Chapter Text
“Mommy? Mommy?”
“Hello there, little one. Are you lost?”
“Spring Bonnie! Yeah…I can’t find my mommy.”
“Don’t worry. I just saw her, follow me. I’ll take you to her.”
“Thank you!”
You sat up in bed. “Don’t go…”
“An actual nightmare this time, I see.” You heard Mike say and found him standing in front of his window, watching the sun come up.
“Memories, actually.” You amended. “Why are you up?”
“I didn’t have a good night either.” He showed you his arm which had a red handprint the size of his own hand. “Father, this time. Those are always the worst.”
You shuffled across the bed and gently took his arm into your hands, caressing the fading mark. You knew how painful William’s hold could be.
“He won’t hurt you ever again.” You promised.
“I know. We have a plan to ensure that.”
You deflated, remembering said plan.
“Today?”
“Today.” Mike said and held out his hand. “Shower with me?”
You took it and followed him in, turning on the water and letting it warm before entering. For a moment, you just stood there, letting the water cascade down your bodies.
You were not going to lose Mike.
You wrapped your arms around him and he did the same for you, both of you pressed together in an embrace. You let yourself start to relax in his hold, the warmth of his body bringing you comfort.
“I trust you.” You whispered to him. Words far more meaningful than an ‘I love you’ could be in this moment.
“Thank you.” Michael held you closer, genuinely grateful.
You both stayed like that for a few minutes longer until the water started to cool and you began your shower.
Once clean you both got dressed in Michael’s Fazbear uniforms. He didn’t have one specific for Afton Robotics.
“If anyone questions us, just show them my chest.” You joked. “You're just returning property.”
Mike gave you a suggestive look. “Property I own.”
And fuck if that didn’t just melt your brain right on the spot.
“Yeah.” You breathed.
You could learn to like the branding if Michael helped you disassociate it from William like this. If it meant you were now Property of Michael Afton.
“You know, I own Afton Robotics now, or whatever’s left of it. So I guess that means I own you too, huh?”
“You’re so easy to get worked up.” Mike teased you and you scoffed.
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“You just know what buttons to push. And you keep playing with the psychotic ones.” You warned him.
“Look, just because I want you to feel equal to me doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy how absolutely wrecked you look when I get possessive.” He countered.
You just huffed and loaded your belt with tools, Mike doing the same.
You could almost swear you could feel the souls inside you churning, as if they knew where you were going.
Home.
Will William really follow you there?
“I’m ready.” Mike touched your hand gently, pulling you out of your thoughts.
You follow him silently to the car, dread and excitement mixing together inside you to form a cocktail of buzzing discomfort.
The entire car ride was spent in that same silence, your mind and gut churning with each mile you covered, crawling closer and closer to the Afton household.
You weren’t the only one tensing up either, Michael’s knuckles had turned white from gripping the steering wheel so hard.
“You haven’t been here since I died, have you?” You asked him, finally breaking the spell the past had placed you both under.
Mike shook his head. “Too many memories. Too much pain. Mom, Lizzy, Evan…you.” He cleared his throat as you made your way deeper into the woods and towards the abandoned house, paved roads turning to gravel. “Father hated that sound. Tires on stones. Swore he’d get it paved one day. Never did.” He commented.
Father.
You swallowed, dread creeping over you. You couldn’t help the feeling that this was not going to end well.
“I can feel them.” You whispered. “Pulling me closer. Taunting me.”
Mike snuck a look at you. “I won’t let them take you.”
You closed your eyes with a nod, keeping your response to yourself.
“You may not have a choice.”
Michael parked the car in the driveway to the old Afton home. Overgrown but by no means dilapidated. At least, not yet.
You both got out.
“Are you ready?” Mike asked and you scoffed.
“Are you?”
He shook his head and you nodded. Both on the same page. You entered the house together, looking around at the state of it. The couch where Mike fixed your broken nose, the bedroom upstairs where he’d dream of you, the bathroom where he helped you removed William’s tracking chip, and the bedroom…the bedroom where William fucked you; the bedroom where William killed you.
Mike took your shaking hand in his.
“I’m sorry.” You whispered and he hushed you.
“You don’t need to be. Not here, not with me.” He sighed. “I’m scared too.”
You nodded and slowly started to lead him towards his father’s office. Inside, then to the bookshelf to reveal the secret entrance.
“All this time.” Mike breathed angrily, squeezing your hand just a tad bit too tight. “She was right here. It was all right here.”
He let go of you and stepped through the door, a red light activating before a robotic voice came through a speaker.
“DETECTED: MICHAEL AFTON. PLEASE PROVIDE PERMISSION FOR ENTRANCE.”
Michael looked at you. “I need fucking permission? Are you serious? This’ll take ages to hack…” he grumbled.
