A/N: I had an exhausting finals week, thank God it's over. And I think it's high time that we wrapped up this vacation arc. There was one place my family visited in Korea that always shone as the highlight of my childhood visits there, and it would be almost an embarrassment for me not to include it.
There will be maybe one or two "filler" chapters after the conclusion of the Korea vacation arc to give me some rest, and then we have the next major plot arc soon after. An arc which may very well be THE most important arc in the entire fic. FNAF lore and lore interpretations, which have admittedly fallen a bit to the wayside (though not completely, as I tried to incorporate some bits of it even during the vacation chapters), will be back in full force. Details and foreshadowing moments that I hinted at in earlier chapters, things that might have seemed so tiny and insignificant, may turn out to be MUCH more important than you guys might have originally believed. Many characters from the past tied in with FNAF will soon make a reappearance, possibly in ways that you did not expect.
I have noticed that there is some discontent with the length of Korea vacation arc; one reviewer explicitly addressed it and I can feel some of it stirring in a few of my reviewers. Although I don't regret the decision to send the kids to vacations around the world in and of itself (the fundamental premise of the fic IS to give them a new life, after all), I will concede that I have very likely carried on with this arc for longer than was necessary and I apologize to those who did not find it particularly interesting. I hope that the next arc will more than make up for my mistake in this regard.
I do have this to say in my defense, though. I wanted to let the ghost kids have as much fun as they could. Because in the next arc…well, let's just say…THE GOOD TIMES WILL BE OVER SOON…
Chapter 68 – Vacation to Korea Part 6
As Jackie's car navigated through the streets of Seoul, the ghost kids were literally flying through the cramped space with mounting excitement. It was the last full day of their vacation before they would return to America, and the day in which Melody would finally reveal the surprise she had kept hidden from days.
"I'm getting a headache from watching the kids fly around out of the corner of my eyes," Jackie muttered as she rubbed her head.
"Tone it down, guys, if you start giving Jackie vertigo she'll crash and that'll be a shitty way to end this vacation," Mike half-jokingly ordered. The ghosts did as they were ordered but still gave him and Melody expectant looks.
"It's been long enough!" Fritz complained. "Just tell us already!"
"All right, guys," Melody took a breath. "So you remember when we visited the Lotte Department Store and Hotel?"
"Yeah! We had a lot of fun and got Dad another step closer to obesity!" Charlie replied with a grin, to which Mike merely rolled his eyes. Thank God he hadn't been much of a big eater before all the buffets cause otherwise he was certain he would've had a heart attack by the end of the month.
"Well, that's not the only place where Lotte has something set up like that," Melody explained. "In fact, they've got another place set up like that which is even bigger and better."
"So we're only going to another shopping place?" Susie asked, trying to hide disappointment that she could tell was being shared with the other ghost kids. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the shopping moments, but the way Melody had been hyping up the surprise as something specifically for them made this seem like such a letdown…
"Oh, heck no!" Melody answered quickly. "There's a lot more to it than that!" Before she could say anything more, Jackie suddenly slowed the car to a stop. The family had been so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn't noticed that they had arrived at the very location that was the source of so much anticipation.
"We're here!" Jackie announced. "I'll be joining you guys a little later after I've taken care of a few things. Enjoy yourselves!" she winked.
Melody waved at her cousin as she drove off before turning around to face their destination. There were three buildings that caught the ghosts' attention. One was a proud structure that reached into the sky much higher than any of the buildings around it. Another was a hotel that, while significantly smaller than the tower, was still a distinguished and proud structure separate from its peers with the words "HOTEL LOTTE WORLD" blazoned brightly at the top. And the final building was one defined not just by its height, but by the massive width and area that it covered. The only distinguishing feature of this structure, apart from its size, was the name that it flashed towards the rest of the city: "LOTTE WORLD."
As Melody guided them into the building, navigating through the department store and down escalators to reach some unknown location, the pieces of the puzzle began to click into Cassidy's mind. "Lotte World," she mused, "…it kinda sounds like Disney World…WAIT A MINUTE!" her eyes widened in shock. "Melody said this was something meant specifically for us. Does that mean…?"
"And here we are, guys," Melody's voice interrupted her thoughts. "It's time to reveal the big surprise." She smiled widely. "I know Mike was planning on arranging a Disney World trip with some friends of yours, but I didn't want you guys to wait that long to enjoy your first amusement park. And that, kids, is the surprise that Mike and I had planned."
