A/N: So, there's been some evidence lately, both from the Logbook and from Fazbear Frights, that the Bite Victim's real name might actually be Evan. Since I want to keep things as faithful to the canon as possible (barring the obvious major plot differences already implemented) and because I like Evan more than I like Eric for the name of the Bite Victim (sounds more "British"), I have changed the name of the Bite Victim's name in this fic so that it's Evan instead. Yep, it's Cassidy and Rachel 2.0 lmao, though thankfully not nearly as prevalent.
BarcodeMan47: He'll have issues he'll need to deal right, all right.
Guest: God: "Yep, time to fry the entire Internet." – And thus the entire Internet was shut down for days if not weeks because a heavenly lightning bolt blasted through the whole thing. But all jokes aside, I don't think Glitchtrap has the ability to possess people from the Internet. He was only able to pull that trick in the VR game because the game pretty much transfers your consciousness/mind/soul into the game world itself (the opening disclaimer from FE even says at much). Glitchtrap honestly would be less threatening from the Internet than in his current state in the VR game, at least from the perspective of "he can't possess people." On the other hand, since it's the Internet, he'd also be harder to get rid of.
Guest: Yeah, I really don't agree with the idea of Glitchtrap being able to destroy souls at all. Corrupting them is much more realistic, and his impact on Vanny could arguably be considered evidence of this.
Jack0Lanterns: Old Man Consequences is unaffected by card effects, so good luck with that :P Jokes aside, I might possibly leave Bonnet with the family. I also need to get Helpy back in the story, since I pretty much just forgot about him completely lmao.
SuperDescendant101: I don't think he can actually hypnotize people, at least not before he fully reforms from the 16 Tapes and tries to take over someone. He doesn't actually attempt to hypnotize the player at any point during his pre-Tape appearances or even in Pizza Party, as it's the player who voluntarily (and rather stupidly) walks behind the curtain and gets themselves trapped. I could possibly make a case for hypnosis at the exact moment when Glitchtrap tries to take over the player, but at that point I'm not sure if it's hypnosis or the body possession powers. Tape Girl didn't really give off any signs of being hypnotized either, and at first she was dealing with a Glitchtrap that hadn't been broken at all.
Thanatos D.E.M.: Nah, I won't be using fangames as part of the plot for Mike's New Ghostly Family, as they're not directly connected to the plot of FNaF in any way. I know Scott has officially endorsed and even sponsored some fangames, but they're still separate universes.
FrostTheFrozenFox: Yeah, it SHOULD work. Hopefully…
Guest: Can't really say anything here because spoilers.
TU4Q: No, I should probably clear that up. They're not ACTUALLY using the powers of a Yu-Gi-Oh! card and applying it to the real world. Old Man Consequences simply used the Yu-Gi-Oh! card as an analogy and to explain how the dark ritual will work. It's basically exposition to make it easier for Nightmare and the reader to understand. The actual YuGiOh! card itself is completely irrelevant to anything.
Tellamockus: I'm…honestly not sure what you're talking about. You're gonna have to rewrite the review, it's been a while and I'm not gonna remember.
ThomasTheTank: A Health Inspector wouldn't have any reason to snoop around a warehouse or storage facility, though. It's not a restaurant (I know Fazbear Entertainment are incompetent as fuck, but even they're not THAT stupid…I hope).
RedisSus: Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, I could see the ghost kids doing that. Or alternatively, so that they don't feel as bad, they could offer half-truths and vague descriptions so that they're technically telling the truth, but not any of the major self-incriminating details.
Properman: As horrible as WWI and WWII were, they never literally threatened the very souls of humanity itself. The afterlife won't intervene in events that only harm the body, no matter how horrific they might be (and the divide between the mundane and supernatural worlds is STRICTLY enforced, otherwise you'd have demons running around fucking things up everywhere). Glitchtrap is a different matter entirely, which is all I'm going to say without exposing spoilers. Also, I don't watch TV. Like, at all.
MothraRanger: Glad you liked it! And yeah, Nightmare's technically doing a lot of good right now, but only because (a) he hates William Afton just as much as the Schmidts and (b) the afterlife's higher authorities are ordering him to help, and refusing them is not an option if he wants to continue his existence. He does have some morals and principles, but that's a VERY minor percentage of his motivations.
