Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Michael didn’t know where he was, everything looked familiar but at the same time, not really? The sun was way too bright, well this is what you get for staying underground for the remainder of your life, wallowing away in self pity and hatred. Maybe he deserved it. He rubbed his eyes, it stung from his hands rubbing too hard against his fragile eyes. The skin was dry and achy, probably because he had no luxury of lotion or anything like that — wait. His skin? Michael looked down in a panic, too afraid to even trust his own eyes now. He wasn’t a living corpse anymore. He wasn’t a dying color of purplish blue, being upheld by a metal contraption inside of his body. He was back to being himself. A human. 

Okay what the fuck was happening? So it would be the understatement of the century that Michael was confused, scared and even a bit excited about what was happening. He was back to himself, but also he would have to face the consequences of his actions. Probably this was whatever god up in the clouds punishment for what happened. Or maybe a second chance? But who would give him a second chance? 

Michael didn’t speak as he walked through the street, it was empty, except for some passersby waving his direction. No one grimaced or screamed when they saw him, which proved his theory to be correct, he was in fact alive and breathing again. The people that waved to him always whispered behind their backs, something about an Afton family and terrible tragedy. Or could he be that boy? Or he’s grown up so much if he is that little boy? 

Okay now people were gossiping about him. Great second chance cloud god! 

Michael kept on walking, he entered a park, in which he recognized. This was the same park that was adjacent to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. Michael quickly turned around, seeing the terrible building, but to his bitter surprise it wasn’t a terrible building, it was just a building. It wasn’t burnt to the ground, and it looked like it was following all the building codes, up to date on what the city wanted. It looked almost pleasant, like nothing happened there. That it was just a normal building with normal people, a normal history, that served normal pizza, and had normal birthday parties. And that every single child that came inside, there would be that number again leaving the building. But he wasn’t stupid, he knew that wasn’t the case. 

He looked back to the park. He took three steps inside of the green landscape before stepping on something hard. He titled his head, bending down and picking it up. It was a missing poster. Of course. But it was what was on the missing poster that made his heart sink and bile rise up in his throat. 

It was a missing poster of him. 

Missing

Michael Liam Afton

Reward for his safe return: 

$150,000.00 

If you see him, please report to: 

William Afton and Henry Emily

What the fuck was happening now? Michael saw the paper underneath his hand start to shake. He was missing. Was all that happened a bad dream? Was the animatronics trying to kill him actual people and his mind just conjured up something that wasn’t there? Wait, Henry was alive? Why did his father want to find him? Wasn’t his father a murderer? What the fuck was going on? Wait, why only 150,000 dollars, wasn’t he worth more? 

He turned over the page, there was an address, and a phone number. It was the address to his house; he couldn’t believe that his father still lived there. Wait, wasn't his father dead? Oh god, this was so confusing. 

Michael looked back to the pizzeria, maybe he could wait until the place closed and maybe meet his father when he left. Wait, no that was a stupid idea, his father was in a stupid rabbit costume and dead. He couldn’t just meet a ghost, or maybe that was happening. 

July 5th. 

William looked at the calendar, it had been three years since Michael had gone missing and nothing. This was the third anniversary since he went missing and every single year, William would tell himself that this was the day that he was coming back. Today was the day, but that never happened. So, he started to lose hope. 

He never lost hope in his son, he knew that Michael was a strong kid and that he would find his way back to him. But he started to lose hope if he was even alive at this point. No person would keep the child that they kidnapped alive for three years. That was just stupid, and William knew that. 

“Daddy?” William turned around to see a child with tear stains on their eyes standing at the edge of the stairs. They held a stuffed bear in their hands that had a little top hat on it. It was Henry's gift to him when he turned eight. 

“Evan? What are you doing up?” William got up, picking up Evan. Evan sniffed, putting his head on William’s shoulder. “Another bad dream?” 

“Mhm.” Evan whimpered. 

“What happened this time?”

“Mikey was in it. He was saying all these bad things about you and papa. He scared me and then he started to say some naughty words at me. He called me a terrible little brother.” Evan sniffed. William slummed. 

“Hey, if Mikey was here, he would never say anything like that to you.” William put down Evan. 

“Do you think that he wants to find us?” Evan asked. 

“What makes you say that?” 

“Nothing.” Evan clutched the bear harder. William sighed and picked up Evan again. He walked up the stairs, to his room. He passed by Elizabeth and Charlotte’s room, but they both were sleeping soundly. William walked into Evan’s small room and placed him down in his bed. 

“Are you okay, daddy?” Evan asked. 

“Oh course. You don’t need to worry about me, that is my job. My job as a father is to worry about you.” William poked Evan’s nose. He giggled slightly and turned to his side, not facing his father. “Love you, Ev, have good dreams.” 

“Love you too, daddy.” 

William walked out of the room, closing the door behind him softly. He walked down the stairs, sitting on the couch. He had brought a beer with him, just wanted to get the terrible thoughts out of his head. He had never forgiven what happened to Michael. If only he was there nothing bad would have happened to him. 

“You know you shouldn’t be drinking that. The doctor says it is very bad for your health.” William looked up to see Henry looking down at him. He grabbed the beer out of William’s hand, dumping the contents into the sink and then throwing the can away. 

“Hey. I paid good money for that.” 

“How much?” Henry raised his eyebrow. 

“2 bucks.” William grumbled as Henry chuckled. He sat down next to him; William put his head on his shoulder. “You know what today is.” 

“Yeah, three years to the dot.” Henry sighed. “I know how hard this is for you.” 

“And you, too. He’s your son as well.” 

“But you're his father.” Henry said. William sighed, not wanting to say anything else. He couldn’t let his feelings of hopelessness get in the way, not again. “What about Evan, still getting nightmares?” 

“Yeah. I am thinking about taking him to a doctor or something. Maybe they could prescribe him medicine to sleep better. I just hate him being this way, it makes me feel … powerless. I’m his father, I should be able to do something.” 

“I know.” Henry said.

“I just wish I could bring back Mikey right now, with the snap of my fingers. I wish everything could go back to normal. I don’t know how long we can keep the restaurant and that’s our main source of income. Liz and Charlie are way too young for a job, and they still need to go to school. I don’t know if we can keep the house anymore. And I don’t want to move, what if Mikey can’t find us if we move.” William shook, he tried hard to keep the tears from his eyes. Henry rubbed his back, kissing the back of his head. He hated to see William like this. 

“Hey, Will.” 

“Mh.” 

“Don’t worry, Mikey will find our way back to us. And everything will be —” Henry and William both shot up when there was a knock on the door. A single knock, nothing more and nothing less. It was loud too. Soon after, William heard the footsteps of his children come down the steps. Elizabeth, and her bed head, was standing in front of Evan, who was peeking out behind her. Charlie rubbed her eyes and looked to the door. 

There was another knock on the door, the same volume. It looked like it shook the door itself. 

“Dad?” Elizabeth said through her drowsy voice. “Who’s at the door?” 

So, Michael waited at the building, but it seemed that no one was coming in and out through the building. Maybe it was closed down, and someone made it look so ‘pretty.’ He sighed, putting the back of his head to the cold window. Inside of the building everything looked normal, even safe. 

“What are you waiting for young lad?” An older gentleman asked Michael. He stood up, looking at the man. He had a kind smile on his face and his light blue eyes held worry and some kindness. 

“For the building to open up.” 

“Oho. You will be waiting for a long time. The restaurant doesn’t open today.” The man said. 

“Why?” 

“Well after the owners got married, well their son went missing. What a tragedy, it really hit hard for them. They could never open on this anniversary of when he went missing. That poor boy, Michael, God I hope that someone has found him.” The old man said, his voice a bit raspy as if he was starting to cry. “What a ball of sunshine. He was something, such a bright future awaiting him. Oh, and his fathers, oh they loved him. William always talked about Michael this, Michael that. Well, he never favored him, but he did love him.” 

Michael could feel a smile forming on his face, but he quickly shook that away. 

“Well, it seems that Michael had a good relationship with his father. By the way, what was William’s last name? I think — I think I might have some information that might be beneficial to finding his son.” 

“Oh, you do, do you?” The old man’s eyes widened. “That would be amazing, he would be more than happy to hear you out. He has an odd last name if you ask me. Action, no Actor. I don’t remember off the top of my head.” 

“Afton?” 

“Oh yes, that is it.” The old man smiled. “You know him?” 

“Know of him, yes.” Michael replied. 

“Well, it was nice meeting you young man. If you want to find him, his house is past this street all you need is to turn left. The number is 1869, two story house. Well, I hope you have a grand day, young man.” The old man patted his shoulder and walked away. 

“By the way, what is your name?” 

“Oliver. Oliver Herringbone.” The old man — Mr. Oliver — smiled as he spoke. “What is your name, young man?” 

“Mich — Mike.” Michael stopped. 

“Well, Mike. Enjoy your stay here at Strandford.” 

Michael followed the man’s directions, he walked down the street, took a left and looked for the house. The old man should have mentioned that all the houses were two stories high. This was going to be harder than he thought. Michael thought he was looking for a run-down house, one that looked like ‘Hey, I am harboring a serial killer!’ but no. The house that he arrived in looked almost normal. It had a large apple tree that swayed in the wind. There were flowers in the garden and small fairy lights that littered the patio. This was not the house of a serial killer. 

He walked up to the house; he opened the gate that made a small creek. He walked through the garden, looking at the different colored flowers. He could see small footprints of a child that had recently trudged through the garden. As he walked nearer to the door, his heart started to pound faster. He couldn't do this. 

He almost bailed out when he noticed something in the window. There was a small opening of the curtains that showed his father, but he looked different, way different. He looked fuller, a bit happier but at the same time hopeless and tired. He was stalker and well built, actually looking like he was taking care of himself. But he had slight dark circles underneath his eyes. He was sitting next to Henry, Michael didn’t remember Henry Emily that much, there were just some memories here and there. 

That sight of his father gave Michael the courage to go up there and knock but he could only knock once. He heard the noise of someone getting up and walking to the door, but it wasn’t opened. He knocked again, the doorknob squeaked, it turned open and the door slowly opened up. 

“C-can I help you?” A tired voice spoke. Michael swallowed the bile that was building up in his throat. 

“Father, it’s me —” Michael started. William’s eyes widened as the door opened more. 

“Michael!” He screamed. Michael almost collapsed from his father colliding with him, wrapping his arms around his neck. “Michael! Oh my god! Mikey!” 

“Michael?” Henry came walking up to William. “Michael, is it really you?” 

“Hey.” 

Chapter Text

-Two Weeks Earlier-

Fire.

That’s what the restaurant had succumbed to finally. The bright light of fire had completely taken over the fallen walls of the former restaurant, burning to nothing more than a crisp. Michael however didn’t take the opportunity to leave. He was done running, he was done trying to escape. All he wanted to do was sit down and wait for the fire to make its way to him. He was still in the security booth, which had huge metal doors to keep out the animatronics. They probably were fire doors, but who knows? 

“Michael!”

“Michael!” 

“Michael, please.” 

“Mikey?” 

Michael heard different people call out his name, they sounded like they were his family, but they were dead. So he ignored them, no matter how desperate their cries were, no matter if their screams pulled at his heartstrings, he just ignored them. This was for their own good, right? 

“Michael!” 

Michael turned around, facing the door. He heard his father’s voice through the door, banging on it. It sounded like he truly was afraid, so what if the fire was getting closer. He could hear the cracking of wood underneath the hot pressure of the wood. He heard the ceiling start to creak dangerously, and the glass break in different directions of the building. This place was literally about to fall apart. One gust of wind and goodbye. 

Michael turned back from the door, ignoring the banging. He covered his ears, cutting out the screams of his father. 

“Go away.” He whispered. “You deserve to rot in hell.” 

The door creaked; the fire must have gotten to the generators. The lights went out in an instant, but it didn’t envelope the entire room in darkness, well because fire gave off light. He was grateful for that, but still, it was oddly dark. The door was lifted open by prying fingers reaching underneath. If he had seen this before, he would have been terrified, but now Michael was just numb silence. He didn’t react as the animatronic of his father’s dead body came walking towards him, he just sat there in numb silence as it made its way closer to him. 

“Michael.” 

“Go rot in hell.” The building creaked, the ceiling started to shake, and one or two tiles came falling down. A waterfall of what must have been the pipes started to spill in the room. The animatronic walked out the door, it looked afraid. Goddamn it, Michael, he thought, you are so stupid. Water beats robots. He could have used that. Well, too late. 

The water was coming to his waist, the door closed shut. It locked him in there. 

“Wait!” Michael trudged his way over to the door, banging on it. “Wait, let me out!” 

Drowning, one of his worst fears. 

“Wait! Father! Dad, don’t let me die!” 

-Present Day-

Michael woke up with a start. The blankets were too tight around him, tying him down. He felt as if he was being sucked into the bed, the covers wrapping him a tight, constricting hug. He threw off the covers, panting, shaking. Michael took deep breaths as he tried to collect his thoughts. Where was he? 

He looked around, it looked like a house. He must have walked here. How did he get in here? Did someone find him? Was he a ghost? Did he die? God, why must everything be so confusing!

He almost got up before he felt something tight on his hand. He hadn’t been making that much of a commotion, just trying to get off the bed, that he didn’t even know there was sleeping next to him. He looked down to the hand, it was that of a child. The blankets seemed to cover the sleeping child, who was in deep sleep. Michael concluded that not even a bomb that exploded right next to them could wake them up. When he removed the blanket covering the child’s body, his body visibly stopped moving. His brain forgot to tell him to breathe and his heart to beat. 

It was Evan. 

Michael could see that Evan was clutching a stuffed bear with a little top hat. His chest rose up and down slowly, like a rhythmic kind of way. He looked so peaceful; Michael didn’t want to disturb him. Evan’s hand was still clutching Michael’s in a tight way that made his fingers turn a slight shade of white. He felt the same pins and needles of his hand starting to give the indication that it was falling asleep. Michael couldn’t sleep, not after that nightmare, but he could stay here with his brother. Maybe he did die, and this was his afterlife. If it was, it was really nice. 

A couple hours later, as Michael was reading some magazine that he had found near him, it was one about ghosts (real ironic) he heard someone get up. Michael looked to his right side to see Evan rub his eyes, stretch and then look at Michael in a dazed expression. 

“Liz is obsessed with that kind of stuff. She thinks it is cool, I think it is scary.” Evan whispered as he clutched the bear closer to him. “Do you believe in ghosts?” 

Michael was debating on saying yes, well because he had been tortured by them for years. And his father’s ghost or well he really didn’t know, had been trapped inside of a rabbit robot thing for thirty years. So yeah, he probably had the most evidence of ghosts, but he saw how terrified Evan looked, so he kept his mouth shut. 

“Well, yes and no.” Michael said slowly. Evan moved closer to him, putting his head on his forearm while playing with the bear, moving its arms in an endearing manner that made Michael inadvertently smile. 

“What does that mean?” 

“I do think that the people that we love, when they — die, they come back to be with us.” Michael sighed. “I don’t think that there are bad ghosts that want to hurt people, they just want to be noticed. You know how you sometimes get upset when someone isn’t paying attention to you.” 

“If you were a ghost, would you come back and protect me and Lizzy?” Evan asked, his voice was soft. 

“Well, someone would have to kill me first and let me tell you that is a very hard thing to do.” Michael poked Evan’s nose. He giggled as he pushed his hand away, a bright smile appeared on his face, turning his cheeks a light red color. “But if I was a ghost, I would tuck you in every night, make sure you brush your teeth, and make sure no one — and I mean no one — hurts you, not again.” 

“Are you sure you aren’t a ghost? Are you sure you aren’t dead, and those bad people hurt you? That you finally found your way back to us, to daddy?” Evan asked. Michael stayed quiet for a few seconds, well because he wasn’t sure on how to answer that question. Was this eight-year-old giving him an extension crisis? 

“I am one hundred percent sure that I am not a ghost.” Michael sighed. Evan nodded his head slowly, not asking any more questions. “So, you want to watch a movie?” 

“Can we watch Encanto, I need to practice my Spanish.” 

“Encanto? What’s that?” Michael asked, Evan looked at him like he was insane before chuckling for a bit. 

“Oh, it’s a movie that was made by Disney. You probably didn’t see it because well …” Evan stopped talking for a bit. Michael breathed a chuckle. 

“Sure, we can watch that movie.”  

Chapter Text

Michael learned quickly how fast news spread through a small town. The next day, almost everyone was on their doorstep. William and Henry had to make the people form a line so they could see Michael again. Apparently, the other Michael, had a lot of people that cared about him. There was a couple that had babysat him, Mr. Oliver tutored him in history. 

Michael even had friends. 

Three of them. Abby Manhino, Katie McGregor, and Jared Hector-Henry. He was not expecting tears to be spread and bear hugs. He had completely forgotten the feeling of someone wrapping their arms around you in a nonaggressive manner. He may or not have defended himself, the all too present memories of the animatronics trying to kill him came in his head. 

“Mikey!” William grabbed his son's shaking shoulders. He could see fear in his eyes as he held Abby’s hand tight, in a death grip that could break their wrist. “It’s okay, they aren’t going to hurt you. Please, just let them go.” 

Michael stared at his friend; their expression of fear was all too present on their face. It was like looking into a mirror, seeing someone portray that fear back at him. It was like they were afraid of him, just like Michael was afraid of them.

Michael snapped back to reality, letting Abby’s wrist go. William gently moved him to the couch, where Henry started to push out the guest, saying that Michael really wasn’t ready to see anyone yet. William didn’t know the severity of what happened to his son, but after seeing the pure terror on his face, he was really thinking about committing a murder. 

