Hey, everyone! Thanksgiving break is upon me, so I'm no longer burdened with a bazillion college papers. Time to do a chapter!
First off, I'd like to thank all of you for sticking with me, despite how long this story has taken to get here. We're almost at the end of this road, and getting ready to go into FNAF 4's story. When, I make no promises; I have to finish this semester before I think about long-term writing plans.
Second, I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving... And I hope I don't ruin the holiday with this chapter's content. Because this one, as several people I'm sure are already aware, is the painful one.
Here we go, folks.
I checked everything over once more, watching through the cameras and making sure to give the vent overlay a quick glance over as well. After a bit of searching, I froze up as I saw Springtrap standing in front of… What looked to be a lamp, made from a Foxy suit head. He didn't seem to be paying attention to me, so I idly tapped the 'play sound' button… And winced as Balloon Boy's laugh echoed through the room. Annoying, but it did get his attention as he twitched a few times, looking up at me.
"I-I…" He smacked the side of his head for a moment, before twitching a few more times. "Wh-where am I? What's going on? GET ME OUT OF HE-" And suddenly, he stopped short, smacking his head once more and shaking it. "…I do apologize, Mr. Redding. I hope you weren't too bored without my presence… It seems as though this particular body of mine has a few unexpected consequences to it. Such is the pain of using fully advanced AI with an organic endoskeleton, I suppose…" He grins menacingly. "Intelligence conflicts are difficult, but easily suppressed with the right application of fear and pain."
I paused to take that particular bit of information in, letting it process for a long few moments… Intelligence conflict? I shook my head for a moment, taking a seat and trying to think this through. If there was a conflict between Golden Freddy's AI and the physical body's mind inside Springtrap, then maybe I could exploit that… Possibly. I'd have to think for a moment, try to figure out who it was that did it. I knew it was the murderer, and I remembered what Springtrap had said…
Unbidden, I remembered a case I worked several years ago, before I was part of SWAT. I'd been assigned to investigate a serial murder case; apparently he'd been picking off young people from a local church at least once a month, and had worked up quite a body count in that time. The local sheriff was out of ideas, and the FBI was gonna be called in soon so I volunteered to give it one last look-over. The locals all had alibis; they had been either at the church or home with someone else at the time, and the last victim had walked home with a well-known and very quiet but pleasant person.
On a whim, I'd chased that lead down and had a talk with the individual. He seemed nervous, but pleasant enough. Like he was just as terrified by the whole ordeal, and wanted everything to just go away… I'd just gotten ready to leave, when I saw a bloodstained apron hanging up out back. He said it was from hunting… But after a closer look, I saw a human finger in the pocket.
Turns out he'd been killing people for a long time, and was able to put on a perfectly innocent, even nervous act that was good enough to even fool the polygraph. We'd gotten him checked out for multiple personalities, schizophrenia, and a host of other issues but it turned out that he was just that cold. Full-blown psychopath, and excellent at it.
This memory slowly drifted through my head, trying to connect with another… Someone in purple, good at acting, and able to fool everyone around him… Another memory travelled through my mind. Meeting with Mike, during my investigation into the last Freddy Fazbear's. His friend, Fritz Smith; he had a history with animatronics having been a security guard as well, he looked to be traumatized – even more so than Mike and I were. Granted that could be because we brought the fight to them, but… He wore a purple jacket all the time, even when he was pulling Mike's body away after the Marionette killed him. Come to think of it, he barely seemed affected by his friend's death… I'd shrugged it off at the time…
Wait. Something in those files that I'd found during that investigation… Fritz and Faz were actually acquaintances; after Faz left Fazbear Entertainment, he had left Fritz in a higher position within the company. More than a security guard, for sure…
Holy crap. It had to be. I turned to the screen, keying the intercom microphone and focusing on Springtrap. I opened my mouth to speak… Before the camera cut to static, and he disappeared, leaving the Foxy head's eyes glowing even brighter it seems… Memory fogged my mind once more as I remembered what had happened…
It was a month or so after the memorial for Freddy and Bonnie, and Foxy and I had basically decided to stick together. It was just the two of us left who remembered the incident firsthand, and we had been leaning on each other heavily in the aftermath, trying to support each other and prevent us both from falling into depression. To try and 'help' in his own way – as well as help his own reelection campaign – the city mayor had taken to inviting us out to speak at so many different public occasions. We'd turned him down for the most part – Foxy was still adjusting to everything, and I had never been much for public speaking anyway. But one day, there was a gala for a local homeless shelter, and we'd given in and agreed to come out as guests.
