the sun is fun, the land is dandy
i only talk to dogs because they don't understand me
my teeth are yellow, hello world
would you like me a little better if they were white like yours?

Vundabar
Alien Blues

Last chapter babes! I hope you guys have enjoyed the ride!

I'll be spending the next few weeks finalising the layout of the sequel and editing out those pesky mistakes that's riddled through aimmn lmao!

I'm not sure when exactly the sequel will be out but if you want to stay up to date with things, I post regularly about my progress on my discord! We do have a title though; Blood in The Wires. Keep an eye out! :D

I'm still so humbled by the amount of attention this silly lil fic got - on wattpad, ig, ao3, and tiktok! The arson is my middle name tag is bearing on 1mil views which is bonkers 😭😭 you guys are so cool and creative, I'm so lucky to have such amazing readers! I love you all so so much xxx

Aimmn has been SO much fun to write and explore the characters, and it's only really getting started! I can't wait to dive into the sequel as well as the spin offs that'll be coming after ;)

Enjoy the final chapter! Toodaloo <33

Sam :)

  The day was cloudy when I woke up. It matched my mood. It matched the mood of the call Michael and I had shared the night before.

  The sky was mourning the loss of our friend just as much as we did.

  I had a restless sleep, tossing and turning through the slow hours that chugged by, turning the sky darker and darker until dawn broke night's vigilence. Every time I closed my eyes I would see Bonnie in his torn-apart state. Every time I managed to sleep, I'd have nightmares of Michael in the same position.

  I tapped on the watch a couple of times throughout the night when it got too much, just to call and make sure he was okay.

  "Mikey?" I would whisper into my shadowy room, illuminated only by the watch's screen. His orange bear icon would lighten when he spoke.

  "Yes?" he would reply. I'd give an audible sigh of relief before voicing the same question I asked not an hour ago;

  "Are you okay?"

  "I'm okay."

  "Are you still in your room?"

  "I am."

  "Have you seen anything weird?"

  "No. Try to sleep, love."

  Satisfied, I would lie back down and try to sleep again like how my heavy, exhausted eyes and Michael wanted me to. And yet rest would not come.

  So I meandered my house. I roamed the short hall while the TV filled the silence. I picked at the threads of my couch while my mind wandered. I sifted through the piles of Mike's old clothes that I still needed to sort through. I tried to waste away the night, but the night would not let me.

  It was a purgatory, where each second dragged over me like an hour.  

  When morning peaked its grey cloudiness through my kitchen window, I was sitting at the bench, slumped over with an untouched book beside me. A furry little head tapping against my toes was the first thing that made me rouse.

  "Good morning," I murmured to my cat. "I hope you slept well, at least."

  Cat-Mike looked up with a narrowed stare. He'd been outside, if the burrs beneath his belly was any indicator. I wondered what he got up to when he wasn't home. Causing chaos within the feline neighbourhood, most likely.

  "Oh, Cat-Mike," I sighed when I bent down to scratch beneath his chin. "I need to get you a new name."

  I topped myself up on my morning caffeine before heading out to my therapist's office. It was that time of the month again (not the period kind - the monthly therapy session kind) and with the recent death of Bonnie, I had a lot of weight on my mind that I needed Catherine's help to sort through.

  She always managed to make me feel so collected and in control. For about an hour, I guess.

  "Oh, uh..." The receptionist, Bea, awkwardly clicked on her computer after I gave my name for my appointment. I watched her fumble in sleep-deprived confusion. "I don't think... you'll be able to have a session, today."

  My brows furrowed. Catherine never missed our sessions, and if she had to reschedule, she'd usually tell me two weeks out in advance. Bea was getting sweaty with stress. She was usually so composed and calm - she had been ever since I began my sessions here.

I was beginning to worry from behind my exhaustion, and that just made me all the more tired. Between what happened to Bonnie, Monty's panic, Joey's grief and stressing over Michael in general, piling more stress onto my shoulders was the last thing I needed.

  "Is everything okay?" I asked.

  Bea shifted nervously in her seat, eyes jumping around. She leant closer towards me with an intent frown and a finger curled to beckon me forward. I shuffled in.

  "I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but you've been here for six years and..." Bea trailed off with a sigh. "Catherine was found dead this morning."

  I felt as though ice had been poured down my back. I stared at Bea in shock.

  "'Dead?'" I echoed. "Catherine's... dead?"

  Bea nodded. "They found her out by the lake. She was... she was murdered."

  A wave of sorrow crested over me and crashed down twice as hard. Catherine had helped me through so much. And while I was still climbing the mountain of recovery, she was the one who gave me a leg-up in the first place. She got me out of my deepest pits of despair.

  "Holy shit," I breathed. The young woman's eyes fell away with a forlorn sweep. "Are you okay?"

  Bea hesitantly nodded. "I'm shaken, I guess. She's the second therapist that's been found like that. And with the kids going missing?" Bea's voice lowered with a slight shake of fear. "There's something going on in this town."

