Chapter Text
Within the city of Hurricane, Utah, a new pizza place had opened up. The company that owns the pizza joint had a very dark past with the closure of four locations due to the mysterious disappearances of multiple minors. This location marks the fifth location created by the owner of the franchise, Henry Emily. The name of this location is “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place.”
It is currently around 11:30 PM, and no one is inside the restaurant at this time of night. No one except for two individuals: the owner of the place, Henry Emily, and the night shift security guard and manager, Mike Schmidt. The two men don’t talk to each other much, they tend to just focus on their jobs. Henry is inside his locked office working on paperwork while Mike is in the security office watching the cameras and working on his other tasks.
Mike lifts his head in a quick jump as he turns to the vent on his right. He thought he heard a sound from inside the vent. Mike’s uniform consists of a yellow vest with purple accents, a mint green dress shirt, a purple tie, brown khakis, purple gloves, and purple non-slip work shoes. He is also wearing a yellow bear mask with two small round ears, a black nose, two purple circles on the cheeks, and a smile reaching from cheek to cheek. Mike is also wearing bandages wrapped from his chin to below his shirt. There’s no visible skin anywhere.
Mike brings his hand up and fiddles with his messy brown hair. The two blue dots that are visible in the mask’s eye holes vibrate with a sense of fear. He shakes his head and mumbles to himself, “Get a hold of yourself, Mikey. It’s not even midnight yet. Remember, these things tend to only get active at night.” Mike continues to type on his monitor, trying to print up fliers for tomorrow.
Suddenly, the monitor in Mike’s office starts to act strange. The screen loses its normal popups and instead shows only red static. Mike’s eyes furrow under the mask. He remembers from the previous locations that the spirits would sometimes send him messages by interfering with his equipment. Mike looks closer into the monitor and the world blinks away.
Mike finds himself in an eight-bit red lake with red trees surrounding the lake. At the end of the lake on the side opposite of Mike is a red crocodile fishing in the lake. Mike walks around the lake to meet up with the red crocodile.
The red crocodile turns his head to look at Mike and says in his static filled voice, “Right on time. I always knew you’d be one of the first to accept my invitation, Mr. Afton.”
Mike freezes and clenches his fists tight before forcing out, “Don’t call me that. I’d rather not be connected with that fucker if I can help it.” The crocodile nods his head in acknowledgement. Mike asks the crocodile, “So, what do you want? Why call me here?”
The crocodile looks at Mike and replies, “I’d like to help you. You and Mr. Emily and those young souls that need saving.”
“How?” Mike asks with curiosity bleeding into his voice.
The crocodile lets out a small chuckle before answering, “I’d rather we all be together before I start spilling the beans.”
Soon, Mike sees multiple children begin to arrive. They all have a few similar traits that they share with each other: the black holes where their eyes should be, the monochrome color palettes, the dark trail of tears running down their faces. These are the missing children that Mike’s father had murdered.
The first to arrive pained Mike to see. A young boy with a striped shirt, shorts, and short hair with a strand falling down his head. This boy was Mike’s younger brother, Dave Afton. The memories that crawl out of the ether of Mike’s mind leave Mike barely holding his composure. Mike remembers the torment he inflicted on Dave, how he scared him and teased him about his fears. How Mike and his friends lifted Dave up to Fredbear’s chomping mouth which crushed Dave’s skull like a compactor.
Mike barely got his attention back to the present when the next spirit arrived. This next spirit is of a young girl. She has curly hair that falls to her shoulders and a short puffy dress with a big bow. Her name was Susie Denver and she was Elizabeth’s best friend. Mike can remember the two talking with each other, playing with dolls, and playing with Susie’s dog, Cupcake.
Following Susie is the spirit of a young boy. He has short messy hair, and he’s wearing a striped shirt and shorts. His name was Fritz Richter. Mike will be the first to admit that he has no real idea of how his father got Fritz, mostly theories about the kidnapping and murder. Maybe William offered Fritz a toy or action figure which allowed William to lead Fritz to a private place to kill him. It really doesn’t matter how William did it, only that William did it anyway.
The next spirit is another young boy. He has short hair that has its bangs part in the middle and going down either side of the boy’s face, and he’s wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt. His name was Jeremy Fitzgerald Jr. This murder was interesting because two years later Jeremy’s father would end up in the hospital for a frontal lobe injury after one of the animatronics bit Jeremy Fitzgerald Sr. on the head.
Another spirit of a young boy appeared. He has short curly hair, darker skin tones than the other spirits, and is wearing a short sleeve shirt with a popped collar and jeans. His name was Gabriel Smith. Mike knew Gabriel in the smallest sense possible. Gabriel was working on being on the baseball team before he went missing.
