A/N: With how busy I currently am, I don't want to really work on my main DP fic right now because if I did I'd only end-up half-assing it and not giving it the proper time and commitment that my biggest undertaking deserves. I tend to fluctuate in my interests periodically, and right now the game that's caught my interest is Five Nights at Freddy's.

My last fic was very serious and borderline dark at times. This story is going to have quite a lot of diversity in terms of mood, though the overarching themes will be similar. A lot of it will be light and either fluffy or humorous. However, a non-negligible portion of it will be serious, with the occasional venture to dark and/or depressing mostly with regards to the characters' tragic backstories.

There will be SPOILERS for FNAF (including FNAF6), but this won't be as spoilerrific as "A Legacy Laid to Rest." The spoilers are still there, though, so be careful before you read. And with that said, I hope you enjoy!

This is kind of a sequel to "A Legacy Laid to Rest", but at the same time some elements have changed. It's recommended that you read that fic first, though it's not mandatory. I'm aware of the updated ending that implies that every single Night Guard from all the games was actually Mike Afton. I'm going to be adhering to that for the most part, but Mike Schmidt will be his own separate character. Otherwise, this entire story would kinda fall apart. Just so you guys know, since in my other fic Jeremy was also his own separate character.

I own nothing. Five Nights at Freddy's is the genius legacy of Scott Cawthon.

Chapter 1 – The Children Return

"FREDDY FAZBEAR'S FRANCHISE CLOSED DOWN FOR GOOD."

"About fucking time…" an older Mike Schmidt ranted aloud as he read through the article. "Why the fuck did it even take them this long? How many goddamn tragedies happened cause of that stupid pizzeria? All those night guards stuffed into the stupid suits, the Bite of '87, and don't even get me STARTED on the murdered children and their restless souls! But, nooooooooo…somebody had the fucking brilliant idea to make a goddamn HORROR ATTRACTION out of it? Jesus Christ, people are morons…"

The Marionette, who Mike had started giving the pet name Mary after he had found her in the ruins of the last Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria and brought her home, gave Mike a stern glare. "My father revived the franchise one last time to destroy it once and for all," she pointed out. "Along with the evil that had followed it for these past years."

"Wasn't talking about your dad," he replied. "Your dad was a genius. He gets a pass and then some. But everyone else? Dumbasses, all of them! Go ahead, Mary, tell me I'm wrong!"

If she had proper human eyes, Mary would have rolled them. "Fair enough, I guess."

Mike smirked. "Thank you very much." He finished reading the article and tossed the newspaper aside. "I saw the advertisement for the latest pizzeria at the beginning of the week. They outright say YOU CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING. In the freaking ADVERTISEMENT for the job! Who WROTE the damn thing?"

Mary was silent for several seconds. "…You know what, I've got nothing for that one," she finally admitted. "My father claimed in his last words that he had not originally intended the job for the one noble Afton. However, in hindsight, I fail to see how anyone with a brain would ever choose to work at the pizzeria aside from him."

"Well, guess we're all lucky that Mike Afton went for it in the end," Mike sighed, then suddenly looked up at the Marionette. "Wait, I just realized something. If he's been undead all this time, a soul possessing his own corpse, then wouldn't it have been good if he'd been stuffed in the animatronic suit? He would've probably possessed the animatronic like the ghosts of the kids and Springtrap, and then he could've had the chance to fight his dad on more equal terms."

The Marionette shook her head. "Springtrap would have had the advantage of experience, unless the quality of the suits drastically favored Michael. It was wise for him to take on a subtler approach to destroying his father's evil. Besides, it's hard to do anything secretly when you're a giant lumbering animal animatronic from a pizzeria franchise that everyone knows is cursed. William Afton would have suspected an attack from a mile away."

"And yet he somehow managed to miss the death trap that killed him or the fact that his son was in on the plot to destroy him," Mike smirked as he got up from his chair. "I'm going to bed. G'night, Mary, I'll see ya in the morning."

"Good night, Michael. Thank you again for giving me a home."

Mike shrugged as he climbed up the stairs to his bedroom, hiding the gentle smile slowly stretching across his face as he did so.

The Next Morning

"Should we wake him up?"

"Don't freak him out, we're technically breaking and entering!"

"Let him wake up, he's going to find out eventually."

"Wha..." Mike mumbled as he shuffled in his bed. He had to still be dreaming, because it sounded like there were a bunch of little children next to his bed. Which was clearly impossible; the only child that lived with him was the ghost inside the Marionette. Shrugging off the last remains of sleep, he slowly opened his eyes…

…only to find the spectral figures of five ghostly children in front of him. Three boys and two girls. As soon as Mike processed what he was looking at, fatigue made a rapid exit.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he shrieked, nearly jumping out of the bed. "WHAT THE HELL?"

"Uhm…" the ghost of a little girl timidly spoke up. "He…hello…Mr. Schmidt."

"WHY ARE THERE FIVE GHOSTS IN MY ROOM?" Mike exclaimed. "MARY?"

"Calm down, Mike, I'm coming." Light footsteps approached and the Marionette quickly arrived at the doorframe. Though her facial expressions were limited, she stepped back in what was clearly shock. "What…how…?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Mike commented. "From what you've told me, Mary, the souls of the dead children were supposed to move on." He gestured towards the group of ghostly children. "And yet, here they are!"

"We DID pass on," the ghost of one of the boys answered. "We ascended into Heaven after being freed from Molten Freddy. But afterwards, we were sent back to Earth, to make up for the wrongs that we did. We can't have eternal peace just yet."

Mike sighed. "Let me guess," he theorized. "God didn't exactly like the fact that you spent a good couple of years murdering innocent security guards. Myself nearly included in that number."

