A/N: This story contains dark themes. Proceed with caution. I am not affiliated with Scott Cawthon, or the FNaF franchise. Reviews are welcome.
...
She still remembered them. Those moments.
It had been almost a decade at this point, yet Charlotte Emily remembered every agonizing second of that night, in excruciating detail.
The night she was murdered.
To someone with a dark and twisted sense of humor, that fact would seem funny, considering how jumbled her memories were during her first few days as the Marionette. She had forgotten quite a few aspects of her past, just like the other children who ended up sharing the same fate. Not those moments, though.
They had been etched into her memory. Every punch. Every strike of the knife's handle. The feeling of being grabbed and pinned down. The inability to scream, or even make any voluntary sound. The disgusting taste of iron. The cold. The rain.
Oh, how she had grown to loathe the rain. Perhaps, at some point in time, she used to like it. Definitely not anymore. Not in a long time. How could she, when every night where it rained, she would remember?
Tonight was one of those nights.
She considered herself lucky that she usually spent time alone, away from the others. They wouldn't notice anything different. She wouldn't have to make them worry, or have to put up her guardian persona. This way, she was free to stew within her gift box, and try to force the pitter patter of the rain out of her hearing sensors. At least the inside of the box was dark enough for her to maybe get some sleep.
She was okay.
"I-I bet you didn't expect me to show up, d-did you, now?"
The abrupt loudness of that greeting - at least, when compared to the volume of her surroundings, was enough to make her flinch.
She didn't even have to peek out of her box to know that that voice came from Freddy. She hadn't even heard him come near her.
"What is it?" she asked, irritation subtly tinting her voice. A short pause preceded the reply.
"I'm sorry. I just want-wanted to s-see how you're d-doing," Freddy, or rather, Gabriel, admitted.
Charlotte had listened intently, so as to understand his words through the stuttering of the animatronic's voice box.
Unlike her, who could speak freely using her own voice, the rest of the children were stuck having to rearrange the words provided by the limited, pre-recorded lines they had available, in order to communicate. Gabriel in particular, was a little luckier in that regard. As Freddy Fazbear, the main star of the band, he had more lines to work with. In any case, this handicap would sometimes make it difficult for her to understand what the animatronics were trying to say, but after years of experience, she got used to it.
The gift box's flaps parted, and the Marionette snuck a peek at the animatronic bear that towered over her, his white pinpricks for eyes glowing in the darkness of the prize corner. The dining hall's light wasn't bright enough to reach her small room.
"I appreciate the concern, but I'm okay. How are you and the others?"
"Su-sie is in the kitchen...Fritz and Je-Jeremy are ar-arguing over whether God-zilla can take-ke on one m-million l-lions."
"Truly, a subject of utmost importance."
Freddy let out one of his deep laughs, but it was short-lived. This week was one of the few where the pizzeria didn't have a guard stationed for the night shift. Even though this meant that revenge still eluded the unfortunate victims of the missing children incident, it at least offered a much needed break for all of them. Charlotte was pleased to see the four of them get along. While on the topic…
"Did…did any of you talk to Cassidy at all? Or, did you at least see her?"
Freddy simply shook his head. Charlotte was disappointed but not surprised. Cassidy was almost always alone. She was worried about her, but there wasn't much anyone could do.
Everyone had their own way to deal with their fate, and they showed understanding to one another for that reason. Some would try and laugh off the pain, like Jeremy did and even Fritz to some extent. Susie would try to salvage what little of her old life she could, by eating the food she used to enjoy. Anything that could help her reconnect with her past habits. Gabriel would occasionally help himself by helping those around him.
Lastly, Cassidy, much like Charlotte herself, spent most of her time in isolation.
Thinking.
There was a key difference between the two, however.
Charlotte, even though she didn't quite fit in with the group, still watched from afar, and smiled to herself each time they had their rare but valuable happy moments. Not only that, she also let all of them know they could always talk to her, should they need help.
In contrast to that, Cassidy refused to remain near any of them nowadays, outside of a few, very rare instances. That's what made Charlotte worry the most.
"Char-lotte, are you truly okay?" Gabriel suddenly asked. He suspected something was off.
"..."
A part of her wanted to be honest, but another, more disciplined part of her felt the need to retain her composure.
She was just about ready to say she was fine, until the roar of thunder interrupted her.
"It's…it's the rain," she admitted, without really thinking through. Freddy looked at her with curiosity. It was too late to back out now.
"It was raining…when I died."
Gabriel let some time pass, just to make sure that Charlotte wasn't planning on saying anything further. Come to think of it, she had never spoken much about the topic outside of a few brief mentions, so he wasn't sure if asking was a good idea. Maybe she had her reasons for keeping everyone in the dark.
Regardless, he considered her his friend, probably his closest friend, and curiosity got the better of him. Freddy turned around, and slumped down against the wall, next to the gift box.
"You can tell m-me anything."
"..."
Charlotte had been a witness of the missing children incident, so she had seen their slaughter firsthand. Was it not fair to at least give Gabriel an idea of her fate? Besides, there was always the slim possibility that addressing the topic would help. As such, reluctant though she was, she accepted the offer.
