Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"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."

Elizabeth could barely hear the as she desperately gulped for air with lungs she had lost long ago, eyes roaming the room for an exit. But did she even want to leave? If Henry's plan worked as intended she had no more purpose. As well as no other possible job and no way to pay rent. Besides, she was supposed to die long ago. It was time to move on.

Acceptance was scarred by searing pain as the flames licked at her flesh, hungrily tearing through bone and she could only imagine the others feeling the same pain. Although perhaps the animatronics could no longer feel pain. Elizabeth collapsed to the ground, hoping that her father felt every bit of the pain.

Then she woke up.

She sat up, looking around her childhood bedroom as she yawned and stretched, feeling air fill her lungs— wait a minute. Elizabeth glanced down at herself. She sprinted to the bathroom mirror. There she was, a kid again. With perfect skin, and, more importantly, all her organs. Was she in Heaven? No. Surely her childhood home wouldn't be in Heaven. So that must mean she joined her father... no. Why would she be in such good condition if she went to the same place he did.

Elizabeth tore down the hall, not even noticing someone walking until she bumped into something. "Michael!" Here he was! Only a little bit younger than she remembered him. Maybe she did make it to Heaven. She wrapped him in a tight hug, finally.

"Elizabeth? What's wrong with you?" he asked, giving her a strange look.

"What do you mean? I was just happy to see you again?"

"Again?" he scoffed. "It's only been one night. Since when were you so clingy?"

What.
——
"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."

Oh, okay. So Henry was just planning to bump Michael off without him knowing. What a nice clean ending where all the monsters died together. Happily ever after. Michael clapped his hands as the building crumbled around him.

Then he woke up.

In his childhood bedroom. Okay. So, first, what the fuck. His Foxy mask was tossed haphazardly onto a crammed desk, and a calendar that sat crooked on the wall denoted it as October of 1983. Marked five days before the party.

Michael slammed his head back against the pillow, yelping when he hit the headboard instead, before proceeding to scream into his pillow.

This was fine. He knew this trope. He had become quite well read after having thirty years of nothing to do. Fine then. He would fix his past mistakes and lead them along a better timeline. He could do that. But he couldn't let anyone know he had come from the past... he could just pretend he was too tired to mess with Evan. Yeah. That would work. Then keep an eye on William and everything would be good to go.

He slid out of bed and proceeded down the hallway, busy plotting how to deal with this hand the universe had dealt him before a small ginger blur crashed into him. Oh. Lizzie. Well, sorry but he had to be mean lest people get suspicious.

"Michael!" She sounded a little too happy to be seeing him. Knowing how the two of them has been, she had probably yelled at him yesterday. Michael tried to remember if he had done anything nice for Elizabeth around this time, but he probably hadn't.

Okay. Just give her a weird look but this wasn't normal behavior. Why wasn't she behaving normally? Who knows. "Elizabeth? What's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean? I was just happy to see you again?"

That was weird. Had she been at a sleepover? No, not this close to Evan's birthday she wouldn't have been. "Again? It's only been one night."

For whatever reason, that seemed to confuse her. She stares up at him before shaking her head. "Right. Right. Heh. One night. You're probably off to... bully Evan. Yeah. You should be nice to him."

Michael rolled his eyes. Oh yeah, peak annoyed moody teenager. Now as long as he toned it down over time people would think it had just been a phase and everyone would think everything was wonderful. "Whatever. I'm too tired to." He was definitely killing it at this.
——
Michael was acting very strange and suspicious. A few seconds of thought behind every thought and facial expression. Oh well, maybe just morning brain lag. But he had never been the type to be 'too tired' for cruelty at this age. It seemed Elizabeth had, unfortunately, travelled back to the past. But how? And why? Well, possibly to stop all the murders from happening? First thing to worry about is Evan, then she would figure it out from there. Stick to him like glue and then just maybe she'd get to see him grow up. If she was lucky, Michael would get to grow up as well.

"Lucky for Evan then," she scoffed. She had to make up for all her initial weirdness. "Why don't you just hide in your cave and leave us alone?" Wow that was aggressive. Was it too aggressive? Michael looked shocked and even a bit hurt as if he hadn't said worse to her.

His face deepened into a scowl. "I would love to, if you little brats didn't feel the need to constantly annoy me all the time. You're so clingy! It's like you expect me to raise you!"

"It's not our fault Father is busy and we're not supposed to use the stove!" she protested. She was pretty sure that rule still stuck at this age?

