Author's Notes:

hello hi! this is a super angsty fnaf fic that i got an idea for and shat out in like 5 hours, i'd love some constructive criticism if you have any to give!

i'd also like to give a big warning that this fic involves some really in-depth parental manipulation and generally pretty heavy mental abuse, so if that triggers you, please don't read this; it's a prominent part of the story!

in my personal interpretation/headcanon, baby is elizabeth's alter and although that's not directly stated in the story really, i figured it might make it seem less confusing to just clarify that right here before you read. hope you enjoy! i haven't written anything in like a year so be kind to me pls!

Shady Business Practices

It was like travelling into an abyss.

Soft creaking and small flashes of light accented the small space, metallic walls and thin windows creating an ominous atmosphere; one that was most definitely not unwarranted. The space, however, provided plenty of room to reflect and ponder; and that was just what the individual travelling in the compartment - going lower and lower - was doing.

He had his hands in his pockets, dark eyes fixated on the double doors before him as the large elevator descended beneath civilization into the place the tall, looming man had come to know as his den. Whether it be a den, a lair, a hideout, or just a simple animatronic rental service, the foreboding place felt very homey.

Homey indeed, considering someone from home would most definitely be there waiting.

The man in the elevator straightened his back, reaching up to scratch and rub the back of his neck as he dwelled in his numerous detailed thoughts, trying to form a cohesive baseline he could construct something that would be easy to make sense out of. William was always more of an on-the-spot type of person, preferring to use his natural charisma and wit to his advantage in situations. But this time, he felt as if he needed at least somewhere to start that wouldn't be too...jarring.

The whole situation was jarring, really. He reckoned that quietly to himself as the elevator kept descending. It really wasn't unusual to have to stand around in said elevator for a long time; the whole facility was constructed in such away so that it would be easily accessible and would make sense to William, and William alone. Of course, navigation methods and certain procedures were set in place for any future maintenance, but for now, he was all that mattered.

The brunette's eyes suddenly shifted up from the grated floor to the double doors, and then to the constant red button that was beside them. The man reached over, gave it a press, and as he bent over, his eyes drifted up to one of the posters in the elevator as the doors opened before him. He stared at the cheery poster, lost in thought for a moment - studying the sturdy animatronic's body and face with every bit as much focus as he had on his thoughts this evening. He kept his hand on the button, eyes wandering up the creature's body - starting at the red shoes and ending on the robot's green...

Green?

William shifted and craned his neck a bit, eyes narrowing as he stared at the poster of Circus Baby, his definite favourite of his numerous robotic creations over the years. He'd taken quite a cue from his friend and business partner, Henry, and definitively decided on a lot of things - to start this entertainment and rental service of his very own accord and take charge of it, and to fully construct his own means of acquiring his goal - animatronics that would eventually re-enter the entertainment landscape and slowly shift from being lifeless shells, to purebred killers.

Circus Baby, the feminine robot with the red dress, pigtails, soft eyes and blushy cheeks, was widely regarded by most everyone who knew of the robots' existence as the centerpiece; the definitive mascot of the rental establishment. William had made the animatronic in his daughter's own image. Using her likeness, personality, and love of her favourite things, he had constructed an ideal mascot of his business. A very admirable mascot that would keep things afloat for the man after he and Henry's duo project had fallen out from under them - mostly due to things William had done to dirty the formerly stable company's name. Henry's own personal baggage really wasn't the best thing to deal with either, especially when William was the main cause of the majority of it.

What's a few dead kids? What's a dead daughter? "Henry, it's been months and you still don't seem to understand the fact that you're not alone. I'm still here, no matter what. I'm always looking out for you, even if Charlie's death has made you feel broken. I'm going to put you back together. Can you let me do that?"

He really shouldn't be so sensitive about it, it'd been long enough now.

The man's dark brown eyes slowly returned to form after a period of studying the poster in thought, realizing fully that the darkness had impaired his perception of the animatronic's eye colour - it was blue, like always. But, the man making a mistake and viewing green wasn't exactly a complete error. He thought that to himself as he quietly turned his attention to the open doors in front of him with a little smirk. Definitely not a mistake indeed - at least, not in the traditional sense. This situation may just be the most fruitful path he could have only dreamed of before. It was perfect.

"Perfect."