"...That night, I was attending a friend's party. Or was it just a classmate's? I don't quite remember.
We were all having fun, playing the arcades, watching the animatronics perform and serve cake, laughing, and stuff like that.
After a while, something happened. I believe I needed to fetch something from my father's car, so I went outside to get it. When I came back, I tried to open the doors of the pizzeria, but they were locked.
I got so panicked. I didn't want to stay outside in the cold rain. The other children started laughing once they saw me. Apparently, this was just a prank of theirs, but…"
"..."
This was the extent to which Gabriel and the others knew Charlotte's story. As far as he was concerned, that prank left her vulnerable, and their killer greedily took advantage of that. Even so, there was still one more detail that Charlotte hadn't revealed to anyone, until then.
"I felt someone place a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, looked up, and there he was. William Afton.
I've never said this before, but can you believe I actually felt relief once I saw him?"
Freddy's head turned towards her until their eyes met, but he didn't say anything.
"The truth is…William was my father's best friend. His family was very close to mine. He was like an uncle to me, in a way. I loved him.
I explained to him what had happened, and he frowned. He knelt, wiped the tears off my eyes, and told me there was another entrance somewhere on the side of the building.
I naïvely followed him, until he stopped by the bins. He…he…"
The beatings. The knife piercing her skin, sinking into her shoulder, her stomach, her ribcage. Choking in her own blood. Being unable to speak, to scream, to breathe. His eyes. The wet, hard ground. The cold. The rain.
"You…you know…the rest…" she uttered with difficulty, after a long silence.
Gabriel was left speechless. Emotions and thoughts were wriggling and churning within him like worms. Most of all though, he felt raw anger.
Was that man even human, at this point? It wasn't just that he had stripped away the lives of defenseless children. He hadn't even hesitated to kill a girl that knew him personally. A girl that considered him family. A girl that trusted him.
He'd make sure of it. Some day, that man would get the treatment he deserved. When that day would come, he was going to learn exactly how it feels to have your flesh be skewered and ripped apart by a cluster of iron, copper and titanium. How it feels to have your blood stick to fabric, and rust on top of your joints. How it feels to be referred to by a name that is not your own.
A series of sobs doused his burning rage. They were hushed and muffled, as though their source was trying to be as quiet as possible. They were unmistakably coming from Charlotte, no matter how surreal the mere idea was.
She had always been strong. The one all of them would go to for advice and comfort. The one who protected them. The one who gifted them life. Hence why it seemed so…wrong and foreign to see her like this.
Revenge could wait. For now, Gabriel needed to be there for her, like she had been for him. And he knew exactly how to do that. One of the first one-on-one conversations they had had, back in the 1987 location, was centered around the things they were fond of. Charlotte had told him that she liked the way music boxes sound.
Her old music box, which played the melody of 'My Grandfather's Clock' was long gone since they were moved to their current location, so he would have to improvise. As softly as he could, he stood upright, and began playing the Toreador March, using his internal music box.
The Marionette gradually stopped shaking, and looked up at Freddy's glowing blue eyes, in between sobs.
As the classical song played out, Freddy stared at the Marionette's smooth mask. Always so enigmatic. Joy. Sadness. Anger. All three of those emotions were being conveyed by that mask of hers, all at once. It was odd; when he had first laid his eyes on it, it creeped him out. But now that he was giving it a more thorough look, beneath this light, he began to find it...beautiful...
'Focus!'
He couldn't tell if this was actually helpful or not. Sure, she had stopped crying, but whatever thoughts were running through Charlotte's mind was a complete mystery to him.
Once the last couple notes dissipated, Charlotte spoke softly. Her voice was still slightly strained, but her words rang in his ears like music.
"Gabriel, please. Come closer."
Naturally, the request weirded the boy out, but he complied nonetheless. He lowered himself a little, by bending his knees.
"Closer."
This time, he slowly knelt.
"Closer."
At this point, Gabriel had no idea why Charlotte was telling him to do these things, but still, he trusted her. He lowered his head.
*Honk*
In a swift motion, the Marionette's slim index finger pushed Freddy's nose. Charlotte started giggling, while Freddy stayed silent once more, most likely due to shock. She finally managed to say something once her fit was over.
"Thank you, Gabriel. I feel better now."
"...You're welcome-me, Ch-Charlotte. I'm glad I could help," Gabriel stated, relieved.
"Please, call me Charlie. It's how every person I was close to used to call me. I'd like to think we're close, too."
Gabriel savored the fuzziness he felt from hearing that.
"Ha ha. Of course w-we are, Charlie!"
No further words were exchanged between the two of them, for they were not needed. The Marionette let her head rest on Freddy's shoulder.
Charlotte could hear the footsteps of the other animatronics, the humming of idle machinery, and even the sound of rain landing on the roof and the windows of the building.
She was okay.
...
A/N| 22/09/2023 Update: Changed and added some descriptions.
Thank you for reading!