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(It was the Fourth of July and the Town of Silver Valley was having a Fair in Celebration, their were Carnival Games - Rides - Food Stands and even more)

(Almost everyone in town was at the fair, it felt nice to have a special event not be Associated with Fazbear Entertainment in any way, it was like a breath of Fresh Air)

Gregory: Cmon guys, let’s go play some of the games

Cassie: Wait up Gregory (giggles a bit)

(Tony - Amelia - Ellis and Devon followed as well, they all wanted to check out all the areas)

Cassie: Don’t forget guys, their gonna be doing a Fireworks Show (says with Excitement)

Amelia: you know it’s nice for the town to have an event that isn’t Faz-Ent or Fallfest Related for once

Tony: you can say that again

Axel: so why am I here again

Crystal: because unfortunately, our parents are all friends and we’re “Obligated” to hang out together

Oswald: cmon it’s not that bad

Devon: Cmon, let’s stop wasting time, I wanna chance to beat Gregory in some games

Gregory: Good luck with that (says with a mischievous smile)

(The kids run to the nearest games they can find while the adults keep an eye on them)

Vanessa: (small giggles) glad to see their having a good time

Jeremy: Yeah, hopefully they don’t get too competitive over the night

Glamrock Freddy: I’m sure they’ll be alright

(Soon the kids made their way to a dart shooter game)

Devon: Ready to lose to your Superior (says in a competitive manner)

Gregory: in your dreams (says with a mischievous grin)

(Soon they both grabbed dart shooters and the game started, almost immediately Gregory managed to shoot multiple Targets and had more points then Devon, Devon tried to get more but Gregory was so quick and shot every target)

(Soon the game ended and Gregory won)

Gregory: You were saying Dev 😏

Devon: You just got lucky ok 😒

(Gregory then chose a prize and picked a cute Blue Cartoon Dog Plush)

Devon: Seriously, you got a cheap plushie

Gregory: it’s better than whatever you would’ve gotten

Cassie: Guys cmon, let’s not start anything 😅

Amelia: yeah, besides, Gregory’s right, this plush is better than anything Devon would’ve picked 😁

Cassie: not helping Amelia 😑

(The group then made their way over to a Spinning Teacup Ride)

Amelia: oh I love these rides

Devon: seriously, but their so boring, all they do is spin

Amelia: are you scared 😏?

Devon: What, no, I bet I can stay on this ride longer without getting dizzy or anything

Amelia: Oh yeah

Ellis: guys, guys please

Ellis: it’s obvious that I wide win

Amelia and Devon: Bring it on then

(The 3 of them proceed to get on 1 teacup ride, meanwhile Gregory - Cassie and Tony get on the other and Oswald - Crystal and Axel)

(As the ride begin spinning Amelia and Devon were staring daggers at each other while trying to not feel dizzy)

(But after 3 minutes they both got dizzy, after the ride stopped and they both got off)

Devon: Well, that was, easy

Amelia: yeah, too easy

Devon: 🙂

Amelia: 🙂

(1 minute later they go to a Garbage Can and Throw Up)

Gregory and Cassie: 🤦🤦‍♀️

Later.

(Soon everyone got together in 1 area as they were about to begin the Fireworks Show, as the Fireworks Show began everyone watched with Awe in their eyes)

Cassie: Wow the fireworks are so beautiful

Tony: they really are!

Vanessa: I can stand here and watch this forever

(Soon the final Fireworks popped and they surprisingly spelled out Happy Fourth of July)

The End.

.

The skee-ball machine played a lively chiptune jingle over the new high score as Gregory stared at Oswald in open-mouthed surprise. The other boy just grinned, juggling a wooden ball in one hand while Cassie laughed behind her hands at the both of them.

“I did warn you,” Oswald told him teasingly, “I got schooled by one of the best in my old town, so challenging me to skee-ball wasn’t gonna go well for you.” He raised a finger to his lips in thought. “Well, those guys called it ‘Pizza Roller’ at the time, but I figured that was just the lingo for Freddy’s.”

“Dude, I held that record in Circus Baby’s for ages!” Gregory exclaimed, throwing up his hands, “Now I actually gotta put in effort?! Fuck my life...”

“Don’t worry,” Cassie reassured the other boy when Oswald began to look a bit unsure of Gregory stomping around in a small circle, “He sounds mad but he’s actually really impressed and likes a challenge. Last time I played against him on this game, he didn’t have much fun.” She winked and held up a hand to stage whisper, “If you knock a few more of his scores off the leaderboards, you’ll really see how he is when he’s enjoying himself getting top rank back.”

“Guess I’ll take your word for it,” Oswald returned with a sheepish laugh, “And thanks for inviting me to hang out.” He gathered the string of tickets the machine spat out and pulled them apart into individual pieces. “My dad’s been job-hunting while my mom’s at work, so I’m used to just being left in dingy pizza joints all day,” he admitted quietly, “But here at least the place is clean and nice, and I’ve got friends to spend time with. I really missed that.”

“I told ya, I get how it feels to be in a new place and not really know anyone, so I wanted to make sure you didn’t feel lonely like I did for ages,” Gregory suddenly said, coming to a stop from his mock-tantrum to join them with his own tickets folded neatly in his hand. He smiled at Cassie, fond and grateful. “Cassie was the first real friend I made in the Pizzaplex a long time ago, and she found me when I got out and actually made it into school. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know if I’d be this happy to be there. Or put up with being out here at all, really.”

“You cheered me up and spent time with me on my birthday when no one else came,” Cassie replied warmly, cheeks flushing with color, “Seeing you again made me happy too. And I’m really glad we can hang out more often.”

Oswald looked between them, then politely coughed into his fist, a bit pink in the face. “Guess it was really lucky we all met, huh?” he remarked, grinning at the matching smiles beaming back at thim.

“Yeah!” Gregory said cheerfully and then cackled in mischief, “You might regret it, though, Probie! I’m kind of a hell-raiser!”

The three of them snickered as they moved on to other games, playing rounds of hoops, then air hockey, then a strength tester. Gregory had to decline the last one when Oswald offered the rubber mallet to him.

“I accidentally broke the wooden one we used to have here,” he explained in embarrassment, arms folded over his chest as he looked over at Alex watching them from the dining room. “Miss Corbett bought that rubber one and asked if I could be more careful, but I don’t wanna risk it.”