“Mikey. It’s okay, they aren’t going to hurt you. I promise.” 

“But you are.” Michael whispered. 

“What?” William was shocked. He looked to Abby, who opened their mouth to say something but only a whimper escaped. William bent down to his son, trying to catch his gaze, but all that William saw was a dazed and crazed expression on his face. “Honey, you have to tell me what’s going on. I’m sure I can —” 

“No, you can’t! You have no idea what I went through! What I did!” Michael got up and grabbed his father’s wrist. Abby screamed, falling to the ground. William collected himself, he didn’t want to hurt his son, he would never do that. “Come on! I know it is you! I know you are still in there! Show yourself! Fucker, show yourself! Springtrap, come on, I am not afraid of you! Not anymore!” 

“Michael!” Henry grabbed Michael’s shoulders, making him let go of William. “Michael, calm down.” 

“Calm down. Calm down!” Michael snapped his head at Henry. “They are coming! He is coming! You will never be safe with that monster!” Michael pointed to William. “He’s coming, and he will kill everyone.” 

“I’m so sorry, Abby. I really did think that he would remember you, but I should have waited.” William sighed. He walked Abby outside of the house, after calming them down and Henry making them tea. They turned to face William, their face full of tears. 

“God, I really want to hurt those people that hurt Michael.” They said, as they shook. “What are you going to do about them?” 

“Don’t worry, I will find them. Michael said that ‘he’ is looking for him, that man ain’t getting anywhere near him.” William patted Abby’s shoulder. 

“You better not kill that man.” Abby said. “Cause that’s my job.”

“Mikey?” William knocked on Michael’s door. He heard a muffled voice say yes, and he slowly opened the door. He tried hard not to spill the tea that he had made his son. William thought that he could try to calm him down with some of his favorite tea, maybe that would calm his nerves. But what William found made his heart hurt worse. 

Michael had wrapped himself underneath the covers like a small child afraid of something bumping in the night. He held a fox stuffed animal that was on the nightstand. William could hear him sobbing. 

“Mikey?” William put the tea on the counter and sat down. “Mikey, please can you talk to me. You have to tell me what they did to you.” William tried so hard to keep the tears from his voice, but it was too late, he himself was crying. 

“Michael, please. I just want — I just want to help.” William sniffed. He heard Michael sob harder. 

“Dad, please. Please don’t leave me.” Michael whispered. William broke. 

“Oh. Mikey, I’m so sorry. I should have looked harder.” William shook. Michael got up, whimpering as he hugged his father. William patted down his hair, which was matted, he was so skinny, his skin was too dry for its own good, and his voice sounded so terrible. His cries were gut wrenching, like he had been keeping something inside for so long. 

“They were scary. They hurt me. They hurt others too. I tried —” Michael sobbed even harder. William had physically stopped moving when he had heard the word ‘others'. “I tried to save them. Dad, I really tried. I couldn’t, you have to believe me when I say I couldn’t.” 

“It’s okay, I believe you. I believe you. I know you wouldn’t do anything to hurt anyone. I know you were scared, but you don’t have to be anymore,” William said. “No one is going to hurt you again.” 

“You don’t understand. He always comes back.” 

“Who comes back?” William asked softly. Michael didn’t respond. It wasn’t a choice of wanting to respond, it was the choice of whether William would believe Michael. William waited for a second before he got no answer, he decided that Michael wasn’t ready to be so forthcoming with such information. If William understood correctly, it meant that Michael was taken with a bunch of other children, and he was — he was the only survivor. William felt a sudden relief that washed over him, but he felt guilt for feeling such, dozens … maybe hundreds of children had died. But he was just glad that his son survived. Maybe if he could get Michael to speak, they could take this to the authorities, then maybe they could find these murderers … monsters … demons … and lock them up for good. 

There was a knock at the door that made Michael visibly jump. He looked back at the door; his eyes glued to it as if it was about to pop right off the hinges. 

“It’s okay.” William got up but Michael grabbed his arm. 

“What if it is him?” 

“If it is, he will have to get through me.” William patted his hand, and Michael slowly let go. Michael watched with wide eyes as William went to the door and opened it up. Michael was expecting that thing to be there, but it was just Evan. Also, Elizabeth. And Charlotte. 

“Is Mikey, okay?” Liz asked. William looked back at his son and nodded his head. “Can we see him?” 

“I don’t think that is the best option right now, he’s just a bit afraid right now.” Charlotte looked over William’s shoulder to see her stepbrother shaking, having his eyes glued to the window. 

“He’s right Lizzie, let’s go down and play some games.” She grabbed Evan’s hand and motioned with her head for Liz to follow her. Elizabeth huffed, her stubborn nature wanting to make her father move and check up on her brother, but she could see him plead with his eyes. Elizabeth finally agreed and followed Charlotte down the stairs. 

Evan stopped and turned back to William. 

“C-can you tell, Mikey. When he feels better … that … that …” William put his hand on his younger son’s shoulder. “Tell him that we will make sure that they pay!” He pouted, stomping his foot on the ground. William couldn’t help but smile. Michael turned around faster than ever, making his neck hurt from the speed. 

“No!” Michael yelled a little too loud. He covered his mouth, swallowing the fear in his throat. When did he become so afraid? Was it because of this? Was it because he was living a lie? Was it because that soon they would find out that he wasn’t their Michael, and they hate him? “He will find you.” 

“We aren’t afraid.” Liz pointed to herself. 

“You screamed on Christmas because a spider was crawling down the rafters to the ground.” 

“I almost ran into it!” Liz shot back at Charlotte. William pushed them out and told them to go downstairs, that Henry was going to get them ice cream. Liz screamed in excitement, and Michael made a good assumption that she really loved ice cream. 

“Do you want anything?” 

“I don’t know. I haven’t had ice cream in a while.” Michael laughed dryly. 

“Well, you always loved vanilla, plain and simple.” William sat down next to Michael. Neither of them said a word. Michael didn’t say anything when, for the first time in his miserable life, he had let down his guard. And around his father no less. He slowly put his head on his father’s shoulder, he felt William visibly calm down. 

And they just sat there, in silence.

Chapter Text

Michael had grown accustomed to the chatter of the house, especially during the school days. Lizzie and Charlie would get into two or more arguments about ‘she touched me!’ or ‘she’s making fun of me!’ The normal things that children would say to each other. Evan actually liked school, he had great grades, well for an eight year old in second grade. Lizzie and Charlie were both in the same class, and Michael was pretty surprised that they both haven’t killed each other or burned down the school. Intermediate school was going to have their work cut out for them, let alone secondary school. But all in all, Michael liked the loud banter. He liked to hear his sister scream on the top of her lungs when Charlie touched something of hers. He liked to hear Evan ramble on about different animals and their kingdom and phylums to him while they ate breakfast. Don’t get him wrong, Michael didn’t understand half of what he was saying, since most of it was in Latin, but he still listened nonetheless. 

He liked to hear the loud music playing that was paired up to Henry’s phone, turning on at 6:00 sharp, waking everyone up in grumbling groans and complaints. He liked to see Lizzie try to pry the phone out of Henry’s hand as he changed different songs, laughing at when Charlie started to complain about them not being in the same genre and critiquing her father’s music taste. Though he would never say it out loud, he actually found it rather enjoyable to be able to cook with his father. William taught him how to make over easy eggs, and didn’t get mad when one of the eggs burst and all the yolk came out in the pan, where they had to improvise and make scrambled ones instead. It was like being a part of a family. Though, Michael did feel the pain of guilt once and while. He knew that he wasn’t this family's Michael, and basically he was an imposter, he felt like he was sent here on a secret mission of some sorts, trying to find anything wrong with this family. 

Yes, they did have their faults. Lizzie and Charlie were like wolves, always trying to find something wrong with each other. Evan had nightmares and was easily scared. William and Henry still had the small arguments about where the ketchup was, but that was what normal families did. Normal families did not kill for fun, they didn’t stuff their children in animatronic suits and then find themselves in one of them as well. They didn’t scare people just for fun, or be a child murderer, no normal families did not do that. 

Today was a Tuesday. Monday was some sort of holiday that allowed his siblings to sleep in and work on extra homework. But now, Lizzie and Charlie were running around the house wildly looking for their project that they happened to forget to put in their backpack. They had become so panicked that William had joined the search for the project. Seriously, how do you lose something like that? Evan was sitting on the table, eating his oatmeal, which he said was the healthiest breakfast. He wanted to show his family at least he was eating okay. Michael walked down dodging Lizzie ran past him underneath him, running to the living room when William had declared that he had found the project. It was on a harddrive. It almost looked like a CD that had lost weight and became anorexic. So that is how you lose a project. 

“Mikey.” Evan called up to him. Michael walked down and pulled up a chair next to his brother. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Are you okay?” Evan asked. Michael wasn’t ready to answer that question because he literally had a laundry list of what was wrong. It was very long, and also full of very gruesome topics, especially about the death of the person sitting right in front of him. So yeah, he had a very good reason why he didn’t want to say what was wrong or if he was okay. 

“Nothing. I just —” 

“Yeah, daddy told me. He said that people have it when they have seen something really scary. You must be really brave, right? I mean, I would have never made it in your situation.” Evan whispered. “How did you do it? Where did you get the will to keep on living and make it back to us?” 

Revenge. Michael almost said that. 

“Well — I knew you needed me. And I couldn’t leave my little brother all alone to take care of a —” Michael looked back to Lizzie and Charlie, who were arguing about who lost the harddrive first. “These animals.” Evan giggled and shushed him. 

“They have incredible ears for gossip and stuff like that. If they hear you say that, you might as well be dead.” 

I deserve to be dead.

“Yeah.” Michael did the best smile that he could come up with, without faking it. It was almost real and it hurt his mouth a lot. When was the last time he had even smiled this real before? 

“Elizabeth Angelica Afton, you texted Jacob! ” Michael heard Charlie scream from the second story. 

“Welp, got to go. Love you dad. Papa. See you later Mikey!” She grabbed her backpack and blotted outside. Soon after an angry Charlie came down the stairs, holding a phone that had a couple text messages. 

“Don’t kill your sister, sweetheart.” William called out to her from the kitchen. “Love you!” Henry added. 

“Yes, dad. Love you too papa.” She said through clenched teeth. “You better be coming Evan, I got to walk you to school.” Evan got up, put his dishes in the sink. He grabbed his small black backpack, still clutching his stuffed bear. He went around to William, who gave him a small kiss on the forehead, and Henry patted down his hair. He went up to Michael, wrapping his small arms around him, giving him a hug. Michael sat there in stunned silence as Evan handed his bear to him. 

“Take care of Freddy, okay?” 

“F-freddy?” Michael looked down at the bear. “S-sure.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Come on, Ev!” Charlie called from outside. 

“Oh, tell Jacob that he can come over if he wants too.” William sang outside, getting a frustrated scream from Charlie in response. Henry laughed as he hit William in the shoulder playfully. “Hey, Mikey. Do you want to help out in the restaurant today, or you can stay here, if you want to. It’s up to you.” William turned off the water and looked at his son. To be honest, Michael didn’t think he had enough courage to even walk through those doors, but something in him just said: “yes.” Oh how Michael wished he could take back words. 

So Michael found himself in front of the doors again. But this time there was no feeling of fear or dread, all he heard was the keys jingling, Henry and William in deep conversation on the new tax that was being placed for small businesses owners, and something about masks? 

“Jesus, I hated the pandemic, thankfully we got a better president.” William said a little too loudly. 

“William!” 

“What, free speech.” William shrugged and walked inside of the building. The lights immediately turned on. There was no animatronics, well no on the stage. Thank god. Michael was in complete shock, it looked so big and … nice? “Yeah, it looks different, doesn’t it?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Michael said. He started to sweat in anxiety and stress, now he was asking questions about his youth, he didn’t remember shit about that. He made sure that he blocked those memories from his mind. 

“Are you okay? Is this too much for you, I can take you back home if you want to?” William asked him. Why the fuck was he being so nice? Where was the William that Michael knew so well? 

“No!” Michael’s anger started to get the better of him. William took a step back, maybe afraid of yesterday's breakdown, or maybe just giving him space to breathe. He wasn’t fragile. He wasn’t a little kid. He could deal with this. It was just a bunch of bad memories. He could forget them. No problem, he was good at that. “No.” Michael spoke softer. “I am okay. I am not useless.” 

“I never said that. I thought that this might be too much for you. I know I am trying to make things go back to normal, but they aren’t normal. If you could tell me what is happening — I could —” But Michael drowned his father out. 

It was him. 

“S-s” Michael struttered. William noticed that he was shaking, again. He came closer to his son, trying to help him but all he felt was the feeling of shame and uselessness. “Spring — trap. Springtrap.” 

That name again. Springtrap? What did that mean? That had to be the kidnappers criminal name? 

“Michael what is wrong? Who is Springtrap?” Michael snapped back to reality again, looking back in the corner. William looked back in the same direction, it was the utility closet that led down to the basement. That’s where Henry kept all the “animatronics” or suits that were malfunctioning. One of them almost took off Evans head, that’s when they switched to just plain old suits. William still needed to work out the kinks in them. 

“Is everything alright?” Henry asked when he came back out from the utility closet. It seemed that Michael was the only one that could see him . Springtrap. His version of his father. He — well it — was standing at the edge of the closet that led to a back room, the dark hallway concealed him more, the only thing visible was the LED lights that made his eyes glow a dark purple color. It didn’t seem that Springtrap was going to hurt someone, it just looked like he was watching. That is what made Michael even more afraid. How did he find him already? Was he going to hurt everyone? Damn it, he should have never gotten attached? 

“Michael?” 

“I’m fine. Yeah, just bad memories.” Michael shook it off, and immediately Springtrap was gone. “So, what do you need help with?” 

Michael actually liked this. He liked to see his father dress up in a costume and afterwards he would complain that it was too hot. He liked the small talks that they had backstage. It wasn’t anything bad, it was just the normal father and son talk. Michael learned that William had a wicked sense of humor, and had a good time dealing with ‘karens’ that would come in and make a whole fuss of everything that was wrong. To the speck of dirt that was on the ground, to the way the light shined in the windows. Really, they would find anything wrong to complain with. Many of the adults knew Michael, some of them would come up and hug him, crying that he was found. Making comments of how old he looked, thankful that he wasn’t hurt. 

“Mike!” Michael turned around to see Abby, the person from yesterday that was in his house. Wow, he had a lot of nicknames. Mikey, Mike … what more. “Hey. I was looking everywhere for you.” 

“Y-you work here?” 

“Well, yeah. Your father hired me about two years ago. He pays really well and offered me a college scholarship if I help him rebuild some of the robots in the basement. They really need some help, William is great with machines, but even has some faults. One almost took off Evans' head.” Michael felt his heart stop. Almost. 

He was silent. 

“Don’t worry, Evan was fine. You don’t remember?” Abby looked at him. “You saved him.” 

“I did?” 

“Yeah, you saw a bunch of teenagers wanting to scare him. They thought it was a good idea to put his head inside of the bear's mouth, and it almost crushed his head, but thankfully you were there. I haven't seen William so angry before, it was almost scary.” Abby shivered. 

“Abby?” Michael started. They looked at him, tilting their head in confusion. “Can I tell you a secret? And you have to promise not to tell my fathers, understood? Not even Evan, or Liz, not even Charlie.” 

“Sure.” They smiled. “What is all this about? Is it a crush? Because I can keep that secret.” They smirked. 

“I’m not your Michael.” 

Abby stopped smiling. They stopped speaking. It was just a shock. 

Chapter Text

 “What?!” Abby screamed. Michael had pulled them to the back room, making sure that William and Henry didn’t hear them talking. “Who the hell are you? Did Michael have a twin brother, what the fuck.” 

“I am Michael, just not your Michael. I don’t know how I got here but I am not from this time. Or this … well I don’t know.” Michael looked at Abby, who’s eyes went from scared to pure amazement. 

“Are — are you saying that you are from a different universe?” They asked. Michael slowly nodded his head. “Holy shit. So string theory, multiple universes, parallel universes is … they are all true. Well of course, you are here. Do you remember how you got here? Are you going to like, I don’t know, disappear? You know, like in the Spiderman movie with all the other Spiderman's from the different universes? Did others come with you?” 

“Spiderman Movie? Well whatever … the thing is, the others are back at my home.” 

“Universe.” 

“Fine, universe ,” Michael smirked. Abby smiled back at him, the shock that they felt was gone. All that was left was amazement and, Michael had a feeling, like a million questions. That was worrisome, they would soon know everything, who knows if they would break working with a person such as William. “They aren’t as nice as everyone here.” 

“Is your father in your universe?” 

“William? Yeah, but he’s not … he’s not like this William.” 

“In what ways?” Abby asked. 

“He’s bad, a very bad person. Hurt many people, made many people suffer.” Michael whispered. He held his arms close to him before he heard the door open. Abby turned around, the doorknob was locked, Michael sure was paranoid. 

“Hey, is everything okay in there?” Michael heard his father’s voice come from the other side when he opened the door. Michael totally forgot that William had the keys to everything in this place. “Oh —” he stopped when he saw Abby and Michael. “Oh!” 

“It’s not like that!” Abby yelled, her face red with embarrassment. “We were just catching up and the door locked.” 

“Okay then.” William smiled. “Don’t let me get in between whatever this is. Be safe.” 

“William!” Abby screamed, pushing Michael’s laughing father out as he kept teasing Abby as their face turned redder by the second. “I did think you two did have something going on.” Michael heard him say as it sounded like Abby had thrown something at him to stop him from talking anymore. 