DATA EXPUNGED: I don't watch TV at all, lol. But I still stand by what I said: the FNaF ghost kids are more guilty than the children in your scenario who participated in the "simulation," since the ghost kids knew they were killing actual people, while the kids in your scenario did not. Whoever organized the fake simulation to begin with is who's truly to blame.
RicAlburquerque: Destroying souls is probably not gonna happen, as that would be way too overpowered in general and Glitchtrap hasn't demonstrated any ability at all to outright destroy souls in any media he has appeared in. Corrupting souls, on the other hand…that's a different matter entirely. I would say the MCI ghost kids did their part in playing through the VR game and exposing Glitchtrap, even if Mike was ultimately the one to land the killing blow. As for Vanny…you'll have to find out for yourself.
Awesomesniper86: Hey, don't be shy :P
AlchemyWriter: Yeah, Glitchtrap is too dangerous for the afterlife too ignore.
Guest: I'm starting residency in about 2 months, which will dramatically cut down on my free time. I don't plan on outright finishing the story soon, but there will probably be a longer gap between chapters and less filler chapters since I need to focus more on the FNaF stuff.
Fnaffan418: Well, the Marshalls don't have any reason to know about Liz's past experience as Circus Baby or how she fell into evil at one point. Neither FNaF 5 nor Pizzeria Simulator exist in this universe, and it's unlikely they've ever even heard of Circus Baby. Their first exposure would be in the VR game, assuming the ghost kids don't keep them as far away from all things Fazbear-related as humanly possible.
Dragon of the Eclipsing Moon: Thanks!
Chapter 131 – Demonic Solutions to Unholy Problems
Gabe tapped his foot nervously (not that he could actually hit anything) as he waited for Nightmare to make contact. For the first time in a long time, Mike was out of the house for an extended period of time, having accepted an offer to go on a vacation trip with Eisensteel so that he had an ironclad alibi if Fazbear Entertainment tried to blame him for what was about to happen. He and the rest of his siblings were alone, and no matter how much Mike and Nightmare might have respected each other, the demon lord always made him feel uncomfortable.
"Hey, Gabe!" Cassidy's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Check out Helpy!"
The former Freddy inhabitant looked over to see his sister pointing at the little animatronic bear. Helpy was waving at him with his little hand, a huge, cheerful smile on his face. Gabe forced a smile on his and waved back. "He's so cute, isn't he?" Cassidy gushed, though her brother could tell that she was playing with Helpy to distract herself from her growing nervousness.
"Probably the first animatronic from Fazbear Entertainment that isn't fucked up in some way," Fritz deadpanned as he watched Helpy climb onto the sofa and look at Cassidy's laptop screen with wide-eyed fascination.
"Did Charlie's old dad ever tell her or dad what Helpy can actually do?" Susie wondered aloud.
Charlie shook her head. "I don't…think so?" she answered uncertainly. "Dad might have some blueprints, but if he knows about what Helpy can do he never went into details."
"I kinda wanna see what happens when we try to teach Helpy board or even video games," Jeremy commented. He could tell that the little animatronic bear had an intelligence to him that the older animatronics had definitely lacked, and wanted to see just what and how much the little bear could learn.
Gabe was about to answer, when he felt a sudden surge of unholy energy charge the room. "Nightmare's coming back!" he declared. The ghost children quickly abandoned their activities and rushed towards the last location in their basement where Nightmare had conjured up a portal. Even Helpy seemed to sense that something was off, as he was looking around nervously, wondering what could have happened to cause his owners to act in such a chaotic manner.
The answer came a few seconds later, when a fiery portal ripped itself into existence, and Nightmare's menacing visage appeared. "HAS SCHMIDT ESTABLISHED HIS ALIBI YET?" was the first question he asked.
"Yeah," Gabe affirmed immediately, speaking on behalf of his family. "Dad's gone on a vacation trip with the old company he used to work for. I don't think he's even in the same state as wherever the Hell Fazbear Entertainment's in, right now."
Nightmare grinned. "EXCELLENT. THOSE CORRUPT, GREED-RIDDEN FOOLS WILL BE POWERLESS TO BLAME HIM FOR THE RECKONING THAT IS TO COME."
