Save our souls

by Magnapinna_Europa

Summary:

Michael had just wanted everything to end, for the trapped souls of everyone to finally be free from their suffering, the agony of all the tragedies burning away.

He just wanted his own life to finally end.

So why did he wake up back in 1983, before everything started?

Notes:

English isn't my first language, so if you spot any mistakes or any sentences that don't make sense, please let me know !

Chapter 1

Michael has always wanted to die.

Even now as he sat in the office of the pizzeria listening to the voice of Circus Baby talking through the speakers, he wished to die. He barely listened to what she was saying - he knew what was going to happen, and he could hardly wait for the death he's been wishing for for decades to come. 

He finally tuned in to what Circus Baby, Elizabeth, Scrap Baby, whatever the hell she was now called, was saying. 

“I will make you proud, daddy!” Yeah, as if he'd ever be proud of anything we did . He never was, and he never will, that sure wasn't going to change.

“Watch. Listen. And be full!” Oh, he was listening. It's not like what she said mattered because everyone in this damn building will be fucking dead in just a matter of minutes. A loud BEEP! resonated through the speakers, and a voice Michael had been waiting to hear spoke up.

“Connection terminated. I'm sorry to interrupt you, Elizabeth, if you still even remember that name. But I'm afraid you've been misinformed.” Well, this was it. Michael had been informed about what would happen when he had gone and gotten this job, only making him more eager to get it. Now it was just a matter of waiting for it to happen.

“You are not here to receive a gift, nor have you been called here by the individual you assume, although you have indeed been called. You have all been called here. Into a labyrinth of sounds and smells, misdirection, and misfortune. A labyrinth with no exit. A maze with no prize.” The speech was starting off beautifully, but man, just set the building on fire and get this over with! 

“You don't even realize that you are trapped. Your lust for blood has driven you in endless circles, chasing the cries of children in some unseen chamber, always seeming so near, yet somehow out of reach. But you will never find them. None of you will. This is where your story ends.”

“And to you, my brave volunteer, who somehow found this job listing not intended for you. Although there was a way out planned for you, I have a feeling that's not what you want. I have a feeling that you are… right where you want to be. I am remaining as well, I am nearby.”

Maybe when he dies, he'll go to hell. It's what he'd deserve, anyway. Michael deserves to go to hell for all the suffering he's caused, for the lives he had ruined just by existing. Everyone who had ever been nice to him are dead, either already up in paradise, if there even is one, or trapped on earth in the form of animatronics. Not him, though. He's trapped on earth as a disgusting half-decaying human, if he could even be called human, barely clinging onto life. And when he dies, when he actually dies, he'll never go to heaven. Oh no, he'll go down to the darkest, hottest pits of hell where he belongs. And his lame-ass excuse of a father will go down even deeper in hell than he will, because, dammit, he's even worse than anything Michael ever was. 

“This place will not be remembered, and the memory of everything that started this can finally begin to fade away, as the agony of every tragedy should.” Fucking finally , Michael could start smelling the smoke starting to fill the building, the heat starting to rise in the way too-cramped office. It was probably worse in the hallways since he could hear the animatronics screaming— God, why did they scream ? 

“And to you monsters trapped in the corridors, be still and give up your spirits. They don't belong to you. For most of you, I believe there is peace, and perhaps more, waiting for you after the smoke clears. Although, for one of you, the darkest pit of hell has opened to swallow you whole, so don't keep the devil waiting, old friend.”

Where he fucking belongs. Smoke almost completely filled the office, but Michael wouldn't suffocate on it. What a lucky day to not have functioning lungs. Nope, he'd have to either be crushed to death if the ceiling caved in on him, or the flames would lick at his flesh until it completely melted off his bones, then his bones would be burned to nothing but ashes, then his ashes would be swept away into the breeze, leaving absolutely nothing behind. The last pieces of him would be gone forever, never to bother anyone again. 

“My daughter, if you can hear me, I knew you would return as well. It's in your nature to protect the innocent. I'm sorry that on that day, the day you were shut out and left to die, no one was there to lift you up into their arms, the way you lifted others into yours.”

Oh, Charlie… She was the first victim of all these tragedies. Michael will never forget her. Never. He wouldn’t let himself forget her, and would never forgive himself if he ever did. The last time he'd seen her was when he had brought Lefty in from the alleyway. That would be the very last time he'd ever see her because he knows that she will end up in heaven, and he'll be in hell. If those things were even real. How lovely.

“And then, what became of you? I should've known you wouldn't be content to disappear. Not my daughter. I couldn't save you then, so let me save you now. It's time to rest, for you, and for those you have carried in your arms. This ends, for all of us. End communication.” The speech ended with another loud BEEP! , leaving nothing but the sound of fire crackling, a few vents collapsing in on themselves, and the screams of animatronics possessed by people he used to know, now lost to the insanity of everything that happened. 

Well, this was it. This was when Michael would finally die. More than 30 years of agony and suffering, and if he wanted to sound self-pitying, he’d say more than 50 years, that being his whole life, all ending in a matter of minutes. He couldn't help but feel like he didn't deserve the relief of death, but it was too late now: the two vents on either side of him had both collapsed in on themselves, and the door behind him was starting to catch fire, the bottom being charred and black. There was no exit, the only exit being, well, death. He didn't know whether he wanted it to end quickly or slowly. Selfishly, he just wanted the ceiling to come crashing down and crush him, killing him instantaneously, but he also wanted to have to suffer through being melted and burned to nothing, paying for all the agony he had put upon others. 

But alas, he couldn't choose how he would die, only where he would, and that being in a shitty Fazbear pizzeria. To hell with Fazbear entertainment, he hoped that if they ever made more buildings or attractions, they all failed or burnt to the fucking ground. If Michael's heart still worked, he bet it would be practically pounding out of his chest as the ceiling above him resonated a loud rumbling sound, bits of it falling off and onto the dirty ground. 

Guess he’ll die the quick way. Michael looked up at the ceiling, impatiently waiting for it to come crashing down and end his ‘life’. Bits of dirt and rubble fell onto his face, but there was no point in wiping it away. Any moment now, any damn moment now . It seemed like an eternity had passed, the agonizing anticipation being almost painfully unbearable to Michael. Jesus, how long would it take until he would just die? It was like he was being teased and poked, like the damn ceiling was yelling out to him, ‘See that? You can’t even die correctly!’ And to that he said fuck you! , a few cracks formed along the ceiling, causing even more dust to fall, ready to break apart and fall down at any moment. He hadn’t realized until now, but the animatronics had stopped screaming. Of course he’s the last to die, of fucking course, he was the last to everything! How unfair. 

Panic started kicking in. What if he wouldn’t die? What if the ceiling didn’t collapse, or the fire department was called, and they’d put the fire out before it killed him? If that happened, then fuck, he might as well just fill his pockets full of rocks and jumped into the ocean, or douse himself with gasoline and light himself on fire. No way in hell was he going to let himself live another day after everything that had just happened. 

The panic left as quickly as it came when the ceiling came crashing down onto Michael before he could even process what happened, before he could yelp or pathetically close his eyes to not get dirt in them. The last thing he saw before everything turned to darkness.

Chapter 2

Notes:

JUst a heads-up, but the next few chapters might take a while to write and upload since I just started school and I really want to focus on studying. I'll try to get at least one chapter out per month, but we'll see if I actually stick to that 💀

Michael had already been awake for hours, too scared to open his eyes in fear of what he'd see. 

He was just laying wherever the hell he was, for he guessed to be at least three hours now. One thing that he was scared about was the fact that he didn't feel pain anywhere. Not his stomach, his limbs, or his lungs, he just felt neutral, unlike how he regularly felt after he had gotten scooped. The thought that maybe he had survived struck fear into him, so he kept his eyes shut tight. Perhaps he really had died, and he'd open his eyes to complete darkness. Or maybe when he'd open his eyes, he'd realize he was stuck in a nightmare, like the ones Evan had that he'd always used to make fun of him for. 

Maybe he'd deserve that.

After spending what he thought to be yet another hour, he could start to faintly hear morning birds singing, so he knew he wasn’t dead. Fucking great . But where was he? He couldn’t still be in the pizzeria, otherwise he’d feel the rubble on top of him, and he couldn’t be in a hospital since he couldn’t hear anyone else talking, or people walking around in the corridors, or ambulances driving in. Maybe someone had dragged him out of the pizzeria? But that wouldn’t make sense, who would want to save Michael? Maybe it was some type of sick joke or even a punishment. Obviously, whoever had ‘saved’ him thought he deserved it.

A voice spoke so quietly, as if it were whispering to him from afar, that he wouldn’t even have heard it if he wasn’t paying attention.

“You won’t die.”

Was Circus Baby the one to save him? But that wouldn’t make sense, he was certain that she was trapped in the hallways, so how the hell did she get out? More importantly, why would she go through all the trouble to get to the office just to dig him out and drag him away for him to survive? There’s got to be something more to this, there’s no way that she just survived. Was she the only one? Oh God, what if everyone else got out? No no no, that couldn’t have happened, there’s no way he and Henry went through all the trouble to get every single one of those stupid animatronics in one place, just for all of them to live, there’s just no way.–

 

BZZR BZZR BZZR BZZR

 

The hell..? Michael never set an alarm on his phone, so why could he hear an alarm? Hesitantly, he opened his eyes to see… a ceiling?  He blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the light that poured into the room he was in. The alarm buzzed loudly in his ears, and he turned his head towards the sound to see an alarm clock on a nightstand reading the time 7h30. 

Well, he may not know exactly where he is, but does know where he is not. Michael slowly sat up, eyes wide as saucers, and looked around the room, taking everything in. Now he knew –or thought he knew– where he was, but it only confused him more so than before. 

The band posters, the drawings on almost every wall he looked at, the ugly wallpaper, the stacks of cassette tapes on the desk and floor, the shelf completely filled to the brim with records, this was his room. But not just any room, his room from his father’s house. Why the hell was he here? Better yet, how did he get here? 

The alarm clock was starting to really irritate Michael, so he reached over, ran a hand along the top of the alarm, and turned it off. His ears rang slightly due to the silence that now filled the room, a few occasional chirps from birds outside being the only noise he could hear. 

As slowly as he possibly could, he threw his legs over the edge of his bed, surprised by how smoothly he moved, and stood up. With shaking legs, Michael took a few steps forward. Yeah, this definitely was his room. Out of the corner of his eye, he could slightly see himself in his full-length mirror. That’s weird, he distinctly remembers throwing that thing away years, decades ago, just months after Evan had been killed died. 

He walked towards the mirror, his legs threatening to give out beneath him at any moment. Now facing himself in the mirror, he looked himself up and down, unsure of how to feel.

His skin was tan and covered with freckles instead of purple and decaying, his hair healthy and thick instead of thinning and falling out in chunks, his eyes blue instead of an unnatural purple-ish pink, the whites of his eyes being actually white instead of red and yellow. His mouth was slightly agape, letting him see the bottom of teeth that had fallen out years and years ago. He bared his teeth at himself, showing him perfectly real, and perfectly healthy teeth with red braces running along all of them. 

He put his hands on his cheeks and turned his head from side to side. With his face tilting to the side, he could see that his nose bridge was strong and not flattened, something he had gotten after he had fallen flat on his face right after the Funtimes expelled themselves out of him. 

This has got to be a dream, an illusion, anything. There was no way in hell that he was actually in his room, and that he looked normal. And young, as well. Michael reached a hand to his back pocket for his phone, only to find no phone, nor even a back pocket at all. He looked down at himself in the mirror, seeing plaid pyjama pants, and a worn down, way too big Kiss shirt instead of the blue and yellow suit that he had totally not (he totally had) stolen. 

