#{ also lookie another scenario where i'd feel AWFUL for william if he wasn't. yknow. william FKJDSJK }

[curseofbreadbear]

["I never meant to hurt you." Perhaps those words would have meant something to his intended target, but he was delivering this ironic sentiment under the guise that Cassidy was his own daughter -- it made her blood boil knowing that his daughter was worthy of an apology, if she could even call it that, but not a single one of the kids he'd murdered to further his goals was. They'd been wronged more than his daughter had ever been.]

[Cassidy and Elizabeth's interactions had been few and far between, but unlike her ( or any of the other ghosts, really ), Elizabeth LIKED being stuck inside of her animatronic shell. She didn't share any of the agony or hatred of her fellow spirits. There was no animosity there...]

[...But Cassidy could pretend otherwise for the sake of her little game. It'd be yet another way to take her pain out on him -- that was partly why he was here, after all. She wanted to make him suffer, and she had the means to do so now with this massive roster of animatronics at her disposal. This time, William would be hunted by three versions of his daughter, all finely-tuned to be just as vengeful and bloodthirsty as Cassidy.]

[Cassidy oversaw one of his daughter's semi-incarnations, Ennard, as they crawled through the vents -- the amalgamation of wires called out in Elizabeth's voice, asking what she'd done wrong, why William didn't trust her. Perfect; she was satisfied with the toll this would take on him. Better yet, Ennard's brutal methods mimicked the way Michael had been killed...namely, removing William's skeleton and replacing it with themselves.]

[She still didn't care much for Michael, but boy, his death had been a wonderful inspiration for her.]

IT'S ONLY AS HER SMILE DROPS THAT HE REALIZES THE MAGNITUDE OF HIS ERROR. By then it's too late. But for the blissful, broken moments before his realization, when Cassidy Elizabeth takes his hand and comes closer, William crumbles further than he has in what amounts to years of torture. It's too much: Elizabeth here, talking to him, reminding him of his sins - perhaps the only way to make him truly regret any of the atrocities he'd committed, aside from the physical torture, is giving him his daughter, hearing her speak.

The trembling in his hands don't stop when she takes one of them: if anything, it only gets worse, his shattered mind recoiling at the touch. Cassidy, Elizabeth. They blur in his mind, combine the paternal pride and maniacal amusement into one roiling, raging lake inside of him - William actually does cry out when Eli - No, Cassidy - rakes at his arms, draws blood easier than a knife through butter. Is too addled to actually comprehend what's going on, by the end. Only mumbles a thick, " I never wanted you hurt " to his daughter, barely audible through the blood oozing down his face and the concussed slur in his words. It's not enough - it never will be - and it's not even said to the right person. But for a second before he dies ( which is even before she tugs out his heart ) William Afton proves he had at least once been human, voice ragged with unspoken emotion. If he'd known how badly he had upset Cassidy, he'd have laughed until he'd cried: it seemed even his children had been treated fractionally better than her !

. . . And when he does respawn, barely aware of his surroundings other than the crackling of the intercom and the creaking, groaning sounds of the vent, he does not try to taunt Cassidy again. Even an old dog can learn new tricks under the right pressure.

CONTINUED. / @curseofbreadbear !