Everything happened so quickly that in a span of a single second, all guests at a party became spectators of something so grotesque that the memory of this day will forever stay with them. William was on his way to Fredbear when the jaw closed. His teeth pierced Chris's head; William heard a loud crunching sound and a loud shriek that came from the boy. It was comprised of both screaming and weeping, trying to call out for help through his tears, but the pain must have been too much for him to talk. Blood flowed out of his head, coloring Fredbear's jaws in crimson. When his shriek grew quieter, William heard a moan coming from Chris. His body shook, he wiggled and tried to get himself out of the animatronic, but this only hastened the second fall. Fredbear's jaw went even deeper, causing the blood to splatter all around the stage, some of it going to Spring Bonnie and the teenagers that stood in silence and witnessed the horror of this gruesome disfigurement.
Then, it was finally quiet. Never since Clara's death did William feel the utter agony that now pierced his body harder than a thousand spears, like a mountain that descended upon him from above, forcing him beneath the ground, straight to the darkest pit of hell.
"C…Chris?" Mike's quiet voice was the first sound to finally break this dreadful silence. Never before did William, his son, sound so weak and broken; his voice shook along with his hands as Mike raised his eyes toward the animatronic. Even though the mask covered his face, seeing the eyes was enough to make out the despair he felt.
"No, no, no…" Lamar was the next one to speak in a similarly horrified voice; it got louder with every coming 'no.'
"Fuck…" Jim's quiet whisper echoed in William's ears as the engineer rushed closer, desperately trying to focus on what mattered, helping Chris.
"What the fuck have you done?!" Blake shouted and looked at Mike with emerging fury in his eyes.
"WHAT HAVE WE DONE?!" Lamar screamed as he tore the mask off his face, unveiling a face full of pure horror; rivers of tears emerged in his eyes. "God, oh god, oh god…"
"Get out of my way!" William shouted as he pushed the teens aside and made his way toward Fredbear. He knew how to quickly ease the jaws of the animatronic; he could only pray that it wasn't too late. As he turned around and reached for the crank, he had a quick glance at the people that stood at the door. Alison was there, along with the guard and Elizabeth.
"Call an ambulance, now!" William commanded, not caring in the slightest about the tone he chose to speak in with Alison. There were matters far more important than this.
"Help him!" Alison commanded the guard and disappeared into the hall, but William could see him taking the phone out.
But the worst sight was Elizabeth. The girl was on her knees, unable to look away from the bloodied jaw; all her emotional expression was gone in an instant as her face had gone pale.
"Chris…" She reached out with a shaking hand, but as soon as the girl tried to take a step, she fell on the floor as her entire body was out of her control; she shook and whimpered without a break. "No, no, please…Please!" Her pleas went to the abyss that remained silent. Tears streamed down from her eyes, and her screams grew loud and erratic; she gasped for air but couldn't stop wailing, not for a moment, each second making her shake more and more. "ARGH!" She screamed like a dying soul, unable to form words. She tried to look up at the animatronic, but the moment she did, the girl screeched and recoiled in horror, covering her eyes and occasionally shivering, her hands reflexively clawing into her own head from overbearing fear. Her loud wails and tears were heard all across the hall, which was immediately devoid of all fun in a single instant.
"Help me here!" William told the guard as both of them grabbed the crank.
"Dad, I'm…" Mike stood beside them, still shaking. Blake was quick to rush off to the door, while Lamar was too shocked to even act. Jim was the only one that remained by Mike's side. "Let us help!"
"You've done enough!" William scoffed at the teenagers with unleashed spite in his voice. The spite he kept in his heart for years, the spite for Alison for tarnishing his family, the spite for himself for failing to keep it together, for allowing it to reach this point. Yet Mike was almost an adult; he should've known better…Only now did William begin to truly realize the scope of his failure.
Eventually, the two men finally eased the jaw, and William caught Chris before he could fall to the stage.
"No…" He looked at his son along with Mike, Jim, and the guard; no one was able to say a word. Chris was motionless; the upper part of his head was crushed by Fredbear's teeth. The marks he left were deep, opening small pathways to Chris's cracked skull from which blood would still flow, mixed in with other substances which William could only assume were fragments of his brain. Both tears and spiteful fury tore his heart apart, but he couldn't let either of them be unleashed, not yet.
"The ambulance is here!" Alison's loud voice echoed from the hall, soon getting drowned out by questioning echoes of other children and parents, many of which tried to get back to the hall. "You can ask questions later; all I ask of you now is to get outside; it's for your own benefit."
The nurses entered the hall like a whirlwind; they brought a medical bed with them.
