Summary: One can never trust happy endings. Especially when you haven't tied up all the loose ends. Sequel to Upon Daybreak.

Warnings; none

Here we go again! I've been busy planning away where I want to go with this, and I think I have a solid path. I hope you all enjoy it, and I'll be eagerly awaiting what you all think!

Cover art is again done by the lovely Eleanorose123 on tumblr.

Chapter One;

There was nothing more rejuvinating than the warmth, the pure heat, that a body gave off. And yet, there was something even more exhilirating about when the body heat faded, in the way it paled as the life left the eyes. There was nothing more enjoyable in life to him. He sighed, a trembling hand reaching up and cupping the cheek of one.

He hadn't enjoyed the girl. She looked like every other one; smug and snobby and too good for him. But it was alright. She had suffered, had cried, and it made it all okay. And the boys had given him everything he'd wanted. Especially the last one with the blue eyes.

"Hey, you about ready?"

He almost jumped before grinning. "Of course! How's the wife coming?"

"Hit four months. She told me I better not come home without some...ugh, pineapple pizza. So gross..."

He came from the room, chuckling as the older man rolled his eyes. "Better get used to it."

"Shut up. And get back into the security room, would you, and do your damn job."

He was brushed off. Grinning smugly, he watched his boss go before pausing. Someone was watching him? Likely a kid. He turned, catching one small boy watching him as he clung to his mom's pants. He waved, and the kid waved back happily. He still had it.

Whistling, he headed for the security room.

xxxxxx

"You're at 30% and it's only two."

"Shut up okay! I'm not used to this yet."

Mike rolled his eyes as Mark switched cameras. Sighing, he decided not to say anything as the younger night guard flailed and began panicking. He tried to bite down a laugh when Mark jumped, Bonnie standing too close to the camera and eyes black.

"Why can they still do thaaat..." He whined.

The brunette considered making a comment but thought better of it. He only cleared his throat, and watched the dark eyed man check Pirate's Cove. He tapped the door button when the curtains were open before Mark could even register what he'd seen.

"How are you so good at this? I mean, I get that you had to do it for real and shit but come on..."

"It was either live or die. You can't really slack." Mike shrugged. He glanced up when Foxy knocked on the door. "You just lost 4%."

"Mother fuckers!"

"Chica."

Mark hissed something under his breath. He slammed the door shut on the chicken's face. Mike wondered if this was how he looked when he did this the first few days, but shrugged it off. The younger man was looking through cameras, seeing Freddy had moved from the dinning area and paused at the back room.

The guard frowned slightly. Springtrap was propped up on the table. No one had touched the suit yet since despite saving the children's souls two months ago...Jeremy was still in the hospital. The engineer said shit came up, but wouldn't explain. Sighing, he wasn't surprised to see Golden Freddy sitting near the gold bunny, a children's book in hand.

"I guess Spring really likes reading stories to children." Mark mumbled. Mike looked up. "Goldie mentioned it when I caught him taking books from the kid's area. But since he hasn't in so long, he's...catching him up on newer books."

"...for when he's back?"

Mark shrugged. "I guess. He seemed pretty happy at the idea of Springtrap coming back but...I dunno. It seems unlikely. I'm not Jeremy but he kinda separated his brain from his body."

Mike barely flinched when the lights went out. Mark cursed loudly. "You failed."

"I can see that! Ugh, come on, you guys weren't playing fair."

Freddy's lit up eyes peeked into the room. "How crude, Mr. Pliers. We are nothing but fair."

"Aww, I thought I be the one to grab him." Foxy whined as he walked in from the right. "Mike be helpin him, they was cheatin'."

"Mike doesn't cheat." Bonnie argued.

Mark scowled. "And I do?"

The three animatronics nodded. Huffing, Mark tossed the tablet on to the desk. "Fine, I see how it is. I'm going to get something to drink."

He stalked off, mumbling to himself. Mike chuckled, standing up and stretching. "You guys did go pretty hard on him. That was, what? A night six? He's only tried this twice."