Everyone's jaw dropped. "No way…" Gabe breathed. "You guys actually…"
"Yep," Mike grinned. "Once Melody told me about this place there was no way I couldn't bring you guys along here. Welcome to Lotte World, kids. The biggest indoor amusement park in the entire world!"
Neither he nor Melody had the chance to say anything more as they were both suddenly swarmed by hugs and rapid-fire expressions of thanks. Melody almost gave into the urge to return the hugs but managed to stop herself in time to avoid looking like a crazy person.
"This is so cool!"
"I'm so glad we came here!"
"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"
"You guys are the BEST!"
"I love you two so much!"
The kids separated from the first adult figures in their afterlives that they trusted completely. "We're going to have SO MUCH FUN!" Jeremy cheered, the rest of the kids just as enthusiastic as he was.
"When I was a kid, I used to come here all the time whenever I visited Korea," Melody's mind reflected on fond childhood memories. "Hopefully you'll enjoy your time here just as much as I did."
"And hopefully Cassidy can stop talking about Disney World so much now," Mike commented with a smirk towards his "youngest" daughter, eliciting an adorable pout from the former Golden Freddy inhabitant and giggles from everyone else.
"It's a good thing we're both here," Melody muttered. "I don't think we'd be able to join you guys otherwise."
Gabe tilted his head curiously. "Why?" he asked.
"Because a lone man going into a place like this meant for kids is rather…creepy," Mike muttered, some of his good humor dissipating.
He didn't want to go into the details, but unfortunately the kids at least somewhat understood what he was trying to say. "You mean…William Afton kind of creepy?" Fritz asked. Mike gave a terse nod which sobered the kids significantly. They weren't naïve enough to believe that William Afton wasn't the only person vile enough to take advantage of a child's innocence and naivety for horrible ends.
"An older woman going alone is less creepy but still weird," Melody added. "But if it's the two of us, then we're just a couple enjoying a cherished part of my childhood." She sighed in exasperation as some of the ghosts giggled at the word couple.
She walked over to the ticket booth and bought two tickets, one for herself and Mike. The group made their way past the turnstile and up a set of escalators. As they reached the top, the family could finally get its first view of Lotte World. And what they saw left them in awe to a degree that only Jeju's most beautiful natural sites could match.
The place they had arrived at could only be described as "magical." There were countless structures and rides spread throughout every corner of the massive chamber they had entered, all of which had been crafted to meet the expectations of a child's unrestrained imagination. From classic amusement park rides such as Ferris Wheels and Merry-go-rounds to castles and edifices straight from ancient civilizations, the kids were overwhelmed by the sheer array of opportunities that now lay before them. It didn't help that many of the buildings and ride entrances offered only a glimpse of the wonders inside while still concealing much of their true nature, frustrating the ghosts who wanted a peek before they started their final adventure.
"THIS IS AWESOME!" Fritz whooped with delight.
"I don't even know where to start!" Liz mumbled. "There's just so much to do."
"Well, that's what maps are for," Mike blithely replied as he picked one up from the side. He opened it up to show Melody and the ghosts. "Where do you want to go first?"
To his chagrin, an argument immediately broke out amongst the ghosts. "I want to go on the Merry-Go-Round!" Cassidy declared. "Everybody loves Merry-go-rounds!"
"Oh, please, that sounds so boring!" Fritz scoffed. "The Sindbad ride sounds much cooler!"
"Screw that!" Gabe challenged. "I want to go right to the good stuff! That French Revolution roller coaster sounds like a hell of a lot of fun!"
Charlie quickly decided to step in before things got out of hand. "Guys, CALM DOWN!" she shouted, waving her arms frantically. Once she had gotten their attention, she glared at them. "Melody and Mike gave us an amazing opportunity and you're gonna ruin it by acting like THIS?"
Her brothers and sisters had the decency to look ashamed. "Sorry…" Fritz mumbled apologetically.
Charlie sighed. "I get that we don't all have the same interests. So I think we should do what we did back at the Grand Canyon. Split up into pairs and visit whatever you want at your own pace. Then, after a few hours, Dad can call us back and we can wrap things up like that."
"This is your first vacation outside of America and your first amusement park," Melody interjected. "You don't want to spend it together as a family?"
"We can do a few rides together towards the end," Gabe suggested. "As a family."
"That works for me," Liz readily agreed, as did the others.
Charlie smiled. "Then let's enjoy our first amusement park, guys!" she declared. The kids cheered and split up into the same pairs that they had divided into at the Grand Canyon. After a few seconds of discussing which rides they wanted to tackle first, they dispersed throughout the amusement park; it was much easier to get two children to agree on something than seven.