“I recognize you.”

Everything was happening all at once, and it was starting to overwhelm Michael. His breath quickened, now feeling like just shrivelling in on himself and never getting up. He brought a hand to his chest and backed away from the mirror, eyes still wide. To his surprise, he could feel a heart pounding in his chest. Something he hadn’t felt in decades. 

He turned around, not being able to bear looking at himself any longer, and took a few steps forward to get distance between himself and the stupid mirror behind him. Michael was confused, and quite frankly, he was exhausted. With nothing better to do, he took a few slow and shaky footsteps toward the door. 

He reached out and placed a hand on the handle, not turning it yet and merely psyching himself up. As if to tempt him to open it, Michael heard what sounded like a door slamming open and footsteps running, probably running out of the room the door that got slammed open was. Taking a deep breath in, he slowly opened the door just a crack and peeked out. He could see a girl running up the stairs, her curly ginger hair jumping up and down with every step she took.

Was that… Elizabeth..? 

Tears welled up in Michael’s eyes at the thought of being able to see his sister again. He opened the door more, looking around the room. Fuck, he forgot how huge his father’s house was. The room was quite big, having a lounging area with two couches and a TV, another area with a pool table and a bar, and sliding doors to his right leading outside the house situated on a declining hill. There were two doors on the wall to Michael’s left, one of which being opened, and the other still being closed. 

Michael took a few hesitant steps forward. He was still confused about all of this, but now the only thing on his mind was curiosity. With so many things to see, and so many confusing things to think about, he didn’t know what to look at or go to first. On one hand, he wanted to run upstairs, find Elizabeth, and wrap her up in a hug, and never let her go, but on the other hand, he wanted to look around where he was, first. 

Maybe he was in some sort of afterlife, and he really did die. But if he and Elizabeth were here, then wouldn’t everyone else be here, too? Wouldn’t that psychotic bitch be here? If that were the case, then his room was upstairs, so he’d be upstairs, and Elizabeth had just run straight to him. Did Elizabeth even know what he had done? She did die before he was discovered, and she had been kept underground for a long time until he went down there, so she must not know what he did. 

Shit, he has to go upstairs and warn her before anything happened to her, before he fucking killed her like he killed all those other innocent kids.–

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door creaking open and the sound of footsteps pitter-pattering on the floor. He whipped his head around in the direction of the sound, and was met with the sight of a boy tiredly rubbing his eyes. The same boy Michael had spent so much time staring at pictures of, thinking back on times when he was alive.

Except he was right here in front of Michael. Not a picture, not a hazy, half-forgotten memory, but alive, a real living and breathing human. All the little details on Evan’s face that he had forgotten over time were there, standing before him. 

"I think the little man said he wants to give Fredbear a biiiig kiss!"

That damn sentence that he always thought back about and cringed rang through Michael’s ears, and at that moment, he wanted to rip off his ears, curl up in a ball, and start sobbing hysterically. It’s been three times now that he’s heard voices, and he was getting, not only confused, but also quite annoyed.

Evan either didn’t notice Michael, or simply did not care, since he kept walking towards the stairs, taking just a mere half-second glance in his direction. 

“Evan, wait!” Michael cried out before he could even process what he’d said, or think before saying it. Evan now had stopped to look at Michael, eyes half-lidded and a look of confusion on his face.

He tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brows. “What?”

“You…” As much as Michael wanted to just cry out and apologize for everything he did to Evan, he had to stay calm and pretend that everything was okay, even though it wasn’t, and he was on the verge of tears. “You can’t go upstairs.” He managed to say through tears he desperately choked down. 

“Why?” Evan frowned, a face that Michael had seen far too many times, and was the cause of way more times than he’d like to admit. “I’m hungry, why am I not allowed to go upstairs?”

“Okay, uhm…” Michael thought of something to answer, still confused, and somewhat distraught about all this. “I’ll… I’ll go with you.”

Evan seemed confused as to why Michael would make such a big deal about going upstairs, but he shrugged and continued his way towards the stairs, Michael following him and practically pressed up against him. Michael stayed in front of Evan, and peeked over the main floor once he could see over it, ignoring the weird look Evan gave him. To his utmost relief, he couldn’t see the psycho killer that he refused to call his father, and to his utmost fear, he couldn’t see Elizabeth. He could only see the kitchen and part of the living room, so they must either be in the dining room, further into the living room, or in the main entrance. 

Now reaching the top of the stairs, Evan seemed to start getting a bit scared by how skeptical Michael was for just going to the main floor. Once they reached the last step, Michael could see the top of the murderer’s head above the kitchen counter, and once he stepped onto the floor itself, he could see his face. Well, most of it. He sat at the dining table, too invested in the Newspaper he was reading to notice either of them. 

Before Michael could stop him, Evan walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, alerting the man Michael wanted and tried (and failed) to avoid. He lowered the Newspaper article he held so he could see into the kitchen, then shook it back into place in his grip once he saw them both. 

“There you two are.” He said in an accent much thicker than Michael remembered him having. “Your mother will be here in an hour.”

Their mother? 

If everyone was so casual like it was just another typical day, were they not in an afterlife? And if they’re not in an afterlife, then where the hell were they? Where the hell did Michael wake up? Or maybe Michael really did die, and he’s in hell, and he’ll be forced to relive everything all over again. Maybe he’ll be made to think that he could just change everything, but he’s actually just a puppet on strings, being pulled what to do, where to go, and what to mess up. 

He has to get away from that psycho, or he thinks he might just start crying. Michael really did not want to leave Evan alone anywhere near the man, but if everything really was as normal as it seemed, then he should be fine. He’ll be fine. It’s not like he was going to go far, he’ll just slowly step out of the kitchen and into the living room to find Elizabeth. 

Not so subtly, he took a few steps to the side, and once he couldn’t see into the dining room, he speed-walked into the living room, to find Elizabeth almost instantly. She was sitting on the floor with her back against the couch, watching TV, while simultaneously trying to tie her hair up in a ponytail. Stray strands of curly red hair stuck out, and she undid her ponytail to try tying it again, only for even more strands to be loose. She always adored her red hair, although it was never nearly as much of a fiery red as the man in the dining room’s, she still cherished it dearly. 

Michael heard her let out an annoyed groan, then threw the elastic onto the floor and crossed her arms. He hesitantly walked towards her, sat down next to her, and stared at her as if she would disappear the moment he looked away. Elizabeth looked up at him with furrowed brows and a frown on her face.

“Mikey, can you tie my hair up for me? I keep trying to do it myself, but my hair is being stupid!” She said with another annoyed groan. 

“W- Uh… Yeah, uhm… Sure…” He stuttered out. 

Elizabeth reached over to grab the elastic off the floor, handed it to Michael, and then spun around so her back faced him. He looked down at the elastic now in his hand, then back at Elizabeth for a moment, before putting the elastic around his wrist and starting to gather all of Elizabeth's hair, so he could tie it up. Once he had gathered all of her hair into his hand and there were no strands loose, he pulled the elastic off his wrist and around her hair and tied it together, making sure it wasn't too tight nor too loose and that it was perfect. She turned back around to face him, and she was beaming. 

"Thank you, Mikey, you're the best!" She exclaimed and jumped forward to wrap her arms around him. Michael was a little surprised at first, but then slowly wrapped his own arms around Elizabeth as well.

"Yeah, uhh… No problem…" 

And with that, she let go and turned back to watch whatever she was watching on the TV, images flashing from scene to scene before them both. 

-

-

-

-

-

If Michael really was in hell, he could get used to it. It had been about an hour since Elizabeth had asked him to tie her hair, and all they’d done since was watch TV. Evan had joined them some time ago, offering Michael a piece of his toast he had made for himself. It flattered him, but he declined; he didn’t have the stomach to eat anything right now. He thought that he may have thrown it up if he had accepted it. 

Michael heard some walking in the dining room throughout the hour, and he tried to ignore it. He would ignore that man as long as he could. If he paid no attention to him, he’d leave him alone, and possibly his siblings alone, as well. 

He also tried ignoring the many deer heads hanging on the walls. He hated how that psycho loved killing, and how he had killed so many animals, before turning to humans as his victims. Michael hated the death, and he hated him. It made him sick just thinking about it. 

The doorbell rang, alarming Michael before he realized what the noise was and calmed down. He heard footsteps walking towards the main entrance, and then the sound of the front door opening. 

“Hello, Mariam.” He faintly heard the man great whoever he had just let inside. 

Elizabeth immediately jumped up to her feet and ran towards the main entrance, while Evan slowly got up. Michael also got up and followed the two. In the main entrance stood the man, and a woman who Michael immediately recognized to be his mother. Elizabeth practically ran into her to hug her and started talking to her about things that Michael paid no attention to. 

Michael hadn’t seen his mother in a long time, but he definitely wasn’t complaining about seeing her now. She pat Elizabeth on the back and gently grabbed her shoulders.

“Alright, can you go get your bag, dear?” She said to her. “You two as well.” She then looked up at Evan and Michael, and he almost started crying at that very moment, because damn, he had forgotten just how much he missed her. And he was going to go with her and away from the man. Well, he guessed at least, since she had asked them to get their bags. Of course, he had to ruin the moment. The murderer stood by the side, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. 

Michael merely rolled his eyes and followed Elizabeth and Evan downstairs to his own room, where he now noticed a duffle bag on the floor at the end of his bed. He hadn’t looked in that direction when he first woke up, so it’s no wonder he hadn’t noticed before. He guessed that was what he was supposed to bring, so he grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder, and almost fell with the weight that he wasn’t expecting it to have. 

He recollected himself, only to almost have a heart attack moments later when Elizabeth ran out of her room. Why did she always walk and run so loudly? 

He walked out of his room just as Evan stepped out of his, and they both walked up the stairs together. Michael couldn’t have been happier, as he looked at his brother, until he missed a step and almost fell flat on his face. He heard Evan force down a laugh and pretend like he hadn’t found that funny, but Michael still heard him. 

They got to the last step, then went straight to the main entrance, where they found Elizabeth already having put her shoes on and talking excitedly to her mother. It was as if everything was being blurred together. All Michael could hear was distorted mumbling, even when his mother said something to him. He watched as she, Elizabeth, and Evan all walked out of the door, leaving it open for him. 

He took a few steps towards the door, and placed his hand on the doorknob, before turning towards the man that stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Fuck it, he was going to tell him something he should’ve heard a long, long time ago, he didn’t care about the consequences he would face. 

“You need professional help, old man.”

The man opened his mouth to retort, but Michael slammed the door in his face before he had the chance to say anything, and then walked away. 

Notes:

Sorry if this chapter isn't that good, I've barely spoken English all summer and I struggled way more than I'd like to admit while writing this 💔 I'll probably re-write this chapter in a few months, once I speak English more and I get better at it

Chapter 3

Notes:

Whoopsie poopsie, I got a hyperfixation on bats like two weeks ago and while I was reading an article about vampire bats I went 'Omg I should write a fnaf vampire AU' and I've been focused on that and I may or may not have forgotten about this fic until now and wrote this entire chapter in a day oopss

Michael was now quite certain about where he was.

During the car ride to his mother’s house, she mentioned the fact that he had exams soon, so he decided to act dumb to figure out where the hell he was. He pretended like he had forgotten how many more years of school he had left, and his mother said three. Michael would’ve graduated in 1986, so he was back in 1983. It didn’t really help ease his confusion, but at least he knew where in this hell he was. 

