Her programming couldn't resist the allure of the emitting audio signal, a servant to the sound that coaxed and drowned out all the questions. The little girl within didn't try to fight against the animatronics willpower, the closer she came to the source the stronger the bracelet alert became. The bracelets were meant to track children, to keep them safe and to deter anyone with wicked intentions or thoughts from hurting them. She had thought that they had been scrapped a long time ago, after the incident. It was strange…
x*x
When she had been locked out and no adults had been paying attention, green bracelet secured tightly onto her wrist. The other children had locked her outside in the freezing rain, it was all a game. She hadn't found it to be funny, especially not when the bad man came. Her Daddy's friend, had approached her from behind.
Whispering in a calming and friendly tone, "Hey there princess, are those naughty kids being mean to you again? Hush now, there's no need to tear up now honey. Let Will just give you one big hug to make you feel happy again!" Yes he had given her a hug, and at first it was warm, she had needed the reassurance so much. She looked up at him with big blue eyes, shiny with brimming unshed tears.
"Thanks Willy, I'm better now. Can you walk me back to the front door?"
He had only hugged tighter, his chest gently shaking in a soft rhythm. In such a way that at first she had thought that her friend was crying. As he got louder though it became recognizable as laughter. After the laughing fit William looked down at her, giving a warm friendly smile.
"Shush my little doll, this will only last a moment."
She really had no time to react to this comment, no time to ponder what he could possibly mean. Williams's hands slid up to her neck in an instant, grasping it with a choking hold. Her arms reached up to claw pitifully at his large hands that showed no sign of letting go. Panicked out of her mind she tried to scream, kick, bite, but it was all in vain. No one could hear her silent screams, her feeble whimpers for her friend to release her from that deadly grip.
The girl had her eyes locked with William's, never wavering, searching. Where was her friend? The kind man who gave her stuffed animals and trinkets, who would sometimes babysit when here Daddy was busy building those toys of his in the back room of their house. They had played hide and seek, watched movies together, and sometimes Willy would bring his older daughter to play with her. Elizabeth was bossy, but in the end they always had fun together playing dress up.
William was looking through her, as if she wasn't there. Seeming to be in deep thought, perhaps living and acting through a memory of his past. Her vision was going dark but she swore that she could see a few tears trail down his cheek, but his smile that he kept plastered on his face never once wavered. She had felt the stinging sensation of fear then, this man wasn't Willy, it was like someone had turned that switch off.
It had only been no more than a couple of minutes and her body was growing weary. The deep throbbing pain in her neck was becoming more dull and numb. The fight in her limbs dimmed and her eyesight was blurred by dark writhing shadows that were impossible to make out. Every part in her fragile body screamed for air but at this point there was none. She could faintly hear William's garbled voice, dancing in her failing ears.
"Sleep now little darling, close your eyes and drift off to wonderland."
She listened to that voice, having no choice in the matter. Then there was nothing, no shadows, no whispering, no cold, only stillness. A stillness like sleep.
Now she was back, in the same alleyway that William had murdered her in. Alive again within the only thing that had followed and tried to save her. She now had a new name, a new body. The Marionette, the giver of gifts and life to the children slain by the monster. The monster that was once her friend. Of course she knew better now, even though she had died so young, her mind had aged over the years. With the help of the animatronic who had allowed her to hold some control in its own body. Artificial intelligence and her human soul had merged on that rainy day, creating a very aware and powerful being. Designed to save children.