"Are you almost ready?" Jeremy asked.
"THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE RITUAL HAVE BEEN COMPLETED," Nightmare answered. "WE ARE READY TO BEGIN."
"Phew," Susie mumbled. "The sooner we get rid of all those Glitchtraps, the better."
"SINCE ATTEMPTING TO CONTACT SCHMIDT WHILE HE IS WITH HIS FELLOW MORTALS WOULD BE…INADVISABLE…I WILL CONTACT YOU ONCE THE RITUAL HAS BEEN COMPLETED," Nightmare informed them. "WE CAN DISCUSS FURTHER DETAILS FROM THERE."
"That works for us," Charlie agreed. "This dark ritual's all up to you."
"Good luck!" Cassidy offered.
Nightmare sneered. "I LIVE IN HELL, LITTLE BRAT," he retorted. "YOU EITHER MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK OR DIE." And on that pleasant note, he severed the connection with a swipe of his claw and vanished the portal.
"It sucks," Fritz threw his hands in the air in frustration. "We were doing shit back when we were playing the VR game. We were making progress, finding out what the hell was wrong with the game, I really felt we were going somewhere! And now we have to wait and hope that what Nightmare's doing actually works," he crossed his arms and pouted. "God, I hate not being able to do anything to help."
"I know how you feel," Gabe admitted, "but we're in over our heads here and we know it. Sometimes, the right thing to do is take a step back and get help from somebody who can deal with the problem a lot better than we can. Cause the way things are right now, if we tried to tackle this all by ourselves, we'd be completely useless at best and screwing things up at worst."
"I know you're right and I hate it," Susie grumbled.
"Only thing we can do right now is pray," Jeremy sighed. "Pray to God that Hell will succeed." He suddenly burst into a dry chuckle. "Geez, I'd never thought I'd say a sentence like that and actually mean it."
The others couldn't resist letting out a few giggles of their own, a mild relief of the tension as they waited for Nightmare to carry out his unholy ritual and hopefully destroy the abomination of Glitchtrap once and for all.
Meanwhile in Hell…
Nightmare glared coldly down upon the seemingly innocuous VR game that lay on the ground in front of his throne, the other adult Nightmares gathered around the unholy ritual circle they had crafted together. With his true sight, he could see Glitchtrap still lurking within the depths of the game world, no longer trapped within his plushie form.
His first move had been, paradoxically, to heal Glitchtrap. It had been a carefully calculated move on his part, to restore Glitchtrap to as close of a state as possible to the other unharmed and unaltered Glitchtraps, so that the fidelity of the ritual was preserved as much as possible. If the other Glitchtraps hadn't been split into 16 pieces through the Tapes, he might not have bothered, but with that potential complication thrown into the mix he wasn't taking any chances. Nightmare then cast a spell on both Glitchtrap and the game itself, preventing them both from being completely destroyed no matter how much unholy and destructive power was channeled through this ritual. A crucial step to prevent them from being consumed while he and his kin were using them as a focus to target the other copies of the game still on Earth.
Naturally, Glitchtrap was completely unaware that his home now rested in the depths of Hell itself, or the spells that had been cast upon him. As far as the incarnation of William Afton was concerned, he was regenerating much faster than unanticipated, an unexpected development of good luck. Nightmare was going to take great pleasure in proving him wrong in the most violent and extreme manner possible.
"THE PREPARATIONS ARE COMPLETE, MY LORD," Nightmare Freddy declared, bowing respectfully. "BY YOUR COMMAND, WE CAN BEGIN AT ANY TIME."
"LET US NOT DELAY THIS ANY LONGER," Nightmare growled, getting up from his throne. As he climbed down and joined his fellow Nightmares on the floor, a portal opened up above him a short distance away from the Circle. The demon lord could see Old Man Consequences gazing down upon the ritual serenely, overseeing the ritual patiently. "WE ARE READY, MY LORD."
"PROCEED," the word was spoken softly, but the authority and command behind it was unmistakable.
Nightmare nodded, and uttered a command to the other Nightmares. The demons extended their arms towards the center of the circle and the VR game that lay within. Unholy energy surged out of their hands, a grotesque mixture between fire and lightning that blazed a hellish orange color, striking the circle and the VR game until the entire area was positively drowning in the wrathful demonic energies unleashed by the Nightmares.