“Shut it!” Michael heard them yell. He heard stomping as Abby came back inside of the room. “Sorry, about him. He’s so annoying sometimes.” 

“I like this version of him. Not the other one, he scares me.” Michael spoke softly. “I like this one, I really want to stay, but I am taking the other Michael’s home away from him.” 

“Hey, Mike. Look at me.” Abby grabbed his hand. “You may not be my Michael, but you certainly act like him. And you definitely look like him, maybe a little tired. But we will find the other Michael, but you need to tell me what is going on. Do you know where he might be?” 

“I don’t know. I really don’t want to tell you because — well I don’t my version of my father hurting you. I can’t have any more people getting hurt, and it seems like the other Michael really cared for you, so I am not letting you get hurt.” Abby crossed their arms, raised an eyebrow, and gave the most stern look at Michael that he has ever seen a person do. 

“You can say no all you want, but you cannot stop me from going. Trust me, I am coming with you. I am helping you and my Michael. Plus, I am a black belt in karate, and I know how to kill someone three different ways with a toothpick, and how to pickpocket, and pick locks. You are going to need me.” Abby jabbed a finger at his chest. 

Michael smiled, “I wish I had someone like you with me. It would have made things a whole lot easier, and less terrifying.” 

“Well now you do.” Abby punched his shoulder. “So, who are we going to kill?” 

“Springtrap.” 

“The rabbit costume?” 

William felt a lot calmer. He had never seen Michael talk to someone with such enthusiasm before. Michael sat on the stage, while Abby took out some tools that they used for … questionable things. Well, William didn’t judge, he also knew how to pickpocket people and pick locks, plus Abby used to live on the streets. He thought that eavesdropping was bad, but he couldn’t help it. Maybe he could find some information on the men. 

“william.” Henry whispered. He patted his husband's shoulder, and when he didn’t respond he started to hit him. 

“Yeah?” William looked at the window, where there was something standing at the other end of the street. William felt all his muscles tense up, his hands clenched and unclenched, his head went blank and he, for the first time, he didn’t think anything. It was like a purple creature that looked almost like a man, but limping … and well it was purple. William couldn’t get over that fact that was purple and a corpse walking on the street. 

“What the —” William couldn’t finish the sentence when all the lights went out in the restaurant. Three kids started to scream in the playplace, and the parents frantically looked in their bags for their phones to turn on the flashlights. 

“Don’t worry. Michael, get those kids out of there. They might hurt themselves.” William pointed to the playplace. Michael stood up, wondering if he should do that. What if something was in there? What if it was Springtrap? Did he come back? “Michael!” 

Micheal snapped back yelling, “Yes!” Running up to the playplace. He crawled through the tunnels, where he found three children huddling together. “Hey, there. I am here to get you out.” Michael said that as he hit his head on the top of the tunnel. 

“You are too tall for this.” One of the kids laughed. “Are you a monster?” 

“Maybe, or maybe I’m a good monster going to get you out. Follow me.” The kids smiled as they followed Michael through the tunnels. He helped each one down, picking them up, and handling them to their terrified parents. William started to escort people outside, worried if something had snapped and a fuse was shot. 

Michael heard one more child in the playplace, he must have forgotten one or didn’t hear one. He reached inside, feeling something wet, the child must have been crying. He lifted the light child out of the playplace, the child grabbed onto his shirt, but when he looked at it, it was Charlie. Michael screamed as he dropped Charlie to the ground, where she was covered with blood and had a menacing look on her face. 

“Mikey!” William came over. Michael looked at his hands, they were still covered in blood. “Oh my god! Mikey you are hurt!” 

The lights turned on immediately, and Michael was left to look at his red hands that had stained his shirt and pants. He looked to the ground, but Charlotte wasn’t there anymore. Michael knew that this was getting to him. Now he was seeing people that weren’t there. Great. 

“Mikey, what happened? Was one of the kids hurt?” William asked him as he cleaned off the blood. His hands were full of deep cuts that hurt when William had put on the disinfectant. Michael shook his head silently, and William was left to wonder what had hurt his son. 

“Bad memory.” Michael said softly. 

“Oh.” William wrapped the last bandage around his right hand. “Stay here, let me go get more.” 

Abby came up right beside Michael, they put a hand on his shoulder. “What do you see?” 

“The marionette.” 

Charlie again was in her classroom, she tried not to pay attention to the girls whispering behind her. They were talking about Michael, again. But this time, they were talking about how randomly he had just shown up on the anniversary of his disappearance three years later. They were accusing him of how he was working with the kidnappers, probably going to kill his family. 

That made Charlie’s blood boil, but she looked to Lizzie, who shook her head no. Be the bigger person , she could practically hear her dad say that to her. Papa would not be proud of what she was about to do. 

“You know what?” Charlie stood up and turned around to the bullies. “You should really worry about your lives instead of ours.” 

“And why is that? You are just a freak.” 

“Well, my sister knows ghosts. Maybe she might send one to kill you. But they won’t track it down to us because ghosts don’t have fingerprints. Ghosts are loyal, they won’t rat us out. And maybe they will torture you in the afterlife. Wouldn’t that be nice, huh, Lizzie?” Charlie folded her arms. 

Elizabeth got up and turned back towards them, “I know some nasty ones. Maybe I can get him to kill you with one of your bears.” 

The bullies' faces turned white as if they themselves had just seen a ghost. They started to cry and run towards the teacher. Charlie heard them talking wildly to the teacher, telling her about how Charlie and Lizzie had threatened to kill them with ghosts and bears. Charlie rolled her eyes, sitting on her table next to Lizzie. She was already in trouble, no matter if she gets in more. 

“We shouldn’t have done that.” Lizzie whispered. 

Charlie closed her eyes, “I don’t like anyone talking about my family like. Who knows what Mikey went through, and I am going to defend him, no matter if I get in trouble. You in?” 

“Always and forever. Sisters for life, partners in crime.” Lizzie said their saying. Charlie smiled and said it back, shaking on it. 

William got home, saying goodbye to Abby who lived a bit houses down. Then he received a call from the school, Lizzie and Charlie were suspended … again. Three more and they might be expelled. William groaned, rubbing the ridge of his nose between his eyes. Henry ran to go get the children.

When they came home, Michael brought back Evans’ stuffed bear, Freddy. But Evan was too worried about Michael’s hands to even hear what Michael was saying. He had taken Evan up to his room, and then Charlie and Lizzie came inside the house. They knew they were in trouble, they weren’t stupid. They had already had the talk from Henry, but they knew William was harsher on the consequences. 

“Elizabeth. Charlotte. Please, sit.” Charlie and Lizzie both stopped in their tracks, William never used their full names. Charlie looked at Lizzie and then opened her mouth. 

“Please, it wasn’t Lizzie's fault. It was me. I started it and Lizzie just joined. You have to know, the bullies were talking about Mikey again. But this time they said terrible things, like how Mikey was working with the people that hurt him. They said that Mikey wanted to hurt us. I couldn’t let them get away with that.” Charlie spoke loudly and quickly. William put up his hand to stop her, and she quickly closed her mouth. 

“Charlie …” William said. His eyes glued to her. Charlie couldn’t even look up at her dad, she knew that he was angry. But she couldn’t dare see the disappointment in his eyes. “Look up at me.” She obeyed. “I am not mad at you, even Lizzie.” 

Charlie and Lizzie were both silent. “W-What?” They both said at the same time. 

“You did the right thing, and I congratulate you on that. But you could have done it better than threatening the lives of those girls. I know you don’t like them and they keep teasing you, but it is better to be the bigger person that to let them underneath your skin, because you tried to defend your family against what they said. But what you did, letting your anger get the best of you, made them win.” Lizzie was silent, Charlie tried to defend herself but knew that her dad was right. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t get a consequence. Lizzie, you have to do dishes for a month.”

“What!” 

“And Charlie, you have to do the laundry, for Lizzie and Evan.” 

“Ddddaaaadddd.” Charlie drowned out. 

“It was your decision to do that, and this is your consequence. I will talk to the principal, he will surely change his mind after he heard what those girls said. Now shower and go to bed. I need to talk to your brother alone.” 

“Thank you dad.” Lizzie and Charlie both hugged William. He smiled, patting their heads, where they began to climb the stairs, pushing each other lightly to be first. 

“Michael?” William called down. Michael came down slowly, he looked terrified. William gulped down the sorrow that he felt right now, he had to remain neutral. He had to keep all the emotion out, that is what the police would want. “You aren’t in trouble, I just have a few questions to ask of you.” 

William pulled up a chair and motioned for Michael to sit down. He sat down next to his father, but when William tried to grab his hand, he immediately drew it back to himself. 

“Mikey, you need to tell me what you remember about what happened. Please, I promise I won’t panic. I won’t get mad. And I will believe everything you tell me, no matter how crazy it sounds.” William said. 

Well, Michael didn’t have to tell him everything, did he? Just what he remembered. 

“Okay.” 

Chapter Text

“I don’t remember much stuff after that. It’s all really a blur.” Michael finished. He looked up to see William covering his mouth in horror and Henry looking at him with tears in his eyes.

William uncovered his mouth, gulping, “T-they did that to you?” Michael simply nodded. He was done speaking. “Oh god.” 

“William, we should really tell the police about this. Michael, do you remember what the people looked like? Anyone?” Henry asked but Michael shook his head again. “Oh fuck.” 

“I know this is hard for you, and Mikey, thank you for telling us.” William put his hand on his son's hand. Michael shot his head up, looking deep into his father’s eyes. There had to be something, a lie, anything. There had to be a hint of lying in those eyes, no person could look at him like that. No person could ever love him again. 

“Don’t.” 

“Don’t what?” William titled his head. He tried to touch his son’s hair, but Michael pushed his hand away. 

“Don’t make me feel sorry for you.” 

And with that, Michael left the house. This was not happening again. William didn’t even grab his coat, he just followed Michael, slamming the door behind him. 

“Will!” Henry opened the door, seeing William take off running, following Michael running into the woods. “William!” 

“Papa? What’s happening?” Evan came down the stairs, holding Freddy. 

“Fuck, I have to go get William. Lizzie, you are in charge.” Henry pointed to the oldest daughter. Before, Lizzie would think this is the best thing that ever happened to her, but all she felt was fear. Michael was nowhere in the house, and William had run out. Was it happening again? “Don’t open this door for anyone, understand.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“Good, make sure you have 911 on speed dial.” Henry grabbed William’s and Michael’s coat, tossing his own over his shoulder. He ran to his car and drove like a madman where William had chased Michael. 

“Lizzie, what is happening?” Evan asked his sister. Lizzie looked at Charlie, she had her mouth slightly open in a confused expression. “I want daddy. I want Mikey!” Evan began to cry. 

“Hey, it's okay. Why don’t we call Abby over here, you like them don’t you?” Lizzie asked her little brother. Evan nodded at her question, burying the top of his head into the stuffed bear. He began to cry again, he couldn’t lose someone that he just got back. He couldn’t lose Mikey. No, not when he just got his brother back, not when his fathers were beginning to be happy again, no. No. NO. Evan wouldn’t accept it. 

“Michael! Michael!” William screamed into the darkness again. He had been calling him for the past hour, but nothing. He should have brought a coat, he was freezing. Each breath he saw the steam from his own mouth float into the air. Michael could freeze out here, he was skinnier than a rale, which wasn’t good at all. After what William had found out, he couldn’t feel anything. It was so intense, so terrible, so horrible. How can someone be so evil? 

Michael had said some weird things, but it wasn’t his fault. He had been through hell and back, and back in hell again, and then crawled out of it. It wasn’t Michael’s fault that he was making no sense. No sense about this Springtrap character —

Thump. 

William turned around fast. He squinted into the darkness, he swore he heard something behind him. Maybe he was turning paranoid, worrying for his son more than anything. In the distance, behind a tree, two eyes glinted back at him. William gasped on air, almost choking on it. He stumbled on his feet and moved forward even faster. It was an animal. Just an animal. Animals were more afraid of him than he was of them. 

Then why did he feel like he was being hunted? 

He heard someone digging in the distance, it must either be Michael or an animal. Why Michael would be digging in the middle of the forest at 10:00, was a mystery to him. He started to run, almost tripping on fallen branches. 

“Michael!” William was so relieved to see Michael. He stared up at the moon, looking at it as some type of god or celestial. His eyes were almost glazed over and his breathing was heavy, as the steam was rising like a cloud of perpetual smoke. “Michael?” 

“Father.” Michael turned around. He held something in his hand. William couldn’t see it that well because of the sudden change from dark to light. But when his eyes started to adjust, the glinting of metal from the moonlight gave what this thing was in his hand straight away. 

A knife. 

Where the fuck did Michael get that? 

“Get away from here. He’s coming for you. He does not like you.” Michael spoke in a gruff voice, it was like someone was speaking through him. 

“What? What the hell are you talking about? Michael I don’t understand any of this. If I am going to help you, I need to understand what is going on with you. Just, please tell me.” William pleaded with his son. Michael held the knife closer to his body, it was getting very close to his neck. “Please, put the knife down.” 

“If I tell you, you won’t hate me?” Michael asked. 

“No, I could never hate you. You are my son, I would never hate you.” 

“That’s just it. I am not your son.” William blinked once, he stood up straighter. Okay, now what was happening. He did not like Michael joking like this. “I’m not your Michael, I never was. You just thought I was, so I went along with it.” 

“What? Michael, I don’t like you joking like this.”

“I’m not joking, father.” 

Thump. 

It was louder this time, whatever William had seen was getting closer. William and Michael were being hunted by whatever was inside of these woods. William looked to his son, who had tears in his eyes. 

“I don’t want you getting hurt. I wish you never made me feel sorry for you, it would make this a whole lot easier. I just want to keep thinking about you as a murderer, you hurt me and my family. But when I see you like this, I can’t hurt you. I wish I died in that stupid room. Now, he’s going to hurt you.” Michael said. 

THUMP. 

It was walking. That was the sound of footsteps. Someone was walking towards them. The question was who? William turned back to see a metal claw come through the darkness, causing a deep gouge in the wood. William took a step back, putting his hand blocking whatever that thing was from reaching Michael. William looked back to Michael, but he didn’t seem fazed by whatever was happening. Either he just didn’t care, or he had seen something like this before and he was used to this. That second thought was worrisome. 

“Michael! Michael, don't leave me here!” A ghostly voice rang throughout the entire forest. 

“Come on. Run.” Michael grabbed his father’s hand and blotted away from the hand. William looked to his son, running beside him, making sure that he was keeping the same pace with him. Not going to lie, Michael was fast, very fast. It was like he was used to running away for his life. 

William made the bad decision to turn around and face their attacker. It wasn’t even a person. It was a large, destroyed, falling apart, robotic rabbit that held a human corpse inside of it. Part of the jaw of the rabbit suit had long come off from the rest of the skull, giving way to the rotting corpse of a human jaw, slowly opening up and down, breathing shallow breaths. William was frozen in fear. 

“You cannot take my son away from me!” The ghostly voice spoke again. 

Michael looked back to see his father frozen in fear and Springtrap getting closer to him. Michael felt one second to keep running, but he turned back. He grabbed his father’s arm, pulling him away and tossing the knife in Springtrap’s way. It missed him and was lodged into a nearby tree, the blade had pierced halfway into the tree. Next time, he wouldn’t miss. 

“What the fuck was that?!” William screamed. 

“That was Springtrap.” 

“That’s Springtrap. There’s a fucking corpse in there, how did that get in there?!”

“Do you really want to talk about this now?” Michael screamed. 

Lizzie and Charlie waited at the door for their parents, but after three hours, nothing. It was getting too close to midnight, that’s when Evan had the nightmares. Abby had come and was tucking Evan into bed. There was soft tapping at the door that made Lizzie get up and run to the door. Her hand was inches from the doorknob before she got a sudden feeling of dread and got sick to her stomach. She backed away from the door. 

“What’s wrong?” Charlie asked as she got up to Lizzie. “Is that dad?” 

“Do you feel that?” Lizzie asked. When Charlie got closer to the door, she felt the same sickness to her stomach. She backed away from the door, pulling Lizzie close to the edge of the room, back to the stairs that led up to the second floor. 

Lizzie realized that the tapping wasn’t coming from the door, it was coming from the window. She looked to the window that was facing inside of the living room. Lizzie opened her eyes wide and pulled on Charlie’s sleeve. 

“What?” Charlie gasped. Both were left in fear induced shock. 

At the window there stood a large black figure that taped with a long slender finger, each tap was one second after the other. It had a mask with a large smile on it that had black eyes that looked like shadow was crying black tears. There was a permanent wide smile on its face, but even though it was smiling, it was menacing more than ever. It titled its head when it noticed that it had got the attention of the two girls. 

The window started to fog up and with one slender finger, the shadow started to write something in the window. ‘HIDE’ 

Chapter Text

Michael and William emerged from the forest, both breathless and terrified, William more scared than Michael. His face was red from running and with anger, also white as a sheet at the same time. Well you would have the same expression and feelings if you saw a rabbit robot chasing you throughout the woods. 

“What — what the fuck was that?” William took two deep breaths, standing up and holding his stomach. He felt like he was about to throw up. Michael coughed and kept looking to the ground, he couldn’t make eye contact with William. 

“I told you. That — that was Springtrap.” 

“Springtrap? That thing had a literal corpse inside of it? What is happening?” William asked himself the last question. He put his hand on his head, a throbbing headache was forming as his brain tried to wrap around what just happened. They got chased by a robot? Was this some big prank? Was he just hallucinating all this? Was this just a very bad dream? 