"Where is he?" One of them asked, but she didn't wait for an answer as the answer lay before her. She paused for a moment after seeing the broken child but immediately pulled herself together. "Get him on here."
Her colleagues took Chris from William's hands, as reluctant as he was to let go of his son.
"Will…Will you help him?" William needed to remain strong, but even he couldn't resist the ache that slowly emerged from his heart as the shock faded.
"We will do all we can." The nurse replied sternly. "But first, we need to take him to the hospital; there's one nearby, Saint Thomas's."
"We will follow, then…" Will sighed as they disappeared into the hall, carrying a bed with a bloodied Chris on it. The boy still breathed, even if slowly; this was enough to give William a glimmer of hope, even though it was faint. It was the same nightmare all over again, just like hearing Gron's screams when an animatronic machine took his life and fused with his soul. Chris was separated from an animatronic, yet he was still on the brink of death…It was all in the doctors' hands now.
"Father, I…" Mike looked up with tears streaming down his face after taking off the mask; his voice shook, he prayed for succor, and William knew it, but it was too late. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to; I…"
"Quiet." William turned around and looked down at his son, right into his eyes. There was not a single glint of sympathy in his voice. "Get to the car and wait for me there."
"I…"
"Now."
Mike didn't dare to disobey; he left the stage and rushed to the exit; the guard and the remaining teenagers left to help clean the place up. As for William, he immediately rushed to his daughter. Elizabeth was still shaking and screaming in a fit of panic, unable to react to the world around her. The man gently approached her, hoping that he would be able to calm her down. Seeing Chris in agony was enough to drain William; he would not let his children suffer anymore.
"Please, please, please…" She muttered in an endless panic before William gently touched her shoulder. At first, she didn't pay much attention, but her shaking became slightly slower, slightly more relaxed. Elizabeth didn't dare to look up. However, she must have still been overtaken by shock and fear. "Don't hurt me!"
"Liz…It's me." William spoke in a soothing voice and held her hand. "I'm here; no one's going to hurt you. You can look."
"I can't, I can't…Chris, he is…"
"We can help him together," William reassured her. "Just please, allow me to help. No one's going to hurt you, I promise." He felt tears coming up to his eyes as the thoughts of seeing Chris inside the jaws of this disgusting mechanism resurfaced in Will's mind. Yet after hearing a single quiet sob, the girl finally moved one of her hands away from her face and allowed herself to look.
"D…Daddy…" She spoke while still breathing heavily. "H…Help…"
"I will." William held her hand and helped the shaking girl get up. The moment he attempted to ease their connection, Elizabeth quickly grabbed his hand even tighter, making William feel the cold that poisoned her body.
"Don't leave me, Daddy!" She screamed in panic as a new wave of tears emerged.
"I will not, I promise," William responded confidently and looked her in the eyes.
"I want to wake up. I want to wake up I…"
"Liz, please, I need your help." He held her hand tightly, trying to keep his daughter in the real world. "We will walk outside to my car together, and then we will go help Chris, okay?"
"O…Okay…"
"Try to take a step," William said, after which Elizabeth raised her shivering leg and pulled it slightly forward, standing on the floor. "Good, good! Come on, I will help you."
"T…Thank…"
"It's okay if you can't speak; just give it time, it will be over. You're strong; I have no doubt you'll be okay."
They walked together, passing by the remaining customers, Alison, and a few guard. The latter tried to make the former leave while they remained far too curious and would constantly ask about what happened in the hall. Some of them mentioned the ambulance and what happened to Chris, but Alison refused to disclose any other information; all he needed is everyone to leave the restaurant and allow him to clean up. He didn't kill Chris, but he didn't care about him either…No doubt all Alison thought of was the damage this incident would bring to his business; it was better not to think of him unless William wanted to induce even more rage in himself.
Eventually, William and Elizabeth reached the purple car stationed outside the restaurant; Mike sat in his place at the back, looking down and sobbing with watery eyes, occasionally shaking as well. William didn't care to console him, not when his son was on the brink of death and his daughter had a panic attack; Mike didn't look at him either.
William opened the door, allowing Elizabeth to sit inside. After helping her get inside, he eased his grip again, but the girl wasn't ready.
"No, no, don't leave me!"
"Liz…" William kneeled and looked her in the eyes again. "I know you are scared, but we can't wait; Chris needs us."
"I…"
"Try and take a deep breath," William said. "We can count to three and then let go, alright?"
