Chapter Text
It was hard when he was missing for the past five years.
Evan had taken most of Mike's things, his jacket, the mask, even some of his clothes. He despised Mike a little after his incident, but he didn’t want him gone or missing. Mike missed his thirteenth birthday, something that Evan, even through the bullying, wanted Mike to attend. Elizabeth was also struggling, probably the worst with his disappearance.
Liz refused to sleep in her room, and stayed in Mike's bed, sobbing her eyes out into her pillow. Sometimes she’ll punch it while crying and shouting how he shouldn’t have gone missing, how he missed all her recitals and how he missed Evans plays, how she needed him for her fifteenth birthday because they were going to go shooting and then the candy store like they planned all those years ago. She would shout til her voice had gone hoarse, then just stay silent to cry. Evan would find her like this and join her, holding her for comfort as he let the tears silently fall onto the lone pillow that would hold memories of their older brother.
An alarm beeped on the bedside. Evan eventually opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling before reaching over with a very shaky hand to turn it off. The room was still very dark, William had gotten blackout curtains to help Evan sleep easier, and when Liz had asked to move into Mikes room with him, he couldn’t help but say yes. The loneliness was driving him insane, and he knew she was hurting as well. So, when he turned his head to see Liz buried in one of Mikes hoodies and snoring away, he decided against waking her up and got up on his own to leave her be, after all, it was the most peaceful she looked after Mike disappearing.
He exited the room to the strong smell of coffee, and what he presumed to be was eggies in a basket, with the strong smell of toast and eggs filling the hallway, as he walked down to find his father fixing items on the table. The house usually looked like a mess, purely because William was a working man, which meant there would be mindless scribbles of his new ideas of animatronics, possibilities of new locations, things like that. Evan hated how quickly his father moved on from Mike being missing. He knew they fought and didn't have the best relationship, but the way he acted like Mike never existed broke his heart, and made him resent his father a bit.
Like he was sensed, William had turned his head and adjusted his glasses to see Evan standing next to the couch, glaring at him.
“Oh! G’morning Evan, I see you’re up earlier than your sister.”
“..Yeah, She’s not doing the greatest.”
“I can tell. After you two had moved into Michael’s room, you and Elizabeth refused to let me touch it. Are you sure you both wouldn’t prefer if I moved some things out or painted the walls? It can be y-”
“Why are you talking like that.”
“..Like what?”
“That. You’re talking about Mike like he’s dead when he’s just missing! It’s like you want him to be dead and for everyone to move on!”
“Now Evan, you know that’s not true. I have to keep the company going, I can’t leave Uncle Henry in the dust like that because my eldest son has decided to up and leave. Your brother has always been brash, and I’m sure he’s fine.”
Evan had opened his mouth to speak over his father, but William had straightened up his back and continued to speak once noticing that he was about to bring up anything regarding Michael, not giving him the chance to voice his concern.
“I have to pay for the house, the car, and food for you both that you barely even touch. I do wish you both would sit down and eat a proper meal with me. His disappearance has been hard on me as well, but I have to support you both as well.”
Evan had stood there and stayed quiet, staring at his father while taking in everything that was said. He did understand that William had to work and make it easier for them, but it still didn’t answer his question in full. But he saw the look his father had, and as much as he wanted to raise his voice and shout how it didn’t make sense, he decided to let it go and turn to walk away.
“Hey, champ, I’m cleaning out some things from my room, so it looks like a mess right now, but I want you to go in there and pick out something you want. Maybe it’ll help distract you?”
That sentence had stopped Evan in his tracks, standing there for a moment before turning his head to look towards his father from the corner of his eye.
“..anything?”
“Anything, just as long as you leave something for your sister as well.”
“..okay..”
He had left once William seemed to return to his work on the table with the tv softly playing. He couldn’t get that venomous look out of his head, the way it looked like his father was going to sock him like he would with Mike. I guess due to his frontal lobe being messed up, he couldn’t feel the strong sense of fear he used to back when he was younger. Now he just thought of his father in heavy disdain.
