Author's note:
We are so close to the end of everything. I can't fully express how thankful I am to everyone here for your love, understanding, support, feedback and comments. There are many times I wanted to give up but thanks to you, I'm finishing this fanfic.
Also, be on the lookout for Twisted Ones and Fourth Closet references throughout the chapter. Enjoy.
Managing to get past the flaming wreckage around them, Gregory, Freddy and Vanessa arrive at the wide entrance of the Pizzaplex where the other animatronics have been waiting for them. Chica waves at them as they group up. Cans of gasoline and flammable merchandise such as plushies and figurines are strewn all over the place.
"Where's Sunny?" Vanessa queries.
"Safe with DJ Music Man. They're rescuing whatever robot they can find." Roxy informs her.
"So you're saying it's just us left here?"
"Yep." Roxy confirmed.
"That's good." Vanessa smiles, "Listen, I'm sorry everyone but I can't protect you from here on out. Whatever you're going to be facing is beyond me. However, what I can do is call for help from nearby cops or distract anyone from getting inside while all of you deal with William".
"Thank you Vanessa." Freddy says appreciatively.
"I'm not sure if the cops can help us deal with whatever's coming. The military probably but hopefully things don't escalate to that degree." Gregory hopes. However, Vanessa only hears muffled noises from outside.
"What?" Vanessa leans in closer to the chest cavity, a hand to her ear, "I can't hear you kid".
Freddy relays the boy's words to Vanessa.
"I see…In any case, does the boy want to come with me?" the security guard asks.
"Open the hatch Freddy, let me answer her." Gregory demands him lightly from within.
"I can't. I don't want you to inhale the smoke. It could damage your lungs! I'll let her know your answer".
"Fine."
"The boy says no." Freddy declines for him.
"What? Why?"
Gregory gives his second response to Freddy.
"Gregory says William will come for you if he knows he's with you. He says he'll be safe with us. We'll defeat him together".
Vanessa bites her lip for a split second before speaking again, "I…don't like this but if you need help. I'll be outside. Good luck everyone".
Taking one last concerned look at the Glamrocks, Vanessa exits the building. Gregory then tells Freddy one more thing.
"Everyone," Freddy announces, "Gregory says that…if anyone wants to back out now, they can. The exit is just there".
"No way, none of us are going to give you up to him." Roxy rebuffs Gregory's words, "If it means putting our lives at risk to end this murderer once and for all, so be it."
"Yeah." Chica chimes in, "It's our job to protect children after all".
"And I want to make up for what I did to you earlier too." Monty reasons apologetically, "When I was still under his control, I thought he was just a worried father that wanted you back. I hadn't known he was going to do something that horrible to you. If I could, I would have freed you…"
"Gregory accepts your apology." Freddy lets him know, "As do I."
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE
Their attention snaps to where the shaking and rumbling of the ground is coming from.
"That's him and the Blob." Gregory tells Freddy the obvious worriedly, his eyebrows furrowing in uneasiness and rage, "He could arrive from anywhere. Stay sharp".
Freddy and everyone takes a defensive stance.
The floor beneath cracks rapidly en masse but just as they think He will surface from beneath them, it instead bursts out from below the Golden Glamrock Freddy statue. The impact caused it to collapse immediately, sending chunks of artificial golden concrete flying everywhere. The Glamrocks defend themselves from the small bits of debris that cascade over them and what emerges is a sight that everyone beholds in absolute terror.
It was an inhuman 15 foot Amalgamation of wires, Endos, security bots, scrap-metal mechanisms, rusty pipes and several other discarded items that William had chaotically mish-mashed together with the Blob from the scrapyard beneath to become a monstrous parody of Spring Bonnie. Animatronic arms and limbs were conjoined together by cables and wires, making up the creature's own arms, hands and torso and, instead of Funtime Freddy's face leading the charge like Gregory had seen in fake Willaim's memories, a collection of interlocking metallic parts were compressed and held together to appear as the face of Willaim's old iconic costume but now, it was more nightmarish. It had two bunny ears that were a cluster of Endoskeleton legs, gears which served its cheekbones and two gaping black holes that were likely supposed to be its eyes.
However, to the left, Funtime Freddy's face could still be spotted in the tangle of wires below that were meant to act as the Amalgamtion's "legs" alongside other faces such as that of Circus baby, the original Freddy Fazbear animatronics and the Funtimes. Lastly, the creepiest and most distinguishing aspect about it sprouted from its back as several, stretchy, thick, root-like tendrils that were made of electrical cables bound together like hay bales flailed aimlessly like seaweed as they awaited a command from their master.
"What the fuck!" Henry screams in disbelief.
"Woah." Mike gasps, "My father finally became what he was meant to be: Living Garbage".
"Hello everyone. Do you like the upgrade?" a distorted version of Fake William's voice sarcastically questioned them from the speakers and animatronic mouths littered across his 'body', "I've become one with my creation and soon, I'll be far more powerful and immortal than William ever was!"
"There they are." Charlie says, "The children that went missing a few months back. I can feel their souls in it but why, why aren't they resisting him?!"
William roars with ominous laughter, "I have become the master of all these machines and the human souls that rest within them. They cannot resist me for I have warped their minds into servitude to me and me alone. Furthermore, I've linked all of them together in a system that's connected to me as well. It's designed similar to the one Henry and William used to control the choreography for all the shows in Freddy Fazbears and now I'm in control of such a system, I control their choreography like puppets on a string!"