"He had ya helpin. Not our faults the boy can't keep up." The fox grumbled.

"And I vaguely recall a certain Head Guard promising us more movies if Mr. Pliers couldn't keep up." Freddy added.

Mike groaned. Bonnie handed over his bag, and heaving a sigh, Mike led them all towards the dining room. He set up his laptop and began rifling through the movie selections. He looked up when Mark came out with a large soda, tablet again in his hand.

"Not that one again..." He said.

"Don't start. I already said we aren't arguing tonight." Mike snapped, throwing one into the laptop.

They went through four different movies. Mike yawned, trying to wake himself up. It'd been a long few nights, and he'd been working some days as well. He was exhausted. He only mumbled a response when Bonnie picked him off his feet, too used to being man handled by the robots.

"Here, Mike." Chica walked into the room with a pizza box, handing it over when he took it. "Tell Jeremy we miss him."

Mike smiled. "Don't worry, I will."

"Come on now. Places." Freddy motioned to them all when they hesitated. The guard knew that they were all worried. "We'll be seeing you soon, Mr. Schmidt."

They all waved and went into their places. Mike got his things and walked with Mark out of the restaurant. He yawned again, putting the hot pizza into the passanger seat.

"Lemme know how he's doing?" Mark asked.

"Of course. He just needs to adjust." The older man sighed. "It's gonna take awhile is all."

"I know, it's just...it's been two months. He should've been released by now if he was doing well, right?"

Mike hesitated at that. It was true, and they both knew it, but he decided not to comment. "...don't fall asleep today."

"Do I ever?" Mark huffed, waving as he headed off.

Mike watched him go. After a moment he sighed and got into his car and headed towards the hospital. The nurses waved and one gave him a look when they saw the pizza. He chuckled nervously before ducking into Jeremy's room.

"You scared the shit outta me, damn...holy fuck is that Chica's?"

The guard grinned, nodding as he handed it over. "Yep, made with love. Foxy really misses you."

Jeremy snorted, opening the box. He groaned happily when he saw the contents, full of green peppers, sausage, mushroom, and extra onion. Mike watched him inhale a piece, rolling his eyes. The engineer had been complaining nonstop about not having any good food. He paused though. Something seemed different about Jeremy.

"How are things?" Mike asked lightly.

Jeremy finished his slice, rubbing his hands on the sheets. "Well, doc told me I can leave thursday."

"That's great." Mike said.

"Mmm. I need some practice walking on this thing on tiles though." He motioned to the prosthetic sitting next to him. "Apparently something got fucked up though."

The brunette hesitated, frowning. "What do you mean?"

Jeremy finally looked at him fully. The guard paused, trying to find what seemed so off about him before seeing it. He bit his lip hard as the blond chuckled humorlessly.

"I think it adds to my charm."

His right eye had a dazed look to it. The green had faded slightly into a pale color. When he turned away and went back to his pizza, it barely moved in its eye socket. Catching his look, the blond sighed.

"I can still see from it. It's a haze, but mostly it just fucked with my depth perception."

Mike hesitated. "You can wear an eyepatch. Foxy would be happy."

Jeremy looked surprised before he laughed. "Oh fuck no. I am not looking like that asshole."

"Come on! He's be so happy to be twins with you. He can teach you how to use your new leg and how to look cool in an eyepatch. The essentials." Mike grinned.

They both began laughing almost hyserically. The guard felt almost ashamed; he shouldn't be making jokes about his friend's disabilities. And yet, seeing the oddly relieved look on Jeremy's face made him feel so much better.

"It kinda looks cool. Like, you look like a harden badass that's been through some shit. Probably killed a man."

Jeremy snorted as he ate more pizza. "If only."

"So Thursday huh? You better be prepared. Foxy seriously misses you and I don't think the rest of em know how to express that they really want you back despite you being a giant jackass." Mike went on, grinning.

"I like to think that's everyone's reaction to me."

xxxxxx

"If you guys keep arguing, we're never going to finish this on time."