  I stiffened. God, wasn't there just? Was it the same killer? Why were they going after therapists now? It was such a diversion from their usual.

  "Anyway," Bea murmured. "You better go home. The police are searching her office for any evidence they can find. They might try talk to you, too."

  I nodded slowly, woefully, weighed down even further with grief. "Thanks for the heads up, Bea. Take care."

  "You too, Y/n."

  I stopped outside the office and pulled in a deep, steadying breath. I began to really wish that I had a proper night's sleep, because all this loss happening at the same time was beginning to wear me down to the bone.

  It was almost as bad as losing Michael, and then Henry only a year later. Maybe not quite as soul-shredding and agonising, but it was up there. Catherine had been my grounding person. Bonnie was my best friend.

  I stared at the cloudy sky on the uncrowded sidewalk and allowed myself to weep.

•••••

  It wasn't my usual shift that day, but after hearing about Catherine, I had to see him. 

  My plan had been to call Michael periodically throughout the day when I knew he wouldn't be roped up in Freddy business, but I found myself craving his grounding presence in a way that a call wouldn't be able to suffice. So after drying my tears, I hoped back into my car and made a beeline to the Pizzaplex.

  Mandy was still taking the shifts when it was my break day, and given the time, I knew that they would be in the green room. Both she and Michael looked up in surprise when my ID let me in. Mandy was in the middle of polishing a scuffed mark on Freddy's shoulder.

  "Y/n?" Michael rose from the couch with his concerned, blue eyes drilled on me. "This is not your scheduled day."

  "I wanted to see you," I said with a smile. It was sadder than I wanted it to be. I thought of Catherine and felt my throat close - how could I lose two people I was close with consecutively? It was just cruel. "I... needed to see you."

  Michael fell into a look of understanding. Mandy passed by him and pulled me into a tight hug.

  "Hey, Y/n," Mandy greeted solemnly. We didn't say anything else. We both felt Bonnie's loss greatly and there were no words that could quite describe it, nor did we have the mental capacity to.

  "I can take over," I offered quietly. Mandy nodded and placed the rag in my hand before departing.

  "Are you okay?" Michael asked after Mandy left. He pulled a frown as he took a careful seat on the couch beside me. "I suppose that's... not the best thing to ask, given the circumstances."

  I began wiping the rag over the scratch Mandy was working at before. It was almost gone already, but I needed something to focus on or else I would sit and simmer in my thoughts until I got overwhelmed.

  "Better, now," I murmured with a fleeting glance his way. His worried gaze softened. "Sorry for interrupting your bestie session with Mandy."

  Michael caressed my cheek with a dove-gentle touch. "I'll always have time for you, sweetheart." I leant into his palm with a weary flutter of my lashes. "Now, what's on your mind?"

  "My therapist is..." I couldn't bring myself to say it. I made eye contact and he knew immediately, brow folding with sympathy. "They found her this morning. I was really close with her."

  "Oh, Y/n." He pulled me into his chest. I slumped there with dry eyes. "I'm so sorry. Life has not been kind."

  "When is it ever?" I mumbled.

  "When it gave me you," he countered sweetly.

  I managed to pull a smile despite the crushing weight over my chest. The endearment of his comment lightened me a little, enough to make my heart flutter, but then concern dove over me again and the moment was swept away in the flood of it.

  "How are the others?" I asked. The scratch on his shell was momentarily forgotten. I'd rather stay in his arms.

  "Lost," Michael said. His expression greyed with melancholy. "I- I do not know how to help them." He broke to sigh and his hold tightened a smidge. "I'm so lost, myself. Bonnie had been at my side every day for the past eight years, I... feel empty. It's like losing Ev and Liz all over again."

  "Mikey..." I murmured. I wished there was a way I could bring Bonnie back for him and everyone else who missed the guy, but that type of power was out of my jurisdiction. "I'm so sorry."

  He dropped his muzzle to rest on my head.

  "I'm glad you're here," he said so, so quietly that it made me choke up. "I'm so grateful you found me again."

  "Me, too," I whispered. I pulled his hand up to press a kiss to his palm. "After I learnt about Catherine, the only thing I could think about was getting to you."

  His response was to pull me closer into his firm embrace before releasing me with a sigh and gently placing me back onto the couch. I watched him as he steeled his expression in preparation for his next escapade of the day.

  "I have a party to attend," Michael said as he stood. He bent down to eye level and held my hands in his. "Will you be here when I get back?"

  "Do you want me to?"

  "What a silly question," he hummed with warmth and tapped his forehead against mine. "Of course I do."

  I smiled up at him. "Then I'll be here."

"Thank you." Michael touched a kiss to my hairline. "I'll be back in an hour."

  I held our entwined hands to my lips in farewell. It was a good idea, a very smart one, to see him. My shock and sorrow had softened in the face of his affection. I let my lips brush against his knuckles as I bade him my farewell.

