A/N:

Get ready to embrace the darkness.
If anyone notices better grammer/spelling in this chapter, then go ahead and thank BadPinkUpLines for beta-reading! °D°

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Phone Guy was brewing coffee as the laughter began. Panicking he ran towards the room he had left to Mike for the night, fearing that something was going wrong in there.
The younger man was sitting on the bed, clutching his temples and laughing maniacally. Together with the scarred skin on his head, he appeared like a horrendous human-experiment and the toothy grin only worsened the impression.
"HEYA PHONEY! WELCOME TO THE LOOP! WHERE EVERYTHING HAPPENS AGAIN AND AGAIN! I'M TONIGHTS HOST, THE WALKING DEAD MAN, SURPRISINGLY NOT THE ONLY ONE AROUND!"
Almost violently Mike jumped up and for a second he appeared as if he came to strangle him, but instead PG was grabbed by his wrist and twirled around, making him fall backwards onto the bed.
"Mike, what has gotten into you?! What happened yesterday? Why where you even there?!"
"Oh, you know!" He put the hand in his pockets, still wearing the bloodied clothing from yesterday, snickering like mad. "The usual! Sneaking in to party with ghost, just to be BACKSTABBED by those kiddens, who apparently thought it would be nice for me to follow their gruesome fate, getting springlocked, you know, severed limbs, drowning on my own blood, pierced through every vital organ I have, just to be saved AGAIN by my FAVORITE serial killer, who suddenly goes haywire as well and is all high and mighty, "Mr. Schmidt" this and "Mr. Schmidt" that and acts like a fucking cunt! And now I'm AGAIN at your house, doing the same fucking thing like last time, making me think that this will never stop until I go ahead and kill some toddlers by myself!"
Worried Simon stood back up, trying to calm him down. "Mike... Please, pause, just a minute... sit down and tell me about the springlocks."
Grinning while staring into nothing, Mike slammed down and buried his face in his hands, at least the mania in his voice had died down. "I told you I wouldn't be there, because I didn't want you to come look for me. The children had invited me to their last party, we celebrated in the saferoom. It was supposed to be their goodbye, so I took it quite seriously. We had cake, music and played games. It was fun. But well, apparently they had decided that I was more part of their group than I realized. Suzy ripped out part of my suit, the Fredbear suit that they asked me to wear before. Gary probably wanted to warn me... argh, doesn't matter. Suzy didn't rip out enough, the suit was still going strong and Orange came in, probably trying to save me and would have succeeded if it had targeted him instead of me. It didn't and I say it, because while going insane she turned into that nightmare abomination. After almost finishing me off it attacked the Orange, who turned insane as well and ate it through a mouth in his throat. YES. THROAT. Began coughing like mad after asking me if I wanted to end it now, began choking, cut his throat open to get rid of the black goo that the monster had left inside of him. Did I forget anything?"
Phone Guy would probably blink in confusion, but he only had a dial, so he simply stared.
"Ah right! Orange turned into that weirdo I've seen before, I thought it was a hallucination, but hell, now apparently the psycho is possessed by some WORSE psycho that talks as if he pisses knowledge and that I hate FAR MORE than the orange piece of shit. He told me about a guy that impressed him... William or some shit. He said you might recognize the name."
"William? Uhh... I mean I know... Mike, l-let me first process this! S-so you say you died..."
"I was literally and I mean LITERALLY completely impaled. If you think I managed to survive that by other means than tell me, I'd DIE to know!"
"Okay, I get it! Let me just..." Now he mirrored Mike's pose accidently. "The kids tried to kill you...?"
"Facial recognition."
"What?!"
"Facial recognition!" Impatient he repeated himself. "The Toys, their ability. Facial recognition and connection to a criminal database. Maybe our old models didn't knew what they were doing, but they knew it perfectly well. They knew the Nightguards weren't their killers, but they killed them anyway. They didn't fucking care at all."
Sympathetic Simon patted his back. "It's hard...
"Hard? It's fucking shit. It's like saving someone's life, just to realize that they are a FUCKING serial killer! I mean, that's pretty fucking accurate, I'd say!" After saying that, he did something that almost made Phone Guy's heart stop.
He leant onto him, completely tired.
"Now tell me, who the fuck is William?"
