Chapter Summary: After the nightmare fuel of a weird game of tag (Lily: It WAS a friendly game of tag, like old time sake...right Huggy? Huggy:... *looks away with a shrug* Lily:...I'm...just going to take that as a yes.) regaining parts of her memories and saving Huggy from his possible death, the two began to continue on with the help of Poppy to get out of Playtime Co. But an old friend has different plans in mind...
'...'
I...
What...
Happen...?
...Am I...on the floor...?
Why am I on the floor...
'...a...u...'
"Did we order something?"
"Playtime Co.?"
Oh...
That's right.
'...p'
We received a strange package from Playtime Co. A place that was supposed to be shut down ten years ago.
However...
"- is responding well to the experiments."
"Still needs food to function though."
"-6 seems to be working well without the need to eat. Perhaps with more testing -could have the same results."
"Are the test done yet? I want to go and play with - -. And the other kids."
The sounds of screaming and crying were heard as a man drag the child out of the building.
"NO! I don't want to leave! Please - take me back."
"This is for your own good -. Now stop fighting your making a scene."
"But I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to my friends."
"I don't care - let's go."
Forgotten memories of my past started to come back...
In the need to know who sent the package along with uncovering the strange letter, I went out in hopes of also uncovering anymore memories that could be tied to that place.
"Drive safely you hear."
"Will do. I'll let you know when I arrived at Ambers house. Take care till I come back, and try not to land in the hospital due to food poising from you trying to cook!"
"I make no promises! And watch out for the bears!"
"Got it!"
'...ke...'
Upon arriving to the site I quickly learn that this place isn't abandon as it seems.
"Why is there still power here?"
"Whatever it'll make looking around a bit easier."
...And that there are living beings still roaming around here.
"He's gone..."
I stood frozen to the ground as I look at the platform that used to have a 17 foot Huggy Wuggy standing in the center.
"What...?" I said in disbelief as I look at the empty platform with wide terrified eyes. "I...don't supposed the wind had caused that toy to move..."
When I first stumble across Huggy Wuggy I had a brief memory of him.
In it, it seem we were great friends.
However...like me...he didn't remember who I was.
'...ke...up'
"?!" I yelp in fear tripping on my feet falling to the ground as I stared up in horror as Huggy slowly made his way towards me. No longer was the friendly smiling Huggy Wuggy; instead he had an open wide smile showing off his maw of dozens of jagged needle-like teeth. And his eyes... God his eyes were much more dilated making him even more disturbing to look at.
Due to neither one of us remember each other Huggy acted on his security commands to get rid of any intruders and I, not remember him, ran to the open vents in hopes to get away. Running through those vents was probably the most frightening experience of my life! Though...as I ran I heard my younger self speak through.
"This way Huggy! Try and catch me~!"
"Missed me! Hahaha~"
'Looks like I win this round Huggy! So...what do I win?'
'w...ke...up'
Win I did. As pieces of memories rushed through my head of my time together with Huggy along with something else.
"ERR!"
"ERR!"
"ERR!"
"Lily! Oh thank goodness your still here!"
"Doctor...Amanda? What's going on?"
"Has there been any news on how 1006 escaped from his room."
"No sir. I believe I'll be inform once they get him back in his room."
"Hmm...perhaps he used the same trick as last time and got better results."
"Perhaps, it took some time till we notice that he was gone. It has been estimated that he was out for 12 minutes before the alarms went off."
"And you found him in Lily's room."
"Yes. He was on top of her ceiling sitting there."
"He didn't do anything to her?"
"No, if it wasn't for the fact that he made noise I wouldn't have notice until to late. I suspected he went through the vents as Lily's vent was open when I spotted him."
"Emergency Lockdown has now passed. Emergency Lockdown has now passed. Workers please return to your post. Emergency Lockdown has now passed."
"Wait! Why do you keep saying that I need to leave? The announcement said that the lockdown has passed right? Doesn't that mean it's okay for me to go back? I don't want to leave my friends here!"
"Lily. You must understand you are almost prefect. Too perfect to lose. And after today's events the higher ups have decided to remove you from the faculty until things have calm down."
"No...no no no NO! I don't want to leave! No! Let me go!"
"HUGGY!?"
After that sudden slam of memories I quickly grabbed onto Huggy just as he was about to fall off the rail to his doom.
"Huggy it's me, Lily, remember! I know it's been some years and I've grown, but it's me! Remember that time you tried to save me from that man."
Shouting out who I am and the time he tried to rescue me from Doctor -, who I now call 'Uncle', it would have seem to spark memories back to him as well. And thus, Huggy, had joined me in the quest of 'finding the flower' and a possible way out.
When we got there...
We found a doll...no Poppy...sealed in a glass case.
I don't know why I did it...
But...
I open her case...
The dolls eyes blink open at the same time the lights flicker.
The room suddenly going dark with the sound of glass breaking.
Huggy body suddenly covering mine.
And a female voice broke out through the dark room before everything went to black.
"...You open my case..."
"Wake up!"
"*Gasp*!" My eyes snapped open vision blurry, as I try to regain composer. Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm down my beating heart, I felt around me noticing that I'm laying on the floor.
Did I...pass out just from opening Poppy's case?
I felt something hairy and soft moving above me.
What...?
Vision slowly going back to normal, I see a blurry face looking down at me with dead fish like eyes and a smile right in my face.
"..."
"..."
"...!?"
Needless to say my next action was within my right as I immediately swung my fist punching whatever was looking down at me.
THWACK!
I realized a second too late that it was Huggy looking at me in concern, when I heard him yelp in pain.
Oops.
I guess he was trying to wake me up when I passed out after freeing Poppy from her case.
ANYWAY, I need to go back and apologize to Huggy from hitting him. Though, he should have known better then to be directly in someone's face when they are passed out and slowly coming back to themselves! ("I am so sorry Huggy! I really didn't mean to hit you! Honest!") In my defense he was asking for it. ("Aw come on, don't be that way! I said I was sorry!") Also I'll take this as a slight payback for the nightmare fuel that will haunt me for life that he gave me back in the vents.
After getting Huggy to finally accept my apology and reassuring him that I'm fine. And that I probably had passed out due everything that has happen in the past hour have finally caught up to me. And no Huggy it wasn't your fault...for the most part. Obliviously I didn't say that part out loud.
"So...where's Poppy?"
I looked around the room, that was a bit darker since most of the lights here are broken due to whatever happen upon opening her case. It's really weird how much damage the lights took just from opening it. I took a quick scan around the room, only seeing a dresser, a bench and a couple of pillow scatter around the room; but no Poppy in sight.
When I look back up to Huggy - who was also looking around- he glance back down and shrugged his shoulders.
"You didn't see her leave?"
He shook his head before tapping right where my heart is with a frown on his face.
"Oh." I blinked "You were too busy looking after me to take note on where'd she gone right?"
He nods, smile back on his face.
"Well...she couldn't have gone far - not with how small she is - and with no other exits around here, we'll probably find her quickly."
Someone that small couldn't have gone far right?
Heading back to the main room of - to which I'm guessing is Poppy's room/house (?) I don't know, I'm still trying to figure out why there is a room like this in here in the first place. I paused in my step looking around and noticing a couple of things. First the dresser that was blocking the door is tilt over on it's side, like someone knock it down. And second, the hallway that lead us down here is know closed off by a bunch of drawers, cushions and the rocking horses that were in the room, all piled up blocking the way from where Huggy and I originally came down from.
"How in the..." I looked over at Huggy. I know he said he was looking after me but I need to be sure. "Did you do this by any chance?"