The next spirit appears behind Dave with her arms folded. She has long hair tied into a ponytail, a shirt with short frilly sleeves, and jeans. Her name was Cassidy Brooks. Cassidy was different from the other spirits in two distinct ways: first, Cassidy’s death was the most brutal. From all the research Mike has done on his father’s crimes, Mike was able to deduce that Cassidy was murdered by his father by using the springlock suits. William shoved Cassidy inside of the decommissioned Fredbear springlock animatronic and allowed the springlocks to fail. Cassidy was crushed and left to bleed to death. This led to the second distinct difference between the other spirits and Cassidy, Cassidy is the most bloodthirsty of the spirits. From Mike’s many jobs as a security guard for Fazbear Entertainment, Cassidy was always the most enthusiastic to kill him.
Mike stands there in the middle of a gathering of dead children. Most of them stare at Mike with hatred. Even here in Old Man Consequences’s Lake does the anger remain. The spirits slowly surround Mike and close in on him. The only spirit to not move towards Mike is Dave who is just staring at Mike with a sad look on his ghostly face. Mike is about to book it out into the woods, but the crocodile stops the children with a simple, “Hold ya horses, youngins. This ain’t the man you're looking for.”
The spirits stop moving and stare at Mike in confusion. Cassidy steps forward to lead the spirits towards Mike regardless of the crocodile’s words when a new spirit appears between Cassidy and Mike. This spirit is a young girl with long hair, wearing a long sleeve shirt and jeans. Mike and the other spirits recognise the spirit immediately. This spirit was named Charlotte Emily in life. Charlotte… Mike remembers her, she was the daughter of Henry.
The Emily family was like an extended family for Mike. Mike can remember Charlie playing with Dave frequently. Charlie always stood up to Mike when Mike would bully Dave. It was Charlie’s good heart that helped the spirits find a vessel in the animatronics and it was Charlie’s good heart that allowed Charlie to keep her mind intact after death.
Unlike the other spirits, Charlie seemed to be the most aware of the real world. Charlie could identify people, she could understand motivations. Mike can remember times where Charlie would watch him as a security guard. He understood that Charlie could recognize him, and Charlie also knew that Mike recognized her.
Cassidy snarls with a building fury as she tells Charlie, “Get out of the way, Puppet. Afton has to pay for what he did.”
Charlie shakes her head and answers back, “Cassidy, he’s not William. I know who he is and he is not the one that needs to die.” The other spirits look to each other in confusion as Cassidy and Charlie stare each other down. Dave slowly approaches Cassidy from behind and grabs her shoulder. Cassidy turns to Dave with a raised eyebrow.
Dave whimpers out, “C-Charlie is right, Cass. He’s n-not D… William. He’s my older brother, M-Michael.” The eyes of the other spirits widen at this declaration. Dave doesn’t spend much time around the other spirits, so him standing up for someone is enough to get them to stop and listen. Cassidy’s face shifts from shock, to rage, and finally to a reluctant acceptance.
Charlie, sensing the tension has released, turns to Mike and smiles. Mike drops down to Charlie’s level and gives a weak, “H-hi Charlie, i-it’s really g-good to see you again.” Charlie wraps Mike in a hug. Mike looks over Charlie’s shoulder to see Dave slowly approaching. Dave stops right in front of Charlie and Mike. Charlie releases Mike and steps away to let the two brothers talk. Dave approaches slowly. Mike can’t hold it in anymore and cries out, “Dave… I’m so sorry! I’m sorry I was a shit brother! I’m sorry for bullying you! I’m sorry for killing you! I swear that if I could take it all back I would but I can’t. I’m just so, so sorry!”
Dave’s only response is to remove Mike’s mask. Beneath the mask is a gaunt corpse with purple skin, sunken cheeks, no eye balls (only a blue pinprick of light in the sockets), and no nose. Dave’s hands caress Mike’s rotting face with sadness as Dave takes in the full magnitude of Mike’s suffering. With this full understanding of Mike’s guilt, Dave embraces Mike and comforts Mike. Dave says, “It’s okay, Mike. It’s okay. You suffered enough, I suffered enough. No more pain, no more blame, just us. I forgive you.”
Just those words “I forgive you” is enough for Mike’s guilt that he has been carrying for the last forty-two years has finally been released. Mike, for the first time in his adult life, felt some form of happiness. The crocodile and the spirits allow Mike and Dave to hug their feelings out for a few minutes before another voice cuts through the air.
“Wow, Mike, you really became a baby after all these years,” the voice of a little British girl calls out from the woods. Stepping out from the treeline and approaching the group is the spirit of a little girl with long hair, a bow in her hair, a button up shirt with puffy short sleeves, and a skirt. Everyone recognizes the spirit immediately. This spirit was named Elizabeth Afton in life.
Elizabeth was Dave and Mike’s younger sister. When she was alive, she was a curious girl that loved pranks and games; however, after being trapped in an underground facility with only her father as company, Elizabeth became a submissive accomplice of William’s crimes. Mike can still feel the phantom pain of the scooper ripping out his skeleton and organs as Elizabeth’s ghost watches with glee.