  "Have fun." Bonnie would want you to have fun. He wouldn't want any of us to cry. If he was still here, he'd dry our tears and try to crack a joke just to get us to smile.

  Freddy replied with a nod. His own smile was nearly nonexistent. He left the room and I was given an hour to do anything I wanted.

  I poked my head out of the green room's door and found Monty's window still closed off. I pursed my lips. The chances of him being in there were low - he was usually booked out for the older kids' parties, and he and the others were given more to take up the slots Bonnie had. But I had to check.

  I pressed my ID to the scanner and let myself in. I was immediately met with a soft toy to the face.

  "G' the fuck away."

  The Monty plush projectile landed in my arms, leaving me to blink comically in the darkness of the gator's room. I looked down at the soft toy in my hands in surprise.

  "Did... did you just throw a plush toy at me?"

  The shadowy lump in the corner of the room grunted something low and snarl-y and turned away. I tucked the plush under my arm and took a proper survey of his room.

  Wow. It was fucked up. Fucked up massively. The couch was snapped in half, the arcade unit had been gutted. The vanity's mirror was smashed and gouges dug through the walls. The chaos was everywhere. It was surrounding him in a circle of destruction.

  "I'm turning on the light," I said, feeling like a mother with her emo teen son. Monty grunted again but it wasn't an outright 'no,' so I flicked on the lighting and washed the room in a bright, neon glow. It made everything look so much worse.

  "Th' hell ya even doin' here today?" he grumbled from his position in the corner.

  "I came in to see you guys," I answered while carefully picking my way through the mess towards him. A red eye glared out from over his crossed arms.

  "Aren' ya gonna say 'anythin' 'bout th' mess?" he snarled under his breath. "Everyone else does."

  I reached his side and knelt beside the large bot. My hand lifted and he moved away in response, so I dropped it again. His glare drifted away from me.

  "You know I cherish you, right?"

  The disbelieving in his eyes made me continue. I settled on the floor beside him and wound my arms around my knees. The plush rested beside me, the only thing not destroyed in this wreck of a room.

  "You helped me so much when I found out about Mike," I said quietly as I stared at my shoes. "Everyone else had good intentions, but you were the only one who didn't try to make me talk to him before I felt able to. You didn't pressure me into forgiving him." I turned my gaze up to find him already staring at me. "You really helped me, Mont. Please, let me help you."

  Monty's sharp glare saddened before sliding away again. He stared ahead, snout buried in his arms.

  "'Verybody thinks m' a monster," he mumbled in a voice that I almost couldn't hear. "I can see it n' their eyes. 'Fraid o' me. Again. N' Joey hates my guts."

  I dropped my gaze. "Joey doesn't mean... he was grieving. I'm sorry he took that grief out on you."

  "E's not wrong," Monty snorted pitifully. "I am a monster."

  "You're not a monster, Monty."

  "Th' sure I killed Bon," he said.

  "You didn't," I said determinedly. "Monty, you would know-"

  "B' I don' KNOW!" he snapped, body tensing so fast that I flinched. His sharp claws dug into the already scratched-up carpet with vigour, digging through and screeching against concrete. "I don' know. I can' remember 'nything from that night- I- I think ther' right, I think I killed him n' I- I don' know what t' do."

  Monty slumped just as fast as he burst, digging his head back into his arms. I didn't know what to do. I'd never seen him like this before and I was floundering trying to figure out how to make him feel better. Where the hell was Arty when I needed him?

  "Even th' girls are 'fraid of me," Monty muttered, voice echoing in the metal void of his crumpled self. "Th' only one who talks t' me now is Mike n' Arty. N' you, I guess."

  "Monty," I sighed. I shuffled closer and rested my cheek on his arm. He didn't go to move away this time. "It wasn't you. Would you ever want to destroy Bonnie?"

  His reply wasn't instant. He knew what I was doing. "... no."

  "Then why would you destroy him while blanking?" I pointed out gently. "That doesn't make sense, does it?"

  "Then wha' happened?" Monty argued. "If it wasn' me, who did it?"

  I closed my eyes. I had an idea, and I didn't like it one bit.

  I think it was Monty. But I didn't think it was him controlling himself, memory blank or no. That virus Arty mentioned before - I think the copycat killer, with all their tech expertise, had somehow turned Monty into a remote control weapon.

  They managed to control the hoard of endos. It was possible they could control Monty, too. Why, though, was unknown to me.

  "There's something else going on in this place, Monty," I said softly, hesitantly. "I think Bonnie might have been targeted. But we're going to figure it out - Mike and I. We're going to stop this."

  Monty gave me a look like he didn't believe me. The more time that passed, the more I began to think he might right.

•••••

  An unsettled routine grew over the first week of Bonnie's death. Michael would still meet me in the mornings with a 'good morning', a kiss and a coffee, but then Joey would arrive an hour later. Our private time together had shortened considerably.