Huggy looked around the room, in confusion as well before shaking his head. Making some hand gestures of holding his hands above his head, letting them flapped down as if it was hair before holding one hand down at a certain height.
Tilting my head as I pounder on what he is trying to tell me. "Are...you talking about Poppy?"
He nods.
"Huh." I looked at the dresser and block entrance one more time "I have a hard time believing something that small can do this, but we were the only three in this room. Not to mention despite how you look Huggy, you manage to bust down a metal door with only two hits." Giving his lanky figure it's hard to image he can do a lot of damage, but I did witness him busting that door down with no hesitation. His chest puffed up in pride upon hearing that "So...I guess it's possible. Once we find her I'll ask about that."
Moving over to the door, I silently question to myself ('Wasn't that door blue? Why is white?'), opening the door I nodded my head to Huggy, letting him go first as he needs to crouch down to get through. For visualization he basically has to get on his hands in knees to squeeze through the door. Again a bit of a funny sight to see. Closing the door behind me I look down the hallway seeing two painting on both sides of the wall. On my right was Bron and on the left was Huggy both doing a happy pose. I huff lightly under my breath as we walked down the hall. Cute.
Approaching the two doors on either side of the hall, I check them both finding lock.
'This way...'
"Eh?" I looked around upon hearing a whisper of a woman's voice. Okay. I know I suddenly hear things, due to something sparking a lost memory, but I can tell the difference between a memory and something else speaking to me.
...Well I hope I do.
"Hey Huggy, did you by any chance hear a voice say 'This way'?"
He looked down at me confused shaking his head 'no'.
"..."
Maybe it was a memory...?
Though something tells me it wasn't.
Moving further down the hall we came across a three way coriander. In front of us was a room with a red door with the name plate Elliot Ludwig written on top. That's the founder of this place if I recall, is that his office? What's it doing all the way down here? And it's pretty close to Poppy's room too. On our left is a closed metal shutter blocking our way to continue, but the one on the right is open.
"Hmm..." I walked over to the hall on the left (passing by another dead toy with blood splatter all around it. At this point seeing blood is hardly fazing me anymore) looking up at the two padded screens, taking note that they are turn off.
"*Sigh* Lovely..."
Welp, looks like I'll be looking for a power source... again.
Looking back down to see through the metal gate, I was surprise by what I saw.
"What the hell!?" I gasp in disbelief at the sight before me. "There's a giant hole in the floor! How are we suppose to go through that?"
Maybe we'll get lucky and don't have to...
I felt Huggy crouching down a bit behind me, to get a better look through the gate and felt him let out a huff in surprise too at the sight. I don't think he'll be able to do a running jump to get across that, even with me in his arms, the hole is just to big.
Feeling something tapping at my shoulder, I looked up to see Huggy frowning before he pointed at something through the gate. Looking closely I spotted something like a handrail attach to the ceiling in the center of the hole.
"Oh! Nice catch, Huggy. Maybe I could use the Grab-Pack to swing us to the other side."
Huggy nodded in agreement.
"But uh...how are we going to do that?" I question looking back down at the hole. "We basically have one shot to get it right, or it's game over for the both of us." He shrugged looking confused as I am.
I let out a low sigh, letting go of the shutter "Guess we'll think of something once we get the power back on to this thing." Turning around, I passed the door to head to the other side of the hall; but I was stop in my tracks by Huggy. I looked over to him questionably as he pointed at the door, tilting his head, as if he is asking me why I haven't gone in there.
"It's more than likely the door is lock... like all the other doors I ran into this building." I told him "I want to see if there was anything on the other end first. If we don't find anything I'll check the door out, and if it is lock we can just break the door down. Don't worry I want to check out that room too, but right now we need to find the power source if we want to move on." He looked at me and then to the door before removing his hand from my shoulder.
Nodding my head we continued down the hall we stumble across something similar to the other hallway, but this time the hole is small and we can see the floor. Really I could just Huggy, if he could carry me to the other side as it would be no trouble for him; however...
"I think...we just found the key to our problems, Huggy."
Huggy nod in agreement before looking at me in confusion.
"Hang on, I need to think for a moment..." I began to mutter to myself. "If I do this...then try that...we could maybe do that next...Mmmm, got it!" I exclaimed pounding my fist into the palm of my hand, looking up excitedly at Huggy. "Okay listen up! What I'm going to do first is to test out the swing on my own to get the feel of it. I'm going to need you to stand in the middle in case I fall. Last thing we need is me breaking something. Next, once I got the swinging down we'll then do it together; were you'll hold onto me as I swing us across. We might need to try different holding position and see which one is comfortable. Sound good?"
Huggy was silent for a moment processing the sudden information that I had dump on him before he agreed with a thumbs up, and stepping down to the bottom floor looking at me.
"Okay. Ready?"
He nods.
Taking a deep breath in, I step back a bit, before taking off in a sprint - right before I get to the edge I jumped shooting the red hand at the bar. 'Nice!' Though my achievement was short live, as the moment I began to swing up the red hand suddenly let go of the bar.
"Shit!" I cursed as I fell backwards to the ground, luckily Huggy was standing there in case something like this happen as he safely caught me in his arms. "What the heck...?" I looked down at the red hand. "Crap, is there seriously something wrong with it?" I question as Huggy put me back to the other side. I looked over at the ladder and shot the hand at it - grabbing and releasing a couple of times - taking note that the hand locks up at random times.
"Oookay. We are defiantly not using this hand unless its for opening a door." I said. "Bummer, and this is my dominant hand too. Looks like we'll be sticking with my less dominant hand and pray for the best."
Trying it again with my left arm this time with higher success, I told Huggy that I think I got it down and now we should practice with the two of us together. So, our first couple attempts we had ourselves face to face, and while it did work there were some problems to this method.
1) Huggy is way taller than me, who stands at the 5'5" compared to some who is straight up 17' tall (and if you do the math's that'll make him 11'5" taller than me), so that would mean his back is facing the hole with me being the eyes to direct where to walk.
Okay, not bad...to a degree.
Problem 2) His legs.
Again with his height. He would be running backwards and jumping at the right time for me to get the swing just right. And while that did work, the problem was that his legs had caught the edge making us fall to the ground...and almost slide down the hole. Which we do not need!
3) A solution to that would be him basically wrapping his arms and legs around both our bodies. Now Huggy may have very long arms and legs, however his torso is about the same size as me, so that wouldn't be a problem in wrapping his limbs around us.
The problem was our companied weight, and the fact it makes moving the Grab-Pack a bit harder. We didn't even get to try the swing as the weight of Huggy and the pack cause me to...well...basically face plant to the floor; but more with Huggy once again landing on his back sparing my face a broken nose.
Quick to say that position was quickly scrap.
Mainly for Huggy's poor back then anything.
Now the next one we tried had much better results.
For this one I had my back to Huggy's chest, with his arms wrapped around my waist and his torso providing a secure grip between the two of us. This way he has a better view on when to jump and even better; he can lift up his legs so they don't smash against the ledge. Plus he can land on his feet if I toss us far enough for him to do so.
With that problem out of the way, we march on to the next room. However...
"Keep going..."
"!?" I suddenly paused in my step at the sudden - much clearer - female voice and because of my sudden halt Huggy had bumped into me. Luckily he caught me before my face hit the ground. "Thanks, and sorry about that." I said "So...um...you heard that voice this time too, right?"