She glanced over at Mike and Melody and smiled. "See you guys later," she said with a wink, and then she too departed.
Mike groaned as he watched her go. "Please don't tell me that CHARLIE is trying to pair us too," he muttered. "It's bad enough that Susie and Cassidy keep bringing it up."
Melody laughed. "They're just kids, Mike. Kids always do weird stuff like that."
"I thought kids were supposed to be grossed out by romance stuff, not trying to set it up," Mike countered dryly. He looked around the amusement park. "So…any rides you remember from back when you came here as a kid?"
Melody smiled and she took Mike's hand. "Oh, I don't even know where to begin…"
/
"I've gotta say I'm impressed, Fritz," Liz smirked at her brother. "A few days ago you were walking backwards out of a maze but now you've managed to find your way over to Sinbad's Adventure without even trying!"
"Shut up!" Fritz playfully complained as he stopped in front of the attraction. "I'm not THAT hopeless!"
"Whatever you say bro," Liz giggled as she looked up at the entrance of the attraction. It was easily one of the more exotic ride entrances, featuring a pirate wielding two blades, a genie with his hands outstretched, and a dragon in front of an Arabian palace background. The whole thing gave her a distinct Aladdin-y feel.
Whatever else could be said about Fritz, he certainly had good taste.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am so happy I'm a ghost," Fritz commented wryly as the two siblings floated past the gate and the lines crowded with people. "Imagine having to actually WAIT in this crappy line."
"Lately, I've been a lot happier with being a ghost than I thought I'd ever be," Liz replied. "There's so many things we can do now that we wouldn't ever be able to do if we were still alive."
Fritz nodded solemnly as the two navigated through the crowds. A pre-ride show had been prepared that offered a backstory for the ride – an evil sorcerer had captured a beautiful princess and it was now up to the brave pirate Sinbad to rescue her. "Kinda standard," Liz mused, "but it does the job, I guess."
They snuck through the last of the line and arrived at the edge of a small canal, just as a small boat with several seats was arriving at a leisurely place. Fritz and Liz quickly floated up to the boat and anchored themselves to it as new passengers replaced the old ones. The boat slowly churned forward and Fritz grabbed at Liz's shoulder as something caught his eye.
"Hey, look!" he pointed to the right. "It's a tiny island with two skeletons on it!"
Liz grinned. "Nice attention to detail there," she remarked as they approached a tunnel that marked the true entrance to the ride. The two ghost kids stared in silence as they left the vibrance of Lotte World behind and entered the dark and ominous dungeons of a sorcerer's lair. All around them was darkness, broken only by colored spotlights and light from artificial torches that served to accentuate the dark and spine-chilling environment of the ride. Fritz and Liz watched as the sorcerer gloated over the prize of the kidnapped princess in a dungeon filled with skeletons, ancient treasures, savage beasts, and grotesque architecture.
"This is creepy as hell," Fritz muttered as they passed through a dark forest and several tortured, demonic faces carved in the artificial trees. "And we're the experts on creepy!"
Whatever Liz was going to say was interrupted as they floated into the next chamber and Sinbad's first appearance. The ghost girl gasped as her eyes fell on a three-headed dragon that towered over them, its yellow eyes glaring as it readied to do battle against the heroic pirate while lights flickered frantically all around them. The creature let out a "breath" of smoke as they passed it by, and Fritz couldn't help but feel regret at the fact that they wouldn't be able to see how the battle would actually play out.
But the dragon was only the first of the sorcerer's guardians. The kids focused on every detail as the boat crept forward on the artificial canal, whether it was an obstacle that Sinbad would face or one of many features of the dungeons that gave the ride so much life and atmosphere. A ship full of animated skeletons whose eyes glowed menacingly with red light as one swung its sword at Sinbad. A torture chamber where a man had been shackled to a table while an axe swung back and forth menacingly from the ceiling. A savage cyclops wielding a heavy club and a four-armed golden statue that carried a different weapon in each hand. The pirate within Fritz jumped for joy at witnessing such an adventure after years of being trapped in a shunned and abandoned animatronic, and Liz couldn't help but smile at her brother's enthusiasm as they watched Sinbad hold his sword towards the sorcerer face-to-face.
"You can take the kid out of the pirate but you can't take the pirate out of the kid," she thought as they breezed through the final stages of Sinbad's Adventure. They were much brighter and more cheerful than the rest, showing a triumphant ending in which Sinbad had managed to win the heart of and marriage to the princess of his dreams while the sorcerer was now trapped inside his own crystal ball. A happy fate for a worthy hero.