William expertly controls the tendrils at the back, getting it to crush one of the artificial trees next to him like a boa constrictor.
"See? All of this belongs to me and so will you Gregory! Whether you like it or not!"
"Bollocks." Gregory curses, "He's mad now".
"I'll give all you robots one last chance: Surrender the boy and none of you will be scrapped by me." William offered.
He then gazes at Monty with his several eyes and speaks with the many metallic mouths next to him, "You won't be replaced either".
Despite his fear, Freddy speaks with confidence and determination."No. We've already made up our minds. We refuse to surrender him to you!"
"Yeah…" Monty says a bit skeptically, "It was a bit difficult coming to this decision for me personally but the safety of a child is more important than my need to be the Star of the Pizzaplex".
"Also," Mike interrupts, "I know this isn't the time to say this but I realize that it's weirdly ironic that you spent your entire life stuffing dead children into animatronics and now, you want to stuff yourself into a child. That's fucked up…"
"Rgggh! If you want to lose your lives so badly, so be it! Perish!" Fake William venomously spat.
"We will defend you Gregory." Freddy declares, "Stay within me."
The William-Amalgamation is the first to strike and tries to grab Freddy but Monty jumps in and quickly uses his claws and cuts the tendrils to bits, the first out of many which retreat backwards.
"Okay what's the plan. "Should we attack him all at once?" Roxy asks.
Grgeory's mind races for a solution to their giant problem within Freddy's chest cavity, "Tell them to split up so that we can confuse him. Tear him apart piece by piece until there's nothing left and also, use fire if you can. I think that the less machines he has, the less powerful he will be''.
This was all he could come up with for now.
"Understood." Freddy reiterates what his child said but in neaters terms, "To confuse him, let's split up and focus our maximum effort on weakening him."
"And how do we do that?" Chica asks.
"Use your skills, throw fiery objects at him and dismantle the parts off of him. The less machines he has, the more he'll weaken".
"I like your idea Freddy. We'll rip him to pieces from out here." Monty punches his fists together, "It'll be good payback for all of us".
"Actually, I can't take all the credit. Gregory suggested it to me".
"Whatever. Let's Rock and Roll!" Monty cockily sprinted into action, happy that he could use his claws for something violent but good this time.
The animatronics split up. They circled around William and tore him apart piece by piece at different sections every few minutes to confuse him as to where and which one he should target. However, he mainly focuses on Freddy as he needs to retrieve the boy.
Meanwhile, Charlie hitches a ride on Chica who is struggling to get rid of the parts without the use of her beak. What was making things extra difficult though was that the disjointed animatronics hands and legs on the Amalgamation were fighting back and they weren't letting Chica pull them away that simply.
Charlie looks upwards at the shifting mass of messy mechanical parts, "Chica, if Henry asks where I am, tell him I went into that Monster."
"Huh? Why?" Chica's looks at the Puppet who is readying to jump in
"I think that it may have a weak spot. If I can find it, it will be easier for us to defeat William." Charlie rationalizes
"You think so?"
"Yeah." The Puppet nods, "While I search for it, I'll rip this false William apart from the inside as well and also, you can use your screams to disable the mechanical parts and toss them aside without me getting in the way."
Chica looks at her apprehensively.
"Don't worry." Charlie assures her, "I've been alone for a long time so I'm very independent. I can handle this myself."
"Alright but come back safe alright? I don't want Henry to be mad at me for letting you go and get yourself hurt…".
Charlie nods and with that, the Puppet animatronic flings itself onto the Amalgamation and begins loosening the different parts like she did earlier with the Springlock suit.
–
Meanwhile, as Roxy uses her claws and X-rays and Monty uses only the brute force of his claws, Freddy struggles to keep Gregory safe from William by dodging the assault of tentacles lurching out after him.
He's the only one that can't fight much and runs away because he was well aware that the boy within him is what William truly desired. If he tried to confront William directly in his monstrous state, he calculated that he would have easily pried Gregory out from his Chest Cavity within seconds and thus, he made up his mind to be a distraction for the others rather than a fighter, keep William's attention on him while the others hacked away at his metal parts.
However, he was very capable of fighting back, increasing the intensity of his lighter to do some serious damage to the Amalgamation, especially with the cans of gasoline around them that he was using to his advantage.
"I'm not a coward am I?" Freddy asks Gregory as he hides behind a pillar, "for not confronting him directly like the others?"
"No you aren't." Gregory consoles him, "Sometimes running away from your problems is the best solution".
"Yeah." Mike agrees, "My father did it all the time."
"Freddy, look out!" Henry warns him.
Little did Henry know, he had warned the wrong person as when a tendril tried to get Freddy, it instead missed and reached for Micheal who was standing right behind him and, shockingly, the ghost was lassoed away physically by the neck. In the meantime, other tentacles reached for Freddy's legs and pulled him downwards. Gregory feels the rough impact as he and Freddy land on the floor.
Michael attempts to phase out at first with his ghostly abilities but for some reason, it wasn't working. This mechanical monstrosity was able to trap souls within its wires and he didn't know why!
"AHHH! Help Help!" Mike screams, "I can't get out!"
"Hmmm not what I wanted but you will do. Oh how I missed your screams Micheal." Fake William talks from a nearby speaker tangled within the wiry tendril and tightens the tendril around his neck further like a noose, "You may not be my son technically but your screams are, nonetheless, sweet music to me."
"Help…Someone…." the ghost gags.
