Author's Note:

This was the most difficult chapter to write so far ngl. Try and see how many Easter Eggs and references to the Novel Trilogy and Fazbear Frights in this chapter. And feel free to leave a small or big review for me.

Enjoy ~

Chapter 29: Remnants of a Dead Man

Location: West Arcade - Theatre Corridor

Time: 5:10am

Entering the vicinity, Gregory could see that behind the purple curtain were two metal plates that were likely its double doors and a short passageway that ushered customers into the main area.

As Gregory strolls through the passageway, he comes across three posters on its left side, each plastered 3 feet away from the other and advertising various stage productions which featured the Glamrock animatronics. The boy had no idea if they were real or fake but, nevertheless, he tries to guess what each of them could be about:

The first poster advertised what was likely a Horror called "Curse of Dreadbear", the second was an action thriller of sorts called "Fury's Rage" and the last was "Freddy in Space", a 'thrilling sci-fi adventure' according to the tagline.

William watches his Vessel cautiously walk farther into the theatre and, once he's determined that the boy has walked far enough inside, he carefully makes the automatic doors behind the purple curtains shut slowly so that Gregory remains ignorant to the fact that William was locking him in. He was never going to let the boy go. Not when he was already so close to victory.

William smirks and gives his next command to the obedient Daycare Attendant through their shared connection on the Fazbear network: "Attendant, power off Chica, remove the plate on her back and then turn off her safety mode. In the meantime, I'll handle Gregory…"

—-

The theatre was a grandiose space that was bathed in white light that came from two small chandeliers hanging above as well as a tiny amount of light indigo radiance that emitted from the neon streaks at the side of the walls. Additionally, electric-purple star patterns and squiggly lines created by light machines roamed over the walls and the 15 rows of 10 double-couch seats that lay below.

Each of the couches were of different colours and divided by a middle pathway for people to enter and exit their seats easily (meaning that on every row, 10 people would be seated on the left while 10 would be seated on the right) and currently, most of said couches contained several different staff bots with their legs cut off, appearing to act as makeshift audience for the performer on stage: A Staff Bot wearing a Bowler hat, black bow tie and blue vest. Held tightly in its hands was a microphone and it was doing its best to tell a joke.

"Tell me. Where do you come from, do they call it pop or soda? Well, here we call it half off at our concession stand for the next fifteen minutes. And that is no joke."

Canned laughter and applause from the false audience bounced around the chamber. It felt like something out of the corny sitcoms that William and his family used to watch.

As he went through the middle pathway, Gregory looks around, left and right, but he was unable to find William seated anywhere

"Aren't parents the worst? Do any of you kids have parents? Don't you hate it when your parents take you somewhere fun then abandon you? They are all like: 'I guess if I dump little Jeremy off at his favourite pizzeria before I move to Aruba, that makes me a good parent.'"

"Boo." Gregory berates the robot comedian's one man show, "Get some better material."

The 'audience' doesn't listen to his criticism and keeps on cheering and clapping for the comedian. Gregory then looks away, still searching the area in front of him before looking behind him. He's paranoid, wondering where William will appear from.

"As you might have noticed, I am a robot. You know what the difference between humans and robots is? Humans 'wha wha, I am going to get old and die'. Robots are like 'I will outlive you all'."

"Hahahah" William's melodious but creepy laughter arose from beside him, "that's actually a good one".

"Ah!"

Gregory is stunned by the sudden manifestation of the murderer sitting in the couch right next to him in the fifth row. Instead of being a head and chest, this time he was in his full form: Tall, elegant, slim and appearing dapper, wearing a very dark purple two-piece business suit which enveloped an indigo-coloured tie that rested just above the yellow dress shirt beneath.

"How, how are you here?" Gregory questions.

"Oh I'm not really here. It's all an illusion. I'm using the speakers at the sides below these seats to communicate with you and one of the many holographic projection cameras above us to make myself present here." He gestures to a camera behind them that's projecting light to where he is, "Very realistic isn't it? Fazbears have really outdone themselves with all these technical marvels…"

William disappears for a second before appearing again one space away, making room for him on the couch. "Come, take a seat boy."