“How?! No offense but you’re kinda small,” Oswald asked in surprise, “I didn’t think I’d ever be the ‘big kid’, y’know?”

“Gregory is weirdly strong for his size,” Cassie answered in place of Gregory sticking his tongue out at the other boy, “One time, in homeroom, one of the other kids dropped their favorite pencil behind the bookshelf by the window and we couldn’t get it out because it was too low to the floor to reach under it.” She gestured at Gregory, “He just put his shoulder to the side of the shelf and shoved the whole thing over so we could get the pencil back, then shoved it back into place. Teacher had no clue what happened and she was the one who said that it was heavy enough to need two janitors to budge it.”

“Wow,” Oswald said, eyebrows raised at the story as he looked over at Gregory, “That’s like mutant levels of strong! You sure you’re not some kind of science experiment gone rogue?”

“You gotta be this tall to unlock my secret backstory, dude,” Gregory replied, holding up his hand to be level to his own shoulder. Oswald gave him a flat stare back.

“I’m already taller than you,” he countered.

“Barely!” Gregory declared, pointing at him in mock-offense, “Your hair adds an inch! It doesn’t count!”

“You’re both tall and pretty, happy now?” Cassie declared with an exasperated sigh and gave Gregory a look, “Why don’t you go get your prize while me and Oswald check out the pizza buffet?”

Oswald squinted at the odd way she said that as Gregory seemed to snap into a more serious stance, his expression turning grim. “Yeah, shouldn’t take me long,” he agreed and then seemed to force himself to relax and grin at Oswald, “Try out the taco topping pizza! Sydney says it was one of his favorites back when he used to work here, so it should be really good.” He held up his stack of tickets and waved them as he began walking to the prize counter.

Cassie watched him leave with a faintly worried expression that she quickly dropped in favor of a smile when she caught the other boy looking at her suspiciously. “He’s got a point, the taco pizza is pretty tasty,” she giggled and pointed towards the dining area, “C’mon! Let’s go get some and wait for him to join us.”

Oswald hummed, reluctant to move at first. He looked towards the prize counter and Gregory one last time, frowning deeply, then finally followed her to the buffet.

.

===

.

The vent opening was still clear from the first time he’d kicked the grille off. Gregory crawled out and got to his feet, dusting off his shorts and shoulders while keeping an eye out for the blue mist that meant Six would be showing up. Last visit had ended with him arguing with the old ghost so Gregory wasn’t sure how happy he’d be with him showing up again.

The security puppet had pointed to the old pizzeria again, so it seemed like everything important for Mr. Schmidt was going to be here. What else would the guard be hiding? A flashlight, maybe? Security keycards? Or party room passes or FazTokens?

“Sorry, Cass,” he muttered, digging into his backpack for the flashlight and switching it on, “I know you wanted to come with me back here, but I need you to keep Probie away from this crap for his own good.”

The haunting alarm had gone off while he was in the part of the ventilation system around that larger side of the pizzeria, so Six was sure to be investigating over there. That meant he wouldn’t catch on right away that Gregory had gone ahead to this smaller side that was a lot more decrepit and dark. He walked across the carpet, looking over the upended tables and chairs that had remained untouched since the last time they were disturbed.

“Did the Missing Children Incident and the Bite happen on this side? Or the bigger side?” Gregory asked himself, squinting at the two stages as he swung the light back and forth, “Or was this all one big pizzeria and they split it up in sections after, like the Pizzaplex was built on top of that burned one?” He dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, flicking through the articles he’d bookmarked to read them again.

1987, the pizzeria was big and new and state of the art. There were three guards, one of them was Mr. Fitzgerald’s dad. On the day the children went missing and Mr. Schmidt as a kid was bitten, it was his and another kid’s birthday. One birthday kid disappeared and was killed, and the other got bitten and almost killed. He managed to survive somehow and recovered enough to grow up and be a security guard.

“The Strength to Survive,” Gregory said out loud, tasting the words. He frowned. That was really weird. Why did Six say that like it was important? He didn’t want Afton to get it.. because it would give her the ability to survive stuff that would kill her? Like that burned pizzeria collapsing on the far side of the building?

“If I brought someone back to life, I’d want to make sure they didn’t get killed again,” he muttered thoughtfully, “That’s why that Afton lady kidnapped Sydney; he was supposed to protect Vanessa and then whoever it was that lady was gonna bring back to life in her body. So what did she plan to do for the guy she was gonna bring back in me?”

Maybe this was the very thing she’d been hoping he’d do? To protect the other Afton, she would have wanted Gregory to find The Strength to Survive, and if he kept running into pieces of Mr. Schmidt’s stuff then it had to be something Mr. Schmidt possessed and hid away. It let him survive the bite and survive working at Freddy’s for ages.

“I was right, then!” Gregory cheered to himself, “If I get it first, I can totally wreck her plans! She won’t be able to put that other Remnant in me if I can just survive it and keep my mind!”

A soft blue light began spilling into the room and he jerked in surprise. Oh crap, he took too long, the old guy was coming! Gregory looked around for a place to hide, someplace Six wouldn’t think to look.

His eyes fell on the ragged purple curtains that hung over the tiny Pirate’s Cove. Six had warned him to stay away from it, said it was dangerous and even kept a distance from it himself. A perfect hiding spot.

Gregory switched off the flashlight, pocketed the phone, then scrambled to climb onto the stage, slipping through the gap in the curtains and heading for the boxes of props and party favors. He sat behind a few stacked in an unsteady looking pile, pulling his phone back out for a dimmer light to see by. Shouldn’t be bright enough to get seen from outside, right?

Well, since he was back here, might as well start looking around for anything Mr. Schmidt might have hidden back here. Gregory held his phone up to shine the dim light into a box, frowning as he looked over the contents for anything that looked like it didn’t belong. Party hats of different colors filled the box, some bent but all faded and covered in dust. Maybe they had been bright and pretty once upon a time, and now they were just sad. He dug past them to check the bottom of the box. Nothing out of place.

“What could be in here? C’mon, lemme just find it quick so I can leave before the old guy finds me!” he complained, sliding the box aside. He pulled down one from the stack and opened the top, looking in.