He nods looking around the hall as if he was trying to search where the voice came from. And I don't know if it's because he can't tell where or who said it; his face suddenly change back into his 'attack mode', as I recently dubbed it. He proceeded to walk in front of me after making a 'stay put' gesture with his hands and walked into the other room.
My only guess is, he is checking out if he can find the source of the voice and see if it's a threat or not. If I'm going by this correctly in Leith tape, Huggy acts something like a security to the factory. So of course if someone else is here (other than me) he would go and well...(flashback to the vent chase.)...yeah...he would do that.
I did lose sight of him as he turn to the right followed by loud banging sounds and seeing a couple of metal barrels being thrown across the room; followed by a very loud bang of a door being thrown off its hinges. I blinked multiples times looking down the hall in bewilderment as to what I just saw and heard.
The hell...?
Before I could even call out to him, Huggy came back out of the room. He still had his open mouth smile, though his eyes were not dilated anymore, to which I'm guessing it means that while he didn't find a threat his guard was still up in case something did happen. That voice had to come from somewhere after all.
"So...Uh...it's all clear in there?" I asked when he approached me.
He nods then holds out his right hand.
"Hm?" Looking down I see that he was holding a large key with a poppy flower welded on top. "A key?" I pick it up examining it much closer, it probably goes to Elliot's room if I had to guess. "Thanks. Was there anything else in there? Like a power source or anything?" He shook his head 'no' in response. "Alright guess we can go check out that room then."
Opening the door, I wasn't all that surprise by what I saw - given the fact I had originally suspected that this was an office room. What surprise me the most was the lack of dust in the room. Sure there where some places (like the Gift Shop) that had some dust, but this office was closed off and abandon for who knows how long. I would have thought to at least see some speck of dust on the shelves or the desk in the room.
Either way I looked around the room as Huggy stood outside, still on guard, taking note of all of the kids drawings hanging on the wall. There where a couple of things that stood out to me. One was one of the vents door in the room is on the floor. Second was the bigger vent with hand prints painted on it (Why are there hand prints on it) with it being push back out from the wall a bit.
"Am I supposed to use the Grab-Pack for this thing?" I wonder out loud as I looked over the desk, spotting a tape (that probably goes to the tv in here), a note underneath it and a blue print of a toy.
"Hmm..." I picked up the letter and began to read it.
Experiment 814
What...?
Experiment...?
Notes:
-This experiment utilized alive rat
-Rat was fed 3 portions daily for 2 weeks
-At end of the two weeks. The rat was killed and submerged into a Poppy flower and preservative gel mixture.
-1 week later, an electric shock was applied to the rat (still in the gel) in an attempt to revie it.
-The rat remained unresponsive.
Well yeah, it remained unresponsive. You've killed it. Once it's dead, it's dead there's no coming back from that. And what did he mean by preserving it with a poppy flower? What does a poppy flower have to do with any of this?
Analysis:
I still believe in the potential of the poppy flower. Its unusual properties lead me to believe that the
proper mixture and procedure could have life altering properties. The poppy flower has
for a long time carried heavy symbolism, and I don't believe that's for no reason.
Perhaps something larger than a rat would yield different results.
"...What...?" I reread the paper even more confused. The properties of a poppy flower, experiments, test on bigger things than a rat. Just what the hell was this place even doing. I glace up to look over at Huggy, who had his back towards me, standing guard, as he looked around the halls; and a brief memory of the black tape we watch before entering Poppy's room comes to mind.
Experiment 1006.
Something larger than a rat...
"...humans..." My eyes went wide in shock as the paper slipped out of my hand. "They've...experiment on humans..." I whispered as the realization hit me like a truck. But how could have they done that without anyone noti-the orphans. Playtime Co. also became an orphanage back in its time. If something happen to a child they could have played it off as if they got adopted or something, no one would be non the wiser.
And I was one of them.
Flashes of an operating room appeared in my head followed by the strong smell of iron. Oh dear god I'm going to be sick.
And sick I was, as I immediately bent down next to the trash can and threw up whatever content was left in my stomach.
The sound of me hurling, had Huggy turning around in surprise as he tried to squeeze his way in the small room. I stopped him before he could enter, holding my hand out as I shook my head.
"I'm...I'm fine, Huggy..." I panted spitting into the trash, shakily getting back on my feet wiping the drool of my chin.
Hah! Yeah right. That's probably the biggest lie I've ever told. I am in no shape or form 'okay'.
But how am I supposed to explain to him 'oh hey I just found out Playtime darkest secret! You want to know what it is? Well, buddy, they've been experimenting on children! And I was one of them! Haha, funny story right?'. Yeah that'll play over well. Hello mental hospital this is Lily checking in for a possible...permeant stay. Though I've had glimpse of my time in that room, I luckily don't remember all of it...and I think that's one memory that I don't want to recall at all.
Huggy, who was still squatting down at the doorframe, look over at me with concern. I saw his mouth open and close a couple of times, before letting out a huff of frustration. Given the fact that he can't speak, beside any grunt or growls coming out of him, it probably is frustrating for him to not speak his concern to me.
I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but I can tell it was force and giving by the look on his face it wasn't working. "I promise I'm fine...It's just...well *sigh*" I let out a deep sigh scratching my head as I looked over to him. "Huggy, can I ask you something?"
He frowned before slowly nodding his head.
"Do you...remember who you were before coming to be Huggy Wuggy?" I slowly asked him. I have to know. No I need to know if what I had previously thought was true or not.
Because something like Huggy or Poppy, hell 1006 shouldn't be possible without some sort of experimentation involved. Whether they used actual human beings or not is something I don't want to cross just yet. I mean they could have used bigger animals instead of humans, though it doesn't explain Huggy behavior as he strikes me as more of a human behavior than that of any animal that I know of. He can understand everything I tell him and knows how to read, and, even though he can't speak, he can communicate really well. Definitely not something you would see from an animal.
But what if it was a combination of both. Sure Huggy as I have stated he has some human traits - I remember seeing some human teeth in his mouth (and admittedly I didn't give it too much of a thought)...but there are other -sharp- teeth in there. And Huggy behaves very well and can clearly think; though his grunts and growls don't sound like a human. In fact it could be from some animal. There are other animals that are bigger than a rat. Perhaps they did use other animals before switching over to a combination of both. Maybe to see if there were better results in the mixture before going straight to humans.
I don't know...and I don't think I want to know the answer to that.
I watched Huggy frown deepens as he held a hand to his chin, his eyes flickering around the room; looking as if he trying to think back as far as he can. Whatever it was he look back to me and shook his head.
"I see..." I mutter "What about experiments? Like do you remember being operated on?" At that he nods his head.
Okay...so he doesn't remember who he was before becoming Huggy Wuggy, but he does remember being experiment on. Could the trauma factor in in not remembering who he was before? I don't know...and I'm not an expert in that field. Either way, it does tell me that something shady was going on in this building.
"Right...well, thanks for answering my questions." He nods before giving me a questioning look "Oh! Well just curious is all. I'm, uh, going to play this tape now before moving on to find that power source. Yeah...that is what I'm going to do..." I trialed off awkwardly, picking up the tape after grabbing the letter and the blue print with the title 'Love Bug' (Is this supposed to be a new toy? Don't recall seeing it on the wiki site) putting them in my bag, I head over to the tv placing the tape in the player.
"Playtime Co. is the product of a great man, by the name of Elliot Ludwig."
Side note...just how many times am I going to hearing that name? And why is his face covered in the video? Now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing any photo's of him on the wiki.