The ghosts all looked away in shame, and immediately Mike felt bad for being so blunt. "Sorry," he quickly apologized, "that was uncalled for."

"That's more or less the truth, though," another boy confirmed. "He sent us all out on a mission, to improve the life of one of the night guards we terrorized."

"And you chose me," Mike finished. "Why me, though? Why not the others?"

One of the girls spoke up. "The truth is, Mr. Michael, we did not know how many are still alive, or what kind of character they possessed," she explained. "But then we sensed the Marionette, and once we sensed her, we recognized your aura as well. The Marionette has almost never trusted any adult when we were together, and yet….she has chosen to live with you."

"I have no clue why," the older man commented dryly. "I'm a sarcastic asshole who curses a lot and lives alone."

"A sarcastic asshole who curses a lot, lives alone, has a virtuous heart, and is always willing to help others," the Marionette interrupted, and everyone could hear the smirk in her voice. "Don't try to deny your best qualities, Mike."

"So you keep saying," Mike rolled his eyes. "So what did He mean when He wanted you to improve my life?"

The ghosts were all silent for a moment as they contemplated Mike's question. Finally, another one of the boys answered. "Maybe He wanted us to give you comfort and company, but I think it's more than that. I think He wanted us to be the family you never had, Michael."

"Whoa, time out!" the former night guard exclaimed. "How do you know I don't have a family? Maybe I just wanted to strike out on my own! Maybe they're coming to visit me in a week!"

"Then why do you have an aura of loneliness and sadness around you, Michael? It's faint now, but it's definitely still there. I recognize that sadness, Mike. We all felt it the day the Purple Man killed us, the day we lost our families forever," the same boy challenged.

"Shit…" Mike cursed, knowing there was no point in denying it. The ghosts might look like children, but they had been functionally living more many years by this point and experienced some of the worst humanity had to offer. They weren't even close to naïve or innocent anymore, and that made Mike uncomfortable in more ways than one.

"The truth is, Mike…" one of the girls from earlier confessed. "We don't know what will happen if you refuse us. We don't know how long we'll wander trying to atone for our mistakes for someone else. Please, let us be your new family, Mike. Please…" Soon all of the ghosts were making the same plea.

"This is a lot to take in," Mike muttered, still trying to fully comprehend what was being asked of him. Somehow, the ghost children's request was more of a bombshell than the fact that they'd more or less confirmed the existence of God and Heaven.

"Please..."

Mike sighed and closed his eyes. It had been presented as if it were a choice, but he knew that there was no choice and there hadn't been one from the beginning. Even if you took out the adorable and helpless faces of the children begging for his help, even if you took out the fact that the Marionette would likely despise him forever for refusing the children she had protected from the very beginning, Mike knew that his own conscience and self-respect would never allow him to do anything besides the morally correct choice. Maybe in the past, when he had barely any way to fend for himself, he would have refused them out of sheer necessity. But times had drastically changed since then, and that excuse was no longer relevant.

"You know the boy was right," his conscience whispered in his head. "You never had a true family since your teens. Even though your life is far better now than it was all those years ago, can you truly say that you are happy and content? And listen to them more carefully. Perhaps they need you just as much as, if not more, than you need them."

Mike opened his eyes and made the decision that would change his life forever. "All right. You can stay."

The moment the words left his mouth, the ghosts all cheered and rushed at him. Mike was expecting them to just pass through him, but to his surprise he could feel their arms wrapping around him in a massive group hug. "Uh...how can I feel you?" he asked dumbly.

The Marionette giggled. "You have more supernatural attunement than you think, Mike," she responded good-humoredly. "Enough to feel the affection that your new children have for you."

The children broke off the hug and grinned. "Thank you…daddy!" one of the ghosts exclaimed, and they all started giggling.

Mike placed the palm of his hand on his forehead. "Why do I suddenly feel about 10 years older," he mumbled. He broke off his stupor and looked at each of the ghosts. "All right, then, unless you want me to call you Ghosts 1 through 5 for the rest of your time here, I need some names.

"Gabriel. I was the ghost who possessed Freddy."

"Jeremy. I was in Bonnie."

"Susie, and I was in Chica."

"Fritz. I was in Foxy, the coolest of them all!" Everyone rolled their eyes at that statement.

"Cassidy, I was in Golden Freddy."

"Thanks," Mike quickly went through the names of the kids again. "It might take me a while to get used to it, but I'll get it soon enough."

The ghosts all nodded, then they started grinning again. "Man, Mike lives in such a nice house!" Jeremy exclaimed. "I bet he's got tons of cool stuff! Let's go check it out!" They all cheered and rushed out, phasing through the walls to explore.

Mike watched them go. After a few seconds, he suddenly slapped his face. "Urrrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh…"

"What's wrong, Mike?" Mary asked. "You did a very great thing today."

"I know I did, and I'm not saying I'm regretting it. I just realized I essentially adopted 5 kids," Mike groaned in response. "Five easily excitable kids who probably haven't seen anything outside of a cursed Freddy Fazbear's establishment for decades on end. I don't even know the first thing about parenting."

"And your point?"

Mike groaned again. "I am so, so screwed."

/

A/N: Oh, Mike, you most definitely are XD. Imagine a child being freed from a time out. Now imagine the time out being the most horrible thing ever, lasting for several decades and the number of children being multiplied by 5. That's what you have to deal with now for the rest of your life. Suddenly the Night Shift at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria doesn't seem so bad anymore, does it? :P

Hope you enjoyed! I know I originally said that there isn't meant to be a coherent storyline, but as you'll see as you read the story, one is starting to develop anyway XD. Please read and review so that I can have a better idea on how to proceed with this fic, as well as to suggest any activities that Mike and his ghost kids could do.