Either he time travelled or he died and he’s in hell. The latter sounds way more convincing. 

Since he’s somehow in 1983, a whole forty damn years in the past, he’ll have to go to school. That’s total bullshit. He never even graduated from high school, yet he’ll have to go through all of it again. If he wasn’t so scared of messing things up, he would burn the building to the ground as soon as he got there. 

He didn’t know what classes he had. Hell, he didn’t even know where the school was. He was pretty sure he walked to school when he was at his mother’s, but how was he supposed to get to school if he didn’t even know where to go? Evan and Elizabeth didn’t go to the same school he was, so he couldn’t just follow them. If he had his phone, he wouldn’t be worrying since he could just search up how to get there, but sadly he didn’t have it. 

It’s for that reason he had gone to the library, looking at a damn map of Hurricane. He had found one, but it was severely outdated, though thank god it had the school. At least he knew where to go, and didn’t seem like a total fool to ask his mother, “Hey, I know I’ve walked to this school for almost a year now, but can you just remind me how to get there?” 

He’d also tried finding books about time travel (as if they’d explain anything real to him). The only things he found were a bunch of young adult sci-fi books that were completely fictional. It made him sad, in a sort of way. Those books were the kind of thing someone Michael knew would like. Or– Technically, someone he will know would like. Fuck, this was confusing. 

Although Michael was nervous about going to school, he wasn’t nearly as close to how nervous he was about going back to his dad’s. For the thing he’d said (and for what that bitch deserved to hear), he wouldn’t be surprised if he got the absolute shit beaten out of him. He couldn’t be blamed for being nervous, no one in their right mind would be looking forward to getting beaten. 

Will the man even listen to what he had said? Probably not, but at least he could say he tried to save this hell from tragedy. 

At least, that's what he told himself, as he stood in the entrance of his mother's house, bookbag on his back and a hand on the door handle. His siblings were still asleep – lucky bastards' school started an hour later than his. His mother talked in a hushed voice on the phone, talking to god knows who. At least she didn't notice how Michael had been standing in the entrance for about ten minutes now, and was bound to be late if he spent any more time standing around doing nothing but think in self-pity. Seriously, he really should get going. Except he wasn't. He thought about skipping school entirely, but he'd get an ear full if his mother found out. What he was doing was stalling, waiting until the last minute, just like everything else he did. 

He can do this. He will do this. He already survived nearly two days in this hell, he could survive another. Michael took a slow, shaky deep breath and slowly turned the doorknob and creaked the door open, making sure to make no noise so his mother wouldn't know he hadn't left until now. He was practically hit with a wall of heat as he stepped outside, then turned to slowly close the door. 

As he walked down the driveway and then the street, he repeated the directions he needed to take. To the right, turn left, turn right at the next corner, walk straight for three blocks, turn left, then the school should be to his left after about half a block. Simple enough. So simple, that even a child could remember where to go. He could do this, he'll be fine. 

He focused on where he needed to go, shaking away the uncontrollable thought 'throw yourself onto the road and get run over, you worthless piece of shit'. It was beginning to be quite a lonely walk. He’d only been walking for not even two minutes, but still, he felt like he should be walking with someone else. Michael started to hum a song he didn’t know the name of to fill the silence. It was his favourite band, yet he kept forgetting the names of the songs.

Realization hit him like a slap to the face and he stopped humming, because – fuck! – His favourite band didn’t even release their first album until 1985. Damn it, one of his only sources of happiness doesn’t even exist yet. 

Well shit, another reason for him to believe he was in hell. 

Distracted by his own thoughts, he nearly walked into a pole, stopping just in time not to make contact with it. Thank god for that pole to snap him back to reality, because he almost walked right past the road he was supposed to turn on. He corrected himself, crossing the street and going the way he needed to go. Upon reaching the three blocks he had to walk straight on, he realized that the directions he first had were more complicated than they needed to be, for the ones he had before led right to the front entrance. He hadn't thought that he could just cut through the school's parking lot, making him get to his destination a whole two minutes faster than he thought it would take. 

Now standing in front of the main entrance doors, he could feel his heart uncomfortably pounding in his chest. Other students were making their way around him and through the doors, some giving him side glares as they walked past him. He ignored them, rolled his eyes, and started making his way through the doors, until he was startled by the feeling of an arm wrapping around his shoulders. 

He flinched, and looked at the person who had just decided to put their arm around him, hearing them great loudly, “Yo!” He recognized her to be one of his old ‘friends’, her long black hair and dark skin being quite easy for Michael to recognize her.

“What took you so damn long? We’ve been waiting forever!” She said, sliding her arm away from him and punching him on the arm. The ‘we’ in question now walked up to them, the two having scowls on their faces. Michael wasn’t surprised they’d be annoyed that he was late to their little arranged meet-up. He remembered how quickly they’d dropped him after the bite, and how quickly they had started telling lies and rumours about him. 

One of the other two who had just walked up to him scoffed, then harshly grabbed him by the arm. (What was it with them and his arms!?) “Whatever.” He said, dragging him into the school, the other two following behind like lost dogs. Michael looked around the building as he was being dragged around, taking in everything around him. Other students chatted and laughed with their friends, while some walked in solitude with their heads bowed down toward the ground. He was so distracted with everything around him that he hadn’t noticed where they were going, and next thing he knew, he found himself underneath a staircase with his old three ‘friends’ and the one who had grabbed him had let go. 

The girl – Michael couldn’t remember her name, and quite frankly, he did not care – sat down against the wall, gestured for them to sit down, and pulled something out of her pocket. “D’you guys see what Stacy was wearing?” She opened what Michael now realized to be a pack of cigarettes, as he and the other two sat down onto the floor. “What an ugly fucking dress.” She took one out, then passed the pack to one of the other two. “She looks like an old grandma.” She said with a laugh, then took a lighter out of her pocket and lit her cigarette. Soon enough, the three of them all had lit cigarettes between their lips and the pack was passed to Michael. He stared at it as if he didn’t know what he was supposed to do with it. 

“C’mon, don’t be a pussy.” One of them said, scoffing, then throwing the lighter at him, “Take one.”

“Uhhh…” Michael stared at the lighter and cigarettes. “No… I’m good.” He placed the two objects on the floor in front of him. The one sitting next to him – the only thing recognizable to Michael being his dirty-blond hair – took the pack and lighter and slid them toward the girl. She made a quiet tsk sound as she picked the objects up and slid them into her pocket. 

“Isn’t this the staircase Emily and her boyfriend make out under?” One asked aloud.

“Pfft, guess they’re not doing that this morning.” The girl said, getting laughs out of the other two. Michael did nothing but stare at the three as they talked shit and smoked, wanting nothing more than to leave, even if that meant going to a class he remembered nothing of. 

“Which boyfriend are you talking about?” The dirty-blond haired boy asked, “She gets a new one, like, every week.” Loud laughter erupts from the three, before the other boy, whom Michael cannot remember the name of for the life of him, said, “Pretty sure it’s Nathan this week.”

“Hell no, isn’t he a fucking queer?” The fact that Michael ever thought of these three as friends amazes him. They'd been nothing but rude to him, even now after he'd spent no longer than fifteen minutes with them, he could see they didn't care about him at all. Not only that, but they were shitty people in general. If he spent any more time with them, he thinks he just might rip out his hair and punch one of them. 

“Yeah, didn’t he try to fuck one of the guys on the football team?” The girl chimed in, taking a drag from her cigarette.

“Probably.” The guy, whom Michael believed his name either started with an A or an L, he was not quite sure, said as he flung ashes onto the already dirty floor. 

He was going to be late. These damn brats were going to make him be late, and, even though Michael wanted to do anything but go to class, he didn’t want to get a scolding from either a teacher or his mother. Deciding on whether he wanted to get yelled at by a teacher and his mother, or to disappoint his so-called ‘friends’, he got to his feet and dusted off any dirt that was stuck to his legs from sitting on the floor that definitely only got cleaned once every month. 

“Where are you going?” The dirty-blond guy asked, turning everyone else’s attention to him. 

“To class.” Michael answered. He was going to add ‘what class do I even have?’ but decided against it, assuming they’d just tell him to figure it out himself. No one said anything, none of them having enough time to waste on speaking to him, so Michael walked away from them and walked up the stairs. The only thing he remembered about school, let alone when he was in grade 9, was where his locker was and the combination. Underneath a clock, 2 22 20. His schedule would probably be in the locker, so he didn’t have to worry too much about which class he had. 

After walking through large crowds of students in the halls, and having to push through a few stubborn groups that wouldn’t move out of the way, he finally got to the hallway his locker was in. He spotted the clock quite easily, and walked to the locker he prayed to be his. Now for the difficult part; figuring out how the lock worked. Did he have to do one full turn and go to the second number after imputing the first, or go straight to the second number? He’d just have to try both. Surprisingly, the lock clicked open when he pulled on it after the first try. 

There were many loose pieces of paper on the floor of the locker, and upon searching through them for a few moments, he found his schedule. He looked at all the classes he’d have, having no idea which day he was supposed to look at, and practically felt himself rolling his eyes and groaning. 

Maths, English, P.E., Science, Geography, and Physics. (Who even needs a whole class just to learn physics?!) Well shit, seems like the remainder of the school year Michael will have to go through will go incredibly slow. Especially with no real, genuine friends, one that he won't get until later in his school years, he may as well just drop out right now. 

Why was he brought to this hell?

 

Notes:

Believe it or not, but there are three Jeremy Fitzgerald references in this chapter

Chapter 4

Notes:

Happy Friday the 13th >:D

Michael was scared shitless.

Well, that would be an understatement. If someone were to ask him to hold their drink, the glass would be empty within five seconds from how much he was shaking. And for good reason; he was stuck having to sit in the murderer's ugly purple car. He kept glancing in his direction, averting his eyes whenever the man looked at him. Although he was scared just being in the car with him, at least he wasn't alone. Elizabeth and Evan were sitting in the back seat, offering support to Michael without even doing anything. Once they got home, however, that's when he should start getting even more scared than he already was – if that were even possible. He was expecting a long lecture for what he had said a week ago, and maybe just a slap to the back of the head if he was lucky. 

Soon they arrived at the man’s house, the rather large building bringing a wave of uneasiness to Michael. Once the car was parked and the doors were unlocked, Elizabeth happily jumped out, dragging Evan along with her, and waited behind the car for the man to open the trunk so they could take their bags. Before stepping out of the car, the man sent a weird look to Michael that only made his fears worse. He limply opened the door and got up with an exaggerated exhale, the hot and dry ground crunching beneath his feet. Walking along the side of the car, he could hear Elizabeth speaking to the man as he unlocked the trunk. 

“Daddy! The other day at school, these two guys were, like, yelling basically at each other's faces, and they were, like, super close just yelling, and then! Then one guy punched the other!” 

“And his nose started bleeding!” Evan jumped in.

“Yeah! You should've seen it daddy, everyone started gathering around them and were just yelling 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' And the guy that got punched jumped on the other guy, and they started slapping each other and punching each other and pulling each other's hair like–” She imitated punching and slapping with sound effects like 'pow', and 'whoosh' and 'wapow'. 

“And these were kids in your grade?” The man asked, taking Elizabeth's bags out of the truck and passing them to her.

“Uhmm… I think they were a grade older.” Elizabeth pondered for a moment, her eyes staring at nothing. “Yeah, they're a grade older.”

“Oh geez.” The man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. To anyone other than Michael, it would seem like the man was shocked over the fact that kids so young would be getting into fights, but Michael knew it was because he just hated kids. 

“And then a teacher stepped in and separated them.” Evan said, taking his bag as the man handed it to him. 