The black bear demon began to utter words not meant for the ears of mortals in the guttural language of Hell, an invocation of malice in which he poured in all the hatred, cruelty, and vengeance that he possessed towards the mortal who had insulted him with his existence and dared to harm his family.
"YOU THOUGHT THIS LITTLE GAME WOULD BE YOUR FOUNDATION, GLITCHTRAP," Nightmare thought sadistically as he chanted the words and poured his power into the ritual, "BUT NOW IT WILL BECOME YOUR GRAVE."
/
Deep within the world of Fazbear Entertainment's VR game, Glitchtrap began to feel the room he was in charge with energy, the type of feeling that would have made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight, if he still had them. The past few moments had been utterly confusing. He had been trapped in his plushie form for the past few days while he slowly recovered his strength. Even if he had enough strength to move, Glitchtrap didn't dare do so, terrified that the nightmarish monstrosity who had nearly destroyed his essence would come back to finish the job if he gave him the slightest opportunity.
And then, suddenly, his healing had dramatically increased for a brief period of time, to the point that he had regained the normal form that he was so used to. At first, Glitchtrap had felt triumph, wondering if a potential ally or easily manipulable fool had stumbled across the game and either knowingly or unwittingly healed him. But even after he had healed, not a single figure entered the world of the game, and Glitchtrap's fleeting sense of victory had given way to an unease that was only increasing with every moment that he spent alone.
But even his misgivings couldn't have possibly warned for him what was about to come. Without the slightest warning, Glitchtrap's entire existence suddenly exploded into fire, his entire being consumed by horrendous agony worse than anything he had ever known. A pain almost like the fires that the mysterious man had burned him with, only somehow a thousand times worse. As horrible as he had been, at least the man had only tortured the exterior part of his body, what constituted as flesh and skin in his new form. This time, it felt as though even his very soul and core were being said ablaze, as though hellfire were being forced into his essence and burning it from the inside and out. He wanted nothing more than to die, to let the agony finally end, but for some reason he could not. Something was preventing his essence from simply collapsing and burning him to oblivion, stopping him from reaching the sweet release of death.
What was worst of all was the fact that Glitchtrap had no idea why this was happening. He didn't know if the game he was in was being incinerated, or if somebody had implemented an antivirus program that was targeting him specifically. He had no idea that he was trapped deep within one of the darkest and lowest pits of Hell, hellish energy being forced into his very essence by a group of demons with an unquenchable desire for vengeance and torment.
And this particular Glitchtrap had no idea that he would soon be the reason why countless others of his kind would soon meet the annihilation that he so craved at this very moment.
/
Nightmare grinned as he felt the demonic ritual circle flare with energy, a sign that the ritual was nearing completion. He bellowed the last few words of the spell necessary to complete the ritual, and once he did so, the entire circle glowed with a brilliant light that soon enveloped the entire throne room.
Meanwhile on Earth…
An unassuming warehouse sat quietly on the edge of a town in Utah, not quite isolated from the rest of the town but far enough away from the rest of the buildings that it would be completely beneath the notice of anyone who did not work there. Nobody save for Fazbear Entertainment itself knew that this was one of a few warehouses scattered throughout the state that housed the copies of their VR game, and the hidden menace that lurked within.
Night had long fallen, and the warehouse was completely deserted, with only a basic security alarm as a defense against potential intruders. Whether it was due to budget constraints or simply the laziness, competence, or greed that had long defined Fazbear Entertainment, the company hadn't even bothered to post a night guard over the warehouse.
If there had been a guard stationed at the warehouse, they would have felt the atmosphere in the warehouse suddenly charge with an intense energy, like the heat of a hot summer day descending upon that location and only that location. They would have seen the many copies of the VR game rattle and shake uncontrollably, as though an earthquake had struck the building. They would have seen those same copies burst into flames all at the same time, flames that would have given anybody who witnessed them an overwhelming sense of horror, dread, and utter wrongness that would have shaken them to the very core. The guard would have had very little time to escape the warehouse and into the safety of the outside before the warehouse suddenly exploded, an eruption of flame that obliterated the entire building, everything inside it, and even the area immediately surrounding it. They would've watched in stunned silence as the flames suddenly died down, snuffing themselves out as quickly as they had arrived, leaving only charred and ruined wreckage behind.