"I…" Her voice grew quieter, and she breathed. "Alright…"
"Ready? One, two…Three." They let go, and William saw Elizabeth shiver for a moment before finally composing herself.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes…Thank you, Daddy." Her voice was stripped of all energy, no doubt the shock of seeing this happen would soon fall off and make Elizabeth realize what happened. It will be an agonizing moment, and this was why Will had to be with her.
It was time to move on. William took the driver's seat and moved as he followed the ambulance's path. The three Aftons were silent and did not speak a word; they were too horrified by what they saw. William could hear Elizabeth's quiet sobbing and Mike's moans accompanied by shivers.
All he could do was whisper a prayer, giving all his hope and energy into the belief that his son would survive this ordeal, that it was not the end. William prided himself on being a reasonable man and always adhering to the truth, no matter how hard it was…Yet now he wanted to defy all logic and reason, which told him that this injury was fatal, and pray to God for Chris's life, hoping that he would answer. And yet deep inside, William knew that God had already answered.
After countless children that his animatronics took, his sins have finally caught up with him as the robots were about to claim his son.
…
"Dad, help me!"
Those words echoed in Chris's mind as he opened his eyes. For a moment, he felt that he would find himself in his bed and realize that he once again woke up from a dreadful nightmare, ready to continue his lonely existence, but this was not the case. All he remembered was the laughter from Mike and his cruel friends, laughter that made him feel pathetic. Here he was, a powerless child flailing in the mouth of a horrible animatronic, completely overtaken by panic, and those…Monsters, they all laughed at him. Then a moment of feeling the jaw plunge into his head, a surge of pain…Then nothing.
He didn't feel any pain now; in fact, he didn't feel anything, not even fear. Chris realized he was in the middle of a dark crimson hall, completely cut off from any harborage. No matter where he looked, both ways led toward the darkness. He had no room, no flashlight, and nowhere to hide this time. Above all else, Chris was tired…He wasn't sure if he wanted to fight anymore, if he even wanted to come back to the real world, wanted to see his family again after all they did. Perhaps this is what Mike wanted all along…
"You want to sleep…" A demonic voice echoed in Chris's head that caused the boy to shiver and turn around toward the void. Two familiar red eyes shimmered in the darkness, reminding him of the nightmarish creature he witnessed last time. He could also see the monster's claws emerging in the darkness; the beast slowly walked towards him, showing a pale yellow tint on him. This wasn't his friend, not anymore; this was his demise. "I will make you sleep forever."
He could stand here and accept his sleep, or he could run in a desperate attempt to get out of this maze. Chris didn't think, allowing his heart to decide. He ran. The boy turned around and charged away from Fredbear, not daring to look back. The moment he ran, the animatronic's steps became louder and quicker, and the monster followed him. There was nowhere to turn, no other path to take, only a single road that emerged ahead of Chris, the one he had no choice but to run along, hoping that there was a way out.
"You cannot hide. You cannot run."
Chris didn't cry, not because he did not want to, but simply because he had no strength left; his mind and body were consumed by an endless drought that made him weaker with every passing second. He felt cracks emerge in his legs; they slowly feared him apart like a broken hive of wasps. They wanted to take every piece of him, to make his life the purest of hells. As if there was anything they could make worse…Chris knew that no matter how this ended, there was no way to live for him. His heart told him that the end was close, made him want to believe that he wanted it, and yet…He still ran.
"You are mine."
Chris ran swiftly, yet he reached a dead end. A crimson wall allowed no exit, nowhere to turn but toward the nightmarish creature that would soon approach him. Was this it? His attempt turned out to be even more futile than he expected…The boy would hit the wall with his small hands as if it would make any difference at all. Maybe he should just give up and give up his attempts to breathe, attempts to fight.
"Chrissy…" A quiet voice of a girl echoed from beyond the veil, causing Chris to raise his head. It was so ephemeral and distant as if it came from a completely different world. The real world.
"L…Lizzy?" The boy stuttered in his whisper, yet after realizing that it was his sister, he felt some strength returning to him. Even if everyone else abandoned him, she was still there, still wanting to help him and be with him…What if she would get left alone with Dad and Mike? They were dangerous; they could hurt her like they hurt him…She guided him through a nightmare, and there was still a debt to repay.
"Chris…Please don't die…Please come back to us!" She pleaded and sobbed, unable to get a response.
Right at the moment when Fredbear approached, Chris saw a crack of light emerge in the wall. All it needed was a little push.
"You will not run."
And yet he did. When he opened a breach in the wall, Chris saw the endless darkness emerging beyond the labyrinth. There was nothing to be found except empty, broken space with a very distant faint ray of light on the other side. Perhaps this was where Chris should have ran…Fredbear was behind him; the beast leaped through the breach, and every second only invigorated him and made Fredbear want to destroy his prey. Chris could feel his emotions return; he could feel tears falling down his eyes as well as heavy breathing.
