A broken life filled with flames(My FNaF AU:
Michael always loved fire.
Whether it be the flames of a celebratory bonfire, the hypnotic burn of a lighter, or the aftermath. He had always been entranced by it. It was something that calmed and amazed him.
His love of flames began at quite a young age, he was only 6 when he saw fire for the first time. It was a memory seered into his mind.
His mother had just picked him up from school, and when they came home their neighbors house was in flames. His mother had been horrified, asking if they were ok and trying to figure out what had happened.
Bur Michael had stood on that sidewalk, his mother gripping his hand, captivated by the flames. He felt the heat on his face, saw flames dancing around the house, watched the beautiful oranges and reds shining in from of his eyes. He remembered feeling a sense of disappointment when the firefighters put it out.
His mother was horrified by her sons enchantment with fire. It terrified her that her precious boy would like something so destructive. Michael didn't understand why she hated it so much. Couldn't she see how pretty it was?
After his mother's death she had been cremated by his father, and Michael remembered staring at the ashes for hours at a time. Constantly thinking about how beautiful it seemed that fire could turn his mother into such a small yet entrancing form.
After his father remarried and his siblings were born his love of fire only grew. He would take any chance to burn things. Whether it be graded homework assignments or old toys. He even tried to get his brother to admire it like him. Showing his brother a fire he had made, only for the 2 year old to break out into scared crying and for him to be punished.
That was when Michael realized something might be wrong with his love of flames. The looks of discomfort and fear from his admiration of it seemingly following him always. The only one who never questioned it was his best friend, but even they didn't share it.
He was 10 when he made that realization.
Michael grew to hide his love of fire. It never went away, but it became something to hide, to be ashamed of. Never even telling his best friend of his continued admiration of it.
He would still burn things in private just to see the flames, he would still admire every time he'd see things burning, he would still stare at leftover ash in amazement. He would sneak out of his room just to go to his secret spot and burn anything he could.
But it was private, secret, hidden. To his parents he had grown out of it, to his siblings it had never existed in the first place, to his friend Michael simply stopped talking about it one day, and to everyone else it had been simply a phase.
But his love of flames only grew. And a specific incident would influence him to get up close and personal with it like never before.
He was helping his uncle Henry set up a bonfire when he slipped and accidentally burned himself with his match. He could remember the pain like yesterday, screaming out and his uncle doing everything he could to help and sooth the young teen.
Michael could remember the feeling of the burn, the pain he felt, the fear he felt. It was at that moment he understood why most were scared of flames instead of enchanted. But even that moment of fear didn't stop him from his need to watch other things burn.
He was 13 when he burned himself for the first time.
It wasn't until 2 years later that he would bring flame to his body again.
It was after the bite of 83'. Michael was a mess. He was guiltstricken and almost never left his room. Only leaving for food, water and to use the bathroom, and even then it was far and few inbetween.
It was during a panic attack that it happened. He lit a match and stared at the flame, begging it to help calm him. But with how badly he was shaking and his tears constantly sliding down his face the match ended up pressed against his palm Michael yelping in surprise at the sudden feeling of the burn.
It hurt like hell and Michael did his best to take care of the burn. Wincing throughout.
It wasn't until after that Michael realized that the pain had snapped him out of his panic. And how deserved it felt. He had hurt his brother with his favorite animatronic, the one he constantly kept a plushie of.
So why shouldn't he suffer by something he loved?
It was after that realization that he started burning himself. It started small. Pressing a match onto his arm every once in a while, sometimes putting his arm into the flames of the things he would burn.
He didn't get far before his stepmother found out.
He was sent to a mental hospital. One where he was never given the privilege of watching things burn, never allowed near a single match.
He hated it. And all the hospital did was make him worse. From sickly sweet words to questions he never answered honestly. From people on the edge of insanity to nights littered with nightmares that left him gasping for air.
He got out after 9 months, shortly after his birthday. Only to be suffocated by bad news.
Charlie was killed.
His stepmother died.
His sister was missing.
Henry had moved away.
And he was left alone with a father that hated him.
It didn't take long to relapse. To press the match onto his arm and feel the burn. To let himself feel the pain he knew he deserved.
He didn't even try to hide the fact he was sneaking our anymore. For years he had hidden his times sneaking out into the darkness, but now he didn't care anymore. He'd spend hours upon hours burning things. Only coming home when he knew he had to, to a father who despised him and never held back on beating him.