"That was SO COOL!" Fritz cheered as they finally arrived back at the dock where they had started. "Man, I wish Foxy could've done something like that when he was still doing his shows. Foxy the Pirate, savior of princesses and slayer of dragons! Forget Freddy Fazbear, I'd be the real star of the show!"
Liz giggled as they left the ride and Fritz continued to boast about how he as Foxy would be an even better rescuer than Sinbad. Whether he intended it or not, Fritz was by far the funniest of his brothers and sisters. And she would never forget that aside from Charlie and Mike, he was the one who had welcomed her without question back in that first day, when she had been a lost and scared girl looking to put her tainted past behind.
As much as she loved all her new siblings, he would always be her favorite brother.
/
Cassidy and Susie laughed as they "rode" the Merry-Go-Round, having fine-tuned their anchoring to the point that they could move up and down alongside the horses. As the carousel spun faster and faster, Susie allowed her mind to drift off into a fantasy where she was a princess riding a beautiful pony, while Cassidy turned her gaze outward and happily watched all of Lotte World pass by her in a blur.
"I love Lotte World!" Susie gleefully shouted as the ride finally slowed to a stop. She and Cassidy disconnected from their horses and left the carousel grounds. "I'm having so much fun already!"
"I still can't believe Korea has its own version of Disneyland," her sister murmured in wonder as they scouted the rest of the amusement park, eagerly looking for their next ride. "Melody completely threw us for a loop!"
"Speaking of loops, do you want to go on a roller coaster?" Susie suggested. "I think I saw one on the map earlier."
Cassidy shook her head. "Nah, I want to save that for later. I'm looking for something a little different, something that I don't think we'll be able to find in another amusement park." Her eyes looked upward and widened as she saw the many hot air balloons flying right underneath the ceiling of Lotte World. "Ooh, ooh!" she pointed at the balloons. "How about those?"
"Works for me!" Susie replied as she and Cassidy floated up a few floors higher to find the docking station for the balloon ride. They knew that they could technically just fly up to the ceiling and into one of the hot air balloons, but the sisters wanted to experience the ride the way the living did. The two girls followed a young couple into a green hot air balloon and peered over the edge of the balloon as it started rising towards the ceiling.
"The view is even more beautiful from up here!" Cassidy gushed as she and Susie took in Lotte World from an aerial perspective. "We can see everything!"
Susie stared intently at the people far below, turning her head from side to side. "I'm trying to find Mike and Melody," she explained at Cassidy's confused expression. "But I can't find them anywhere."
Cassidy shook her head. "With all these people around? Good luck." She followed Susie's gaze. "What do you think Mike and Melody are doing right now?" she wondered. "Maybe they're doing a log ride since they can actually feel the splash from the water?"
Susie sighed a bit sadly. There would always be some things that they would forever miss out on, simple enjoyments forever denied to them. "I guess all we can do is find new ones to replace them," she thought.
"It's so peaceful up here," Cassidy murmured, oblivious to the moment of melancholy Susie had been experiencing. "Down there it's all crowded and crazy and full of excitement, but up here is the one place where we can really kick back and relax."
Susie wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulder. "If there's one good thing about being trapped in the animatronics, apart from getting to know dad, it's that the rest of the world looks even more beautiful now that we're finally free," she began, surprising both herself and her sister with the depth of her words. "The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Jeju, Lotte World…I can find beauty and peace everywhere we visit. And I can almost forget all the horrible things that happened to us."
Cassidy smiled and leaned into Susie's arm. "The philosophers of the past would be proud, Sus," she commented, and both ghosts giggled. "And I agree with you. I don't know if our new life is worth all that suffering, but I want to appreciate what we have now just like you do."
The girls fell silent, their minds divided between pondering what they had just discussed and admiring the view of Lotte World from above. As the balloon approached the halfway point on the other side of the chamber, Susie suddenly grabbed her sister's arm.
"Look, over there!" she pointed towards the entrance to the Flume log ride, exactly where she had suggested they would be earlier. "I see them! I see Dad and Melody! Hey! HEY!" she channeled her thoughts towards the two adults. "Up here! We're up here!"
And against all odds, Mike and Melody heard their message, looked upwards and saw the two ghostly girls waving excitedly at them. Breaking out into smiles, the two adults waved back, marveling at the sheer improbability of their communication. "How the heck did they find us?" Mike gaped. "The chances of that happening must've been like a million to one!"