Toy swords made of plastic, eyepatches and pirate hats, all sized for kids; this was probably the box of props for Foxy the Pirate Fox’s show. There were even little plastic pirate hook cups with small hand grips inside so kids could pretend they had hooks for hands. Gregory picked one up to wrinkle his nose at it. Why the hell would anyone want to pretend that?

Digging past the props, there was a long pirate’s coat at the bottom, neatly folded until Gregory pulled it out and free. He laid it on the floor of the stage, carefully searching the pockets. Nothing in those. He tilted his head at it, studying the deep blue, almost black color of the coat. Wasn’t this the same kind of coat in those cardboard cutouts and posters in the Pizzaplex? So the tall red fox there had to be Foxy, designed based on this original and not Funtime Foxy.

Kinda made sense. Cassie had the theory that Funtime Foxy was the inspiration for Roxy, but none of them could figure out the reason for the pirate fox that didn’t really fit the ‘Glamrock’ theme. Gregory carefully refolded the coat and set it aside. The box of props didn’t have anything else of note so that was a bust.

One last box, the one that had been bent in and damaged by the prop box. Would make a good hiding place; who would think something important was stashed in such a ratty looking cardboard box?

Gregory pulled it close, glancing up to be sure the blue light wasn’t near the curtains of Pirate’s Cove, then unfolded the top to look inside. A toy treasure chest and several cloth satchels rested inside, handfuls of fake gold coins and plastic beaded necklaces. Pirate’s treasure, he supposed. But, why would the coins and jewelry be spilled out into the cardboard box when they should be inside the chest?

“The treasure chest,” Gregory murmured in realization, eyes widening. Of course! Whatever was hidden would get put in there as the pirate’s treasure! He set his phone down to cast its light over the area, just enough to let him see as he reached in and picked up the toy chest. The clasp on it wasn’t locked luckily, so he just flipped it up and pushed open the lid. It creaked on its hinges and Gregory peeked inside.

A small toy hook and a polka-dotted cloth in red and white lay crumpled in the bottom of the chest. Gregory blinked at them in confusion, then carefully reached in to grab the cloth for a closer look. It was some sort of bandanna. He unfolded it, holding it up to look it over, and inhaled sharply at the huge dark stain that had been previously hidden in the shadows of the chest.

“Wh-what the fuck is this?” he breathed out in alarm, staring at the stain, the two rows of tears in the fabric, the smell of old rust and iron that hit him full force.

He knew this.

His breath caught. Started again. Quick and shallow.

Crossed the line. Silver edges.

Bandanna grew blurry. Tears on his cheeks.

Supposed to be a hero. Glowing sockets on the wall.

He never got to say sorry.

‘I never got to say sorry.’

Mouth open but unmoving. A head remained, a fitting end?

A keening sound began bubbling up, ringing in his ears, distant, hollow. His head hurt.

He never got to say goodbye.

‘I thought I didn’t care.’

Pain, sharp and biting, lanced through his skull, and Gregory screamed, a shrill wail that shattered the dead air of the pizzeria. His body didn’t feel his own, disconnected, unfamiliar. The stage rushed up to meet him, another sharp pain to his head, and then nothing more.

.

===

.

Oswald watched Cassie bite her lip as she poked at her breadsticks. They’d both eaten quite a bit of pizza, all of which were pretty good so that was nice, and then had just chatted about school and their families and upcoming events. But as time passed and Gregory didn’t show back up to join them like he said he would, Cassie grew more worried in her expression, more distracted from their topics.

She looked like how he felt when his dad got taken. Like the only one who knew what really happened and all alone in dealing with it.

He sighed heavily. He’d probably regret this but it was for a good cause. “Hey, Cassie,” he began carefully, “I couldn’t help but notice that this building is pretty big on the outside.” The girl snapped her gaze to him, her complexion more ashen than when they first walked into the pizzeria. He really didn’t like how panicked she looked. “And it’s nice and bright in here, but it feels kind of.. small,” he went on.

Jeff’s was like that too. And it didn’t take him long to catch on to why.

Oswald looked around for the most likely place to hide a connecting hall or room and spotted a large wall covered in photos and posters with a single vent low to the ground. ‘Bingo.’

“Um, Circus Baby’s doesn’t really need a lot of space,” Cassie managed, “When Gregory gets back, he can tell you about it.”

“I think he’s still here, but not in Circus Baby’s,” Oswald replied quietly, narrowing his eyes at the vent grille. It was a little lopsided, wasn’t it? “This building used to be a Freddy Fazbear’s, right?”

Cassie sighed and nodded. “Yeah, it was one of the really old locations,” she explained, “There’s this animatronic workshop in town, the owner and his friend both used to work here when it was a Freddy’s. Gregory’s been getting things that belonged to that friend that were hidden here.” She waved to the wall. “He wants to take down Fazbear Entertainment and he thinks that stuff will lead to some kind of evidence or something that can be used against them. But all we got so far are hard drives that belonged to the original Freddy and Friends animatronics.”

Oswald grimaced. Well, maybe they weren’t so bad if they weren’t controlled by whatever it was that made that yellow rabbit one go off the rails? Circus Baby was a decent animatronic from what he could see. All she did was dance and sing and she was even trusted enough to be able to walk around the restaurant and deliver food to some of the tables. The thin crown of blue lightning circling her head was an interesting touch. Was that part of the tech behind her construction?

“He’s never taken this long to come back from a search though,” Cassie muttered, “He knows I don’t like it when he’s gone this long, and he hasn’t texted.” She started ripping pieces of the breadstick off and tossing them onto her plate. “I don’t know. This doesn’t feel right.”

“I know he doesn’t want me getting involved, but he’s my friend now too,” Oswald told her nervously, “This.. if this isn’t normal for you guys, then maybe he’s in trouble, and if that’s what’s going on, then I want to help.” There hadn’t been anyone to help him at Jeff’s, so he was gonna be the help he wished he had for Gregory.

“Okay, but you can’t tell anyone about it until we have everything we need to go after Fazbear Entertainment,” Cassie warned him and slid out of the booth, “C’mon. We gotta get into that vent before Gregory’s sort-of brother notices us.”

.