Mike sighed, watching as Chica and Foxy didn't even pause; the two were fighting over what color streamers to put up on the stage. Bonnie was in the kitchen baking something, and next to the guard, Freddy was watching the pair irritably.

"Mind giving me a hand, Freddy?" Mike asked.

The bear nodded. "Of course, Mr. Schmidt. Chica, Foxy, either you get back to work or I'll turn you both off!"

Both jumped, Foxy glowering as he flicked his eye patch up. "This be important!"

"Indeed it is, because if Mr. Fitzgerald arrives and the decorations aren't ready, I'll dismantle you both."

"Mike, can you go grab the plates?" Bonnie asked as he carried out a huge cake. "Foxy I grabbed the icing."

The pirate perked up, leaping over and grabbing the tube of green icing. "I best think of sumthin' perfect..."

Mike rolled his eyes and headed for the kitchen. It was too bad Mark couldn't be here for Jeremy's first day back, but he had worked open to close. Sighing, he grabbed the plates and forks. He paused when movement caught his eye, nearly having a heart attack until he spotted the Marionette grabbing something in the higher shelves.

"You scared me." He whined.

The puppet paused an glanced down at him, head tilting. "Forgive me, Michael. I didn't know you were there."

"It's, it's okay. Um, Jeremy's coming back tonight. You could join us if you want."

"I believe he'd have a better time if I remain out of sight." The Marionette grabbed a packet of unopened napkins and plates and slid back into the freezer. "Thank you for inviting me."

Mike watched him go, perplexed. What did a puppet animatronic need with plates? Shrugging, he brought out the items needed and set them up on a table. He smiled when he saw Foxy had written on the cake, spelling out 'Welcome Back, Jeremy' and the four were now working on the decorations.

"Looks great, guys."

"Obviously. We've only been doing this for longer than you've been born." Freddy said, rolling his eyes playfully. Mike chuckled. "Bonnie, your slightly crooked there."

The bunny glared back at Freddy. "That doesn't exactly help me."

"Left side." Mike said.

"Thank you, Mike, for giving me actual instructions since I can't see it for myself..." Bonnie grumbled, thankfully not noticing Freddy as the bear mimicked him.

"Bonnie's been grumpy lately...we should have Jeremy check him." Chica said.

"Maybe because you guys dumped all the work on him tonight?" Mike offered, smirking.

The bunny preened. "Thank you."

Now finished with decorations, the three finished up. Freddy nodded, looking around in content. "Good. Now we wait for Mr. Fitzgerald."

They waited only ten minutes. Mike smiled when he saw Jeremy walking in, the blond grumbling as he limped on his prosthetic. He paused, surprised at all the streamers and such, looking annoyed when he spotted the lit-up cake.

"You act like it's my birthday." He grumbled.

"Even better! Ya welcome back party." Foxy said.

"We insisted." Mike added.

Jeremy rolled his eyes and sighed. "Whatever. What do you have for me?"

Freddy cut the cake, humming to himself. Once he had the first piece, Jeremy was inspected by Foxy and Bonnie, the two looking over his fake leg and how his bad eye looked. Then they argued if having a fake hand was anything like a fake leg. Sighing, Mike ate his own piece of cake.

"Ow..." Jeremy glared at his fork, a smear of chocolate against his chin. "Keep stabbing myself."

"You might wanna go slower until you're used to it..." Mike offered.

Freddy offered a napkin. The blond took it and wiped his face of crumbs and icing. Mike watched him carefully, trying not to be obvious about it. He seemed together, but there was an obvious shakiness to how he moved. Granted he'd been in a hospital bed for over two months, but the guard still worried.

"Great cake, Bonnie."

If he could, the bunny would've blushed. "Thanks, Jeremy."

"Anything important I need to get to before I work on the rotting bunny?" The blond asked.

"I prefer you not to talk about Spring like that, Mr. Fitzgerald." Golden Freddy said as he walked out from the back room. Both humans jumped. "Especially not when he can hear you."

"Right, fine, no jokes about the dead guy." Jeremy grumbled.

Freddy raised an eyebrow. "What can we do for you, Goldie?"