"Let…Let me out!" Chris screamed in pain as he continued to run towards the light, hope burning bright in his chest. He was getting quicker, unlike Fredbear, who could not reach the boy in time; perhaps he could still separate from this beast.
"Ha-ha…You think that I can let you out?" Fredbear's gleeful voice echoed from behind. "You cling on to futile delusions, as you always did, too scared to look into the truth's eyes and realize…You are already dead."
Chris felt something sharp pierce his heart, an array of claws that would allow him no peace, no quarter, that would take what little he still had. For some reason, the boy's breaths grew heavier, and his running became slower; the image before him grew fainter; all the while, Fredbear approached from behind. What was going on? Why couldn't he run?
Then he finally realized…Realized when the blood began to drip from his head. From the wound that the animatronic's teeth have opened, clawing deep into his mind. This was his end, the darkness that consumed the dim ray of light…He had no strength to run any longer.
And in a few moments, Fredbear's shadow towered over him once again, condemning Chris to an eternity of oblivion.
…
The moment Mike saw Fredbear's jaws close upon his younger brother and crushing his head as the teenager laughed at a prank that he considered funny just a few minutes ago…This was the moment he wanted to reverse time. Wanted to allow himself to realize his idiocy and foolishness, his carelessness and arrogance earlier, even if it was only for a few seconds. That would've been enough to save Chris from the jaws of death, to right his mistake.
But now, all Mike could do was watch in silence.
Watch his father's hateful eyes as he looks at him, watch Elizabeth cream in a panic, watch his mutilated brother get taken by nurses. He listened to the silence of the car and the pained sobs that emerged amidst it and watched the white halls of a hospital emerge before him, reminding Mike of a similar day two years ago. Much like today, a person close to him lay on the brink of death, and others could do nothing but watch. But this time, he was the murderer.
And so he stood before Chris's bed along with Father and Liz, watching him lying with a pale bandage covering his eyes, hair, and forehead. He didn't make a sound, and if it wasn't for life-support systems, he would've already died. The doctors were discussing it outside now; they allowed the family to spend some time with their wounded relative before the choice was made…Mike stood above his brother and looked at him, unsure if he could hear anything at all in a state like this.
"Can you hear me? I don't…I don't know if you can hear me, but…" He felt tears coming to his already reddened eyes once again. "I'm sorry." Empty words that will do nothing…It had been a long while since Mike felt so broken and powerless.
"He…Will live, right?" Liz looked up at Father. "You said we can help him, right…Right?"
"I hope so," William spoke in a surprisingly cold tone, though it was clear that his spite and disappointment were not directed at Elizabeth. He stared at Michael, not looking away for a second.
"Father…"
"Quiet." William scoffed back. "Whatever you say, you will only make it worse."
"I'm sorry, I truly am. I…"
"You lied to me more than once already. Like when you said you would leave Chris alone. And see what happened now? I won't even try to figure out what was in your mind when you did this…Or what did your little brother do to deserve this animalistic cruelty."
"Please…"
"You had your chance to stop!" William raised his voice. "I to,d you over and over again, but you didn't listen. You wanted to make Chris suffer when you were just angry at me."
"W…What?"
"I know what you truly think, Mike, don't try to hide it! I never took you for a coward, but what else can I call someone who decided to torment a child instead of bringing it up to me?"
"It…Was an accident…"
Before Mike finished, he felt pain burn on his cheek. Father slapped him as hard as possible, making one reel.
"This was an accident, too. I suppose it shouldn't hurt, then."
"D…Daddy…" Elizabeth looked up at him with fearful eyes, causing William to keep his hand away and take a deep breath. He was about to say something else but never got the chance. The door opened, and a doctor in a white coat came in. This immediately caused everyone in the family to look at her with unrelenting anticipation.
"Did you make a decision?" William spoke up. "What is the required treatment? I promise I will cover everything…"
"I'm sorry…" She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. "But we've examined the injury and discussed the consequences with my team. I'm afraid that there is nothing we can do for him. The brain damage is too severe; it can't be reconstructed. The only thing that keeps him alive is our system, but even it is simply slowing the process…He is dying." Mike knew this at his heart; surviving an injury like this and being able to live a life was something out of the ordinary, something no one could ever hope to achieve, especially not a young child like Chris. Father stood in silence and clenched his fist while Liz still looked up at him with holes in her eyes.