He slowly stepped out of the elevator and let the doors slide slowly shut behind him, long legs stalking forward until his lean body arched forward, hands stretching out until they were resting on cold metal. Darkness lay before the man as he slid his legs up after him, climbing into a deep vent shaft that ran far, far away from the elevator. He effortlessly crawled forward, dark eyes staring straight into the darkness ahead as he moved along - his thoughts occupying the splitting silence.

The man hoped somewhere in the back of his mind that tonight would go smoothly; perhaps much more smoothly than he could presently imagine. It had been a full week of tireless isolation for the person he was waiting to visit in their virtual prison cell, and William knew that this fact alone had done a number on numerous aspects of her. Perhaps leaving her alone to dwell on her mistakes was the right thing to do. Reflection was something William heavily valued and encouraged in his children - especially reflections on mistakes to that degree.

But, if his daughter had actually done something against his will - why was tonight like a dream come true? The man wandering through the vent shaft posed that question to himself, mulling it over in the forefront of his mind for barely any time before a crooked smirk flashed over his pale face again.

"Because maybe this will teach her that disobedience causes a world of pain." the man's mind reasoned with itself, presuming that his daughter would have been in a lot of it when the incident occured, if only for a moment, anyway.

"The one time Elizabeth disobeys me, she ends up dying for it - I think that puts a whole new spin on "live and learn", to be honest." William continued to reason with himself, quietly shifting through the tight vent shaft and staring ahead. How could it be that years of having an absolutely abhorrent experience with a stubborn, irrational son, culminate in the realization of the fact he'd been blessed with a perfect little girl all along?

Adoring and devoted, focused and cheerful, albeit a bit loud and too childlike at times - she was right in front of him. Here William was, discarding her devotion to him because it was "too soon" and she was "too young" to be in alliance with him and know about his secrets...it was silly! Were the children he'd stripped the livelihoods of prior to Liz's death "too young" or "too inexperienced" for death? Of course not. He should really start giving the little ones more credit.

William Afton had chosen to act on his desires and prey on children all this time, and he knew this. What he didn't know how to explain, though, was the fact that his daughter Elizabeth had so easily slipped under his radar - how he didn't foresee her enthusiasm and childlike curiosity eventually getting the better of her obedience and backfiring on her. Her life had ended, yes, but maybe this was the perfect opportunity. It wasn't a mistake. Maybe, just maybe, William could figure out tonight whether she had learned from her slip up - if she had learned that being too much of a child gets her into far more trouble than she could ever imagine.

It's not like her brothers would be of any use at this rate. The older was opinionated, distant, detached, and slightly rebellious toward his father in the ways he could be, and perhaps viewing the outcome of the rebellion that her older brother had been pushing at for so long made Elizabeth much more likely to rely on her self preservation instinct. She knew that Michael got into trouble when he made it apparent that he didn't like his father nor his commands, so maybe she should. Always. In addition to this, Elizabeth's smaller brother, the even blacker sheep of the Aftons (who was emerging from his toddler stage at this point) had already shown various signs of being weak and virtually useless in the long run.

It was a pity, really, to have two members of a small immediate family go so violently against your wishes.

But at least there was backup. The two boys' inevitable failures to help William succeed in the future would be able to be massively unimportant soon, if he could only succeed at the task he'd given himself tonight. There was still Elizabeth, his pride and joy. The girl who'd journeyed too close to her own personal image, in a literal sense, had been dealt with in a way that would teach her to not journey too close to her own personal ambitions next time. Those pesky things would be swiftly replaced with William's own ambitions; the only right ones to follow.

William found himself at the end of the vent shaft after he'd had a few minutes to dwell on things as he crawled forward, sliding his limber body out of the long metal cavern and stepping forward into a small, warm enclosed room - the primary control module.

He stepped to the side, pressing a button on a raised platform that lit up one of the stages that were just outside of the sturdy glass walls of the room, and let his dark eyes fall with satisfaction on a tall, slender, posing animatronic onstage. She was both white and a bluish colour, along with other accents that really made her design pop. This was Ballora, the other of William's humanoid robotic creations - a graceful ballerina that seemed to delight every little girl that went within yards of her. She had a very relaxed face, and it seemed to effectively please William that she was onstage. He turned off the light.

Next, William took a step toward the other side of the small, illuminated room, proceeding to do the same procedure on the other raised platform. This lit up another glamorous stage, with a shimmery curtain, to reveal Funtime Foxy and their cheerful, inviting demeanor that was given off by them merely standing there. White and pink and very dashing, the fox had a shimmery pointed tail and a microphone in-hand.