  A certain quiet had fallen over the band. I couldn't be sure if it was just because the bunny used to carry so much of the conversation or if the bots were silenced by mourning. The usual warmth of their little family was gone. Instead, a grim strain was born between them.

  Roxy and Chica strayed away together more often as a subtle attempt to avoid Monty. Michael took it upon himself to spend time with him but the gator wanted to be alone whenever he was asked. The tension was palpable and it was terse. It felt suffocating just to be around them.

  Drake had mentioned that Chica, too, had developed a glitch, trying to eat food from the trash and randomly twitching. I tried not to think too hard about that.

  Instead, I tried to focus on the positives. With Joey working as Freddy's handler, I no longer had to work two jobs and the load of it had been cut in half. Sure, that meant less time with Michael during the day, but what it did mean was that the time I spent staying after hours to catch up on work, I could spend with him.

  ... that was the only positive I could come up with. But live by it, I did.

  It was one of the rare days where I didn't have much work to do (I hadn't had one of these kinds of days since before Mandy swapped departments) so I decided to spend it tagging along with Joey and Mike. The day was quiet of guests, a normal Thursday, as we hovered in the entrance of Fazerblast where Freddy would interact with the children before they headed in for their game.

  There were a few small crowds there, some waiting for the current game to finish and others speaking about the end of their own, exhilarated from the fast action. A few of the younger ones gasped in delight at the sight of Freddy and came barrelling up like a beaming, chubby-cheeked army.

  Michael fell into his role with ease, bending low to accomodate for his massive height and their stubby shortness. It was all going well until one kid, who was obviously a Bonnie fan given the shirt and the toy in his fist, looked at Freddy.

  "Where's Bonnie?" he asked with a saddened frown. "He wasn't at the bowling room."

  Joey turned away. Freddy's brilliant smile dropped and a noticeable silence passed. I pulled in a short inhale and crouched down to the kid's height.

  "He's just... resting," I said with a weary kind of smile. The little kid turned his sad eyes to me.

  "When's he gonna come back?"

  I heard Joey walk away. I swallowed sharply and willed my strength to remain.

  "... I'm not sure."

  The kid was called away by his father and I stood with a sigh. Michael followed me, straightening from the crowd of children with exhausted torture in his eyes. I wished I could pull him away from all this and let him have the rest he truly needed.

  "I'm doing fine," Michael murmured under his breath, just loud enough for my ears to hear. My lips pulled up in a crooked, awkward smile.

  "Am I that obvious?"

  "Only because I know you," he reassured. "You get a knot between your brows when you're worried, and you've been looking at me every other minute."

  I eyed the group of children. They were far away enough to miss our conversation.

  "Maybe I'm just enjoying the view, hm?" I said smoothly before my gaze drifted to him. "Ever thought about that?"

  Michael's face twisted with dry amusement before passing by to return to the children. His finger brushed against my arm as he went; a small token of affection, the only kind we could share when we weren't in private. I watched him leave for a few lingering seconds before turning and finding Joey.

  He was leant against the wall, watching the kids with a dead sort of look about him. There was none of that usual comedic spark in his eyes. I missed that spark.

  I leant on the wall beside him. We watched Freddy interact with the kids in silent companionship for a little while.

  "I still..." Joey broke to suck in a steadying breath. "I still think I'm going to turn a corner and he'll be there."

  I watched as Freddy knelt with some kids, engaged in bright, cheerful conversation. He was so good at putting on a mask. He'd learnt to create that mask for years - years before he became Freddy. It was a survival tool for him growing up.

  He didn't wear that mask around me. He didn't wear it around Bonnie, either.

  "I know what you mean," I murmured. "It's so quiet without him."

  "He was pretty loud." Joey wryly smiled. It only lasted for a second before the corners wobbled and it sank. "I'm sorry I'm third-wheeling."

  "You need to stop apologising for that," I said. I turned my gaze to him. "It's not your fault."

  Joey gave me a tiny hint of a smile. "Okay." His sad eyes remained untouched.

  My Faz-Watch gave a buzz then, startling the both of us. I lifted it to see who messaged me.

  Fuck. It was my boss. What did Dennis want and why did he have to say 'Can we have a word?' all freaky-like? An immediate, intense set of nervousness careened up to my chest and left me winded.

  Joey breathed through his teeth as he watched the screen. "Good luck."

  "If I don't come back, tell my story," I muttered. I wiped my hands down my face and began to head towards what was probably my end of days. I caught Michael's gaze just as I turned the corner from Fazerblast, and then he was out of view.

  God dammit. I tried to keep my breathing calm. Every time Dennis called me to his office it hadn't been for anything bad, but each time as I walked towards it, I wondered if he finally found out about Freddy and I and if I was getting fired.

  The sight of the complex manager's door loomed ahead. I felt my spine tighten with apprehension.

  My knuckles tapped lightly on the wood. I immediately clenched my shirt in both hands.

  Dennis opened the door to his office with a weary smile and a 'hey, Y/n. Come on in.' The look on his face made my anxiety skyrocket even further.