Everyone is too overwhelmed and Freddy is trying to burn and tear the cords that are preventing him from standing up. A tendril sneaks up and tries to pull apart the chest cavity by brute force. Gregory makes a hasty decision.
"Freddy. Let me out. I need to save Micheal".
Gregory was well aware that Micheal had tried to kill him a few hours before but the ghost apologised twice and that was enough for Gregory to kinda let him back in his good books again.
"Superstar No." Freddy manages to burn one of the tendrils on his legs, "I won't let him have you."
"He's going to have me anyway at this rate." Gregory sees the tendril trying to force its way in, "Just let me out. He'll focus on me and won't hurt you".
Freddy grabs a sharp metal shard from nearby and slices off the forceful tendril before reluctantly opening his stomach hatch. "Go but please, be safe. I'll be behind you".
Upon the opening of the hatch, Gregory felt the scorching heat slap him in his face and inhaled the putrid scent of heavy fumes, the latter of which caused him to instantly make a choking noise before grimacing in disgust. He feels as though he's stepped into a furnace.
The boy still has flashbacks of the two times William burned alive but they no longer replayed in his mind like visions. They were already there and he had no need to recall them again. He was (a portion of) William Afton, whether he liked it or not, and this was a dreadful reminder of that.
Gregory pulls out his knife that he luckily took with him out of the bag earlier in Parts and Service as he sprints towards Mike who is already close to being pulled into the Amalgamation's 'legs' which appear as a curtain of wires. Freddy follows the boy not far behind, having been released by the tendrils which are divided between getting the boy and attacking the bear. Freddy deals with them easily.
"I'm too short Freddy." Gregory shouts, staring at Mike who dangles above him, "Help me get close enough to cut him loose."
Freddy nods and lifts up the boy towards the tendril. Gregory hacks away at it, Praying Fake William won't catch sight of him and he coughs a few times.
"Gregory, You ok?"
"Yeah. Sorry I just inhaled some smoke".
Gregory keeps stabbing into one of the tendrils until their wires are exposed. It releases Mike, seemingly hissing as it retreats. However, more tendrils, thicker and larger this time, begin to erupt from the Amalgamation's 'legs' and they violently drag Freddy aside and pull him by the legs again, trying to drag him farther away from their intended target.
"Do your best to avoid that Amalgamation Superstar." Freddy reassures the boy as he's dragged away and uses his Finger Lighter to burn them off, "Just give me a few minutes. I'll let you into my chest cavity again soon!".
"Whew thanks Gregory." Mike floated downwards, "I wouldn't have–"
Abruptly, Gregory coughs harder to the point of making retching noises. He sounded like he was going to throw up. Mike senses there is something wrong with the boy. Something very wrong.
"You ok?"
"It's just the smoke inhalation. I'll be – Bluegh!" Gregory suddenly vomits out a large amount of blood and…Silver Liquid?
Micheal's as he observed trickles of silver liquid leaking out from Gregory's eyes as well.
The clone coughs out a bit more of it before discerning what he threw up in horror and additionally, he began to realise that patches of his skin on his hands and legs were erupting into a bright pink colour and melting like candle wax.
Gregory's face goes pale and he screams in terror at the sight of his liquifying skin, "What's…What's happening to me!"
Mike knows what this is. When he began to perish in his zombified state, encased by the fires that resulted from the trap that he and Henry had set up for William decades ago, the Remnant that kept him 'alive' slowly but surely flowed out of his body due to being exposed to extreme temperatures. However, even though was dying, he was glad to have ultimately stopped being a husk of a man and could rest in peace. Or so he had thought back then.
"Shit! Gregory, the fire! The fire is causing your body to eject Remnant!" Mike replies with alarm.
"What?" Gregory coughs out more silver liquid, "Why?!"
"Remnant can be killed by extreme heat." Mike explains the answer he's well aware of, "Your body is made of Remnant but unlike the animatronics, you don't have a metal shell to protect the remnant within you from the heat around us…"
Gregory's breath shallowed further and his heart beat faster upon realising that he was basically being cooked alive.
"Get back into Freddy. Now." Mike beseechingly urges him, "You'll die if you stay out here any longer!"
Gregory nods, not needing to be told twice, and heads back toward Freddy but after a second, he falls down…and can't get up. Gregory can't move. His legs were there but they've stopped functioning and were beginning to collapse into literal pink jello like his arms but at a quicker rate due to being so close to the flames.
"Freddy!" he cries out to him in distress, "Freddy help!"
Gregory's eyes were blurring with a mixture of tears and Remnant.
Just as he'd finished burning and cutting off the tendrils attacking him, Freddy and Henry swiftly look in the boy's direction and unfortunately, so does Fake William from one of the Amalgamation's many eyes and ears.
'Crap. My Vessel is dying!' Fake William curses, 'He needs Remnant now before he becomes into a pile of defunct goo and I cease to have a body!'
The bear didn't know why the child he was protecting was melting like ice cream but his protective instincts were kicking in and so, he opened his chest cavity and ran back to the boy as fast as he could. However, Fake William's reaction was much faster as he directed the conglomeration of wires and metal arms next to Gregory to grab him by the torso before Freddy could.
"Freddy Freddy!" Gregory desperately cries out for his robotic guardian to save him. The boy tries to remain where he is, even to the point of using his fingernails to claw himself to the ground but the Amalgamation simply sends out more wires to get ahold of the clone and they lift and drag him into itself, separating him from his allies and bringing him into its Heart.
