Trigger warning - religious references.

"Why did you do it?" The voice was calm, composed. Calmer than William felt. "What made you start? Why did you kill Charlie?"

William's mouth opened, but no words came out. For the first time, he thought about how he would look to an outsider in those moments, dragging those children away, slicing their throats and hiding their bodies in the animatronics (all those complaints from the customers about the smell), then going home and washing his clothes as if nothing had happened. At the time, he had thought of nothing except how it made him feel and how he would get away with it. Now he was forced to examine it from a perspective completely to his own, a perspective that he didn't agree with, a perspective that held all the power.

"Why?"

Don't answer, don't answer, maybe he can't read your mind –

"Answer me!"

William flinched, feeling his stomach do a somersault. "I was jealous." He didn't want to, but he no longer had control over his words. He couldn't stop talking, and he couldn't say anything but the truth. "I saw what Henry had, all that respect from running the company, and I was angry. I deserved it more than he did. I wanted to get to him, I wanted to hurt him. So I did, in the worst way I could think of."

"And the others? Why them?"

Don't say it. "Because… because…"

"Spit it out."

"Because it felt good. Because when I killed Charlie, I felt more powerful than I ever had in my life. I wanted that back."

His voice was flat. It didn't come close to conveying what he felt, which was anxiety, building up and up and up. This was the fear he'd never properly entertained when he was alive, having to stand trial for his crimes and being unable to win. All the evidence stacked up against him, with no way to defend himself or even make himself look the smallest bit better. A judge standing before him, to find him guilty and to sentence him to life.

To death.

When the voice spoke again, it was different to anything else. It was a growl, deep and animalistic. "So tell me, William, does a few slaps from a war veteran back in the fifties really justify any of that?"

For one second, everything was black again, like it had been when he first arrived here. He stuck out his arms, groping around for something to hold onto like a blind man. Nothing.

When the lights flashed on, he blinked a few times. A long hallway, with grey walls and doors on either side. Stairs at the end that led to a living room with a coffee table and plain furniture. He knew this place, of course he did, he knew the house he'd lived in since Michael was born.

"Your final chance, William. Go downstairs and you'll find it. The one person you care about. Your salvation. Run."

William didn't need to be told twice. He ran.

And then, noise.

People screamed at him from the bedrooms, arms reaching out to grab at him, trying to pull him back. He shoved them off, trying to block out what they were saying, he couldn't listen because it was only going to distract him. Leave me alone.

"You were never a good father to them!"

"You hurt us!"

"You let me die!"

He tore down the stairs. When he saw the living room, he stopped short. Henry, Michael, Norman, Stan, Elizabeth, Sara, Frank. Every single person he knew. Every single person hated him.

And he hated all of them in return.

He ran in another direction, racing down the downstairs hall, knowing where he had to be. Images flashed in front of him as he did, images that were all too familiar to him. Michael's resigned expression, Stan's wide eyes as he hid behind his Fredbear toy, Elizabeth's body, cold on the morgue table.

Faces of children, faces contorted with fear. And then William, holding a little girl with dark hair and no life left in her eyes.

"Do you remember us, William? Do you even know our names?"

Get away from me!

He swung the door open and slammed it behind him, rushing into his home office, one of the few places he'd ever felt at home. No whining kids, no Sara, no Henry. He moved past the table and chairs and the animatronics, every animatronic he'd ever designed. A blanket was covering something on the wall and he relaxed. This, he thought as he grabbed the blanket, this was the person he cared for (who?), this was the person he loved (who?). His salvation.

He let the blanket drop, then stared. And stared.

The man looking back at him was around fifty years old with dark hair and green eyes. Thin, pointed features. An expression that changed from relief to confusion to flat-out fear.

His own reflection.

"What?" He didn't know who he was asking. "I don't understand."

A loud, booming laugh. "Of course you understand, William. The one person you care about? The one person you love? Who else could it have been? It was always going to end this way."

"But… so I never had a chance?" William felt the anger rise up again, different this time. It no longer gave him strength. It was paralysing. "But that's not fair! You told me –"

"What did you expect, William?" the voice asked. "There was never a way out for you. This was only a way of putting off the inevitable, so that you'd fully understand what brought you here. You were never going to end up anywhere else, William. You're going to Hell, because that's where all monsters end up."