William was just about to ask Michael more questions when two headlights came into view. Henry’s car came up into their vision, William had never been so relieved to see a car before, but so terrified to see Henry there. What if that thing saw Henry? Was it hunting his children? Was it going to kill them? William couldn't lose any more children, he already lost Michael and got this replacement. Don’t get him wrong, this Michael was … well, he still thought of this Michael as his Michael, but it really just wasn’t the same. 

“William! Michael! God, I you fucking scared me!” Henry ran out of the car, wrapping his arms around his husband before hugging Michael. Michael looked so awkward as he just patted Henry’s back. “I know that face.” Henry turned to William. “What’s wrong?” 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you or showed you. I don’t believe me.” William put his hand on his temple, trying to rub the headache that had come. 

“Well, let's go home. It’s very cold out here.” Henry handed William his jacket and then turned to hand Michael his, but it seemed that he took a few steps away from the two men. He rubbed his elbow, sighing in defeat, turning back towards the forest. 

“I cannot … come.” Michael said softly. 

“What?! And let that thing kill you, or whatever it is going to do. I won’t let that happen, as your father I forbid it —” 

“Don’t you get it! YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER!” Michael snapped at William, pointed a finger at him. God, William didn’t know how much it hurt Michael to say that. “Just stop this stupid act and leave. Go back with your family, I’m sorry about Michael, I can’t do anything to bring him back. Just go, before he gets you.” 

“Mikey.” William reached out to Michael, before stopping and pulling back his hand. William knew anything he would say wouldn’t change his mind, Michael had made it up. It reminded him of himself, too much. “Okay, whatever you say. I can’t change your mind, well because like you said, I am not your father. But … please, don’t do this.” William patted Henry’s shoulder, Henry looked like he wanted to say something but kept on hesitating. 

“Remember, we love you.” Is what he ended up saying. 

“No, you love Michael, not me.” Michael snapped back, keeping his back turned away from William and Henry. He could hear them walking away from him. The car doors slamming but the car in ignition, still waiting for him to change his mind. Michael was not changing his mind, he was going to let them leave, he was going to protect them. He had to. 

After ten minutes of waiting Michael knew that William and Henry both understood that he was not leaving, he was staying put. He heard the car back up, in a rumbling silence, and leave the forest. And he was engulfed in darkness. 

“Okay, you got me. What do you want?” Michael turned to his right side, seeing Springtrap smiling evilly at him. 

Lizzie and Charlie ran up to their little brother’s room. Evan was sleeping soundly, but it seemed that Abby had left a while ago. There was no indication that they had been in the room for the last two hours. Lizzie was so thankful that her brother was sleeping soundly. 

Charlie patted her on the shoulder, when they heard the door open, the muffled sound of footsteps reached up to Evan’s open door where they were. Charlie and Lizzie burst down the stairs, not even paying attention to the open window with broken glass.

Charlie was the first one down, running full speed into William and Henry. William had to hold onto the side of the wall not to get thrown over by the speed of Charlie’s hug. He hugged her back, but Charlie noticed the lack of words. William usually was the person that would explain everything when they get back, Henry was more of the introvert of the two of them. But when Charlie looked up, she also noticed the lack of Michael in the house with them. 

“Dad?” Lizzie came down, she too had noticed the lack of her older brother. It was happening again. This was just how it happened, all those years ago. Michael had an argument with William, he stormed out of the house, William followed him, followed him into the woods. And never found him again. Well, that was until three days ago. “Dad … where is Michael?” 

There was no answer. William just sighed, sitting down on the floor, putting his head back on the wall. This all had to be a bad dream, William thought. The result from too many drinks. 

“DADDY!” Evan screamed on the top of his lungs. William got up, almost tripping over his feet. Henry followed him up the stairs, expecting to see a child crying in their bed, which they did see, but it was what Evan was crying from that they weren’t prepared for. Not in a million years. 

William burst through the door, but his heart literally stopped when he saw some type of long monster puppet reaching on spindly arm towards his son. Evan was sobbing now, putting the blanket over his head, preventing him from seeing the monster. William was pissed. 

“Get away from my son!” William screamed. The puppet monster looked up, tilting its head in a manner like a dog would do if it had heard something that it didn’t understand. 

“ Son? ” A wispy voice came through the wide smile of the puppet. William slowly walked to Evan, pulling him out of the bed, and pushing him behind himself. Evan clenched tightly onto his shirt, while the other hand held onto tightly to Freddy.

“What do you want?” William gulped. William was not going to lie to himself, this thing terrified him, and he had just encountered a living robot trying to kill Michael and himself. 

“ Where is Michael? ” 

“You aren’t getting him. He’s far away from here, he’s safe — from you. ” William pointed at the puppet. It slapped his hand away, cutting deep into his palm. Charlie and Lizzie screamed from behind Henry, William put his hand up to prevent Henry from trying to come to his rescue. Blood dropped in large blobs to the carpet floor, staining the beige color with dark red. The smell of fresh iron filled the house, and the noise of an animal growling escaped the puppet’s mouth. 

“ It’s not me that he’s afraid of. It’s you. ” William backed away, in fear. What did it mean by that? He shook his head, it probably was just messing with him, making him think of terrible things, making him second guess himself.

Evan whimpered. Closing his eyes tight as he held even tighter onto the Freddy plushie, if he squeezed any tighter, the head might pop right off. The puppet moved closer to William, one sharp slender finger poking at his nose, cutting the bridge. It looked like its smile got wider when it saw the fear in William’s eyes. 

“ If I were you, I would hide. ” The puppet said. Its legs were so long that in one step it was at the end of the room, stepping out of the window. It seemed that it had broken the window to get inside and through the shattered glass, left where it had come through. William did not hesitate as he made his way over to the window, but the puppet was no longer visible through the dark night. It would be very hard to see something black in the dark night. William took a deep breath of relief, then announced that Lizzie, Charlie, and Evan would stay in their eyeshot. They did not have a problem with that, especially Evan who would not let go of William. 

William looked at his phone, hoping that Michael changed his mind, he really did hope. Even though he claimed that he wasn’t William’s actual son, he still felt that he was. Maybe he had amnesia or something like that. So many questions and so little answers. But what he found was a text message that he had never sent. And it was sent to Abby. 

Please, look for Michael. - sent at 11:30 

np, I’ll bring him back home. He is going to get a big talking from me, don’t worry. I’ll find him. - sent at 12:00

Chapter Text

Abby gasped awake, they looked around … wait. Was this the fucking forest? How did they get here? Did they get kidnapped? Who took them, wait what was happening? Were they going to die? Abby got up, they didn’t know how they got here, all they remembered was hearing glass breaking and then darkness. They must have been knocked out by something. Or someone. 

There was a grunting noise, it sounded like someone was in pain. Abby got up, walking over where they had heard the noise. So the forest was dark, that wasn’t a surprise, but what was a surprise was the fact that Michael was in the middle of the forest. He was laying on the ground, half of his body was resting on a tree, and in the middle of his abdomen was a large gash. 

“Oh shit. Michael!” Abby screamed, running up to him. Michael looked at them with pure fear in his eyes. He reached his hand out, but before he could say anything, Abby was knocked off their feet by something hard. They were thrown across the forest, hitting the ground hard. 

“Abby!” Michael screamed. 

“Oh, you care for her?” Springtrap laughed. Michael groaned, crawling over to them, he took a sigh of relief when he noticed that they were still breathing. 

“Well, first of all, fuck you.” Michael pointed at Springtrap. “Second, it’s them. At least before you kill someone, you could at least give them the respect that they deserve.” 

“That looks like a girl to me.” Michael knew that Springtrap said that to make Michael’s blood boil. But Springtrap was right, he did care for them. Way too much, he fucking got attached. Oh, god why did he crave love so much that he just accepted it without thinking about the consequences? 

“Shut it!” Michael screamed. Springtrap took a step forward, Michael heard Abby start to stir awake, good. Maybe then, they could get a quick getaway. Abby opened their eyes, screaming when they saw the giant robotic rabbit coming closer. 

Michael turned to them, “Run.” 

“What?” 

“Run. I will be right behind you.” Michael hated to lie to them. He could see all the trust that they had in him, just got up and started to run. Michael slowly got up, keeping his eyes on Springtrap, he was not going to let Springtrap take them away from him. 

“So you do care. That’s the first, you always made sure that no one got into your heart, but it seems that you failed.” Springtrap laughed. “But your little friend is going to die, and you will be the cause of their death.” 

Michael felt a pit in his stomach form, he really hoped that Abby made it out of the forest by now. If they ran fast, they could get out of Springtrap's clutches. God, how he’d wish that he could go back to his home, leaving all these people behind. He would hate it, but at least they would be safe. At least Evan would be safe. Charlie. Lizzie. Henry. Abby, Katie, Jared. Even William, they would all be safe. 

“I know what you are thinking, if I give myself up to you, they will live.” Springtrap grabbed Michael’s face, clutching it hard, the sharp claws piercing deep into his cheeks. Michael felt the all too warm feeling of blood dripping down his face. “They will never be safe. I will make sure that I kill everyone. That new William, that new Henry, even Evan, Elizabeth, and Charlotte.” Springtrap smirked. “You tried so hard to protect them. Love makes you weak.” 

“Please.” 

“Leave him alone!” A glint of metal waved over Springtrap’s head before the sharp end of a blade pierced through the skull of the robotic skull. It went through the skull of the dead man, whoever was in there screamed in pain. Abby jumped over the fallen animatronic, grabbing Michael’s hand and sprinting out of the forest. 

They made it out of the forest, both panting heavily. Abby was looking at the ground in a dazed panic, what the actual fuck just happened. They didn’t know what came over them, they just couldn’t leave Michael with that monster. They looked back to Michael, worried about that cut in his stomach, it must have started to bleed more since they were literally running for their lives. When Abby walked over to Michael, he seemed to be crying. 

“Mike, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” No, you dumb idiot, of course he is not okay. Abby asked, panic was in their voice, it was futile to keep it out anymore. They desperately wanted to get away from the forest, like right now. 

“You …”  Michael gasped, tears streaming down his face. He was sobbing but at the same time smiling, well it looked more like a grimace. He smiled and looked up to Abby. “You came back for me?” 

“Well, duh. I am not leaving you, never again.” Abby reached their hand out. Michael carefully took it as Abby hoisted one of his arms over his shoulder and started to walk back to his house.

“Why were you surprised, did you really think I wouldn’t come back?” Abby asked. Michael winced in pain, holding the side of his stomach as his hand was getting more and more red from the blood. 

“I wanted you to run, he was going to kill you, but then again I wanted you to save me. It was selfish of me to think that, just being … forgotten by people you thought were friends, you don’t know who to trust anymore.” Abby stopped. They turned towards Michael, cupping his face and pulling him down towards them. Michael happened to be almost five inches taller than them, so it was quite awkward (and to him it was kind of cute, it was like you were being reprimanded by a chihuahua.)

“Michael Liam Afton, you listen to me. I will never leave you, ever. No matter if I have to fight a thousand more of those things that tried to hurt you, I will always come back to you. I will kill anyone to get back to you, and I will never forget you.” Abby spoke in a stern voice that would scare anyone down to their blood, but Michael could only smile. It was a true smile. “I don’t know who left you, but you have to get in your thick head, so that you don’t have to survive anymore.” They let go of his face and started to help him walk again. 

“But you will leave me, everyone does.” Michael whispered. 

“If you say that again, I will punch your wound.” Abby threatened him. Michael quickly shut up after that, but he couldn’t help but smile on the entire trip to the house. He could see out of the corner of his eye, Abby smiling as well. 

William paced around his porch, Henry had bandaged his hand, but he was too worried about Michael right now. Abby had said that they would go look for them, but they hadn’t called back to William yet and he was getting nervous. He was about to go back in the forest to look for them, and he didn’t care if there was a killer machine in there, he was going to bring back Michael, no matter the cost. 

“Will!” William turned around to see Abby and Michael walking down the street, well it was more Abby carrying Michael than him actually walking. He looked hurt, really bad. Drops of blood littered their path that they were walking from, small puncture wounds in his face that looked like some animal had dug its claws in there. 

“Oh god.” William ran over to Abby and Michael. William quickly checked if Abby was okay, his fatherly instincts kicked in with them well because he had known them for a long time. Basically they were like another child to him. Once he found out that they were okay, William turned to Michael. 

“Mikey. Oh god, you are bleeding. You need to get inside, now.” William helped Michael inside of the house, giving orders to Abby to get lots of bandages, Henry to get disinfectant and medical stitches. Lizzie and Charlie went to get William water. Evan wasn’t tasked with anything other than keeping Michael awake, which probably was the most important job of all. 

Three hours later, Evan was sent to bed. Michael was sitting in the bathroom while William stitched up his wound. Apparently, William’s father was a doctor, he taught him many things about patching up wounds. Michael thought it was very effective, dodging the high hospital bills for a broken ankle, or in this case, a large gash in your side. The only thing that was bad was there was no anesthesia, which meant Michael felt everything. William tried very hard not to put Michael in more pain and apologized every single time that Michael winced. The hardest part was disinfecting the damn bastard. Springtrap really outdone it this time. 

Michael winced for the tenth time, and like clockwork, William responded with, “Sorry, bud.” Michael just sat there in silence, keeping the hard tears of pain inside while he looked at the doorway. He could see Abby and Henry in the kitchen, preparing some painkillers and sleeping tea for him to get at least one hour of sleep in. 

“Okay all done.” William clapped, looking at his handiwork. “I would say better than the hospital.” He smiled, but then it fell when he saw the look on Michael’s face. Michael touched his side, but received a light slap from William. 

“Don’t, you might remove all the stitches and it will start bleeding again. It isn’t that deep, thank goodness, but I am afraid that it might get infected. Hopefully we caught it in time.” William sighed, putting his hand on Michael’s bare shoulder. He could see dozens of bruises littering his back and chest, most of them were healing, but there were a few here in there that were still black and blue. “Did he do this to you?” 

“Not really, that was the rest of them.” Michael said, he still faced the ground. William sighed, facing where his son was facing it. “So when are you guys going to give me up to Springtrap?” 

“Well, first he is going to have get through me and Abby, we both have blackbelts.” Henry smiled as he handed two pills to Michael. “Five hours between each dose, don’t talk anymore, we will be watching.” 

“I can’t believe you attacked Springtrap with an axe.” Michael looked up at Abby, they smiled widely, but soon after receiving a hard talking to by William about handling dangerous weapons like an axe. 

“You have to get some rest, Mikey.” Henry sat down next to Michael. He invertedly moved a few spaces between him, making a small gap between Henry and Michael. Henry seemed to notice this but didn’t say anything. 

“I c-can’t. I see them in my nightmares and Springtrap will come at night.” 

“Well, we will take shifts. I will stay awake for two hours. Then you William and then Henry. We will make sure that Springtrap does not get you, promise.” Abby bent down, looking up at Michael. 

“Why? Why are you doing this for me? You don’t even know me.” Michael looked up at William. 

“Whether you accept it or not, you are still my son. No matter if you are from another universe or not. I still love you.” William patted Michael’s head. Michael didn't say anything, he was afraid that he would have another breakdown. He had already cried two times today, that was enough for one day. 

They kept their promise. Michael rested on the couch; he was such a light sleeper. A small creek on the stairs, Michael would shoot up. Abby came down during 12 and 2. Then Henry stayed from 2 to 4. And then William from 4 to 6. They all stared at the door, Abby taking the second step to having a knife in their hand. 

At exactly 6:00, William gently woke Michael up, who’s dark circles underneath his eyes had gotten lighter. He stretched but instantly regretted it as his side started to ache and throb in pain. There were hurried footsteps from the entrance of the house, where the door was thrown open. Michael expected there to be Springtrap, and so did Abby, they pointed the knife at their visitors. 

“Whoa!” A boy with fluffy brown hair and large circular glasses raised his hands in the air. A girl that had bright blonde hair and a large sweater on, pushed the knife away from her face. 

“Seriously, Katie, Jared, knock.” Abby pointed the knife down. Jared and Katie both looked at Michael, both had expressions of shock and worry. 

“Whoa, dude.” Katie started and Jared covered his mouth. “You really look like shit.” 

Chapter Text

“Ouch.” Michael said deadpanned, as Katie sat in front of him and Jared started to ask Abby questions about what happened. Abby looked at him, he saw in their eyes, asking Michael if they could tell “his friends” what happened. He nodded his head, and went back to clutching his stomach, as it was really hurting. Post-wound pain was always the worst feeling, according to Michael. 

“Okay — er — Jared. Katie. You really need to sit down for this. May we go somewhere private?” Abby looked to William. 

“The parlor is empty.” So Michael saw Katie, Jared, and Abby walk into the room adjacent to the living room, separated by a ranch door that would slide open. Abby looked back at Michael, giving him a smile of pity, and then shut the door. William sat down next to Michael, handing him a smoothie that had a strong smell of strawberries. 

“With that cut, I don’t think it is advisable to eat solid foods. So I made you this strawberry smoothie, it has lots of whipped cream.” William smiled. Michael slightly smiled back at him, saying a very soft thank you. Michael slowly drank the smoothie, it was extremely cold, he didn’t remember having something so cold to drink before, it went down his throat, causing the icy feeling to spread throughout his body. He couldn’t help but spare glances at the parlor room, or what William called it ‘the second living room that no one used.’ He was thinking about renovating it into a workshop of some kind. Maybe Michael could help him, he is pretty good with his hands — wait, why was he thinking of that. Michael was going to leave, he was going to leave this all behind and go back to his home. Where he could sleep comfortably knowing that this family was safe. Well, his family was safe, his friends were safe from Springtrap, everyone was safe from his clutches. 