—
While being pulled in, Gregory is enveloped in a tangle of machinery and wires which wrapped around him like a netting around an uncooked turkey breast (with the exception of his arms) and soon, he finds himself lying down before a large TV inside the Blob. It switches on, showing Fake William's face on its cracked screen.
"Hello." Fake William sinisterly grins, "I'll admit, it was a fun chase we had tonight Little Will but now…it's Game Over".
The sentient and moving electrical cords behind the large TV bring the detached arms of Bonnie towards the boy and firmly clamp each of them over his wrists once more before then attaching themselves to the sockets within the arms. As for wherever the rest of Bonnie's body was, Gregory did not know, but he guessed that they were likely buried somewhere deep inside the monster as well. "Become one with me, now and forever." Fake William proclaims with absolute finality. The springlock needles pierce Gregory's wrists again but this time, there are no sedatives to prevent the pain he receives. Gregory screeches ferally and wonders if his allies can hear him from outside. "Whoops, forgot the sedatives." Fake William feigns his absentmindedness, "Also, you'll likely need some Remnant to stabilise your body. Luckily, I had some more jars below just in case…"
Gregory can't detect it but there are two different coloured tubes behind him each with a needle attached to their ends, moving right towards his shoulders. They were connected to two jars of Remnant that rested nearby within the wiry mesh.
"Just relax Little Will … that's it."
They stab themselves into Gregory, supplying the Vessel with extra Remnant and then, with one last cry, the child passes out from the intense pain he feels, falling into darkness as Fake William re-initiates the soul transfer…
–
"Hello Little Will. I'm so glad to see you again".
Gregory opens his eyes and finds himself floating in a black void with the real and very elderly William cruelly grinning at him. Like before, he is in a state of paralysis, observing everything but unable to move or speak.
'UGH! NOT HIM AGAIN!' Gregory groans internally.
"Yes. ME again." William chidingly exhibits that he can telepathically hear his clone. "It took those awful demons a while to leave but I'm here to 're-convince' you to join with your other half and eventually, me".
'Never!'
"I expected such." Willain's eyes change to silver once more, appearing to glimmer and glow as they narrow at Gregory, "Also, do look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you."
Gregory does the opposite, resisting his command.
"Open. Your. Eyes!"
'No! I won't open my eyes! Not to you!' Gregory defies William, 'Do you have any idea what it's like to be drained of your essence, thoughts, emotions, everything that makes you you?!'
"No but I don't care." William steps closer, "You weren't supposed to exist, weren't meant to gain life and yet embarrassingly enough, you did. I'll have none of that anymore. Your only purpose is to be his Vessel and eventually, mine too!"
'Bite me!' Gregory snarls.
"No thank you." William's smarmy expression changes to that of revulsion and waves his comment away metaphorically with a gesture, "I don't think I want to watch another kid get a part of his head bitten off again. Especially yours".
Now standing in front of him, William tries to force open his eyes but Gregory strives to keep his eyes closed with all the force that he can muster.
'You won't get me Grandpa! And that Faker won't either! My friends out there will save me and end you both!' Gregory confidently claims.
"Are you so sure about that?" William raises an eyebrow, "What if I were to tell you that they are already slowly dying right now? Much like you were in the fire?"
Gregory's voice stutters, "N-No! No, you're lying! You always lie!"
"Oh I wish I could let you hear them suffering…" William taunts the boy, "Charlie is also trying to find you here but that Fake is keeping her away very effectively and if she's not careful, she's one step away from having her soul absorbed into the Amalgamation like those other poor children".
Gregory tries not to let William's words get to him, but can't help furrowing his brow and attempts to shout for help, "Charlie! Can you hear me? Help! I'm here! Hel –
"She can't hear you." William snaps at him, "Nobody can because you're unconscious you little twat".
William then teleports himself behind the child, whispering a dark offering in his ear, "Everyone you know and love will perish but, look on the bright side, we will live forever. Just give in again, look into my eyes and let me grant your conscience a painless death".
"No…No…"
Gregory's resistance slips then, tears forming in his eyes and this unintentionally rewards William with the opportunity to open Gregory's eyes. The boy shrieks as his eyelids are forcefully wrenched apart by William's crusty, wrinkled fingers and held open.
"Good boy." William praises Gregory and he roars with evil laughter. Gregory can see nothing but William's glowing silver eyes now, the ghost having leaned in very close to his face.
Suddenly, both feel a chilling presence. Gregory spots it before William does: An eerie and rusted version of Fredbear that lacked eyes crept up behind the elderly William by merely floating before aggressively laying both of its gold paws on his shoulder.
"Who's your new friend William?" Two voices emerge from Fredbear's mouth: A girl and a boy, speaking together in uncanny unison.
"Damn it! Too soon! I nearly had the brat!" William composes himself, eyes changing back to its natural hazel as he turns his head towards the intruder,"Cassidy. A pleasure, as always, to see the two of you here. I wasn't expecting you so —"
"WHO IS YOUR NEW FRIEND?" The girl bellows her question with emphasis this time.
"Oh, Just a kid I met recently. We're just having a private conversation".
"A kid? That's funny." chuckled the boy, "Don't tell us you were plotting to kill or manipulate one to do your bidding from the depths of Hell?"
"On the contrary, I wasn't planning to do either of those…"
"Interesting, why don't you tell us more about them then." the two voices became one again before roaring, "IN HELL WHERE YOU BELONG!"
