Hurricane, Utah - 20XX
RING RING RING
A figure sits in a dark room, her face only lit by the light of the laptop in front of her. She looked at the vibrating smartphone in her hands as an icon of a Gold Rabbit with a wide grin manifested onto her screen. She answers the call.
"Vanny?" a male voice with robotic inflections started speaking.
"Mr Afton," she greeted the Gold Rabbit cheerfully, "Is there something that you need me to do?"
"Yes. I've been reading some of the files in Fazbears and I found something...interesting. The Friendly Face Service: They can bring dead pets back to life by cloning them right? And these clones, can they really live forever?"
"Ummm...Pretty much. It's popular among kids and adults so they kept on continuing with it. However, they can be deactivated when their owner has died as long as they are returned to any Fazbear entertainment".
The purple eyes of the rabbit light up, an idea forming in his head. "That's great. Can they do it with humans?"
"Erm...No. They've tried but results were less than favourable."
"Are they still working on it?" William questioned.
"No. They gave up on trying due to the failures".
"Tch," the Gold Rabbit's face changed into a Scowl, "Cowards..."
"What are you thinking about Mr Afton?" Vanny asks.
"Do you think we could do it? Create an immortal clone of myself that my soul can inhabit." William pondered.
"From scratch? I don't think so. First off, we need an animatronic body for this. Second, as I said before, human clones come out faulty. Third, I'm not too well versed in this cloning stuff. They're a separate division".
"I don't want to be in another animatronic body, Vanny." Afton's digital voice grumbled, "I was a corpse in a mechanical suit for years and it was agony. I barely survived being burned alive you know which is why I'm stuck in this digital space. I'm tired of being trapped, I want to live again, to taste food, to feel the sun and breeze against my skin and I could do that if I had a living, breathing body."
William is quiet for a moment, deep in thought. The screen of Vanny's phone fizzed slightly as it remained silent. Then, he spoke up again.
"Surely, there must be something that can be done...Could you give me full access to information about Fazbear's cloning methods. I'm locked out of some of it".
"I can but...why?"
"I need to read through more of this so that I can use my brilliant mind to figure out something...eventually".
"You really want to do this cloning thing huh?" Vanny raised an eyebrow from within the mask.
"Absolutely Vanny."
"Alright then." the woman nodded, typing a few words on her keyboard, "Oh...I forgot to mention: So for the cloning process to work, it also needs your DNA sample."
"Well, I'm sure my old rotting corpse is still out there. Just take a bit of my flesh from there."
"About that Mr Afton, they ummm burned it." Vanny replied matter-of-fact, "There is nothing left of you to sample, I'm afraid."
"Are you serious?!" William yelled, his voice faltering with static interference as his voice raised an octave. "There's nothing left? At all?"
"Well...there were some parts of your old Spring Bonnie suit that didn't burn. I saw them discard those into the pits below the mall where the rest of the garbage went".
"Hmmm.. that could still be of some use. Gather that. Also, while you do that, help me find something, anything with a sample of my DNA. If we can do that, we can go through with the cloning plan. One way or another, I will be reborn".
—
Around a month and two break-ins to the Fazbear Entertainment Gallery later, William had thoroughly analysed the data and instructions while Vanny had gathered the materials necessary for the cloning process. However, they needed a place to perform it without any interruptions and so, William had a bright idea.
"So why did you lead us back to this place again?" Vanny asked, pushing a trolley full of the equipment they stole into the dark caverns. They were getting closer and closer to the building in front of them: The remains of an abandoned Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria that had burned down ages ago.
"This is the place I was retrieved from. The place where I almost died again. Nobody comes down here anymore as they've taken all they need from it and so far, nobody else has come down to demolish it. It's the perfect place for the experiment".
They found an empty room, arranged all the equipment that they brought down in there and for the next 5 months, they worked as a team. William practically devoured all the instructions and data of the cloning process and then modified some of them to suit his own agenda. Then, after figuring out a formula that would work, he instructed Vanny on what to do as she was the only one capable of doing what he could not.