"I have no idea," Melody answered with a shrug, "but I'm not complaining about happy coincidences."
Up in the air balloon, Susie was nearly dancing at her accomplishment. "I knew we'd find them!" she whooped and cheered. "I knew it!"
"That just made my day, Sus," Cassidy laughed. "I don't know how we can make it better than this."
Susie smirked mischievously. "Want to see if we can find our family while we're riding one of the roller coasters?"
The former Golden Freddy inhabitant grinned at the challenge. "You're on!"
/
Unlike their sisters, Gabe and Jeremy had no intention of saving the best for last. The moment their eyes had fallen on the French Revolution roller coaster, they had made a beeline straight for it. Both boys took full advantage of their spectral nature to bypass the crowded line that was impatiently waiting for a chance to ride one of highest-intensity attractions in the park, and Jeremy couldn't resist making funny faces at the unsuspecting tourists.
"Stop that," Gabe chided as he lightly whacked the back of Jeremy's head. "That's not very nice."
"Aww…but it's fun!" Jeremy whined. "Besides, it's not like they can see me or anything!"
The oldest of the MCI kids merely sighed in response. Sometimes Jeremy could be just as immature as Fritz. Feeling both amused and exasperated, he followed Jeremy over to the cars. Part of him couldn't help but feel a bit bad for Mike and Melody – because they were still alive, they wouldn't be able to enjoy the privilege of skipping the entire line.
"Front seat?" Jeremy asked as he floated over to the front car and anchored himself to it.
"Oh heck yes!" Gabe grinned. "We're gonna have the best view!"
The roller coaster started to move smoothly forward, eliciting excited grins from both brothers. As it turned to the right and started crawling upward, Gabe suddenly noticed something a bit odd. "Hey, uh, Jeremy?" he asked as he took in his surroundings. "Is it just me or are we a bit close to the wall?"
"What?"
"No, I'm not kidding," Gabe pointed to his right. "We are LITERALLY right next to the wall!"
He didn't time to say anything more as the roller coaster reached the top of its arc and suddenly careened forward. Jeremy and Gabe yelled with delight as they felt the same rush they had experienced back in the New York NY coaster. Almost immediately, the track dived into an artificial cavern created in one of the buildings, plunging the ride into darkness and leaving only the excited screams of the passengers and the roar of the coaster itself. Jeremy and Gabe barely had time to try and adjust their vision to see within the darkness before the coaster soared out into the light and towards another dark cavern, this one made of rock and stone.
"Ack!" Jeremy gasped as the ceiling to this second cavern approached a little too closely to his head. He ducked down just as the coaster dove into the darkness, breathing out an instinctive sigh of relief. This time, however, they were not merely sent back into the open space of Lotte World. Bright lights from an unseen camera flashed twice as the roller coaster sped through a tunnel filled with circles of light that pulsed all around them, creating a spectacular light show of red, blue, and green.
"THIS IS SO COOL!" Gabe and Jeremy screamed ecstatically as the tunnel of light ended and they found themselves back in the light. But the thrills were far from done, as they soon found themselves racing towards the loop-dee-loop and their favorite hallmark of all roller coasters.
"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" both of them shouted as they felt their bodies pulled alongside the cars for a 360 degree spin far faster and more energizing than anything they could pull off by themselves. Jeremy and Gabe gasped as they felt the car zoom past the loop-dee-loop and slow on a stretch of track in front of a building designed like a European castle.
"Aww…" Jeremy groaned, "I was hoping for a bit more…"
"I don't think we're done yet," Gabe pointed at how the track curved downward a few feet away. On a whim, he looked up towards the hot air balloons flying high above them and his eyes widened. "Hold on, did I just see…"
Whatever thought was going through his mind was dashed aside as the roller coaster began another fast-paced descent and he was caught up in the thrill of the ride. As the car circled twice around a large circular fountain, Jeremy instinctively tried to reach out towards the geysers of water but his spectral hand failed to reach anywhere near them.
"OH GOD!" Gabe exclaimed in sudden horror. Jeremy jerked his head back and looked up in time to see a pillar and part of the track approach dangerously close to their heads. With a yelp, both boys (and some of the other passengers) ducked down as the cars cleanly sailed past them and slowed under an archway. This time, it was the end of the ride for real.
"Holy crap, I feel PUMPED!" Jeremy shouted as they left the French Revolution, feeling the closest thing that a ghost could to an adrenaline rush. "Maybe it can't beat seeing all of Las Vegas from a roller coaster, but that light tunnel! And that loop dee loop! HECK YES!"