Abby finished explaining what had happened to them and Michael, mostly Michael. Katie looked at them with astonishment, they could see in her eyes that she was contemplating the thought that this was all made up. If it was said by Michael, she would probably laugh in his face. He was known for making up tall tales and stories such as these, meant to scare. But it coming from Abby, who was the smartest in the group, being able to smell a lie through a text message, it was very hard to believe this was all made up. 

“That is so terrifying and cool at the same time.” Jared finally spoke up. 

“Cool? We almost died from a robot.” Abby crossed their arms. 

“Well, I mean almost dying from a robot is not cool. But like, come on, he survived all that. I mean this Michael is a badass.” Jared smirked. “I kind of like him as well as the other Michael.” Abby stifled a laugh, everyone around town knew that Jared had a teenie tiny crush on William's oldest son. Maybe not teenie tiny, but it was well known. Except to William, who was as dense as a rock, which also passed down to Michael. 

“So what happened to the other Michael?” Katie asked. “I mean, our Michael. Mikey?” 

“That’s — that’s what we don’t know. I feel like deep down, he is …” Abby couldn’t finish that sentence, but the people around them knew what they were saying. Michael was dead, their Michael was dead. Either he had died from the kidnappers, or by that thing. If he died from Springtrap, oh, Abby was going to love to get revenge. 

“Well, we have to find out. If Michael died by the kidnappers hand, we can’t do anything about that because that would be murdering and we will be as bad as them.” Jared said as he put his hand on his chin. “But … would we be really labeled as murderers if we kill someone that technically is already dead.” 

“Hiding the body in a cemetery is the best place, they will never find it there.” Abby said with full confidence. 

They looked at Katie, who looked at them like they were insane. “What?” Jared and Katie asked the same question at the same time. 

“What.” 

The door to the parlor opened up, Jared, Katie and Abby walked outside. Katie crossed her arms and stared at Michael. Michael gulped and stood up, Katie had to look up at him, since he was about three to five inches taller than all of them. Jared came up behind her, there was no expression in his eyes, which worried Michael. He came to the assumption that they hated him. 

“I just have to say one thing —” Katie said, her voice had a thick layer of venom. Michael didn’t notice Abby slapping their face with their hand. William came up behind Michael, the expression of worry was written all over his face. 

“You are —” A filthy, lying, bastard, he was prepared to hear that. ‘I hate you’ he was prepared to hear that too. 

“A total badass!” Jared finished. He punched Michael’s arm. The sudden change of emotion that happened in the room literally made the air get thicker. Michael froze for a moment, still in the process of what just happened. 

“Yeah, what he said. But I am mad at you for lying to us,” Understandable, “but I know you just wanted to protect us. No more secrets, right.” Katie reached out her hand, it was meant for him to shake it and make that promise. He debated on shaking it, he had secrets, a lot of dark secrets. He gulped and looked down to the hand. He looked to Abby, who nodded their head in agreement and smiled, that gave him courage. For some reason, he knew that whatever he told them, Abby would have his back no matter what he said. 

“No more secrets.” He shook on it. 

“So how did you get here anyways?” Katie asked. 

“I don’t know.” Michael looked around. “I have a feeling you have a lot of questions.” He got a nod from everyone in the room. “Okay, I guess I have to start from the beginning, well the beginning in my universe, ” Abby smirked when he said that. “So, please don’t get mad.” He looked at his father, he just smiled and made him sit down. 

Okay, so this is happening now. 

-Three Hours Later- 

“So you’re telling me that …” William paused. “That in your universe, I am a child murder that killed all a bunch of kids. Stuffed them into animatronic suits, and they became alive with the souls of the children that were murdered. Then I got trapped in that Springtrap suit, and now I am hunting you?” 

“Also, don’t forget you created the animatronics. And also you killed Charlie and her soul is haunted by the marionette, the puppet animatronic thing, and also they have been trying to kill me for the past ten years. But yeah, you got the gist.” Michael sighed. “You are taking this surprisingly well.” 

“Oh no, inside I am panicking. It’s kind of hard to wrap your head around the fact that in another universe you are a murderer. And also that explains the weird things you have been saying.” William paused. Henry put his hand on William’s, that seemed to calm him down for a bit. “Okay, okay. Well I mean that isn’t me, right?” 

“I mean of course that isn’t you, you wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Katie defended him. 

“Well, because he has a fear of bugs.” Henry added. 

“Henry!” 

“Also, he doesn’t have the guts. This man can’t sit through a horror movie.” Henry laughed as William buried his face in his hands, his pale skin getting red from embarrassment. “He stated that he might throw up from the blood and guts.” 

“So you aren’t mad?” Michael asked. 

“Oh no, I am furious.” William lifted his head up. Michael gulped down the fear that was rising in him. As if reading his mind, William quickly said, “Oh no, I could never be mad at you, unless … unless you crash my car, then I would be mad.” William smiled, as he stood up. “After tonight, I will be labeled a murderer.” 

“Also, what was the restaurant called again?” Henry asked. William looked down at him and then at Michael. 

“Freddy Fazbear’s?” Henry’s eyes turned wide, and William’s face became pale. “You know that don’t you?” 

“Oh shit.” William and Henry both said at the same time. “I think I know where to find Springtrap.” William finally finished. 

So there was a place named Freddy Fazbear’s, but it had been long closed down. William had told Michael that they were also a small restaurant that was competing with Henry’s and William’s restaurant. By some miracle, they were able to get by from the pandemic while the infamous Freddy Fazbear’s closed down due to bankruptcy. There had been a lot of rumors about that place, some say it even was cursed. It was built on an Indian Burial Ground, and that would explain the many ghost hunters that came inside at night and said that they felt like they were being watched. 

William had pulled up on the internet the pictures inside of the restaurant by different ghost hunters. Two ghost hunters, which went by the names of Amy and Adam, came by on one occasion, saying that there was someone watching them. Michael watched the episode on their show on Discovery +, and everything was adding up. They had caught voices that sounded too much like Circus Baby and Golden Freddy. Hell, they even caught one animatronic moving. Finally they took a picture, and in the picture was a ‘shadow figure’ which looked like Michael. This place was probably a portal to his world and this world. Yeah it sounded insane but he had seen weirder things and heard odder. 

“Can you tell me what your name is? Did you die here?” Adam asked on the show. They paused the recorder and answered through it and made Michael’s skin crawl. 

“Purple man.” Was the first answer that confused the pair, and the second answer made them want to get out immediately. “No, I killed them.” 

Michael quickly turned off the television. “Well, he seems like a friendly guy.” Henry guffawed. William groaned at Henry’s terrible sarcasm as he patted Michael’s shoulder. He got up, holding his side because it suddenly started to ache even more. 

“I have to go.” Michael said quickly. 

“What!” Jared and Katie said at the same time. “If you go, you will surely die.” Jared put a hand in front of Michael. His face started to heat up when he felt his muscles tense up, god, he was really built. 

“Move.” Michael said. Jared backed up when he saw Michael’s face, it seemed that it had gotten darker and his eyes literally looked like they had turned red. “I am going. You are not getting hurt, Abby —” Michael put his finger up when he saw them open their mouth to rebuttal. “you almost died, it isn’t happening again.” 

“Mikey?” Michael turned around to see Evan clutching Freddy. “Where are you going?” 

Michael didn’t answer him, he just turned on his heel and left. Evan ran, trying to get to Michael but William caught him. He had dropped Freddy at the foot of the stairs as he started to sob loudly, knowing that Michael was leaving again. 

“Mikey, please! Don’t leave me here!” Michael started to run full speed into the forest, drowning out Evan’s voice, but it seemed to follow him. He didn’t notice something watching him from the rooftop of his house. It was the puppet. 

Marionette followed him with its eyes, looking as Michael ran into the forest. 

“ Follow him. ” Marionette said. 

There was a response, “ Yes. ” 

Chapter Text

Michael collapsed in the same clearing that he had been digging. He actually found the long forgotten pizza place as most people didn’t go there because of the stories of dangerous ghosts and the simple fact that this place was literally about to fall apart. Michael couldn’t get inside through the front door since the ceiling had long since collapsed, and he really didn’t trust the floor or climbing through the window. 

If this place was anything like back home, it would have tunnels that would lead straight into the building, which it did. But unlike home, it was opened from the inside, jeez, these people sure were paranoid. William told him that Freddy’s had been competing with their own restaurant. The only thing different was that William and Henry’s restaurant was actually a restaurant. Serving a plethora of food, which proved to Michael that either one of his father’s was a good cook, his assumption was that it was Henry. William proved to be untrustworthy in the kitchen, since he couldn't use a knife without cutting himself. William was more of the brains and a people person, while Henry proved to be the brawn and quiet person. Opposite do attract. 

“Hello.” Michael turned around facing his attacker. But it was a boy, around the age of thirteen or fourteen. He had long brown hair that was wavy and his bright blue eyes shone bright in the forest that looked like an animal’s eyes reflecting the light. He wore a long shirt that looked like a hospital gown, and there were red cuts on his wrists and legs. He titled his head and bent down to Michael, wondering what he was doing on the floor. “What are you doing down there?” 

“What — who are you?” 

“Isn’t it obvious silly? I am you.” The boy, or Mikey, smiled. “Well, I was you. As you can see, I am a ghost.” Michael moved so he could sit up, he raised his eyebrow, causing the boy to laugh. He floated in the air as he drifted around Michael. 

“Wowwy, mister, you sure are paranoid. I am not going to hurt you, what can a measly ghost do to a living person? All I can do is scare you.” Michael completely disagreed with Mikey, but he didn’t say anything. 

“Why are you here?” 

“I made sure that I stayed with my family. I have been here the entire time, just couldn’t figure out how to show myself. I never realized how much energy it took to open a door.” Mikey laughed again, landing in front of Michael, crossing his legs. The energy around him seemed … childish … he really didn’t seem his age that he showed. His eyes gleamed with hope and happiness, unlike the ghosts from his home. It really didn’t seem like there was anything keeping Mikey here, he really didn’t have anything to hold him back, nothing keeping him on this plane. 

“You never answered my question.” Michael asked, his eyes tightened. Mikey laughed, floating up again. 

“It looks like no one watched any ghost shows. You have to show the dead respect, silly. I died right here you know. The same person that is hunting you, hunted me. I think it might have gotten confused; you know?” Michael slowly nodded his head and then shook it. 

“What? Springtrap killed you?” 

“Oh, that’s its name.” Mikey said, as if nothing Michael said fazed him. “If you say so. I saw you in the forest. I also saw my father, it seems that he has taken a liking to you.” 

“That was you.” Michael remembered what William had told him, stating that when he was trying to find Michael, he had seen a pair of eyes looking at him through the darkness. Michael had declared that Springtrap’s eyes didn’t glow that bright in the dark, which made Michael worry more. Did more things follow him? 

“Yep! I made sure that Abby found you. I always like them. Super cool, right. I also gave them the axe … or well put it near their line of sight.” Mikey laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. Michael smiled, so Mikey had been on his side this entire time. “If you want to stay here, I don’t mind. As long as you protect my family, if you hurt them. I will kill you.” Mikey said with a smile. 

“You don’t have to worry about me. I am leaving as soon as I take care of this problem.” Michael crossed his arms. 

“But you don’t want to go.” 

“Of course, I don’t! If you got a second chance at everything, people that care about you, someone that loves you. An actual functioning family. Your siblings back, the father you always wanted, you would want to stay.” Michael yelled, he got up and kicked the dirt from the hole that he had dug. “Why does nothing go right for me! It’s like I got the worst luck out of them all.” 

“You and me both, mister.” Mikey laughed. "I came here to let off some steam, and guess what that got me?” Mikey said. “Killed!” He laughed. He was quite excited for someone that was dead. 

-Three Years Ago- 

Michael had to keep his mouth shut, jesus christ it was so hard to keep a secret big as this away from his father. He literally wanted to tell him right there and then, but no, he had to keep his mouth shut. Damn, why did Henry trust him with this secret, why not Lizzie? No, she would tell everyone in a matter of seconds. Evan? No, he was too pure to be trusted with a secret. He would crack underneath any pressure. Damn him being the oldest and lock block of a secret keeper. 

So now, only ten minutes away from something that would change his life forever. Ten minutes, turned into five. Five turned into two. Two turned into one. And a minute turned into seconds. Know that feeling when time stops when you are expecting something, that the clock seems to go slower, that’s what Michael was feeling right now. His leg kept bouncing and his teeth clenched. That’s when Henry came up on the stage. Their town was small, everyone knew everyone. And everyone happened to be in the building. Curiosity of Michael. 

“Okay, well I would like to make an announcement.” Henry started, Michael could practically feel his anxiety all the way from the stage. Everyone started to whisper in confusion and some in worry. Most of them were: are they closing down? Moving? Is someone sick? Come on, every time with the sickness, it was one time. William was better now. “No, no, it’s something good. I swear, we aren't closing, we are thinking of expanding, once we buy out Freddy's place.”

Everyone started to laugh at that. But Henry just continued. “Er — William could you come out here?” 

Now everyone started to get the gist. Most of the parents cupped their mouths, hoping what they thought was going to happen. One of Henry’s older friends started crying, but Lizzie and Evan looked at Michael in confusion. He just shrugged his shoulders. William came out, half of the rabbit suit still on. 

“One sec.” He chuckled but Henry kept on insisting to come out. “Okay, okay, fine. Whoa, what is happening?” William noticed all the people in the building. “Are we planning an invasion or something, because I would like to do it at Freddy’s place, because their pizza sucks as — butt.” William stopped himself from cursing, seeing all the parent’s stern faces. Michael loved the shared hatred that his town had for that Freddy’s place. 

“Nope. I have a question to ask you.” William looked to Henry. 

“Don’t tell me you are leaving the company. I can’t deal with Karens on my own.” 

“No — er —” Henry started to dig in his pocket for something. He took a small box out, tossing it back and forth from one hand to the other. “Shit — oh sorry, shoot. Kids don’t say that.” Henry said quickly. “Do you realize how hard this is for me?” 

“What is that?” 

“William, sweetheart.” Mrs. Bandly said. “You are denser than a rock. You don’t realize what that is, you know that question is coming soon? You have been dating for six months.” William stood there in silence for about ten seconds before snapping his head back to Henry. 

“What? Don’t tell me — no way.” Michael couldn't help but laugh at his father getting more and more emotional. “Mikey! You were in on it?” 

“William — I really love you, you know?” Henry chuckled. William chuckled back, but it mainly came out as a whimpered sob. 

“Just ask him!” Brian, one of their neighbors yelled. A chorus of agreements followed. 

“Okay! Okay! Jeez.” Henry shot a glare at Brian, who just laughed. Henry opened up the case, which held a small ring. William started to cry and Michael laughed at his father being a total baby … in the Spring Bonnie costume. “William Afton … will you marry me?” 

“Yes!” 

Everyone surrounded Henry and William, while William was chatting away about Henry, which made Henry’s face get more and more red. Henry declared he had no idea how he got through those five minutes, it felt like hours, and William started to tease him on how he hated to talk in front of people. But of course, it had to be ruined. 

“Well, well, well.” William rolled his eyes when he recognized the voice. 

“What do you want, Ben?” William turned around to see a thick man that was comically short. His eyes were bloodshot, and he smelt like fresh booze. William had to use all his self-control not to cover his nose. “I want to just ask you about your little creations?” 

“Absolutely not! I already told you that they are not for sale. Plus, my animatronics are still in the testing phase, their AI is super complicated, and they are super dangerous. They shouldn't be kept around children.” William could feel his blood boiling by the second. “Let alone what you wanted to do, having people inside of them?! That’s why I joined Henry, at least he was understanding.” 

“And much more. How much did you bribe him with, huh, Henry? Now you are in love, real cheesy.” Ben laughed. William took a step forward, but Henry stopped him, reminding him that there were children present. The rest of adults stood back, most of them hoping that William would cause a scene because everyone had bonded over the hate of Ben. 

“Get … out …” William said through clenched teeth. “First, you steal my idea about Freddy Fazbear’s. Second, you try to buy me and my animatronics, and third you start to harass my customers and my fiancé. So, I will say it one more time, get out. Before I make you.” 

“You will regret this, Afton.” Ben snarled. “You will give me those robots, or you will pay the price. If you don’t give me them by the next three days, I curse you. You and your new family will lose something precious to you, and never get it back. Just like you did to me.” 

“Ooohhh. I am so scared. That’s the best threat you can come up with, I have heard more threatening words from a two-year-old. Now, leave!” William pointed to the door. Ben huffed, pushing over a table, where the glass vase full of flowers shattered on the ground. “Really?!” 

“Will?” Henry asked him. Everyone was looking at him as he slowly calmed himself down. 

“Don’t listen to him, he just does that to scare people. It’s going to be okay, trust me.” William kissed Henry on the cheek, getting a lot of awe’s from the crowd. 

-Present Day- 

“Ben cursed my father because he wouldn’t offer his life’s creation to him. He said it was too dangerous, and now since that curse. Springtrap came through, killed me. Everything seemed dark and hopeless … then you came.” Mikey looked at Michael. “Can you protect my family?” 

“That’s what I am doing. Do you mind opening the hatch?” Michael pointed down. Mikey nodded and floated into the metal and about ten seconds later the hatch opened up. The smell of mold came flooding the air so much that Michael had to cover his nose. “Thanks.” He said as Mikey came through again. 

“So how are you going to get rid of a curse?” 

“Just like every other curse.” Michael looked to Mikey. “You burn it up.” 

"Oh, suspense, I like it." 

