A Prize: A Michael Afton X Reader

Chapter 15: Release the Hounds

POV: 2nd
                                  You waited for Mike by the den entrance. You almost gave up when Mike pops through, "Okay so what's up?!" He excitingly rubs his hands together as you spoke, I know a sewer access that goes to the near by town. It's a 20 minute walk there and back. Since we are on the watch list, that gives us 2 hours to absolutely trash that pitiful small town and go riot. Are you in or out?"
                                  He seemed to be very excited putting on a small mischievous smirk, "Hell yeah I'm in!" You then continue your instructions, "Perfect, now we must prep. We're gonna get all our prep work down now, go back to our rooms, and as soon as we are clear to go, we are going to meet up at the meet up spot."
                                  He seemed a little disappointed, "So we're not going to go now?" You shake your head, Mike is such a small minded person, "If we leave now in our uniforms, they're going to know we're from the school we are here to make costumes so that we can't be identified quickly. I've already have a black cloak and my white wolf mask, but you don't have anything ."
                                  "But doesn't the entire school already know that you were a white wolf mask?" You give him a devious grin, "If the school can't prove that I left the building, then all it does is act as a visual calling card." He nods his head, "Ok..."
                                   "Now here comes the important step, you think of an animal that you like and we're gonna make that a mask. Yours will be flimsy cause this is all last minute, but I'll make you one better later. In the meantime, I'll be quickly making a very loose cloak."

POV: 1st - Mike
                                   They turned away from me going to a small sewing kit. I stood there for a few moments just looking at them quickly stitching together fabric into a hood. What animal would I be? If you had asked me a few months ago, I would've said a fox, but the painful memories... I didn't even notice that they had stood back up until I heard a clattering on the floor.
                                   They walked up to me and threw the cloak at me, "OK put this on, I need to properly trim the bottom. So what animal?" I paused, "I don't know... I used to like foxes, but now..."
                                   "OK a fox will work perfectly fine. It actually is oddly fitting when you think about it," they then go over to a box filled with arts and crafts material.
                                   "Wait I-"
                                   "I mean we've been calling you "Moxy Mike" from months and, in the group, I've heard people starting to call you, "Mox." And Mox... Fox... They rhyme!"
                                    "I mean-"
                                     They smiled as they continued, laughing at their own joke, "I guess that would make your secret identity "Foxy Mike"? Actually it's got a good ring to-" I finally cut them off, "SHUT UP! JUST- Just... Please stop..." I didn't mean to yell, but I couldn't take it anymore...  Their laughter... Foxy...
                                     They snapped me out of it as they placed their hands on top of my shoulder, "Hey Mikey, are you OK? Did I say something wrong?"
                                     Before I knew it, I was melting into their arms. I was so tired, I had gone so long without thinking about it and now it's back in full force. "No, it's not your fault. I just... So back at Fredbear's, and I guess now Freddy's, there were side characters that were part of the cartoon and one of them was named "Foxy"... And so my friends, at the time, we all won masks at the arcade of each of our favorite characters and we wore them all the time..." I stopped talking and I just stared at them. Y/N gave a small smile, "Hey if you don't want me to call you "Foxy" or bring up foxes anymore that's fine. You don't have to talk about something you don't want to."
                                     "I was wearing the foxy mask when I did a terrible thing... Now I can't look at Foxy anymore without thinking about what I did."
                                    "Then does it not make it the perfect identity for what we're about to do? We are literally about to terrorize a small town, if you associate the fox with violent actions and urges, then why not slay the beast once and for all? We go there, we trash the place in our alter egos, and then we destroyed the fox and with that letting go of that painful past. That's all stress relief is, ridding ourselves of our inner darkness or inner struggle. You don't have to agree with what I'm saying, but I feel like the beauty of a mask is that you can separate yourself from an evil act."
                                    I stood there baffled, I tried to deny or reject what was being said to me, but a part of me like the idea of getting back at my past self. Another part of me really like the idea of just going absolutely wild without any restraint again and killing that part of me once and for all. So I simply looked at them and said, "OK, let's do it."
                                    Once again, I was greeted by their mischievous smile, "Tonight we released the hounds. The fox and the wolf stalk their prey and run wild. To be slain or to be tamed, but never will they have more power than their master." And they gave me their hand and I took it.