But there were no guards stationed at this warehouse. There was nobody to bear witness as this warehouse and others just like it were consumed by the hellfire unleashed by the Nightmares' ritual. There was nobody to report this widespread catastrophe to Fazbear Entertainment.
And there was nobody to hear the thousands of dying screams buried underneath the roar of the flames.
Meanwhile in Hell…
In Nightmare's throne room, the Nightmares finished pouring their power and their hatred into the ritual circle. The unholy light glowing from the circle had faded away, leaving behind blackened runes and the VR game. Nightmare quickly scanned the game with his true sight, confirming that Glitchtrap was still alive, although no doubt the glitchy rabbit would be begging for oblivion by now.
"IT IS DONE," Nightmare Fredbear growled. "THE POWER THAT WE POURED INTO THE RITUAL SHOULD BE MORE THAN ENOUGH TO DESTROY EVERY SINGLE COPY OF GLITCHTRAP AND THE VR GAMES HE IS HIDING IN ON EARTH."
Nightmare sneered. "AND YET, SO MANY TIMES, REALITY DECIDES TO PROVE OTHERWISE," he snarled. "I WILL NOT BE SATISFIED UNTIL I HAVE CONFIRMED THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR RITUAL MYSELF."
"A WISE COURSE OF ACTION," Old Man Consequences approved. "NOW THAT THE MAIN PART OF OUR WORK IS DONE, WE CAN BEGIN THE SECOND RITUAL THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO DIRECTLY INVESTIGATE THE RESULTS AND WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE SUCCEEDED. YOU WILL NOT NEED YOUR FAMILY TO AID YOU FOR THIS NEXT STEP."
Nightmare briefly considered ordering the rest of his family out of the throne room, but decided against it. They had lent their power to ensure this ritual was a success; the least he could do was give them the courtesy of involving them in the aftermath.
The crocodile-headed figure nodded at the demon lord, who began to channel his power again for the second ritual. Unlike the first time, where he had unleashed hatred, power, and fire in a neverending stream of destructive energy, this time the power he channeled was darker and more ethereal in nature. Nightmare closed his eyes, focusing all of his attention and energy on his investigation.
Meanwhile on Earth…
Shadowy tendrils snaked out into the real world, further concealed by the night that had already fallen, slithering around the areas where the first destructive ritual had done its work. The tendrils approached the burned ruins of the warehouses, searching for any signs of the VR game copies and any copies of Glitchtrap that might have somehow survived the unholy inferno the Nightmares had unleashed. In the ruins of the warehouses, the tendrils found no trace of either, any such copies having been reduced to ash and oblivion. In these locations, the unholy ritual of destruction had carried out its purpose with extreme effectiveness.
But the warehouses weren't the only location that the tendrils reached.
The ritual of destruction had been targeted at VR games that contained copies of Glitchtrap, but the tendrils had a farther reach than that. Nightmare had sent them out to find ALL copies of the VR game still existing, Glitchtrap or no, and one such tendril separated from the rest. The tendril rushed through the land, ignoring the many buildings and houses it passed by, until it reached an unassuming house that was seemingly just as unspectacular as the rest. The tendril snuck underneath the front door, zooming past rooms and up a flight of stairs, until it reached a single empty room. It did not have "sight" in the traditional sense, so it could not properly discern its surroundings beyond the basic structure of the building it was in, nor could it identify any people beyond whether or not anybody was present. But it could sense the copy of the VR game that lay on the desk inside the room…and it could sense that the VR game was empty.
Meanwhile in Hell…
Nightmare's eyes flashed open, and he bared his fangs in a snarl. The other Nightmares were familiar enough with their brother and master to know that this was not good news.
Old Man Consequences caught the expression as well. "I TAKE IT THAT THINGS HAVE NOT GONE AS PLANNED," he inquired. His voice gave nothing away, but the small smile on his face was gone.