"William, you asked me to go to an abandoned storeroom in this address to get this stuff." she opens a box to reveal two syringes of silver liquid inside, "What is this?"
"Remnant. Mine to be precise. I want to know what happens when we infuse it into this clone".
"What's Remnant?"
"That...you don't need to know." The Gold Rabbit brushed her question off.
William felt a bit upset that he couldn't do all this himself but kept himself positive with the thought of soon having functioning hands and legs once again. He also took pride in the fact that if Vanny fucked up the cloning process, he could find a way to blame her for it. Gradually, William and Vanny were successful and the fruits of their efforts were rewarded as they watched a small fetus wriggle about inside a large cylindrical tube, floating in a transparent liquid that was tinged slightly purple.
"So according to the instructions," William explained to Vanny from her smartphone, "this liquid will preserve it at its current fetal state but, by adding about this amount of powder, we can make it age rapidly until it gets to about 20 years old".
Vanny nodded, grabbed the container with the orange powder and poured the amount suggested into the top of the cylinder.
"Twenty is a good place to stop ageing really. I used to be very attractive back then." He smiled.
"Sure you were Old Man." Vanny chuckles. William doesn't laugh back at her, staring at the wriggling fetus that would soon be his Vessel, "So what happens now?"
"We wait. The clone will grow to adulthood and remain this way for a long time. Then when I discover how to make this body truly immortal, I will transfer my soul into it because, according to what I know from my research, the clone will function but it will only be an empty Vessel. They don't have true souls like we do and this will make it easy for me to fully possess the body".
"And how long will that take? For you to find true immortality?"
"Who knows but with your help, it will be fast. It's fortunate that we can preserve the body until that day, otherwise it would be troublesome. However, I need you to check on it's vitals everyday if possible."
"Of course. I'll come back here tomorrow morning." Vanny told him cheerfully.
–
No less than an evening later, something unfortunate happened. Vanny called William immediately and showed him the sight from her smartphone.
"William. We have a problem."
"What the hell? What happened overnight? Vanny?!" William yelled.
The two of them stare at the clone, which was currently a naked child with dark brown hair that lay sprawled on the dirty ground almost motionless, surrounded by dried liquid and broken glass of its container. The only indication that it was alive at all was the sound of it breathing and the steady rise and fall of his chest.
"Also, wasn't it meant to be an adult by now?"
"It was supposed to reach that stage but something must have gone wrong." Vanny shrugged, "I'm not sure what happened but I'm so sorry. I don't think we can use this body anymore".
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the container is shattered and the liquid has dried up. It's going to be a hassle to get everything again. Also, this whole thing is experimental...I don't know what will happen to him out of the liquid. He's not synthetic and he may age —".
William and Vanny suddenly hear the shifting of broken glass. The clone child's dark brown eyes open to gaze at the strangers talking in front of him. He tries to use his hands to push himself upwards but grunts as he falls back down to the floor, feeling weak from literally just being born some hours ago.
"Oh and it's awake now...That wasn't supposed to happen either." Vanny pulls out a knife, "I'll deal with this".
The clone looks at Vanny approaching him with a vacant expression, unaware that it has to run away.
"Hang on Vanny," the Rabbit stops her, "I don't think this will be an issue. Even if he's...small, he'll still be a good Vessel for me and on the bright side, I get more years to figure out how to reach true immortality before adulthood..." the expression of the Gold Rabbit's icon changes, grinning wider, "Keep him alive until I - Sorry I meant We, can figure out how to transfer my soul into his body."
"You can't do it now?"
"No, I transferred myself into a chip out of desperation and then I was transferred into the digital world but, for some reason, I can't figure out how to get my soul out of here now. That's why I was hoping for some time to figure things out..." William groans.
"Umm Mr Afton... where should we keep him?" Vanny points to the clone who has just curled into a fetal position.
"Well we clearly can't keep him in this place. It's not a healthy environment for him — I mean, Me. I'm sure you can figure something out. I'll contact you again later Vanny".
With that, the Gold Rabbit vanishes and her phone returns to normal.
CHAPTER 1 END