Fredbear violently yanks William by the collar and they both instantaneously vanish from his sight.
Gregory's eyes widened so large that he thought they would roll out of his head at this point, his thought processes frantic. He knew who they were. The ones He shouldn't have killed.
'No, that can't be…Were those…?'
He remembers them all too well. The girl was Cassandra and the other, Andrew. Both were twins who had the last name "Cassidy". They were Mischievous Pranksters who would hang out in Freddy Fazbears on some weekends and the girl loved to make fun of William's then overweight body but, during the Missing Children's Incident, their fates were sealed when both of them tried to find their missing friend, Fritz, within the establishment.
Gregory remembers that Cassandra snuck into the animatronic repair room and found out that his body was stuffed in Bonnie but unfortunately for her, William was watching and, consequently, she had to be killed. The girl tried to escape but she had made William angry by stabbing him with a glass shard and he responded by cutting off her limbs while still alive, granting her a slow and painful death before stuffing her body into Fredbear.
As for Andrew, he came in looking for her and William gleefully showed him where Cassandra's chopped up parts were before shoving him into Fredbear with her and triggering the springlock mechanism which, of course, killed Andrew quickly.
Henry of course wasn't too pleased that William had tainted his mascot like this but William simply shrugged and replied: "This animatronic was retired after the bite. It was just lying around and being useless and so, I thought that I could make it useful for something and tada, it's now a convenient corpse storage".
Those words of course would later come back to haunt him as upon death, they retorted back at his dying body, "Enjoy your convenient corpse storage Peepaw".
Ironically by killing them together in one animatronic, he'd inadvertently entwined their souls and made them into the most dangerous, powerful and ruthless of the ghosts in the Pizzeria. The boy recalls that security guards who had the misfortune of encountering this mysterious "Broken Fredbear/Gold Freddy'' were found so shell shocked after encounters with the animatronic that they refused to work at the establishment ever again. And worse, William had covered these incidents up before he was fired, blaming it on them sneaking weed into the workplace and smoking it at night.
'But wait, why are they here? Shouldn't their souls be at peace? Why are they…?'
Before Gregory can ponder more on it, the environment around him abruptly transitions to a bright white and he is pulled upwards by an invisible force, hearing the sounds of childrens' laughter enveloping him.
–
"Hey! There's a new kid here." A girl excitedly squeals.
"We have another friend?"
"Is he ok?" another voice whispers, "He has bandages and plasters all over him…"
"Who are you?" a third voice joins the fray.
"Shhh he's not up yet".
Gregory stirred into consciousness once again and immediately found himself standing in a room that was full of plastic, multicoloured balls and being stared at by four concerned faces, namely two girls and two boys around his age (or perhaps younger?). Each of them were complete strangers to him and yet, a pang of familiarity nagged at him.
The first girl has red hair and freckles and the second has dark skin with brown hair tied neatly into two pigtails with pink bows attached to each of their ends. As for the two boys, the first was even darker skinned than the pigtail girl and looked thin while the second was caucasian with messy hair that covered his eyes.
"Hello." the redhead greets him.
He blinked twice at her, "Huh? Who are all of you? Woah…"
Gregory gazes above their heads, his eyes drawn to the grand sight above him. The room he was in had no ceiling and so, he was treated to a view of several tunnels and bridges made of nets that lead to two different platforms suspended by strong wires where children were either riding a carousel, pressing the buttons on a robot that dispenses candy or trying to catch air-filled balloons that were produced by a Balloon Boy animatronic.
Furthermore, Gregory didn't realise it at first but above wasn't the night sky, it was actually a ceiling painted to mirror it and, upon closer inspection, he could identify it had the swirls and aesthetics of Van Gogh's Starry Night but more amethyst in colour and embedded within the walls were glowing white artificial lights that bore a resemblance to 'stars'.
"Where am I?" Gregory breathed.
"Tell us who you are first." The pigtails girl encourages him, "and we'll tell you who we all are".
"I'm Gregory." The clone introduces himself, "and all of you are?"
They go in order from left to right.
"I'm Allana." The redhead girl says.
"Lisa." The pigtail girl announces.
The dark skinned boy points to himself, "I'm Ron."
"And I'm Jacob." The last kid finishes.
"I see…" Gregory nods, "It's nice to meet all of you but…where are we?"
"We don't know." Jacob shrugs, "We just know that one day we were taken away from our parents and brought here. But we like it here though. This place makes us feel good. We can do whatever we want, party all the time and we never feel tired at all."
Something about this place feels off to Gregory, "How long have you been here?"
They all exchange perplexed looks with each other, "We don't know…We think it's been a few days or a long time but we aren't sure".
"Don't you want to go back home? To your parents?" Gregory asks.
"Parents? I don't need them. They're awful to me." Ron says, "I'm content here."
"I miss my Mummy and Daddy but I don't want to leave." Lisa confesses, "I'm having so much fun here and I've made so many new friends and when I think of them…I…I…Sorry what was I talking about?"
Gregory becomes concerned at Lisa's peculiar memory loss, "Do any of you know where your parents are?"
Allana's face becomes troubled, "I…I…don't know. When I think of them, I begin to miss them but then I forget because I'm having so much fun here".
"Same here." Jacob adds.
"And when was the last time you saw them?" Gregory keeps pressing them for answers.