"Divorced, but a family man at heart. His sights were always set on brining amazing toys, to amazing children around the globe. Ludwig spent countless hours in the factory, working overtime relentlessly in an attempt to continuously innovate and surprise. In the 1960's, an unfortunate family death had pushed Ludwig down to his lowest."
My eyes narrow at that last statement. As I thought...the death of child must have brought on whatever Playtime was doing behind the scenes. Plus that note that I read, if I'm going by it...Elliot was probably trying to find a way to bring his kid back to life. I guess he couldn't get over the sudden lost of his child, to which I could understand, but one really shouldn't try and play God by bring the dead back to life.
"But with so much ambition, he rose back up and continued to fulfill his vision for the Playtime Co. toy factory. Ludwig could never be content on leaving a project unfinished, but just how did one man come to create such an astounding empire? How did he manage to stay determined, even after suffering such a tragic loss?"
He didn't. He just set his goals to something else.
"It all began in the faithful year of 19-"
The tape was suddenly cut out by the static, prevent me from hearing the date.
"Damn it." I cursed under my breath. That date could probably helped me dig around online to get some context clues. Digging around my bag I pulled out a printed paper of an article that I had found.
-ELLIOT LUDWIG-
Playtime co was founded in 1930 by the brilliant Elliot Ludwig.
"Yeah, yeah, we get it. He was a genius man who also did some - probably- illegals experiments."
Like his namesake, Ludwig was a visionary and creative genius. Ludwig devoted every waking second
of his life to bring joy to children. However, this relentless work ethic came at a cost to his personal life,
as his wife Molly divorced him in 1930.
"Huh so that's his wife name... but wow...creating a toy company and getting a divorce in the same year. Looks like he had some up and downs."
Despite this, as well as an unfortunate family death occurring later in his life, Elliott never stopped creating
Ludwig revolutionized the toy industry and brought happiness to millions. The world will never be the same.
"Hmmm..." I ponder rereading the article again.
Playtime Co. was founded in 1930 and Ludwig got a divorce in the same year. He suffered a tragic loss in the 1960's, so that is a 30 year time gap. Despite my digging I couldn't find anything regarding his children - that is if he had more than one - and it wouldn't have matter the age, a child is still a child to the parent. It could be possible he lost a child or maybe a grandkid.
I frowned "But the tape and article are making it sound like they were really close to Ludwig..." A loss of a grandkid would be devastating but a child would be twice so...well...in my opinion that is. "What about the Playtime Orphanage?" I don't recall the date when Playtime also became an orphanage, but maybe Ludwig had adopted a child and that spark him into adding a facility for the other orphans. It's possible the orphanage was built with good intentions, however, the loss of that child could be what spark him to go down a dark path; and the orphanage turn to something else.
"Now that I think about it...Poppy was shown to be the first intelligent talking doll. But I couldn't find when that was first announce. Poppy was created in the year 1950...but when was the talking Poppy created?"
It could have been around not long after the child passed away and he wanted to find away to resurrect the kid. Poppy at the time was the only doll they made so far...and it looks like it work seeing that Poppy is moving around and we have a living breathing Huggy Wuggy too. In Poppy's commercial it also state that she is the first intelligent doll that could actually have conversations with. If she can speak like a normal person then there no way it could have been done with a pre-recorded chip - did they even have that back then?. Whatever, I shook my head, that's not the main point. Something was used in making Poppy, when ever the talking doll was actually made and that timely death of a child can't be just a coincidence. I remember Poppy stating that she is a 'real' girl just like us. Emphasizing on the word 'real girl' in her speech.
"Man..." I groaned rubbing my forehead. "There just not enough information to get a concrete idea of just what is going on here. Maybe there something online I could look into..." I pulled out my phone to open up a browser. "It'd be great if I can find out when Playtime decided to also become an orphanage. It'll help in figuring out if it was an actual blood related child or an adopted one. Actually...maybe I could look back in his wiki, maybe I missed something the first go around. Now, that I think about it that note said something about the history of the poppy flower. Guess I should look into that as well...HUH!?" I balked as I looked closer at my phone seeing the words 'no signal' written up top. "No way...are you kidding me!?"
No signal, but how? I remember seeing bars before I enter here! Is it the fact we are underground that is blocking it?
"*Sigh*" Letting out a deep frustrated sigh as I shove my phone back into my pocket. "Who would've thought that my words to Uncle would be thrown right back at me..." I mutter walking over to the bigger vent. "Alright...this is the last thing we need to check out. The power source is probably behind it." Shooting the cannons and pulling the vent down enough to make a make-shift ramp for me to walk on, I look into the vent before turning around facing Huggy. "Hey, I'm going to check out if the power source is back here, think you can stay guard till I get back?"
He look at me with concern look in his eyes.
"I'll be fine." I reassured him "If the vent is to long or there are many turns, I'll come back around and get you." Still staring at me he slowly nods his heads and pulls back out of the door frame to stand guard. "Alright." Hopping in the vent I made my way down the slope, that will thankfully let me climb back up. On the bright side it wasn't a far walk to get to the other end. Popping my head out, I see what looks like a store room of sorts. Looking down to the right, I spotted two power poles to attach if I want to turn the power on. "Sweet! Looks like I found it. Better go tell Huggy, before he changes his mind and makes his way down."
But before I do that I needed to see if I can find a safe way down and back up. Glancing down I see a pile of boxes that I could hop on and right above me is a handrail that I can grab and pull myself back up. "Well, that takes care of everything." Turning back around I made my way up the vent. "Hey Huggy." I called out to him. "I found the power source, I'm going to go and get it back on." He nods as I turn back around.
"Oof!"
Stumbling a bit when I hopped down the vent I looked around the room to see where I need to start the power line. Just as I was walking further into the room a loud crashing sound echo throughout the room.
"Shit!?" I curse jumping back a bit upon spotting the cardboard box that was on top of the shelf suddenly fall down, and standing where the box was the missing doll, Poppy.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She apologized rubbing her head in a sheepish manner.
"No. No it's okay." I told her as I try to make my heart stop pounding a mile a minute. "What are you doing up there anyway? Huggy and I were trying to find."
"Huggy, huh? Oh, that's right he was with you..." She mutter.
"Huh?"
"Oh nothing, important!" She quickly told me "Anyway I was up here to the get the power back on. Didn't mean to make you guys look for me, I had plan to meet up with you once I got this place up and running again - to save some of the trouble. However..." She look at the power source "it would seem that I don't have the necessary tools to start it. Here." She moved out of the way, showing one of the control panels. "The other one is inside the metal cage."
"It is?" Looking over at the metal cage and yep the second panel is in there. "Alright, that saved me the trouble to look for it. Just give me one sec." Shooting the blue hand to the first panel, I proceeded to wrap the cord around the two poles before moving over to the cage; firing the red hand at it. Upon here the sound of the power coming on I release the hold of the cannons brining back both hands.
Walking back out of the cage, I heard Poppy clapping her hands. "Great job, Lily!" I blink in shock upon hearing my name coming out of her mouth. She knows my name? I mean, I guess she would if I grew up here; however nothing is triggering any memories unlike with Huggy. "I also wanted to thank you for freeing me. I was stuck in there for so long. So thank you, Lily." She bowed her head.
"Oh! It's, uh, no problem Poppy! But uh..." I didn't get to finish what I wanted to ask her when she turn around hopping back into a smaller vent behind her.
"There's a train station nearby." I heard her voice echoing through the vent "It needs a code and I have it. We're gonna get out of here, as soon as you get on up here. Heh." She pops out from the other side of the vent next to the one I had jumped out of.
