Michael awoke on Tristen's old bed. Pain coursed through his body, as it had every other day. Immortality did not come without a price.

His healing process had been slow going. And eternal life didn't mean painlessness. He could move, but something was most ghostly about it. Like he was possessing himself.

It had been 3 long years since the second Freddy's location was shut down. Henry publicly announced it was due to malfunctions, but the old mascots might be saved and repurposed with "a much smaller budget".

Sure enough, a new location opened about a year and a half later. But Michael wanted time to heal before going directly into it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charlie sat down on the rainy curb and sobbed into her hands.

All of her attempts to free the other kids' souls had only made things worse. Every time she tried, they would become less aware. Less alive.

The two friends Fritz and Jeremy had stopped speaking altogether. Susie was starting to act almost carnal, only wanting food. Gabriel fought to keep his consciousness, but he too succumbed to the numbing effects of Charlie trying to resurrect them.

"It's all my fault", she said through the tears, but then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself", the person said. Charlie turned and was met with the faces of Tristen and Cassidy.

Tristen cowered behind Cassidy as she gave Charlie a sick sadistic smile, "They were meant to be this way, Charlotte."

Charlie stood up with a start, "You're the one who deserves to be like them, Cassidy. The only reason you aren't is because I have to separate you two first and I can't do that."

"C-Cassidy?", Tristen asked, "Couldn't we be nice to Charlie?"

Cassidy snapped at him, "No, you idiot! You're lucky I actually need you for what I want to do." He began getting brighter.

"Let up, Cassidy. The people on the street will see us", demanded Charlie. Tristen collapsed to the ground.

Cassidy smirked and walked back towards the pizzeria, so he was dragged behind her. Charlie sighed.

"How long until I can free them?"

A dark version of Golden Freddy materialized in front of her.

Charlie angrily yelled, "Cassidy!"

The shadow Freddy opened its mouth and out came Cassidy's voice, "I'm getting better at controlling this form right?"

"Shut up! Stop it before they see you!"

"Wouldn't it be better if they did?", Shadow Freddy's eyes almost looked hungry.

Charlie waved her hand and the Shadow clone imploded, "Don't try that again, Cassidy."

Cassidy's laughter was heard throughout the alleyway. A curious pedestrian was walking by and she decided to check it out.

"Hello?", she called, "Is there a girl here? You can come out and I can take you back to your parents inside." She continued to walk further down the alleyway.

Charlie wanted to warn her, but she couldn't or she'd have to reveal herself. Instead, she turned away as Cassidy attacked the poor soul who wandered there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael began to spend thousands of hours conditioning himself with the "illusion disks" that his father built. He wanted to desensitize himself to the living horrors he'd have to experience at the pizzeria.

After another 2 years of lying low in his father's old house, he decided it was time to get hired at the pizzeria. He packed as much as he could and took a plane to the States. He changed his name to Mike Schmidt, his mother's maiden name. 

When Michael arrived at the location to apply, he learned that 3 more locations had been opened around the nation thus far. He stood amazed as the job orientation went over Henry's new business plan to expand heavily. It was nearly inspiring, but Michael had to focus.

On his first night, he listened to the scheduled phone tape and defended himself from the mascots throughout his shift. Every night, it would get worse. But he stuck through it.

By his 6th shift, management was amazed by his progress. The general manager even remarked, "You've been the single most dedicated employee even though our history isn't the best", and gave him a bonus check.

What management did not know was that Michael was thoroughly examining the mascots. After every shift, he would tinker with their endoskeletons to see what made them different from the spare ones. Every night he found nothing. So on the 7th night, he decided to hack into their computers and see what made them tick. 

This flagged management and made them fire him for not only tampering with the computers and the AI but also his odor, as he was previously a rotting corpse.

Michael felt disheartened, but then he learned a month afterward that the company had shut down due to not only a bad reputation from all the previous problems, but the health company had concerns about the cleanliness of the facility. Fazbear Entertainment died with that location.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Honey why?", Charlotte questioned.

Henry replied, "I can't do this anymore. Not without Charlie. Not without finding William. And certainly not after finding that employee in the safe room."

"We had every employee sign off on safety concerns related to that suit."

"It doesn't matter!"

"You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Only if it makes you feel better", Henry said before kissing his wife.

She waved to him as he made his way downstairs.