"Man, I thought we were going to hit our heads a couple of times," Gabe commented as they made their way back to the open space of Lotte World. "That was scary, how closely they made parts of the track to each other."
"True," Jeremy nodded in agreement as they scouted around looking for another ride. After a few moments, Gabe suddenly grabbed his brother's shoulder.
"You know I just realized something," the former Freddy inhabitant noticed. "Why were we so worried about crashing into the walls or banging our heads against parts of the roller coaster when we don't even have physical bodies that can get hurt to begin with?"
Jeremy stared silently as his brother for several seconds. Then, the two of them burst out laughing. "Man," Jeremy wiped a spectral tear from his eye, "we are so stupid sometimes, aren't we?"
Gabe chuckled. "Meh, it's not like most people use their brains at amusement parks to begin with," he replied. A thoughtful look suddenly appeared on his face. "Say, Jer…did you notice some doors over at the opposite side of the park?" he pointed to several sets of double doors in the far distance leading to some unknown location. "Want to go see what's out there?"
Jeremy shrugged. "It probably just leads to an exit or something…"
"I dunno…" Gabe shook his head, "if that's the case, why are there people coming back in?"
"Good point…" the two boys fell silent for several seconds. "Wanna go check it out?" Jeremy finally asked. "After we go on a few more rides?"
"I'm down," Gabe readily agreed. "Who knows? Maybe we'll find something cool to show the rest of the family!"
==One Hour and Thirty Minutes Later==
The kids chatted to each other happily and shared their experiences as they, Mike, and Melody waited patiently to go on the last ride of their adventure in Lotte World. Jeremy and Gabe's exploration had yielded the revelation of an outdoor amusement park as well as an indoor one (a detail which they had all missed during their brief initial scan of the map), which everyone naturally set off to explore the moment the two brothers shared the news. Even with this unexpected development and several repeats of favorite rides, it had only between one and two hours for the kids to enjoy all the rides they were interested in – the kids had taken advantage of their ability to bypass the lines as thoroughly as possible.
Still, there had been one ride that none of them had so much as approached. When Mike suggested that they take the "Pharaoh's Fury" ride together as a family, all of them had immediately agreed without a single complaint. None of them had forgotten the two adults who had made this entire trip possible, and all of them wanted the nature of the ride to be a complete surprise.
"Wow," Fritz whistled appreciatively as they passed through the corridors leading up to the ride. "They REALLY went all-out on this one."
"Look at all these Egyptian artifacts!" Liz exclaimed as she floated up to one for closer inspection. "Do you think they could be real?"
Charlie shook her head. "I doubt it," she replied. "If they were real, they'd be in a museum, not a kid's amusement park." A small smile graced her lips. "Still easily one of the most impressive things I've seen in Lotte World, though."
"Speaking of which, where were you?" Jeremy asked. "You went off by yourself when everyone else was going around in pairs. Heck, even Mike and Melody were in pairs too!"
Charlie stroked her chin thoughtfully. "I guess I just like being by myself sometimes," she answered after several seconds. "Sometimes I just like to do my own thing." She didn't pass on her suspicion that the reason why she had such an independent streak was because she had been forced into a life of solitude for a large part of her life as the Marionette. Even though she had been opening herself more to the family ever since the ride to her old home with Mike, there was still a part of her that felt the need to be by herself at times.
Any thoughts that the ghosts might've had on Charlie's solitary preferences were interrupted as Mike called for them to follow him and Melody past the last stages of the line. The family arrived just in time to see an old desert jeep lumber forward and stop in front of them.
"Wow," Melody commented, "I think that's the most realistic thing I've seen in the entire amusement park!"
"If they put that much effort into a detail like that, then you KNOW this is gonna be good!" Susie exclaimed as Mike and Melody shuffled into the front row. The ghost kids all anchored themselves and let out cries of delight and anticipation as the jeep began to move forward. Ancient Egyptian music blared out from their surroundings as they beheld the face of a dignified, noble Egyptian pharaoh on a wall above a ramp leading downward.
"I feel like Indiana Jones!" Melody cheered.
"Who's Indiana Jones?" Cassidy asked, her head tilted in confusion.
Melody whirled around to face Mike. "You haven't shown them Indiana Jones yet?" she asked incredulously. When Mike shook his head sheepishly, her eyes narrowed. "We're gonna have a talk later," she muttered as the ride began.