"Oh, okay." Climbing up on the boxes I shot the blue hand to the guardrail pulling myself up back into the vent.
"Head back to Ludwig's room, I'll meet you there." Poppy told me as I heard her feet tapping in the vent.
"Alright then...maybe I can ask her when we actually meet face to face."
Climbing back through the vent I hopped out, looking around the room trying to find Poppy.
"Hey, I'm up here! I see you *giggles*" I looked over to see her standing in the vent that had its door knocked down. Guess that explains how it got down, but how did she get in this room when it was lock? Was there another vent that she used to get to this room? "I should be able to follow you through the vents, this way." She waved as she turn around walking back into the vent.
Okay...guess we'll just follow her to the train then.
"Hm?" I looked over to the entrance to see Huggy bent down with his open mouth smile - hand on the doorframe, as if he was ready to burst into the room, head tilted to the direction of where Poppy was speaking. It didn't take me long to realized that he was ready to come in here and attack Poppy. "Woah, hold on there buddy!" I quickly exclaimed holding both my hands up. "It was just Poppy! I ran into her back in the other room. She only here to help us get out of here, I promise. There's no need to be on defensive side."
He looked at me eyes moving up and down as if he was searching for any injuries. Upon seeing that I was perfectly fine his face went back to normal and moved out of the doorway, allowing me to pass through.
"Oh..." I paused in my walk holding a finger to my chin as I looked up "Now that I think about it, Poppy spoke more adult like with some childish tone mix in there..."
I heard Huggy let out a confuse noise. "Nothing Huggy." I shook my head looking up at him "Just a random thought that crossed my mind is all. Now, as you have heard, I found Poppy and she says there's a train station nearby that will take us out of here." I explain to him as we made our way to the closed gate. I am curious as to why there is a train station here, just how big and deep is this place. "She wants us to follow her to the train, since she has the code and all. I should probably ask her what it is, in case something happen and we get separated and all." Getting the gate back up the two of us into the other hall looking at the deep pit before us. Taking a deep shaky breath and slowly exhale to calm my nerves, I looked up at Huggy. "Ready?"
His eyes look down at me then to the pit before nodding. He bent down picking me up as he wrapped his arms around the both of us, giving it a slight squeeze to make sure his hold around me is tight. Walking back a couple of steps he look down at me waiting for me to give the signal. Letting out a shaky breath feeling my heart beating a bit to fast for comfort, for a good reason too! One slip up and it's game over.
I slowly nodded my head. "Alright...let's do this!" And pray for the best as we only have one shot at this. No pressure or anything!
Without wasting a single second, Huggy took off running and jumped as far as he can from the ledge. I swear my heart almost jumped out of me as we flew over the pit, you literally can't see anything at the bottom besides darkness. Quickly taking aim I shot the blue hand to the rail, holding the trigger button tight as to not accidently let go of it, we swung across and landed on the other side safely on our feet. (Huggy's feet not mine).
"Oh thank God!" I sigh in relief as Huggy put me back down. "I hope we don't have to do that again." Huggy nods his head in agreement. "Alright, let's go and meet up with Poppy...Huh?" I stop in my tracks upon faintly hearing someone humming a song. "Is she humming?" I asked out loud, while Huggy just shrugged his shoulders. "Guess we'll find out when we get to her."
Continue on down the hallway I open the door to see Poppy, who was indeed humming, standing in front of a giant hole. A quick glace around the room showed that all path ways were block. I internally groan as I approach Poppy, don't tell me we have to go down that hole. And here I thought we avoided all that!
"Hey Poppy."
Poppy stop humming turning around to face us, her eyes lit up upon seeing us. "Oh, good! You both made across."
"Yeah somehow we pulled through." I nod stopping in front of her, I sat down on my knees so she didn't have to tilt her head so far up. Now that I got a closer view of her, I could make out the details of her outfit. She is wearing a flouncy, large blue dress adorned with many bows and frills. Huh, the outfit is almost similar to my porcelain dolls I have back at home. I honestly can't fully remember why I got them, just that they felt familiar somehow to me. Taking a closer look at her face I notice that like my dolls her face - and possible hole body - is porcelain with a faint hint of freckles covering her checks. But what caught my eyes the most was her eyes, they look very uncanny-realistic-looking blue eyes. Oh please don't tell me that those are actual human eyes!
"I must admit, I was worried if you two you make it across. I'm glad to see my worries were unneeded."
The sound of her voice snapped me out of my spiraling thoughts.
"Oh yeah." I chuckle lightly scratching my cheek "It wasn't easy, but we made do...somehow. By the way, Poppy, is it okay if I can ask you some questions before we head to the train?"
"Hm?" She tilted her head to the side "I don't see why not. There's no particular rush to get to the train. I'll happily answer any question you give me to the best of my abilities, Lily! *giggles*" After letting out that giggle at the end, her body was slowly twisting in a child like manner. Huh...maybe she does posses the soul of child then that of an adult.
"Um...alright..." Crap. There are so many things I want to ask, which one should I start with first?
"How...do you know my name, for starters?" Might as well get this one out of the way, since it has been eating at me when Poppy first called me by my name. "I don't really recall saying it or wearing anything on me that could give my name away. Did we...know each other before?"
She blinks in surprise, her body came to a halt in her movements. "Are you saying...you don't remember us playing together? When you were little?" So I did know her!
I nod my head to her question. "I don't remember anything past age 8, it's all blank to me. But then I got this weird package and now I'm starting to remember things. I was surprised when you said my name, did we know each other back then?"
Poppy frowned, looking off to the side holding a hand to her chin "Eight you say...impossible" She mutter so low that could I barely make out what she was saying. I'm positive that I wasn't suppose to hear that, however if it wasn't for the fact that I'm sitting right in front of her I probably wouldn't have heard it. And what did she mean by that? She shook her head before looking back up to me.
"Well, I'm sorry to hear you don't remember our time together. I'm really glad you starting to remember though. We had so much fun back then, playing house, having tea parties with the other toys, just talking about whatever we wanted."
So does that mean there are other toys here like Huggy and Poppy? I hope they're friendly. Though listening to Poppy tell some tales about us playing together I can feel a memory trying to make its way through but it's too fuzzy to get a good grasp of it. I'm positive its about the time I spent with Poppy, as some of the stories feel very familiar.
"Would it be alright if I ask a question in return?"
I blink, suddenly snapping out of my train of thought. "Oh, sure. What is it?"
"You said you've received a strange package, correct?" I nod my head "Was it what prompt you to come back here after all these years?"
"Oh right!" I dug around in my bag pulling out the letter handing it to her. "I was going to ask if you had by any chance sent this to me. It also came in with a tape that held a commercial of your first appearance." She took the paper giving it a quick scan. "Plus the letter said to 'Find the flower' and right outside your door was a Poppy flower painted around it." I told her "I already ask Huggy this and you did technically answer my question back when we first met; but I'll ask anyway. Did you sent this package, Poppy?"
Poppy eyes scanned over the paper, frowning and scanning again before shaking her head handing the paper back to me. "Sadly no, I did not send this letter to you. As I had mention; I was trapped in that case for a long time. Even if I could have send you something, I don't know where you live now, Lily."
"I see...back to square one, on that part." I sigh putting the letter back in my bag.
"I'm sorry..." Poppy smiles apologetically.
"No it's alright. Worth a shot." I shrug "It's not like its something I really need to know, just curious is all and...maybe question why they sent this letter now of all times. Do you by chance know who could have sent it?"
She frowned head tilted to the side as a glaze went over her eyes, depicting that she is looking back to see if anything strikes out to her. "There is one individual that comes to my mind."