He had wandered until he was in front of William's room. Evan had thought on the offer, thought of turning it down, thought of it again-
And little did he know, he was in the room that looked like a hurricane had come through. Usually, he doesn’t allow himself near it due to how unsettling it is, to have a flurry of memories come through of when he was simply a toddler, running in here to his mother and hugging onto her tightly. He shook his head and looked through the mess, he didn’t see a lot of things that could’ve interested him, in reality, it all seemed to be Elizabeth’s interest. New plushie designs, structures for the new buildings, building blocks representing where everything would go, a shimmering notebook under lots of papers, a phonebo-
Wait.
Notebook.
Evan had reached and grabbed it, flipping through the book and its pages to see what was written in it. First few seemed interesting, it had notes from both William and Henry, talking about their Fredbears Family Diner, then the next one being Freddy Fazbears, and it went on about how their business will boom with the kids.
He sighed over the concept designs until he flipped the page. A brand new concept called “Circus Baby’s”. He saw how the animatronics looked and knew they were not Uncle Henry’s design, but more so William's own designs. They were more sleek and metal coated, and they looked like they came straight out of a horror movie. Evan had heard footsteps coming as he closed the book and shoved it inside of Mike’s jacket, shoving his hands in the pockets and acting nonchalant over it.
William had peeked into the room and decided to speak up first.
“So, have you found your pick yet?”
“Yeah, I uh.. I’m taking this-”
Evan had reached down and grabbed a paper that had concept designs of Fredbear and Springbonnie, looking at it closely to make a guise of him taking only one thing.
“Your first designs of Fredbear and Springbonnie..”
William's face had lit up, grinning from ear to ear as he stepped in and knelt next to Evan, looking at the concept with him.
“I wanted a more sleek design with Fredbear, so he and Springbonnie could match, but Henry suggested the more cuddly look with him, so I decided to go with it, especially since it had almost a perfect split with the kids on who was who’s favourite. I think they ended up pretty well!”
Evan gave a nod, almost pretending to listen as he let out small curious noises to keep him going. William had stood up and ruffled Evans' hair affectionately, having started to walk away.
“I believe your sister is up! Why don’t you go ahead and let her know she can come get a prize, alright?”
“Okay, dad..”
As he walked off, Evan had shoved the paper into his jacket pocket and scurried off to Michael’s room, knocking on the door gently as he did, to hear Liz’s hoarse and muffled voice on the other side of it.
“Come in..”
Pushing the door open carefully, he peeked in to see Liz slouched over, her hair was a mess, she hadn't washed it in a few weeks due to her depression getting to her badly. She was clutching Mike's hoodie close to her chest, Evan could barely see it through the cracked light from the blinds not being shut all the way completely, but he knew she was silently crying to herself. She got better at crying quieter and quieter, until she didn’t make a sound anymore. Evan had stepped over and sat on the bed next to her, reaching to pull her into a side hug.
“..I miss him, Ev.. he was supposed to be here.”
“I know Liz.. I miss him too”
Liz had turned her head into Evans shoulder, silently crying into it while he just held her. He thought about the photo sitting in his pocket and carefully pulled it out to not disturb her, putting it on the bed in front of them and shaking her ever so carefully.
“Hey Liz, dads letting us pick out one item from his room since he’s rearranging, and I picked out two things just.. cause, yknow, and look what I got..”
She lifted her head slightly to look at the drawing, sniffling as she pointed.
“Hey look.. that guy almost made me into an only child..”
“Oh my god- Liz!!”
“S-sorry..”
She sniffled more while laughing, Evan joining her and leaning against her.
“I’m.. glad it didn’t take you away from me..”
“Yeah.. I’m glad, too..”
Evan sighed, before reaching into his jacket and pulling the notebook out.