  "How is it having Joey help with Freddy?" Dennis asked as he settled on his seat behind his desk. My gaze kept flickering to the crowd milling about the lobby from the massive window behind him.

  "It's... good," I said slowly. I was unsure where this conversation was going - he didn't pull me in just to have an idle chat about Joey, right? "I've got less things to stress about, I guess. But I'd rather have Bonnie here."

  Dennis nodded. He, too, missed Bonnie. That sorrow on his face wasn't the forced sympathy of another managerial cog in the company machine, it was real. I forgot that he loved the bots like they were his own kids. Wasn't he the one who brought in the improved, personalised handlers for the band?

  I felt my shoulders lose their tension a bit. Someone who cared that much about the band couldn't be unreasonable, right? Maybe he was just checking up on Joey and I. It's not entirely out of his ballpark.

  "Look, kid, there's no easy way to say this," Dennis began tiredly. "But I've gotten some... comments about how Freddy acts around you from the past few months."

  Never mind never mind never mind fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

  I forced my expression to remain neutral. "What kind of comments?"

  Dennis laid his weary gaze upon me. He didn't want to be here, either. "That he's... gotten real close to you. More affectionate than he should be, and it's... starting conversations about you."

  FUCK. Oh, the want to melt into the floor and cease to exist. I closed my eyes from the unbridled body slam of shame that knocked me from my feet and catapulted me into the air. I knew we were going to get noticed at some point. It was only a matter of time.

  "This level of attachment - its unprecedented," he continued. "And I know you want Freddy to be happy but you have to stop encouraging it. His AI is too smart to not nip this in the bud."

  If this was six months ago I would've agreed instantly and pinned the blame on Fazbear Entertainment for building a robot with such a high level of intelligence. I didn't do anything, I'd just arrived, and Freddy had grown a crush. That wasn't my fault.

  But this wasn't six months ago. His AI didn't develop romantic feelings on its own, it was Michael's soul and the love he felt for me that carried through death. This wasn't something you could nip in the bud - and tried to nip it back then I did when I thought he was Freddy, only to gain spectacular failure, because he's Michael. But I couldn't tell Dennis that.

  My stomach was twisting. I felt lightheaded, chilled with sweat. He's not Freddy whose AI gained a crush, he's my Michael and we'd just found each other again. I'm his right person and he's my everything. I can't go without him again. it would destroy me. It would destroy him.

  I felt a surge of panic, fear and protectiveness overwhelm me. My head was swimming.

  "I did... notice that," I said slowly, thickly, syllables like molasses as I tried to find the right words to say without dooming the both of us. "... his AI is very smart, and..." Fuck, why did this have to be so difficult? "It's not his fault that... it developed this way, I..."

  I trailed off. My tongue had twisted itself into knots and I didn't know how to untangle it. Panic was making my brain incomprehensible mush. Dennis sat back with a sigh.

  "I'm going to be removing you from Freddy's care-"

  "You can't!"

  Dennis stopped short and lifted his gaze to me. "I can't?"

  Double fuck. TRIPLE fuck. My throat was dry.

  "I- I just think that it's..." I sighed and closed my eyes in an effort to collect myself. "Look, sir, I think right now would be the worst timing for Freddy to lose another friend."

  I peeked an eye open just in time to see Dennis soften. A little bubble of hope bloomed in my chest.

  "He just lost Bonnie," I reminded quietly. "They were best friends. He needs all the support he can get, and I'm not prepared to just step aside and leave him when he needs a shoulder."

  Dennis ran a hand down his face and looked away in deep contemplation. But I was on a roll, now, and I couldn't stop until I knew I had secured his full confidence.

  "There's... nothing going on between us," I reassured, unless you count the mind-numbing kisses and the soul-shattering sex. "We're both professionals. I mean - Dennis, it's Freddy. You think he would try something like that?"

  Yes. Yes, one-hundred percent yes and more, because it's not just Freddy, it's Mike and he's the biggest man whore if I've ever seen one.

  Dennis dropped his tense shoulders a little. "I suppose not. He does always play by the rules."

  "Exactly," I coaxed. "Besides, things have settled now, right? Freddy hasn't had a bad show in months."

  Dennis's gaze snapped to me. "His bad performances were because of his crush?"

  FULL FUCK TOUCHDOWN AND THROW ME INTO A BLENDER. I winced.

  "... maybe. It's speculation."

  But Dennis' brows were furrowing again in troubled revelation, and I could feel that confidence slipping away. I didn't want to lie to whom was probably the sweetest boss I'd ever had, but I was growing desperate at this point.

  "So, maybe Freddy went through a little emotional bump, but isn't that what Fazbear wanted the bots to be? As human as possible? That's why they gave them such smart AI, right?" I asked, because really, they should've expected something like this happening - not a ghost possessing the bots, but the bots developing romantic feelings, for sure.

