#like mike loves his mum but maybe he was so roped into william's manipulation that he didn't want to leave william?

[and-stir-the-stars]

I just realized. Your dream theory revamp means there's a wide field of options for endings outside of the dream, and I'm wildly curious about any ideas you have for that. Does Evan get to like. Grow up?? Ik you were still debating on the Bite for this, but I'm wildly curious about what things would be like if he actually got to continue on past that point.

Also, does Elizabeth still go missing?

I have. All the curiosity. Tell me anything. Or nothing. Follow ur dreams

I'm going to half-answer this in a rambling mess, okay, bear with me

So, initial idea for the au was that both Elizabeth and Charlie disappear, but I'm not exactly sure how that happens if William isn't actually a killer

Maybe it's possible that William accidentally killed Elizabeth in an ''abuse gone too far'' moment and covered it up afterward. Or there's some other killer or kidnapper who got their hands on Liz and Charlie. Or Liz and Charlie ran off together and got hurt and lost in the woods and never came back.

Orrrr, I was also thinking that it'd be nice to have an au where Mrs. Afton, aka Francine, is actually alive. So maybe William and Francine were going to get a divorce because William is an abusive piece of shit, okay, and William tries taking the kids and running because he REFUSES to loose everything that he had (all the "property" he owned) but he only manages to get away with Mike and Evan. So maybe in this version, instead of kids spreading rumors about how Elizabeth died, William and/or Mike is the one doing that to make Evan stop asking questions about Liz. William would have to leave Fazbear Entertainment behind to avoid jailtime for, yk, kidnapping though, so this version probably wouldn't work.

Or it's possible that Francine was the one to try taking the kids and leaving to keep them safe, but she's only able to save Liz for some reason. That way William is still part of Fazbear Entertainment, and anger and grief over the divorce/Francine running would further William's abuse of the boys; William could try pushing the idea that Elizabeth is "missing" around town rather than admit that his wife ran off with her, and kids around town still spread rumors about animatronics being responsible for Liz's "death." Maybe Charlie still goes missing, maybe not.

But either way, I think "Evan eventually grows up to reconnect with his mother and lost sister" makes for a good ending, especially if we squeeze Mike in there for the happy ending. Though ofc a lot of effort would have to be put into their relationship for Mike and Evan to get to that point, not to mention Mike and Evan having to get over the trauma of being left behind by Francine, whether she wanted that to happen or not.

If Mike does try killing himself at some point in the au, and esp if Evan is the one to find him, i can see Evan still growing up to be a doctor (probably pediatrics specifically) in the au, maybe; Evan wasn't the one in danger but the doctors and paramedics were all super nice to Evan when he had to call for help, when they showed up, and during stays in the hospital waiting room to see what Mike's fate would be. Evan obviously isn't very used to kindness, so their kindness would mean a lot to him.

It does admittedly feel weird to think about Evan growing up in this au tho, and I'm tempted to kill him off before he gets to that point for any other ending besides the "grow up and reconnect with his mother and sister" ending.