"U-uh... W-william... uhm..." Desperately trying to focus, he focused onto the scars on Mike's arms, scars that were slowly becoming... thinner...? "U-uh... okay... William..."
"Simon, are you malfunctioning? Do you need me to punch your head until it works again?"
"NO! S-sorry, I'm just... confused... William, right? I only know one William and he's called William Afton, owner of Afton companies and former co-owner of Fredbear's Family diner, together with Henry Miller, who-"
"Ah...AHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAAA!" Mike stood up, walked towards the next wall and began to bash his head in.
"MIKE! STOP!" Quickly he grabbed the man, who's forehead was already bloody, eyes glowing dots. "Don't h-hurt yourself!"
"HE TOLD ME! HE MOTHERFUCKING TOLD ME! THAT MOTHERFUCKER LOOKED ME STRAIGHT IN THE EYE AND T O L D ME!"
"What?! Who?"
"Purple Guy. Vincent-Dave-piece-of-shit, the king of cunts, the visual aids!"
"HE? William Afton?!"
Mike fell back on the bed, groaning. "Or maybe not, but I'm pretty fucking sure by now. I mean, first piece of evidence! He told me so and that's right his style. Secondly! He knows the robots more than everyone else. A fucking GUARD couldn't know that much!"
"Wait, you're serious? The business man and two in a century talent? That freak?"
"Can you google a picture of him? That would settled it."
Five minutes later they stared at the pictures.
"Welp. You want to tell me you can't see it?"
"You mean the purple skin, the psychotic smile and the glowing eyes?"
"Nah, fuck that, I mean the pose. OF COURSE THOSE FUCKING THINGS!"
"I... I maybe should have googled pictures of that sooner. Okay, William Afton fakes his own disappearance, just... to work at Freddy's? Why- I mean, his restaurant was sold after his partner died, but..."
"Partner? Henry Miller, right?" He quickly scrolled down and stopped.
Black eyes, black smile.
What a cunt.
Hopefully his death was painful.
Death.
Yeah. Death.
And somehow he came back.
And somehow he possessed Orange.
Henry Miller.
Mike stood up and powered the computer down aggressively. "What a waste of time."
"Huh?"
"What does it do? I mean, look what does it help that we now know his name? He fucking chased me around, he fucking fooled me. He made me believe that I would gain something from knowing who he is. But I don't."
The way Mike talked made Simon pause and wait for him to continue.
"The only important thing is getting rid of him. Getting rid of everything. We need to stop the cycle, Simon."
"U-uh... Mike, what are you planning?"
"Simon." He stepped towards him and grabbed his shoulders. "I don't need to know who this Henry Miller is to know that he's not supposed to be here and to know that he's the worst."
"You... don't need to know...?"
"We have to end it now. No more playing nice. We'll get rid of the animatronics, we'll get rid of the child murderers and then we will be on the run! Or something. As long as we destroy that fucked place, I'll be happy."
"Mike... they will come for me."
"And I will protect you. I promised we would both achieve our dreams and we can't while we are caged!"
It was odd to see Mike's fired up in this way. Not in the usual destructive hateful way, but pure energy to create. To do.
"A-are you serious?"
"Yes. Now, let's get going. How can we kill them? Slicing their throats won't CUT it!"
"Ahhhhh... Mike... don't...."
"Sorry, when I'm stressed, my attitude to stupid wordplay PUNdamently changes. It's actually the only way to keep myself sane."
"Mike, I- ... I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm actually going to fight Freddy's... with... with you. Freaking heck..."
"Simon, you're free. SAY IT."
"A-ah... I don't really..."
"SAY IT."
"F... fffff..... F-f-f..." The next words were a silent murmur. "...fucking h-hell..."
Mike snickered. "Cute."
"C-c-cute?!"
Realizing what he just said the Guard burned up as well. "I- I mean- Whatever, let's go! We have to come up with a plan and prepare a trap, so we should be at Freddy's early!"
Rushing outside, he almost forgot to put on his shoes.
Needless to say that they didn't managed to come up with anything until Jeremy wandered in, glowingly happy hugging his Marionette. This made Mike perk up.
"Jerry! Can I borrow your nightmare- the Marionette for a minute?"
"Uh... of course! But please, be nice to each other..."
In its usually snake-like motion the Puppet freed itself from the hug and followed Mike to a corner.
"You were right, Marion."
Oh, really? What a surprise.