Chapter Text

William had been walking around the forest for the entire day, and now getting into the night. It had been a hectic week, and it was going to end in disaster, he knew it. But when William looked up to the sky, there was a steady stream of smoke coming from the other end of the forest. Now that was worrisome, on the other end of the town, which was moving more into the Boston area, was where Freddy’s was located. 

“He didn’t.” Henry came up beside him. 

“Oh, he did.” William said the pair ran into the forest, soon followed by the sound of helicopters flying towards the smoke and the loud sirens indicating that someone had caused a fire. 

-Five Hours Earlier- 

“Oh, come on! Ben! Your restaurant is the worst!” Michael screamed as he turned around, entering another dead end. Michael had been met with dead end after dead end, this place was just as annoying as Freddy’s in his world. 

For some reason, Mikey didn’t want to follow him, either too much trauma from being killed here, but I mean come on, Michael went back to where he almost died multiple times too. Trauma was just some big word those therapists used for him whenever he came to visit them, saying that he “needed help.” 

After about five hours, (no seriously five hours, it surprised Michael too, this place was just a giant maze), he found himself in the security room, finally. There were computers there that had been forever stuck in static. Michael walked to the nearest computer, clicked on one of the keys, but to his dismay nothing happened. 

“Well, that was anticlimactic.” Michael whispered. He slowly walked around the room, seeing basically everything was the same as his, even the fact that it could be blown down by a gust of wind. This was going to be easy. 

Michael stood back in the same room, feeling the same feelings as he felt when the building burnt down around him in his room. The fire was hotter this time or it was the fact he hadn’t been this close to the fire. 

“Michael?” A voice rang throughout the building. “Michael, are we playing a game?” 

Shit, Springtrap found him. Michael ran out of the room, where he heard Springtrap knock down the door when he had stepped out of the room. Michael ran into the building, but to his horror this building was built on top of a giant hole. The floor underneath him started to crack as he slipped. As he tried to take a step forward, he fell down. (Who the FUCK builds their restaurant over a sinkhole???) 

As Michael looked back, he saw the fire consume all the wood around him, he could feel the metal around him sizzle in heat as he tried to pull his foot out. The metal that constricted his foot to keeping him there was growing increasingly hot, which was burning his foot. The floor started to creak as the wood collapsed, trying to send him to his death. Before he fell into the darkness, he grabbed onto a piece of metal that was sticking out. 

“Someone.” Michael whimpered out. He tried to pull himself up, but whenever he touched the rock wall with his foot, his ankle started to burn in pain. His foot gave up and he was left again dangling. “Someone, please, help me.” 

-Present Time- 

William and Henry finally got to Freddy’s, which was already burning up. The fire department was trying their best to fight the flames, but it was too late. 

“Please!” Henry ran up to one of the firefighters. “Please, my son is in there!” 

William just stared in horror as he heard the ceiling collapse, the windows break, and the water turn into steam immediately when it had touched the fire. 

“No, this place is built on a sinkhole. It’s too dangerous.” The firefighter pushed Henry back when he tried to go inside of the building. William took a step forward, but the fire was so hot that it burned him even twenty feet away from it. He could have sworn he had heard someone say: “help me,” in the slightest whimper. It sounded like Michael. William couldn’t stand by; he couldn’t let his son die. 

“William.” William heard that same voice again. He looked to the back end of the building, where he saw the puppet monster, or what Michael called the Marionette, stand. The door was wide open, and it was the only place where he could go and where the fire hadn’t consumed everything. William didn’t know what came over him, he just ran towards the Marionette, in which it fled into the raging building while he followed after it. 

“Sir! Don’t go in there!” 

“Will!” The firefighters had grabbed Henry before he ran after his husband. “William! No!” 

Michael was losing hold; he was losing hold of his only safety and he could hear Springtrap getting closer. Underneath him he saw a faint light, which looked almost like his home. If he let go, he would be back there. But he didn’t want to. 

“Help.” Michael choked out against the hot fire. He slipped, but something caught him. He looked up to see a figure being darkened by the fire behind him. The figure pulled him up, they were strong. As Michael climbed up, using only one of his legs to push him up, he collapsed on the hard floor, which creaked underneath him. The figure was panting on the ground, Michael didn’t see the person fully, he was too afraid, he was too afraid to die right now. 

“Mikey!” The figure grabbed him and held him close. 

“D-dad?” Michael asked. William laughed as he pulled his son up, there were tears in his eyes and his face was full of soot, the ends of his jacket were singed, and the ends of his hair was black from the smoke and ash. 

“It’s great to see you, but we need to get out! Now!” William grabbed his son’s hand, pulling him away from the ceiling that was about to crush him. “Hurry!” 

Michael got up, trying to follow his father but his ankle hurt too much. It must have been broken or something because whenever he stepped on it, the pain felt like a hot wire was burning through his skin, and as if a bear trap had been clamped over his ankle, he couldn’t move. He collapsed to the ground, getting a mouthful of smoke and ash, he coughed, trying to get all poisonous gas out of his lungs, but it was useless. Every time he took another breath, all the ash he had coughed out just came back in. 

“Mikey!” William pulled his son up, helping him hobble back to the exit. When they got to where William had entered the building, the ceiling had collapsed on it, making that exit impassible. “Perfect.” 

William put Michael down in a nearby room that was the only place that hadn’t been consumed by the fire. William had covered his mouth with a washcloth, and he made sure that Michael had covered his mouth with his jacket. Plus, it was too hot to be even cold. 

“You shouldn’t have come.” Michael said through the jacket. 

“Keep that over your mouth!” William commanded. He looked out the door again, seeing that the ground and ceiling were collapsing at a steady rate. If they stayed here, well the outcome was simple enough, both of them would die. 

“It should have been me.” 

“Michael don’t —” The door burst open. A growl came from the fire, where Michael saw Springtrap, well he was now burned and singed. The suit that was around it now barely showed any fur that had survived his trek through the flames. The endoskeleton that kept Springtrap up was smoking, the metal burning at a temperature that would burn anyone from ten feet away. 

“Well, well, well. Found you.” Springtrap smiled, it was like it thought this was all a game. As if Michael and him were playing hide and seek and Michael was caught. Cruel irony. Springtrap raised his hand, the fur of the rabbit suit no longer protecting Michael from the sharp ends of the endoskeleton. 

He shielded himself, preparing for the pain and impact. 

“No!” William pushed Michael out of the way, a painful scream escaped his mouth as the sharp knives of the finger of the endoskeleton cut deep into his back, leaving pieces of skin and a bucket load of blood on the fingers of the endoskeleton. Michael looked at horror when his father fell to the ground, his eyes closed tightly, his breathing hitching, blood already soaking his shirt. 

Michael had no idea what came over him. But his hatred for Springtrap tripled when he saw what he had done to William. His father. 

“You.” Michael said, looking at the ground. Springtrap turned to Michael, preparing to do the same thing to Michael as what it did to William. Before Michael was able to attack him, the ground underneath Springtrap collapsed. Ghostly hands grabbed the animatronic, pulling it down to the darkness below. Screams of children ran out of the abyss. Michael took this chance to run to his father, who thankfully was still breathing, but unconscious. 

“Come on.” Michael grabbed his father, pulling him along as he tried to find a way out of this maze. But as Michael walked through the fire, it was proving to be useless. There was no way out of this, and no amount of water could put this fire out. He was stuck here. It would have been fine if it was just him, but it wasn’t. 

“Michael! Michael, don’t leave me here!” A hand reached through the floorboards, clutching his ankle that was burned. Michael screamed as the hand around his grip turned bone breaking. Michael heard the tell-tale sound of his own bone breaking underneath the force of the hand, it was so painful. Michael screamed as he was pulled, trying not to lose his grip on his father who was dying in every passing second. 

Before he fell, something grabbed him, lifting him out of Springtrap’s grasp easily. Michael looked up to see a large figure standing in the middle of the fire. The large smile looked almost sad and understanding this time, the black eyes looked deep into his soul and the dark tears of the figure looked opaquer. It was the Marionette. 

“Y-you?” Michael asked, almost hesitant to even put down his guard. Marionette reached its hands towards William, but Michael moved his unconscious father away from the puppet. It reeled back its arms, though no words came out of its mouth, Michael had the strangest notion that it wanted to help them. To help him. 

Michael looked back to his father, whose face had begun to turn pale, and he was feeling ice cold. He was barely breathing, and his heartbeat was skipping once or twice. Michael knew that he would never get out of here, well without the Marionette’s help. A plywood had come down, about to fall on Michael but the Marionette had blocked it with its arm, the wood snapping in half when it touched the slender arm of the puppet. 

“Please,” Michael let the Marionette slowly pick up his father while it grabbed his hand, lending him towards another section of the building. It was the tunnels. The Marionette slowly walked, but all Michael saw was Charlie, his Charlotte, leading them out of the tunnel. The door opened without the puppet even needing to touch the handle, where the cool air of the outside filled the tunnel. Michael ran out of the tunnel to his father, where the Marionette had placed him face down in the wet grass. 

The Marionette took one last look at him before walking into the tunnel. Michael couldn’t say anything before darkness surrounded him, the last thing he saw was Henry sitting beside him and another man placing something on his face before he blacked out. 

Chapter Text

“ Michael? Michael? Michael, wake up. ” Michael felt someone touch his shoulder. The touch was so cold against his hard and dry skin. Michael slowly opened his eyes to see Mikey spirit hovering over him. He still was in the forest, the sound of sirens was all around him, making his ears ache in pain. 

“Mikey?” Michael tried to get up but Mikey pushed him down. 

“ You should stay down, you are hurt. ” Mikey stated. Yeah, a stupid person could see that, but Michael was stubborn, no kid was going to tell him to lie down. He tried to get up again but the pain pulled him back, maybe he could stay on the floor for a little longer. 

“ Told yah. ” Mikey smiled. Another spirit came up behind Michael, his eyes widened as he saw who it was. It was Charlie. 

“C-Charlie?” 

“ Hello. ” She spoke, her voice was wispy, sounding like the wide itself. “ You are safe now, from him. Stay here. ” Michael wanted to protest but the pain was getting to his head, and if he went back home, which he was certain was through that darkness at the bottom of the restaurant, he had a high chance that he would die. That didn’t sound too bad. 

“But —” Michael started but Charlie put a cold hand on his chest. 

“ Stay. ” She said she turned on her heel but to his surprise she didn’t go back to the Marionette, instead she grabbed Mikey’s hand. He smiled as he walked with her into the forest, where Michael didn’t feel them anymore. They were gone. Finally. 

Well, so he thought. 

Charlie ran up with her sister and Evan close behind. Evan was being pulled by Lizzie, they didn’t tell their fathers this, but they knew a shortcut to the restaurant … well because they went there sometimes. The best way to describe why they went there was because there was a feeling of being pulled. You know that feeling of something calling out to you, that’s what they all experienced at the same time. So they kept it a secret between themselves, but Evan got cold feet and never came back, but surprisingly he still kept their secret. 

In the distance they saw a bright light that looked yellow and orange, the tell tale sign of a fire. Evan had stopped near the tree line where Lizzie had stayed with him. Charlie walked closer to the burning building, it had warmed her entire body, it was like summer had come in winter. 

“Charlie!” Lizzie called out. “You’re too close, come —” Lizzie screamed before she could finish. Through the fire, reached out a hand to Charlie. Charlie had barely any time before she jumped away, landing on her back. It happened so that there was a rock right underneath her, which caused her to lose her breath. Groaning, she tried to stand up, but was met with a face right in front of her. The face was that of a robotic rabbit, in which half of the fur was gone from the fire, the metal endoskeleton was visible underneath, below that was a rotting corpse. 

Charlie gasped, too afraid to scream. The hand reached out to her, ready to strike as if it was a predator and she was the prey. 

“Charlotte!” Elizabeth screamed, holding Evan and then running to her sister, but she was thrown back by something pushing her to the ground. Her hair blocked her vision of what happened next, but to her surprise, Charlie was sitting next to her in a dazed panic. Standing in front of them was … the puppet monster. 

“ Leave. Them. Alone. ” The puppet spoke, it seemed that the world went quiet as the rabbit stared down the puppet. Even though the puppet’s body was as thin as a dying tree, it still happened to cover half of Charlie and Lizzie. It seemed that the rabbit had enough and walked back into the fire, either not wanting to hurt Charlie anymore or realizing that fighting the puppet was useless. The puppet would win. 

It then turned around to face the two girls. 

Lizzie stood up, shivering in fear, stepping backwards until she was with Evan at the tree line. But Charlie didn’t move, either because she was too afraid or there was something almost familiar about this puppet. 

Charlie had a stupid idea, but neither her or Lizzie had any impulse control, that was Evan’s forte. She reached up her hand to the puppet as Lizzie hissed at her, “Charlie! Don’t!” 

But for some reason, Charlie wasn’t afraid, no she was the complete opposite, she felt almost safe with this thing. She touched the side of the puppet’s mask, it nuzzled her hand in a way an animal would if they recognized you. Charlie giggled, and the puppet copied her laugh almost perfectly. 

“ Charlie. ” The puppet said. 

“Thank you.” Charlie said. The puppet stood up, at its full height it was almost as tall as her father. It seemed like it stretched, and Charlie got a strange notion that it acted almost like a cat. Charlie liked cats. The puppet then bent down, poking her nose, but unlike when it touched William’s nose, it didn’t draw blood. Then the puppet took one large stride and crept back into the building. Charlie looked back at the fire, hoping for some reason that she would see the puppet again, but no. So Charlie was left alone just to look at her hand. 

“Charlie! Lizzie! Evan! What are you doing here?!” Henry called as his children came running up to him. He bent down, kissing each of their heads, Evan begging Henry to be picked up. Henry grunted as he picked the eight year old up, he was way too old to keep doing this. 

“We came looking for you, daddy, and Mikey. Are they okay?” Evan asked. Henry took a glance at the ambulance, following it with his eyes as it started to make the long trek to Boston. 

“They made it out. Mikey and Dad are going to be okay.” Henry told them. They all took deep breaths of relief. Before Henry could say anything else, there was a loud bang and pop of wood creaking. The buildings started to cave in while the firemen were shouting orders for the people to get away as far as they could. 

Henry watched in a horrific excitement as the building that had caused him and William so much pain started to sink into the ground. Seriously, who builds something on a sinkhole? Crazy bastards. But as Henry watched the mesmerizing show of the building being swallowed by the earth, he could have sworn he saw someone inside of the fire. 

A man. 

He was all purple, just like the same corpse thing he had seen walking across the street to their restaurant when the power went out. The man just stood there, it almost looked like he was floating. Around him came arms of people, pulling the man down into the earth, where he smiled, showing the pure white teeth that were so bright not even the fire could drown out the color. 

“ I always come back. ” A still soft whisper rang throughout the forest. With one last explosion the building was swallowed up by the sinkhole. It almost looked like a giant bonfire as the flames tried to lick up anything that was around it. 

As if the world had planned this to happen, Henry heard something rumbling in the distance. He looked to where the sound was coming from, seeing the full moon being covered up by dark clouds. A rumble of thunder soon followed a flash of lightning. Soon after the storm was above them, dripping small water droplets to the ground. In an instant, it started to pour, causing the fire to go out in ten minutes tops. Henry stood underneath a large tree that kept him and his children mostly dry from the rain. A steady stream of smoke escaped from the hole and the only thing left was the mask of the puppet sitting contently on top of the rubble of the fallen down restaurant. 

Chapter Text

A slow steady beeping was what really woke up Michael. His skin felt hard, and every time he shifted underneath the soft blankets, pain and uncomfortableness shot up his arms. His ankle throbbed with pain and so did his side. He felt so tired. 

With his too dry eyelids, he slowly opened his eyes. He was met with a pure white room, around him were tubs and different screens, that showed his heartbeat, surrounded him. He saw an IV drip, which was filled halfway with some clear liquid water. But the thing that made his heart skip a beat was the people sleeping next to him. 

Katie and Jared were sleeping on the chairs on the side of the room, their heads resting on each other. Jared sometimes moved, causing Katie to grumble but then they both relaxed, but the expression of worry and anxiety were all too present on their face. Abby had pulled up a chair next to Michael, sleeping on the bed with their arm underneath their head. Their hand was clutching Michael’s. 

He tried to sit up, trying hard not to wake up, what were they to him, his friends? Well, he did think they were his friends, maybe he could at least open his hard heart to someone. When he sat up, his side ached and winced, pulling his hand away that Abby was holding, clutching his side. But to his dismay, that woke up Abby. 

“Huh?” Abby got up, rubbing her eyes. Katie and Jared both got up, stretching and yawning. Jared cracked his knuckles, stopping midway with his arms out in a stretching position when he saw Michael. 

“MIKE!” They all screamed. Katie embraced him, almost choking him. Jared was crying as he was holding his hand, large blobs of tears streaming down his face. Abby was holding his arm, asking him questions: Are you okay? to: What happened? Michael tried to explain what happened but they kept interrupting him. Before he would have gotten upset at this, but he just smiled. For the first time in his miserable life, he felt happiness. He felt love. 

As Michael smiled, it was pure, it was the first time he had smiled this pure before. He started to cry, holding his friends close as they cried. He felt their tears get his hospital gown, but he didn’t care. He would rather be here in pain with people that cared for him than being alone with no pain. 

“Mike, you scared us so much. God, you better not do that again. When you want to commit arson, please let us join you.” Abby laughed. Michael laughed, which caused everyone to cover their mouths in happiness or sadness, he didn’t know. 

“What?” 

“God, Mikey, I haven’t heard you laugh like that in a long time.” Katie exclaimed, she embraced him again, starting to cry hard. Michael patted her back, until he remembered something. 