It had only supposed to be roughly an hour, maybe two hours long for a meal, a few speeches, and then we could leave. But instead, he asked both Foxy and I to speak; she declined politely, still fearing being in front of all of those people. I relented and stood up, giving a speech that was answered with rousing applause. Between that, and all the people that came by our table to thank us for saving the city on several occasions, we'd been stuck there until the event was finally shutting down. It was late, we were tired, and it was time to leave.
We rose, waving to everyone, and moved for the door… Before I was 'ambushed' by a horde of news reporters asking me for an interview. I told Foxy to go ahead and go out to the car and I'd be behind her shortly, waving for the mayor to come and bail me out of this situation. He came along as fast as he could, trying to wave the paparazzi away and get them to leave me alone. They followed me all the way out, and I could see Foxy getting in and starting the car. I turned away to tell the reporters to leave –
And then heard a blast from behind me, felt the heat hitting me from the back. I spun around in place, just in time to see the fireball rising from my car. I didn't waste any time, rushing to the burning wreckage… Only for the mayor to restrain me, preventing me from running into the flames. The fire department rushed out as well, putting the flames out as best as they could… And when I was finally allowed, I rushed to the wreckage.
My fears were realized as I saw her. Burned, decayed, and no longer holding any life. I cradled the decimated endoskeleton in my arms… And I screamed. I screamed, and cried, and wept openly for her death.
The only part that wasn't too damaged to recover was her hook.
The media caught the whole thing. A week or two later, an arrest was made after a well-known anti-AI extremist group took credit for the car bombing, leading to a raid on one of their local positions and the local leader being arrested. The others were found dead at the same location, with suicide notes reading they would rather 'die as humans than be subjected to the travesty of justice that never held these rogue machines accountable for their actions'.
The news passed on, and the mayor decided not to ask me to any more events after that out of respect. I retreated into myself, with nobody left. Even Adams couldn't get me out of my shell; I turned to the bottle during the day and sleeping pills at night to try and fight the waking nightmares away…
That had gone on for months, easily. Until I got the letter, the one from HIM. The one that had started it all, and made me come here… And, as I stared into the glowing eyes of the Foxy head on the wall, I knew what would be waiting for me when I looked back up. I didn't want to look… But I knew I had no choice. I folded the screen away, and looked up.
Sure enough, standing in the middle of the room, still twitching with large parts of her endoskeleton missing and looking burned and decimated nearly beyond recognition, was Foxy. Her eyes were glowing as they locked onto me, and I could only sit, frozen in place as she turned, twitching slightly.
"A-ALEXXX… WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME…" I was chilled by those words… And frozen in place for a long moment, before finally having to dive to the side as she pounced at me. One arm was missing from the elbow joint down, but she still had that hook… And she didn't hesitate to drive it through the back of my chair, eviscerating it with one good swing. I scrambled to my feet, grasping my machetes tightly as I faced off against her. She crouched down, brandishing her hook.
I made the first move, stepping in and swinging at her good arm's elbow, hoping to knock the hook off and finish the fight early. She eased over to the side, ducking down and tripping me, sending me hurling forward out of the office and colliding with the dummy Freddy sitting on the nearby stand. The head fell off, and I grasped it seconds before she pounced me again. I stuffed her muzzle into the opening on the mask, tossing her off of me and coming up with a series of fast kicks to her torso, managing to buy me some distance to fight with.
I decided to try and end the fight quickly once more, pulling my shotgun from my back and opening fire, sending blast after blast towards the phantom Foxy's midsection, trying to knock her power core offline. She jumped to the side, dodging every blast just in time… Until she was close enough to dive that hook into my arm, throwing my aim aside enough for me to waste the last shot, forcing me to drop the shotgun. I cried out in pain, before grasping at her hook arm and throwing her over my shoulder, managing to dislodge it from my forearm, hissing in pain.
She hissed back at me, her jaw snapping as she went for my throat this time. I gasped, jumping back and backpedaling as fast as I could, but she managed to get a bite in, her sharp teeth carving a nasty gash along my cheek before I could throw her off, drawing both of my magnums and opening fire.
I didn't even notice until both weapons were empty that I was screaming. In pain, in rage, and in fear, I had been screaming the entire time as I emptied my magnums, looking over Foxy as she lay there. Part of me hoped she was defeated… But, as I heard her whimper, I realized that part didn't.
"A-ALEX… Alex… Why…" I froze as I heard her sniffling and whimpering, before raising her head to look at me. She was still staring, with those glowing eyes and that mangled form… "Why did you leave me… Why did you let me die. I loved you..." She slowly rose, her eyes glowing brighter and brighter by the moment, her voice growing darker, more static-filled and distorted. "We were supposed to be TOGETHER, Alex… I LOVED YOU AND YOU LET ME DIE!" She pounced me once more…
I don't know why I didn't move. I had ample time to react, plenty of opportunity to evade, getting away from her and continuing the fight. But for some reason, I didn't move an inch, even as she plowed straight into my midsection, as I felt the pain of my head slamming into the tiled wall behind me. Even as I felt her slamming the blunt end of her hook into my midsection, I didn't move, even as her hook dug into my side, carving another gash into me, cutting across my chest and tearing up my shirt and jacket.