"Really who?"
She blinks letting out a low sigh under her breath. "I must be frank with you Lily." She started in a serious tone. "There are a good handful of toys living here that could have sent this letter. However..." She turn back to the hole looking down. I could only stare at her in confusion "Out of all the toys you played with - having a connection to them - only one had the closes attachment to you.. One - from what I heard - took it the hardest when you left. Killing a couple of the staff if I remember correctly" She mutter that last part to herself. Either way it sent a shiver down my spine, knowing that there was another toy - besides Huggy - that would kill a person. And I had a close relationship with them.
"Who..." I slowly ask. There are memories...voices trying to come through the longer she talks about this individual. "Who was this...toy, Poppy?"
Letting out a deeper sigh, she turn around tilting her head up so see can look me in the eyes. "Where I am taking you, is where she resides at. There's a high chance we might run into her."
"Who is she Poppy...?"
There is a faint ringing in my ears.
"...Mommy Long Legs. Or 'Mommy' as the children like to call her."
"...!?" My breath got caught in my throat the ringing is now sounding louder as the faint voices that I was hearing are slowly becoming much clearing to hear.
'Lily! What are you doing out of your room?'
'*hic* M-Mommy...*hic*
'My sweet child, why are you cry!? Here, come to Mommy.'
'Was it those humans? Mommy swears she'll end them if that's the case.'
"..." Blinking as the ringing slowly went away, I rub my check when I felt a tear sliding down my face. Taking a deep breath in and slowly exhaling, tapping at Huggy's hand that was on my shoulder I look up at him, reassuring him that I'm fine before looking back down to Poppy, who had a frown on her face.
"You remember something didn't you?"
"...I remember...something, a conversation then an actual memory."
"I see. It would appear that mentioning her had spark something."
"Something like that."
"..." Poppy stare at me for a few moments causing me to look down at her in confusion. "Well I believe that enough talking for now. It's time to head to the Game Station and get out of here."
Before I could saying in response five things suddenly happen all at once.
1) I saw a pink hand rise up from the hole
2) My eyes open wide in shock as I quickly made a move to grab Poppy
3) Huggy suddenly wrapped his arms around me pulling me back from the hole before I could even grab her
4) The had wrapped it fingers around Poppy
5) Poppy let out a scream of shock when she was suddenly yank down the hole.
"POPPY!?" I cried out trying to force myself out of Huggy's hold. "Huggy, put me down! We have to go after her!"
He just held me tighter let out a low warning growl, as he stare intently at the hole that Poppy was dragged into. After a few minutes have passed with nothing else happening he slowly putted me back to the ground, lightly pushing me behind him as he walked over to the hole. I watch as he examined the hole, head moving side to side before looking over his shoulder to stare at me. And yep he is really on the defensive now.
"Do you...happen to know who that was?" Still staring he nods his head. "Are they...friendly...by any chance?" Lifting his hand he made a see-saw motion. Lovely. It could be a toss of a coin if they are friendly or not. However, giving the fact that they just suddenly grabbed Poppy...I'm gonna go with a no.
"*Sigh* Great...a possible another killer toy, just what we needed." I mutter "Anyway, Huggy we need to go down there and rescue Poppy, beside the fact we need to help her, she also has the code to the train that we need in order to escape."
Huggy sigh nodding his head, as if he was saying 'I know' but was hesitating on jumping down into the unknown as there could be a trap waiting below. I get where he is coming from but we need to head down either way, all the other exits are block. And Huggy knowns that too. He looks back down the hole eyes moving around rapidly as if he was deep in thought before he nods; turning around to face me.
"You got an idea?" He nods pointing to himself then to the hole, next he points to me before pointing to the ground. Humming I looked over him trying to figure out he is trying to covey "You want me to stay here, while you jump down the hole...? Are you trying to tell me, you want to check out if there's no danger before I join you?" He nods "Okay, but how am I going to know its safe to jump down?"
He held both hands around his mouth and made a small growling sound.
I blink "Oh I see now! Once you check out that everything is in the clear you'll call out to me." He nods rapidly holding a thumbs up, I walked over to the ledge of the hole looking down. "Man...sure is dark down there." I looked up to Huggy "Hopefully I'll be able to hear you. If I don't hear anything in a span of 10 minutes I'm jumping down regardless...Okay? We just don't know how deep it is, much less being able to hear anything echoing down there." I could tell he didn't fully like that idea but understood where I'm coming at. "Alright I'll wait for your signal."
He patted my head before jumping down the hole, it only took 2 seconds to fully lose sight of him. Now left alone is this creepy room I let out a shaky sigh pulling out my phone setting the timer for 10 minutes. "I hope everything is okay down there..." I glance down the hole " I hope I'll have something to grab before I land, a fall from this height will break my legs. Maybe Huggy can catch me."
More out of curiosity I turn on my flashlight shining it down the hole to see if I can at least see anything down there. "Figures I wouldn't see the ground..." I mumbled moving the light around "Only concrete, dirt and some pipes..." Sighing I stood back up turning the flashlight off putting it back in the bag. Pulling my phone out I check to see that only 3 minutes have pass since Huggy has jumped.
"I hope he got down there okay..."
With nothing better to do I began to walk around the room, looking over the at all of the doors. As I was walking around I heard a faint yelling coming from the hole.
"Hm...?" Was that Huggy? Walking back over to the ledge I got to my knees cupping my hands around my mouth as I shouted as loud as I could down the hole. "Was that you Huggy!?" A faint yell responded after a few seconds. Guess it's okay to jump down then. "Alright I'm coming down now!" Getting to my feet I look down the hole feeling very nervous about doing this. "So much for avoiding fall down deep holes..." I whined before jumping down.
Immediately I felt my stomach lurch to my throat as I felt nothing below me other than the wind from falling down. It wasn't until a couple of seconds have passed that I felt myself landing on something hard and smooth as I continue down.
'The heck is this...Huh?'
I suddenly began to see spirals of blue light as I went further down.
'Hold on...am I in a slide? The hell...'
After a full minute has passed I suddenly saw a light at the end of the tunnel. And thanks to my speed I flew out of it with a 'woah' escaping my mouth, thankfully Huggy seemed to have anticipated that as he quickly caught me before I feel face first to the ground.
"Thanks." I said when he placed me back on the ground. Turning around I saw that I did indeed come out of a slide. A slide with the name Elliot Ludwig on top. Figures we come out of the founder here compared to the other five slides that are down here. I looked over at the other names on the slide seeing the names of Eddie M.N.R., no clue on who that is, Leith Pierre, that was the guy on the security tape, Stella Greyber, Stella huh...is it the same person on that interview tape? Guess she got the job then. And lastly...
"Hm..." I blink confused "Where are the letters?" When I took a step forward I felt something hitting my shoe. Looking down I saw a bunch of letters laying all across the floor. Well...found them, but what are they saying it's too dark to make out all the letters. "Hey Huggy..." He looked down at me, "Can you hold my flashlight and point it in that direction, please?" I asked him while pulling out the item and handing it to him. Holding it, he pointed to the direction I asked him to. "Good, just keep it there for a minute I want to write this down." Taking out my notebook and pencil I began to write down the letters.
'J.A.H.Y.E.O.N.I.B.A.M'
Hmm, since they are all scramble it'll take a while to figure out what order they go in. "I'll probably sort it out once we leave this place - Thanks again for the help Huggy!" I thank taking back the flashlight and putting the items back in the bag. With that out of the way I began to look around the room, taking note of the three doors here. To my right was a closed off door, however it's open just a bit where one could take a peak but not high enough to squeeze through. In front of me was an open entrance with the words 'Game Station' and a train above it. And to my left is...