The animatronic didn't appear to have anything wrong, so William turned off the light and drew his attention directly in front of him - to a closed shaft. He stared at it in thought for a moment before reaching to open it, promptly getting back on his knees again and leaving the dimly-lit room on his hands and knees. He crawled through the deep, quiet fortress, weighing his options on what to say even though he knew that the words would more than likely be coming to him in the moment and on the fly rather than right now. He wasn't really even sure what state the girl would be in - whether she'd be "all there" or not.

The boys were asleep up at the house, so William was glad he'd chosen a late, quiet time to come down here - as far as he knew, Elizabeth couldn't exactly sleep and probably wouldn't get much in the way of general relaxation in her new body. The fact he'd picked now, when they'd be free to talk without pesky schedules getting in the way, was ideal. The place was kept very dark at all times, and this, coupled with the establishment being underground, gave the robotic rental center a feel of being lost in time - it was almost as if time stopped here, and the only thing that existed here were the memories and secrets that kept the robots - and William - company. He loved that about it.

Crawling through the vent shaft, the man shifted his eyes from the black abyss ahead to the wall, studying the craftsmanship of the vent he was pressing forward into with mixed feelings as to how the encounter might go - there were really only a couple of options he could foresee, and he wasn't really sure right now whether to be overly confident in one outcome or the other. But, he knew for a fact that if the traumatic ordeal of being gutted by one of your father's creations didn't mess with your brain, then a week of isolation following the incident most certainly would. In a sense, William already had an upper hand.

Eventually, the man reached the end of the vent shaft and stepped out, into a smaller room than the previous one, yet bigger than the elevator he'd taken down to this place. A flickering blue light above illuminated the room for short bursts of time, allowing the slender man to step forward and view the glass protected enclosure before him; not immediately seeing Baby in the darkness. He didn't bother turning on the raised platform's light switch this time, but instead drew his hand over to a control panel. His soft hand brushed over a button, hesitating only for a moment before clicking it.

Before his eyes, the glass windows of Circus Gallery lowered completely, allowing the man to step up and lift his leg over the outside. He gazed into the darkness for a moment before turning his attention back, drawing his other leg around his form and allowing himself to drop a short distance onto the ground below. He knew that she was close now, even if nothing made a peep in the large, timeless space. There was a long pause.

The man let out a soft exhale, clearly very calm as he reached up to give his jacket a long pressing motion to smooth it out. His deep-set, dark eyes gazed into the darkness before him as he stepped a few paces away from the control room's wall he'd just come out of. He figured that she'd already noticed his presence there, as the lowering windows had most definitely made noise.

The long pause continued, before...

"I know that you are most definitely here, and that you can hear me right now." William spoke up in his typical softspoken tone, British accent carrying his cool voice away from his lips so it filled the room.

"Have you been alright here, little one?" he asked gently after a short pause, gazing ahead into the pitch black darkness and pursing his lips slightly as he pondered over how to lead the conversation in the right direction. Upon there being no answer to his question, he opened his mouth again and continued to speak.

"I hope that we can put this whole...mess of an experience behind us. It truly was never my intention to have things turn out this way, Elizabeth. I do hope you believe that. I hope...very highly, that you also can believe that I set my rules in place for a reason; and that I do expect you to be able to uphold and follow those rules." he took a short breath, dark eyebrows lowering a bit as he focused.

"I told you explicitly to not go near Circus Baby, didn't I." the man challenged in a very slow and soft, yet very loving voice - sounding sympathetic. Still no response, which wasn't unexpected.

"Elizabeth...there's nothing I can do for you now. Your enthusiasm is beautiful, especially when it has to do with my creations. I made Baby just for you, darling - to represent you and to help this company succeed and make us all happy at home. You're my most precious, perfect daughter, and the least I could do to repay you was by making this beautiful robot to represent your happy spirit. ...however," he took a long breath, letting out a deep sigh. "There are rules for a reason. I told you, darling, that you are to go nowhere near Circus Baby; especially alone. Daddy puts these special rules in place for you to adhere to because he loves you. He wants to protect you, and make you happy. We make each other happy, Elizabeth...or, we did. It hurts that you would discard my wishes because of mere curiosity."

The looming quietness returned after the man had spoken for a long time, his hand reaching up to feel his chin for a moment as he glanced away, eyes fixating on the ground under his feet for a long period of time. He eventually lifted his head again, scratching his face and peering back into the shadows he was certain she was currently in; listening to his words and reflecting on them silently.