"I'm sorry."
Shocked the being paused.
"I know you wanted to help me and I was an asshole. But now we have a real problem and I need your help."
My help...?
"Henry Miller."
In an instant Marion had his claws exposed.
How do you know that name?
"He's back."
HOW?
"He took control over Orange. But don't ask me how, rather tell me how to get rid of them again."
We need to act NOW. Henry is a force to be reckoned with and the longer he gets, the more likely he will be able to win the fight, no matter what we plan.
"I'm ready when you are, but how can we kill something like that? I SAW HIM SLIT HIS OWN THROAT."
Burning him is the only option. There is not one single piece of the body allowed to exist, or he might regenerate.
"Burning?"
We have to use the gas pipes.
"No problem, I can wreck them whenever needed. What about the animatronics? Can we burn them alongside?"
For a heartbeat, Marion hesitated, but ultimately nodded.
"Good. Let's give them the day, so no one else gets hurt and maybe, hopefully, the firefighters need longer to get here."
A day might be enough for him to regain control!
"Do you want to burn Jerry?"
... Fine. We need to find a reason to get him into the main hall. I will take care of the rest.
They nodded at each other, finally on the same page. A hint of kindness were in Marionettes next words.
Thank you for working with me. I should have told you what the children were up to.
"You know, I don't fucking care anymore. I already dealt with playing nice with that one guy who tried to kill me, so as long as you help me ending it... results are right now all that I care about."
I'm... somewhat surprised we're on the same side in the end.
"So am I. I'll go prepare the pipes, see you this evening."
Marion returned towards his friend and wrapped himself around him. Dreadful.
"Was Mike nice, or should I talk to him?"
Sorrowful he inspected the boy. After getting rid of Afton, Miller, Orange Guy and saving the children he would have to... leave...
Leave him behind, wondering if he would be fine on his own.
Quickly Marion shook those thoughts off. He couldn't afford being worried about someone else than the kids, or he would might be stuck here forever.
No, no... we had a nice chat.
"About what?"
I'll tell you shortly before closing time.
Time passed and Marion watched the children, the guards and the humans carefully. So, this was it, huh? The last day in this wrenched world. He hadn't really... expected that. But it would be better on the other side.
Hidden inside of the backpack, he peeked at Orange Guy.
Indeed he was acting strange today, his body was twitching at seemingly random intervals. William stood next to him, apparently without any energy of himself. It was almost pitiable.
This was his last day on earth. Not only for William Afton, Orange Guy and Henry Miller, but for him as well.
The last time to be in this restaurant. Hearing this somewhat stupid, but nostalgic in this context. Seeing the customers walk and talk.
Seeing anyone walk and talk.
Maybe.
And before he could even come to terms with the situation, the customers began to leave and Mike gave him a sign.
Marionette softly tugged on Jeremy.
Let's go into the office shorty, I have to tell you something.
"No problem!" Walking towards the office, he carefully listened to Marion's pleas.
About the children that could be freed with fire, a fact he had known already.
About Henry Miller and William Afton and how important it was to get rid of them.
About freedom.
Of course, there were those abomination that called William their father, but... it was questionable if they were even able to be saved.
Jeremy had silently listen and nodded from time to time. After the Puppet had finished, he smiled.
"No. I won't let you do that."
What?!
"We won't kill anyone. We aren't bad people, Marion. We will help them change instead! And the kids, don't they need their names to be freed?"
What... what do you mean? I told you about Henry! We have to end it now! And the names would only make it easier, they aren't obligatory.
"No, Marion. I won't help you kill anyone and if you keep trying I WILL stop you! Death is not the answer!"
Jeremy... I'm sorry.
"Why? I know you just want to help, but it's-"
The Marionette clawed into the neck of the young man.
"I'm so very, very sorry." His arms hanging dead by his side, he moved to the outside. Henry was having a conversation with Mike in front of the stage, but unexpectedly William had wandered off.
Well, this body would give an easy solution. Slowly he stepped towards him, trying to play Jeremy as convincingly as possible.
"Mister... uh, Dave, would you mind take a look at this?"
The Purple Guy followed him, surprised. "What is it?"
"The suit in the saferoom... it moves."
Grinning he rushed forward. "Oh, REALLY? That's new!"
"I think Fredbear wants to do something!"