Crawling through the ventilation system was an unwanted familiar activity. At least there was nothing to grab at his legs and drag him out. Right? Oswald gulped and kept following Cassie’s lead through the vent.

She finally got out of the tunnel through an exit and he tumbled out after her, shaking his head and patting himself down to dislodge dust. When he got to his feet, he got his first good look at the hidden pizzeria. He blinked a few times, then inhaled sharply, glancing around almost wildly.

There was a strange blue haze coating the walls, a mist drifting over the floor. This didn’t seem normal for the building. If all of this was supposed to have been a Freddy’s location, then why didn’t he see this stuff in Circus Baby’s part? Cassie didn’t seem to react to any of it, so was this something she already knew about? Or was it that she couldn’t see it?

And if she couldn’t, then why could he?

‘No, focus, not about you. We’re here for Gregory.’ Oswald shook himself off as he joined Cassie in walking down the hall, calling his name. He looked down halls that branched off into shadows, watching the blue haze fade into the distance. He listened to the haunting chimes of some sort of alarm system and wondered if cops would be called. ‘If Gregory’s been doing this a lot then probably not.’

“Down that way is the security office Gregory and I visited,” Cassie told him, looking down the hall he stopped at. A pair of ghostly figures hovered where she pointed and then they faded away too. “That’s where we found Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Fitzgerald’s lockers,” she added, a small frown on her face, “Mr. Fitzgerald has a first aid kit in his locker and Mr. Schmidt had a camera in his. Gregory took the camera, but the first aid kit should still be there.”

“My mom works at the hospital and taught me some first aid techniques,” Oswald said, jumping at the chance to be able to find a way to help, “Let’s get that first aid kit! It could come in handy.”

They headed down the hall to the office, passing by doorways that led into dark rooms. Oswald caught glimpses of kid-sized figures running around, shadows that faded with the faint echoes of giggles. Creepy.

Stepping into the office made Oswald pause for a moment while Cassie went on to the lockers. The two figures he’d seen earlier had reappeared, faded and ghostly, and seemed to act out a scene without being aware of him or Cassie. Both of them were dressed in soft blue uniforms, one tall and gruff-looking, holding a cup in one bandaged hand while lecturing the other, a short and much younger-looking guy listening with wide eyes and nodding like his life depended on it. They were still doing that when both faded to nothing and Oswald was left wondering what it was he just saw.

“Here’s the kit,” Cassie called out, struggling to open the locker. It popped open with a harsh scraping sound and Oswald bent to take a look.

“Huh, a lot of the bandages and gauze got used up, but there’s some alcohol wipes and sanitation solution still left,” he said, checking the contents of the kit quickly and organizing it. He looked up at the uniform hanging on the little rack. It looked like the one the shorter figure in that odd vision was wearing. “Hm, not ideal but we can use this for wrapping in a pinch,” Oswald explained to Cassie as he slid the shirt off the hanger. A name tag was still pinned to it, ‘Jeremy’, and he undid the clasp, setting the tag on the little shelf next to a hat of the same color. He packed the shirt into the kit and closed it up, carrying it by the handle. “Okay, we’re set. Let’s keep looking for Gregory.”

“There’s a door at the end of the main hall and it looked like there was a bend to another area near it,” Cassie told him as they left the office and passed by the empty party rooms again. “Maybe Gregory went deeper into the pizzeria?”

It was worth a shot, but that direction was also where the blue haze was gathering. Oswald squinted at the color covering the walls in suspicion. This was different from the stressful red haze he kept seeing in the edges of his vision back at Jeff’s when it was Freddy’s. Back then, he was alone and terrified constantly and seeing horrifying things almost every time he entered a room. Here it was still creepy as hell, but the haze seemed more like a barrier, cool and shielding. But what was it shielding against? Was it keeping something out, or keeping something in?

“Parts and Service, huh,” Cassie read the sign on the door and Oswald pulled his attention to her. She pointed up at it with a small grin. “Guess this is where Mr. Fitzgerald learned about fixing and building animatronics. My dad kinda did the same job as a Fazbear technician for the Pizzaplex. He mostly did their network connections and security,” she added.

“Mine worked at a steel mill before it closed,” Oswald offered, resting one hand on his hip as he looked up at the sign himself, “If an animatronic was damaged beyond fixing, it probably got sent there and his job would have been to melt it down so the metal could be reused.” He frowned after a bit. “But something happened and the mill was closed down. What would Freddy’s do with their old animatronics and parts if they need destroying or recycling without that mill?”

“I wonder if they sent something over they shouldn’t have,” Cassie wondered aloud, frowning thoughtfully. “Can you melt Remnant?”

“What?” Oswald asked in confusion and she just shook her head.

“Never mind. Gregory can explain it better,” she told him, “Let’s go down this way.” She pointed to the entry of another hall and started walking again, her phone’s light cutting through the shadows. Oswald sighed and jogged after her, glancing back over his shoulder at the door they left behind. The blue haze acted like some sort of sealant, filling in the seams around the door. Like a barrier within a barrier. Guess it really didn’t want anyone messing with that room...

.

At the other end of the bendy hallway, Cassie and Oswald stepped into a second, smaller dining area, the tables and chairs a mess. It looked like the place had been ransacked, but the layers of dust on them meant it happened long ago. Two small stages bordered the dining room, along with a door to the backstage and what looked like another main entrance leading outside. Those doors were boarded up, the blue haze thickly layered over top.

“This must have been what Freddy’s was like after the first closure,” Cassie murmured, holding up her phone for a light.

Oswald swallowed hard, seeing something she definitely didn’t. The tall figure from that vision earlier was standing in the dining room near the stage with a curtain, but that one didn’t act like just a recording or illusion. This one was the same blue color as the haze, and was looking right at him with a frown.

“Okay, the girl I recognize, but you’re new. How the hell am I gonna explain this to Woods?” the ghost grumbled, hands on his hips in irritation, “Gotta go get him to help the kid, but can’t leave these two lil shits by themselves in here.”

“Uh,” Oswald began, rubbing his head nervously. So the ghost didn’t realize he could see it? Should he call attention to that? “So if I were to look for Gregory in here,” he began to ask aloud, cautiously walking into the dining room and making his way closer to the ghost, “where would he be?” The ghost blinked and narrowed his eyes at him in suspicion.

