Author's Note:
Dark Rebirth will be going on a 1-2 week hiatus. Haha April Fools (or is it?).
Lately, I feel burned out as the next few chapters are going to be long as Hell and full of surprises.
Thank you for supporting me this far though, I appreciate it. As always, comments and likes are appreciated to keep me going on.
Location: Depths of the Pizzaplex
Time: Unknown, (1 year ago)
William Afton and Vanny stand before the body of Circus Baby who lies unmoving but still beautiful among the trash heap like a flower blooming along the cracks of a sidewalk.
Meanwhile, Charlie was camouflaging her body behind a mound of trash, having decided that she would only jump in if William tried something funny as she was curiously waiting and wanting to see what William would talk about with Elizabeth after a year of being apart.
"Elizabeth~" William croons to his beloved daughter sweetly, "How are you?"
The mechanical ice cream dispensing robot girl is quiet even though William can sense that his daughter is there and has heard him.
"Elizabeth? Hello ~ It's your Father. Do you remember me?"
"Go away." Elizabeth grumbles at him.
"Elizabeth?" Vanny takes a step back in surprise, complementing William's reaction, "Sweetheart? What's wrong?"
"Don't come near me! You're a monster. Charlie told me everything: About what you did to her, those children and even Uncle Henry!"
"Well…they were necessary sacrifices for my research with Remnant. The reason I killed and betrayed them was to resurrect you, Charlie and Evan. Did she ever tell you that?"
"You're a liar." she snapped at him, "Charlie says you only wanted immortality for yourself. You were never going to resurrect us".
William sighed, "I see…what else did she say to you?"
"She told me you might have killed me for your research too."
"'Might' is the important word here Elizabeth." William uses this chance to convince his daughter to work with him once again, "I didn't kill you for my research. You were a silly, naive girl who had the misfortune of disobeying my orders and as a consequence, you got yourself killed by one of my animatronics even though I specifically told you to never go near them".
"But even if I hadn't done that, you probably would have sacrificed me if you needed to. Wouldn't you?"
"Ehhh…" he makes Vanny tap her feet on the ground for him, "I would have … tried not to?"
"You know, the more time I spent alone here with my own thoughts and Charlie, the more I realised you weren't a very good father to me: You told me you loved and cherished me the most but you also always neglected me whenever I wanted to play with you." Elizabeth's voice grows more annoyed, "I was the Star of three performances in school but you never showed up for any of them. You were always obsessed with your machines and the only times when you wanted to spend time with me was when you needed something from me…"
"That's not true Elizabeth…"
"You never really loved me! You just pretended to so that I'd do whatever you said. Sometimes I even wished that I could have been one of your machines so that you would love me more…"
Elizabeth laughs sadly, "In an odd way, I got what I wished for but even then, after all that I did for you with Circus Baby, you still don't truly love me I bet".
William is silent for a while as he tries to think of his next response. He had no idea why Elizabeth was being so defiant and unwilling to listen to him then she had been before.
"Vanny, can you push Circus Baby to the left a little?" William commands her.
"Yes Mr Afton."
The Rabbit lady pushes the robot with what little strength she has to reveal that the circuits on the back of Circus Baby's head were completely fried by the flames.
"Dammit," William cries furiously, "Circus Baby's AI and programming turned to ashes! Just my luck!"
"The programming?" Vanny asks.
Charlie knew what William was referring to: Various programming within machines tended to affect ghosts. Charlie didn't know what caused it or why it happened but for some reason, ghosts could not override certain functions within machines. In the case of the children, the programming within the animatronics they possessed made them unable to control them past 6am. And seemingly, without Circus Baby's programming, Elizabeth likely wouldn't be more willing to comply with his commands, especially now that she was aware of what her father had done and had made her do. Charlie smirked smugly from where she was.
"Never mind." William brushed away Vanny's question, "Listen, I need your help Elizabeth. You're the only one I trust. I have plans for the future and I need someone to assist me: Someone who is loving and loyal like you, my beloved daughter. It will be just like old times…You do things for me and I'll give you hugs, kisses or anything you want".
"No. I don't want to help a murderer. I never did. You and the voice inside Circus Baby made me do it".
"But you are a murderer are you not? You killed your brother, you know? Turned him into a walking corpse. Luckily, he's gone now and we can both carry on with our lives".
"I…feel bad about it now. And I never meant it to happen. When I died, I lost some of my memories and when my mind was together with Circus Baby, I was unsure of who I was or what thoughts were mine. The idea to leave the basement by using a body was definitely hers though. We tore apart a man in the Scooping Room but when I saw that the man was my brother, I was very upset. Baby assured me that after we left his body, we could make him come back to life by placing some of that remnant stuff in him like what we saw you do with the animatronics. I hoped he'd be alive again but…he wasn't…not entirely…he was ugly and his skin was rotting…And he'd been like that for years and I never knew—".
"Too late Elizabeth," William cut her off, "you don't get to feel sorry for what you've done. You have blood on your hands like me. You can't go to Heaven. None of us can."