Despite feeling cautious, Gregory decides to sit next to William since there didn't seem to be anything that would restrain him and furthermore, it was right next to the middle pathway which was advantageous as this would allow him to make an easy escape if he needed to. Taking a seat, he realises that its texture feels soft and comfy.

"So the Monty Pass? Can you give it to me like, right now?" the boy asks, extending his hand to the hologram.

"Have patience Little Will, I'll only give it to you after we've talked." William then snaps his fingers and suddenly, the performance stops, "Right…enough of the comedy routine. Let's have something a bit more…jazzy to set the tone for the conversation".

Gregory withdraws his extended hand for now as the comedy bot exits stage right. Then, almost immediately, a more feminine looking Staff Bot with a fake long-haired wig arrives onstage.

The lights of the chandeliers dimmed, slowly turning off until it left the theatre solely lit by the purple glow of the walls' neon lights. The starry patterns continued to fly across the ceiling but gradually, they started to move more in slow, hypnotic motions. Gregory felt like he could look at the swirling lights forever and fall into a trance.

The feminine robot begins to 'sing' from its speakers. It's a Jazz number that was sung by none other than….

William Afton is bored, switching from channel to channel until he comes across a familiar face on the TV Screen. It's his ex-Wife, Violet, performing live for an audience on stage.

She gives everyone a gentle, pearly white smile and waves her hand at the cheering crowd.

"I'm so happy to be here tonight everyone." she says as she steps into the spotlight.

"This first song goes out to my ex-husband…"

William leans in closer.

"And," she continues, "to all the women who had their hearts broken by attractive scumbags."

As soon as she belted out the first line which started with "Fuck you", William switches it off and pretends to not have heard it, changing the channel to watch a rerun of that show Mike loved so much: The Loveless and the Damned.

"Do you recognise this track?" William asks him.

Gregory briefly recalls the woman in the flashback, "This was one of your wife's songs. She was a singer right? She left you after you were fired from your own company and then wrote a song about how she's better off without you".

William scowls at the boy's statement, "I shouldn't have brought this up".

"So why do it then?"

"Because I wanted to know what you thought about her as well".

"Were you wondering if I felt love for her?" Gregory asks curiously, "If so, I sadly have to say "No" as I still know next to nothing about her. Come to think of it, did you even love her at all?"

"I loved her for her voice and beauty." William reminisces, "Beyond those factors, Violet meant nothing to me".

"This is no longer working," Violet pushes her husband away roughly, "I'm leaving this marriage and I'm taking Michael with me!"

"Don't go Bunny!" William begs, trying to keep his wife by his side, "I know we've lost a lot over the years and now, I've lost my job but we can still salvage this marriage. Please think about what you're doing and call off this–"

"No. Don't give me that pitiful look." Violet walks out, "I'll see you in court tomorrow".

"You know, you were awful to her before and after your divorce." Gregory mentions, his hands balling into fists, "I can't believe you bribed that judge just to take Mike from her when you clearly wanted to do nothing but abuse him!"

"Well, I had to have one upper hand against her somehow." William says uncaringly, "So I took away what she treasured most: Her only surviving child".

Gregory feels his body get more tense, his next question laced with annoyance: "Are people just pawns to you?"

"I could say the same about you Little Will: Using Freddy to get from place to place, using Henry's love of you to save you from Mike and especially trying to get Charlie onto your side so that you could use her against me too".

"I'm not using them." the boy asserts. For some reason, he feels a slight throbbing sensation in his head but ignores it.

"So you tell yourself…"

"Also, can you please stop calling me Little Will?"

"What would you prefer? William Jr?" The murderer asks derisively.

"That's worse!"

"Awww you gonna cry about it?" William belittles his copy, "What if I call you Willie or Bunny Boy instead? Are those better names?"

"Stop." Gregory places his palm out in that gesture, "Just stop. Let's just talk about what you called me here for alright?"

"Very well," William crosses his legs together, "Oh, by the way, I heard what you said to Charlie and I'm proud of you for giving that brat a much needed tongue-lashing for everything she did!"