“You better not be Remnant-fucked,” he growled but pointed at the stage with the curtains, “That’s Jeremy’s kit, so you better know how to use it cuz the kid needs help.”

“Cassie, if Gregory’s good at hiding, maybe he’s behind those curtains!” Oswald called out to her, hurrying to the stage with the kit. Was Gregory hurt?!

“Fuck my life, you’re Remnant-fucked. Goddamn Fazfuck company,” the ghost ranted as Cassie hurried to join Oswald at the curtain-covered stage. Seemed like the ghost was a friendly one, sort of. Oswald tossed the kit onto the stage before climbing up onto it, then turned to reach out a hand to Cassie. He pulled her up and pointed past the curtains.

“There! Go! I’ll catch up!” he blurted out.

“Okay but hurry!” Cassie told him and ran between the curtains into the darkness beyond.

“Hey, ghost guy! Thanks for the head’s up!” Oswald called out as he grabbed the first aid kit.

“I’m a spirit, not a ghost!” the gho.. spirit shot back. He and Oswald winced as Cassie cried out in fear. “Get goin’! I dunno if being here still counts for him without the curse!” the spirit yelled, an expression of worry taking over.

Oswald nodded and raced past the curtains himself. Now that he was backstage, he could see it wasn’t fully dark. There were two phone lights shining, Cassie’s in her hand as she knelt on the floor and Gregory’s laying off to one side.

Gregory himself lay unmoving on the stage floor by a toy treasure chest, a piece of cloth covered in a blue haze clutched in one hand. A dark puddle pooled by his head, staining the wood. Cassie was whimpering, her mouth hidden by one hand, as she stared helplessly at the boy. She kept reaching out as if to touch him, but yanked her hand back before she could get close.

“Crap, that’s not good,” Oswald breathed and hurried to crouch down by the other boy, kicking the toy chest aside to make room for the first aid kit. He opened it up, then turned to press his fingers to Gregory’s neck, searching for a pulse. Steady and strong, that was good. He lightly pressed his fingertips to just under Gregory’s nose and felt little puffs of air pass over them. Okay, so he was breathing fine.

He did a careful, gentle check over the rest of Gregory’s head, then picked up Gregory’s phone to shine the light into one eye, then the other. Good response from the pupils. Maybe he knocked himself out but it didn’t seem to have done much damage other than that nasty scratch to his temple.

“It’s okay, Cassie, he’s just asleep,” Oswald reassured her and Cassie just gave him a lidded expression.

“He’s bleeding from the head, I don’t see how that’s okay,” she retorted.

“Head wounds tend to bleed and look worse than they actually are,” Oswald fibbed. He didn’t need to worry about her panicking herself in trouble and if she was sassing him then that at least kept her mind busy with something else. “Hey, hold your phone up so I can get some light to see.”

Cassie raised her phone after turning up the brightness of the flashlight function and angled it towards Gregory’s head after Oswald pointed to it. He turned back to the kit and fetched the alcohol wipes, tearing them open to start cleaning around the bloodied part of Gregory’s head and see what exactly the injury was.

“He was crying,” Cassie mumbled suddenly while he swiped away the mess gently, “I wonder what he found that made him cry?”

“Something that was best left forgotten.”

Oswald barely managed to stop himself from jumping and screaming in surprise, jerking his hand away from Gregory’s head and quickly disguising it as tossing the dirty wipe away to get fresh ones. He looked aside at the blue ghostly figure that had slipped into the backstage area with them and now sat on one of the cardboard boxes, his hands resting on his knees as he leaned forward a little to watch Oswald work. The ghost gave him a half-shrug.

“I told him to stop looking into Mike’s things. Guess I shoulda told him he might not like what he’d find if he kept goin’,” he said quietly and shook his head. “He’s gotten the golden parachute. He’s free. He can rest. Why the fuck is he still comin’ back when all he’s ever wanted was to get out?” he asked in frustrated confusion. Seemed more like he was asking himself that than Oswald.

Cassie reached out to collect the cloth from Gregory’s hand, laying it out with one hand while Oswald finished cleaning up the blood and carefully lifted Gregory’s head to check the injury. A small gash oozed freshly, like he’d hit something or something hit him. He looked up at the toy chest with a frown; sure enough, one corner of the opened box had a stain on it. So Gregory had collapsed and hit it on his way down? Why did he collapse in the first place?

“Wait, this looks familiar,” Cassie said, pulling his attention back to her and the cloth. She was scrolling through her phone, tongue peeking out from her mouth as she squinted at her screen. Her eyebrows raised in surprise after a moment. “Right, the article Gregory showed me, about the Bite of ‘87! Mike Schmidt was wearing this when he got bit!” She prodded at the large stain with a faint grimace, “So this is his blood. Ew. How’d it end up back here?”

“Is that what he was looking for?” Oswald asked, taking the scissors in the kit to cut the shirt into strips. “Do you have any water?” he added, spraying some sanitizing solution onto the strips.

“Yeah, I always have water for Gregory’s medicine,” Cassie replied, setting her phone aside with the light facing up. She dug into her backpack for a bottle. “And I dunno if that’s what he was supposed to find. Everything else he collected from Mr. Schmidt was stuff connected to his job here. This bandanna is something he had as a kid, so why is it important?” She pulled out a bottle of water and held it out but Oswald just handed her a folded up strip of blue cloth.

“Can you very carefully wash that cut on his head for me? I’m gonna put some of these steri-strips on but I gotta clean my hands first to try and pinch his skin together,” he told her, spraying his palms and rubbing them together.

“So you do actually know what you’re doin’ with that kit,” the spirit commented dryly, propping his cheek on one fist as he watched the kids tend to Gregory. “Almost afraid to ask how.”

“Really handy having a medical assistant for a mom, huh, Cassie?” Oswald remarked, both to keep Cassie focused on helping and not panicking as well as to answer the spirit. She didn’t seem to be able to see or hear it, so probably better to not call attention to the fact he could. As for the bandanna that she was puzzled about, Oswald could see the blue haze coating it seem to stretch towards Gregory. Not quite touching, but definitely trying to connect to him.

