hard to tell without learning the full story." Mike replied. "Although, I do think her parents are being neglectful. I don't know how long she has been out here for but she would have been found now if her parents were looking for her. That, or they don't know that Emily has runaway from home again. I'll ask Scott to check the cameras in the morning."
"Is there anything else we should know?" Freddy inquired.
"She doesn't like the dark, which is why I turned the fairy lights on." Mike told him. "But, other than what I already told you, there's nothing else."
"So, there not a lot to go on, is there?" Freddy commented.
They moved towards the stage. Mike and Freddy sat down in the chairs closets to the stage whilst Bonnie picked up his guitar and went to sit down on the stage. Just before he started to it, however, he finally noticed that the room was short one person. Now that the Pizzeria had finally been updated the building was now vulnerable so Scott had decided to hire another night guard. The second night guard was none other then Jeremy Fitzgerald who, apparently, was a friend of Mike's and he had worked in the Pizzeria before this one.
"Where's Jeremy? Should he be here as well?" Bonnie asked.
Mike sighed. "Jeremy's too busy working on his so called investigation."
"Again? I thought you were finished with it after..." Bonnie trailed off, not wanting to bring up the past. They were aware of the investigation and, now that they had their memories back, they were aware of what happened to them. Despite that they had all agree to let the past stay in the past and move on. They couldn't change what happened to them, although they were somewhat understanding of the circumstances that lead to there deaths.
Besides, they all knew that Mike was still hurting after what had happened to him. They didn't want to give him anymore pain
Mike silently thanked the rabbit for not going any further. Instead he told him. "After... finding out what really happened twelve years ago we discovered that there was more to Fazbear entertainment then any of us realised. Jeremy decided to investigate the company and he thinks he onto something. I asked him if he was going to come tonight but he told me he's too busy."
"That's not an excuse! He has a job to do and its unfair to make you do all the work." Freddy protested.
"Try telling him that." Mike remarked. "Besides, its not like its a difficult job anymore. Everything changed after the upgrades and you guys are no longer trying to kill me."
"That's not the point, Mike. Jeremy has done this before so he knows what its like to work the night shift. And, the building is a high risk of being broken into. You can't be expected to be the only one looking after the place." Freddy countered. "Besides, and I hate to bring this up Mike, but what happens if Vincent comes back? I know myself and the others can protect you but what about Emily? Having her here is just as risky as having you here alone."
Mike wanted to protest, really he did, but he knew Freddy was right. It wasn't safe for him to work at Freddy's anymore and, just by having Emily here as well, it wasn't safe for her either. More measures needed to be done in order to protect the Pizzeria, to protect them. But, nobody knew what Vincent was planning. They hadn't heard anything from the murderer in a while. Either he was planning something big or he was working on building his so called empire - whatever that means.
Mike needed to have a word with Scott in the morning, that's if there was enough time to talk to the Phone Guy before the cleaning staff entered the building. Sure, they could always talk in his office but Mike would prefer it if nobody knew about Emily or anything else for that matter. There was no need to cause panic, especially since nobody knows what will happen next. With Emily, however, it was more of a private matter. He didn't know much about her and he didn't want to make any assumptions without knowing the facts. He could tell that there was something wrong but he wanted to know more before making any judgements.
Hopefully, whatever the problem was, they could deal with it before they received anymore bad news. However, Mike had a feeling that things were a lot more worse then what he original thought.