The two weeks of silence that followed that morning was all the Afton children could wish for. The children wore smiles upon their faces once again after each day that flew by. The solitude from the struggle was almost therapeutic in a way.

But that didn't mean everything had gone back to the way it was. Michael still locked himself in the abyss of his room every night, the pain of his unwilling changes never getting any duller. Even as the person he really tried to be, he still seemed just a bit less human with each passing dawn. He stood in the spots where the sun peeked through the windows more often like a dog would. If there wasn't something odd about Michael Afton before, there surely was now.

It was one of those more peaceful nights when rain dripped down the roof and soaked everything it touched. Brendon and Suzy were tucked in their beds, dozing off as Michael did the same, seemingly unchanged that evening. The middle of the night came and passed as William near-silently entered the younger kids' bedroom.

Should I really be doing this? He thought to himself. Yes. It's mandatory if you want what you want, you nincompoop. As William creeped over to Brendon, he gently shook him awake.

"Brendon, come with me. Now." William hazily murmured as his son awoke from the soft slumber he was in. As William signaled him out of the room, Brendon raised his eyebrow as he climbed off of his bed and fixed his messy hair. He followed his father down the stairs, realizing he was still wearing his clothes from the day before, a baggy grey sweatshirt and blue jeans.

William stood at the cellar door, staring straight through it. As Brendon approached, he opened the door with a creak and disappeared inside the black abyss of the basement.

"Get down here, Brendon. I'm not going to ask you again." William said grudgingly as Brendon tiptoed down the cold concrete steps into the darkness.

William stood at the bottom of the staircase, holding an odd, patchy tablet with the feed of a camera on it's screen. "Stay down here. Keep the doors closed. Do not ask questions." he sternly asserted. "I will retrieve you later."

William turned back up the stairs and shut the door just as a quiet hissing began to ring in the room. Something felt wrong, like Brendon glanced around nervously, trying to find where it came from. After just a minute, the hissing stopped. He shuddered.

What's going on?

Something was there with him. Brendon didn't know what it was - it was too dark to see more than a foot in front of him. There was only the thumping of footsteps on the floor and the faintest sound of breathing behind him growing ever closer. Besides his trembling, he stood nearly still. The breaths were getting closer, and something was beginning to show in the corner of his eye. As it began to peek at Brendon's face, he clamped his eyes shut.

Don't move.

As the footsteps meandered around him, Brendon's head began to ache with a sense of noxiousness. What sounded like a deep chuckle rang around him.

It's not there. It's not there... right?

The footsteps paused. Brendon slowly opened his eyes. The thing.. whatever it was, was gone. But it still felt like something was staring at him through the darkness.

All of a sudden after what felt like hours on end, something shot out from nowhere. Brendon didn't have time to glance at details, but what he could barely see was the frightening image of a faux blue bunny and it's wide, monstrous smile.

Brendon dove out of the way, shrieking as the rabbit lunged at him again. It kept turning back around to face him after every panicked dodge, lashing out again and again. The twisted thing seemed to be howling with laughter.

"Stop it..! G-get away from me!" Brendon cried out, stumbling over his own feet as he sprinted in circles away from the ravenous rabbit.

A camera beeped in the darkened corner of the basement. Behind it, William Afton looked on at his son from the feed of a monitor as he sat at an old maplewood desk. Brendon was running away from nothing, shrieking and weeping as he tried getting away. I didn't want to do this, he thought. But I need to know how he'd react.

William pulled a dusty notepad from a drawer. With a pen in hand, he jotted down four peculiar words on a particularly crowded page: Carbon Monoxide Test: Success.

Glancing back to the cameras after overlooking his notes, he saw the most peculiar sight. Brendon had kneeled on the concrete floor, his entire body in shadow. The only sound coming from the feed was blood-curdling screaming. William raised an eyebrow, jumping out from his chair and out of the room he perched in. Exiting the room and finding himself in the living room, he heard the shrieks ringing through the entire house. Michael and Suzy leaned off the upper staircase's railing, their eyes filled with fear.

William sprinted down the cold stairs of the basement, haphazardly leaving the door open for Michael to peek inside. As William reached the basement floor, he fumbled around for the lightswitch. As he finally got the lights to flicker on, Brendon whipped his head around to see William. He jumped up from the floor, but only stood facing his father at a distance. Suzy had leaped down the stairs, covering her mouth as she saw Brendon. William froze in place as he examined his son.

The right half of Brendon's clothes were torn and mangled. His arm and leg on the same side were replaced with those of a golden teddy bear's, broken claws breaking through the impossible seams on his fingers and toes. His ears were also changed to match the other odd limbs. Wiry fur stuck out from nearly everywhere where Brendon had transformed. His eyes were overflowing with tears and his face couldn't decide if it was pale with shock or red from pain and tears.

Brendon spoke up from across the room. The way his voice trembled with pure pain and anguish felt off in a way.

"Dad.. do you know why this happened to me..?"

William froze. It was almost wrong for someone like Brendon to just ask why something like this would have happened. He was a bright child, he would have known-

"...B-because I do."

Author's Note: Happy Father's Day! Not to William Afton though, he's a horrible father.

Anyways, I hope you all are enjoying this story so far! :) I mean, despite how weird it is, haha

Stay tuned, for the next chapter is coming soon!