The gold bear paused, looking between Freddy and Mike. "Ran out of story books."

"I'll grab some more for you." Chica offered, heading for the small area off to the side of the stage. She grabbed a few and handed them over.

Mike watched the bear curiously. He'd never seen the ghost like animatronic...well, anywhere really. It was odd to see him in the dining room. With a thankful nod, Golden Freddy took them into the room with him and shut the door. Jeremy raised an eyebrow and made a face. Mike snorted.

"Uh, anyway," The guard went on. "Are you guys good? Or do you need Jeremy to work on you first?"

"I believe we're fine. We have a few holes that were patched, nothing crippling." Freddy shrugged.

Bonnie nodded. "We're okay."

"You should finish your cake first though. Springtrap can wait..." Mike mumbled, frowning when Jeremy put down his plate.

"Relax, I'm bringing it home with me. Now come on, you're helping me with this crap." The blond said, grabbing Mike's arm and dragging him off.

"Heey, you can't just kidnap Mike!" Chica argued, scowling.

"You had him for two months! Fuck off." Jeremy snapped.

Mike sighed as they went into the back room. Golden Freddy barely looked up at them, looking through the children books Chica had given him. Springtrap was still on the table, laid out and waiting for the engineer. Jeremy grabbed his toolbox and began inspecting him.

"Hmm...this might take some work. Most of his wiring won't hold for repair since he's so old. And he ripped apart his endoskeleton when he removed his head." He moved on, using a small flashlight to look around Springtrap's holes. "I think I'll have to crack open the shell and remove the remains before anything. A lot of bones and shit are wedged into important shit."

"Will he...be okay?" Mike asked hesitantly.

Jeremy sighed. "I dunno. I mean, I don't know how robot sentience works coupled with ghost powers. Connecting the main wiring back into his harddrive might fix everything, but he might not be...whoever he was."

"You need not worry, Michael. Spring is still Spring, even if it means starting over." Golden Freddy said, making them both jump. "I would not be a very good friend if I gave up on him that easily."

"I'm not sure what's backed up in his systems. He's been hidden in a back room, that's full of moisture and mold, for at least twenty years. Goldie says thirty. It's a miracle he's even held together, much less that any of his power works. He might not remember anything, he might just be a cold, emotionless robot, he could be psycho." Jeremy shrugged.

"You're really reassuring." Mike grumbled, glaring at him.

The blond snorted. "It's not my job to be reassuring."

He leaned in to inspect something. Mike winced when he leaned forward too much and smacked his head against the edge of a hole, hissing as he rubbed it. "Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"Are you sure? You've got a scratch-"

"Fine thank you."

Mike huffed, hands on his hips as he watched Jeremy go back to what he was doing. Fine then, see if he was ever concerned about him again. He got closer though when Jeremy grabbed some pliers and reached inside Springtrap, hissing to himself as he wrestled with something.

"Hm...I was hoping we could use this to identify who it was."

He had a piece of old, stained cloth in the pliers. It was impossible to tell what color it used to be, it was so dark. The stain was obviously blood, and was torn and ripped from wherever it had been lodged. Mike felt a bit ill, remembering that indeed, it was a person inside there.

"He made it pretty clear he worked here." Mike said.

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, but that doesn't help us. We don't know shit about anyone who works here."

He deflated slightly. "I guess it doesn't matter..."

He watched the blond go back to it. The smell had faded slightly, not nearly as awful as it had been when Springtrap had been first awoken. But it was definitely there, and Mike was amazed that the engineer could get so into the robot without gagging.

"The bones are brittle...but there's no way I can get them out without getting him open." Jeremy sighed and pulled away. "I'll have to start plastoring him after that...maybe while he's open..."

"You know, I had a chat with mister killer spirit guy."

The blond glanced up, raising an eyebrow. "Oh? Bet that was fun."

Mike sighed, trying to think of what he wanted to say. "Well...He, he mentioned you. As in, whoever he was, he worked when you did. He said he remembered when you got bit and all that. So, uh, you never met anyone? I mean, not likely I know, no one's here when we are but-"

"There was...one guy." Jeremy frowned. "But there's no way. It wasn't a huge secret what happened to me anyway."