She felt hatred towards the man who had taken her life away, and the animatronic she inhabited shared that same unyielding blinding rage. Along with the need to save any child they came across, to give them all a second chance to avenge themselves. A mission to destroy any person who dare bare the color purple over their skin. William had pretended to be her friend, had faked being many other children's friends. In the end they had all shared the same fate. Even the murderer himself, when he tried to destroy the animals that he had created. Inadvertently releasing their souls which were bound to those withered suits of the original animatronics. He was afraid of karma, terrified of the fate that presented itself to him wholeheartedly. In his panicked state he entered the only thing that might've been his saving grace. The others hadn't recognized him in that rabbit suit, but William had forgotten in his haste one dire detail about the springlocked suit that he was engulfed in. In that old and forgotten back room of the establishment water had leaked upon the suit, making the spring locks loose. William in his relief stood up and gave a relieved release of laughter. That of course triggered the locks, snapping shut in a unified session. Collapsing on the floor the suit twitched and spasmed, high pitched groans and gurgles piercing the air. The bad man had died that day, the management sealing off that room entirely to hide the truth. Though that only prevented the place from closing down for a few months. The papers said it was for sanitation reasons but the Marionette had her doubts. Ironically William's soul was bound to the bunny suit, which was enough for the first five children and they chose to move on to whatever afterlife awaited them.
It wasn't enough for her though, she had to make sure that William payed out his sentence. The Marionette couldn't bring herself to move on, there was still other unfinished business to attend to. More children who refused to move on. So she had watched and waited, quietly observing William who was now Springtrap. She had learned this from the frequent one sided conversations he would have with himself. Much to her dismay her hatred for the monster faded some, being replaced by pity. Of course the same anger was there, for he had murdered the innocent. But there was an awareness, maybe there had been a cause for all these senseless deaths. Maybe William had experienced some trauma in the past that created this psychotic monster incapable of remorse, or just perhaps an un-diagnosed mental condition. Even so his deeds who inexcusable and indeed he would pay for his crimes. Though watching him here, in this horror attraction did spark some questions. The poor pretend night guard was trembling in his swivel seat as the golden hare's head poked into the doorway. In a moment he was standing above the young man screeching his lungs out. The boy gave a squeal and the animatronic backed off, retreating back down the hallway to his starting position. The Marionette couldn't grasp her head around it, not at all. Springtrap didn't really seem interested in harming this boy whose name was Michael as far as the name tag on his uniform was concerned. He only seemed interested in scaring the shit out of him and then doing it all over again.
Michael had stood by the doorway at the final moments of that first week of work, a lighter grasped in his hand. The Marionette watched from the shadows as he brought it up to a rotting fragment of wall, the flames quickly traveling around the area. The young man gave one final look around the place, his eyes holding repressed emotions before turning around and slamming the door shut.
With that the Marionette was sure that William would burn here, but there were still other children trapped within robotic shells. So instead of staying, she trusted the fire that hungrily ate at the building, soon it would find him and consume him as well. That's what she hoped for anyway. With little effort the Marionette teleported herself out of that dreary place, not staying to watch in apprehension of curious and worried humans that would soon crowd the place.
For a little while she had searched, trying to find the remaining children that refused to move on. Until the audio had sparked an alert in her programming. She followed, having a feeling that this mysterious calling may attract the others.
x*x
The Marionette went into a kind of trance as the bracelet audio turned off, being replaced with music. A soft and soothing lullaby that triggered their internal programming to fully kick in. There was no resisting as her legs carried her deeper into the alley, searching and fixated on the lovely notes.
What they came upon, placed between garbage cans, did truly surprise the Marionette. It was an animatronic bear, its fur black with grey highlights on the muzzle and belly. Clothed in a bright red top hat and bow tie. One eye was completely missing while the other was a deep orange and stared blankly ahead. The music had fully entrapped her, she was no longer in control of her movements. As she hovered over the bear its eye slowly blinked and looked up at her. Bending back its head the mouth widened, creating a large hole that led to its inner body.
"There's room in here for one more."
The voice that echoed out of the bear's mouth was certainly male, it was so soft and welcoming. The comment that it made though deeply disturbed her, what did he mean?
"Your father created me, to lure you here. This sound that I emit will attract the others as well, there's no need to fight anymore. There'll be no more children to save, this is the final attraction. The last show."