Or rather, trying to connect with the faint tall figure overlapping Gregory, a barely visible shadow that Oswald had seen floating over him that first day they met. Gregory seemed oblivious to it, and it didn’t seem like it was trying to hurt anyone, so other than initially being spooked by it, Oswald kind of tried to not focus on it much. At least it wasn’t like that mirage that pretended to be his dad for that scary week.

“Okay, it’s cleaned,” Cassie reported, tossing the dirty strip of cloth away. Oswald nodded and opened the package of steri-strips, carefully snipping them to the right size and then applying them to Gregory’s temple, pinching the shallow cut closed as he went. It only took a few strips to seal the cut up and then Oswald used the remaining strips of soft blue to wrap around Gregory’s head, protecting the injury for now.

“People are gonna wonder what happened,” he sighed, looking around for something to cushion the boy’s head and spotting a folded up coat nearby.

“That’s gonna be troublesome. Gregory’s never been hurt like this at Circus Baby’s,” Cassie said worriedly, “What if this makes his mom not want to have him come on his own anymore? We haven’t collected all the drives yet!”

“It might not be a bad thing to stop looking for them if it can get him in trouble,” Oswald suggested cautiously, gently lifting Gregory’s head to slide the coat under and provide a cushion for him. Even in sleep, the other boy still had a faintly heartbroken expression on his face, a grief that seemed so out of place. “Messing with Fazbear Entertainment seems too dangerous to be worth it,” he added, glancing over at the spirit that nodded with a grave expression. “We’re just kids. We’re nothing to ‘em.”

His hand went to his arm, resting over the bite that was still sore and made it hard to do much with it. Barely healed was not the same as fully healed. And this damage was done by an animatronic bite to his arm, so he couldn’t even imagine what happened to this Mike Schmidt kid who was bit in the head. Cassie said he ended up working here, so he had to have survived but probably not with a very good life after if he worked in the same place he got bit.

“Maybe I can buy you some time until he wakes up,” the spirit remarked, getting up from the cardboard box, “You kids have parents that actually give a shit. Shouldn’t have to be in trouble just because dumbass there won’t mind his own fuckin’ business.”

Oswald nodded his thanks and the spirit walked out of the backstage area. All that was left to do now was wait.

.

===

.

Cassie was scrolling through more old articles about Freddy’s Pizza and Mike Schmidt when she heard Gregory groan softly nearby. She immediately set it aside to check on him, reaching out to brush his hair back comfortingly while Oswald sat up from where he’d been slumped back against the cardboard boxes. He’d been nervous and jumpy for a lot of the search in the pizzeria but seemed to have calmed down once they found Gregory so Cassie chalked it up to just worries over their friend being missing.

His hand twitched, like he wanted to also reach out, but he let it rest in his lap instead. “How is he?” he asked her and Cassie poked at Gregory’s cheek to test.

Gregory’s face scrunched up at the touch. “Five more minutes, Freddy, I promise I’ll do my homework after,” he whined drowsily. Oswald just looked at her blankly and Cassie rolled her eyes.

“You’re still putting off doing your homework even at home?” she scolded, planting her fists on her hips, “Gregory Afton, you said you would keep up your work so the homeroom teacher would stop stressing out about the next PTA meeting!”

Gregory’s eyes flew open, a panicked look on his face as he flailed in place and scrambled to sit up. “Waaah! Don’t be mad! It was just a one time delay, I promise!” he exclaimed and then winced, “Ow!” His hand rose to his head, lightly pressing fingertips to the cloth strips wrapping around and covering the bandaged gash. “What the hell?” he murmured in confusion, “What happened? Why are you guys here?”

“You didn’t come back to Circus Baby’s on time,” Cassie told him with a huff, folding her arms over her chest, her lip wobbling as the memory of finding him lying so still on the floor with that dark puddle threatened to set her off into tears. Oswald reached across and patted her shoulder in a show of support and she flashed him a smile of gratitude before facing Gregory again. “We came looking for you and found you passed out here. You hit your head on that toy chest and were bleeding,” she went on and nodded at the other boy, “Luckily, Oz had the bright idea of getting Mr. Fitzgerald’s first aid kit just in case, so he used that to treat you.”

“You guys opened his locker again?” Gregory asked in dismay.

“To help you? Yeah!” Cassie shot back, “Okay, it’s his old stuff but it’s not important enough to just leave it when we can use it to help you!” She gestured at him. Now that she knew he was alright, all the fear she’d bottled up shifted to anger. How dare he terrify her like this! Didn’t he get how much he meant to her? He was her first genuine friend outside of Roxy. The idea of losing him hurt and was just too scary to imagine, so seeing him like that on the floor.. she was still trying to keep from crying. “What happened?! What even made you think to come inside here?”

“Um,” Gregory stammered, his eyes flicking away to the pile of cardboard boxes near Oswald. The other boy glanced to the same boxes, narrowed his eyes and then frowned hard at Gregory, who just stared back at him with surprised wide eyes. “I.. thought I saw something. And.. had a hunch that.. maybe Mr. Schmidt hid something.. here?” he finally replied in that questioning tone.

Liar.

Cassie picked up the bandanna by the cleaner edges and dangled it in the air to show him. “This was in your hand,” she told him flatly, “I don’t think he was the one who put it here.”

Gregory just looked at the cloth in her pinching grip sadly. “No, I don’t think so either,” he mumbled quietly, rubbing his arm, “‘m sorry I worried you guys.” He looked miserable and Cassie felt a bit bad for putting him on the spot like this. “How long was I out?” he finally asked.

“Not that long, luckily,” Oswald told him, getting to his feet and picking up the first aid kit. “We should get back to the other side.” Cassie nodded and got up too, putting her things away and holding her phone up for the light. With the bandanna in her other hand, she didn’t have any free to help Gregory up. Oswald stepped in for her, holding out a hand to hoist the other boy up.

Her eyes widened when, instead of grabbing Gregory’s hand to pull him to his feet, Oswald grabbed his arm and pulled him up almost roughly, bringing him close enough to murmur into Gregory’s ear. The other boy looked startled at first, then scowled at whatever Oswald was whispering to him. Cassie looked between the two of them, curious to what was going on.

“Not happening,” Gregory growled, stepping back to put some space between himself and Oswald, who just frowned at him with that same concerned expression he’d been wearing the whole time he and Cassie had been watching over Gregory.