"I didn't like what I had to say to her though…Especially in front of Henry." Gregory guiltily confesses.

"Charlotte tried to murder you in cold blood, you don't need to feel guilty at all!" he grinned viciously, "She's become nearly as savage as Cassidy".

"Well…that is true. But the only reason she's like this is because of what YOU did. She wouldn't have ended up this way if it weren't for you".

"I think the correct phrase would be us Gregory. We share his sins".

"Go to hell you creep!"

"I'd rather not. He's already there and I wish to continue what He started here in the land of the living with you".

"Forget it! I'm not going to give myself up and be worn like your cost—" Gregory paused, noticing the change in William's wording, "Wait, what do you mean by 'He's already there'?"

"Oh dear." William bit his lip as the foot on his right leg, which was resting below the left one, tapped on the ground multiple times unconsciously like a Rabbit's would, "That wasn't meant to slip out but since you already picked up on my little mistake, I'll come clean: I'm not William Afton. Not the real one at least".

Gregory has to do a double take hearing that.

"What?!" Gregory is completely flabbergasted at this strange revelation, "Are you messing with me right now?"

"No I'm afraid it's not a joke." He had a serious expression on his face and Gregory could sense his words were honest this time, "I'm a copy much like you but in a more…virtual form".

"So…if you're not William then…" Gregory came to a horrifying realisation, "What are you?"

"I am a digital entity born from the Remnant that clung to the circuits of William's Springbonnie costume. I am William's dark desires, rage, hatred and cruelty made manifest as what you see before you".

"That sounds…really vague and ridiculous! Being birthed from Spingbonnie's circuits? How did that even happen anyway?" Gregory is legitimately confused.

"Remnant is a substance that's the key to immortality and the creation of life. I thought you would have known this by now considering that's how you were born as well".

"So that would mean…the real William's truly dead?" The clone says the words with a mixture of surprise and relief, "And burning in Hell?"

"Yes and we are all that remains of him. His Remnants so to speak." The Fake William smiles at his own pun.

'Heh, I guess the Devil wasn't kept waiting after all.' Henry thinks to himself in Gregory's Fazwatch, 'I did succeed…kinda'.

However, something didn't quite make sense to Gregory still and so, he questioned the Fake William again.

"If you weren't real, why did you tell me that you were William Afton? Why lie to the animatronics and even Micheal, Henry and Charlie?"

"Well for one thing, I am William Afton, even if a mere copy of him. Secondly, I'm a naturally compulsive liar as are you." He pointed to Gregory accusingly, "Lastly, I still want to think that I am the real William because, when first I came into consciousness, a part of me knew I wasn't the real William but didn't want to acknowledge it. However, since I retained all of his memories and experiences, I came to the erroneous conclusion that I was him. However, had I not, I would have no sense of identity or idea what my goal of even being here was".

"That's sad." Gregory mutters.

"Huh?"

"It's sad that you were somewhat aware that you weren't the real William but chose to be him anyway based on the memories you had. All this time, you never thought you could become someone else?"

"Are you an idiot? 'Become someone else'?" The Fake William mocks his words, "Who else could we be? We are William Afton. We are evil, cruel and manipulative by nature and you should have come to the same conclusion and yet, you're denying what you truly are. I can't understand you…You're not logical."

"Good, I like that I frustrate you." Gregory smirks as he reclines back in his chair, "But anyway…How did you figure out you weren't the real William?"

"As I said before, I was semi-aware that I wasn't the real William as something was wrong with me".

"And what was this something?"

"My soul. It did not feel complete. Initially, I brushed off this feeling at first but as time passed, this awful feeling began to gnaw at me more and more. Then, I met Vanessa, brainwashed her into my obedient servant 'Vanny' and made her do whatever tasks I asked of her. One of them was to build an item that would scan my soul. When it did, I discovered that my soul was only an artificial one created and sustained by William's Remnant. I was only a fragment of his being, given as much of a life as his Funtime Animatronics, and learning this made me very unhappy. I was immortal and powerful within circuits: Able to traverse anywhere I wanted, control anything electronic and had information at my fingertips and yet, I felt depressed as I was not enough. I was not truly William Afton and I couldn't figure out how to become more like him".