“Yeah, and everyone was like 'awww' and they all walked away.” She said, putting all of her bags onto one arm, grabbing the man's hand, and dragging him towards the house. 

Of course the man wouldn't care enough to hand Michael his bag, of course not. Michael sighed as he threw his bag over his shoulder and slammed the trunk closed. He followed the twins and the man inside, where he found that Elizabeth had already taken off her shoes and had sprinted straight to the stairs to go to her room, and Evan had just finished putting his shoes away and moving Elizabeth's so they weren't all over the place. Michael was about to follow Elizabeth and Evan downstairs to go to his room, when he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders.

His blood ran cold when he turned around to see the man looming over him, and said, “Could you stay here for a moment, Michael? I wish to speak to you.” 

Michael looked over to Evan with a face that practically screamed 'Don't leave me here with him!' To his utmost terror, Evan just shrugged and walked away, leaving him alone with the man. He turned back to face the murderer, who was staring daggers at him. Michael lowered his head and stared at the ground, waiting for the man to start yelling. 

“So,” Oh god, here comes the yelling. “Tell me,” Here comes the hitting.– “Why did you say that to me?”

Michael only stared at the ground in shame. “Why do you think I need… 'professional help'?” 

Was Michael hearing that right, or was the man actually asking for advice? From him? Well, he's already backed himself up in a corner, he might as well say the truth and face the consequences. 

“You want to know why I think you need help?” Michael now looked up to face the man, to face the monster he'd been hiding from and had feared for years.

“Yes.”

Michael took a deep breath, then said, “Because your wife left you, you kill animals for fun, you have a crippling alcohol addiction, and you hit your kids.” 

The man now stared down at him in shock instead of with the intention to scare him. Michael had never, ever, talked to him like this, he just hoped he wouldn't be hit for what he was saying. To his surprise, the man simply said “Fair enough.”

“Now go and do… whatever it is you do.” The man then shoved Michael away from himself and walked to his room. 

Well that went surprisingly easy. Michael exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and speed-walked to the stairs to get away from the man before he changed his mind and decided he deserved a beating. Once downstairs, he walked past Elizabeth's and Evan's rooms, where he saw the both of them playing with dolls in Liz's room. He got to the door for his bedroom, which was completely covered with drawings and pictures. There were so many, he couldn't even see the actual door itself. Inside the room, the walls were covered with drawings and a few pictures, unlike at his mom's house, where posters of Billy Idol and Iron Maiden stared down at him while he (tried to) sleep.

Welp, he had nothing to do now except throw himself onto his bed and stare at the ceiling and think for hours. Or he could be productive and make plans to save this hell from what would happen. Yeah, that sounds better than doing nothing for hours. Michael dropped his bag on the floor, walked to his desk and started looking through the drawers to find a notebook. He found a few, and upon flipping through the pages most of them were filled out with notes and doodles. There was one, however, who only had the first two pages filled out. He guessed it wasn't that important since the handwriting looked quite messy, so it must have been from years ago. He ripped the two pages out, crumbled them up, and threw them in his trash can. Then he grabbed a pencil and threw himself into his bed and leaned the notebook on his legs for support. 

Okay, well the first person to die was Charlie, so he definitely had to make a plan on how to save her, fast. Fast as in he had less than a month before she got murdered. He could always sneak out and set the pizzeria on fire so she couldn't have her birthday there. It wouldn't really change that much. The pizzeria would be shut down in just two months' time if he just let everything happen as it had all those years ago. But it would change a lot for two people.

One he couldn't care less about, that being his… father. God, he hated calling him that. Michael knew he had a shit ton of money saved up from not spending anything for anyone. He remembered he was barely even affected when his precious little pizzeria was shut down after not one, but two people died on the property. 

His Uncle, on the other hand, struggled way more. He wasn't crazy rich, unlike his shitty excuse of a father, so when his only source of income shut down, he could barely even afford to pay bills. Michael remembered how he had gone from such a happy and positive man, to quiet and stressed. The death of his daughter did not help at all.

Alright, maybe setting the pizzeria on fire isn't such a good idea. But what could he do? He could always just… try to change Charlie's mind about having her birthday at the dîner. Yeah, that doesn't seem too hard. He might need to improve his convincing skills, but other than that, it should be easy. And if she doesn't change her mind, he'll just follow her everywhere on her birthday and make sure nothing happens to her. He wrote down the date she'd die, (June 28th 1983) and what he'd do to stop her death from happening (change her mind, keep an eye on her at all times).

The next person he'd have to save was Evan. That should be quite easy, he just had to not pull that 'prank', and he'd be fine. Even better, he just won't invite his shitty friends, and if for some reason he just starts moving on his own and he has to put Evan in Fredbear's mouth, Evan would be able to get out of his grasp since he's only one person. Again, he wrote down the date, (August 3rd 1983) and what he'll do (just don't pull that prank, dumbass). Technically August third wasn't even his birthday, but Elizabeth insisted she and Evan wouldn't celebrate their birthday on the same day. Instead, she celebrated hers the day before their actual birthday, and Evan the day after. 

Okay, so far so good. Next would be Susie. He wasn't necessarily close to her, but he still saw her a lot. Maybe just keep an eye on her? He was there when she went “missing” and she lived right next to his mother’s house, so he just had to track everywhere she went and make sure nothing happened to her. (April 14th 1984) (just follow her everywhere on that day or something, or maybe just don't let her go at all). 

Then nearly five months later, Fritz and Jeremy went “missing”. Michael had never met them, he only knew that Fritz was a grade older than Evan and Elizabeth, and that Jeremy was her younger brother. He sort of remembered what the both of them looked like since he saw them in the paper and on missing posters, but other than that, he practically knew nothing about them. Well, he would just have to find them. That wouldn't be too hard, seeing as Hurricane only has a population of two thousand. Yeah, he'll just find them both and make sure nothing happened to them. Maybe he could even scare them into never going to that damn pizzeria in the first place. Tell them Freddy would eat them if they went too many times or something. (September 10th 1984) (Make sure nothing happens to them, or just scare them into never going to Fazfuck entertainment ever again).

Then Liz went to Circus Baby’s pizzeria on opening day with her father and she never came back. Michael had no idea what even happened to her, honestly he wasn’t surprised if the man had just killed her like he killed those other kids. Preventing her death seemed pretty easy, he just had to go with her on opening day and follow her everywhere. (November 10th 1984) (Go with her and follow her everywhere). 

Then Gabriel went “missing” just three months later. He’d be a bit easier to save since Michael had been friends with him for two or three months before he had been declared missing. He was two years younger than Michael, and two grades below him as well. The only thing he could really do was either scare him into not going to the pizzeria, or keep a very close eye on him any time he went. (February 9th 1985) (Either scare him, warn him, or keep track of whenever he goes to the pizzeria and make sure nothing happens). 

The last to die was Cassidy. Michael saw her quite frequently, so it wouldn't be too hard to make sure nothing happened to her. She always had been a sceptical person, so if he really implied to her that the pizzeria was haunted, he was sure she wouldn't go quite nearly as much as she did before she went “missing” (April 14th 1985) (Use his amazing story telling skills to make up a story so she'd be too scared to ever go). 

This one wasn't necessarily a death, (although it sure seemed like it to Michael because he forgot absolutely everything they had) but the next person he'd save was Jeremy. His first and only love that he'd lost to a damn robot. All he would have to do was tell him to never work at that shitty pizzeria and he'd be saved. Maybe he could even destroy Mangle just to be extra safe. (November 13th 1987) (Never let him near, let alone work at Fazfuck entertainment). 

If he could save all these people, then he and the murderer wouldn't die the way they had. Not like he cared if anything happened to himself or the man, but he'd rather not get his insides scooped out and be worn as a skin suit by an amalgamation of robots. And if everyone was saved, then Uncle Henry wouldn't kill himself and everyone else in the fire. Everything would be fixed and everyone would be happy. It's not like it would be that hard since he already knew what was going to happen, so it's not like he was going into this blind.  He just couldn't mess up. It was a lot of pressure to put on himself, but it would definitely be worth it if everyone were saved.

Everything would be fine if he just doesn't mess up. 

Chapter 5

Notes:

Fun fact, I wrote nearly half of this chapter in one sitting while in a gym because we had to evacuate my school due to a bomb threat.

This chapter probably wouldn't have been out until at least one or two weeks if it weren't for the fact I had two - three hours to do nothing because of the evacuation, mostly due to the fact I was focusing on a vampire AU, but now that I've posted it on the deadline I set for myself, I can focus more on this fic. (I'm also working on a zombie AU, a FNaF and Final Destination crossover, a robot/cyborg AU, and a serial killer AU, but I haven't set a deadline for myself for those, so they're not my main priority)

Michael really fucking hated school. 

Not only was it the most boring thing he’d ever had to do, but his “friends” were just the worst. Either he was being dragged around everywhere, or he was left out and interrupted so much that no one even knew he had said something, even after he'd tried to voice his annoyance. They were just wannabe cool kids and massive douchebags. Why the hell had Michael been friends with them in the first place!? Probably because he was also a wannabe cool kid and a douche in the past. 

All of them were eating in the cafeteria, and he was being ignored yet again. They acted like he wasn't even there with them. He didn't really care, he was not paying attention to their conversation anyway. That was until the girl – who he'd found out her name was Kiara – said his name, pulling him back to reality. 

“Party. Tonight. Your house.” Was all she said.

“What?” Michael said, tilting his head in confusion.

Kiara scoffed and rolled her eyes. “The party.” She said, as if that would magically make him understand.

“Dude, we planned this like two weeks ago.” The dirty-blonde haired boy – Alex – looked at him like he was stupid. 

“I don't remember that?” It was the truth, he really didn't remember ever agreeing to have a party at his house. Not to mention the fact that neither his mom nor his dad would agree to have a bunch of teenagers get drunk at their houses and make a mess of the place. 

“Two weeks ago we asked if we could have a party at your dad's house since it's fuckin' massive, and you were staring at the floor and just said 'uh-huh'.” The other guy – Mark – imitated Michael being zoned out and staring at nothing. “We already told a shit ton of people, so you can't back down.”

“Yeah, and you can tell them it's cancelled, because you are not having a party at my father's.” He said, narrowing his eyes at the three of them. “He'd be absolutely pissed.”

“What, scared daddy's gonna ground you?” Kiara joked, but her smile faded away when she saw that Michael didn't even crack a smile. 

“I’m being serious, you cannot have a party at my father’s house. Just make up a fake story and tell everyone you told that it’s cancelled.” Michael frowned and burrowed his brows. “I really don’t care what you say, just make sure no one shows up to my father’s expecting to have some fucking party.”

“Are you serious?” Alex said with a chuckle that sounded more like a scoff, “We could just have it on the third floor. It's a bit small… but there'll still be enough room. And we'll stay super quiet, your dad will never even know anyone was there.”

“Yeah, until someone gets drunk as fuck and jumps off the balcony and breaks a leg in the living room.” 

“Ugh, fine, there will be no alcohol. Happy?” Kiara rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, letting out an exaggerated sigh. 

“No! I'm telling you right now, you are not having a damn party at my father's!” Michael snapped, raising his voice a bit.

“My fucking god, fine. We'll have it somewhere else, you didn't have to be so fucking rude about it.” Mark said, sending an annoyed and slightly disgusted look towards him. Michael quietly muttered, “I wasn't.” through gritted teeth, which Kiara apparently heard, since she looked at him with an air of scepticism. 