"I remember that the last time I saw my parents, it was at night. Daddy let go of my hand and we got separated outside the Pizzaplex." Lisa manages to recall, "I was upset and I cried but then I met this Rabbit Lady who said she'd give me my 'Happiest Day', led me here with Chica and now, I don't feel sad anymore".
Gregory froze upon hearing those words, finally deducing who these children were. He remembered, he remembered that these were the new batch of children Fake William had kidnapped and killed with Vanny!
"Come to think of it," Jacob adds, "the Rabbit lady promised that to all of us and here we are".
A boy (Gregory reckons his name was Fritz or Jeremy?) sobs on the floor for his parents. However, his crying unfortunately catches the attention of a murderous Gold Rabbit instead.
"Hello Kiddo. What's wrong?" William gently approaches him.
"I was beaten up. These bullies stole my glasses and hearing aids and now," he sniffles, "I can't see or hear anything. Can you take me back to my parents?"
"Of course." The rabbit promises falsely, "Don't be sad, follow me. I'll take you to your parents and give you the 'Happiest Day' ever".
Gregory puts his face in his hands and abruptly weeps, breaking down in tears. William never bothered to remember the names of those children he killed or comprehended the sorrow that he inflicted on their families and now, the tragedy was repeating itself thanks to his virtual doppelganger.
'That monster. He sacrificed these childrens' souls to the Blob and tricked them all into accepting this…wonderful paradise dreamworld that's as artificial as he is!' Gregory becomes increasingly enraged, 'THIS is how he's been controlling their souls and syphoning off their Remnant. They have no idea they are dead and trapped in a prison he created!'
"I'm so sorry." Gregory trembles, "This is all His fault".
The children are baffled by his unexpected tears.
"What do you mean?"
"There's a man out there who did something horrible. I, No, He took away the happiness of people who trusted him and he's doing the same to all of you!"
Feelings of guilt overwhelm Gregory, causing him to pause for a moment before crying even harder, "But I can't help but feel like through his actions, I've done this horrible thing to all of you too".
"Don't cry." Lisa cuddles him, "Even though you did something horrible, you don't have to feel sad anymore. You can be happy here with us. Forever".
Gregory shakes his head and wipes off his tears, regarding the whole scenario with disgust and fury while Lisa lets go of him. Fake William had indeed kept to his word to kill more children than William and he had completed that goal. Worse, this awful, endless cycle of child murder would go on again and again if he and that Fake succeeded in becoming one. Gregory had to do something and fast!
"Listen, all of you, This place isn't real. We have to get out — AHHHH" Gregory notices that his body is fading again because of the Soul Transfer process going on concurrently outside the dreamworld.
"You ok?" Jacob asks.
"I'm being absorbed into the man that killed you all and I'll probably keep on vanishing like this if I don't free us from this place instantly. You have to help me find the exit. My friends can save us".
"A man killed us? That can't be right. We're still alive." Ron scoffs, "And you don't look like you're being absorbed by someone".
"Wait. You can't see me fading?" Gregory shows them his translucent hands.
"Yeah. Also, there is no exit. If you have friends why not bring them here? Before we met the Rabbit lady, our lives were horrible." Ron explains, "Some of us had terrible parents or were bullied by other children but here, we can be happy. We don't have to feel sad anymore."
"But this is all a lie!" Gregory objects.
"We don't believe you. Come on. Let's go back to the carousel."
The four children leave the Ball Pit, heading up to the third floor via the spiral stairs to his left.
"They won't listen to you Gregory." A voice mockingly whispers. Gregory could tell it was the Fake due to his less thick British accent. "And there is no exit from this place. Just be a good boy and submit to your fate. Oh and have fun while you're at it".
Fake William's voice vanishes and Gregory is left all alone. He looks around hastily.
'Ron and Fake William have to be lying. I'm sure of it. There must be a way out of here. I have to free them and myself from this false dreamworld before it's too late…'
Additionally, Gregory also realises that he had to show them this place they were within was all an illusion or remind them of what's really going on quickly so they'd be willing to leave and, perhaps if he did that, then maybe this place would fall completely. Or that was his working theory for now at least.
He exits the ball pit not by the spiral stairs but by a plastic tunnel to the right that he has to crawl into and, going inside and looking through the fish-eye windows, he gets a full glimpse of the place. The ball pit wasn't the first level. It was the second. Gregory could tell because to his left provided a view of a chequered floor that had to be at least several feet off the ground. Perhaps his answer for an exit lay down there?
Gregory continues down the tunnel until he reaches a slide entrance and pushes himself down the tube. He spins twice in a spiral and ends up on the first level.
The first level has more…food stalls, tables and chairs than the platforms above. There are several tables that just randomly restock themselves with comfort food and desserts like cake, chips, hotdogs and so much more. It was an infinite buffer with all the dessert a child could eat and yet, they didn't seem to gain weight.
'Then again, they have no more bodies'. Gregory shivers at his thought. For a while (he has no idea how long), he looks up and down, under tables and inside slide holes but can't find any proof of an exit.
'Dammit, as fun as this place is… I don't want to die here. I don't want to die at all!' Gregory anxiously thinks to himself as he sees himself literally continue to fade away, 'There must be some way to get out!'
"Hey out of the way!" A loud girl with a British accent hissed in annoyance. Gregory could hear the audible sound of her shoving some children aside turned to the source of voice and looked up at the orange haired girl with a pink buttoned blouse and blue skirt who was striding towards him.
"Elizabeth…?" Gregory speaks her name with surprise, as if unable to accept the fact that she was truly here (even if he'd seen her in Fake William's memories).