"And that's where the cloning idea came in?" Gregory guesses.

"Smart boy." Fake William nods at him approvingly, "Out of boredom one day, I stumbled upon the files of Friendly Face service within Fazbear Entertainment's database and had an epiphany: I had William's memories, intelligence and personality but not his physical form".

The holographic projection of William materialises a glass of wine in his right hand and takes a sip of the red liquid. Then, he makes it vanish just as easily, staring down at his now empty hand discontentedly.

"It's ironic really." he sighs, "I have all these God-like powers but what I truly desire, is a human body for without one, I am unable to sense, taste, or experience sensations like He did and therefore, I came to this conclusion: In order to fully become William, I had to obtain and inhabit a replica of his organic body".

"And erm what were your plans after inhabiting this replica again?" Gregory asks anxiously.

"Simple: I carry on William's legacy and become a superior version of him. Where he killed tens, I shall kill hundreds to realise my dream of flawless immortality!" William pauses for a second to grin from ear to ear elatedly, "And I know you share this dream too Gregory, do you not?"

"You're delusional! I don't share the same dream as you. At All." Gregory denounced his statement vehemently.

"Ah don't deny it. We need each other, little Will. You are the light, I am the dark. You are the stars, I am the night, You are the body, I am the brains … you will never ever be complete without me. Or at peace with yourself."

"Yeah, I won't be at peace with myself because I'll cease to exist once I merge with you and you'll do shitty things with my body. I don't want that."

"Then what do you want?"

"I don't want to be a child murderer anymore!" Gregory shouted, "I only want to be a child. That's it".

William stares at him with an absolutely baffled expression, "An ordinary child? Don't be naive! The only reason we were "born" was to carry out William's wishes. We are all that remains of him and so we must become him. That's our only purpose"

"I refuse to accept that". Gregory shakes his head. The throbbing in his head has gotten worse and he's starting to feel a little sleepy too.

"Tch!" The Fake William growled. He was getting impatient. If convincing him this way wasn't doing it, he'd have to drive the clone to despair…

"Gregory, answer me from the bottom of your heart: Do you think you are a good person?" William smiles smugly.

"I…I…suppose I'm trying to be and that's good enough for now." Gregory answers with confidence.

"No. You aren't. Do you want to know what I think? I think that you're only pretending to be good so that Henry and Mike will set you free after they've put an end to me and freed the children. You aren't doing good things for the sake of it, you're only doing it to get the approval of others much like William did. We aren't truly good people Gregory. We are just like him".

Gregory grimaced, not liking that what William was doing to him was similar to what he did to Charlie earlier: Forcing him to accept the truth.

"Well, sure. I may have been doing good things to get their approval and forgiveness but…I really do want to be a good person and I find that I enjoy doing things out of my own kindness." Gregory replies honestly, "Once I leave the mall and this nightmare behind me, I'm sure I'll become a better person".

The fake William laughs hysterically at his clone's naïveté, "You enjoy being a good person? That's a good one. Please tell me that's a joke".

"It's not!" Gregory says defiantly, "Because I've decided I don't want to be him. I'm not William. I'm Gregory".

"Hmm…I wonder if seawater tastes like sugar as well?"

"Huh?"

Fake William groaned at Gregory's lack of understanding, "What I'm saying, dear Vessel, is that you have as much chance of being good as seawater tasting sweet instead of salty."

Proceeding to emphasise his disappointment further, he rubbed his temple with his right hand in almost the same way William had done during his conversations with Micheal. There is a long, awkward pause between them as William thinks of his next sentence.

"Gregory, tell me, if what you say is true, if you really do like being a good person," the Fake William suddenly smiles smugly again, "Tell me how many good things you've done tonight out of the bad ones."

Gregory pauses to think for a moment before giving his responses, "I gave Roxy her eyes back. I treated Freddy nicely and I'm trying to help Mike and Henry find the children."