"Daddy…But you said…"
"God, no…" Mike's lips quivered as he looked back at Chris. He was still alive; the machine still showed that his heart was beating, and yet even if the doctors said that, there was nothing they could do. "I'm sorry, I'm…" He fell to his knees and began crying. Mike desperately tried to get his brother to hear him, even if he knew that words were meaningless. Those were the last moments he would spend beside his brother before sending him into another world, a world where he would be separated from his family. "This isn't right, I'm…I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!"
No one offered him sympathy, even Elizabeth, whose eyes were overtaken by fear more than any other emotions. Father watched in silence. Even his tears weren't enough to stifle the sheer disgust for Mike. And it was well deserved after what he did.
Today, he killed his brother.
…
You're broken.
Chris was broken. He opened his eyes and found himself alone amidst the darkness with nothing around. No monsters, no family, no people, no rooms or halls, just darkness and a very distant mechanical sound so ephemeral that Chris wondered if it was a part of his imagination.
We are still your friends.
Chris looked around and saw them…His friends. Five plush toys, just as pretty as they always were. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy with a torn head, and in front of them all, golden Fredbear, his single best friend, the one who always remained supportive and didn't abandon Chris, even when he was so close to oblivion, even when he was already fainting.
Do you still believe that?
Of course, he believed that and never stopped believing that.
We are still here.
And yet, Chris knew they weren't enough. His ghostly tears missed in with the blood that flowed from the open wound, and his weak, frail body withered and slowly became one with the darkness. The boy reached out into the abyss above him, wondering if there was any light left to warm him as he closed his eyes for the last time.
"Dad…Liz…Please, answer…Are you there? I…I don't want to be alone."
He heard those distant voices slowly growing louder and louder in his mind. They came from behind the plush toys, from far behind, a place he could never reach. He will never wake up from this nightmare…
"I'm sorry you have to go through this, Mr. Afton; no one deserves this…But we can't prolong his pain. Have you said your goodbyes?" This was the voice of an unfamiliar woman, and it was full of sympathy. After she said those words, one of the toys, the brown Freddy, faded away. It made Chris feel as if something within him had died the moment it was no more.
"C…Chrissy…" His sister's voice echoed from above, making the boy reach out.
"I am here, I'm here! I'm here…"
"They say you will die, but I…I don't want you to die…I want you to stay with us, stay with me…It's not fair! I want to hear you again…"
"I'm here, please!" Chris wept, but he already knew that she did not hear his cries.
"But daddy says you'll be with mommy now, in some really good place, in heaven…" Chris could feel her resisting tears as she spoke those words. "Can you tell her that we all miss her? I miss her…I'll miss you too." When her voice faded, so did the Chica toy. Chris felt his body shaking; he was about to be left completely alone in the darkness without a single friend to guide him through this, in an endless limbo where no one would hear him.
"Please, forgive me, I…I am sorry." Mike's weak, withering voice was the next one Chris heard. He would not stop praying for forgiveness, and it was only up to Chris whether to allow him this moment of catharsis. He didn't feel like it. The love he had for Mike was torn away from him just like Mike tore the head of the Foxy plush away. It was the next one to disappear…And he wished the same would happen to Mike.
"Chris…I don't know if you can hear me, but I am sorry." Dad's agonized voice was next. "I should've prevented this, I could've prevented this…All that happened is my fault. I wish I could undo it…It could put you back together. But I promise…" His voice grew quieter. "I promise that I will do my best to free us. I know what you saw. I know…Goodbye, Chris. I love you."
After he finished talking, the Bonnie plush disappeared, and all the voices around him faded, leaving Chris alone with Fredbear. The one who was both enemy and a friend at times, the one who plunged his teeth into his skull and was now watching the young boy fall on his back. He didn't cry anymore; there was nothing worth crying about. He will become nothing soon enough, a child who people didn't believe, who they made fun of until he met his demise. A short and pathetic life, the only one he was allowed to have.
"Will you stay with me?" He turned towards Fredbear and asked weakly.
"I will never leave you." He said surprisingly coldly, but Chris didn't care anymore. Nothing matter now, nothing. "We are one and the same."
"You're broken."
He knew that far too well.
"And no one will put you back together…"
The painful truth that Chris could not deny.
"No one but yourself."
With those words, a flash of light emerged from Fredbear's eyes, blinding Chris and burning all of his tears away. The limbo around him shifted, and the darkness got consumed by the light that slowly gained color. All colors of a rainbow, in fact. Green, red, blue…But most of all, yellow. Chris opened eyes, but they weren't his. They were of another creature. A creature that stood amidst the silent stage, born of metal and fueled by the power of a human soul.
He was Fredbear.