Nightmare forced himself to calm down and keep his tone respectful. "FOR THE MOST PART, THINGS HAVE GONE ACCORDING TO PLAN," the demon lord answered. "HOWEVER, THERE MAY BE A…SIGNIFICANT COMPLICATION…THAT THE RITUAL WAS UNABLE TO RESOLVE…"
Back at the Schmidt Household…
The ghost kids nearly jolted in the air when they felt the fiery portal connecting to Nightmare's part of Hell re-emerge. "That was faster than I thought," Gabe thought to himself. He knew that the demon lord would be able to deal with the problem of Glitchtrap much faster than he or the rest of his family ever could, but he hadn't expected him to be this quick.
Which meant that the news they were about to receive was either really good…or really bad.
"Did we get rid of him?" Fritz asked eagerly before the portal had even finished materializing. "Is Glitchtrap gone for good?"
Nightmare didn't immediately answer, causing the ghost kids to worry that somehow the ritual had failed. "THE RITUAL…ACCOMPLISHED ITS PRIMARY OBJECTIVE," he finally responded after several seconds of silence. "THERE WERE SEVERAL WAREHOUSES IN WHICH THE VR GAME COPIES, AND THE COPIES OF GLITCHTRAP WITHIN THEM, WERE STORED. ALL OF THOSE COPIES HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY WIPED OFF THE FACE OF EXISTENCE. THOUSANDS OF COPIES OF GLITCHTRAP BANISHED TO OBLIVION IN THE FLAMES OF MY FAMILY'S WRATH, AND WILL NEVER RETURN TO PLAGUE EARTH EVER AGAIN."
"Hell yes!" Fritz whooped. "Suck it, Glitchtrap!"
"Thank God!" Susie cheered. "You did it, Nightmare!"
"Way to go!" Cassidy happily complimented. "That's great news!"
The older ghost kids didn't share their younger siblings' enthusiasm, however. They were certainly relieved to hear that the many, many Glitchtraps that threatened to throw the world into chaos had been completely destroyed. That had been their biggest concern by far.
However, they had also picked up on what Nightmare hadn't said, and all of them had a worrying feeling that that wasn't the end of it. "You don't look very happy about that," Liz pointed out.
Nightmare gritted his teeth in frustration. "THAT'S BECAUSE THE RITUAL'S SUCCESS, WHILE VAST AND COMPREHENSIVE, WAS NOT ABSOLUTE," he admitted with a growl. "AFTER I FINISHED THE RITUAL, I CONDUCTED ANOTHER SMALLER RITUAL TO INVESTIGATE THE AFTERMATH OF THE DESTRUCTION. MOST OF THE MAGICS I SENT OUT DETECTED NO TRACE OF THE VR GAMES OR GLITCHTRAP, ALL OF THEM BEING CONSUMED IN EXPLOSIONS AND FLAME. HOWEVER," the demon lord's eyes flared with irritation, "THERE WAS ANOTHER COPY OF THE VR GAME PRESENT ON EARTH. ONE THAT WAS NOT LOCATED IN THE SAME WAREHOUSES AS ALL THE OTHER DESTROYED COPIES."
"Oh, no…" Susie groaned, realizing where this was going.
Nightmare's words confirmed his fears. "THAT COPY WAS ALREADY EMPTY WHEN I FOUND IT DURING MY INVESTIGATIONS," he growled. "AND SINCE IT WAS NOT DESTROYED BY THE RITUAL, THEN THERE IS ONLY ONE POSSIBLE CONCLUSION."
"That copy of Glitchtrap already escaped," Jeremy said aloud what everyone was thinking. "There's a Glitchtrap out there that's already possessed someone."
"Oh, no…" Liz groaned. "Please, no…"
"Do you know who it is?" Charlie asked, keeping a level head.
Nightmare shook his head. "UNFORTUNATELY," he growled, "THE NATURE OF THE MAGIC I USED DOES NOT PROVIDE THAT KIND OF DETAIL, AND EVEN IF IT DID, I DID NOT DETECT ANYBODY INSIDE THE HOUSE AT THE TIME. ALL I KNOW IS THAT THERE IS ONE GLITCHTRAP THAT HAD MANAGED TO ESCAPE AND POSSESS SOMEONE. I DO NOT KNOW WHO, I DO NOT KNOW WHEN. IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED AN HOUR BEFORE I DID THE RITUAL, OR IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED MONTHS BEFORE FAZBEAR ENTERTAINMENT OFFERED SCHMIDT THE ROLE OF BETA TESTER."