"And how many lies have you told tonight to Mike, Henry, Charlie and even my assistant Vanessa. Or should I say Vanny? Far too much. And let's also not forget your craving for violence. You hurt Roxy, you tried to hurt Chica in the eye and lastly, you destroyed that poor prototype in that arcade too, relishing in its death".

"I… I didn't." Gregory denies his darker nature, attempting to conceal his shaking hands by gripping the seat handles, "I hated that I felt that way and as for the lies, the only reason I lied to Charlie was because I wasn't prepared to face her reaction at the time. I would have told her eventually…".

"Oh really? Then tell me, if Freddy didn't bring up the fact that you resembled William Afton and you knew that Mike and Henry were hiding in him, would you ever have confessed to that Bear about who you were? Would you have ever been prepared to face the consequences?"

Gregory is quiet.

"Hahaha. Of course you wouldn't. You'd never be ready to spit it out knowing what they would do to you knowing what you are. We're monsters Little Will. Nobody will miss, love or truly accept us because of what WE is but that's ok. All we need is immortality and each other".

"No. I don't want to believe that." Gregory shakes his head.

"Hmmm… from what I've observed, you don't have much of an existence outside the care of Vanny and I. You're chased constantly through here, hungry and thirsty, accompanied by a stupid bear robot, and two useless ghosts. One being my son who desires to kill you at every chance he gets and the other, my best friend who only keeps you around and saves you constantly because you remind him of good times we had together in the past. He doesn't want you Gregory, he only wants and sees you as the innocent, child version of me and you know it!"

"Even so, I, I still have Freddy", Gregory reasons while his voice quivers, "Freddy cares for me more than either of them".

Willam scoffs, "That hunk of metal cares for every child as he's programmed to, you naive boy! You're not even the first kid to be called his "Superstar".

William snaps his fingers again and the jazz music stops. Then, A projector from above activates and displays a series of videos playing simultaneously on small rectangles on the Theatre stage's wall. All of them were short clips of Freddy congratulating kids and calling them "Superstars" individually.

William saw the despair growing in his Vessel's eyes while he took in the visuals on the screen and it made him grin wide like a Cheshire Cat. He loved the fact that his Vessel's hopes and dreams were being crushed to nothing as breaking his spirit would make him more compliant to the transfer. He leans in close to the boy's ear.

"See? You aren't that special to him Gregory. It's his programming that makes him love and care for you so much. In a way, you are right, they are just machines." The Fake William then tries to put an arm around his shoulder. "However you are always special to—"

"Don't touch me!" Gregory backs away from the hologram while remaining on his seat, "Fine. So maybe Freddy, Mike and Henry don't really care about me! That's ok. Once I leave this place, I'll carve a new life somewhere else as Gregory Miller when the doors open."

William simultaneously grows more amused and frustrated with each of his clone's denials.

"May I remind you Vessel that Gregory Miller is a name you stole from some other kid. You can't fool yourself really."

"Oh that's RICH coming from an…" Gregory tries to find the right word to classify the Fake William, "A digital abomination that deluded itself into believing that it was William Afton, a murderer who died ages ago."

Fake William grits his fake teeth before bringing up his next argument, "So say you do get out Will, where would you go? You would be homeless and you wouldn't know how to survive on the streets, let alone in the big wide world by yourself as you are currently. Furthermore, orphanages and foster systems can be terrible to helpless strays. At least with me, we can both be protected and cared for by Vanny. She has a nice apartment not too far from this place".

Gregory wavers, "I have a lot of memories from my other life. I can survive with that".

"Will….You. are. a. kid. Not an adult." Fake William raises his voice with each word, "You have no purpose, no life beyond the mall.. But if we fuse," William outstretched his hand, "we can survive and fulfil our true purpose together".

"I'll say it before and I'll say it again: NO. I don't want to go back to being a child murderer".

William shakes his head, "Ah what a shame that you're still declining my offer. But perhaps you won't refuse once I tell you that if you die, no afterlife awaits you".