"Father? Since when did you start referring to him so formally?"

Uh-oh. "He— he asked me to be more respectful if I was going to keep coming into his office and bothering him all the time?" Yeah! The sounded feasible. If only she sounded like she believed it herself. Still, Michael seemed to buy it.

"Wow, sounds like even Father is fed up with your shit." He grimaced after cussing, as if feeling some sort of guilt for directing such a word towards her before scowling again. "About time."

Elizabeth sniffed the air. "Do you smell bacon?"

"Evan shouldn't be using the stove," Michael said, paling.

"Father is certainly at the office this time of day," Elizabeth said slowly.

"And Mum..." Michael trailed off, glancing at Elizabeth.

Here was one fact she remembered for sure. "Gone for over a year."

"Dead," Michael whispered.

The two of them shared a look before bolting to the kitchen.
——
Michael slid into the wall, thanks to momentum and socks, reaching the kitchen. "Mum?!" he nearly shouted. Because there was his certainly deceased mother, who Elizabeth had confirmed the death of, standing there cooking bacon in the stove. His father standing behind her, leaning against a counter, and Evan sitting at the table next to the kitchen, eating pancakes.

"Good morning! Happy Monday Michael, good thing it's fall break or your father would've had you head for sleeping in so late." She laughed and handed him a plate.

He blinked at the domestic, almost cozy scene before him. His family like a sitcom, the appearance they had only ever put on for the public. Evan not cowering in his presence. His mother, alive and with a genuine smile. His father... completely normal. Not even with a stern look on his face. How could such a pleasant scene cause dread to seep into someone? Elizabeth had just agreed Evan didn't like him, that Father was strict, and that Mum was dead so how... speaking of Elizabeth. She was still standing in the hallway, just out of sight from everyone else. She was... crying.

No, no. This wasn't right. This was some sort of test! He had to get a hold of himself. "Whatever. It'd be nice to miss a few classes anyway."

"Michael! Be more respectful to your mother," his father chided, looking disappointed. Michael covered his head with his arms and the plate, darting out of reach into the hallway, preserving the pancakes and half-shouting a quick apology.

Elizabeth had disappeared from the hallway.
——
Was this Purgatory? Elizabeth paced around her room, considering that she was pretty sure Hell would be a lot worse. She wasn't Catholic and had always thought the idea of Purgatory to be rather absurd, but she liked to think of herself as open-minded. Maybe Michael had gotten stuck in Purgatory and that's why he was confused.

She wiped away the tear running down her face. Yes. There was something deeply wrong and unsettling about the comfort of home, and here she was, just a child again. Nothing she could do but watch as her father smiled, as her mother lived, as Evan laughed. Why wasn't he crying? Did he even know he was going to die soon?

And then there was Michael. Oh Michael... he was the one acting the most normal and even he had been suspicious. He thought Mum was dead too. Because she was supposed to be dead. She slammed her head against the wall, smashing it repeatedly until she was interrupted by a knocking on the door.

"Beth? Are you alright?" Shit. Mum.

"Oh! Yeah! I just..." got her period? Nope. Definitely not that. Had a boyfriend over? Almost as bad and she didn't even talk to boys this age unless she was going to smack them on the top of the head with a book. "Couldn't... decide..." she silently opened her drawers and dressers and threw some clothes onto the bed and floor, tossing a few things over the full-length mirror she had begged for. "What to wear." She quickly threw on a random skirt and a random shirt before opening the door.

"You're not wearing pajamas to breakfast?" her mother asked, looking confused.

Elizabeth grinned widely. "I thought I would go over to Charlie's house after breakfast. School project."

"Oh! You're such a diligent student. I can't believe your teacher would give you homework over a break." She sighed and shook her head. "I ought to call the school."

"No! Elizabeth shouted, pretty sure she didn't have any homework. "It's okay, it's a fun one. For extra credit!"

"I see, good in the two of you. But I hope you didn't drag Charlie into the two of this and that it isn't too much, I don't want you to spend all your time with books."

"It shouldn't take long, I'll bring a few dolls for Charlie and I to play with once we're done," Elizabeth said, widening her smile and hoping it looked more sweet than maniac.

"If you say so... your father promised to play video games with Evan after breakfast, so I'll walk you over."

"Wait! Can Michael walk me over?" Elizabeth asked, an idea forming. She had to talk to Michael because it was clear he belonged in this house about as much as she did.