To everyone's confusion, they found themselves not inside an Ancient Egyptian tomb, but rather in a subterranean cave. A large lizard snarled at them with beady red eyes and razor-sharp fangs and a bright red pool clearly meant to be lava bubbled and frothed a few feet away, surrounded by jaw-like stalagmites and stalactites. The only connection to Ancient Egypt was the ambient music, which had softened to a mystical and ethereal tune.
"Are we exploring an Egyptian tomb or under a volcano?" Fritz questioned.
"Kind of creepy…" Jeremy muttered as the jeep drove out of the cave onto a small bridge connecting to another building. A few of the kids waved towards the rest of the park as the jeep made a sharp right turn and the doors opened to the next segment of Pharaoh's Fury. Even before the doors closed behind them, a red light suddenly flashed on the wall in front of them, illuminating the same pharaoh's face from before. Only this time, the face was that of a hideous skull spewing smoke onto them from a gaping, decayed mouth.
"EEEEEEK!" Susie shrieked, flinching and retreating towards her father. Mike gave her a half-concerned, half-amused look as he rubbed her ghostly hair to calm her. The music playing from before had steadily become darker and deeper, adding to the ominous atmosphere as the jeep drove forward. They passed by several obstacles and guardians, some of which should have been far beyond the power of a pharaoh. Shadowy demons that clawed at the walls. A decayed skeleton with eyes glowing malevolently in the darkness. As they passed into a dark chamber with dim red light that provided minimal illumination, a giant crocodile snarled at them from a high ledge. In the background, the kids could see Egyptian pillars and statues that one would expect to see in a museum, but in the darkness of the tomb even they seemed sinister and malevolent.
"Was this pharaoh a Satanist or something?" Gabe muttered as they progressed into another chamber. This one seemed to detail the history of the pharaoh's life through hieroglyphics and paintings on stone walls, though the red light that illuminated the slabs and the growing intensity of the ambient music did nothing to comfort the kids.
"Oh, chillax, guys," Mike couldn't resist a smirk at how frightened his younger children seemed to be. "Nightmare was a hell of a lot scarier than this bozo. Heck, YOU guys are scarier than this bozo. And unlike him, neither of you stuffed your room with a ton of shit trying to compensate for something."
Melody burst out into laughter as the kids relaxed at the familiar confidence and amusement in Mike's voice. "Who's Nightmare?" she asked as they found themselves back out into the open and climbing up a ramp to the third and final stage of the ride. This time, they were much higher up, almost reaching the ceiling of Lotte World's massive chamber and they were flanked on the left side by several Egyptian pillars, all of which were decorated with intricate carvings and details.
Mike cursed himself for accidentally revealing the existence of the demon lord to her, even if it was only through a vague name. "Don't worry about it," he replied curtly, all amusement gone as they entered the final part of the pharaoh's tomb. Melody only had a second to wonder why Mike suddenly seemed on edge before she was distracted by the décor of the hallway they were now in. Unlike the other chambers, this one seemed almost normal for an Egyptian tomb, showcasing several paintings depicting a pharaoh's burial.
"Is that how Ancient Egyptians actually buried their kings?" Liz asked as they left the decorations behind them.
"I think so," was all Charlie had time to say before a purple light shined agitatedly to their right, revealing an Ancient Egyptian burial chamber with two skeletons presiding over a corpse laying on a table. Cassidy and Susie both shrieked as the shadows of spiders climbed on the wall opposite them, before the jeep drove into a chamber filled with chaotic lighting that barely illuminated the cobra-headed columns in the four corners of the room.
"I hate spiders…" Susie muttered as they approached by a moving image of flames taking on the form of a snarling demon's face while spirits floated upward from the ceiling to the floor. The kids shuddered as they passed it by, dearly hoping that it wasn't an image of Hell that they had just witnessed – Nightmare had been bad enough.
Fortunately for them, the next room took their minds off all things related to the Inferno. To the left they could see two small craters, out of which rose mystical blue and purple steam. To the right was a large stone face carved into the wall with eyes glowing faintly orange as it stared contemptuously down upon trespassers. Scattered throughout the room near the ceiling were more cobra statues, though this time their eyes glowed red and seemed to stare right into them. The most interesting feature was the bridge in the middle, that provided the only crossing over a space covered in darkness. As the jeep began to pass over it, the two torch stands to either side suddenly burst into flame. Jeremy, who had been unfortunate enough to be on the edge of the car, instinctively yelped and dived towards the center of the car.
"Wait, what am I doing?" he thought as he calmed down. "I can't get burned!"