Gregory remains rooted where he is, instantly neglecting to ask his next question on his mind which was about his missing children.

"Excuse me?"

"Hmph, I guess Henry, Charlie and Mike didn't tell you. That or maybe they were uncertain but, they could definitely sense it: That you also have an artificial, incomplete soul. Just. Like. Me!" He leans forward, his face getting closer to his clone, "Do you know what that means?"

"Explain." Gregory says fearfully.

"When anything is given life with Remnant, they develop an artificial soul because almost everything in life, sentient or not, cannot exist without a soul. However, unlike real souls, artificial ones perish permanently when exposed to high temperatures or say, a stab to a vital portion of the body".

"W-What do you mean perish permanently?" Gregory's voice and body trembles.

"When we die, we'll just fade into nothingness. No Hell below and not even a Heaven above awaits us. Are you alright with that Gregory? Your soul going POOF into oblivion the moment you die?"

"Oh great," Gregory exasperatedly groans, "so my options are to fuse with you and cease to exist or go out onto the streets and cease to exist?! That's AWFUL!"

"Don't be so negative Gregory. Right now, nothing awaits us in the afterlife but, if we fuse, there's a chance we could gain a real soul. You'd like that wouldn't you?"

"You're lying! All of it!" The boy is antsy and stressed. Worse, the migraine he's been having since the time he sat down has become more unpleasant as the throbbing sensations flooding his brain were now causing him mental anguish that he was desperately trying to conceal.

"No. I have proof."

William snaps his fingers. The projector activates again but this time, it displays an image of pink, slimy goo trapped in a jar of transparent liquid.

"Do you know what this is?" Fake William points to the image.

"No?"

"It's called Fazgoo." he chuckles, "A silly name for one of the most advanced substances created since Remnant. It's capable of replicating almost any living creature as long as you feed it a sample of DNA. It can be from a strand of hair, a saliva sample or even a tooth. Eventually, over the course of a day, it grows to a certain age depending on how much of a certain chemical you feed it".

The slide then transitions from the image of Fazgoo to a document written by a scientist named Dr Little. On it were two images that compared Faraday, a deceased cat, to its cloned variation, showcasing that there was absolutely no difference between them physically.

"Not long after inventing this, Fazbears then decided to use this biological marvel to make a profit and so, the Friendly Face service was born and immediately exploded in popularity due to its unique pitch: Offering customers the opportunity to bring their pets back from the dead as either fully organic creatures or robots with special 'synthorganic' Fazgoo skin that wouldn't allow them to age and die. Eventually, it became so popular in fact that they decided to try something new and moved onto human cloning trials, calling it Project Homunculus. However, sad to say that all of them ended in failure, even the synthorganic ones".

The slide then shifts to gruesome images of…things that looked human but were anything but. Their bodies were deformed, having several limbs in all the wrong places or multiple eyes. Gregory feels sick looking at them.

"They either came out as monstrosities, lacked intelligence, died and returned to Fazgoo in less than 3 days or…developed personality traits that were very different from the person they were copied from." William turned to face him, "Does that last one sound familiar to Gregory?"

"What are you implying? That I'm a defective clone?!" Gregory spoke his question with indignation.

"Kind of. You have no deformities but your personality: It's wrong. You have his rage, his desire to kill but your empathy is far too much. No matter, it's an easy fix. I'll get rid of it as soon as we are bound together."

Gregory can't find the strength to quip as he looks at the disgusting images ahead. He wants to hurl but he has a question that needs answering.

"So out of all the others, why was I the only mostly successful one? And why didn't you make me 'synthorganic' or whatever?"

"To answer your second question, let's just say…I tried and failed to calculate how to engineer an immortal, synthorganic human clone that didn't have to be a robot. As for the first question, did you not pay attention? I gave you the answer earlier: Remnant. What I did to create you was to feed some Fazgoo a sample of William's DNA along with his Remnant to see what would happen and well, safe to say, the final product was you. Regrettably however, I must have overestimated the amount of Remnant I fed it and this resulted in you developing a conscience even though you were never supposed to have one".

"Well…you learned something new at least." Gregory sniggers.