"Then leave me alone." Elizabeth cries in indignation, "I'll just stay here forever. I'm not going to listen to you anymore".
"Grrr…You ungrateful girl. I gave you almost anything you asked for and now, you're rejecting me. I'm honestly heartbroken…"
Purple sparks start to flicker across Vanny's mask, "I hate that you're making me do this Elizabeth but it seems what you need is a controlled shock! Vanny, put your hands on that animatronic, my daughter needs to be punished".
Vanny does as he says and purple sparks fly through Circus Baby's body while William attempts to pull his daughter's soul towards him. Elizabeth screams as she feels her soul being violently ripped out and, as Charlie is about to pounce, they all feel it:
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE
There was a tremor that could be felt throughout the scrapyard, shaking the landscape. Vanny lets go of Circus Baby.
"What the hell?" William yelled in shock, "Is this an Earthquake?"
Out of nowhere, something unexpected appeared that all three could not have predicted: A hideous union of wires, animatronic masks and various other parts erupted from a heap of garbage, the face of Funtime Freddy leading the "body" of the beast. It was full of rage and agony, stood at a height of 20 feet tall and, despite its size and metallic parts, moved as though it were liquid.
Charlie gazed at the blob-like abomination and gasped, sensing the familiar souls that were inside. William has a similar reaction.
'The missing children? Why are they here? I saw them move on after William died in that abandoned storeroom…'
Once again, without warning, the creature swooped downwards between William and Elizabeth. Next, several wires ejected themselves from its body, wrapping themselves around Circus Baby before violently pulling the animatronic (along with Elizabeth's soul) into its massive, messy form.
"Lizzie!" Charlie cried and tried to leap after it but the creature suddenly sank back into the large mounds of trash, causing them and Elizabeth to mysteriously vanish. Charlie could no longer sense their souls or see them…
"Charlie? No…it can't be. Why are you still here?!" William's voice yells again in an angry but inquisitive tone.
Charlie turns her head to face the bunny lady's red eyes which are staring at her blankly in the distance. There's no time for her to respond back though as suddenly, the quaking begins again. That blob creature was returning.
"Shit! Vanny, we have to go!"
Vanny and William scurry away. Charlie tried to catch up but she was unable to close the distance between them before the lift doors slammed shut and they rose upwards…
—
Location: Parts and Service Room
Time: 4:26am (Present Day)
"That creature frightened William and made him retreat…for a while at least and after that, I went after the creature which held the Missing Children and Elizabeth but, after William escaped, they vanished beneath the trash mound and I couldn't find them at all. And then, after a few days, William came back. I sensed him and wanted to pounce on him, ask him questions but it seems the massive creature had also sensed his presence. It instantly rose up to attack him, reaching him faster than I did but somehow…he started to control it by putting that Blob in some kind of trance and making it slowly fall asleep. I was there too, climbing the Blob to free Elizabeth and the other children but I was falling under the trance as well since I was near to William and then, I fell unconscious."
"Then what happened after you woke up?" Henry prodded her to continue.
"Well…when I woke up, I found myself all alone deeper underground. I must have fallen into some kind of pit and I had no idea how much time passed. I could barely sense the children anymore. Only faintly as you described…and since then, I stayed in the garbage disposal area trying to search for them." Charlie finished her story on a sad note.
"Once again Charlie, I'm sorry to hear what happened to you and that I didn't reach you sooner…." Henry mournfully apologises.
"It's ok Dad. I get the feeling even if you did leave Freddy to find me and the children alone, you would have been caught by William sooner as well."
"Also erm…" Henry pursed his lips slightly, "You don't have any hard feelings about me having to lure you into Lefty right?"
"I was…angry at first but I understood why you had to do it. I know it was built to keep me in place to burn with everyone else but funnily enough, it ended up protecting my body from most of the flames. Once the restraints melted, I quickly loosened them off, slipped out of the animatronic and curled around a ceiling pipe." Charlie smiled at him.
"Not what I intended but … I'm grateful for it." Henry returned a smile back at his daughter warmly, "I've missed you so much Charlie. I can't emphasise enough how heartbroken and empty I was after you died…"
"I know all too well how you felt when you lost me…".
The two ghosts slip into another loving embrace that would have lasted for more than a minute if not for the hot-headed voice of Micheal Afton suddenly cutting in.
"Hey Henry! Sorry to break up your latest hug but Gregory says needs your help with some of the repairs. Can you go talk to him? See what's up?"
"Sure." Henry jumps at the opportunity. William was good with making and fixing machines but sometimes, even he needed help too, especially when he needed feedback on whether certain mechanisms were working right or not. The same would also definitely have applied to Gregory at some point as well and so, Henry leaves Mike and Charlie together.
"Yo Charlie," Mike waves causally at her and grins wide, "Long time no see…"
Chapter 26 END
Chapter 27 Title: CRIMINAL
Summary: Charlie and Mike catch up. Mike reveals the truth about 'Gregory'. Things get messy.