"You know, I haven't really seen anything to justify the use of these seat belts," Mike commented. He would soon eat those words, for the Pharaoh's Fury ride had saved one last surprise up its sleeve. Unbeknownst to anyone, the jeep had been approaching a steep descent with slightly lower angle than that of a roller coaster, and all of them were taken completely by surprise when the car suddenly plunged downward into darkness.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the kids cried out as they found themselves being yanked alongside the car thanks to their anchoring. Their ghostly, nonexistent lungs gasped for breath as the jeep abruptly stopped, slowed back to its leisurely pace, and advanced into the final chamber of the Pharaoh's tomb.
And it was this chamber that held any treasure hunter's ultimate prize. After spending almost the entirety of the ride in complete or near-complete darkness, the ghost kids were stunned when bright light suddenly illuminated the room and revealed the pharaoh's precious treasure. All around them were priceless golden Egyptian treasures and artifacts that would make any archaeologist's mouth water, along with another giant face stature of the pharaoh who had gone through great lengths to keep his tomb protected. But the family didn't have time to admire the work that had gone into recreating these ancient Egyptian artifacts, as the light filling in the treasure chamber faded to red and the pharaoh's eyes began to glow sinisterly in the darkness. Wasting no time, the jeep departed out of the treasure chamber as the tomb began to "collapse" behind them and thunder flashed in the background. The ghost kids held their breath until they were back into the antechamber of Pharaoh's Fury, out into the open with the intensity of the ride behind them.
"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Liz cheered as they climbed out of the jeep and made their way to the exit. "I really felt like I was exploring a cursed tomb!"
"My favorite ride in the entire park!" Cassidy praised. "It really creeped me out sometimes, but I can't really complain since that was the whole point."
"I'm not sure if I liked it as much as the roller coasters," Gabe added his own thoughts, "but outside of those this was for sure the best ride in the entire park!"
"The park put so much love and effort into it, even more than the others," Susie looked fondly back towards the ride's exit. "All those details, the replicas, the lighting, the monsters, it was all done so beautifully!"
"Now part of me wants to look up Egyptian Mythology," Jeremy commented. "To see if they really did do funerals like that for pharaohs."
"There's a book series called the Kane Chronicles that might interest you, Jeremy," Melody advised. "It's kind of like the Percy Jackson series except for Egyptian mythology."
"Thanks, Melody, I'll be sure to check it out," Jeremy promised.
Melody smiled and looked at her watch. "I'm glad you guys enjoyed the last ride so much, because unfortunately all the time we have for Lotte World. Jackie made a reservation at the Grand Hilton for dinner and she wants to hear all about Lotte World and what you guys enjoyed most about Korea. If we're lucky, you guys might be able to enjoy some high-quality Kalbi through Mike!"
"It's your last dinner in Korea and we want to make it something special," Mike added. The family departed from Lotte World in high spirits, content with all they had enjoyed in the amusement park and eagerly awaiting the prospect of enjoying yet another high-class meal and sharing their experiences with Melody's cousin. As they gave the Lotte recreational complex one last, adoring look, Charlie sent a message to Melody's mind and Melody's mind alone. A single sentence that conveyed all her gratitude and appreciation for one of the first adults that she and her siblings had grown to trust after William Afton's violent deception and betrayal.
"Thank you for everything you did to make our first out-of-country vacation the best that it could possibly be."
And with the silent, knowing smile that she received in return, Charlie knew that Melody had received her message and all its significance both in letter and in spirit.
/
A/N: And I think that's a good place to stop. I was originally going to write in a visit to Lotte Tower, which is easily one of the tallest buildings in South Korea, but I figured I would do something else like One World Trade Center or Willis Tower for something like that. There was already enough going on with Lotte World as it is.
To be honest, I'm glad I reached the conclusion of this arc. It went on longer than I intended and I knew that if I kept it going for much longer people were going to get burned out (including myself), especially since its ties to FNAF were minimal at best.
But I've said it before and I will say it again, the next arc will bring us right back into the past of FNAF. If you were worried about this fic straying from its FNAF roots with the Korea arc, I'd say "have no fear"…but I can't really say that, can I? Not when I'm talking about what may very be THE DARKEST arc in the entire fic. And considering what I've already written, I do not make this claim lightly…
To those of you who wish to figure it out before I make it clear in a chapter yet to be written, I leave you with these two clues.
There are darker things than demons that lurk inside the hearts of men.
When I apply this truth to the arc soon to come, I will do so with more than one interpretation.
One of these is fairly transparent once you think about it, but I'll be surprised if anyone figures out the meaning of the second before the time comes.
Until then, hope you guys enjoyed!