  What did Moon say to me that one time we spoke? That Freddy wasn't the first animatronic to fall in love? I had high suspicion that he was referring to himself by the way he looked at Tilly when she arrived. If Moon could fall in love, then any of them could, too.

  "I did tell Freddy to stop the crush," I continued, and it wasn't even a lie. "I did nip it in the bud, which maybe could probably be the reason why he had that emotional bump. But you can't blame him for that, so please don't punish him now for- for feeling something his AI was inevitably going to one day feel. That's not his fault."

  Dennis shrugged in agreement to that. It made sense. I'm so fucking glad I could speak half-truth bullshit well enough to be convincing.

   "And-"

  "Okay!" Dennis broke my flow with his hands raised in defeat and an amused smile. "Okay, you've convinced me. Keep doing what you do, and I'll see what I can do about the rumours going around."

  I gave a sigh of relief that I didn't realise I'd been holding. My body felt sore from the sudden loss of anxiety, but I did it. I was so sure that we'd be separated in some fucked-up version of Romeo and Juliet, but we were saved.

  "Quite the speech," Dennis said with a small chuckle. "I knew when I hired you that you'd fit in well here. You sound like me when I was pledging to keep Monty from being decommissioned when I was band manager."

  Respectfully, sir, I'm going to kill you for putting me through this. My heart was racing as if I'd just ran a marathon. I felt for the chair behind me and finally allowed myself to sit, mentally drained.

  "I thought I was going to lose my job," I whispered.

  "Goodness, no!" Dennis leapt to reassure, voice pitched in shock. "Anybody can do the work, but few people truly care about the band for the characters they really are. You can't teach that."

  I dropped my face into my hands and released a heavy breath. Dennis reached over the desk to sympathetically pat my shoulder.

  "Sorry, Y/n," he said with a kindness to his voice. "I'm glad this has been smoothed over, though. I was really beginning to worry. I'm just thankful you're both okay."

  He's not okay, though. Not really. Not with this copycat killer replicating his father's movements and his best friend being brutally murdered. I lifted my head and settled myself.

  "I have a question about Bonnie." When Dennis nodded his head for me to go ahead, I pulled in a deep breath. "We can rebuild him, right? We have his chip, so all he needs is a body."

  Dennis looked pained. "I've asked the board that exact same thing." He turned his seat to the side and rubbed at the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. "We have spare parts, but the rest is going to be really expensive. Too expensive, and with the stock prices dropping and lower sales, I don't think the board will green light it anytime soon. And until we find out what happened..."

  He trailed off. My throat tightened.

  "What if we don't find out?" I asked.

  Dennis' frown deepened.

  "I'm sorry, kid," he said quietly. "If it were up to me I'd rebuild him in a heartbeat. Everyone here would. But we don't get that choice... has Gabby mentioned Roxy's glitches?"

  "What?" My eyes widened. "No..? This is the first I've heard of it."

  "Ah," Dennis hummed. He stared at his fingers tapping on the wood of his desk. "She must've kept it from you after Bonnie..."

  "Maybe. What's wrong with her?"

  "She keeps seeing things that aren't there," Dennis replied. "And her attitude - it's gotten worse. It's like she's paranoid, now."

  My heart sunk. Oh, Rox.

  "Gabby says nothing's working, and with Chica and Monty malfunctioning too, we might have to think about an AI reset on the whole band."

  I didn't like the sound of that. "What would that do?"

  "Think of it as a factory reset on your phone or laptop," Dennis explained. "If it's a bug from a glitchy update, then a full reset will get rid of that bug."

  "But... their personalities," I said quietly. "The things they've learnt, friends they've made from the past eight years... it would all be gone."

  Michael would be absolutely wrecked. They were his family.

  "I don't want to do it, and if we have to, it'll be a last resort," Dennis said. "I just wanted to make sure you were prepared incase we do have to go through with it."

  I dropped my head back to stare at the ceiling. This really was Murphy's law, wasn't it? If anything could go wrong, then it all went wrong, and it was all crashing around us like it was the end of days.

  "You let me worry about that," Dennis soothed. "I'll try my best. You just get back to doing what you do best, alright?"

  I nodded slowly. I didn't really want to go back to my work and pretend that this conversation hadn't entirely derailed my faith in that Michael and I could fix whatever this copycat killer was doing to the bots, but I didn't have any other choice. I was under a microscope, now, I could feel it. My every move would be watched.

  I kept my eyes glued to the floor in deep thought as I walked back to my office. With Roxy being the last bot to mention having some kind of glitch, that meant all of them had been affected in some kind of way. All of them aside from Freddy.

  Maybe I should check in with Manny and the Attendant's handlers and ask if their charges were suffering similar glitches-?

  My thought process was cut off when I bumped into a body. I glanced up in surprise just as the blonde woman flinched out of her skin with a 'Jesus!'

  "Vanessa?" The security guard stared at me with wide eyes until she managed to calm herself down. "What are you doing here? Aren't you only supposed to come in for night shifts?"