I'm still not sure why, but as I looked into her eyes… I felt it. I'd betrayed her, allowed her to die, and this was my punishment. Just like I deserved…
And then I heard it. That laugh. That dark, menacing laugh echoing through the building. Springtrap knew what was going on. He knew about the pain and anguish I was going through, and he was LAUGHING at me.
And just like that, I slowly began to push Foxy back. She hissed, snapping her jaw at me. "WHY DO YOU STILL STRUGGLE… THIS IS WHAT YOU DESERVE, ALEX! GIVE UP AND DIE!" She cried out, swinging her hook towards my head –
And I raised my arm, blocking the hit and wincing as I felt the impact. Nothing broken, but it still hurt as I looked into her eyes. "Because the real Foxy would never tell me to give up. The real Foxy would never expect me to lie down and die, would never blame me for what someone else did. The real Foxy would want me to END this, and make sure justice was done." Slowly I rose, removing my machetes from their sheaths once more, feeling anger filling me. "You aren't her. You try to kill me, try to get me to give up and die." I stared into her eyes as I climbed to my feet. "You spit on her memory with every word you say. And I will NOT ALLOW IT!" I charged her, anger propelling me forwards as I swung the blades into her mercilessly.
She screamed and roared in anger and pain as I cut through large chunks of her decayed suit and hit the endoskeleton beneath. I sheared off the rest of her bad arm, lopped off one of her legs from the knee down, and forced her back to a sitting position, looking up at me…
But it wasn't the phantom looking up. Her face was cleaner, and although her eyes still glowed that same ghostly color, her head was clean, looking like Foxy… My Foxy.
"A-Alex, stop… You're hurting me… Please…" I crouched down to her level, looking into those eyes and sighing. "You're hurting me… Why are you hurting me, I love you… Please…" I stopped, staring into those eyes and sighing as I shook my head.
"Foxy… I love you too. I'm sorry…" And I shook my head once more, before seeing her face flickering between the clean one and the phantom's withered one, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Foxy." I gently hugged her… Feeling motion from her arm as she moved that hook around, aiming it for my neck.
I grit my teeth, grasping my blade tight. "But I can at least avenge your memory."
With that, I swung my blade down, severing her hook arm at the elbow, sending it flying off. She screamed in agony and rage, the same way that all the other phantoms had. I'd found her weak spot, and with it gone… Slowly, the phantom Foxy began to smoke, dissolving into nothing but a pile of black, ashen sludge. I blinked a few times, and it was gone, leaving me bleeding from several wounds and exhausted.
I stumbled forwards, before feeling blackness cloud at my vision as my chest felt like someone had slid a blade into it, falling forwards. I groaned, being forced to crawl and pull myself forwards just to hit the ventilation reset, breathing slowly and trying to maintain consciousness as cool, fresh air began to pump into the room. I got a few breaths before slowly the pain receded, allowing me to climb back to my feet. I had nearly died from that one…
Slowly I began patching myself up, wrapping bandages around my bleeding sides and patching my cheek… Before looking back at the cameras.
Springtrap was a mere few rooms away from me now… And he was staring into the camera. "Color me impressed, Mr. Redding. I thought that last fight would be the end of you. Ah well… I must admit that I'm pleased to be wrong; after all, it means I can save the pleasure of ending you for myself to enjoy… Your final moments are coming, Mr. Redding. Prepare for your last battle."
I grit my teeth and punched the screen in frustration, before slowly rising. My shotgun was lost, no idea where it went. I was out of magnum ammo, so I dropped both pistols on the security desk. I checked my machete blades over; both were dulled, covered in a bit of my own blood. No matter, I tossed them on the desk as well and drew my twin batons.
I looked them over, smiling grimly to myself. How fitting… The weapons I used to start this being the ones I'll use to finish it. I'd been able to fight Bonnie, Chica, Foxy and Freddy with just these tools, I think I can use them once more to finish Springtrap off. I tossed my ragged coat to the side, preparing the batons as I finished patching myself up.
I checked my pockets; my surprises were still ready, waiting for me to activate them when it came time to bring the fight to an end. Grimly, I stared out the window, waiting for Springtrap to approach.
It's time to finish this nightmare. Whether I live or not, he's not leaving here alive.
Like I said. I apologize if this casts too much darkness over your holiday, but this chapter was important to keep emotional and painful. It's Alex facing off against a nightmare version of his lost love, after all.
Read and review, folks. Next chapter is the final battle.