Before anyone can say anything to Elizabeth, the crocodile is the first to smack her behind the head with his fishing rod. Elizabeth lets out a loud shout of pain and rubs the back of her head while giving the crocodile a sour look. The croc says, “Remember what we talked about young lady: you act like a brat and I’ll give ya a proper whippin’.” Elizabeth pouts sulkingly before nodding like a kid who just got caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.
Elizabeth turns to the group again just in time for Susie to bulldoze them both onto the ground in a tight embrace. Susie squeals with excitement as she screams out, “Lizzy! You’re back! Did you miss me?!”
Elizabeth pauses and looks like she’s thinking about the answer for a minute before answering, “Nope.” The smile on Elizabeth’s face shows that Elizabeth is lying, and Susie returns the smile with one of her own. The two old friends laugh and hug. Mike approaches the two while rubbing his arm in nervousness. Elizabeth pauses and looks at Mike. Her face slowly falls from her cheerful smile into a conflicted frown.
Elizabeth says to Mike, “Mike, I’m sorry about the scooping room. I thought you were Daddy.” Mike responds to this by placing his hand on top of Elizabeth’s head and rubbing her head. A smile spreads across Mike’s face.
“I never blamed you for killing me, Lizzy,” Mike says. “I only thought that you were too far gone in the animatronic to recognize me.” Elizabeth cries as she seeks comfort in Michael’s arms. Mike gladly accepts the remorseful Elizabeth into an embrace.
Another voice calls out, “Well, looks like we both finally lost it.” Mike looks over to see Henry Emily approaching the docks. Henry is a man in his early seventies with messy gray hair, green eyes, a short beard that hugs his lower jaw and a thin mustache. Henry is wearing a yellow and orange plaid shirt, blue overalls, glasses, a brown leather work belt, and brown work boots.
Mike stands and walks towards Henry. Once the two are facing each other Michael says, “This isn’t insanity, Uncle Henry, I think it’s something much stranger.” Henry takes in the sight of the many spirits. When his eyes land on Charlie he stops. Slowly, Charlie and Henry approach each other.
Once Charlie and Henry are mere feet from each other Henry whispers, “Charlie?”
Charlie nods her head and weakly says, “Hi Dad. I’m sorry I was outside on that night. I didn’t mean to, those bullies shoved me outside and stopped the security puppet from opening the door for me.” Charlie’s crying and pleading is cut short when the grief stricken Henry pulls her into a hug. Father and daughter can do nothing but cry as they finally let go of their pain.
The red crocodile interrupts the reunions by saying, “Now that we’re all together, I can begin to explain why I gathered you.” Everyone looks at the crocodile with curious eyes. Cassidy is the only one trying to act like this is all boring. The crocodile continues, “Some friends of mine are gathering people from all over the multiverse to watch each other’s stories. I want to invite you to this event so you may learn something from your tales and others.”
Everyone is confused. Multiverse, since when was there a multiverse? Cassidy is the first to ask a question, “What about William? If no one is at the pizza place to keep an eye on him then he’ll go cause more suffering.” The spirits agree with Cassidy, and so do Henry and Michael. Everyone in this get together knows how cruel and dangerous William Afton can be when left alone.
To everyone’s surprise the crocodile gives a laugh as he explains, “Do not be afraid. While the reactions are going on the worlds outside will be frozen. When you return it will be like no time has passed at all. A quick blink and you’re back to where you were before.” Mike was caught off guard by this statement. Can someone really do that? Can someone really just freeze time in multiple universes? Looking around, Mike can see that everyone is having a similar thought.
Charlie says, “What types of people will be there?”
The crocodile smiles a toothy grin and replies, “You’ll have to see for yourselves.” The spirits whisper to each other. Some of them seem to be excited while others seem scared. Mike knows only one thing: he’s tired of the life and death games. He’ll take the free vacation. Who knows, maybe he’ll find something better than “The Immortal and the Restless” in this event.
Mike approaches the crocodile and says, “I’m in. How do we get there?”
The old crocodile smirks and points his rod to the lake. “Enter the lake and it will take you to the mansion.” The crocodile then points to the woods and says, “If any of you wish to return home instead, go into the woods and you’ll eventually make it home.” Mike turns to Elizabeth and Dave. He reaches out his hand so they can take it. Dave grabs Mike’s right hand and Elizabeth takes Mike’s left. Susie grabs Elizabeth’s left hand. Cassidy grabs Dave’s right hand. The other kids grab Cassidy’s hand: first Gabriel, then Fritz, then Jeremy. Meanwhile Charlie grabs Susie’s hand and Henry grabs Charlie’s hand.
Before leaving, Mike turns to the crocodile and asks, “We might not see each other again, but I must know: what’s your name?”
The crocodile gives one last laugh before answering, “Ya can call me Old Man Consequences.” With that the old crocodile disappears. Together the collection of spirits, corpse, and old man jump into the red lake.