How long had it been? He hadn't been here in...at least four years now. Not since the incident anyway...Well. That one was just another brick to the pile that had dragged this place under.
Fredbear's Family Diner.
Once a cornerstone of fun in the town it was nothing more than a rotten memory that, for whatever reason, this man had returned to. There was something he needed from it. Specifically, some paperwork to verify something. He had to know. It had bothered him since he first heard about it but something didn't add up. Bad enough he was stuck with William's child but the man just up and disappeared without a word. Why he, of all people, had ended up with the young boy was beyond him.
"Here we go...Time to revive the past one last time and finally put it to rest..."
The tall man slowly killed the engine of his truck and stepped into the cold winter air. He sighed. The man's life had changed so much with what little time he had worked here but something about it just kept coming back. Almost like it was calling to him, If it had something to share, he was here to listen and find it. The files would be in William Afton's old office which never bothered the blonde during the day but with the fading sunlight and the fact the room had no windows, it didn't sit well with him despite the need to get the evidence to prove that something bigger was at play here.
"Ah...Shame really...Maybe I should restore you at some point. It would be kind of nice."
His blue eyes studied the building before him. It was a simple thing made of logs and was rather small but it did the job. The one thing that some would consider weird or even wrong was the bar. For whatever reason, the diner had a full on bar. Luckily there weren't any fights but it still bothered some people. However, it didn't matter as that's not why the company went under.
"Focus. You need to just get in, get out and go home. You're behind anyway."
Slowly the man moved towards the door, careful of where he stepped as to not trip over an unseen rock. The parking lot had long since been overrun by nature and the weeds were a good three inches tall in some places which didn't help anything. If he was going to restore the place to make it a museum, it would be a lot of work but it would be a passion project. Fredbear's was a part of this town's history as was the new Freddy Fazbear's which Sam didn't actually know who owned it. That didn't matter, he was getting off track again which was bad. The longer he took with this, the longer it would take to get home and get to sleep.
"You seriously need to either just leave it for another day or get in and just go for it."
Sam had stopped walking halfway to the doorway. He could just call it a night or head into the depths and see if he can find what he wanted. His legs had moved before his mind could decide. His hand grabbed his flashlight and flicked it on, there was no turning back now as his feet crossed into the building. It was, of course, dark inside. The sun had faded by this point leaving only the flashlight as any means of seeing anything.
"Welp. Into the depths it is..."
The tall man let out a chuckle that filled the space. It felt wrong. This space was abandoned, left to die. For life to exist here was wrong. A fundamental imbalance. Death had won here so for Life to come back wasn't right. This was lost on the intruder, his mind was focused on the task at hand so he didn't notice that SpringBonnie was at his old post on the stage. Something that, had he noticed, would have sent him running.
"Ah, here we are."
At last, he had reached the door to William Afton's old office. It opened with ease...a little too easily actually but Sam just wanted to get the paperwork and get out. There was something very, very wrong. The paperwork he had wanted was stacked neatly on the desk as if someone had been here before him and knew he was coming. Was this a trap? A growing sense of unease filled the man's mind, there was something in the room with him.
"Hello?"
"What are you doing in my office?"
Sam froze. That voice. It couldn't be his. William was gone but here he was.
"William?"
The man spun to face where the voice had come from to find something he wasn't expecting. William Afton. Rather something that took the figure of the man. It was wrong. His head was concealed by a deteriorating SpringBonnie head, blood dried around the eyes and mouth. His torso had visible scars and his shirt was shredded, the wounds symmetrical just like Sam's. This was, for all intents and reasoning, William Afton back from the dead.
"How do you know my name...No matter. Get out of my office."
"William. I worked for you. I'm Samuel."
The spirit tilted his head momentarily. A small glow behind the mask. Something seemed to shift in the room as well, something Sam couldn't place but he was more bothered by his inability to remember him of all people.
"I need your help...I need something to be whole again and you have it."
"What?"
"Your life...I need your life."
The masked figure charged at the blonde who was caught off guard by this sudden rush which made him fall back against the far wall of the room there was no escaping now. He was cornered. At last the masked form of William grabbed Sam's shoulders and everything started spinning. The room was becoming impossibly cold as lights flashed in his face. No. Not just lights. There were figures. Some he could make sense of and others he had never seen before. A young girl with blonde hair and green eyes, another was a younger version of Mike. A third one. A woman...? What was going on?