"I'm...almost certain that you're confused, or scared. Allow me to explain everything, will you?" he continued after a moment, a tender small smile pulling at his lips. "Sometimes...children who are bad, or who are unfit to survive and make the world a better place as adults in the world someday, become apparent to your father. He then decides that it would be best to...rid the world of their negative influences on it, so that the rest of us can be happy and thrive. I had planned that for you - I had planned that for your brothers, too. It's at this time that...I really don't know whether they will ever be able to help me. I only want what's best for you three. I truly, truly want the best for you all..." he inhaled slowly, eyes fluttering shut. He quieted down for a minute or so, allowing his words to sink into his daughter's head. He was still fully confident she was listening to him fully.

"sometimes," he spoke in his soft tone again, "children who are bad, deliberately disobedient, and disrespectful...have to get punished. I'd planned for you to someday know about my plans, but...up until the incident, which I'm sure has been on your mind a lot, you hadn't been punished for things because you've been such a good girl. I've always held you to very high standards, love. It hurts that you'd think to disobey me. But I'm not angry with you. ...As you know by now, disobedience only gets you hurt - and I would say that I'm sorry for that - for all your pain - but...Elizabeth, this wasn't what I had planned for you. You were the one that took these actions upon yourself, and you got hurt for it. I hope you've been thinking about that. I hope that you can find it in you to be truly sorry for disappointing me."

William took a deep breath, slow tone of speaking helping him to more accurately sprinkle just enough of what he wanted to say into his scolding statements. He hoped she understood, and wasn't even more confused now by all of that - though he was pretty confident in the prospect that he'd made perfect sense and that his child could understand him.

"...Darling," he said slowly, smiling. "You're the smartest girl I know. I...I just know you're at the age now where you start believing that your choices, if they're against mine, won't hurt anyone. As you can see, you were wrong about that assumption - but there is a choice that I desperately want you to make for yourself. I think that this accident - this mistake - can help us in an unexpected way, perhaps. That doesn't mean your actions are excusable, but I definitely think there's a possibility to redeem yourself to daddy. I want to be able to love you."

He heard the smallest shift, and that alone was enough to spur his speaking forward.

"You're broken right now, but I want to help. I want to keep loving you and taking care of you like I always have, and make you feel complete again. However, I'm going to let you make the choice for yourself. ...Do you want that?"

He heard a bit more shifting and stood his ground, quieting down for a moment to listen to the faint sounds in the silence. It was pretty obvious to William that she was listening carefully - and he wasn't fully sure if she could use her words to respond.

"...This place..." William looked to the side, eyes gazing into the darkness that surrounded him unflinchingly, almost as if he'd been used to it for a long time and felt at home here. He drew his eyes back around again after a look around, chuckling under his breath and lifting an eyebrow; looking to where he knew Baby was standing.

"This...quiet steel fortress around you, was made to house robots. Robots that I've been planning to use to help me. Kind of like how you so have so diligently helped me in the past, but in a different way. You see, love...I desperately want rid our special little world of the children that daddy judges to be unfit for it. I want us both to be happy, and what makes me very happy is something that a lot of the world views to be rather...unconventional. Circus Baby...Funtime Freddy, Funtime Foxy, and Ballora - who I'm sure you remember me telling you all about, were made by me so I could make us all happy."

"They were made to kill children."

The cold silence returned, feeling somehow twice as sharp as it did before - though the words were undoubtedly very jarring to her (to anyone they would likely be), to William they felt natural and true to himself. He had never been more consistently proud of the fact that he was very good at speaking his mind, though he'd never revealed a secret this big to someone. Not even Henry, he remarked to himself silently. That man was sensible and very steadfast in doing good and bringing smiles to peoples' faces, and William most certainly was aware of this and found other ways to get around his plans with his friend. When William felt as if their relationship could be improved upon, he simply did something to ensure that Henry's dependence would feel needed for him to remain sane. After all, if anything, the death of his daughter Charlie had only brought the two men closer than ever before.

William hoped now that there was a way to imitate this, and to get closer to Elizabeth through this whole experience.

"...Daddy knows what he's doing, love. I do all this for you, to keep you and your brothers safe and happy. If you trust that I can do that for you, I'd love it if you were to accept the fact that this is one of the ways I intend to keep us all a family. This experience is going to make you and I closer than ever before, Elizabeth..." he said with a tender smile, closing his eyes and listening to the very faint shifts and different soft noises he could hear - correctly assuming that this was Baby perhaps blinking or moving her fingers.