One day, he couldn't do it anymore. He couldn't live with the guilt.
He made the biggest fire he could and watched the flames, admiration in his eyes. And when he came home he collected all the pills he could and took them all at once. He fell asleep that night not expecting to ever wake up again, this being his second ever attempt at overdosing on pills,thinking he had learned from his last attempt.
But he didn't, and he spent hours vomiting and crying afterwards.
After that he stopped indulging in his flames, especially after he found a replacement in running away to a toxic relationship and alcohol.
It wasn't until after he tried to quit drinking and broke up with his now ex-boyfriend that he once again indulged in the flames. Practically doubling down. Anytime his body craved his former addiction he would start a fire. He would watch it burn for hours at a time. He would litter his skin with burns, never allowing them to be bad enough to leave a permanent scars, but creating enough of them that the pain satisfied his need.
He slowly rebuilt his life during this time, making new friends and permanently ending the relationship with his ex. It was shortly afterwards that he fell in love again.
And that love was with Jeremy Fitzgerald.
Jeremy was a stubborn, flirtatious, cheerful boy with strawberry blond hair, a dark blue eye on one side and a muted blue on the side of his head trauma, and skin covered in freckles. Jeremy never cared about Michaels past, he only cared about the here and now. The two's relationship was never perfect, but it was loving with two people who genuinely cared for each other.
But Michael never stopped, he continued to press matches onto his skin in places most wouldn't see, keeping it a secret from Jeremy as best he could. He would still create fires to calm himself, watching the flames within the safety of the fireplace he loved ever so much.
It was 6 months into there relationship that Jeremy caught him pressing a match onto his skin while sitting in front of the fireplace.
To say Jeremy freaked out would be an understatement, and it ended with Michael having to admit to his continuous usage of burning himself.
It wasn't a fun conversation.
"You've been doing this our entire relationship!?"
"- I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"
"This isn't ok Mike!! You hurt yourself!! I can't believe you never let me help you!! You can't be doing this to yourself!!"
"Why not!?"
"What!?"
"Why not!? I killed my brother! I let my sister die! My father is missing because I ran away! I fucking deserve the pain!!"
"..."
"Jeremy?"
"Do you really believe that Mike?
"..."
It was the first big fight between the two, and after Jeremy took it upon himself to help Mike get clean. To help him get better.
It didn't take long for Jeremy to learn about Michael's obsession with flames. He had always noticed when Michael would stare into the flames, but it never really bothered him. He simply thought it was a small quirk.
But now he was noticing the full extent of his boyfriends obsession with fire.
It wasn't all at once. But the more time he spent at his boyfriends apartment, the more time he spent keeping his boyfriend in check, the more he noticed how captivated flames made Michael, the more he realized that fire was something that meant quite a bit to Michael.
And he used it to his advantage.
Whenever Michael would have panic attacks or try to harm himself Jeremy would put him in front of flames, whether it be the fireplace, a lighter, or matches. He would then help his boyfriend come out of his panic, through gentle touches and kind words. Even though Michael struggled, and relapsed a couple times, Jeremy was able to help his boyfriend using the very thing he was harming himself with.
It was shortly after his first relapse that Jeremy asked Michael something he had been curious about.
"Hey, Mike?"
"Yes Jeremy?"
"What made you love fire so much?"
......
"I don't know. My earliest memory is of when I was 6. Me and my mother came home to see our neighbors house in flames, I don't know why but the flames enchanted me. I loved watching them dance and light up the area around me. It terrified my mother, she hated the idea of me enjoying something so dangerous."
"...and?"
"And it took me until I was 10 to get the hint that enjoying fire was a bad thing. But I never got over my love of it, I don't really know why. It could be the way they dance in front of me, the heat radiating from it constantly, the way it grows and consumes things so completely... I don't know."
"I don't think it's a bad thing."
"You don't?"
"No. In fact, I think it's wonderful Mike. You can see the beauty in something most see as nothing but destructive. And besides, it's not like your going to burn any buildings down."
They both laughed.
How ironic.
It was less than week after that the MCI was finally found. Someone finally had the good sense to check the suits, only to realize that the bodies of those poor children had been hidden within the suits.
Jeremy was Susie's older brother, and he was horrified by the realization. It was one of the few times that Michael was the one comforting Jeremy in the early part of their relationship.