Whatever, he was fucking done with their bullshit. He'd find an empty bathroom to finish his lunch in, because he couldn’t stand another second around them, or he thought he just might pick a fight with them. He zipped up his lunch box and got up, making sure his chair screeched against the floor as he got up to signal his departure. He heard Alex yell after him, “Where the fuck are you going?” to which he ignored. 

He was around halfway to the cafeteria doors when he felt a hand grab his shoulder and roughly spun him around, coming face to face with a very angry looking Alex. “What the hell is your problem?” Michael slapped his hand away, only for him to grab him by the collar.

“Let go of me.” 

“You've been acting so fucking weird all of this week and last week, what the hell is your problem?” Alex said, only tightening his grip on his collar.

“Let go!” Michael tried ripping away from him, only to be pulled back forward.

“Answer my damn question!” 

Michael brought his hands up and pinched the other's hands as hard as he could. His intentions worked, seeing as Alex yelped and let go of his collar. He realized that it definitely was a mistake, as Alex balled up his fist and punched Michael right in the face, forcing him to stumble backward. His cheek stung where Alex had just struck him, and instead of walking away like a normal, rational person would, he punched him back, and soon enough they were rolling around on the ground surrounded by a crowd of people. He was sure his face was starting to get red from the anger and the hits, and from what he could somewhat see, Alex was also starting to go red in the face. 

Maybe starting a fight with his shitty excuse of a friend wasn’t such a good idea, but he couldn’t really get out of this now. Sure, he technically hurt him first, but it was merely to get away from him. He felt his knuckles stinging and getting warmer as he punched Alex in the face yet again. His face probably had a shit ton of cuts on it because of the other’s rings scratching against his skin every time he got punched or slapped. The metallic taste of blood had filled Michael’s mouth a while ago, but he paid no attention, too angry and distracted by the situation at hand to pay any notice. He only stopped throwing punches when Alex was ripped off of him by the hall monitor and another teacher grabbed him by the arms and pulled him to his feet. There was a massive crowd of probably everyone in the cafeteria around them, all either looking scared or intrigued. 

The hall monitor and teacher said absolutely nothing as they dragged him and Alex through the crowd. Now Michael stared down at the floor in shame while he and Alex were being dragged by a teacher and hall monitor. He regretted ever punching him back, even if it was worth it. He looked behind his shoulder and looked at Alex, who seemed really pissed off. He never got in a fight like this in the past, so he had no idea what was going to happen. The hall monitor and teacher were probably bringing them to the principal’s office or something. He just hoped they wouldn’t call his father, then he’d be rightfully fucked. All his efforts of getting on his good side and trying not to anger him for the past week would all be thrown out the window in a matter of seconds. 

Finally, the hall monitor and teacher stopped in front of the office and opened the door, letting Michael and Alex walk in first. The teacher crossed her arms and pointed at the chairs lined up against the wall, “Sit.”

The two listened, sitting on chairs the furthest away from each other. The teacher simply said, “Wait here.” before walking away and into another room. The hall monitor sent them a glare before adjusting her shirt and walking out of the office. Michael could feel his hands starting to shake and his leg start to bounce when he realized the teacher had gone into the principal's office and saw him crouch down to look in a cabinet drawer through the window. Well shit, he could only guess that the principal was probably looking for their folders to call their parents and tell them they'd gotten into a fight. Now that he thinks about it, the fight hadn't even lasted that long and wasn't as bad as some other fights he had seen. But he still got into one, now he had to face the consequences. Well, at least he won't be friends with Alex or the other two, which would also mean they wouldn't suggest doing that stupid fucking prank on Evan's birthday. His hands started shaking even more when he saw the principal pick up the phone, folder open on his desk, and dial a number. He watched as he put in a phone number of what he could only hope to be his mother’s – or Alex’s, he didn't know which parents the principal was calling first –  on his rotary phone. 

He averted his eyes and looked around the office, trying to keep his mind off of what was to come. Maybe if he stayed positive, or just didn't think about it at all, everything would be fine. The principal would have called his mom, she would let him explain what happened, she'd tell him everything was okay, then she'd drive him to his father's house and wouldn't tell him about anything. And then everything would be alright, he could continue trying to fix the murderer and make him get therapy. He listened to the clock tic, tic, ticcing away, and watched the secretary sitting at her desk doing work, He jumped and nearly had a heart attack when the door to the principal’s office suddenly slammed open, followed by the principal and teacher walking out towards them. The teacher walked out of the office, while the principal stopped in front of Michael and Alex with a stern look on his face.

“You two, come with me, please.” He said, gesturing towards the room he had just walked out of. He and Alex both got up, and Michael ignored the angry glare he saw Alex send him from the corner of his eye. After they’d both walked into the office, the principal closed the door behind him, walked around the desk, and sat in his chair. 

“So, would you both please explain to me why you started a fight in the middle of the cafeteria?” The principal asked, looking between Michael and Alex as he talked. 

Like an immature child, Alex yelled out, “He started it!” and pointed towards Michael. He wasn’t going to take this bullshit anymore. Maybe in the past he did, but now only after not even three weeks, he can tell that none of his so-called “friends” care about him one bit. “No I didn’t, I only pinched you because you wouldn’t let me go!” 

Alex went to retort something back, before the principal interrupted him by saying, “Michael, would you care to explain your side of the story?” 

Michael nodded slowly before speaking, “Him, Kiara and Mark wanted to have a party at my father’s house and I refused and they all got super mad. So I went to leave and Alex grabbed me by my collar and wouldn’t let go when I asked him to, so I pinched him, then he punched me, and uhm… Yeah, that’s basically it.” 

The principal nodded, then looked over at Alex and bowed his head towards him, signalling it was his turn to talk. “He’s right about the… party thing, but he was really rude about it. And I just… got mad, I guess.” Alex said, slumping and crossing his arms, as if he didn’t care one bit (Maybe it’s because he really didn’t care). 

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” The principal started, intertwining his hands together on his desk and leaning forward, “I’ve already called your parents informing them about the situation.” Michael already knew he’d made calls, he’d seen him do it through the window, he just hoped and prayed the parent he was referring to was his mother. “And I will issue a two-day suspension to the both of you.” Well shit, even if his mother was called and he, nor she said anything about it, the murderer would still find out. “Alex, your mother will be picking you up shortly, and Michael, your father will as well.” His heart jumped up in his throat when he heard that. Fuck, he’s completely screwed. “You will both wait in the office until they arrive. Don’t worry about getting any of your things, that can count as another punishment. If something like this ever happens again, don’t expect such a light punishment. Do I make myself clear?” Michael and Alex both mumbled a quiet, “Yes, sir.”

“Off you go now.” He waved his hand in the air and ordered them out of the room. The both of them listened, walked out of the office and sat down on the chairs they were on earlier. The secretary watched them from her desk, possibly making sure they wouldn’t run off. 

Fifteen minutes passed by quite quickly, probably because Michael was dreading what was to come. He stared down at the floor, lost in thought, until he heard a buzz from the secretary’s desk, and she got up and walked out of the office. She came back around one minute later, and said, “Michael, your father’s here.” before sitting back down at her desk. He slowly got up, noticing Alex staring at him, and walked towards the door as slowly as he could, as if that would delay what was going to happen. After he had walked out of the office and went to the main entrance, he found his father waiting outside for him. He lowered his head as he walked towards him, avoiding eye contact as he did so. The murderer he hated calling his father said nothing as he walked towards his obnoxiously purple car. Michael had to jog to keep up, and by the time he got to the car, his father was already seated in the driver’s seat. Michael took a deep breath before opening the passenger’s side door, stepping in, and buckling in his seatbelt. More silence came from his father as he started the car and drove out of the school parking lot. Finally, after around five painfully silent minutes, his father spoke up.

“Why are you the only one who causes trouble?” Michael stared down at his hands, fear filling him very quickly before he said a quiet, “I’m sorry.” He knew this incident would be the thing that made all of his efforts be for nothing, he knew that the moment they got home, the murderer would beat him just like he did all those years ago, because he just can’t be fixed. No matter what he did, or what he said, nothing could ever save this hell from tragedy. He looked over at the man seated next to him, and from his facial expression alone, Michael could tell he was about to start screaming at him. 

Until he didn’t. Instead, he took a deep breath, adjusted the tie around his neck, and said, “When we get home, you’re going straight to your room. Do you hear me?” 

Michael stared dumbfounded at him, before nodding and saying, “Yes, I will, I’m sorry.” Maybe if he apologized enough while the man was showing just an ounce of kindness, it would make everything better. He looked out of the window, and for a moment, he felt relieved and hopeful. 

Maybe he really was able to save this hell from tragedy. 

Chapter 6

Notes:

This chapter made me cry. Not because it's emotional or anything, I just had no idea how to write it. Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking when all I had planned for this chapter was 'Aftons go visit the Emilys, Michael tries to convince Charlie, then he fails', and then was disappointed when I couldn't magically make this chapter super long. I'll definitely try to make the next few chapters extra long so they make up for this one being only 1 300 words.

Michael now had a chance to save a life.

At first, he had no idea when he would have the chance to see Charlie and try to talk her out of having her party at Fredbear’s, but when his father walked into his room and told him they were leaving to go to the Emilys’, he knew that would be his chance. He was surprised enough that he had let him off the hook so easily after getting into a fight and getting suspended, let alone letting him leave the house at all. He wasn’t complaining; maybe telling him to get therapy worked after all. And if it worked, then, maybe, he wouldn’t turn into a murderer, into a monster that did nothing but ruin people’s lives and brought misery with him everywhere he went. And maybe then, everyone he cared for would still be alive. He could have the life he always dreamed about, with his siblings who he could tell everything about, with two loving parents, with an amazing boyfriend, all of them alive and well. 

The more time he spent there, the more he realized that he wasn’t in hell: this was a second chance. A second chance to fix everything and to save everyone. Sure, he was scared any time his father got anywhere near him, but at least he hadn’t been hit once during the two weeks he’d been there. 

Michael had practised what he would say to Charlie to convince her for nearly three days, and he'd thought of everything to make her change her mind. Some were definitely a bit too manipulative for his liking – like telling her having her birthday at her house would be way easier for her poor old dad who’s already stressed enough as is – but if it worked, then he’d be able to live with the guilt of having said those things to her way more than he’d be able to live with the guilt of knowing he could’ve saved her life. And failed. 

He knew he was putting a lot of stress and pressure on himself, but could he be blamed? Everyone he cared about would die if he didn’t. He would rather be stressed and pressured for his entire life than let everyone die the way they had. Hell, he’d starve himself and stay awake for days if that somehow helped with saving the lives of the people he loved. He didn’t really care what happened to him, as long as he didn’t fail to save everyone’s lives. No, ‘saving lives’ was way too generous to tell himself, he was merely helping and guiding the others to save themselves. He didn’t deserve the title of being a life saver, of being a hero. 

He looked over to the driver’s seat to look at his father, happy about the fact he would be returning to his mother’s the next day. Happiness was definitely the main thing he was feeling at the moment, but he also felt scared. He was scared that he might not be able to convince Charlie to not have her birthday at Fredbear’s, and he was also scared his father would spiral into his psychotic self the moment he was left alone. He tried putting those fears aside, focusing on the house they were driving to. It was quite a small house, but perfect for just two people to live in. Sometimes he wondered how his father managed to even clean his house from just how massive (and how busy) it is. 

