Chapter Text
“It’s over” Michael spits, looking into his father’s animatronic eyes and lighting the match.
“No one else gets hurt.”
He says, unsure of if it’s directed to his father, or himself, he lets out a final breath as he drops the small flame. The spark screams into a flaming roar, as the gasoline sets alight.
Fire, pain, and relief washed through him, screams of his father echoing out into a calm, quiet, nothingness.
Could he say he was happy as he was dying, remnant leaving his body?
Happy to have defeated his father?
Happy to have freed the trapped souls?
No. This didn’t feel like a victory.
It only felt like another day.
TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY
Darkness, aches, and dread. That’s among some of the first few things Michael experiences when his eyes open again.
The air is filled with moisture, it smells vaguely of ash and mildew. He vaguely makes out his surroundings.
It’s too dark to see most of the area, but he thinks the area resembles what his father's old workshops used to feel like. Full of metal and creepy as shit.
Is this what is waiting for him on the other side? Some dark basement?
Hell seemed a lot more full of fire in the pictures.
He thinks he’s been through hell already.
This feels more like… low budget purgatory.
A bright beam of light coming from above and a familiar yet very sudden rattling of vents breaks him from his thoughts.
Michael suddenly wishes he had his old flashlight with him. It always had a habit of not being there when he needed it the most.
“Who’s there?” His purple eyes dart as he tries to use the newfound beam of light to orient himself. He sees endoskeleton parts. He feels sick to his stomach.
Did he have a stomach? He should be dead. More dead than before.
“You aren’t the creepy bunny lady right?” a young boy’s voice calls down.
He sounds too young. Too young to be in a place filled with endoskeletons. Just like his brother, just like Elizabeth.
“A yes or no would be nice? You can even give a maybe if you aren’t sure.” Michael slowly blinks, thoughts still racing.
The voice calls out again, the beam of light moving as if looking for something. It must be coming from a flashlight. The light catches him, the ladder leading down from the vents crashing as it lands.
“There you ar- “ the boy's face comes into view, he looks about Evans age, Michael thinks. his eyes turn the size of dinner plates.
“ZOMBIES???” Michael instinctively whips around, looking to where the boy was yelling.
“Where?” He panics before realizing the last time he looked in a mirror his face was peeling off. Now he just feels stupid. The child was referring to him.
“Wait…are you not the brain-eating kind of zombie?” The kid sounds almost disappointed, flashlight drooping as he starts to climb down the ladder.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Michael retorts. "But no, I don't eat brains."
The kid pauses for a second, before speaking again,
"You're dead and British? Man, you couldn't have just picked a struggle?
Michael's eye twitches slightly. He got more than enough shit for being British in high school. "I think being dead outweighs the being British in the horror factor."
The kid's feet hit the ground, and he starts walking towards Michael. "Dude, with everything I've seen today, zombies are low on the list. British people however-"
Michael pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs, "Look, can you just tell me where we are?"
"Oh. We're in the Pizzaplex" the kid says, as if that is a totally normal location that everyone is aware of.
"Alright, that's... fine. How do we get out of the Pizzaplex?", Michael feels a pressure building up behind his eyes.
"I dunno." If there was a wall to smash his head into, Michael would've done it long ago.
The kid suddenly perks up "But I do know someone who does! Cmon, I'll take you to meet Freddy!" He climbs back up the ladder.
Michael lets out a silent prayer that there is someone, preferably an adult, at the top of the ladder, who is coincidentally named Freddy.
As they reach the top of the ladder, the first thing Michael notices is how neon everything is. Michael was raised in the 80s, so he knew what your average roller rink looked like, but this? This was outrageous.
The second thing Michael notices is the giant animatronic bear walking towards them.
If there is a god out there, he has long avoided looking in the Afton family's direction.