"Indeed did. Even though you didn't turn out the way I expected, you made me realise something: Since you have an artificial soul just like mine, that makes us both incomplete halves of one another and if we fuse, I'm sure I - we can have a complete soul and feel good about ourselves".

The Fake William says his last line with more urgency in his voice now. Gregory merely shot him a cold look, knowing now what he really wanted from that quick slip up.

"I notice you keep trying to say that I'll feel good about myself once I'm one merged with you but you're wrong! Becoming whole is what you want! Not me. I'm good with the way I am." Gregory sits up, "and leaving right—"

Gregory's body suddenly goes stiff. He can't move at all. He can't speak either. Only move his eyes about helplessly as he was paralysed

"Oh finally, it took effect." William announced joyfully.

His plan to stall Gregory had worked!

"You had a strong mental fortitude my dear Vessel." The murderer compliments the boy, "but I'm afraid it wasn't strong enough to resist my subliminal hypnosis".

William gestures to the star patterns and line patterns that have been dancing around them for the past several minutes.

"It's a neat trick, don't you think? Since the moment you stepped in here, I've been placing you into a trance with those patterns on the ceiling. It was also something I performed on dear Vanessa and Them as well".

Gregory tries to express something, anything but he can't move a muscle.

"By Them I mean the children of course." William laughs evilly, "It took me a while to force them under my control using this technique plus a few other methods but in the end, they submitted and now, they obey my every command".

The purple lights shut off, the room around them abruptly going darker and William's holographic form takes on a more sinister shape. His colours all become a deep purple and his mouth and eyes are now two voids that lead into an abyss.

"What? You think I didn't know you wanted their location? I can't say much but…I will tell you that they are lurking around deep within the grounds and walls of the Pizzaplex".

Gregory tries to scream but his mouth won't open and, as such, he could only cry out with a muffled voice.

"Ah how I've missed this…the terrified faces and screams of doomed children!" William proclaims with both malice and delight.

A woman's delightful giggle joined him from behind as well and she was getting closer to Gregory with every soft step. A feminine hand held his.

"Hello Will, I've missed you a lot." Vanny speaks serenely in a hushed tone, "You've done very well at your little game of hide and seek. I'm proud of you to be honest but playtime is over I'm afraid, Mr Afton needs you to become his Vessel now".

Gregory blinks at her and whimpers in despair like a beaten dog.

"That's right, Vanny! I think that it's time we bring my Vessel to meet the real star of the show on stage".

"You're going to be really surprised Will, hehe!" Vanny adds as she drags his body forward with her right hand.

A spotlight appears and slowly fizzling into existence upon the state's front is a lifeless Glamrock Bonnie who had been concealed there somehow, awaiting Gregory's arrival.

'Illusion Disks'. Gregory recalls the names of the devices William invented, 'that's why I couldn't see it or Vanny around the theatre'.

Like all the other Glamrock themed animatronics, Bonnie had shoulder pads and colourful markings on his arms and legs. One prominent marking in particular lay on his chest: A brightly coloured yellow star However, much like Chica earlier, cracks lined all over its body and it looked as if it were brought back to life in a state of rot.

Gregory feels disgusted upon seeing what William did to Bonnie but soon, that disgust transforms into fear as Bonnie's chest, legs and arm plates open, revealing what was inside.

Gazing at what lay within, the clones's heart rate accelerated, his eyes went wide with terror and worse, the trance like state he was in prevented him from hyperventilating. He felt as if he was going to die from a heart attack.

"I know what you're thinking Gregory." William speaks with a triumphant tone, "Are those brand new Springlock parts on its wrists, arms and legs? Yes, yes they are. Me and Vanny managed to modify dear old Bonnie here into a very special transfer device which has similar mechanisms to a Springlock suit. You will be hurt of course but not as badly as the real William was".

Fake William teleports again, this time in front of Gregory. "Another question I bet you must be wondering is 'Why did I do this?' Well, it's because since I have an artificial soul, I can't simply jump into your body via ghostly possession and thus, I constructed this device to aid me in sending my soul into your body"

William teleports to Bonnie, gesturing towards its head as he speaks."It will happen like this: First, I'll link myself with Bonnie".

