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chiimeramanticore · 1 year ago

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Mike isn't sure exactly why he took this job. Maybe a haunted house based on Freddy's isn't exactly worth his time. That is, until he sees a familiar face during his shift.

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Mike and Springtrap meet for the first time and it sucks lol. 3859 words, slight TW for references to child abuse/neglect and gore 👍

Read it on AO3!

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Mike isn't really sure what he expected taking this job. Sure, a haunted house about Freddy's. Real respectful. It's probably not even going to help him get any evidence on his father. But the dude that hired him swore up and down they'd gotten "real authentic shit, y'know?" for the attraction. It's possible, he figures. Mike knows well enough about the teenagers that try to raid the closed Freddy's locations for proof the rumored murders really happened. He also knows well enough that if he hasn't been able to find any solid evidence yet, they definitely haven't. Maybe there isn't any evidence at all. Maybe he's just going crazy.

Sitting in the office now, Mike definitely feels crazy. This is a waste of time... The whole building feels like it's held together by glow-in-the-dark paint, duct tape, and good luck. The ventilation in here is awful. He can't go two seconds without something breaking. Night shifts are supposed to be easy, damn it.

What's worse, Mike finds himself hallucinating a lot more when he's here. When he complained about seeing stuff that wasn't actually there, his doctor handed him a slip of paper with a schizophrenia diagnosis and a prescription for antipsychotics. Mike brought the pills home, but didn't last long actually taking them. He knows whatever he's got, it's not a disorder. It's from that damn gas his dad used to love messing with when he was a kid. He'd inhaled enough of that garbage to probably give him permanent brain damage, he figures. And the stuffiness of this office often makes Mike feel like he's back home, breathing it in again. Whatever it is, his doctor wouldn't be happy about it.

Mike sighs, eyeing the new cassette left on his desk, labeled "Tuesday." His employers are way too committed to the retro thing– they can just call him or talk to him in person. Surely this is more work than it's worth, right? Whatever. He pops it into the player and hits play.

"Hey man– okay, I have some awesome news for you!" His employer's voice begins. "First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes. Dude, these are like pre-historic! I think they were, like, training tapes for, like, other employees or something like that. So I thought we could, like, have them playing, like, over the speakers as people walk through the attraction. Dude, that’d make this feel legit man." Mike groans. He isn't sure what's more annoying, this guy's voice, or the prospect of having to listen to Freddy's training tapes every night on loop.

"But," the voice continues, "I have an even better surprise for you, and you’re not gonna believe this! We found one. A real one." Mike furrows his brow hearing this. A real... what? There's no way it's what he thinks it is.

"Uhh, gotta go man. Look, i-it’s in there somewhere, I’m sure you’ll see it. Okay, I’ll leave you with some of this great audio that I found. Talk to you later man!" The casette goes quiet for a moment before a new track starts playing, one of the training tapes in question.

"Welcome to your new career as a performer-slash-entertainer for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. These tapes will provide you wi–" Mike stops the tape. He's not interested.

"What the fuck do you mean, 'a real one'?" He mutters to himself. He looks to the security monitor to his right. Everything looks exactly the same as it did yesterday and last week. Mike switches between cameras quickly but deliberately, scanning each room for discrepancies. There's no way they found a real animatronic, right? There's no way. They were all dismantled and scrapped. Mike knows they're haunted, or at least were at some point. Maybe if he can just find it on the cameras, he can assess if it's actually going to be a danger to him.

He clicks over to the last camera, eyes flicking around the screen. Nothing's different. Maybe he's freaking out over nothing.

But right as he clicks back to the start, Mike sees something move in the bottom left corner of the screen.

He clicks back over.

Nothing.

If there was anything, it's gone. And he's not sure there ever was anything. Maybe he's going crazy. Maybe he's just crazy. That'd be the most reassuring thing to learn, he figures.

Mike realizes his heart's beating at a mile a minute right now. He leans back in his chair, trying to breathe slower. He's just hallucinating, he tells himself. It's fine. He's fine. The panel to his left beeps, signaling the ventilation needs to be reset. See? He's just freaking out. He turns his attention to the panel, waiting the seconds it takes to reset the ventilation.

It doesn't take him long after this to settle back into the routine he's found in the few days since he started this job. Check the cameras idly, get spooked by something that isn't actually there, fix something that inevitably broke, repeat. He continues like this for about an hour, still somewhat puzzled by what he was told on the tape. Maybe he wasn't even referring to an animatronic– it could be anything, really. And these cameras are so grainy, it's not hard to miss something small.