Mike nodded. "I, uh, thought you should know was all."

"Thanks, Mike. But don't worry about it. I need to get shit together, and we both have a day shift so get outta here." Jeremy smirked at him. "Go let your creepy pets look after you."

The guard flushed. "You're a moron. And I'm not going anywhere, you've been stuck in a hospital bed for two months. I'm going to go grab some chairs. Get to work."

xxxxxxxx

"Are you sure it's safe? I mean, I know the company is going in a new direction and all, but to let them wander around like this?"

Mike sighed. The woman in front of him was holding a small child and he didn't want to be rude to her but...well, he'd gotten this question a lot today. "Ma'am, we've tested this for months before bringing it back."

That was a lie. It had been springed on them this morning. Mike had no idea why, or what was going on but decided he didn't care. The animatronics were all happy to be wandering around with children, Bonnie helping some color in coloring books and Chica was reading books. It took a moment to find Freddy, but he was near the Cove, sitting with a group of kids.

"If you're sure..." The mother said uncertainly.

"Don't worry, they'd never let anything happen to the kids." Mike smiled, nodding as she walked away.

He tried not to sigh again. He understood of course; Freddy's had an awful reputation. But things were getting better. And with the ghosts of children gone, hopefully that meant the accidents would be as well. Curious what Freddy was doing, he walked over.

"Ah, Mr. Schmidt! I was about to get you." The bear greeted. "This young man has taken a fall. Would you mind helping him? He didn't want to bother you."

The guard looked down at the boy. He was likely twelve, pouting as he hid his hurt knee from view with his hands. Smiling, Mike kneeled down and reached into his pocket. He'd had a habit of keeping band aids on him since Jeremy kept hurting himself.

"You like any of these? I'm afraid I don't have many options."

The boy huffed before looking. They were of course official Freddy Fazbear merchandise, which the front sold for ridiculous prices. Chica had given him them when Jeremy had cut himself on a piece of Springtrap's shell.

"...can, can I have a Foxy?"

Mike nodded. "Of course. I bet if you went and saw him with it, he'd be pretty happy."

He helped the boy put it on. The scraps were bloody but nothing deep. Likely just painful. That done, Mike looked around at all the children sitting with Freddy. A few were counting tokens from the small array of arcade machines, others had pieces of pizza.

"Seems like you've got a small army of fans." He said, grinning at the bear.

Freddy went to answer, and then something boiling and very very painful met Mike's shoulder. He yelped, stunned, as he looked up to see a tray and some pizza. It was obviouly fresh as it seared itself through his uniform and into his skin. He quickly tried to smack it off, but the cheese stuck to his hands.

It wasn't until Freddy wiped it off of him that Mike could even think straight. A waitress was standing over him, looking confused and appalled as she picked up the tray. "O-oh, I...um, I didn't see you! You can't be sitting there in the way, what are you doing on the floor?"

"C-can this wait?" Mike muttered through clenched teeth. He needed to get to the bathroom and clean this off.

"Are you alright, Mr. Schmidt?" Freddy asked, looking concerned.

He slowly got up. His hand was red, but was also covered in pizza sauce. Every nerve was screaming as it burned. He had no idea how bad it was until he could clean it off and get some cold water on it.

"You're not pining this on me. I was doing my job, it's not my fault you were sitting around." The waitress followed after him as he made his way to the bathrooms.

"Are we really going to argue this right now? Okay, I'm sorry I was in the way, but I kinda am dealing with some burns." Mike said, dumbfounded.

He'd never really dealt with any of the day staff. He didn't have a chance to. But was this lady really going to chase him down until she got a written apology or something? He groaned when the pain flared again.

"Damn straight you were, I'm not losing my job-"

"Is there a problem, Miss Smith?"

They both jumped as Freddy appeared. They were hidden in the small hallway in front of the bathrooms, and the bear was taking up the entire doorway. Mike had a bad feeling as Freddy stared the waitress down. Was it his imagination or was his eyes darkening...?