"Now that you know all of this, I want to get back to what I was talking about before. Remember how I said I was giving you a choice? You have a very big one to make tonight, my dear. I desperately would like to know...given all of this information, which I know is a lot to take in, would you ever consider being daddy's favourite little helper? By that, I mean...would you someday like to be able to be complete again?"

The large steel enclosure was full of tensity, a thick silence you could cut with a knife had settled in after the proposal from the man had been let out into the open. The ceiling, kept safe in the stable crust of the earth, seemed to hold within it a room of rapidly shifting energies - one of tensity and sorrow, and the other of hope and love. Whether that love was twisted or not, no one was around to say. Elizabeth, at least judging by her persistent silence, was feeling all of these complicated adult emotions and more. It became quite apparent to William in that moment that she'd given up a lot. In his eyes, his daughter had given up her childhood for the sake of mere curiosity, and this conversation right now would be the answer on whether the experience had shaped and matured her or not.

He was a little conflicted on what to guess the results of tonight would end up being, and decided to withhold judgement. He stood there in anticipation, finally concluding he should at least say more and at least give his daughter a bit of a hint. She could be a little slow, he recalled with an amused smile - even if she wasn't there, it felt just as if he were sitting on her bed right now, staring into her cheerful green eyes and talking to her slowly - and lovingly - just as he'd done so much before. William decided she needed a bit more of a push, so he opened his mouth again after a soft clear of the throat.

"I'm wondering if you...could see yourself someday helping daddy out. If you could make yourself happy with a future that's tailored to my wants for you - one where you do what I want most. I want to make you and your brothers and myself happy. You want daddy to be happy, don't you...? I think that the best way you can make me happy, and make up for this little "accident" of yours, is to seize the potential that your new body gives you. You're able to take away life, just as yours was taken away. You can help me in so many ways with that new ability...and you can prove yourself to me."

He drew in a deep breath for sheer effect, letting his words hit her before speaking again. He couldn't help but smirk just a little, knowing that his prior phrasing would most definitely aid in his convincing. It was a step in the right direction.

"The day that I determine you're ready, you're going to receive a gift. Misguided souls that I've deemed worthy of execution. I want you to help me, when the time comes; I want you to make me proud and make sure that they meet the same fate you did. I can promise you that they deserve everything I deem them worthy of. ...What..."

He took a deep breath again, albeit a little bit of a nervous one now.

"What do you say, Elizabeth? Do you want daddy to be proud of you?"

And just like that, the thick silence returned. The slight spark of hesitance had made William more than a little disappointed when his question was met with immediate silence. Not a shuffle or clicking of parts could be heard from the girl's body, though he was sure she hadn't moved at all since the last time. He stared straight ahead into the pitch blackness, focusing on his words and finding himself unable to really think of a better way he could've phrased anything. He was confident in the fact she would see reason and decide for herself to take the path that was best for her. William knew for a fact that she could do it, but if she either just didn't respond or blatantly signaled that she didn't wish to do this, maybe more time alone would help the cause. After all, a week was nothing to him - he could envision keeping her in the dark room for a long time and decommissioning Circus Baby from the rental program for the time being so that Liz could think about his offer.

Still, he was more than a little bit perplexed by her silence. The man cleared his throat, once again opening his mouth and asking "...Elizabeth?" in his soft British accent, almost immediately earning a result.

The man stood unflinchingly as he heard creaking noises and soft brushing against the floor, concentrating into the darkness until he could distinctly view the shape of a figure nearing him - one he immediately recognized as his creation. He smiled a little, lifting an eyebrow and letting her step closer on mechanical joints, before she stopped. The animatronic lifted her head up once she was a mere couple of yards away from him, William noticing her eyes beginning to light up a little bit. She looked at him with the glow, a soft whir coming from the robot's stiff body before her head tilted a bit.

"My name is Circus Baby. And I will loyally do whatever you see fit for me to do. I only wish to make you happy. As happy as you can be, daddy."

William Afton lifted a single dark brown eyebrow, staring ahead at his daughter's unmoving animatronic face he'd designed carefully himself. Spending hours on making the perfect robot was now, undoubtedly, the best decision he'd chose to make. He remarked this to himself in silence, keeping his eyes on her for a moment before chuckling lowly; relaxing his tense shoulders and digging his hands into his pockets.

"That's my good little girl."

End