Mike stares idly at the static on Camera 04, feeling like his mind is turning to fuzz, too. It definitely takes him too long to notice, but... there, on the left side of the screen. A pinprick of light that Mike knows for sure doesn't belong. Is that... an eye? It's dark, but he swears he can make out the right half of a head surrounding it. He blinks a few times, unsure if he's making it up, but the half-hidden face remains. And it looks like it's looking at him.

The panel beeps at him. Mike doesn't want to look away, but he does, resetting the ventilation once again. When he gets the chance to look back again, the face is gone.

"Sssshit," he hisses. "Shit. Shit." He clicks through the cameras again, trying to find the thing in here with him. It's too dark to recognize it easily, but the shape of the head seemed like an older mold. Even then, he's not really sure. He just wants to see it again. But there's nothing on the cameras that looks like it. He sighs, sitting back in his chair to refresh his eyes.

When he looks up at the window to his office, the animatronic is there. Staring at him.

Mike's blood runs so cold it damn near freezes over. He's paralyzed– all he can do is stare back. He recognizes this animatronic, or at least he thinks he does. It's so worn down now, but... it's Springbonnie. How could he ever forget Springbonnie...? His father's favorite.

The rabbit moves. It shifts its weight, then slowly starts to shamble to the left of the window. Mike doesn't know what to do– it's not like he's got a door to shut on the thing. He watches it appear in the doorway, using a hand to brace itself on the frame. It struggles to move, not unlike how Mike's seen the haunted animatronics move, but this feels different. It's not bound by its mechanics. But... the only way it'd move organically like this is if someone was inside.

Even if he's just being fucked with, he's not about to gamble on it. He'd much rather get laughed at for falling for it. He grabs a screwdriver from his desk, just in case he needs to defend himself against it. He presses himself up against the back of the chair he's in as the creature gets even closer, far too close. Like it's curious about him, too. It smells awful– like death and mold. From here, Mike can see clearly that it's not in costume mode. Tears and rips in the fabric expose its mech, which he wouldn't be able to see if it was in walk-around mode. He isn't sure what he's dealing with, but his heart is pounding so hard he's sure it can hear the sound too.

The rabbit puts its face mere inches from Mike's, and makes an odd noise, somewhere between a wheeze and a moan. Mike grips the armrests of his chair tightly, certain he's moments from death.

Then, with another wheeze, "...M... Michael," it says in his father's voice.

Mike doesn't wait for anything else to happen. Almost automatically, he springs out of his chair, pushing the thing over, and bolts for the door. He doesn't care what it is. It's not a hallucination. It's not an animatronic. It can't be his father. Please, don't let this be his father. It won't matter if he can just get out of here. Leave and never come back.

Mike hears the thud of footsteps behind him, still somewhat slow but much faster than before. He doesn't dare look back at it.

He refuses to lose speed as he whips around a corner, but he doesn't look where he's going– he crashes into a prop mannequin, bringing both tumbling to the floor. Mike scrambles to stand again, but he's not fast enough. The rabbit has caught up to him. He tries to take off again, but it grabs him by the wrist with an iron, mechanical grip. Mike strains against it, frantic, like a trapped animal, to no avail.

"Calm... down," the rabbit says sternly.

"No! No, you– You're not real!" Mike shouts, still struggling to escape.

"You're being...!" The rabbit stops to cough and wheeze some more, but the grasp he holds on Mike is unwavering. "Y– You're being ridiculous," he says finally.

"N- no, you–" Mike pulls again, and the rabbit presses his mechanical claws into his arm, just enough to hurt. Only now does he remember he's still holding the screwdriver. He swings it at the rabbit, unsure which parts of him are flesh over metal. He gets lucky, the metal tip landing in his upper arm and hurting him enough to let go of Mike. Mike takes this chance to tackle the rabbit, pinning him to the floor and wielding the screwdriver over him.

"You–!" The rabbit says. "Y– you won't kill me."

"Oh yeah? Give me one good reason I shouldn't stab you in the fucking throat right now!" Mike says, though the way he's trembling betrays his attempt at sounding menacing.

"Language," the rabbit says. "You won't kill me, b- because... I have information. I have... the answers you've been looking for." The way he speaks is labored. His voice is raw and tired, like he hasn't used it in ages, and he sounds continually out of breath. He sounds pained... Mike knows he's weaker now. Mike knows it would be easy to kill him in this state. But he also knows he's right. Everything Mike has been working toward has been for this– for information like this. Information enough to convict his father for the murders he knows he committed. Could they even convict him looking like this...?

"What happened to you?" Mike asks. That's never been what he'd envisioned asking his father.

"Take me back to your office," he says. "I'll talk there."

Mike's suspicious, but... an interrogation while he's still got him pinned to the floor isn't exactly comfortable for either of them. "Fine," he says, moving off of him. "You walk ahead of me."