"Uhh, what...?"

"I know you aren't harrassing our poor Head Guard, Miss Smith, am I correct? That would be a shame you see." The animatronic leaned in close, making the waitress back away. Mike watched, stunned, pain forgotten. "I don't appreciate it when someone breaks something of mine you see."

"F-Freddy," Mike cut in, holding a hand up and getting between them. "Miss Smith was just worried, it's alright. Really. Um, you shouldn't leave the kids alone, they're probably wondering where you are."

He ignored the girl as she looked between them both. Freddy scowled but nodded. "You have a point, Mr. Schmidt. Go take care of yourself."

Nodding, Mike headed for the bathroom. Behind him, he heard the waitress hiss, "This place is fucking insane..."

"Ah, Miss Smith, you really have no idea."

xxxxxx

The burns weren't horrible. His skin was red and sensitive to the touch, but he went into the kitchen and grabbed the first aid. A chef helped him apply some ointment to his shoulder and he had to bandage his hand. Sighing, he went back to the stage floor was promply ambushed by Jeremy.

"Freddy told me what happened, you okay?" He asked, frowning. "He seemed pretty scary."

Mike hesitated. "Well...he might've just threatened a employee..."

"...Okay now you definitely have to explain this."

"Can't this wait until later?" The guard whined slightly. He was hurting and he still needed to get to work.

"Nuh uh. Mark just came in to replace you, so you can get your skinny ass into the back room and explain this while I work on the asshole." Jeremy said.

Well then...he wasn't going to punch out first. Sighing, Mike followed after Jeremy into the back room. Springtrap had been stripped of his shell, leaving behind an endoskeleton. The brunette was surprised that Golden Freddy wasn't in the room, but guessed he couldn't be during the day.

"How's he coming?"

Jeremy snorted. "It's going to take awhile. There's so much shit inside him." He shrugged. "I might not even get most of it, but I'll get enough that he'll be able to function properly. I'm mostly fixing the skeleton first. I'm plastoring the holes in the shell between shit. Now tell me what happened out there."

Sighing, Mike did so. Jeremy raised an eyebrow, looking unamused. When the guard finished, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Wow...what a bunch of shit."

"I'm okay. I'll just get home and take a shower before putting more stuff on it."

"You should report her ass." Jeremy grumbled.

"It was an accident, there's no reason to-"

"Mike, she stalked you to the bathroom. I think the best thing to happen to her is being fired."

"I think being threatened by a huge animatronic bear is punishment enough." Mike said.

Jeremy gave him a look before sighing. "If you say so..."

Mike nodded. "Really, I'm okay. Just glad Freddy didn't attack her or something."

"You know, it's kinda...weird right? Like, Fazfuck never would've pulled this shit during the day before. But now with no ghost kids he is?" The engineer frowned.

"Hm, I guess. But maybe he's just worried? I mean, we almost died Jeremy." Mike shrugged it off; it wasn't something to really bother with, only that he needed to make sure he spoke to Freddy about it never happening again. "Anyway, I'm going to head out. Good luck with Springtrap."

"See ya tonight."

Mike punched out, wanting nothing more than to get home and take a cold shower. His shoulder was throbbing despite whatever he used on it. Yawning, he headed for the door only to pause. He rubbed his eyes, looking around.

Everything was...dulled. The place was completely empty, baren, and the layout was different. Confused, Mike walked into the huge room, full of banners and different tables and a small, expensive looking carousel. Stunned, the guard turned to the stage but it was empty.

"What...?"

He stiffened, a dark presence looming behind him. He heard a ragged sound, someone struggling to breathe, and felt their breath against the back of his neck. Every hair was standing on end as he dared not turn around.

"...I..."

What? A sudden pressure made Mike feel ill. He couldn't explain it as he struggled to keep breathing and swallowing down bile.

"I...remain."

xxxxxx

I hope it's good for a first chapter. I feel like I might've skimmed some details, but if I did, let me know and I'll be more careful next time~!

MRIMO