As he stepped out of the car, he saw the door swing open and Charlie practically sprinted out to run straight to Elizabeth and nearly tackled her to the ground. He watched as both of them giggled and ran into the house. Michael sighed and followed them inside, Evan close behind him, and his father walking past them. Once he stepped inside, he could smell a faint scent of wood and something just freshly baked. He and Evan awkwardly stood by the side as Elizabeth and Charlie went into Char’s room and Henry happily pulled William to sit down with him at the kitchen table. It made Michael somewhat sad and happy at the same time to see Henry so happy and full of energy, something he hadn't seen him be like in a long, long time. He shook his head, pulling himself away from his feelings, and instead focusing on what he had planned to do once he was here. He walked towards Charlie's room where he knew she and Elizabeth had just gone into, Evan following behind him again, possibly because he didn't know what else to do. 

Elizabeth and Charlie were sitting on the floor facing each other when he stopped in front of the doorway. Once Elizabeth noticed him, she rolled her eyes and said, “Go away, Mikey!” while Charlie awkwardly looked between him and Elizabeth. He ignored Elizabeth's comment, walking into the room and sitting down on the floor next to them both.

“Your birthday’s soon, right Char?” He asked, knowing full well the answer would be yes, he'd just asked to get the conversation going.

“Mhm! You didn't forget when it is, did you?”

“No, no, of course not.” Of course he'd never forget when it was, it was the day she died, after all. No way in hell would he ever be able to forget that day, even after he had been done mourning and grieving, and even after he told (lied to) himself that he'd moved on. “You still want to have it at Fredbear's?” He got a glare from Elizabeth, and a happy nod from Charlie after he had said this.

“Yeah! Dad’s even gonna order my favourite kind of pizza just for my birthday!” Sh said with the biggest smile possible. Yeah, she deserved a different kind of pizza for her birthday, seeing as the one at Fredbear’s is way too greasy, dry, and hard. (How the hell can something even be greasy and dry at the same time?) 

“Y’know… You could have your birthday here, at your house.” He started, ignoring the slight look of confusion now on Charlie’s face, and the look of anger and annoyance on Elizabeth’s. “It would be wayy easier for your dad. And less expensive.–”

“No!” She yelled out, then caught herself raising her voice and having somewhat of an attitude, so she spoke more quietly and calmer, “I want it at Fredbear’s. Dad said he was happy to do it there, and he already started planning, anyways.” 

“Yeah, but–” 

Elizabeth cut him off by angrily saying, “Can you leave now?” and gesturing toward the door, where Michael saw Evan still standing in the doorway. He looked back at them both in defeat, and slowly got up and walked out of the door. He’d barely made it out of the room when he heard loud footsteps behind him, and he turned just in time to see Elizabeth slamming the door in his face. 

Well fuck, looked like he would have to try to convince Charlie again some other day. Preferably one where Elizabeth wasn’t there to be overprotective and would yell at him and kick him out. He sighed, and looked over at Evan, who’d been standing there and had listened this whole time. Michael reached out a hand toward Evan, and he slowly brought up his own hand to grasp his, a small smile slowly forming on his chubby face. 

“C’mon, let’s go see Father and Uncle Henry.” He said, sending a smile back toward Evan. With that, he walked down the hallway and towards the kitchen, with Evan holding onto his hand and walking next to him with a smile Michael knew he was trying to hide by turning his head to the side.  

Chapter 7

Michael was bored out of his mind.

At least he wasn't at his father's house anymore, he really couldn't take another day of being near him. Technically he should be studying for exams, but he didn't even know how to study. He doesn't think he ever knew how to in the first place. That's probably why he failed, if he were honest. He sighed, and laid down on his bed, stretching out and staring up at the ceiling of his room. His room at his mom's house actually wasn't all that bad, having basically the whole basement to himself, and having posters and drawings plastered all over the walls. 

Charlie's death (or would be death, if he could prevent it from happening) was arriving fast, being in only a week or so, and with it brought waves of anxiety and fear. The fact he had exams also didn't help, but he really couldn’t care less about them. Not to mention that his brother would also die (unless he prevents that, too) in just over a month. He already broke his friendship with his so-called ‘friends’, and he's been eating less to weaken himself, so he really shouldn't worry about that, even if somehow he was forced to shove Evan into Fredbear’s mouth.

A quiet knocking made him flinch and nearly yelp, he’d been getting scared really easily lately, and he saw his mother standing in the doorway, completely covered, and he was only able to see her eyes, so he guessed that she was about to go out. 

“Michael, your uncle's here to see you.” She said quietly, and leaned against the door frame a bit. Michael stared and blinked at her dumbfounded for a moment. “Uncle Henry?” His mother nodded her head in answer.

“Why?” He asked, getting up nonetheless.

“I’m not sure. He just said he wants to see you and spend some time with you.” 

“Alright… Is he already here?” Michael asked.

“Oh, yes, he's waiting in the front entrance.” His mother answered, and stepped to the side to let him walk past and up the stairs, and he saw Henry was indeed standing in the entrance waiting. 

A bright smile spread across Henry’s face once he saw Michael. “Hey, kiddo! Sorry it's a bit short notice, but I figured you wouldn't mind.” He extended his arms and pulled Michael into a tight hug. 

“No, no, I don't… Why did you want to see me, anyways?” Michael asked, pulling away from the hug and groaning when Henry ruffled his hair. 

“I need your advice on something. And maybe just a bit of help, too.” Henry answered, and jokingly nudged Michael. They both waved goodbye to Michael's mother, Henry opened the door, and stepped to the side to let Michael walk past.

“Okay… With what?” He asked, looking up at the man as they both walked to his car.

“Ah, you'll see!” Henry and Michael both stepped into the car at the same time, and Michael watched as Henry drove away from his mother's house. The silence was almost painfully deafening as Michael awkwardly looked around, looking at the road ahead, at Henry, at the ceiling, thinking of anything to say to break the silence. He hadn't actually been completely alone with Henry the entire time he'd been here, in the past, in hell, whatever this was. And, really, he had no idea what to do, what to say, how to act. Maybe he could try to convince him to have Charlie's birthday at their house instead of at Fredbear's. Henry had always been a good listener, so maybe he’d actually listen to him, and he’d have someone on his side for a change. Michael was brought out of his thoughts when he noticed that Henry was pulling into the driveway of his own home. He didn’t really know why he was at Henry’s house, if he really had time travelled and he was in the past, this never happened in his own past, so he had no idea what would happen. 

“Can you take a guess what it is?” Henry asked whilst closing his car door, Michael doing the same and following him towards the garage attached to the house.

“I don’t know… A new animatronic for the diner?”

Henry fiddled with his keys, then unlocked the door, “Well, technically you’re right.” Henry answered, and stepped into the garage, Michael following closely behind him. “It is an animatronic, just not necessarily for the diner.” He then walked towards something which had a tarp covering it, and once the tarp had been pulled off, Michael knew exactly what it was. 

“It’s for Charlie, Do you think she’ll like it?” The giant birthday present shaped box slowly opened, and out came the white faced, purple-tear streaked, puppet animatronic Michael knew would soon be possessed by the same person it would be gifted to. 

“The others are under my protection”

“It’s nice… Uhm, but isn’t it a bit too… scary?” Michael started, and looked away from the motionless puppet animatronic and towards Henry. “Y’know, since Charlie’s pretty young, I think something like… This… would scare her.” 

Henry looked at Puppet, inspecting its features and unnaturally long limbs. “Perhaps you’re right… But Charlie does like creepy things, so it makes it even more perfect! Oh, it even has eyes, look!” Henry exclaimed, and reached forward to press a button on the back of Puppet’s face, and two white pinpricks faded in its empty, hollow, black eyes, and if Michael was able to facepalm, he would. “Oh, and even better! It comes with a green bracelet, which is her favourite colour, that has a tracker in it so Puppet will be able to make sure she stays safe! Isn’t that awesome?” 

“Yeah but what if someone… I don’t know, puts something on top of the cover and it can’t get out?” Michael said, knowing exactly that that was what happened the first time around, which led to her death.

“Hmm… I could always adjust it so the cover is slightly slanted, that way anything placed on top would slide off.” 

“Yes, you should definitely do that. You can never be too safe, right?” Michael said, sending an awkward smile towards Henry, getting a strange look from him.

“You’re acting rather strange.. Is everything all right?” Henry asked, and took a few steps to the side to sit down on a bench that Michael guessed he had probably made himself.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Michael lied, and went to sit down next to Henry on the bench.

“Your father told me you got in a fight with another kid from your school a few days ago.”

“Oh, yeah, that.” Michael rolled his eyes and sighed, getting another concerned look from Henry. “It was my friend– Well I can’t really call him my friend because he’s an asshole. The lot of them are. They talk shit about random people they barely even know, and they skip class just to smoke underneath the staircase. They tried getting me to smoke, too.”

“Did you?” Henry asked, “It’s alright if you did.”

“I swear I didn’t. But anyways, they either completely ignored me or would force me to do whatever they wanted, so I got sick of them and I went to leave but Alex decided to run after me and give me shit for wanting to get away from them. And he grabbed me by the collar and he wouldn’t let go when I asked him to, so I pinched him, then he punched me and I punched back, and I think you get the rest.” 

Henry nodded and looked around for a moment. “I see.” He then looked back down at Michael, “I’m glad you stood up for yourself. I know how hard that can be, especially if they’re supposed to be your friends, but you were able to, and I think that says a lot about you.” Michael looked up to meet Henry’s gaze, “You’re a good kid, Mike. I know that teenage years are tough, but I promise you that it will get better. And I’m always here for you if you need anything.” Michael could feel tears welling up in his eyes, and he looked at the ground and not so subtly whipped his tears away.

“Your father also told me you told him to get therapy.” Henry said, and Michael choked out a laugh, his attempts not to cry futile as tears ran down his face. He didn’t even know why he was crying, and if he were with anyone else, he’d feel ashamed and embarrassed. But he trusted Henry, and he knew he’d never judge him for crying. 

“That’s because he does.” Michael said through sobs, somehow managing to let out a few short laughs. 

“He does, doesn’t he?” Henry laughed as well, and brought up a hand to rub circles on Michael’s back. 

“He drinks way too much and he wallows in self-pity and he’s so mean and rude. But I know he’d never listen to me, so there’s no point in even trying.” Michael continued to sob, and after a moment, he threw himself into Henry’s arms, and hugged him as tightly as he possibly could.

“He’d listen to me. Maybe if I told him he should get help, he’d listen.” Henry said, Michael looking up at him with hopefulness.

“...You’d do that..?” The words barely came out as a whisper, and sounded strained.

“Of course I would. Maybe I could even try to make him stop drinking.” They both looked at each other and burst out laughing, because both of them knew that there was no way in hell William would ever be able to stop drinking. Even if every bottle of liquor and wine and every can of beer he owned was thrown out of the window and dumped in the grass, he’d still somehow find a way to get his hands on more alcohol. “Okay, that’s a bit far-fetched, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.” 

“I guess, but I don’t think it’ll work.” Michael said with a laugh, fewer and fewer tears fell until he’d stopped crying completely. 

“So… Your exams are coming up soon, right?” Henry asked.

“Oh, yeah… I’m not too sure I’ll pass any of them... I was actually studying when you came to get me.” Michael said, which was partially true.. He tried to study, but then failed miserably.

Henry sent him a knowing look, “Were you really?”

“Okay fine, I was staring at the ceiling and doing nothing.” Michael answered, the both of them laughing.

“Aha! I knew it!” Henry jokingly nudged Michael with his shoulder, making him laugh even more.

“I don’t even know how to study!” Michael defended.

“It’s easy, you re-read your notes and memorize them!” Henry said, and Michael had to stop himself from saying, ‘Of course you know how to study, only old people know how to study.’