  Vanessa hesitated. "I'm... covering. Hey, have you seen a brown-haired boy anywhere?"

  My worried expression deepened. "... there's a lot of kids here."

  She grimaced. "Right, yeah- never mind."

  "Is he missing?" I asked. "Why don't you go to the front desk and put an announcement out on the comms?" That's what usually happened when a parent lost a child.

  "No- no, it's okay, I've got it," she quickly said before side-stepping me and fleeing down the atrium before I could say anything else. I watched her leave in confusion.

  It's not just the robots. Everyone's getting glitches. I wanted to ask Vanessa about Catherine, but she was gone too fast for me to get a word out.

  "I'm too tired for this," I groaned.

  I spent the rest of the day finishing off work in my office. It felt nice to finally catch up, but I itched to walk around. Spending the last three months as Freddy's handler meant that I had grown used to following him and his schedule around the complex, and now being confined to my desk felt like a death sentence.

  At least all of my work was done by the time the last show of the day was ready to start. I followed the band and their handlers down to the underground stage room and, when the bots rose to the stage, I caught up with Joey to watch the show.

  "Long day?" Joey asked over the screaming crowd below us. I rested my cheek on the railing of the balcony we were observing from and sighed.

  "You have no idea," I mumbled. He patted my back.

  The show began like normal. It'd been some time since I had the opportunity to watch one, so some of the set list had changed. But it felt... wrong without Bonnie. There was a noticeable gap where the drum set and its player used to be.

  I was so caught up on reminiscing that I didn't notice when Joey called my name. It was only when he tapped my arm did I return to the world of the living.

  "Hm?"

  "It's Freddy," Joey said worriedly. "Something's wrong."

  "What?" My attention snapped to the stage, where Freddy was... fumbling his cues. My eyes widened. He never fumbled his cues, always on beat and never putting a foot wrong. Even the shows he performed in when he was feeling his worst wasn't as bad as this.

  Was he affected by the glitch, too? Michael reassured me that he'd be alright and that it couldn't affect souls, but he didn't look alright. His body was spasming as though he was having an unstable surge of power.

  Joey winced when Freddy's voice cut into static for a split second. I caught his arm in a tight grip, heart in my throat.

  "I- I'm gonna see Elsa," I said in a strained voice. "We need to cut this show short before anything bad happens."

  Joey nodded. I took off, weaving my way through the murmuring crowd towards the stage control station where I knew Elsa was. Dammit, I just told Dennis this morning that Freddy had settled. Surely he'd know that this was the virus' doing?

  Please please please. His voice was catching and cutting, making my stomach sink further. The others were having bad malfunctions from this virus, but not as bad as this. Was Michael more affected because of his soul, or was he targeted specifically?

  It didn't matter right now. I just needed to get Elsa to stop the show, before he really broke down or something irreversible happened.

  A loud screech of feedback had me wincing and holding my hands over my ears. I looked up just in time to see him collapse like a house of cards, dead to the count. I stared in horror as he remained there, unmoving. He wasn't getting up.

  Joey rushed past and grabbed me by the arm. I stumbled along behind him with a gasp as I returned to my senses.

  "Come on!" he ordered.

  "What happened?!"

  "Does it look like I know robotics?" Joey said with a frighted look back at me. "You're the smart one here!"

  "Oh my god oh my god." My head was full of terrible outcomes and panic had made home in my chest, squeezing my lungs so tightly that I lost my ability to breathe. "What if Mikey's gone? Can a virus do that?"

  "I-" Joey looked back at me with a worried pique of his brows. He shoved open a set of doors that lead towards the stage. "I don't know."

  I fell quiet, stewing in my terror as we broke into the underground stage room just as it began to lower. Chica was kneeling beside Freddy while Monty and Roxy looked on with worry. It was like a scene from my nightmares - he was entirely shut down. He looked dead.

  Joey and I clambered onto the stage as soon as it was in range. Chica watched as I crouched beside Freddy's head.  

  "What happened?" she asked in a small, timid voice.

  "I don't know," I breathed. I began tapping his cheek but his eyes remained offline. "Mikey, you there?"

  "We have to get him to parts and services," Joey declared. "Jenkins will know what to do."

  "Oh my god," I said again, because there was nothing else I knew to say. I held my spinning forehead. Had the world always been this wobbly?

  "It's going to be okay," Joey reassured. "Look, Jenkins is on his way now."

  "He doesn't even know how to fix Monty's glitch," I stressed. "What if he can't fix Freddy?"

  "He will," Joey assured, just as Jenkins and a few other technicians arrived with stern looks about them. He held out a hand for me to take. "Come on. Worrying's not going to do you any good."

  I spared Freddy a look before taking Joey's grasp and letting him lead me away from his side. Chica and Roxy helped Jenkins grab the bear and carry him, taking him into the tunnels towards parts and services. Monty watched on, unable to follow.

  I watched him go with despair. Joey's hand squeezed over mine.