"Uh...what happen in there?"
What look like to be a power room was now smash to bits as sparks of electricity pop out every now and then. I looked down at the floor seeing a black cord that lead all the way to the Game Station room. I quickly put the two - to - two together.
"Huggy...did you...smash the power room by chance?"
Two thumbs up was the only answer that I got.
...
...
...
Okay then...
"Right...moving on then."
I'm not even going to bother to ask why he did it other than the fact he just saved me the trouble of turning on the machine. Entering the hallway, I look down and got a very bad feeling about this. It's so creepy looking it's not even funny. Majority of the room was dark save for a couple a red lights in the ceiling, there were also a lot of pipes along the walls. Not to mention the open gap above the door at the end of the hall.
"Something doesn't feel right..."
Steeling my nerves we pressed on down the hallway, as we got closer to the end I aim the right hand to the pad. Once the hand made contact with the pad - the same hand that grab Poppy had came down from the open ceiling - grabbing the hand.
"What the-!?"
"*Gasp* I was right!" A sudden female voice spoke out in excitement as she drag the hand up the ceiling. I can only watch in horror when the hand had disconnect and a large, slender pink figure similar to Huggy came crawling down the wall like a spider. Her color palate mainly consist with the color pink, the noodle like hair is held up similar to mine but on the right and being held up in a baby blue hair tie. Her face is decorated with plastic pink color with three eyelashes on each eye. The body is composed of a small angular body, which is colored with a dark shade of pink to resemble a sweetheart-bodice dress.
Strangely her appearance overall reminds me of a Betty Spaghetti doll...that I also own...that's two toys that I own that had felt familiar to me. Coincidence?
The smile on her face widen as she spoke. "After all this time, you finally came back Lily! It's been soo long!" I step backwards as her neck stretched down bringing her head closer to me - bumping into Huggy, who let out a low growl wrapping and arm around me. With her being so close I could make that unlike Huggy, her mouth is completely hollow, it does make me wonder how she is able to talk.
Her green eyes - that like Poppy almost look human like - were wide, like her smile, filled with happiness with a hint of madness in them. I was also shock upon hearing my name coming out of her, but given that Poppy knew who I was, then I guess she would know it too.
"Isn't this exciting, Poppy?" She looked up bringing down her other arm that was still hidden in the shadows. My eyes went wide when I saw Poppy within her grasp, her eyes flickering around franticly as her mouth was covered in some kind of web, preventing her from speaking.
"Very exciting, Mommy!" Mommy - wait is this Mommy Long Legs that Poppy was telling us about? - spoke in a higher pitch voice as if she was imitating Poppy herself. Her eyes flicker back down at me as she took a step down the wall leaning forward a bit more. "Mommy, heard that Miss Poppy was going to just give you the train code to escape. Now how is that fun, when you just got here Lily? Instead why don't we make a game out of it! The game station is still working, it will be just like old times! The others would be so very happy to see you again. It not fair that Huggy get to keep you all to himself."
Huggy let out another growl this time a little louder, but the only thing I was focusing on was her saying 'the others'. Are we going to run into more living toys?
She held Poppy in front of us speaking back in a high voice. "And if you win all three games, I'll give you the train code! *Gasp* Mommy loves that idea, Poppy! Oohh~ You're going to have so much fun! Head to Musical Memory and Mommy will get things started." Suddenly her voice took a much dark turn as she slowly lowered her head. "Obey the rules or I'll tear you apart and eat your insides while you still alive." After that warning she starting laughing crawling back up the wall vanishing from site from the dark room above.
I could only stand there in shock trying to process everything that happen as the door began to open. Ignoring that death threat (I thought she was happy to see me! Why does she want to kill me!?), I looked back over the lecture she gave us. There are three games that we need to play in order to get parts of the code to the train.
"Fucking great..." I mutter letting out a deep sigh, looking up at Huggy, who was staring up where Mommy had disappeared to, "Guess we're going to be playing some games huh." He snapped his head down towards me before nodding.
Walking into the new room, we were block by another gate - why are there two gates to get to the train station...I have no idea - however what caught my eyes were the two painting down on each wall. To my right was all of Playtime Co.'s toy gather together looking happy with their logo painted in front of them. The one on my left though...that one is really interesting as it covered the whole wall. Faded and chipped in some parts, it still showed the picture of what I'm guessing is the 'Game Station'. It holds the image of a big playground with kids running around (Are those the orphans? I guess is where they all played at during the day). In the bottom left corner is a train, guess that is the train Poppy and Mommy were talking about. And speaking of Mommy, she is also painted on there she seems to be having fun but...
"Why are her hands blue? I remember seeing her with pink hands...a mistake perhaps?" Right when I was getting to wonder a bit more a peculiar part the painting caught my eye. "Are those...scientist? Why would people in lab coats be up there? If they were workers keeping an eye on the kids, it would make sense but the image clearly show that they are examining them..."
'Mommy, why are the doctors up there?'
'Pay them no mind Lily, it wouldn't do you good to worry about those humans.'
'But I really don't like the way they look down at us. It's creepy and some of them are mean too!'
'Worry not, Lily, if they dare to come down here Mommy will stop them! Now lets go see Bunzo - he's very excited to see you
again! Do you have they instrument you wanted to show him?'
'Hmhmm! Right here! I can't wait to show him! We're going to be the best band there ever existed!'
'*Laughs* Mommy thinks so too! Now lets head down to Musical Memory. And Lily...'
"Yes Mommy?'
'If those humans come near you, don't hesitate to let Mommy know, Mommy would be very happy to have a word with them.'
'Okay, Mommy!'
"*Gasp*!" I took a couple of steps back at the sudden memory that hit me. Well, guess that explains how Mommy was so familiar to me, but who was Bunzo again? "Mommy wanted us to go to Musical Memory...and - if the memory is right - Bunzo will be there too. Looks like I'll be getting more flashbacks again. For the best or the worst, who knows."
CLANG
"!" I spun on my heel at the sudden sound to see the metal gate slowly opening up. Looking over I spotted Huggy, who had this hand on the lever, looking curiously over at the new open room. "So this is the Game Station, huh?" I walked up to the entrance with Huggy standing beside me. As we walked in some lights came on, it was still a bit dark in some areas but plenty enough lights to see around the room. I let out a low whistle as we walked further in the room. Damn this place is big, and all of this is underground too? How on earth did they manage to build this? My thoughts were suddenly cut off when an blur image of a child ran past me.
"What?"
I turn to the direction of where the child came from...but my surroundings suddenly change. No longer was the Game Station dark and covered in dust and rusted play equipment. No what was before me was a bright room, everything looking fresh as if it was brand new and all around me there were kids running around laughing. I looked over to the side where Huggy was, but he was not there.
"Huggy!?" I called out is a panicked upon not seeing him, however I slapped both hands to mouth in shock. My voice...it doesn't sound the same. "What...?" I whispered almost slapping my mouth again at the sound of my voice. It's definitely a child voice.
It's my voice when I was a kid.
I looked down to examine my body, and yep its my body when I was younger wearing the same clothes I've always worn. A simple white thin strap shirt that flared out below my chest, shorts and black flats.
How am I a kid again? That the hell is happening, I was with Huggy just a second ago in a more run down room of the Game Station. Is this supposed to be some kind a memory? Am I...reenacting a past event?