Mike shortly paused his own conversation as Jeremy touched his shoulder and whispered into his ear. "Take the Phone Guy and leave, after you ripped the gas pipes open, but make sure you let Jeremy out before you close the doors." Louder he continued. "Mr. Orange Guy, w-would you mind come along as well? You two seem to know those old animatronics best..."
"I was just having a pleasant conversation with Mr. Schmidt, I would prefer-"
"No, I have to go now anyway. We have later time to talk." Mike's sour expression made it obvious he didn't really wanted to.
Slowly Mike stepped back, waiting for them to vanish around the corner. Now hurrying back, he ripped open the gas pipes.
Phone Guy was standing next to the front door, ready for the big plans and Jeremy came bolting into the main hall, stumbling as soon as the puppet removed the thin metal connection between them.
"Hey, Jeremy, he didn't moved at all!" Dave skipped out of the backroom, accusingly.
No. I lied.
Menacingly the monster floated in the middle of the room, claws exposed and ready to fight if necessary. In one of them he held a lighter.
"Hey, what's going on here, boss?" Freddy came up, making Henry realize the situation in a split second.
"You ungrateful kid."
But before he could move, the puppet activated the lighter.
At least he tried to.
Henry began laughing madly at the sad attempts of getting the plan to work. "Your fingers are too thin to create the friction needed to handle this kind of task. Despite that I applaud your effort, if you find solace in that."
Mike, who had caught Jeremy, looked up, his face contorted with anger, yet before he could stand up to take over, Dave had his gun out and pointed at him.
"You might won't die, but you'll be pretty paralyzed if I get a good hit. So don't."
Henry smiled smugly. "Marionette, please do us all a favor and crush the item in your hand, or we might have to eliminate every being around here capable of operating this tool and that would be a shame. Ten seconds or we will start with the boy."
Reluctant the animatronic clenched it in his fist and let the scraps fell onto the ground.
"No..." Phone Guy stepped forward.
"William, put away your weapon, they complied after all. It is time to return home."
No one said a word, not even the animatronics.
But Phone Guy kept walking until he stood in the center of the room, his fists shaking. "I said no."
"You did indeed. Yet I am unable to percieve any sort of importance inside of this word, as it lacks any context."
"I'm the manager here. This is my establishment and there... there is something I should have said to you a long time ago."
"Is there? I am currently listening."
"... FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKING CUNT OF LITERAL DECAY, I'M SICK OF YOUR SHIT!"
Completely shaking the manager clenched his head a little, trying to ignore the constant beeping in his head.
"Why do you do this? Now I will have to order a new version of you... what a hassle..."
"AH?! YOU DO?! I DON'T FUCKING CARE! YOU KNOW WHAT, I WILL DO THAT MYSELF FOR YOU! BUT BEFORE THAT, HERE'S A CALL FOR YOU!"
He began dialing in a number, while an unimpressed Orange Guy yawned. "Please refrain from screaming, my ears are in perfect condition and I would prefer to not ruin that."
High pitched error noises sounded almost like laughter and Mike wasn't sure if he should be proud of the insults or panicking because of their failure.
Slowly and in the absolute silence almost deafening, the dial began to roll towards its end. "You know where the fuck it's from?!"
Uncomfortable Dave stepped back, feeling that something was wrong with Phoney.
"STRAIGHT FROM HELL!" With that he ripped off his receiver.
The bare cables laid open, exposed to the gas.
Henry couldn't even do as much as widen his eyes in realization.
"RING, RING, MOTHERFUCKER!"
The cables tried to send the signal so the receiver would ring, but the electrical impulse found something else.
Lots and lots of inflammable gas.
BOOM.
Fire and heat engulfed them quicker than expected, almost making Phone Guy unconscious.
The ground shook under a second explosion and some parts of the roof already began to crash down. Dave had grabbed his friend's hand, leading him towards an escape route, but the animatronics who had picked up on the plan blocked the way. Even Bonnie stood by their side.
Fire cleanses the soul.
Everyone knew that.
And if the soul was so rotten that it couldn't sustain itself... it was destroyed.
"AND THUS YOU SACRIFICE YOUR OWN FRIEND IN THE END!" Henry screamed at the Marionette, grinning his black, hateful grin. His eyes flickered dark as he moved an arm upwards. "So be it. I should have known better, but at least we all will go, my dear, old friend."