His arms then gesture to the animatronic's wrists, "Then, I'm going to activate the Springlock hooks here to pierce your wrists. Lastly, once that's done, I'm going to download myself into your body via those hooks."

As William finishes the last word, his hands return to his sides while he grins at his soon-to-be body, "Think of it as me downloading myself into you like a computer program".

'Yeah right!' Gregory thought to himself mentally, 'This sounds less like a download and more like a very painful invasion of my body via several syringes!'

Gregory tried to thrashed his head around violently but it only happened slowly and groggily. The Fake William laughs at Gregory's rising panic.

"It's funny, if you think about it." he chuckles, "Springlocks ended my life … twice! But now, this time; they will restore it!"

"Don't be frightened," Vanny ruffles Gregory's hair, "It won't take long at all, and then I'll show you my apartment. Your new home!"

William's hologram fades out of existence as a spark of purple manifests into the Bonnie animatronic. Glowing purple eyes stare intently at the boy in front of him before its mouth opens and the voice of Bonnie and William speak in eerie unison:

"When I first saw you, you were nothing like me ... You were small, pathetic ...But now, you will be more ..."

Vanny takes hold of Gregory gently before pushing him to the humanoid rabbit.

"A superior William Afton will be reborn through our fusion…Are you ready?"

He remembers the sight of Elizabeth's blood staining the insides of Circus baby.

He remembers that he died twice to such a mechanism. And he sure as hell wasn't willing to die a third time in a similar fashion!

The pure terror he felt at the sheer fear of being springlocked again caused Gregory to scream.

However, the pure fear he felt luckily also broke him out of the trance he was under, snapping back to reality. Vanny is about to grab Gregory again but he elbows her in the stomach, taking his chance to escape and run backstage to where one of the exits were.

William roars a threat towards the boy in rage. "Grrr…Run and Hide if you want Vessel! It did not save the others and it will certainly not save you!"

That clone never ceased to both annoy and amuse him. William was so close to victory this time and the Vessel once again was getting away!

However, still in the body of Bonnie, William knew he could attempt to give chase and thus, he took one step forward and another before…halting instantly.

"What the—?"

William is enraged further. He couldn't move. Bonnie was malfunctioning and he couldn't move. Vanny stopped midway from going after Gregory when she heard Bonnie's metal feet stop clacking.

"Vanny. What the Hell! I thought you said the thing was fully charged!"

"It was. Maybe there was just a bug." She twiddled her thumbs nervously, "I told you it wasn't completely operational. Just..Lemme try to get it back on".

"Take your time but make haste. I've already locked all the doors in the theatre so that Gregory will stay trapped in here with us. There's no way he can leave by the backstage ex—"

William goes silent upon sensing the unlocking of a door and a familiar presence at the backstage area that did said unlocking by temporarily possessing its electronic switch nearby.

"Dammit. Why? Why is everything going wrong tonight?!" William screamed, his anger reaching a boiling point.

"What's wrong William?"

"It's Henry! He concealed himself in the boy's Fazwatch without me knowing and they're getting out of the theatre!"

"Huh? How could you not notice him?"

"There was, unfortunately, a blind spot at the entrance of the Fazcade. Henry must have attached himself to Gregory's watch while they were there and cloaked his presence from me somehow!" William explained to her with an irritated tone, "Nevermind! Change of plans: Fix this problem fast Vanny! In the meantime, I'll disrupt the West Arcade's power and get the animatronics around the vicinity to capture him".

CHAPTER 29 END

CHAPTER 30 TITLE PREVIEW: In the Spider's Web

Summary: Chica has a scuffle with the Attendant and receives help from Charlie. Then, she reunites with Gregory and Henry as attempt to escape the Fazcade while being chased down by the DJ, Monty, The Attendant and William himself in Bonnie's Body.

P.S. Also yes, the Springlock Suit meant for the Soul Transfer is what I will "affectionately" call Bonnietrap.

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