"Hey Lily, what are you doing standing there like that?!"
"Yeah Lily, we got to hurry up to the main room! Mommy and the others are going to be back!"
I looked back up to see a couple of kids standing not to far from me. Slowly moving my hands from my mouth I began to speak. "Sorry Jacob, I just had a weird thought cross my mind."
Wait Jacob?
Who is Jacob?
Is it that boy?
Why did I even say that?
And how do I even know this kid's name?
"Man your always lost in you head, Lily! Your so weird!"
"Jacob be nice!"
"It's okay Amber, I know he didn't mean that in a bad way."
How do I know these kids names? This has to be some kind of strange memory. The words that are coming out of my mouth aren't even the words I wanted to say much less speak. It's like my body is moving on its own and I'm just watching it through a screen like a first player video game.
"Says you-OW! What the heck was that for Amber!"
Jacob held a hand to his head as he glared at Amber - who only glared back with both hands on her hips.
"Stop being mean to Lily, Jacob! Or I'm going to tell Mommy on you! You know she doesn't tolerate bullying among us."
"Tch!"
"Oh get off your high horses Jacob. Just because you have a crush on her, doesn't give you the right to pick on Lily here!"
I blink.
Come again?
Even my younger self was confused as she said "A crush...? You have a crush on me?"
I could only watch as Jacob's face suddenly turning bright red as he splutters "I DO NOT! Why would you even say that Amber!"
"Because Mommy said that if a boy is picking on a girl, it means they like them!"
"Well...Mommy doesn't know what she's talking about!"
"Are you trying to say, Mommy's a liar!"
"Woah! Woah! Guys calm down!" I hastily try to calm both of them down, knowing if this keeps up the siblings (How did I even know that tidbit?!) will start a fist fight with each other. However a loud voice rang out through the room.
"MOMMY AND THE OTHERS ARE BACK!"
The three of us look over to see Mommy and a couple of kids walking up the stairs. All the kids that were playing all stop in there tracks and ran over to Mommy and the other kids that came out with her.
"Come on, Lily." Amber suddenly grab my wrist dragging me with her "Let's ditch my idiot brother and go see Mommy."
"Hey! I'm not an idiot!"
"Yes you are!"
As we headed over to Mommy, I looked up to see the catwalk and the room from back on that painting. There were the workers walking all on the walk, some looking down at us taking notes, others talking amongst themselves as they pointed down at some of the kids. Looking over I saw a familiar pair. Isn't that Doctor Amanda and -.
"Hey Mommy is it our turn to play Musical Memory!" Amber sudden voice pulled me from my thoughts as we approach Mommy.
When I looked over at Mommy Long Legs I notice that she isn't dirty compare to when I original first saw her. And her eyes aren't filled with some madness in them, instead they are filled with warmth as we approach her giving us a warm-motherly smile.
"Amber, Lily! Mommy so happy to see the two of you getting along."
"Hmhp" Amber puffed out her chest "Well someone has to keep an eye on her!"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"
"Now now you two, no need for fighting." Mommy sternly told us "Where is your brother Amber?"
She shrugged "Probably off in a corner somewhere licking his wounds after I called him out on his crush on Lily here."
"Oh Amber..." Mommy sigh rubbing her head "You really need to stop tormenting that poor boy."
"I will once he stops messing with Lily here and admits he has a crush on her."
"What is Mommy going to do with you two...?"
"Um... Mommy...?" I hesitantly speak up
"Hmm? What is it Lily, dear?"
"Is it okay if Amber and I go and play Musical Memory?"
"Why of course Lily!" She said with a closed eye smile "Why don't you wait here as Mommy goes and gather the other children, Amber go find your brother and bring him here too please."
"Will do, Mommy!"
I watch as Amber let go of my wrist and ran back down to the playground to find her brother. I looked back up to Mommy when I felt her rubbing my head.
"Are you having fun, Lily?"
"Yeah!"
She gave me a gentle close eye smile. "Mommy is very happy to hear that!"
"Preparing for departure! In three, two, one - Choo Choo~!"
"!?" I snapped back to reality upon hearing a sudden voice cut out. My view slowly coming back to normally going back to show the run down Game Station that I remember walking into. I found myself standing on the circular platform that I was standing on with Mommy. Looking up on the upper deck where the train is, I spotted Huggy standing in front of a cutout board of Kissy Missy, tilting his head to the side in curiosity.
"Huggy...?" He twitch turning around to face me "Did you...no never mind..." He tilted his head questionably as I made my way up the steps. "Sorry just got lost in thought for a moment." I told him with a small smile "Anyway, guess we found the control panel to start up the games here." Looking over at all three levers, there was one that was blinking red above the first lever on the left. "Guess we need to pull this one down first then."
Huggy looked over the panel and giving me a nod. Nodding back I grab the lever pulling it down. A sudden loud music sound filled the room followed by a familiar voice.
"Hi kids, welcome to the Game Station! I'm Stella and we've got three super duper fun games to play!"
"Oh, it's the woman from the tape, guess she did get the job." Huggy look down at me questionably "Uh...I'll explain later Huggy."
"These little tests shows us just how crazy strong and smart you are. Follow Mommy Long Legs down the stairs and we'll start by playing Musical Memory, see you in a bit!"
There was a small click in the speaker as if, Stella had finished her recording of the tape. The sounds of lights coming on in the far left corner made us to look over to see lights reflecting of a sign, as the metal sounds of the floor opening up soon followed. We looked at each other both shrugging our shoulder and made way down the steps standing in front of the entryway of Musical Memory.
Right as we were about to go down another flash of a memory, (Thankfully not like the last one) popped into my head.
'Bunzo! Bunzo! Guess who's back!'
Clang! Clang!
'Wel...come...ba..ck...!'
'Slow down, Lily, Mommy doesn't want to see you trip and fall on yourself!'
'Sorry Mommy, I just got too excited to see Bunzo again!'
'Mommy knows dear, just please be careful.'
'I will! Hey Bunzo look at what I got! *giggles* Now we can play together! Isn't that fun!'
'F...u...n...!'
I rubbed my pounding head as my vision went back to normal. Man one memory after another. Taking a deep breath and letting it out I looked up to Huggy.
"Ready Huggy?"
He nods.
"Alright...let's do this!"
As we make are why down the stairs I can't help but wonder if I'll be getting more memories. Especially since my younger self seem to have a good relationship with Bunzo, guess I'll find out.
In the further deepest of the room a figure hanging up in the ceiling twitch.
"Th..is...scent...is th...at you...Lily...?"
Okay originally this chapter was going to have the Musical Memory scene, but it started to get a bit longer than I had original thought it was going to be. If I had kept going as plan in my notes this chapter probably would turn out to be 25-30k long. While I don't mind reading those types of stories, but for me to write them...it's just too much for me to keep up. Especially when I have to go back and reread it to edit as much as possible before I publish the chapter.
It kinda sucks since I had SO much plan for this one, but well things got a bit out of hand when writing. Cures my brain for coming up with more parts to add!
This little note part is from AO3 with some of the readers helping me out with this chapter: I want to give a shout out to SETUP for allowing me to use some of their example dialogue between Lily and Poppy. Thanks again for allowing me to use them. Also a thank you too grnj for suggesting a description for Mommy Long Legs (I also did one for Poppy too). And a small thank you to TheCheshireCat01 for catching a small minor spelling error that I had miss (I found a bit more when I look back). I know there are others to thank but right know those suggestions/ideas will be used in the future chapters so I'll be crediting them in those. I haven't forgotten about you guys!