She got a look of surprise from that. "I suppose if you can convince him, he seems a bit off this morning though so he might need to get some sleep."

"That'sokaythanksmumloveyoubye!" Elizabeth half-shouted as she darted past her mother and barged into Michael's room. "Michael James Afton!" she shouted.

"What?!" Michael yelled back, hitting his head on an open drawer of the dresser he was digging through. "Lizzie what are you wearing?"

She glanced down and noticed her purple tank top and purple skirt she had frantically thrown on. Ah shit she looked like her father. "No time to explain! We're going to Charlie's!" she declared, storming out.

"Uhm..."

She peeked her head back in. "Are you coming or not?"

Michael glanced at the wall. "... sure."

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing!" he said a bit too quickly. "Let's go!" Michael rushed to go grab his shoes.

Well, she hadn't thought too much of his wall decor before now. But hey, he was being suspicious! So, she glanced at the calendar and today's date. October. 1983. Today was marked by 'five days till the party'.

Chapter Text

Charlie Emily slipped through the void, unsure when or if the fall would end. The ball pit wasn't supposed to be this deep. How the fuck was this even possible? Where would she land? What if she fell through the center of the earth? Wait. No. That was stupid.

Her eyes flicked upon as someone violently slammed their fist against her door. "Ugh... five more minutes! she called, half asleep in her bed. Wait a minute. How was she—

She sat up and wiggled her fingers in front of her face, they looked normal! She inhaled deeply. Lungs! She had lungs again! She thought she'd never feel this ever again after the scooper. Mm, delicious air, how she had missed it so.

The knocking resumed. Oh yeah, that.

Charlie stood to fling the door open, finding the ground a lot further down than expected and noticing that the room was really quite tall. It looked a lot like her childhood bedroom and... oh shit. Her hands weren't just normal they were young. She was young. That was... odd.

Whatever. She could deal with this later.

She crossed the room and reached up to open the door. "What the fuck do you wa—" Hm. No. She clamped her mouth shut as she looked upon her two guests. A young teenage boy and a little girl the same age as her. Michael and Elizabeth. Michael looked shocked and horrified to hear such language from a little girl, Elizabeth looked confused but relatively unconcerned as she strode into the room, Michael standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Okay." Elizabeth took a deep breath and stared Charlie dead in the eye. That was weird. She had always been the more confident one, but Charlie was pretty sure she wasn't ever this straight to the point. "Is my mother dead?" Yeah, no, that was weirder than kid her saying 'fuck'. She glanced at Michael, who was just watching Elizabeth with eyebrows so knitted he should try making a scarf.

Well shiiiit... she wasn't sure which year she was dropped into. She glanced around the room, but she had never kept a calendar. Try to change the subject, she wasn't sure whether or not Mrs. Afton was dead yet. "Is something wrong, Liz?"

"Nope!" Elizabeth said in an obvious lie as she stared Charlie down intensely. "Now. It is October 1983. Five days before Evan's birthday. Is my mother dead?"

Having the date was extremely helpful. Mrs. Afton had died... in '81? Or '82. Before Evan died. Oh Evan... she needed to put him as a priority. Then she would figure out how the fuck she was in 1983. "Yes?"

"I knew it!" Elizabeth shouted, pacing around Charlie's room intently. It was like her normal personality had been intensified and drained of any humor, although she was never the main one to crack jokes. "Because, you see, the odd things. The very very odd and strange thing is—" Elizabeth paused dramatically, turning mid-pace to face Charlie. "She's not!"

Fuuuuuuck she must've gotten the date wrong. But Elizabeth thought it was strange. What. "What." Charlie turned to Michael, who nodded, so apparently Elizabeth probably wasn't going insane.

"I expected her to be dead as well. Guess I must've had some sort of weird dream?"

Charlie narrowed her eyes. That wouldn't explain it happening for all three of them. If what had happened been nothing but a dream, then why would all three of them have at least one fact in common about their dreams? Besides, dreams didn't last that long. Charlie knew that. Still, she had begun to reconsider her position that all three of them had mysteriously been transported back into the past. That stuff only happened in fiction when the characters were supposed to fix things or learn lessons or were preteens sent back to some major historical event they were too young to experience, like Yorktown or the Salem witch trials or some shit like that. So... just pretend that this was fine and sane and normal and nothing weird was happening. Although she would keep an eye out in case that had been some weird, prophetic dream. "Maybe you drank too much beer last night?" she asked in an attempted joke.