The Marionette was stunned, her father had built this thing to trap her? Confusion and pain engulfed her senses and she tried with all her might to pull away from the music's grasp. It held just as tightly as William's hands on that day, there was no escape. The other animatronic didn't make any other attempts to force her to climb inside, only peering up at her with sympathy in his one working eye.
"My name is Lefty and please listen to me. This is the only way to end this, what William has created. Everyone will be in one place and all the loose ends will be taken care of. You know as well as I was created to know that the remaining ones won't go easily. They've been corrupted by their programming, made to kill. As you have been made to create more anger, causing this cycle to continue. It's not your fault though, it was in your nature to protect the innocent. The first one killed, with the overwhelming need to bring others vengeance. That's what your father said while he was building me, unknowing that I was listening to every word he mumbled to himself. Maybe while creating me, working on me for all that time, some of his personality formed in me. That's the only thing that I can come up with anyways, there's no soul in me but I'm just as aware as you are."
She took in his words, all seemingly true and pure.
"I'm not going to force you inside, but we can stay like this all day it's all up to you. Your father made it clear that you must be trapped to prevent you from giving more life or hindering his plans, whatever they may be."
The Marionette knew he was right, she was tired of roaming this world. No more games, she was willing to give up this body and freedom in order for them all to be free. All she really ever wanted was for the children to be at peace, and if the remaining ones refused to move on then force was needed. It was time to move on, for good.
With no more resistance the Marionette delicately climbed into the body of the other animatronic. Letting the upper half of the head to close downwards, firmly locking into place and truly confining her within. The music stopped and she was able to think clearly again.
"There's no need to be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you. Hush doll, everything's going to be alright now. We only need to wait and watch, soon the others will show up."
The two animatronics waited in silence until utter darkness fell, within it they heard the steps of someone approaching. Looking through the empty eye socket and activating her night vision the Marionette caught a clear glimpse of the man approaching. He caught her off guard, as she clearly remembered him. It was Michael, though his appearance had transformed drastically. His skin was a sickly hue, as if half dead and grey. Large dark circles were visible under his eyes, with his dark blonde hair being a ruffled mess. The man stopped in front of them, his eyes widening ever so slightly, before forcefully turning away and opening the door on the left side of the animatronics, quickly striding inside.
"He will come back to get us, it's all a part of Henry's plan from what I gathered in his rambling. That man will play different sounds to try to get us to react, it will all be okay just follow your instincts."
"I recognize that man though, how is Michael tied into all of this?"
"Michael is William's oldest son. Just like your father predicted he saw the advertisement in the paper and came."
The Marionette was silent, that did explain Springtrap's behavior at the horror attraction. Yes of course he would kill children, but apparently not his own.
"My father really is cutting off all the loose strings."
"Yes, it's time for the truth to unwind. Deception is the key to achieving that in order to finally end this living nightmare. Everyone will be in one place, all gathered here, lured by me."
"What if my programming tries to interfere with that, I do want those souls to be free by whatever means. This programming though will fight against me at every turn, this animatronic body was created to solely protect children. I don't think it'll matter if they aren't in control anymore, if their own bloodthirsty programming has corrupted them."
"My doll, the purpose that I have is to contain you and I can assure you that there's no escape from me. I am Lefty; lure, encapsulate, fuse, transport, and extract. You haven't noticed, but this very moment there is a low but steady voltage throughout my suit and your prison. This way you can't move your limbs, the shocks incapacitate you. The lullaby from the dream wand that I hold acts as a sedative which can become stronger or weaker at my will. I'm not your enemy, but there is no escaping me. I can't allow that."
The Marionette was left thinking, going over Lefty's words in her mind with no particular feeling. She was numb, accepting of this fate perhaps. Or more likely she just didn't know what to think. The other had put it so blatantly that she was a prisoner, that she wasn't in control of anything. Though it had to be this way, she was sure of it.
In that short time they had left in the back alleyway, almost in the exact spot where William had taken her life all those years ago. The girl allowed another man to pull her strings to their own will, be it Lefty's or really her father's. She'd never truly know.