Everything he was seeing was fading and blurring together but he could barely keep himself from losing his grip on objective reality. None of it was making sense...not that it mattered for much longer as he finally slipped into the darkness.
****
Where was he? Surely he would have called by this point...unless he was on the way back? No. He would have called...So where was Samuel Di Angelo?
Momo Maverick pondered this as she sat quietly next to the landline in the house. Sam was punctual with calling when needed and he said he'd call if he was heading back so why hadn't he called? It was getting far later into the night than he usually stayed out which worried the woman. What was he doing? Was he in trouble? If it wasn't Sam she'd likely not be worried but he was different.
"What on earth are you doing Sam..."
She had met Sam while working at Freddy Fazbear's, his first day on the job he knew everything which raised some questions but she never asked them until about a week ago when she noticed he got a bit jumpy around the characters. This, in turn, led her to learn about Fredbear's which had been closed for at least three years by that point so it wasn't common knowledge anymore. Didn't help that the building had been left to rot. That fact was another reason she was worried. Did he need help? Was he hurt? There was only one way to find out.
"Hey, Mike? I'm going to go out for a bit, Sam's not called and it's concerning me."
"Alright..."
Mike sounded half asleep which was helpful for her. That meant she didn't have to worry about him so she got up, and headed to the door. Taking one look back before finally heading out to her car. Something was wrong. There was NO way Sam wasn't in some kind of trouble.
She shot over to her car and got in, taking a moment to steady herself before starting the engine and pulling out of the driveway. She had a bit of an idea where the old diner was but with the darkness, it would be hard to see properly as Sam said it would be obvious from the road.
The night was growing darker and darker as she drove, it was getting sufficiently hard to see anything but she HAD to get there. Sam could need help or possibly dead for all she knew and that? That was a terrifying thought.
"What happened Sam..."
Her question went unanswered of course as the man in question wasn't around to say, nor was he answering his phone which meant something was wrong. There was no way there wasn't. Sam ALWAYS answered.
"I hope you're alright..."
Momo had taken a liking to Sam from the moment she had seen him. Just something about his presence and the way he carried himself. He was...odd in his own way. Avoided large groups, the animatronics and usually only ever showed himself when there was some sort of issue with one of the characters which made it hard to really know him...but the situation at hand wasn't like him.
Why wouldn't he respond?
The short woman shook her head and pushed forwards through the abyss of night. She would only be stopped by-
What the hell was that?
It was a blur but it had been there. SOMETHING moved off to her left. Whatever it was, seemed to be gone but it moved fast enough for her to see it which meant it wasn't natural... Had that THING taken Sam? There was only one way to find out and that meant getting to the diner.
There it was. The silhouette of the forgotten memory stood out against the sky. It was unmistakably the diner as it was alone where it stood and nothing else was this close to the old tracks.
"I'm coming Sam."
At last, the crunching of gravel filled the interior of the woman's car as she pulled into what little remained of the parking lot. Sam's truck sat abandoned yet seemingly left alone which only made the situation all the worse. HAD he been kidnapped? Was he dead?
"I swear to god if this is some kind of joke."
Momo didn't actually know what she would do if this was a joke. It wasn't his style anyway so what on earth was going on? Clearly, something went down but there wasn't a way to tell what it was...The open door was a good starting point though.
"Oh. Well then. Guess there's only one way forward..."
Slowly the woman made her way towards the door, crossing the parking lot. Only pausing for a moment at Sam's truck to give it a quick look over. Nothing seemed wrong with it so she moved onwards to the silent diner building. If something did happen, her short stature and physical build would make it hard to do much of anything so the woman had little in the way of defense.
Finally, she was inside the building. It was quiet. As if no one was ever there in the first place which disturbed her. Sam's truck was here but where was he? Every step she took failed to answer her question until a familiar faint glow caught her eye.
It was Sam's flashlight.
"SAM!"
Without thinking, Momo shot towards the sparse light in the building and threw herself into the room to find the man lying on the ground. His mouth agape, eyes staring at nothing.
"SAM!"