Charlie instantly regretted it when Michael cringed, looking thoroughly ashamed of himself. Oh, that was right, he had gone out drinking back when he was younger. But it didn't really become an issue, besides the obvious problem of underage drinking, until after Evan's death. "I didn't— I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

He shook his head. "No. It's fine. I didn't drink last night."

"Right! What were we all doing last night?" Elizabeth asked, having resumed her pacing.

"I don't see why that matters...?" Charlie asked, hoping to cover up the fact that she didn't have the slightest idea. What did she do as a kid? Read? Play with dolls? She'd liked building things. Not a clue what any of her current projects would be though. Probably one of the many things she'd hoped would impress her father only for him to ignore him and go hang around William. She mentally added sucker punching William Afton to her list, right below keeping Evan safe.

"You don't remember, do you?" Elizabeth said with a wide, wicked grin. At least she was making Charlie feel more sane. "I'd be willing to bet none of us do. Because we all just woke up from the longest nightmare of our lives. But!" She stuck her pointer finger in the air. "It wasn't a nightmare at all, was it, Michael?"

He watched from the doorframe, carefully debating what to say next, before sighing. "Mind if I come in?"

Charlie shrugged and gestured for him to join them. "Nah."

Michael stepped in, shutting the door behind him and sitting down on the floor. Almost comically close to the same height as the two girls while sitting. "I think what Elizabeth is trying to say is that it wasn't a dream at all.," he began tentatively.

"No shi—" Elizabeth paused, reconsidering her words. "That much is quite obvious. Would you care to elaborate?"

"Not really?"

"Michael James Afton."

"What?!" Elizabeth glared at him pointedly. "What!"

"Time travel?" Charlie guessed. It sounded even stupider saying it out loud. Hold on. Wait a minute. Wait one fucking minute. She was about to sound so smart and calm and composed right now and like she had thought out everything. She sat criss-cross applesauce on her bed. "But that theory doesn't quite work, does it?"

Elizabeth plopped onto the bed next to Charlie. "Elaborate."

"Just think about it! Mrs. Afton is still alive, right? And then there's one other difference." She glanced at Michael, suddenly realizing it may not be her place to say this part.

He just looked confused though. "What's that? I mean, Evan and Father seem a lot happier, but you haven't seen them since... this nonsense."

"Father was always like this when Mum was alive though, so that explains some of it. Still not how she's alive," Elizabeth pointed out.

Michael shook his head. "No? He was always awful. He's probably the one who killed her."

"What?!" Elizabeth exclaimed, looking furious. "He was a horrid person who deserved every second of suffering he went through, but he always loved Mum."

Michael wrinkled his forehead. "Maybe Charlie had a point. What was the difference you were thinking?"

"Well." She rubbed the back of her neck, almost getting distracted by the fact she again had smooth skin. Too late to go back now. "You were a trans guy in the past I remember."

"Oh." Michael blinked in surprise. "Yeah, so, that definitely is different."

"You didn't transition until after you ran away from home which is after both Evan and Elizabeth died and you lived in my closet for a couple years," Charlie continued.

Michael shook his head. "That's not possible. You were already dead by then."

"No? I only technically died down in that Circus Baby Rental place when I got scooped," Charlie reminded him.

"Huh?" Both Michael and Elizabeth exclaimed.

"No, I got scooped," Michael argued.

"What? You were possessing Circus Baby and you scooped me!" Elizabeth argued.

"Completely the other way around," Michael said with a frown.

"No! Elizabeth was possessing Circus Baby and scooped me." Charlie insisted.

"I never possessed Circus Baby, Michael jumped in front of me last second to save me," Elizabeth interjected.

"Hah. I wish," Michael half-muttered, looking down at the carpet.

"Okay, no. This isn't possible," Elizabeth shook her head and fell backwards onto the bed. "Someone has to be misremembering, or this is some weird mass hallucination tailored to each person."

"Feels like pretty big details to be misremembered," Charlie noted.

"Okay. So. Mass hallucination. Like. Uh..." Elizabeth snapped her fingers before sitting up and looking at Michael. "Yeah remembered those weird nightmares we had? Evan had them as well."

"Oh! The ones with the freaky animatronics?" Michael asked, pointing excitedly at Elizabeth.

She snapped her fingers and pointed back, just as oddly thrilled. "Yes! And they had so many teeth!"

"Sooo many," Michael agreed, shaking his head and laughing.