'This is My, No, His daughter…'
"Evan? Evan! I can't believe it. It's you!" She hugs him tightly, lifting him upwards and nuzzles her head in his neck, "Ah Evan I've missed you so much."
Gregory suffocates a bit from the tight squeeze. It also didn't help that Elizabeth was a little taller and stronger than him despite being only 9 years old.
"Umm actually, I'm Gregory." he corrects her.
"Oh." She takes a step back and lets go of him sheepishly, looking up and down at the short pre-teen, "My bad. It's…just that you look so much like my younger brother Evan".
"I know who you're talking about though." Gregory smiles warmly at her, "I've met your brother Micheal. He misses you. He wants you back".
"Really?" Elizabeth's eyes light up, "Where is he now…? The last time I saw him he was…"
She drifts away as her mind harks back to the day Circus Baby (her AI at least) was obliterated in the flames. The last memory she had of her brother was the sight of his decomposing, purple body burning alive. His eyes were shut and he appeared to be at peace, almost as if he had accepted death before expiring. She thought he had already made it to heaven but judging from what this boy was saying…this was disturbingly not the case.
Gregory promptly recognises the suddenly traumatised expression on her face and carries on speaking, "He's outside these walls but I don't know if you believe me or not considering we just met…"
"Well, if you didn't know my brother, you wouldn't have known his name so guess what, I believe you".
"That's great." Gregory approvingly says, "By any chance, do you know a way out of here?"
Elizabeth gasps excitedly with a hint of confusion, "Oooo, you're the first kid I've met who wants to get out of here so quickly. I do know that there's an exit but…I can't get through it. I've been trying to tell everyone about it but they won't listen and only want to stay here".
"What does that mean?"
She extends a hand towards him, "Take my hand, I'll bring you it."
Elizabeth leads the clone of her father to a wall beyond the jungle gym where there is a small but perceivable fracture.
"Listen, there's a hissing sound behind this one crack."
Gregory leans into the wall and shuts his eyes, trying to single out the noise from the delighted laughter and yapping of happy children.
HSSSS HHSSSSS
Grgeory's eyes snap open upon hearing the sound of what were presumably snakes writhing and he backs away.
"When did you realise this existed?" Gregory questions Elizabeth, "And why didn't you try to break it down?"
"I only discovered this a while ago but…when I tried to break it, I was stopped by…something and teleported to the ball pit on the second floor.
"I believe that 'something' was your Father William. He's the one that's trapped you all here and he's not letting you out as he wants to use you for his own goals.
"Of course. He always needs to use someone to do things for him." Elizabeth seethed resentfully.
"Anyway," Gregory keeps the conversation going, "Did you try a second time?"
"Yep. I even made a sledgehammer so that I could break it better but then suddenly, I was brought back to the ballpit area again and my weapon was gone. The same thing happened when I gave it a third try but this time, my memories were wiped. I couldn't remember the crack in the wall for a long time until much, much later." Elizabeth put her hands on her hips, "It was very annoying and –"
"Wait," Gregory stops her, "what do you mean by you made a hammer?"
"Oh. This place we are in makes our thoughts real. Whatever we want, we can create. With the exception of some items. Everything you see in this place? All this wasn't here before but then more and more kids started coming in and their imaginations ran wild, creating all you see before you".
Elizabeth thinks of a Circus Baby plushie and it immediately appears in her hands.
"Wow, that's cool." Gregory pictures an item in his head too and manifests an Axe in his hands.
"Huh, that's weird." Elizabeth crosses her arms, "How come you can do this without getting teleported away and I couldn't?!"
"I dunno." Gregory shrugs, "Maybe William is too focused on other things to stop me from remembering."
"Other things?"
Gregory recalls the ongoing battle still ongoing beyond the dreamworld, "Yes. Other things…My friends! They're being hurt trying to save me from William and are probably distracting him right now. His mind is too focused on attacking them to see what's going on in here. This is my chance. I have to get back to them!"
With the axe in his tiny hands, Gregory slams it against the cracked wall. Long ago, he'd used such a weapon to murder children but now, he would use it to help them out of here.
"I'll help too." Elizabeth offers. She drops the plushie and conjures a sledgehammer for herself, slamming it into the crack alongside him, "Let's do this quickly before William catches on!"
"Thank you Elizabeth".
She and Gregory strike the fracture in the wall ceaselessly and this causes the entire location to shake and tremble. It takes about a dozen exhausting blows but gradually, the fracture gets larger and larger and soon, it extends to the ceiling above and the ground below, becoming a very noticeable divide. Every child's attention becomes glued to the wall that's cracking in half and they head towards the area where the commotion was stemming from. Then, at the moment everyone arrives, Greg and Liz give the wall its conclusive hit, the fracture at last caving in and revealing a hole.
At first nothing seemed to come out of it but 5 seconds later, a horrible presence leaked into the room. The children scream as a clump of blackish-purple ooze filled with teeth and bunny ears billows in like a tidal wave and stains their various shoes. Then, staring at the purple goo, they recall the truth: That they were dead and all met horrible ends thanks to that Bunny lady and the Gold Rabbit they saw on a screen moments before they died.
"No no no…" One child bawls.
"I remember now. I was bleeding. She stabbed me. It hurt. It hurt so much…"
Upon hearing the other voices, Gregory turns around to address the crowd of children which had all amassed behind them.