“But that’s not what I wanted to show you.. before we do that-”
He hopped off the bed and scurried towards the door, opening it to flip the sign that says “STAY OUT” in sketched words obviously done by Michael going through his edgy phase, closing the door and locking it as well. He ran back over to Liz and sat on the bed again, flipping through the pages while she simply looked at him like he was crazy.
“Look at this, it’s a completely new location that was built five years ago, and nobody talks about it!”
“Wait. Five years ago? That’s exactly when-”
They both looked at each other, only now in sync.
“Mike went missing!”
“Mike went missing..”
Their eyes widened before they turned to stare at the notebook again, looking at the intricate map that laid out the sister location.
“Evan.. you don’t think..?”
“I think so.. look, the location itself looks hidden! Why does it say it's around the old location of where Fredbear Family Diners is??”
Elizabeth had reached for the notebook and turned the page, what she saw immediately made her cover her mouth as her cheeks puffed up full of vomit, trying to swallow it back down and holding in her coughs.
“Liz?! Liz, what's wrong?!
Evan had reached for the notebook and saw what she did, his face dropping in horror. This fear he hadn’t felt since he was younger had gripped him like an old friend holding you in a tight and uncomfortable hug. He dropped the notebook on the bed as his breathing picked up.
Inside the journal was a blueprint of what seemed to be Freddy and an open crevice in his chest, and what seemed to be a dead child contorted in very weird ways to fit in the Freddy model. Elizabeth was covering her mouth while sobbing, staring at Evan as he was taking in the information. He slowly turned to look at her. It started to click in his head.
The way William reacted to Evans' questions this morning, the way he would tell them to not worry about Michaels whereabouts, why William wanted to act like he never existed, why things were so weird whenever Mike and William were in the same room until he had gone missing.
The way Williams shirt was slightly a tinge more redder than usual that same day Michael never came home.
Evans' eyes started to leak, before he had started breaking down, Liz pulled him into a hug, petting him and trying to comfort Evan.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Maybe we’re just overthinking it! M-maybe everything w-we’re seeing has already been handled by Uncle Henry and– and Michael’s still alive, right? He’s a fighter, he has to be alive- he has to be.”
Liz sounded like she was trying to reassure herself more than she was trying to reassure Evan. Who could blame her? Here they both sat, staring at their fathers work notebook, of a blueprint for this unheard of location that was built the same time of Michaels disappearance, for a Freddy model that was designed to kill children that could fit in it.
He had to be alive, right? Michael’s a fighter.
Evan had to slowly recollect himself. They couldn’t panic now with their father still in the house. They had to calm down and collect themselves. They don’t know if William could be listening to them through the door. He gripped onto Elizabeth, holding her close as a grounding as her breath hitches. She was relaxing a bit into Evan, as they both stayed as quiet as possible, Liz could have sworn she heard footsteps walking away from their door. Once it was just pure silence that was deafening to them both, they let out a soft sigh, hugging each other like they were the last lifelines they had. They might as well be.
They had slowly let go of each other after a few minutes, turning to that horrid page once more. They could only sit in that uncomfortable silence until one of them broke it.
“What should we do now?”
“What’s our plan?”
They both sat there, having that moment where when you speak over each other, you simply just wait until the other speaks up again. Evan sighed and opened his mouth to signal he was going to speak, and Liz had nodded to him to let him know to start.
“I think. We should shower. Properly wash these clothes and then we can plan afterwards. I think we need to look into where this place is. The authorities aren’t gonna help us. And neither is our father. We need to find Michael. This is the closest we’ve ever come to knowing where our brother is.”
“Alright.”
“I’ll shower first since my hair is shorter than yours, can I trust you to wash our clothes in the meantime and I can dry them?”
“You got it, Ev..”
“Alright. We’re coming for you, Michael.”
Evan had reached for the notebook, and gave it a solid smack closed.