Charlie looked back and forth between the two of them. What a weird thing to be so hyped about. At least she was normal. "O... kayyyy then. Disregarding the fact that at least 40 years would be a ridiculously long hallucination... I grew up thinking Michael was a girl. That's kind of a dead giveaway that there's something else happening."

"It's like Avengers," Michael said solemnly.

Elizabeth squinted. "What?"

"Ya know, like how at one point they were big into the multiverse and there was this one show where it would show different characters' lives in different dimensions! Maybe that's us. Guardians of the Multiverse except just this one universe."

"Where everything's better?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow with doubt etching creases into her face. "I'd say no offense but I mean complete and utter offense when I say that's really dumb."

"I mean, I don't know if I would be so quick to say everything is better than the past I remember, but yeah, that's kinda a shitty way to try and explain what the fuck is going on," Charlie agreed.

"Who taught you to swear like that?" Michael practically squeaked.

"You did!" She still swore more than him in the past though, in the future? Ew. Weird. Time. But that didn't change the fact that he taught her the words.

"I'm a bad influence..." Michael said faintly, staring at the wall, adding dramatic effect to his despair.

"What are we? Squirrels? We need to lock in, hunker down, focus, and figure this shit out," Elizabeth said, hitting her fist against her other hand with the last few syllables.

"Not you too!" Michael practically wailed.

Elizabeth was having none of it a rolled her eyes. "Grow up. We need to figure out a practical way of handling this going forward."

"We could each make timelines of our memories? All the significant stuff that happened?" Charlie suggested.

Elizabeth grinned and nodded in approval. "Indeed. I like that. A rather splendid idea. So. We can all work on that today and meet up after school tomorrow?"

"Fuck... we gotta go to school," Charlie groaned.

Michael shrugged. "I might just skip school."

"Nah, I wouldn't suggest that, I'm sure you have tons of absences stacked up as is... having a meeting with your parents and the principe won't be helpful," Charlie pointed out.

"Uuuuuugh. I hate that you're right."

"Well, before we go, what was the last thing everyone remembers before waking up this morning?" Elizabeth asked.

"There was a fire." Michael rubbed his face. "Not the first fire I'd been through. This one Henry set. It was a trap, for the animatronics. For me as well, I think. I didn't know. I didn't know it was him. I didn't know there was going to be a fire. He said there was a way out... but I didn't see the point in trying to find it, I suppose. He didn't want me to make it out of there anyway."

Elizabeth nodded, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. "Same."

"The one with the Rockstar animatronics?" Charlie asked. The other two nodded. "I was there as well. But I didn't make it to the fire, Jeremy was tampering with Lefty because we were trying to grab the Puppet and get out because he found a tape saying Dad— uh— Henry was going to destroy the place and then... well. The thing went rogue and Michael..." She glanced at Michael. But it hadn't been this Michae. Her Michael was different Michael. No, wait, that wasn't possible. Ugh. "Michael and I dove into a ball pit and I woke up here."

This seemed to catch this Michael's attention. "Fitzgerald?"

"Yeah."

"Huh..."

A knock on the door startled the trio. Charlie's father popped his head in— speak of the devil, Charlie supposed with scarce amusement, giving Michael a frown that quickly vanished. "Do y'all want to come work in the kitchen? Clara called and said you two had a school project," he said, with a glance directed at Charlie and Elizabeth.

"Oh! Unfortunately it seems we do not yet have all the materials we need. I would like to go to the library and check out some books first!" Elizabeth said quickly. "Come along, Michael. See you tomorrow at school, Char!" she called as she dragged Michael out the door.

Henry? Dad? Father? Charlie didn't even know what to call him in her head at this point, stares after them with slight concern. "Was Michael bothering you two girls?"

"Nah." Charlie shook her head. She didn't blame the two of them for abandoning her given the nature of the conversation they'd just been having, but she was still annoyed. "They just forgot they also have some cleaning."

"Alrighty then. Do you need anything before I head off to work?"

Of course he was headed to work. He was always at work. At least she knew something she remembered was accurate. "Nope! I'm good!" she said with her usual feigned cheerfulness.

But hey, at least she got a smile for it. "See you later then?"

"Yep! See you later!" Charlie watched him as he left. The one man connecting them all together. The one who had nearly killed the three of them. She supposed she couldn't trust him in whatever this timeline was either. Well, he and the ever delightful Mr. Afton were on her watch list. Entirely different one from the one Evan was on though, obviously.