"Scared?" the rabbit asks, a teasing tone in his voice. Mike doesn't grace it with a response. He watches him stand, then start to move back toward the office. He walks with a limp. Mike studies him from the back, trying to parse what's come of him. It's hard to tell where exactly the man ends and the machine begins. His hands and feet seem metal, but between the crossbeams and wires he can see in the torso, there's what looks like flesh inside. Old, rotted, disgusting flesh, but flesh nonetheless.

They re-enter his office, and Mike sits down in his chair. The rabbit finds a place to sit on the desk. Mike doesn't move his eyes from him for a second.

"What happened to you?" He asks again.

"I had a... lapse of judgement," his father says. "I couldn't get my mind off the old place... the pizzeria. I had left it standing all those years... I wanted to go back. Put... put an end to everything. I meant to dismantle the– the animatronics." Mike isn't sure how much of this is truth, but he lets him continue.

"This... old thing," he says, looking down at himself. "I'd almost forgotten about it. I just wanted to... put it on again. Old time's sake." He chuckles, it sounding just as terrible as the rest of him. "I'd forgotten safety protocol. It was old... wet, moldy."

"You–" Mike hadn't wanted to believe he'd springlocked himself, but that's exactly what he's telling him, isn't it?

"I know," he says. "What a fool I was."

"You didn't," Mike says. "There's no way."

"I did," he insists. "What would I gain from... lying to you about this?"

There's usually something– even if Mike doesn't know what it is. Regardless of how it happened, though, it's undeniable what's happened to begin with. He definitely got springlocked, whether by his own hand or someone else's. And these things usually were mistakes. He just never thought he'd... be so stupid about it. If anyone would remember how to avoid a gruesome death in one of those suits, it should be his father. What could've caused him to forget? There's something he's keeping from him, he's sure of it.

"If you were springlocked, you'd be dead," he says finally.

"But I'm still here," William says.

"How?"

The rabbit shifts in place, as if he's considering whether to tell Mike this. "I found it," he tells him. "The secret to eternal life."

"Bullshit," Mike blurts.

"Language," William says. "Don't act like... you don't want to know."

"Just tell me."

William sighs. "I call it Remnant," he says. "It's... a lot of explanation. It can bind a soul to metal. It can..." He tries to laugh again, doing slightly better this time. "...It can make a man immortal, Michael."

"Is that what you'd call yourself?"

"No," he says. "It's what I almost was. I had... been building up enough, still. But what was in me already was enough... enough to save me when this happened."

Mike studies him a moment longer before finally asking. "How much of you is even human anymore?"

William seems to ponder this for a moment before answering. "Does it matter much?" He responds. "I am more than human now. More than machine. I'm... something new. I am the two combined."

"But your body is still in there, isn't it?"

"I am not just the body. I am not just the suit. I'm not just the metal. I'm it all, Michael. All of it." He seems proud of this, proud of the monster he's become. At least he's finally got a look to match him.

"...All because of this Remnant stuff," Mike mutters. He wonders if, somehow, that's the reason the animatronics were haunted, too. Remnant kept their souls there. But how would he have made that happen? How long has been working on this?

"Last time I saw you, Michael, you were..." William trails off.

"I was seventeen," Mike finishes. His father had just disappeared one day. He was known to do that when Mike was younger– usually because he was out somewhere drinking. Some nights he'd come home late, or just not at all. But when the days began to pass without him, Mike left completely alone in the house... What else was he supposed to do?

"And now, how old are you?"

"...Fifty-two," Mike says. Thirty-five years had passed since they'd seen each other. After this long, Mike had begun to hope he'd just find his father dead. In a way, he has, he figures.

"Mm." William stares at him, and now Mike feels like he's the one being studied. "It's... been quite some time," he says. "You've grown up well."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mike says.

"It means exactly what it seems it means," William says, a touch annoyed. Then, calming down again, "You're resilient. You're tough. You aren't a coward. Otherwise... you wouldn't be here. Would you?"

Mike says nothing.

"I raised you with the hope of you... becoming strong," he continues. "That, when life knocks you down, you don't stay down. I believe you're... Well, correct me if I'm wrong."

Mike doesn't know what he wants him to say. He glances the rabbit suit up and down, as if that'll somehow give him an answer. He's not going to "admit" to how great his father says he is, because it's clearly leading toward something. Going with it would just be walking directly into whatever trap he's planted. But denying it is an even more obvious fail-state.

"...Cat have your tongue, Michael?"

"No," Mike says finally. "What do you want?"

"What makes you think I... want something from you?" William asks.

"Why else would you be talking to me?" Mike says.

"Do you think I... I– I hold any sort of power like this?" William insists. "Look at me, Michael."