The ceiling broke down onto Jeremy's body and while Mike reacted quick enough to not get their heads bashed in, it landed on his leg, making him break down.
Panicked the Puppet stood by their side, picking up Jeremy, while Simon was helping Mike up.
In a desperate attempt Marion tugged on the door, a door that had been locked all of a sudden.
Smirking Orange Guy stood in between the flames. "Never been to a haunted house before, I see. Foolish acts without careful plotting leads to an unpleasant end."
In a sudden and violent way Phone Guy grabbed a metal bar and handed Mike over to the Marionette, to step towards the taunting man.
"Shut the fuck up, or I will press your face personally into a pile of burning trash. No, that wouldn't be enough... before you die, I'll shove this metal so far up your ass, you'll choke on it. What did your mother fuck to get an abomination like you?" Ignorant of the smoking coming from his sizzling skin he grabbed the bar tighter, his whole body radiating with determination.
"A-an eggplant." Dave grabbed his friends arm and dragged him away, his eyes showing a hint of real worry. With his other hand he petted the shaking animatronic in his pocket.
Poor Alice didn't deserve this, but at least she was keeping up bravely, sending the signal he told her to use.
He needed to get them all out of here as soon as possible.
Marionette tried to free the room towards the backdoor, feeling himself melt little by little.
The heat and flames bit into the fragile cables his body provided and he knew he wouldn't make it.
He had been wrong.
So wrong.
Henry laughed and laughed outside and inside of his head, Henry was inside of his head and laughed, laughed, laughed.
"MOVE MIKE! I BEG OF YOU!"
Terrified he turned around, Mike was breaking down again and again, his leg probably broken, while Phone Guy was denying himself to move faster than his friend could. He had thrown the bar away and instead using his arms to support Mike.
Another explosion shook the building, he could almost see a bit of the outside.
At least it ended now.
His machinery broke down, so close, he was so close. The other exit, the backdoor was so close to him, Jeremy, Jeremy, move!
Jeremy, I'm sorry, I didn't knew you would be out so long, please Jeremy, please MOVE!
Failure.
What a failure.
No way out. At least there was no way out.
End. End now. It hurts.
There was one last chance, at least for his only friend.
With his last bit consciousness, he touched Jeremy's shoulder.
R
I
S
E
Suddenly he lost touch.
The monster.
The monster played her music and smiled. Gracefully she bowed down.
"I will help you."
She picked him up, touched him, corrupted-
Save him.
"My pleasure." Jeremy was picked up under the other arm.
The cooling air slowly took him away.
Saved by the thing he wanted to destroy.
At least they wouldn't be able to get to their creator. Let this be the end.
I beg, don't let it all be for nothing.
He had killed them all.
He had freed the souls. Gave them the opportunity to go to heaven.
End it.
A giant explosion ripped apart the night, shaking the ground.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star...
Oh I wonder how you are...
Sleep.
No.
They were alive. The monster was humming her tune, the monster, the monster...
Voices.
"I-I got s-some! L-let me bring, bring, bring them o-out!"
"Where is father! WHERE IS FATHER!?"
The Marionette smiled. It was done.
Sirens in the distance.
Fire in the back.
The merged monster had arrived and laid down Mike and Phone Guy.
Well, he had kinda preferred if they had burned for their fair share of sins, but it wasn't the worst.
The murderer were finished.
That was all that counted.

They were stuck inside of the main hall, machines in front, fire in the back.
Henry tsked.
What an inconvenience.
But at least this gave him the opportunity to claim more of this body.
The thoughts of his host were almost exclusively fixated on getting William out safely and apparently it was willing to work as meat shield, if it would be the only way.
Pitiful creature, lacking any other purpose. At least it found its fountain of happiness in his partner, giving them a form of... mutual interest.
Dragging William, who was slowly passing out due to the carbon monoxide poisoning, he managed to reach the saferoom, before his creations could make their way towards them.
Dutiful he closed the heavy door.
This would keep them safe.
Not interested in continuing to inhabit the suffering body, he returned back into his more comfortable place and smiled as the orange being returned to his natural persona. Silently he used the time to find a way out. After all, it could not be healthy to a corpse to be roasted.
Suddenly another more alarming thought came to his mind.
Carbon monoxide was able to get rid of the connection between soul and body.
How could he forget that?!