“Dad? Dad! Where is William!” Michael got up, trying to get out of the bed before the pain stopped him from getting up. He groaned as he sat back down, holding his side tightly. “Is he okay?” 

“He’s … well he is in stable condition.” Abby said that really didn’t answer his question. That only meant that he was not okay. 

“What?” 

“You both have been in the hospital for five days. You went through five IVs.” Abby chuckled. “William had severe burns and large gashes on his back, they had to do emergency surgery. All the doctors need to do is wait until he wakes up. But they say he will be fine.” 

Michael took a deep breath, calming himself down. If anything happened to his father, Springtrap would have to pay. 

“Where are we?” Michael asked. 

“Boston. Evan, Charlie, and Lizzie were staying at my house, I will call my uncle. They will be here in about an hour or so. Henry is with William right now, he just got out of the ICU.” Abby explained. Michael sat there, looking at his hands before Jared touched them. He was shocked out of a trance, in which he really didn’t know what he was thinking. All he really felt was the guilt if he was responsible for his father’s death. William couldn’t die. This William couldn’t die. Really, that man seriously couldn’t die, it seemed that all the Williams Michael knew lived out of spite. 

“What happened?” Jared asked him. 

“I wanted to burn it down because Mikey told me that Ben had cursed his family when Henry had proposed to William like five years ago.” Jared, Katie, and Abby looked at him with wide eyes. 

“You - you saw Mikey?” Abby asked. 

“Yeah, he told me that he had been watching over you guys. He told me to tell you, Katie, that you should follow your dream of becoming a designer, go to Paris, trust that impulse.” Katie laughed as he wiped tears from her eyes, maybe still in shock from Michael telling her about this. “Jared, he told me to come out to your parents, they will accept you, if not, William and Henry always have their home open to you.” 

“Oh —” Was all Jared could say. He gulped as he kept the tears inside but one escaped out of the corner of his eye. 

“Abby, he told you to accept the past, there’s nothing you can do about it, but what you can do is take hold of the future. He also told me to tell everyone that he loves them very much and he never left. He's just been trying to figure out how to open a door.” Katie burst out laughing. 

“Oh, that sounds like Mikey.” She said. 

“I don’t think I can take his place —” 

“You can never.” Abby started. She touched Michael’s hand. “Because you aren’t our Michael, you are your own Michael. We love you no matter what, that’s what friends are for. We are your family now, and you have a choice to stay here or not. We will accept it either way.” 

“Well, I think someone already made that choice for me.” Michael recalled the Marionette pulling them out of the fire. Basically telling Michael to stay here. “But don’t worry, I am not going anywhere. I was brought here for a reason right?” 

“Maybe that reason was for you.” Jared said. “But I am sure when your father wakes up, he will be so relieved to see that you are alive. And then maybe after that kick your ass for doing something dangerous.” 

A doctor came in after two hours, declaring that Michael was much better, as he was extremely dehydrated and on the verge of starvation. (oh so that was that feeling of your stomach eating itself: starvation. Well Michael made a mental note of that) The doctor allowed him to walk around, in which he immediately went outside to the waiting room, to where Lizzie, Evan, and Charlie were waiting, since Abby’s uncle had brought them over. 

“Mikey!” His siblings said they all ran up to him. Wrapping their small arms around his waist, squeezing a little too hard for comfort, but he didn’t complain. Evan cried when he saw how hurt Michael was, but Michael told him that he had been hurt worse … which in turn, made him cry even more. As he was trying to calm down Evan, another nurse came to the four of them. 

“Are you the Afton-Emily family?” She asked them. Michael nodded his head. “It’s about your father, William.” Oh no. Michael felt Lizzie’s grip on his hand get tighter. Evan whimpered as he buried his head in his bear. 

Michael stood in front of a headstone. He held two flowers, one was a daisy, and the other was a sunflower. He sighed as he put them down on the headstone, wiping the tears from his eye. Henry joined him on his side, patting his shoulder. 

“Hey, chin up. He wouldn’t want you to be sad.” Henry rubbed Michael’s back. 

“Yeah.” Michael sighed again, looking to the ground. “Thanks for everything Mikey.” 

Michael touched the headstone, as it read:

  In Memory of Mikey. 

Loved son, brother, and friend. 

Thank you for helping us, even though death.

  Michael heard footsteps behind him as he saw his father come up. William bent down, placing another daisy on the headstone. 

“Now, get some rest, Mikey.” William said as he patted the headstone. 

-Two Days Before- 

“It’s about your father, William.” Oh no. Michael felt Lizzie’s grip on his hand get tighter. Evan whimpered as he buried his head in his bear. “He’s awake.” 

Michael was so relieved that he thought he would faint. The nurse led them to a room that was exactly like his. When he opened the door, he was met with Henry sobbing, and Charlie, Lizzie, and Evan ran up to William, who looked worse for wear. 

His left arm and chest was covered with bandages. He had dried blood on his forehead where small cuts littered here and there. His hand was bright red, as if he had gotten a sunburn. Also, he looked like he was in a lot of pain. 

“Mikey!” William exclaimed as Michael walked over to his father. William opened up his arms as Michael collapsed in his chest, trying not to cause him more pain. “I am so mad and so proud of you.”

“Sorry.” Michael said through sobs. 

“How did you get out?” William asked as he let go of Michael and let him sit down. Lizzie sat down by his legs, kicking them back and forth. Evan sat on Michael’s lap as Charlie took a set next to Henry, all interested in what he had to say. 

“I didn’t.” William widened his eyes. “I mean I didn’t get us out. I had help. Marionette helped us —” 

“The puppet monster?” William asked. Michael nodded in response. “It helped me get inside to rescue you.” Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing. So Marionette was on his side this entire time? Well, it had a weird way of showing it.  

“Well, it — well she, helped me get out.” Michael took a deep breath. “Marionette is the soul of Charlie, well the Charlie in my world.” Michael thought Charlie would take this information badly, but it was the complete opposite. 

“See, told you, Lizzie! I am better than you!” Charlie crossed her arms. Lizzie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. William smiled and held Michael’s hand. 

“So, are you going to stay, Mikey?” Evan asked. 

“I think Marionette made that decision for me.” Michael smiled. 

Chapter Text

“Hello! The party people have arrived!” The door was kicked open by Abby and Katie, bringing a back full of party supplies by a place called Party City. 

“Oh great timing guys!” Henry smiled as he grabbed icing from the cupboards. Jared ran over, helping Katie with the large balloon that she had to get inside of the house without it popping. 

“How long do we have?” Abby asked as they put down the bag on the counter. Henry opened the oven, checking with a toothpick if the cake batter inside was baked well enough. The batter stuck to the toothpick, which meant that he had to wait about thirty more minutes. 

“Well, William has been stalling Mikey for about the entire afternoon, I would say one more hour.” Henry said. “So, let us make this the best birthday he has ever had!” Henry exclaimed while he pumped his fist into the air, the group also followed him, exclaiming in excitement. 

Today was Michael’s birthday, he probably shared the same birthday as Mikey. He doubted that William and Henry would actually celebrate it … well because they didn’t know. He did let this date slip out while he was talking with Evan but it was highly likely that Evan probably forgot, well because he was a child. 

But William was acting very odd today. He seemed adamant that they spend the entire day just catching up. He had taken him out to the movies, where it seemed that they were showing some throwbacks. But he decided that they would watch Jurassic Park, or well World , and well Michael was amazed on how much cinematography had come along. These dinosaurs really looked real. It seemed Henry was right about William not having the guts, because he could barely stay in the theater while there was blood in a scene.

After the movie, William had taken him out to lunch. 

“So order whatever you want.” William smiled. He looked at the menu but stopped when he noticed that Michael just kept staring at the piece of paper. “Is something wrong?” 

“It’s just —” Michael stopped. “I haven’t been to a restaurant like this before … in a very long time. I don’t know what to order at …The Cheesecake Factory.” Michael sighed. “I’m sorry, I am probably just a burden.” 

“I never said that, and I don’t think that.” William smiled. “Yeah, there are a lot of choices, what about pasta. Or a burger?” 

“I do like pasta. It has been a long time since I had it.” Michael said softly. 

“Great, I know the best pasta.” William clapped his hands together. The waiter came over, smiling at them, asking for their order. When it came to Michael’s turn, he froze up, his jaw clamping shut. But William didn’t get mad at him, he just explained that it was his first time here and ordered for him. Boston was way bigger than Strandford. 

“Michael? Is something wrong, it looks like you have something on your mind.” William asked him, Michael looked up at him, swallowing the cold iced tea that he was drinking. He grimaced, debating if he should tell William about his birthday, but again this wouldn’t be the first birthday that someone didn’t come and missed. 

“Nothing, just tired.” 

“Another sleepless night?” 

“No, I was up talking with Abby and the others. They basically forced me to stay up with them on facetime and now my eyes hurt.” Michael smiled shyly. William chuckled, saying underneath his breath that he was glad that he was making friends. 

“What were you talking about?” 

“Maybe going to college or something like that. I have a fresh start here so —” Michael cleared his throat when he saw William’s expression. “I mean it was just a thought. You don’t have to like it.” 

“No, Mikey, no.” William put his hand on his son’s. “I think that is a fantastic idea. In the summer, we might go there for a vacation, maybe we can look at the universities there. But we do need transcripts, and I don’t think they will accept ‘I am from a different dimension so I can’t give you my grades.’” Michael chuckled from William’s joke. “But I believe we can make do.” 

“Thanks … dad.” Michael said quietly. He looked up when he noticed that William had tears in his eyes. “What? What’s wrong?” He asked in a panic. 

“No, it’s nothing. It’s just I get … I’m sorry, I am just so glad that you finally accepted me as your father!” William wiped a tear from his Michael shrugged. 

“Well, I mean you are.” 

Soon after the food came, Michael didn’t notice William smiling at him while he talked about how good the food tasted. William was grateful for his grandmother teaching him the way to get into someone’s heart is through a nice talk and good food. (he did test out the theory with Henry and well … you know the rest) Michael had forgotten the feeling of feeling calm, relaxed. Happy. Oh god, he was happy. He forgot the feeling of your mind just forgetting about the worries of tomorrow and yesterday, just being in the now. And he loved that feeling. 

“ It’s a good thing we had him stay here, huh? ” Mikey asked Charlie. 

“ I believe we did a good thing. ” Mikey extended his hand to hers, in which she took with a gentle smile. One of the waitresses yelped as they passed through the counter and all the papers fell to the floor. (yet she didn’t see them as they were invisible) 

“Come on.” She groaned, bending down, starting to pick up all the fallen menus. 

Henry had finished the icing on the cake, he wasn’t the best in nice handwriting and he had spelt birthday wrong. Yet it was too late to fix it. Plus, he did fail spelling in elementary school. But all in all, he felt proud of his creation, hopefully Michael would like it. 

“Here we are! I finished!” Henry put the cake on a stand. Jared, Katie, and Abby came over, surrounding the cake. 

“Wait, why does it say - Happy Brithday Michael?” Katie asked. 

“I can’t spell okay.” Henry said deadpanned. They all laughed, Abby stating that Michael would love it. What knocked them all out from laughing was the fact that the doorbell rang. Henry could hear William’s and Michael’s voices from the open window. 

“Quickly! Go hide!” Henry pushed the three out, they all hiding in the living room, either behind a couch or the wall. Henry quickly ran to the door, trying to keep his emotion of excitement out of his voice, but to his dismay, Michael quickly picked it up. 

“What’s up with you?” Michael asked, the laughter out of his voice, now all there was suspicion and also a bit anxiety. “Did I do something wrong?” 

Before Henry could answer that question, the three ran out from behind the couch and wall. 

“Surprise!” They all screamed. To say the least, Michael did not do that well at all. Maybe he had been lying to himself that he was forgetting what all that's happened to him. His heart stopped, for one second he pictured the animatronics running at him. 

“Mikey! Breath, deep breaths.” William grabbed him by the shoulders, commanding him to breathe. With three shaking breaths he calmed himself down, William hugging him soon afterwards. “They aren’t here. It’s just your friends, it is not them.” 

Michael nodded his head, confirming that he was fine. William walked him in the house, Michael felt like a dick for ruining such a perfect surprise. He soon saw what the whole deal was with the surprise. 

He quickly looked up to see Jared crying and Katie’s expression full of sorrow and guilt. Abby rubbed the back of their neck, before bending down to his level. 

“Mikey, we are so sorry. I … well when I see you like this I forget that you are still healing. Sometimes I forget that even strong people still have fears.” Abby said softly. Michael nodded his head, and soon quickly tried to have Jared and Katie calm down as they started to sob on how sorry they were about making him afraid. 

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s my fault, I should have known better.” Michael said. 

“Mikey, it’s not. You probably have the most valid reason to not like getting scared. Next time they will know and we won’t make that mistake again.” William turned to the three of them. “Next time, don’t scream too loud.” 

“Well, surprise.” Abby said quietly. “We made this for you. Happy birthday, Mikey!” Abby awkwardly put a party hat on his head. 

“Y-you remembered?” Michael asked, his eyes started to get misty again … great. 

“Yep! Evan told us.” Henry smiled. He quickly brought the cake over, which had a candle on it, reading 25 that had a small flame flickering. “Make a wish.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Michael Liam Afton, just blow out the candle.” William smirked. 

“Okay, okay.” Michael took a deep breath, with one puff of air the candle went out, the smoke reaching up to the ceiling. Soon after a loud alarm went off. Henry cursed, grabbing a cloth and waving it in the direction of the fire alarm. 

“So what did you wish for?” Abby asked. 

“Can’t say. It won’t come true.” 

Chapter Text

-One Year Later-

Michael waved goodbye to the kids as he walked backstage, prying off the Spring Bonnie costume. William was right, this thing was way too hot. He was sweating and it didn’t help that he had to do tricks, like cartwheels and sing. His voice was starting to hurt. But if it was to see the smiling faces of his siblings, Charlie and Lizzie laughing at him when his voice cracked and Evan cheering him on, he could manage. 

“So, how is it going?” Michael asked as he put the costume up on the hook in the utility closet, which was more of a basement. William was standing on a ladder, screwing something together in the head of a giant bear. 

“No good. This thing won’t start.” William grumbled as he stepped down from the animatronic. 

“He looks nice, seems a bit much with the —” Michael referred to the plethora of colors that littered the animatronic bear. Stars and bright neon stripes on the legs and the arms of the bear. “colors, but I dig it.” 

“I’m going for more of the 80’s theme, you know.” William hit Michael in the shoulder, who responded with a roll of his eyes. After the incident at the other Freddy’s , William could no longer perform with the Spring Bonnie costume, so that was Michael’s job. And now he understood his father’s hatred towards the costume. It smelt like BO even with all the Febreze you put in there, it still smelt. It was hot, even in 60 degree air condition, and it was stiff and you really couldn’t move that well. That is why William was working overtime with Michael to make new animatronics. 

The endoskeleton was safer, if people wanted to go inside, even though William thought that idea was crazy, they could without getting hurt. It was tall, had padding on the hands, and had a defensive procedure in case some hobo came in with a gun or weapon. Also incredible safety settings, oh yeah, no child was getting hurt with these babies (that’s what William called them.) 

“Looks great. What is it called again?” 

“Freddy Fazbear. Because it was my idea in the first place, Ben!” William said to no one. “Or get this —” William cleared his throat. “Glamrock Freddy! Huh?” He waved his hands in a jazz sort of way. 

“Stick with Freddy.” Michael said deadpanned. 

Henry yelled to Charlie and Lizzie to stop yelling at each other to see who won in the new Super Smash Bros game. However, when, Charlie and Lizzie didn’t listen to their father until he grabbed the remote controller and switched to another channel where a football game was playing. Henry knew Charlie’s and Lizzie’s hatred for the sport. Basically he did that to annoy them. 

“Aww!” Charlie and Lizzie both said at the same time. Henry shrugged his shoulders as he called William and Michael for dinner. Abby had made her famous arepa con queso . You could smell the wonderful food a mile away. William basically kicked down the door to the workshop, where Michael came follow after. 

“Dad! Papa turned off the game!” Lizzie complained to William. William looked to Henry, who shrugged. 

“What were you doing?” 

“Well, Charlie cheated!” Lizzie moved her head towards Charlie, who quickly said: “no she did!” 

“Okay, okay.” William split the two girls before they started to fight. “We need to eat, so let’s just sit down, huh?” The two girls gave each other the most deadliest stare before agreeing and sat down. 

There was a hurried knock on the door and the sound of someone running away. William groaned, thinking that it might be another ding dong ditch. They had been getting that a lot from the new generation turning slowly to the teens age. 

William walked to the door, opening it up. Not to his surprise, there was no one there. He sighed, but before he closed the door, he heard a whimper in the silent darkness. He looked down, near the garden, covered by the large step, was a bundle of blankets.

“Henry?!” William called his husband. He heard the scrapping of the chair and soon Henry was right beside him. “Just stay here okay?” Henry nodded as William walked down to the blankets. It seemed to be moving. 

Was it an animal? Probably a dog or a cat, Charlie did say that she was old enough to take care of an animal, now they wouldn’t have to go out — oh fuck. Was that a baby?!

“Er — hello?” William said. The baby’s face was bright red, from the cold spring air. He had dark brown eyes and the tuff of curly, matted dark brown hair that matched his eyes almost too perfectly. He had a thin shirt that was too big for him, and the blankets were too thin. He must have been freezing. 