“Gregory, he made a lot of sense,” Oswald told him firmly.

“No,” Gregory hissed, yanking at his arm to free himself but Oswald just tightened his grip, “Fuck you, and fuck him. I’m not stopping until I get them all.”

“This is getting dangerous!” he countered sharply, “You got hurt!” Cassie nodded in agreement. Whatever they were arguing about, at least that much made perfect sense to her. Searching Freddy’s for these strange items to get animatronic hard drives had started like an interesting adventure, but what if Gregory had collapsed with no one who knew where he was? Would he have been found nearly this fast? Or would people have taken too long to learn about it and then...

She swallowed hard, the articles about missing children still fresh on her phone screen. “Maybe Oswald’s right?” she suggested carefully, flinching slightly at the betrayed expression on Gregory’s face as he turned to her, still caught in the other boy’s grip.

“Cassie, we’re doing this to find what we need to stop Fazbear Entertainment, remember?!” he argued, and she could hear a note of desperation in his voice, “Mr. Schmidt hid something really valuable, and I think I can get it first if I gather all the pieces!”

“We’re kids, Gregory,” Cassie told him helplessly, shaking her head, “What can we do? All those articles are full of people who crossed paths with Fazbear Entertainment or Afton Robotics and vanished or died, and.. I just don’t want them to keep hurting you.” Her dad still missing, Gregory and his mom’s memories gone, Oswald’s dad kidnapped; they’d all been affected by those companies already. “It’s too risky to keep going.”

“Cassie,” Gregory murmured, looking at her with sad eyes. She knew how much this meant to him, but it was one thing to talk about fighting a boogeyman of a corporation in the brightness of Circus Baby’s and the sunshine of the school yard. But here in the shadows of a bloodied past, with his head bandaged, a kid’s blood on cloth in her hand, and Oswald using his weaker, bitten arm to hold a first aid kit closer to his side, the reality of what could happen was a whole other story.

Silence settled over them and Gregory huffed after a few moments, frowning as he tried again to pull his arm free. “Let go of me,” he growled at Oswald. Cassie opened her mouth to scold him for getting testy with him.

“Cassie said you’re weirdly strong, get yourself loose,” Oswald replied coolly, “I’ve only got one good arm right now. Shouldn’t be hard to deal with.” Cassie clicked her mouth shut, staring at him with wide eyes. What the heck was he doing?! She already felt tense just watching them arguing, she did not need the stress of Oswald daring Gregory to fight over whatever stupid thing they were arguing about!

They glared at each other and she bit her lip. She knew Gregory, he was first to throw hands in any situation and didn’t hesitate to cause a fuss if he so much as thought someone was being unfair or stupid in regards to him. If this went how she expected, it was really possible that they’d lose a friend. So she blinked rapidly in shock when Gregory just sagged in place and broke the gaze first, scowling without a word.

Guess he had lines he wouldn’t cross after all.

“Let’s go back,” Cassie said in a subdued tone. This was getting to be too much, too overwhelming, her skin felt tight, like her body was struggling to cope with the swirl of emotions that this whole adventure stirred up, feelings of fear and worry and frustration and probably others she couldn’t name or understand. She wanted back to something simpler, easier to lose herself in, the brightness and fun of the other pizzeria.

Gregory held a hand out to her and she draped the bandanna across his palm, watching him pocket it so it was out of sight. He held his hand out again and she managed a small smile, reaching back to hold on and take comfort in the contact. He was still here, he was still friends with both of them, he might be upset but maybe he’ll catch on that she and Oswald were just being hard on him about this because they didn’t want to see him hurt like this time.

All together, hands held and arms linked, the three of them left the backstage area, left behind the opened toy chest and the coat and the dark stain on the wood to be swallowed by the shadows.

.

===

.

The three of them emerged from the vent one after another and blinked rapidly at the sudden change from the dark and dim Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria to the fully lit and noisy Circus Baby’s Pizza and Parties. They huddled together, trying to reorient themselves as heels clicked over tile and Circus Baby stepped up to them, her hands on her hips as she looked down at them.

“You’re lucky I got the message,” she told them flatly, “Come on.” She turned and began walking away, expecting them to follow her.

“Wait,” Gregory spoke up, breathless as panic started creeping up. He had to get to the puppet and show the bandanna! “M-my prize. I need-!”

“Go get whatever you’re after,” Circus Baby declared flippantly, waving her hand dismissively without turning around, “The other two, come with me for your alibi. Or get caught with proof of messing with things beyond you. Not my ass on the line.”

Gregory stepped towards the arcade and prize counter, pausing when his arm was held back yet again and scowling in frustration. The same desire to scream and lash out rose back up and he swallowed hard to force it back down. What the hell was Oswald doing? First that shit about confessing he could see Six and telling him that they’d been talking about him and teaming up to stop him from collecting Mr. Schmidt’s things, now this holding him back from going where he needed to go.

“Go ahead, Cassie, I’ll make sure he actually joins us after he gets what he wants,” he told her and she clapped her hands together and smiled.

“That’s a great idea! Keep an eye on him for me, Oz!” Cassie told him then raised an eyebrow at Gregory, “No more running off on your own.”

“Oh my god, I’m not gonna die from a scratch! C’mon!” Gregory complained but she was already walking off after Circus Baby. When she was far enough away, he snapped around to glare at Oswald again, teeth bared. “What. Is. Your. Problem?!”

“You and I can see that spirit over there,” Oswald explained, swallowing almost nervously, “We talked, and I really think we should take his advice. Stop looking for that guard’s things. Please.”

“Six would say anything to stop me and I don’t know why. He’s just as against Fazbear Entertainment as I am!” Gregory protested, pulling halfheartedly at his arm again. Oswald may have been pissing him off about this, but he was still his friend and he wasn’t gonna risk hurting him. “This is really important to me, Oz,” Gregory pleaded, hand splayed over his heart, “I think I’m getting flashes of something. Visions or messages, I don’t know but it feels like I’m close to some answers! And I promised to bring back the original Fazband so they could get a second chance too!”