WHAT AN IDIOT HE HAD BECOME!
Old Sport clenched Dave panicked into him, curling around him as if they were in any further danger. "Dave, it will be fine, don't worry! We will survive this, we'll go out, we..."
The Purple Guy held his hand. "Heh, you said it. A little smoke can only make us better, right?"
"I wouldn't call myself smoking hot, but it's getting closer... I feel like a piece of meat. Probably because I am." Suddenly he began to cry. "I don't want to die! I DON'T WANT TO DISAPPEAR!"
"Sportsy... we will go to hell, teach the devil a lesson for throwing me out and return afterwards!"
"I CAN'T! I DON'T HAVE A SOUL! IF THIS BODY DIES, I'LL BE GONE FOREVER!"
"But... we don't die that-"
His old partner stopped. At least he had read his notes carefully.
Henry thought quickly. William could survive, if it was his connection and if it was not over a prolonged period of time. But his new body would be ruined.
What an inconvenience.
They had one shot. The animatronics had stopped moving, so they would not threat to obstruct their way.
It was laughable easy to once more overtake the lackluster consciousness of his victim.
"We have to get out of here, immediately, or it is our end. Move!"
They exited the saferoom and Henry led them the beneficial route. Obedient the souls connected to the walls changed it around, always giving a small space to slip through.
He was getting dizzy and nausea crept up into his paining body. The fire was the least of their problems.
Incoherent screeching came from the machines as they saw them escape. They rose, losing limps in the processes, but determined to finish the job. They would not be satisfied, if only they were left to burn.
Leaving for peace was not enough. It was a copout.
But they were not fast enough.
They exited the building, right as the fireman began their job.
William's children had hidden again, wisely. Only Circus Baby was peeking around from time to time, relieved when she saw them escaping.
Scanning the area he searched for the culprit of their misery
Ah, there he was!
That brat.
Slowly but surely his grip onto the body was slipping.
And it was all HIS fault.
Henry lowered himself over the puppet. "Good day to you, Charlie. How was school?"
It screamed in horror and made a pitiful excuse of an attack. The man only needed his backhand to catapult the broken down animatronic against the next wall.
"How unforeseeable. You have not learned one bit. Fighting me? In MY establishment? You should have known better. Your operation failed and you panicked. As the young child that you are, you acted carelessly, stupidly and only harmed the ones who loved or at least accepted you. If this would have been the end, what would you do? Rotten, poisonous, downright evil. But what you fail to realize, this could be your strength. Raise anew, my child and use your potential to the fullest. Good and evil are not categories, they are sources of energy. Remember... I never wished harm upon you, I simply worked to release your full potential. Now is the time to accept my gift."
Smiling he watched the black, smooth fabric turn into a liquid, dripping out of its eyes.
His job here was done... now he only needed...
Coughs sounded through the area, as the youngest of the Guards raised. He was not the first however, as Phone Guy somehow was sitting upright, leaned onto the wall, talking to the yet unmoving Guard of the establishment.
Henry saw no benefit in continuing talking and decided to leave, before his host body could react in a negative way. It was obvious that the soul infused with the blood desired to return to its friend-
Almost startled he found himself attached to his partner again in the same second as he thought that. The Orange Guy panicked looked around and sat down next to them, pressing against William tightly.
Jeremy crawled towards the puppet, picking it up and hugging it, ignoring his own sore, paining body. "Why did you do this?"
Nothing, except hysterical sobbing was his answer.
"Why?"
The machine in his arm began to ooze more black liquid. It twitched and changed, raising and falling again and again, teeth, longer than before, showed themselves in the deranged face.
I failed! FAILEDFAILEDFAILEDFAILED!
Noises came out of it, but they stopped making sense. It were only high-pitched, breaking tones as the thing began ripping off its mask and violently opening its chest, ripping apart cables and metal, yet somehow still not breaking down.
Eat them, I will eat them, I will eat, eat, eat all the souls, I will be, be, be stronger, stronger than the monster, I will eat the monster-
The barely conscious Mike watched in dazed horror, as the young kid's soul began to grow and change, as it fused with more than just the mask, gaining claws and maybe even multiple arms, breaking out of its back.
Mike couldn't really see it, but he could feel the same dread he felt with Suzy. There was no way Jeremy would survive Puppet's changing.
But as Jeremy clutched him closer, it stopped.