“I don’t have notes. I’ve barely even listened in class, anyways. Pretty sure my class averages are all like sixty percent or lower.” Michael fidgeted with some loose strands on his ripped jeans, and stared at his hands and sighed, knowing he’d probably fail all of his exams and have to re-take all his classes over the summer. 

“You can work with that! You just need to pass your exams, which I’m one hundred percent sure you can! I could even help you study if you want.” Henry said,

“I think it’s too late to study, my first exam is in two days and I don’t even know what we learned in the class.”

“Trust me, it’s never too late to study.”

“...I think I’ll just try to figure it out on my own.” Michael said, and looked to the ground, letting go of the stand he was twirling around his finger.

“Well, if you ever change your mind, don’t be scared to ask me for help, alright?”

“Alright…” Michael said and looked back up at Henry, staying silent for a moment, and simply enjoying his presence. “...Thank you for being here for me, Uncle Henry.” 

“Oh, any time, kiddo!” Henry put a hand on Michael’s shoulder and gestured towards the animatronic that stayed standing motionless in the present shaped box, “Do you want to help me make the lid slanted?” 

Michael nodded, “Yeah… Of course.” 

Maybe if they made the lid slanted enough, that present that would be set on top of the Puppet’s box would slide right off and Puppet would be able to save Charlie, even if Michael wasn’t able to. Or maybe if Henry could make William get therapy, he wouldn’t need to save her because he wouldn’t try to kill her in the first place. And maybe he wouldn’t try to kill all those other innocent children, or make murderous kidnapping robots for his diner made mostly for kids. Either way, most deaths (most was an understatement, every death) revolved around William Afton and if he finally got the help he so desperately needed, then so many innocent lives would be saved, so many deaths prevented, and so many lives not ruined by the selfish desires of just one psychopathic, murderous, terrible man. 

Chapter 8

Notes:

Afton siblings bonding time ! ! !

I've gotten really busy lately and have barely any time to write, so updates may be slower in the future

Michael had finally gotten around to start studying.

Henry's method of ‘just memorize your notes’ was completely useless to him since he had a really bad memory when it came to memorizing stuff. But at least he tried. Michael just sat on his bed, re-reading notes and quizzing himself. And if he couldn't manage to get better by quizzing himself, he'd just write the answers on his ankle and cheat. It wasn't like he cared, anyways. School was completely useless to him, he never even graduated the first time around, so why would it matter if he didn't this time, either? He had more important things to worry about, like the death of multiple innocent children. In his eyes, his schooling couldn't even compare to that. And he was sure that most sane people would agree. 

Michael stared at his notes, barely able to read his messy ass handwriting that was scribbled onto the paper, the sides of which were covered with doodles he made when he was most likely not listening to the lesson. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was missing half of the information, because Lord knows he definitely did not pay enough attention to have gotten everything he needed. The more he read, the more confused he was, and he was starting to get a bit frustrated. His mind determined to get him to do anything but study, he started thinking... If he’s here and he really did time travel, then where the hell is his younger self’s consciousness? Unless he just replaced him altogether, or what if this wasn’t real at all? Maybe he’s like.. In a coma or something from the fire. If that were true, he doesn’t know which would be worse, the fact that he’s alive, or the fact that even a fire and a collapsed building couldn’t kill him. 

Those thoughts made him feel the need to grasp onto something, and he tried to focus his attention back on his notes, but the universe seemed to hate him or something, because as soon as he got into the flow, he heard the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs to the basement and Elizabeth ran down the stairs, followed slowly by Evan, and practically tackled him to the ground to hug him. 

“Jesus, Liz– Do you need something?” He said, gently trying to push her off of him, her wild red hair getting in his face, and he yelped when Evan also threw himself onto him.

“We missed you!” Elizabeth exclaimed, and tried to pull her hair back into place, which resulted in it getting even more messed up.

“You literally saw me yesterday.”

“But that was so looong ago!” She whined, and sat up, Evan nodding along to what she said. “Can we play?” She asked.

“Liz, I have to study, my first exam is tomorrow.” He said, and reached over to ruffle her hair.

“Screw your stupid exams!” She nearly yelled, and fell backwards onto the floor. Yeah, she’s right, screw these fucking exams, he must be here for a reason, so he was going to take as much advantage of it as he could. He was gonna play whatever game they wanted to play, and give them the best time they’ve ever had in their entire lives.

“Fine. What do you want to play?” He asks, making Elizabeth slowly sit up with an overly shocked expression in an almost comical way, and making Evan’s face light up. 

“Dress up?” Evan suggested, and Elizabeth nodded.

“We can make a whole story! With a princess–”

“Mikey can be the princess!” Evan exclaimed, making Liz gasp.

“Wait, what–”

“With knights, too!” She said, now standing up. “But first of all, our princess needs a castle.” 

“We can make a pillow fort!” Evan got up as well. 

“It will be glorious. It will be the bestest, grandest, biggest pillow fort ever made!” Elizabeth exclaimed, opening her arms and pointing at one of the empty corners, “It will be here.” She declared, “Our princess also needs a dress…” She said, making Evan snicker and glance at Michael, “Maybe mommy has an old dress she can spare… I will be back!” She said, and bolted to the stairs.

“And bring more blankets and pillows for the castle, too!” Evan yelled after her. He looked over at Michael and gave him a look that looked somewhat like a glare. “Why are you being so nice?”

He raised an eyebrow, “What, I’m not allowed to be nice?”

“You’ve never been this nice before,” Evan said, stepped forward and sat down next to Michael. “Ever since a month ago, you’ve been really nice… Weirdly nice.” He turned his head toward Michael, his chubby face contorting into a frown. “Who are you, and what did you do to Michael!” 

“Wha–” He was a little taken aback, but honestly, Evan’s always been smart, he wasn’t that surprised. Was he being too obvious? Should he be at least a little like he was in the past? He didn’t really feel like it… He’d regretted how he had acted in the past, and he sure as hell didn’t want to do it all over again, while knowing what would happen. He thought about what to say to Evan’s accusations, not knowing either to be serious with his answer, or to put it off as a joke.

“I ate him…” He finally said, Evan’s face turning from a frown to a look of horror, “And you’re next!” He then lunged at Evan and started tickling him, making him yelp, and laugh, as he tried kicking at Michael. He grabbed one of Evan’s ankles, and pulled him toward him just as he tried getting away, and pulled him into a hug. 

“...I love you, Mikey.” Evan said, and looked up at him, his big brown eyes making Michael’s heart shatter. How could he have ever bullied him?

“I love you too, Ev.” He smiled down at him, and patted his head. “Alright, should we start making that pillow fort already?” Evan nodded, and jumped up on his bed to steal his pillows. They’d made the base of the fort by the time Liz came back.

“Oh Mikeyyy! I have your gownnn!” She said in a sing-song voice, while dragging along multiple blankets and pillows, and brandished a long, flowy green and yellow dress. She threw it at him, and both she and Evan started snickering together as they untangled the blankets.

“Do I have to?” He whined, and looked down at the dress in his hands. 

“Yes!” Both Evan and Elizabeth yelled at him. He sighed, pulled off his sweater, and threw on the dress on top of his tank top. 

“There, happy?” He said, opening his arms so they could fully see it.

“It is perfect, Your Majesty,” Elizabeth answered with a bow. He rolled his eyes, and went to help them start building the base of the fort. It collapsed a few times, but after a few more attempts, (and a bit of cheating by using chairs), their fort could proudly stand on its own, and towered over them, nearly reaching the ceiling. Elizabeth placed a single pillow on the floor in the middle of the fort and said, “This is your throne.” Then pointed at it and stared at him expectedly. He did as he was silently told, he crawled into the fort and sat down on his ‘throne’, and fanned the dress out around him. 

“Now we need to conspire.” Elizabeth said with a mischievous grin, motioned to Evan to follow her, and they started whispering to each other, snickering and taking quick glances at Michael. It was adorable. Everything they did was so innocent and well-intended, Michael had missed them so much. He smiled as he watched them whisper and laugh. He knew he looked ridiculous sitting there with a bright dress on, but he really couldn’t care less. Not to mention that he probably won’t be able to get the motivation back to study, but it was fucking worth it to fail school all over again just to be able to live this moment. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Evan and Liz stopped whispering and started approaching him. 

 

It turned out that what they had planned was for Evan to be an assassin on a mission to kill him and Elizabeth was a fearless knight who would protect him. It was actually… kind of dark for something 10-year-olds were making up. Evan stabbed an imaginary sword into Elizabeth’s chest, making her sputter and gasp. 

“Oh, I’ve been hit! Bleghhh!” She yelled, moving her hands to pretend as if blood was spewing out of her wound. She fell to the ground and reached an overly exaggerated shaking hand towards him. “Princess..! Tell… My wife… I love her…” She then gasped and went limp. 

“Uh– Oh– Ah! My knight! Nooo!” Michael stuttered, and started sobbing in his hands. 

“Ha ha! Now no one can protect you!” Evan said, and lifted his imaginary blood-stained sword towards him. 

“But suddenly! I turn into a ghost!” Elizabeth exclaimed, rose to her feet, and held up her own imaginary sword.

“What– Hey, no fair!” Evan complained, and dropped his hands to his sides. Elizabeth simply stuck her tongue out at him and waved her sword around. 

“Are you going to fight me or not?” She said, Evan groaned, but raised his hands to hold up his sword anyway. As they were ‘fighting’, their mom slowly came down the stairs, and observed them with a smile, but they were far too busy to notice her. He gave her a look that said ‘help me’, which made her laugh, Elizabeth and Evan finally noticing her. They whispered to each other, and Michael could faintly hear something about a dragon. How on earth would Elizabeth be able to protect him from a dragon?

“Mommy, do you want to be a Queen or an evil dragon?” Elizabeth asked, and their mother tapped a finger against her lips, deep in thought. 

“I think I'll go with Queen.” She finally answered, making Evan and Elizabeth groan. “Do you want me to be an evil dragon?”

“No, we gave you a choice,” Evan sighed. 

Elizabeth pointed towards the pillow fort, “You need to go sit with Princess Mikey in the castle, then.” She raised her hands, then went to the fort, crawled inside and sat down on the ground next to him. Elizabeth and Evan resumed their feud, jabbing their swords at each other and dodging attacks. 

“So, what's going on?” His mother asked, and looked at him with a warm smile.

“Well, I'm a princess as you can see from my beautiful gown and gigantic castle,” He said, and threw his hair over his shoulder, making his mother laugh, “Elizabeth is my knight and–”

“In shining armour!” Elizabeth added from where she still battled Evan.

“Yes, my dazzling knight in shining armour, and Evan is an assassin trying to kill me. Or– You too now.” Michael explained, his mother nodding along.

“I see,” She said, and looked over to the twins, just as Elizabeth managed to land a hit on Evan, “Your castle is very grand, indeed.” She looked back over to Michael and bowed her head, then looked him up and down. “And your gown suits you.”

“Why, thank you.” Michael said, “It was hand-picked by my best, most fashionable knight.” They both smirked, and looked back over at Evan and Elizabeth just as Evan lunged at them back and stabbed them with his sword. They both clutched at their wounds and fell down onto one another, hearing Evan cheer above them and Elizabeth yelling out in defeat. 

“Nooo!! How could you!?” Elizabeth cried out, and jumped at Evan, tackling him to the ground. She attacked him with all the anger she could muster, and finally vanquished, Evan reaching a hand out to her only to let it fall down with a dramatic ‘bleh’.

Elizabeth sniffled back false tears, “I have won… but at what cost…” She crawled over to Michael and their mother and started sobbing, “My Majesties!!” 