The killer was never found, and they never talked about the implications. Especially since both had experienced the horrors of Freddy's first hand. It became an unsaid agreement it would be a forbidden topic.
They had only a few forbidden topics.
The two spent years together, but it would all come crashing down the day William Afton was declared dead.
It had been on the news, something that shocked both males. Michael had run away, but it didn't take long for two police officers to show up at his doorstep to deliver the news in person.
It was then and there Michael was told that he had been put in the will and asked to go to the reading. He was hesitant, but nodded and agreed to go.
Him, Jeremy and their friend Fritz all went together. And it was quite a shock to learn that he was the sole beneficiary of everything. The house, the money, and was told the only condition was to read a note William had left him, right then and there.
So he did, allowing Jeremy and Fritz to read it over there shoulders. And the note shocked everyone in the room to there very cores.
Him and Jeremy got into a huge fight when they came back to their shared apartment. They blew up at each other because of what had been in the letter, arguing for hours until Michael packed a bag and stormed out. Yelling at his boyfriend(now ex) that he was going to stay at his old house.
It was in that quiet house, all alone lying in his old bed that Michael cried. He cried and cried from guilt and shame, until he made the decision to do as the letter told.
He applied at 'Circus Baby's Entertainment & Rentals' and got the job within days. And in the end he lost his life, in an ending that felt deserved.
Yet he didn't die. But he wished he did. He was a puppet for weeks, until the horrible thing that had killed him ejected from him and left him a purple zombie.
Michael wasn't the same after that. And he decided then and there that he would spend the rest of his undead life destroying his father and helping those he hurt until everyone could finally be put to rest.
And to start?
He burned CB's to the ground. Watching as the former prison for his sister and the other funtime animatronics went into flames, and not leaving until it was nothing but rubble.
The next nearly two decades were spent wandering around. He covered his face with a plastic white bear mask, and his hair regrew. His entire body was constantly covered in clothing. His purple skin being something he hid at any cost. He was constantly looking for and following leads that lead to nowhere. But eventually he ended up at Fazbear Frights in 2013. A place created to use Fazbear Entertainments past to create a horror attraction and make fun of everything that had happened.
It was fucking disgusting.
But it was his only lead.
So he applied for and easily got the job at the place.
His first week at the place was relatively quiet and it annoyed him. He had outwardly stated he would quit if nothing interesting came.
And intresting would put it kindly when Michael was met with the eyes of his father. Because no matter how long it had been, or the horrible condition his father had been left in, or how much he himself had changed, he would never forget those dead gray eyes.
Michael felt more than happy to see his father burn the final night he worked at that sorry excuse of a building. Just like with CB's all that time ago he watched as the flames burned the building to the ground.
Until....
"Michael...?"
He had shot around to see a familiar blond staring at him. It took him a moment to recognize him, but all it took was one look into those two toned blue eyes to know exactly who he was looking at.
"Jeremy?"
And in that moment Jeremy ran up and hugged him, and then he started sobbing into Michael's shoulder. He refused to move, he refused to let go. And all Michael could do was hug back and quietly sob as the taller clung to him.
The two stayed together after that. Jeremy had never died, but he could care less if Michael did. The two stuck together like glue. Falling right back into their relationship, even if they decided to take it slow at first.
And they had only been together for a little less than a year before they decided to elope. And Jeremy made Michael promise one thing the day they got together.
That they would stay together no matter what for the rest of time.
They worked together to try and find the remaining animatronics to put them to rest, and eventually, they found the ad.
It was talking about creating your own fazbear restaurant and being 'your own boss'. But Michael knew the second he laid eyes on it exactly what was going on.
And the couple agreed to finally end this for good.
Only to find put that the person who put out the ad wasn't a stranger as they may have thought. No, it was Henry Emily himself.
And when they walked into that room with him everything fell into place.
And would it surprise anyone who's idea it was to burn everything to the ground?
Michael and Jeremy agrued about it at first. Michael didn't want Jeremy to die for this, but Jeremy reminded him of his promise, and demanded he have the right to die alongside his boyfriend and the horrible legacy of Fazbear Entertainment.
So Michael made him promise to find a way to die without the pain of burning to death.
And he did. After the fire started Michael helped Jeremy stab himself in the neck, right where it would be a painless and quick death. With a final kiss and a promise to see each other on the other side.
And then Michael burned. He finally died after so long, and all he could do was smile as he died by the thing that held his obsession for so many years.