“Hello? Is this anyone’s?” William called out as he opened the gate. There was no one around for a good mile, and everyone else’s house, their windows were closed shut and the lights were out. It was pretty late, so they should be asleep. William held the small child closer to his chest, hopefully body warmth would give some warmth to the kid. 

“Will?” Henry called out. William came walking back, closing the door where he looked at the child widely. “Holy fuck, is that a baby?” 

“Yeah. Hey, Mikey, can you hold him for me?” 

“Sure.” Michael gently took the baby, who immediately launched his tiny, little finger in a death grip to Michael’s pinky. The baby smiled, cooing up to Michael. 

“Aww, he’s adorable.” Abby sighed as they made faces to the small child, who giggled brightly at them. 

“There’s a letter here.” William opened the letter, which had squiggly writing as if someone had written this in a panic. 

‘To the Afton-Emily family, 

I know you can protect my beautiful creation.

Please, there are things and people looking for him. 

Please, you protected Michael, you can protect him.’

“Real sweet and to the point. And it's a bit weird how they know about Michael.” Abby said as they tickled the belly of the baby. “And I have never heard someone call their child, ‘ my beautiful creation,’ red flags there buddy.” They cooed to the baby. He made a face back at them, giggling at the returned facial expression that Abby gave to the little boy.  

“What’s his name?” Michael asked. 

“Oh, I got some good ones.” Henry declared. “What about Tommy? Or, wait, what about Eliot, or Elijah?” Henry kept naming off boy’s names, but the baby didn’t seem to react to them, well because he was a baby. “Huh? Don’t like them?” 

“He’s not a dog.” William laughed. He turned the letter over, where another word was written in terrible writing and had a spot of blood on the end of the letter. That wasn’t a good sign. “Oh, I found it.” 

“Found what?” Michael asked. 

“His name.” William said. There was a pause, maybe to make it more climatic, maybe it was William’s way of trying to untense the situation. I mean, they just found a baby on their front doorstep. 

 “Gregory.” 

“I still like Eliot better.” Henry huffed. 

Chapter Text

New town. New opportunities. That’s what William kept telling himself for the entire week he had been packing, traveling and unpacking to the small town of Strandford. It was a big change, from the bustling city of San Diego to a low life town like Strandford, Massachusetts. The weather made William want to jump off a bridge. He had just come back from the worst heartbreak of his entire life. Being a single father of three children, one not even a year old yet, having to deal with an angsty preteen, it wasn’t easy. He had endured ten years of his wife’s extreme mental breakdowns, the screaming matches, getting hit, the slow breakdown of his own self-worth. It was even harder when he really tried to prove his worth to her, but it never worked out. So when she had left with all HIS money that HE worked so hard to provide for HIS family, and left HIM with virtually nothing, leaving HIS children and himself to go back to his hometown of Strandford to pick up the pieces that she had left behind, it was very hard. 

He only had a small amount of money from his own back account that he had the common sense not to share underneath both of their names, and that barely could cover the food for four people for one night. William had no idea what he was going to do, he either had to find a job that paid well, or … well he would have to give his kids into foster care, and he was not about to do that last option. 

William opened up the door that was his old home, it still smelt like his mother’s lavender perfume that she used to spray around like crazy, talking about some virus she was going to get out. He sighed, remembering all the good times, and coming back to the worst time in his life. It was kind of ironic, but not in a good way. 

“Which room is mine?” William looked back to see Michael holding two boxes. One read his name on the side and the other read Evan’s name, which was filled with baby clothes and the things that Kateline had bothered to leave behind. 

“Upstairs, to the right.” William tried his best to smile. His son’s eleven-year-old eyes held too much sorrow for a boy his age. “Do you need help unpacking?” 

“Does it look like I do?” Michael asked, it was supposed to come out as a joke, but all in all it came out as downright disrespectful, but William ignored it. He was going through something right now, his mother had abandoned him, and he was in a whole new town, Michael had every right to be a little bit of that angsty pre-teenager.

“Alright then.” William said, turning away. Lizzie was bringing up each of her dolls, while Evan fused in his highchair, wanting to explore. William felt a new headache forming in turn of the old one that had left him hours before. 

“Michael.” William said. “You are in charge, until I get back.” William looked to his oldest son, who was busy trying out how to braid Lizzie’s hair for her first day in school. 

“Alright.” Michael said, giving him a thumbs up. “Where are you going?” 

“To the store, going to get Evan some formula.” William almost screamed of delight when he had found twenty dollars in his wallet that he must have forgotten to turn into the bank, thank goodness. “I have some extra money, you two want anything.” 

“No thanks.” Michael and Lizzie said at the same time, knowing that their father was already short on money. 

“Come on, don’t lie, I know you want something. Everyone does, I have some extra money, I can get it.” 

“Can … can I have ice cream?” Lizzie asked, hesitantly. 

“May I have some twinkies, I have been craving them since we moved.” Michael said, the bitterness out of his voice after thinking about sweets, he did always have a sweet tooth. 

“Alright, broccoli and zucchini.” William said with a smile, seeing Lizzie face of pure horror after she had heard the vegetable that she hated. 

“No, dad, no. You know how much I hate zucchini.” Lizzie cried. 

“Why do you hate it so much, it’s not that bad.” Michael laughed and then groaned when the braid came undone. “Stop freaking moving.” 

“Because it makes you think that it is a cucumber, and then when you bite it, it's a freaking zucchini, it preys on my trust.” Lizzie complained. “Please, dad?”

“Okay, okay. Lizzie, you want cookies and cream, and I will get you some Twinkies Michael.” William grabbed his coat and walked towards the door. “Be back in a couple of minutes.” He said as he walked out the door. 

So William found out that small towns, tight knit communities. Way different from San Diego where you would have to watch your back whenever you walked outside alone. William would have never gone to the grocery store at night, leaving his children alone, but he had grown up here, he knew this place like the back of his hand, and to say the least, literally nothing had changed. The general store was still near the movie theater, the library still had that dent in the door that he may or may not have helped create, and there still was the ice cream parlor that was painting a bright shade of pink and blue, as if someone was about to reveal the gender of their child. But William also found out that people remembered him? That was the last thing he had ever expected to happen. He never expected him to remember William. 

“William Afton?” He heard that voice. It couldn’t be. William turned around to be met with a man. He had dark brown eyes that had a very nice contrast with his light brown hair. He was about two inches shorter than William, and not much of a stocky build like William was. William could barely believe he still lived in Strandford. 

“Henry Emily?” William almost choked on his words. 

“Oh goodness, it is you! I almost didn’t recognize you!” Henry ran up to his old friend, giving him a big hug around the waist, squeezing him tightly. “I don’t remember the last time we have ever talked, not before you decided to move to California. How was it by the way? What are you doing back here?” 

“It’s …” William started to choke on his words. “It’s really good to see you.” Henry must have known something was off, he knew his best friend back-to-back, like a good book that you could never put down, they literally shared everything together. William had gone to Henry’s house before he had run away to California, asking Henry if he wanted to run away together, but Henry chickened out at the last minute. Now he was thinking if he should have done it all those years ago. 

“Will? What happened? You look terrible.” Henry grabbed his friend’s hand. His shirt looked way too big on him, Henry knew that William was way more muscular than he ever was, but this shirt was two sizes too big, or William was two sizes too skinny. He noticed on his wrist, there were three large dark bruises that looked like someone had grabbed it and squeezed just a little too hard. “Will, are you okay?” 

Those words. Those fucking words. That is what made William break. 

Henry drove him to the grocery store, while his friend literally threw his guts out at him. Everything that has and has been going on. The woman that he married turned out to be more than he actually bargained for. Abusive and toxic, just like his parents were. Henry’s heart broke when he saw William shake and cry as it was like the first time he had said this to anyone. Henry had a tiny feeling of pride, still proud of the fact that his best friend would still come to him whenever he needed him. 

“She what?!” Henry yelled. 

“She took everything and all the money I have is around forty dollars. I really need a job.” William sighed as he wiped the dried tears off his cheeks. “Wow, I look like a fucking mess.” 

“Yeah you do.” Henry laughed. 

“You know, I didn’t think you would still be here, like living in Strandford.” 

“I never thought you would come back. So … do you have kids?” Henry asked, why did that question seem so terrifying to him.

“Yeah, three. Michael, Elizabeth, and Evan.” 

“Oh god, you really do need help. Well, I have to call Charlie and tell her I will be a little late.” Henry got up and then snapped his fingers. “Do you still have those old blueprints?” 

“Yeah, why?” 

“Keep them, I think I just found you a job.” Henry smiled widely. 

Michael heard a car pull up into the driveway, he didn’t remember his father actually leaving with his car, and his car keys were still on the counter. Was mother coming back? Michael really didn’t like mother, she would say nasty things to him, Lizzie, and even to Evan, thank goodness he was too young to understand all the terrible things she had said to him. Father could only do so much, and with her threatening his life every single second, no wonder he felt like his hands were tied. Michael was so glad mother left without him, he felt so much safer with his dad. 

He looked outside, and Lizzie pushed him aside to peek through the blinds, where she saw two men. One was her father and the other man she had never seen before. The other man was talking to her dad, which made him smile. Lizzie had never seen her father smile so purely before, not even at mother. 

“Michael? Lizzie?” The door opened and William stepped inside. “What are you two doing?” He questioned as he saw the pair peeking through the window. 

“Nothing.” Lizzie smiled. 

“Liar.” William said back, but also with a smile. “Got your ice cream, you better put it in the freezer and not EAT IT!” William yelled as she ran over with it to the kitchen, where he heard a drawer open and the clinking of silverware. Of course, she was eating it. 

“Who’s that?” Michael asked. “Someone from CPS?” 

“Oh no.” William chuckled. “This is Henry Emily, a childhood friend of mine when I used to live here in Strandford.” 

“Hello, you must be Michael.” The man came up to Michael. He had a nice presence around him, kind brown eyes that did not look anything like Mother’s hawkish eyes that would find anything wrong with you. “God, you look just like your father.” 

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Michael chuckled. “I never knew dad had friends, he never talked about you.” 

“Really,” Henry looked up at William like he was hurt. “I feel betrayed.” 

“Oh shut it.” William shot him a smug look before looking at Michael. “Got you, your Twinkies. Now off to bed, both of you, I have some talking to do.” 

“Love you!” Lizzie called up, sprinting up to her room. 

“Elizabeth Angelica Afton, put that ice cream in the freezer!” 

“God, they look just like how I remember them.” Henry held up the blueprints that he remembered watching William make when they were in high school.

“So what do you mean by that you found me a job?” William crossed his arms. “Does it pay well, are you sure this will work?” 

“Remember the business idea we used to talk about in school?” Henry asked, William nodded his head in an answer. “Well, I have friends who can make that happen. Ben Jackson and Phillip Comber. Trust me, they are the real deal.” 

“And what if they steal my idea.” 

“They won’t,” Henry said. 

“How do you know?” Willam asked. 

Henry put down the blueprint and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, “cause I would never let that happen.” 

“Well, well, well.” William walked inside of a building which was still a work in progress. Wires hung from the ceilings, the tiles on the floor weren’t all the way glued together but it was already looking amazing. In the center was a wooden stage that was halfway painted red and there was a smaller stage off the left, where curtains were covering whatever was going behind there. “This looks …” 

“Dirty. Ugly. Not finished.” Henry guessed. 

“I was going to say untidy, but those work as well.” William chuckled, seeing Henry roll his eyes. “Phillip! Phillip, I found him.” 

“Hello? Hello?” A very tired voice came out from the darkness. A younger man than the both of the pair standing in the darkness came out, rubbing his head and had a red mark and indentation of what was a shirt on his cheek. 

“Fell asleep again?” 

“Maybe?” The man, who had two different eye colors, looked at William. William had never seen such eye colors as his before. One was a dark brown that almost looked black and the other was blue. But the more William stared, the more uncomfortable the man seemed to get. 

“Don’t stare.” Henry whispered. 

“Oh sorry.” William quickly looked away. 

“It’s fine. You must be Afton, Emily’s friend.” The man held out his hand. “Name’s P-P-Phillip C-Comber.” Phillip said through a yawn. “But everyone calls me the phone guy, cause I sit by a phone all day.” Phillip answered the question that was about to arise. 

“So you are the one with the plans, let’s see them.” Phillip rubbed his hands together. William chuckled as he took out his bag, putting the blueprints on the only table that was somewhat brightened by the sun peeking through an open window that wasn’t covered with a black tarp. “These are amazing. You did this?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Jeez, you should have told me this guy was smart, he could have helped me on my college applications.” Phillip laughed. “Freddy Fazbear … cool name, how did you come up with this one.” 

“We were …” William chuckled at the memory of Henry and him so sleep deprived that they started to name off stupid names that people name their children, laughing as if they were drunk when Henry had said Freddy Fazbear. “It was a tiring week.” 

“Ah yes, sleep depravity, I can understand. Well, I think we are in for a great business. I really like that name. What do you think about: Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.” Phillip said the name of the building while putting his hand in the air. 

“I think we are in for a great partnership.” William smiled, holding out his hand for Phillip to shake.

“Thank you so much Mr. Afton. You will not regret this.” Phillip shook his hand gingerly. 

“Call me William, kid.” 

“Hey, I am not a kid. I’m officially twenty-one years of age.” Phillip pointed at himself proudly. 

“Yeah, your still a baby.” Henry patted Phillip’s head. 

“Stop, you guys are like parents.” Phillip pushed Henry’s hand away to stop him from ruffling his hair. “You guys are both insufferable.” 

“Trust me, you have seen nothing from us.” Henry smiled. “Now that I got my partner back, the world is in for a real treat.” 

“Just when I thought my migraines would go away.” Phillip said. 

“Daddy!” Lizzie jumped into her father’s arms. William grunted as he wasn’t able to pick up his daughter anymore since she was already too big. “I made a friend!” 

“You did?” William looked to Henry, who smiled, happy for Lizzie. “Who is it?” 

“Her name is Charlotte, but she goes by Charlie. Isn’t that cool. We are sisters now!” Lizzie smiled as she waved over to a girl with darker hair, but it still somewhat looked similar to Henry’s. Odd, didn’t Henry say that he had to call someone named Charlie? There must have been a lot of Charlie’s around here. But when she had caught the eye of Henry, she ran up to him, hugging him around the chest. 

“Wow, what a coincidence. Your daughter and mine, being friends.” Henry chuckled. 

“You have a kid?!” William almost sounded surprised and a bit … upset? Why was he upset? 

“Well yes and no. I adopted Charlie, I never actually married because well … reasons.” Henry whispered, breaking eye contact with William. He didn’t question it, he remembered how Henry was so adamant about not getting married at all. So, he just accepted it as Henry was lonely. 

“Dad?” Charlie looked up to Henry. “Can me and Lizzie have a sleepover tonight, please?” Charlie asked as she pulled on Henry’s arm. 

“Well, me and William do need to go over a few things, so sure. You don’t mind, do you, Will?” Henry asked him. 

“Not at all, Lizzie does need friends other than her dolls.” 

“You have dolls?” Charlie asked, almost excited. 

“All the American Girl Dolls Historical Collection.” Lizzie said proudly. 

“Can I see them?” 

William smiled as he walked past the stairs to see the two girls laughing while they were playing some kind of game. Michael was sleeping in his room, where there was no need to worry, since he slept like a log. William’s heart almost had a heart attack when he saw Michael sleeping with Evan, Evan’s finger wrapped tightly around Michael’s pinky. But for good measure, he closed Michael’s door, so the loud laughs of the girls wouldn’t wake up Evan. 

“I remember all the memories in this house.” Henry smiled as he sat in the kitchen. “Remember when —” Henry burst out laughing. “When you tried to impress that girl outside your backyard in the forest. You tried to climb that tree, and you fell.” Henry covered his mouth as he tried to keep a laugh when he saw William’s unamuzed expression. 

“You thought it was funny, I wanted to kill myself.” William smirked. 

“Yeah, I did think it was funny.” Henry laughed. 

“It’s funny.” William looked back to the living room. “All the good memories of this place always had something to do with you.” William looked back, thank goodness the light was too low for William to see Henry’s face turn bright red. William looked too good in this lighting, Henry really wanted to hit him for that. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, you were the best thing that ever happened to me.” William smiled. “Cause if it wasn’t for you, I would never be alive, I would have never had an amazing family. I would have never been able to see Michael grow up. Lizzie to take her first steps. To hold Evan in my arms for the first time. Hell, I wouldn’t have been married because of you. How did you do it?” 

“Do what?” Henry asked, he was starting to shake. He felt so nervous yet happy at the same time. Why did William always make him feel these things? 

“Save my life?” 

“I guess I like fixing broken things.” Henry smiled. William almost stopped smiling, he seemed surprised by what Henry had said, almost taken aback of what he had said. 

“Oh, well then you are going to love me.” William said back, tucking his thumb and index finger underneath his chin, biting his lip.

“Oh god, not this again.” Henry pushed William’s face away from him. “I thought we were over this.” 

“You thought wrong, my good friend.” 

“You are such an idiot.” Henry laughed, which made William in turn laugh. “So how long are you planning on staying here?” 

“Maybe until I get enough money, but I think California has nothing left for me. Maybe I just need to heal.” William sighed as he played with his fingers. 

“Well, I am glad that you are back, it makes the world a little less lonely.” Henry put his hand on William’s, his skin just as warm as Henry remembered it to be. 

“Well, you make my world a little less dark.” William smiled, he found himself staring too long into Henry’s eyes. “So, we have a guest bedroom, you want to stay there.” 

“Sure, but if I see you not sleeping, I will knock you out.” Henry pointed at William.

“Point taken, message received, and advice ignored.” William smiled. 

“William!”