"Thanks for letting us know," Gabe thanked him even as he fought to clamp down on his disappointment and panic. "Our problems would've been so much worse if you hadn't helped us out."
"THIS WILL NOT BE THE END OF OUR COLLABORATION," Nightmare assured them, offering a rare moment of…understanding, if not outright sympathy with their frustration, "THERE ARE…CERTAIN TASKS…I MUST CARRY OUT ON MY PART, NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS CONFIRMING THE RESULTS OF MY RITUAL WITH MY SUPERIOR. I SUGGEST THAT YOU CONTACT SCHMIDT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND INFORM HIM OF WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED TONIGHT, THOUGH I SUSPECT HE WILL FIND OUT SOME OF IT FROM YOUR LOCAL NEWS SOON ENOUGH. TELL HIM TO CONTACT ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE."
"We will," Liz affirmed. "Good luck with whatever you have to do."
Nightmare nodded noncommittally and, swiping his claw, shred the portal, leaving the Schmidt family alone in the basement of their house.
"…did we fail?" Cassidy asked, her voice trembling with fear and teetering dangerously towards the edge of the despair. "Did everything we do so far not mean anything?"
Charlie floated over to her and gave her a hug. "No, Cass," she reassured her as she stroked the former Golden Freddy inhabitant's hair gently. "No, this wasn't for nothing. If it wasn't for us discovering Glitchtrap and warning Dad and Nightmare about it, all those Glitchtraps could do whatever the hell they wanted, waiting to possess thousands of innocent people. Driving them crazy or turning them into murderers against their will. We stopped that. We helped to stop that from happening."
"You're right," Gabe agreed. "Destroying all those copies of Glitchtrap is way too important for us to just write it off as a loss. Nightmare did what we could, and he did a pretty damn good job too."
Jeremy nodded in acknowledgment, though he still looked conflicted. "We can't call this losing," he murmured, "but we can't call this a total win either. Not when there's a Glitchtrap out there that's already possessed someone, and we have no idea who that person is. And it only takes one crazy maniac to cause a horrible tragedy." A grim statement that they all knew was true, otherwise none of them would've been there to begin with.
"Dammit!" Fritz sulked. "So close, but so far!"
"If the mystery person who already got possessed was a worker at Fazbear Entertainment, Dad might be able to figure out who it is," Susie suggested, but Gabe shook his head.
"Realistically, there's no reason why Dad should know that kind of thing," he shot down the idea. "If Dad tries to go snooping around, Fazbear Entertainment might try to get him arrested for breaching privacy, or stalking another employee's house, or some crap like that. And then we're REALLY screwed."
The ghost children grimaced at that possibility. Accidentally getting Mike arrested was the last thing any of them wanted.
"I think the best we can do for now is go looking around on the Internet," Jeremy finally offered. "See if there's any news about employees of Fazbear Entertainment randomly going insane." The look on his face made it clear that he knew full well that even this was a long shot. There were plenty of reasons why people could go insane that had nothing to do with Glitchtrap.
But for now, it was all they had. For now, it was better than nothing.
Charlie picked her up and dialed Mike's number. "Let's call Dad and let him know what happened," she declared. "We need to update him on the situation, and also warn him that Fazbear Entertainment might try to put the blame on him soon for what Nightmare did."
Even as the former Marionette dialed her father's number, Fritz couldn't help but smirk. "I can't wait to see the looks on Fazbear Entertainment's face when they realized just how badly things have fucked up for them," he snickered.
And despite the events of the night, the other ghost children couldn't help but giggle at the expense of the company that had deserved all of the misfortune that had fallen upon it.
Meanwhile in Hell…
"HAVE MY CONCLUSIONS THUS FAR BEEN CONFIRMED OR DENIED?" Nightmare asked Old Man Consequences through the portal.
"YOUR FINDINGS SO FAR ARE CORRECT," OMC affirmed. "HOWEVER, I CANNOT GIVE YOU MORE INFORMATION AT THIS TIME."
"VERY WELL," Nightmare bowed. "I WILL CONTINUE TO COLLABORATE WITH SCHMIDT WHENEVER MY SERVICES ARE REQUIRED."