“...And then we turn into ghosts?” Michael tentatively said, and Elizabeth gasped.

“Oh my goodness! Your Royal Highnesses! You're back!” She exclaimed, and hugged them both as they sat up. Evan exaggeratedly coughed in the background and slowly sat up, an expression of regret on his face.

“I’m sorry for killing you guys…” He said, and Elizabeth walked on all fours over to him and looked down upon him.

“Do you promise to never try killing them again, and always protect them?” She asked, and Evan looked up at her with warm eyes.

“I promise!” He answered.

“Then you are forgiven,” Elizabeth said, took him by the hand, and brought him over to the fort, where Michael and his mother exchanged wary looks.

“And what if we don't forgive him?” She said, and both Evan and Elizabeth looked at her with big pleading eyes. “Oh, alright.” 

The twins cheered and pulled them all into a group hug. He watched as his mother tapped a sword on each of Evan’s shoulders and made him a knight, and they all had a pretend tea party to celebrate. This must have been the best moment in his entire life, he genuinely smiled so much his face hurt. And honestly, if he were to die right now, he would go happily. It was worth it, fuck his grades, he’d stay up all night long to make a plan to cheat, he doesn’t give a fuck. Anything to take back on what he missed out in the past.

Michael looked at Evan, Elizabeth and his mother and for the first time in a long time, he was happy to be alive. 

Chapter 9

Notes:

Genuinely so sorry that it took this long to get this chapter out, and that there's kind of.. nothing that really happens in this chapter, but I assure you guys that the next chapter is definitely going to be a lot more interesting and will not take as long to write and post since I've had the entire thing planned for months lol

Michael was relieved, but also at the same time not, that he had finished his exams. Relieved because he was done this school year and could have a two month break, but that also meant it was summer, which meant Charlie’s death and Evan’s horrific birthday were arriving fast.

Charlie’s birthday was in less than a week, and he really had no idea how it would end up. Would he fail? Would he succeed? And for that, he was fucking terrified. Charlie deserved to live a long, happy life, not one full of agony, and cut way too short. And if he couldn't save her, he'd never forgive himself, because he knew, he could've done something, and the thought of knowing everything that would happen, and still not being able to fix it kept him awake thinking at night. He had already planned on what he would do; keep an eye on Charlie at all times, and if he saw those assholes who locked her out, make sure they wouldn’t have the chance to even try to do that to her. They were as much to blame for Charlie’s death as the murderer was, those dumb fucks that Charlie thought were her friends, but only ever wanted to take advantage of her, and when they didn’t have their way, lead them to lock her out in the rain on her own birthday. 

It was a foolproof plan, he hoped so at least, because there wasn't really anything else he could do to keep Charlie safe other than to follow her around all day. If only he could remember what the kids looked like, then he'd be able to ask to get them kicked out the moment he saw them. If he could stop Charlie's death, he might be able to save everyone else without even having to do anything, because if William never killed, never knew the feeling of ending a life, he'd never crave it, would never lure all those children away to their deaths. 

At one point, he thought of just letting William kill Charlie so he could report him and get him arrested. It was horrible, but if it came to it, if he wasn’t able to stop it, that’s what he would have to do. It made him feel terrible, but he couldn’t really get him arrested simply by telling the police ‘I’m from the future and this man kills many people’. Charlie deserved to live, yes, but all the other kids did as well, and if letting her die was the only option… Michael shook his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts. He couldn’t just let her die. What then? He went on living his life knowing he basically sacrificed a life to save others’? But if William got arrested… Then he wouldn’t have to live with a man who would hit him any time he wanted. Don’t be selfish. He wasn’t here to save himself, and anyways he deserved to have a horrible life. It’s not like it amounts to anything, because oh poor him, he has an abusive father who doesn’t care about him, does that really fucking matter compared to what the missing children had to go through? To what his siblings had to go through? To what the love of his life had to go through? He could compare his life to the one of anyone else he knew, and his suffering wouldn’t even take up a quarter of what everyone else went through. Or will go through. 

Now that he thought about it, he didn't have to save anyone. He didn't have to do anything. Of course, he wasn't going to just let everything happen without at least trying to do something to stop it, but it was still his life. He could genuinely try and graduate high school, go to college maybe, not get his organs scooped out. He could learn bass like he had wanted but had been too depressed and unmotivated to try and pick up. He could try to learn a bit of Greek to impress Jeremy when he’ll finally move here. He still remembered how happy and impressed Jeremy had been when he had said to him ‘I love you’ in Greek for the first time. And he's sure he would be impressed if a random Arabic-Australian guy from middle-of-nowhere Utah came up to him and started speaking his first language. 

He could try to be a better brother for Evan and Elizabeth, since Lord knows that he had been the worst ever in the past. Well, he was already changing how he acted towards his siblings, never in a million years would Michael ever be caught dead playing dress up and pretend in the past. And if he was going to be stuck in the past, he might as well try to be better to everyone around him. Like, he could be a better friend to Gabriel, a better son for his mother — perhaps even a better son for his father — and a better boyfriend for Jeremy. 

But he didn’t really believe that he deserved a second chance to fix his miserable excuse of a life. The people around him deserved someone who treated them well, but that didn't necessarily mean that Michael deserved to have a better life. So instead of thinking, he tried distracting himself with anything else. He had already organized his entire shelf of records, putting them in alphabetical order by artist or band then by album, and dispersing them around the shelf so they weren’t all packed and cramped into just two shelves. It had taken him a while, and kept him busy, but now he didn’t really have anything to do. He did notice that he was missing his favourite Pink Floyd album that he knew was released just a few months ago. He was disappointed, yes, but he could always ask for it for his birthday or something. It was only in a few months after all. Not to mention that he didn't have many of his other favourite records of bands or albums that haven't been released yet.

Maybe he could go through all his school binders and throw out everything he wouldn’t need anymore. Honestly, he might as well keep everything so he could look back on it next year. Right after his exams, students talked about how they thought they did and what other people wrote down for certain questions, and because of that he was 100% sure that he failed all his exams. It wasn’t even that hard either, now that he thought back, he just completely forgot everything he had studied, or if he did remember, he did it completely wrong. Whatever, he’d just have to try harder next year. 

But honestly, he'd rather be bored in his room than be out there and have to be near his father. Either he stayed here or he went outside and joined Elizabeth and Evan while they did whatever the hell they were doing in the backyard. Probably playing a game on the play structure, maybe he could go outside and watch over them so they could play in the pool. That didn't seem like such a bad idea, it was nice outside, so he might as well enjoy the weather and spend some time with his siblings, and anyways he was sure they'd love to go in the pool and they're not allowed to go in it by themselves. 

He shrugged, because yeah, why not? It wasn't like he had anything else to do, he'd just be sitting around in his room, listening to music, staring off into space and thinking about the past/future. He forced himself up from the spot on the floor he'd been sitting on, and made his way to the doors leading outside, feeling like he walked through a wall of pure heat as he stepped outside, and quickly spotting Evan and Elizabeth in the play structure. They didn't seem to notice him, until he got to the base of the play structure and looked up at them, waved at them and they both exclaimed his name and jumped down. 

“Hey! What are you guys doing?” He asked them once they'd finally calmed down about the fact he was actually outside, as if they hadn't seen him in years. 

“We’re playing pirates!” Evan answered with a wide smile.

“Ev is the Captain and I'm a witch pirate and we're trying to save Mr Fredbear from the evil stick monsters that kidnapped him!” Elizabeth explained, and pointed over where Evan's Fredbear plush was put on the ground surrounded by sticks planted into the earth in a circle around him. “You can help us! Do you wanna?”

“Uhh, maybe another day? I was just gonna ask if you guys wanted to go in the pool–”

“But you love stuff with pirates.” Evan says with a pout, then with big pleading eyes, and soon Elizabeth joins in to try and convince him. 

He groaned, and Evan and Elizabeth cheered, knowing they had convinced him, “Fine. But I’m not going to be a damsel in distress again.”

“You can be someone in our crew.” Elizabeth stated.

“In my crew.” Evan specified, “You can be a cleaner or something.” He said, and nonchalantly waved a hand at Michael. 

“Seriously? A cleaner?” Michael was only sent a smug look from Evan and Elizabeth stuck her tongue out at him. “You can be a cleaner in the crew… with a dark secret.” Elizabeth said.

Both Evan and Elizabeth gasped and pointed at each other, saying “Sea monster!” at the same time.

“Oh, a sea monster, huh?” He said, and couldn't help but notice how his tone of voice was just a little condescending. It was always like that when he talked to children, like when they'd show him something and he'd say ‘Oh wow, that's so cool!’ and it sounded so… condescending. But Evan and Elizabeth weren't children, not necessarily. They weren't extremely young, but he was so caught up with trying to be good for them, that he kept talking to them like children who only need reassurance. Maybe he was like that because he didn't want them to think he didn't care. 

“Yeah! And this is your human form.” Elizabeth gestured Michael up and down. “A human with a mouth that looks like the inside of a tin can.”

“And with ugly hair.” Evan laughed and joined in on the personal insults. 

Michael nodded, “Okay, alright, I see how it is.” Evan and Elizabeth screamed and giggled when he suddenly lunged at them, trying to go up into the play structure to get away. He caught Liz before she could join Evan up into safety and easily threw her over his shoulder as if she were a bag of potatoes. She screamed, making Michael flinch and grimace, because it was right next to his ear.

Elizabeth cried out, “Evan, help!” Which Evan quickly went to her rescue, not climbing down from the play structure, of course.

“Hey! You're not supposed to attack your own crew!” 

“And you're not supposed to insult your crew either, but you did it anyways.” Michael retaliated, and set Elizabeth back down on the ground.

“It's not an insult if it's true.” Elizabeth shrugged, “That's just called a fact.”

He blinked at her and shook his head, “That’s it. I'm throwing you in the pool.” She shrieked and just barely dodged his attempt at picking her up again, before making her way up the play structure to join Evan. They looked down at him, Evan snickering and Elizabeth blowing a raspberry at him. “Wouldn't you want me to throw you in the pool? It's like 40 degrees outside, aren't you dying?” He said, and emphasized his point by fanning his face with his hand. 

“Pfft,” Elizabeth waved her hand, “It's not even that hot.” Both Michael and Evan gave her a look. “But! We can play pirates in the pool!” She said, Evan making comments of agreement as they both made their way down the play structure.

“Okay, you guys go inside and get changed, and I'll take the tarp off the pool.” He smiled at them, and Evan gave him a quizzical look.

“You’re not going in with us?” 

“Oh, no I'm just gonna hang out on the deck. Make sure you guys don't drown.” He answered and ruffled Evan's hair, making him laugh. “Okay, we're gonna be right back! And you can't back down on your word, you have to play pirates with us.” Elizabeth said, and took Evan’s hand and dragged him to the house before Michael could even answer her. He watched as they entered and disappeared from his sight, not being able to stop a smile from forming on his face.

He was definitely enjoying being able to spend time with his siblings, making up for all the time lost and for when he was a complete dick to them, especially Evan. And it took his mind off everything else, as well. He sighed, and started making his way over to the pool to take the tarp off like he had told Evan and Liz he would do, and catching a glimpse of William staring at him through a window on the main floor. 

Ignore him, just ignore him. Michael didn’t bother turning back around to look and silently tell him he saw him, because he didn’t want to see him anyways. Just seeing him was enough to make him worry and start over thinking again. Four days. Just four days until Charlie’s birthday, and he was not entirely sure if he’s got this, but that was most likely his mind telling him he couldn’t do it. How hard could it be?