William stared at his reflection, not sure whether he was really seeing this or whether it was his imagination. His arm had caught fire, which was spreading over his body. For the first time, he felt true pain, burning, searing pain which tore through his body, spreading down at an agonising pace.

"No." His breathing was getting faster. "No, this can't be happening. I'll give you anything! The souls, I'll give you them. Michael's, Stan's, Elizabeth's, Norman's, the children's, I'll give you anything, just please, please don't do this to -."

"You have nothing to offer me."

And for the second time in recent memory, the flames consumed him, burning his flesh off, charring him to the bone. It was so much more painful now, now that he could feel every single ember. It was so hot, so suffocating, he wouldn't survive this…

His eyes opened again. He looked around him, trying once again to make sense of his surroundings. This time, though, it was different. Before it had been totally unfamiliar, with nothing to help him identify it. He knew this place, he was sure of it. It was dimly lit, but he could see it. A small room, with a desk and a chair. A blank noticeboard. He walked towards it, then noticed what he was wearing.

A worker's uniform. A purple uniform.

No.

NO.

"Your shift begins now."

And then, gripped with fear and dread that he had never felt before, William Afton screamed.

Author's note: Ever since I finished 'Broken Home', I knew I wanted to write about William Afton. Just over a year ago (June 2020), I finished the original draft of Damnation. It was a oneshot of around 8,000-9,000 words at the time. Obviously I've fleshed things out here and there, but the basic gist of the story stayed the same: unrepentant asshole goes to the afterlife, is forced to confront what he's done and ends up being damned to eternal suffering (or Ultimate Custom Night, which amounts to the same thing, really).

Going into it, I had a fairly good idea of what version of William I wanted to go for. Far too often in the fandom I've seen people romanticise and glamourise him, claiming that he's simply a man who was broken by the loss of his son and wanted to get revenge. To each their own, but I wanted to go down a different route. That being said, I also didn't want to make him a two-dimensional slasher movie killer. This was partly because I felt it would be boring, but also because I knew it would be doing a disservice to the characters that can play such a huge role in his story: the Afton family.

This version of William is, morbidly, an abuser first and a child murderer second. Before he ever killed, he was guilty of physical, verbal and emotional abuse to his family members, particularly towards Michael. Stan's death didn't make him a killer, as you've seen because he killed Charlie a week before Stan's death. William was a man obsessed with power and control. A large part of his disgust towards Frank was that he saw that Frank had completely lost control over his own life. The business gave him that sense of being in control, having children to look after felt like he was losing that control. His murder of Charlie was a calculated move to get at Henry, a man whom he liked (as much as William could ever like a person), which says a lot about him. As he continues his murders, his abuse gets more and more severe and ends up transferring to Sara when Michael and Norman leave.

You may be wondering whether William felt any remorse for his actions towards the end. The answer to that question is a simple no. William is - and I do not ever use this word lightly - evil. He cares for certain people at certain times in his life (examples include Henry, Sara, Elizabeth) but ultimately he's a selfish being. He chooses to abuse and murder people simply because it makes him feel good. As the man/"Jerome"/the Devil/Old Man Consequence tells him, there was never a way out for him because of the choices he'd made. This was always where his story was going to end. (Because I know there'll be questions about VR/Security Breach: I don't observe those games as a concept and I don't believe that Glitchtrap is William.)

However, that's just his story, and there's more characters whose stories need to be finished up. Following Damnation will be two separate oneshots based on other characters in this universe (you can probably make a decent guess at who they are). That will be the end of my FNAF series as such, but I don't think I'll be completely staying away from it. I've grown very attached to my own canon and there are plenty of stories within it that I want to explore. Maybe I'll publish some of them here.

I want to thank the people who've helped me with this, one of whom is on this website: ManOFiction245. Go check out his story 'One Last Talk', it links to our canon. And of course, thanks to all of you who've read this and enjoyed it. If you've any questions about it, feel free to ask me via review or PM, I'm always up for a chat. Until next time!