OMC smiled. "YOU AND YOUR KIN HAVE DONE VERY WELL TODAY, NIGHTMARE." The Nightmares all grinned at the praise. "YOU WILL BE REWARDED HANDSOMELY FOR YOUR SERVICE." And with that, the portal vanished, leaving the Nightmares alone.
"IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE WE NEED TO DO?" Nightmare Chica asked.
"ALL OF YOU ARE DISMISSED…" Nightmare began, before a thought suddenly occurred to him, "…EXCEPT FOR NIGHTMARE BONNIE."
The rabbit demon looked up in surprise as the rest of the demons left the throne room. "MY LORD?" Nightmare Bonnie asked in confusion. "AM I ABOUT TO BE PUNISHED FOR SOMETHING?"
"NOT AT ALL," Nightmare assured him. "I HAVE A VERY SPECIAL TASK FOR YOU." He snapped his fingers, and a metal container materialized. Its outward appearance looked very similar to the metal barrels used to contain toxic waste, although both demons could easily tell that it was something much more. Nightmare opened the barrel, revealing a vortex of darkness within its depths. Dark unholy energy blasted out of the barrel, engulfing the VR game. The VR game itself wasn't affected, but as the two demons watched, a shadowy mass began to flow out of the game and into the barrel. The mass was pitch black but had several misshapen rabbit heads and grotesque faces with glowing purple eyes and mouths, all of which were screaming in abject terror and lingering agony from the effects of the earlier ritual as the abomination that Glitchtrap had become was sucked into the barrel. Nightmare waited several seconds after the last dredges of Glitchtrap's mangled essence was sucked in before sealing it shut again. A quick scan of the VR game confirmed that no trace of Glitchtrap now existed inside it.
"THIS…THING…THAT GLITCHTRAP IS…IT IS SOMETHING THAT I HAVE NEVER COME ACROSS BEFORE," Nightmare explained. "THIS SPECIMEN IS STILL ALIVE, GIVING US A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER WHAT EXACTLY GLITCHTRAP'S NATURE TRULY IS. I WANT YOU TO LEARN EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT GLITCHTRAP BEFORE WE GET RID OF HIM ONCE AND FOR ALL." A cruel, malevolent light entered his eyes. "IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT YOU CAN EXPERIMENT ON THIS MONGREL IN ANY WAY THAT YOU DESIRE."
Nightmare Bonnie chuckled maliciously. "IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE, MY BROTHER," he hissed.
"NIGHTMARE FREDBEAR AND NIGHTMARIONNE WILL BE CHECKING IN ON YOUR PROGRESS REGULARLY," Nightmare finished. "ONCE YOU HAVE LEARNED ALL THAT YOU CAN, REPORT YOUR FINDINGS TO ME IMMEDIATELY. UNTIL THEN, KEEP THIS COPY OF GLITCHTRAP ALIVE FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE."
"BY YOUR COMMAND, MY LORD," Nightmare Bonnie bowed once and then departed, taking the barrel containing Glitchtrap's broken essence with him. Leaving Nightmare alone in his throne room.
"I HAVE DONE MY PART, FOR NOW," the demon lord thought. "IT'S YOUR MOVE NOW, SCHMIDT. LET'S SEE HOW WELL YOU HANDLE FAZBEAR ENTERTAINMENT WHEN THOSE PATHETIC MONGRELS START BRAYING FOR YOUR BLOOD."
/
A/N: And there you have it! Nightmare's ritual certainly yielded results. Hellishly explosive results, to be specific. Fazbear Entertainment's management is going to be in for a VERY unpleasant surprise when they wake up tomorrow and discover that all of the warehouses and the copies of the VR games in them are nothing but ashes and ruin.
Charlie and Gabe said it best. Destroying the vast majority of the VR games and the Glitchtrap copies was a major accomplishment, but one that isn't complete. There's still one Glitchtrap out there. One Glitchtrap that's already succeeded in possessing someone. And by now, many of you can probably guess who that person is…
The next chapter will also be quite significant to the plot, so if you're happy with these FNaF-focused plot-important chapters, I'm pleased to say that the trend will continue with the next one. Until then, hope you guys enjoyed!