"I forgive you!"
Even if Mike didn't agree with that statement, he accepted it, as long as it kept the Marionette from becoming... that.
The abomination of a soul struggled with itself, ripping into it, lightening and darkening again and again.
HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?
"Because I forgive you."
STOP!
"You made a mistake, but you didn't mean it."
PLEASE, STOP! I MEAN IT, STOP NOW OR YOU'LL REGRET IT!
"If you give up now, you'll never be able to redeem yourself."
REDEMPTION IS A LIE!
"NO IT ISN'T! I CAN HELP YOU!"
I TOLD YOU TO STOP!
The Marionette ripped his claws across Jeremy's face, blood began dripping downward.
"KILL ME IF IT MAKES IT BETTER! BUT PROMISE ME TO NOT GIVE UP!"
STOP, STOP, STOP!
Another attack followed, but weaker than before, it barely pierced the skin. Loud crying was audible.
I want to go home! I want to give up! I want to go!
"Don't give up! I'm still here for you! We saved the other souls! WE DID IT!"
I'm so sorry, I'm s-so, so sorry, I wish I had never done this, I d-didn't want ANY of this, I wanted to save them-
"And you DID! They are free!" Jeremy snuggled the fragile spirit. "It will all be alright. I promise."
How can you... DO this? I wish you wouldn't! I HATE YOU!
"There's no reason to be angry. I'm still here, we managed to do good and you... we can't change the bad things anyway, what good would it do to hurt you even more?"
WOULD YOU SAY THE SAME ABOUT MY MURDERER?
Jeremy's expression was hard as steel. "Yes. But, the difference is, I'm sure you won't do it again. If I would believe that the murderer was deeply regretting his action and never do it again, I would give him the same treatment. But, murderer often are impulsive in their actions and so I would have to keep them from getting an opportunity ever again."
You disgust me.
"Maybe. I don't care."
I'm sorry.
"I accepted already."
Silently sobbing Marion curled into himself and let Jeremy pet him.
Mike felt Simon holding his hand, anxiously counting his pulse. If he had destroyed the fucking puppet, this would all have been fine. This was his fault.
Dave and Old Sport were also leaning onto each other, almost asleep.
Slowly the Guard began to feel his body again. "What... what happened?"
"We almost died."
"Okay, this is worse than last year..."
"Thankfully an animatronic with an air missile arrived and made us another exit."
"I don't really believe you."
"Welp, I don't give a frick."
"Fuck."
"Right, fuck."
"We survived."
"We always do..." PG's word were uncertain, there was a soul crushing amount of worry on his mind. "They did too. In the end it was all for nothing."
"We aren't down yet. Also, if you haven't noticed, Old Sport at least appears somewhat normal again. Glowing eyes and shit. I'd say we at least didn't fail completely."
"You just say that to make me feel better about blowing my only chance save SOMETHING. I should have pushed that orange ass personally into the fire."
Afterwards they were brought to the hospital, all except of Dave and Old Sport, who went home together with the Funtimes.
Baby took Dave's hand. "You scared me, father."
"Life is never boring with us, am I right? What were you even doing there?" Grinning already again, he grabbed Old Sport's hand, happily swinging them back and forth, knowing that whatever it was brought his best friend back.
"Alice send us a warning... Father, the puppet... what is wrong with it?"
"It's what happen to kids who chose revenge over joy."
"How... sad. Can't we help him?"
"It's too late... I'm just as disappointed as you, Baby."
Old Sport kept watching the glowing sky, but his grip was strengthening. "We could be so happy."
Surprised his friend returned the warm pressure. "We will be. There's nothing that can stop us."
"Promise me! We will be happy, together."
"I swear." Smiling widely, but somehow shyly looking on the ground, Dave increased their speed towards home. "We're closer than ever before. It's actually good that the place burned down, because now we will be able to give our kids the spotlight they deserve. This time it will be OUR pizzeria under our rules."
"Phoney will be fired though."
"Not if I give him a great success to show off. Despite his swearing and irresponsible acting, I will give them an offer they can't decline... and if I do that, we'll have him in our hand. Not to mention that I REALLY owe him something..."
"Maybe we should just run away..."
"Do you want to?"
"No. I want to have my home here."
"Then we will make our home here and if we have to force it."