“Maybe…” you mumbled and stepped into the scanner's range beside him.
“EXPERIMENT DETECTED. WELCOME HOME [Y/N AFTON]. PERMISSION ACCEPTED.”
The elevator doors opened and you both stepped through.
William had programmed his security system to accept you as a figure of authority, enough authority to give Michael permission to enter. Why would he do that? He would’ve killed you if you’d ever shown Mike this place back then. It didn’t make any goddamn sense. AND not to mention that he’d changed your last name to his like a creep!
“What the fuck is this?” Michael asked rhetorically, shaking his head. “He classed you as a fucking experiment. Dick.”
“Prisoner would’ve been a better word for it.” You muttered and realized that Mike was about to witness not only the truth of his father’s horrors but also where you’d been kept, where you’d lived for a year while at his father’s mercy.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened to reveal a sealed off entrance and a small vent. The robot voice started talking to Michael again and you tuned it out while he agreed with it that he was a new employee so it wouldn't fucking kick you out.
You took the time to examine the blockage as well as the vent. It did not look pleasant, to say the least.
“Fuck! I can’t type on this shit!” Michael grumbled and you looked over to see the robot had dubbed him as ‘Eggs Benedict’.
“I think it suits you.” You shrugged and he glared at you.
The robot told you to crawl through the vent. You went first. The vent took you past all of the experimentation rooms and luckily, also your jail cell, then spit you both out in one of the controlled rooms with eyes on two of the animatronics stages.
“They’re here.” You told Mike, staring out the left window.
The place smelled of blood and oil. At least the animatronics seemed to have moved the corpses of the employees killed during your escape. You were glad Mike didn’t have to witness that.
The robot voice started speaking again, eventually telling you that you needed to shock Ballora to get her to appear on stage. Mike reached his hand towards the button but you grabbed it, one hand on his arm, the other on your neck where the shock collar had been.
He looked at you. “I have to do this. We need to know where they are, the layout.”
“No…” you shook your head. “Please, Mike, it hurts. It’s so painful. You’ll make yourself a target.”
You could hear the whispers already.
“Afton.”
“Afton.”
“Afton.”
Anger. Fear. Rage. Confusion. Vengeance. And the deep rooted desire for freedom .
Mike turned to you and removed your hand from your neck and put his own there in its place. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”
“But they can hurt you.” You argued, pleading with him. You did not trust this robot. William programmed every word it said. He wanted you to shock the animatronics, to anger them so they’d come after you and kill you so you could never reveal the truth of his creations.
“Trust me.” Mike said and you melted. “You promised.”
You did promise. You let him go.
Michael pressed the button and you flinched. He pressed the light and there it was, Ballora. You’d luckily never interacted with her, only Funtime Foxy and Funtime Freddy. She didn’t feel quite the same as the others. You didn’t quite feel a connection to her like you did them. You shared souls with Foxy and Freddy, you weren’t entirely sure about Ballora and Baby. There was a small connection to Ballora, but nothing with Baby.
You knew that was because Baby was possessed by Elizabeth and not the remnant William had injected into the rest of you.
Mike turned to the next stage. “Do you feel him at all?”
Him. Father.
“No.” You shook your head. “It’s hard...this place is swarming with torment. I can feel it clawing at my insides.” You scratched your neck, looking around nervously. “But I can tell he isn’t here at least.”
Mike nodded. “Tell me if that changes.”
“I will.” You promised him. “He can’t sneak up on us.”
The robot told Michael to shock Funtime Foxy but you grabbed his wrist before he could.
“They saved me.” You blurted, memories from that day resurfacing. “Foxy ripped my shock collar off, recognized me as her own, and led me to safety.”
You had thought Foxy would end your life…but they showed you mercy. And in return, you’d fled without them and never came back…until today, that is.
Why weren’t they scrambling to kill you? Were they truly that afraid of the controlled shocks? Surely not, even you hadn’t been able to be controlled by that shit when you were emotional. You would’ve taken any amount of pain just to get at William Afton. Why were the Funtimes not showing a similar animosity towards you? It didn’t make sense given their animalistic nature…
Of course, unless they’ve evolved, learned, and grown over the last ten years.
They’re planning something.
A wave of dread washed over you as Mike hit the button. Twice.
Michael scoffed at Foxy’s appearance. “Another pink one. Foxy the pirate was so goddamn cool and he just threw that theme away for some fucking reason.”
“We should go.” You pulled on his arm. “Regroup, rest and come back tomorrow.”
“You want to stop now?” Mike noticed you were shaking and his expression softened. “Okay. We’ll take a break.”
You nodded your thanks and he led you out of the building, the music from Ballora’s stage slowly and ominously fading away.