Mike's been looking at him. "You look awful," he says quietly.

"I've been down there for over thirty years," he says. "I lost the ability to track time. All I could... do was wait. Finally someone found me."

"To make a mockery of you." Mike can't stop himself from saying it. He rests an elbow on an armrest and uses his hand to cover his mouth, hiding the smile he also can't stop himself from.

William sighs. "It's... unfortunate. Yes."

Mike's never seen him look... dejected before. Not that he's exactly looking at his father right now, anyway. But still, as much as Mike hates to admit it, he looks genuine. Maybe he really is weaker like this.

"...Did it hurt?" Mike asks him.

The rabbit slowly lifts its head to Mike. "It still hurts," he admits. "This... is not the body I had planned to spend eternity in."

"So you are immortal," Mike says.

"I don't know the limits of it. But I went thirty years without food, water, much sleep... must count for something. I don't think I age... but there's not much way to tell."

Mike's weighing the possibility of killing him. He didn't seem that afraid of death when he'd been threatening him– but that doesn't necessarily mean he can't be killed. It just means he doesn't fear it. Mike still has half a mind to set this whole dump on fire with his father inside. It'd be so easy... electrical fires nearly start every night here anyway. He could let everything burn and rest with the knowledge that nothing inside would survive.

If he knew his father would die, at least.

"...Michael," William says, the silence between them too long now. "I... I've had time to sit with my regrets. There's more I wish I could have done... More I still need to do. I can't like this."

"Whatever it is, you can get it out of your system here," Mike says. He's expecting him to give some bullshit non-apology for the kind of father he was. Being touchy-feely one time, decades after he'd just disappeared one night, is never going to fix it. But Mike will let him say it, at the very least. It's not like it'll matter.

"I can't do it here," William says. "She's not here."

"...She?"

"Elizabeth," he tells him. "I still have to... go back for her."

Mike remembers the day Elizabeth died. Even now, he can easily recall the sight of her remains pouring out of Circus Baby's chest... the blood, the gore, the smell. The way he'd felt his whole body freeze over at the sight of it. The way his father had tried to save her, even thought it was clear she had long passed that point. The way he'd cried... the way both of them had cried. He could never forget losing her. Then... how could he talk about her like she's still alive?

"Where... where is she?" He asks, cautiously.

"Circus Baby's," William says.

Mike shakes his head. "She can't be." He'd visited the place again years ago, though still years after the incident. He had wanted to find Circus Baby there, thinking his sister might be possessing the robot– but the place was devoid of animatronics.

"Not the restaurant. She's in storage," William says. "The rental company... Only I ever knew where the storage was." He leans in toward Mike, as if they aren't the only two people here. "It's under the house. Always has been."

"Under...?"

The rabbit nods. "Our home," he says.

Mike had returned there too, years ago. He'd never thought, in a million years, that there'd be anything more than bad memories there. He'd never thought he'd have passed over something so important... so close, and yet so far from seeing his sister again– even if she wasn't quite herself.

"I can show you how to get there," William tells him. "I need you to do it, Michael. You're the only one who could."

"Wh– why me?"

"You're family," he says. "You're the only one I trust."

Mike feels something deep inside him stir upon hearing that. He exhales.

"Is she...?" He starts. "Is she... in Baby?"

"She must be," William says. "You need to find her. You need to set her free."

Set her free... It's something Mike's been trying to do with the other possessed animatronics for years. Put their souls to rest. But they've all been so... uncooperative. Animalistic. Maybe their programming had interfered with their true personalities. He should expect it to be the same with Elizabeth, then, but... She's family. She would have to recognize him eventually. That's why he has to be the one to do it, isn't it? She wouldn't trust anyone else. She needs him.

"I..." Mike feels that same deep ache inside him. He misses her, he realizes. He's missed her terribly. And now, he can see her again– and save her. "...I'll do it," he says finally. "Show me how to find her."

The rabbit finally leans back again, laughing. "Good," he says. "Don't let me down, Michael."

"I... I wont." Mike isn't sure this is the right choice to make. He can't shake the feeling he's being pulled into something bigger than him. But how could his father have planned something for this long if he's been stuck in this state for thirty years? And how could he miss his only chance to see his sister again– especially knowing that she's been just as stuck for just as long? How could he not want to help her?

He still wants to burn this place down with his father inside. He will soon, he tells himself. Once he saves Elizabeth, then he can come back here, and put an end to everything.

He just hopes he'll make it back here at all.

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #michael afton #mike afton #william afton #springtrap #fnaf 3 #fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 link #ao3 fanfic #juno.txt #my art #i hate these guys. they hate each other (puts them in a room together)

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