"Look! This is the monster that killed all of you. His name is William Afton" Gregory points to the true form of their captor and murderer. "You're all dead and I'm sorry I couldn't save you but please, if you can, destroy William for me and my friends".
CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK
The room crumbles to nothingless around Gregory as the children yell and wail in agony at their fates, their rage being directed at the fake William Afton. These strong emotions and a desire to break free of their captor causes the entire location to fade into bits.
"Goodbye Elizabeth." Gregory says to William's daughter, "Don't be scared. You'll be with them soon".
The boy's voice pries Elizabeth away from looking at the purple goo like the other children and he feels the need to say something more before he returns to reality.
"By the way, I'm so sorry that your father beat you up like that. I'm sorry he forced you to love him and turned you into a killer. You deserved better than him. Every one of you did".
"Huh?"
Before she can ask more questions, the platform that Gregory's standing on falls and sends him downwards back to reality. However, unlike the last time, the fall is less of a rush and more of a slow glide downwards. Elizabeth watches as Gregory descends down and sees the void below transforming into another location. It displayed the top view of a Giant Bear holding his physical body and his soul was simply heading back into it.
However, as he becomes one with his body again, Elizabeth swore that she sensed her Father's presence in the boy…
"Daddy?" she utters curiously.
—
"Gregory! Gregory!"
Gregory wakes up again to see Freddy holding him in his arms.
"Whew I caught you in time!" Freddy sighs in relief. Gregory raises his arms. He's no longer melting and the needles, gone. However, the wounds still remain in his wrist and are bleeding out again.
Gregory then looks right, seeing Monty not far behind him who had the Puppet lying on his shoulders, her body beaten and weakened. Chica and Roxy were nowhere to be seen.
"AGGGGGHHHHHH!" Fake William screams.
Gregory turns his head to witness in triumph and horror the sight of Amalgamation tearing itself apart and throwing itself into the fire due to the children's souls gaining the strength fighting back against Fake William, no longer under his control. No longer able to find a functional electrical cable or wifi signal to escape to, the Fake screams as he gets the same comeuppance as his original counterpart: Ended by those he manipulated and betrayed along with burning alive.
However, Gregory doesn't get to see Fake William perish completely as Freddy scurries with Monty to board DJ Music Man who has just arrived to carry the last group of survivors out and they depart from the burning wreckage of the PizzaPlex….
—
As the fire consumes the gargantuan Amalgamation, The Fake William watches the children's souls he'd trapped and killed ascend towards the sky, towards the afterlife, and calls for help weakly.
"Help. Help someone! Save me! Vanny! Father! Anyone!"
"You rang?" the real William steps in with a smug grin, "Tsk tsk, another failure. What happened to your bravado and being better than me?"
The Fake noticed that his Father was more bruised this time though, as if someone had harmed him.
"Ah! Pretend you didn't hear that." Fake William retracts his pleas.
"Heh, I suppose you weren't superior to me after all! You're just living garbage".
"How dare you!" The impostor seethes and then groans in pain as it senses itself fading into nothing.
"You know, I would have been the victor either way no matter which of you won and now, through Gregory, I can and will be reborn in a new world." William gloats enthusiastically.
"Well too bad, I'm also you so therefore, I'll be back as well. You'll see!" Fake William smirks.
"Arsehole." William mutters as he sees the last vestiges of his digital clone's soul fade into oblivion and ends his astral projection.
—
Opening his eyes, William finds himself back in Hell. Here, he lies chained beneath the bottom of a lake, constantly drowning but never being able to. It was his latest punishment in a long line of punishments he'd been undergoing since he was dragged here by that loathsome Angel that took the form of an old, humanoid crocodile and those two annoyances that were stuffed into Fredbear.
Not long after being separated from Gregory earlier, William had been questioned and beaten up by the three of them but he revealed nothing until the Angel rudely decided to peer into his memories and, upon learning of the two William clones, they were horrified and left immediately, both of them presently on the way to the world of the living to do God knows what to his copies.
He then looks at his hands and partially naked body. He doesn't look as good as he used to. In fact, he looks much worse. The elderly appearance that he donned in front of Gregory and the Fake was only a projection of what he wished he still looked like for what he looked like now was more than just hideous. He was downright Eldritch.
He was a living corpse like Micheal used to be: Consisting entirely of flesh and muscle tissue with random but small portions of skin attached to his face and other regions across his chest while parts of the Springlock suit still remained clamped to his body, making him appear as a bizarre fusion of man and machine, the fragmented bunny ears atop his head resembling devil-like horns.
Additionally, as of late, he had developed sharp teeth, snake-like eyes and claws with black tips due to acquiring demonhood…Something which he was coming to regret heavily presently as Elenore didn't mention that his transformation into a demonic creature would disfigure him this badly.
"Hmph, I hope that Cassidy or the Old Man won't punish my clone too badly or sentence him to Hell too early but still, maybe I could make use of Little Will somehow if he gets sent here…"
William grins at the thought of meeting his clone face to face, optimistic at the thought of his clone being imprisoned beside him forever.
Chapter 37 End
Chapter 38 Title Preview: The Finale
Summary: The Battle is over. Gregory says his goodbyes to everyone he's befriended but is paid a surprise visit by an old flame, the final Afton child, a Golden bear with a deadly vendetta against him and lastly, an ancient Angel who wishes to pass a judgement onto the boy that will decide whether he will continue to live or cease to exist…
Also don't worry. The next chapter isn't the end. There will be one last epilogue and then, side stories.