  "What if he's gone?" I whispered.

  "He's not gone," Joey vowed. "What the hell's going on around here?"

  I shook my head in defeat. It was too late - we'd stalled for too long. Now the copycat killer with the red eyes had a huge upper hand over me. They just swept out our entire force against them within the span of a week.

  I caught Monty's red eyes, peeking over the rim of his glasses. There was an emptiness to his gaze.

•••••

  "You sure you're gonna be okay?" Joey asked as he stood in the entrance of Freddy's green room, face taut with concern.

  It was a few hours after closing in which there was a chaotic rush to get patrons to leave. I didn't have anything to do with it though, as I was stuck in my office, waiting until the message that told me Jenkins was releasing Freddy from his care.

  I'd beelined it to his room when said message came, finding him slumped on his vanity chair. He didn't look any different than before, still offline, still unresponsive. I felt myself wilt with anxiety as I stared at his still face.

  "Patience," Jenkins had said with a small smile. "I've encouraged his systems to reboot but it might take a while."

  But I didn't have patience. I also couldn't leave his side. I had to be here when he woke, just in case he was confused. I couldn't imagine what it felt like to shut down involuntarily like that.

  "I'll be fine," I reassured. "I've stayed the night here before. Besides, Vanessa's roaming the place."

  Joey wasn't too thrilled but relented anyway. He cast one last look at Freddy before sighing through his nose. 

  "Okay," he ceded with a hand on the doorframe and one foot out. It'd been a long day. He was eager to get home. "I'll see you in the morning."

  "Bye, Joey."

  The door shut behind him with a mechanical hiss. I dropped my head back and closed my weary eyes, cycling through the days events. How could so much happen in such a short amount of time? I didn't even get a chance to tell Michael about what Dennis talked to me about.

  I lifted my arms to the ceiling before dropping them over my face. I wanted to sleep for a month. The emotional turmoil I'd been pummelled with by recently; Bonnie, Catherine, the glitches, Dennis' conversation, Freddy's fall - it made me want to simultaneously burst into tears and laugh. What the fuck was going on? The hits were endless. 

  I dropped my gaze to Michael. It didn't look like he was going to be waking up any time soon, and there were a couple of dents and scratches on his shell that I itched to repair. Keeping my hands busy would make the time go by faster, right?

  After taking note of which parts needed replacing, I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. He still didn't move.

  "I'll be right back," I murmured, just in case he could hear me. With a lingering look, I left the green room to retrieve the pieces from storage. Chica waved to me from her window as I passed. I waved back.

  Walking through the complex at night without one of the bots trailing along felt... empty. Empty in that large way, where it was as though the place was an ever-expanding black hole and was consuming me more with each step. The last time I walked through the maintenance tunnels without someone by my side was when I went down below and almost died to the endos.

  At the reminder of the endos, I hurried faster. I felt as though I was being watched, taken hostage by their piercing, purple glares. I grabbed my armful of parts as fast as I humanly could before gapping it back towards Freddy's room. I didn't want to be out here alone any longer than I had to be.

  I awkwardly grabbed my ID while juggling the parts and held it to the scanner. It let me in with its usual beep and I grunted as I struggled to keep a particular shoulder piece from slipping to the floor. If it got damaged, I wasn't going back to grab another. Fuck that. 

  "Y/n-"

  I looked up so fast that I almost dropped my entire haul. Wide, blue eyes watched me and I wanted to weep in relief. He's back. It's going to be okay. Michael's back and he'll know what to do. Maybe. Hopefully, because I for sure didn't have a clue.

  "Oh, thank god." My words rushed out so fast that they slurred. "You're awake. I went to grab some new parts for-"

  My words cut themselves off with a startled choke on air.

  There was a child in the room.

  Or, more accurately, there was a child halfway inside of Freddy, with one foot in his chest cavity and the other hanging limp with nothing to use as leverage, as though he were caught in the process of trying to hide inside him. He stared at me with wide eyes, face half hidden behind his arm hanging onto Freddy's chest lid. A crude look of downright fear had twisted his expression.

  The silence was so loud that it was deafening. I stared at the kid and the kid stared back at me. Then my gaze slowly lifted to stare at Michael and he stared back at me, too. The parts in my arms dropping to the floor with a loud crash of metal didn't even make me startle, though the child did wince and curl further in on himself.

  "Manager Y/n!" Michael said in his signature upbeat Freddy voice. His hands picked up the scruffy-looking kid like a cat before carefully lowering him to the floor. "This is Gregory."

  I looked back down at Gregory. He was half-hiding behind Freddy's leg and it didn't look like he was going to let me out of sight anytime soon, frozen still with fright. His grip on Freddy's hand seemed glued there.

  I watched him in bewilderment. How did this day get weirder? And it was hours after closing time. What did he do, sneak in? Where were his parents?

  "Freddy," I began under my breath, because talking normally required energy that had been shocked right out of me. "Why is there a kid in your room?"