Oswald just searched his face with an unsure expression, cheeks coloring as he seemed to hesitate to say anything more. He looked away, mumbling to himself, then sighed harshly as he pulled his free hand down over his face. “Alright, alright, I’ll go along with this crazy search of yours,” he finally gave in, “But only because I can do first aid just in case.. and Cassie seems to feel better if we’re all in things together.. and you actually called me by my nickname...”

Gregory didn’t see what that last bit had to do with anything but the first two were really good points. He nodded eagerly. “Yeah, we can totally do future searching with all three of us! No more ditching you guys, promise!” he rushed out in relief and Oswald just gave him a lidded look back.

“Same way you promised Cassie you’d do your homework?” he asked and Gregory threw back his head with a groan.

“That was ONE TIME!”

.

The security puppet stared at Oswald for a weirdly long time and Oswald stared back nervously, swallowing hard as his grip tightened around Gregory’s wrist. Gregory just rolled his eyes at the both of them, exasperated with their standoff. At least Oswald had moved his grip but it was still kind of a nuisance that the guy wouldn’t let him go. It’s like once he had a grip on Gregory he really didn’t want to go hands off.

“Hey, I’m the one you sent off on that wild goose chase,” Gregory grumbled, digging the bandanna out of his pocket, “I had some really weird stuff go through my head when I got this thing, too, y’know! An explanation would be nice for once!” He held it up and the security puppet turned its attention from Oswald to him, studying him and the cloth for a moment. Like before, it then raised a finger to point at the Egg Baby.

“What is this thing doing?” Oswald asked as Gregory turned away to go to the other animatronic.

“It gives prizes for tickets but it does this weird Easter egg hunt shit when it comes to me,” Gregory explained in irritation, tugging on his arm, “It’s why I go to Freddy’s side; it tells me to go there to find something that belonged to Mr. Schmidt, then I bring the thing back to show it and then it tells me to talk to the Egg Baby who gives me my actual prize. So let’s go!”

They walked side by side to the Egg Baby and Gregory held up the bandanna again, letting it scan his face and then the cloth. As the whirring sounded for it to deposit his prize, Gregory tucked the bandanna away and continued explaining.

“Cassie helped me figure out that these things only give these reactions when I’m the one holding Mr. Schmidt’s stuff,” he went on with a shrug, “So now I’m trying to figure out how I’m connected to animatronics I’ve never seen before and a guy I’ve never met and had died ages ago.”

Except he had kind of an idea how, and just thinking about it was scaring him. What if that Afton lady had messed with more than just his Remnant to try and bring back her family? If she had tried to get at that Strength to Survive from Mr. Schmidt for her family, would she have tried to mix it into Gregory first since he was much younger than Mr. Schmidt? He lifted a hand to stare at it, then pressed it lightly to his chest.

Was something like that possible? Mixing different Remnant? Was that a different kind of reincarnation? Was that why Six didn’t want him collecting more things that had the old guard’s Remnant on it? Did he think Gregory was collecting more of it for himself for bad uses? Or was he worried that he’d end up in Afton’s hands after collecting it all and then she’d use it and Gregory to make her family much stronger?

“Doesn’t matter,” Gregory told himself, “The old guy beat them over and over, and I’ve already done it too, so I just have to keep winning.” He tightened his hand into a fist. He would win. He wouldn’t accept anything else against Vanny and the other Aftons.

The smaller Egg Baby popped open the lid of the prize ball to reveal another hard drive resting on the cushion, the case spattered with rust-red stains. Gregory stared at it in numb horror. “Three,” he whispered. Why did it look like that? He reached out with a trembling hand to pick it up and Oswald grabbed that wrist to halt him. He ground his teeth together, frustration spiking with the sharp ache in his head. “Will you stop doing that?!” Gregory hissed.

“There’s something on it!” Oswald told him in alarm, eyes wide, “Like sparks or a shine or something, red sparks, but not a bad red. I-I don’t know how to explain it!” Gregory narrowed his eyes and the other boy looked faintly frustrated too. “Ever since I had that week of hell at Freddy’s, I’ve been able to see stuff sometimes. Hallucinations? Mirages of people or stuff like mist, smoke, lights, weird stuff. There was stuff in that other pizzeria, on that bandanna, and now on this drive too.”

Gregory blinked a few times as he turned that over in his head. “Wh-wait, you can see Remnant?!” he whispered loudly. Something like that could be so useful! Oswald would be able to see what things belonged to Mr. Schmidt and has his Remnant on them!

“What the heck is ‘Remnant’?” Oswald muttered, letting go of him at long last to fold his arms over his chest, “Is that what you call that stuff I see?”

“It’s a long story,” Gregory sighed, picking up the hard drive and hugging it close to himself. Considering the blood on the bandanna and how it got there, this drive was probably inside the animatronic that bit Mr. Schmidt as a kid. He wondered if it had been aware enough to feel something about that event when it happened. Did they feel as horrified as the witnesses there must have? The drive had a warmth to it like the others did, and Gregory sniffled as he held it tight in his arms.

Joy and happiness that was so easily shattered, a friendship lost in a matter of moments and regret that lingered long past death. Gregory’s eyes burned and he turned to pull Oswald into the hug, hiding his face in the startled boy’s jacket with a whimper. It wasn’t fair, for Mr. Schmidt or the animatronic that bit him. Neither of them did anything to deserve the fates they got. And Oswald didn’t deserve Gregory biting his head off, figuratively, over a mission he didn’t even explain to the guy so he’d know why it was important.

“‘M sorry I yelled at you,” Gregory hiccuped through the thin denim, trembling as Oswald just sighed and hugged him back.

“I still think we should do what the spirit said, but if you’re really set on doing this, then let me in on it so I can help,” he replied, “I’ll just borrow that first aid kit’s supplies again when we go over.”

“Saying ‘borrow’ implies you’re giving stuff back, but it’s all one time use,” Gregory pointed out in a muffled voice.

“Why does everyone get on my case when I ask to borrow stuff? Geez!” Oswald complained and Gregory just laughed at the reaction. “C’mon, let’s go meet up with Cassie before she comes to kick our butts. We’re supposed to have an alibi for why you have that wrapping on your head.”

Right, because if Vanessa or Sydney caught wind that he’d hurt himself in this building somehow, there’d be hell to pay for sure. Gregory made a face as the two of them hurried to the booth Circus Baby had set aside for the trio. That would be embarrassing to deal with.