They entered the house, everyone exhausted and ready to rest. In half an hour all lights were off and peace flooded the rooms.

It was four o'clock when Mike woke back up. Since not much damaged was done to him, a miracle as all the doctors kept repeating, he was allowed to go home... maybe they believed he could sleep better in his own bed.
The darkness in his room crept into his mind. There was a pair of footsteps.
Did someone break in? Because he would KILL whoever it was. Without regret.
"Stand up! Follow me, we don't have much time! Hurry!"
It was a child's voice. But none of...
"Did you know that people can be born with too much soul? You weren't born with one, but you still know that feeling. Being born with too much soul usually hurts somebody. The worst case it that the soul manifest itself in more personalities. People who are born like that are very sad."
Mike had clothed himself and left his flat, rushing. The child at the bottom of the stairs was far too quick for a normal human, but the footsteps and voice echoed accordingly.
"My friend explained it to me! My friend is the smartest person in the world! He wrote a book, just for me! But he's also pretty scary..."
Snow began falling, miniscule crystals in the air, as Mike tried to hunt the ghost.
"I'm really bad at making friends. All life, I only managed to make two. But it doesn't stop me from trying! I tried to make me five friends. But they never liked me back."
The ruins of the pizzeria were in the distance.
"But, I still want to help them. Maybe one day, we will be friends. Oh. We can't. How unlucky."
The kid stood in the middle of the ash. Around it were clean patches, where something had been moved away from. Or moved away by itself.
"I'm sad. But that's fine, they never liked me anyway. They will be angry. Hey, Mike, take a look at your own friend tomorrow. I know you also have a hard time making friends as well. We don't want him to kill himself, right? Right!" The kid nodded at himself.
"Wait, killing himself?"
"My friend always said that if they don't manage it once, they should never be allowed to try again."
"Who are you?!"
"Ahaha, silly Mike! I'm simply a hallucination! I'm an amalgamation made out things you already know and I was created to remind you to check if they are still around! Which, well, they are."
"No, you are..."
The kid turned around. White eyes, white smile.
"Please don't tell Henry I was here." Despite his expression not changing, his voice sounded pleading. "I'll get going now! Bye!"
Mike was alone in the ruins.
The animatronics had moved away.
But to where?
Children. Burnt, hurt and angry. Vengeful and terrified.
Where could they go?
They didn't know where their murderer was.
Mike tried to use his crumbled up empathy.
I just was kicked out of my house. My mind is ten, my body is basically unstoppable.
Where did he go, when he ran away?
Away from humans.
...
He wouldn't find them.
Cold, the realization seeped into his being.
As if on a magnet, he went deeper into the broken building and opened the saferoom.
Both suits were still lying here.
Golden Freddy watched him.
"Why the fuck are you still fucking fine?!" Out of an instinct, Mike almost went over to kick its fucking head in, but he became too tired.
Tomorrow is another day.
Well, it's already morning.
...
He should visit Simon.

In a distance a silent clicking sounded, out of the darkness shined a few pairs of glowing orbs.
The mechanical clicking grew louder and came from changing locations, as the orbs moved, illuminating darkened metal and destroyed fabric.
The puppet had been wrong. Fire alone may was enough to split the soul from the object, but... it's been so long.
They had followed their leader and merged too much.
It was the most painful experience a soul could go through, being violently torn apart.
They needed more.
Not much.
Why didn't they get their cake?
The party never started.
It didn't feel like freedom. It felt like hell.
Home.
If they found their home, they would be able to leave.
Maybe someone would be waiting there, with a present and hot chocolate, telling them it was all a bad dream.
The man standing in the ruins began to leave.
They knew his face, but their shattered thoughts couldn't recollect anything more.
Follow me.
There is a secret party!
And you are all invited.
So they followed the man with the familiar face.
Waiting to be lead to their party they were promised so long ago.

------------------------------------------

A/N:
Did I ever mentioned I hate my story-telling? Should I rewrite this complete chapter, or can you live with this clusterfuck? Or should I rather pretend as if this is a carefully planned out cliffhanger, leading into the next "arc"?
I think I might shouldn't activate so many story events at once, but I can't help it :/ Please don't disown me.
BUT HEY, WE'VE GOT THE IGNITED ANIMATRONICS THAT I LOVE SO MUCH! (Or at least I'd imagine their design this way, because they're cool as fuck)