#Now you have the investigator ☻ | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sholangagaga · 3 years ago

Text

Glamstar AU: Chapter 19

Here we go! This one took a while because I had a lot of things to prepare to segway properly into the chapter order I have planned out, plus had a lot of art planning and personal things to do but! Here it is!

Chapter 19 has a lot of dream sequences which will be marked with☺(start) ☻ (end) , so just keep that in mind as you read! Hope you all enjoy seeing familiar faces/areas!

Chapter 19: The Longest Night, Part 2

The return to the surface was a long and quiet one.

Joyner had a lot to think about and not much time to gather his thoughts. Freddy decided not to press him on the matter, but something about the situation made him a bit uncomfortable. He’ll have to bury that feeling down for now.

When they returned to the main building, everything was silent.

Freddy paused, looking out at the main stage area from the stairs. Silence. No music, no machinery. Just neon lights and utter silence. Something was wrong.

“Where are the others. . .”

Joyner stood beside the synthetic, tapping on his phone in frustration. “There’s no service here. Not even a wifi signal.”

“What?” Freddy turned, confused. “What did you just say?”

“The wifi is out, Freddy. It’s like a dead zone here! How the hell am I supposed to get into contact with my offi― Hey! Where are you going??” Joyner watched as the synthetic all but sprinted past him, quickly turning and following after him.

But Freddy didn’t look back. Something was wrong, and he needed to confirm his suspicions.

–

4:42am.

Freddy entered the Synthetic Charging bay and grabbed a Helpy tablet off the wall. It was exactly as Joyner said, the internet and other contact services were down and out of order.

“Freddy―” the detective heaved, gripping the door frame. He was out of breath, red in the face, and none too pleased. “Try to remember that I am a flesh and blood human and never take off running like that ever again.”

“I apologize Detective, but this is a serious matter.”

“What? The wifi being out? Wow, it feels like I’m talking to a teenager.”

“Detective, this is no time for jokes.” Freddy tried to manually reboot the internet from the tablet, but received nothing but errors. His brow furrowed.

“Can you at least explain what’s going on? And what’s with all of these freaky pods?” Joyner approached one and tried to look through the glass window to no avail. The inside was too fogged up.

“When synthetics enter sleep mode, we partially shut down and attach ourselves to the main network. It is how we download updates and new information.

“If something happens to the network while we are in this sleep, we enter Emergency shutdown mode.”

“So what’s wrong with that?” Joyner stepped away from the tube, walking over to one of the two empty ones to investigate instead. “So you guys just get put into a deeper sleep. Sounds like a good failsafe to have.”

“Yes. The problem, however, is that you would require a 5th level clearance or higher to override this function.”

“Sounds easy enough. Who in the building has 5th level or higher clearance?”

“As of right now; only Wilson.”

Joyner’s expression fell. “You mean, the guy who’s lifeless body we just sent to the morgue. . .?”

“I am afraid so. Normally we can request remote clearance, but―”

“The service and internet are down, so there’s no way to contact the outside.” Joyner groaned, covering his face with his hands. Freddy nodded slowly in response.

“We are without the other synthetics for the return journey.” He pulled a lever at the front of the room. All of the occupied pods exhaled steam from their lower vents, clearing the fog from within.

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” The detective approached one of the pods, seeing that this particular one had Foxy. “The more things change, the more they stay the same. . . What’s going to happen to them now? Are they going to die or something?”

“We are not living things, Detective.” Freddy placed his hand on the window of a different pod, frowning softly. Bonnie was the one resting within. “We cannot die.”

Joyner made a face, his lips a thin line and his expression fairly stoic. They weren’t living things, but they sure acted like it. The fact that Freddy can say that with a look of pain on his face made Joyner uncomfortable in more ways than one.

“Wait,” the bear turned, noticing the empty pods. “There is one that is empty.”

“Well, yeah, Fred. You’re standin’ right here.”

“That is not what I meant.” He pointed towards the second empty pod, which was far larger than the other ones. So much larger, in fact, that Joyner didn’t even notice it was supposed to be a pod. “There is one synthetic unaccounted for aside from myself.”

“That massive thing is a synthetic charging pod??” The detective looked at all of the notably smaller occupied pods. Bonnie, Chica, Roxy, Monty, Foxy. All of them were here. “Charlie? Is she the one missing?”

“HRMN.1 does not have a pod here. She does not require the same levels of energy as the rest of us.” Freddy replaced the Helpy tablet back onto the wall. “We shall go visit him in the west arcade. He may know what happened to cause the outage.”

“Alright? And who is this synthetic?”

“I feel you will like him, Detective. He is such a nice fellow.”

–

The West Arcade was, much like everywhere else in the Pizzaplex, relatively quiet. As quiet as an arcade can be, of course. The internet outage caused the arcade machines to flash ERROR messages on their screens while static white noise displayed in the background. Instead of music, faint mechanical humming was emanating from the many cabinets.

“Gah, holy shit,” Joyner winced, putting a hand over his ear. “How can you stand this? It feels like my brain is in a blender.”

“I do not process sounds the same as you. However, you will get used to the noise soon.”

“If you say so.” he lowered his hand. “Where’s this giant friend of yours?”

“He should be at his station. He is not one to wander around at night.” Freddy led him to the ballroom of the west arcade, looking forward towards the DJ booth. And saw nothing there.

“I thought you said he didn’t wander?” Joyner huffed, scratching the inside of his ear. Oddly enough, he really had gotten used to all of the background noise.

“DJ? Where are you, my friend? It is me, Freddy.”

“Freddy! Oh, are you a sight for sore eyes!” came a voice from above.

Above?? Joyner thought, looking up in time to see something large falling from the ceiling. It was a bluish-white blur, and the detective had even braced himself for some sort of impact. However, it was Freddy who seemed to have been collided with, as he notably grunted.

“Holy hell―”

Joyner knew synthetics were big. Even the ones his dad used to make were pretty large since they had to hold humans within them. But not only was this other synthetic tall, towering almost a head and half over Freddy, but he was also wide. Probably on account of the four arms he was sporting.

The DJ was currently gripping Freddy’s shoulders with two hands, while the other two were holding onto the bear’s biceps. He leant forward to be eye level with the other synthetic, his expression frantic.

“The internet shorted out! I couldn’t do my nightly updates!”

“I am well aware, DJ.”

“I― Oh, how did you make it out of your pod?” the blunette tilted his head, just now realizing that Freddy was standing here in front of him. He also noticed the detective, turning to look at him with his eyes that seemed to glow when the light hit them just right. It only served to unsettle Joyner further.

“DJ? I need you to focus.” Freddy spoke up, getting the other’s attention. “The outage is preventing us from getting the clearance we need to resuscitate the others. Do you recall what caused it?”

“I basically witnessed it! Oh, and I also know there was a brownout at Roxy’s Raceway shortly before,” DJMM finally released his grip on Freddy, crossing one set of arms while his own two hands placed themselves on his hips. “It happened while I was accessing the main network. This wasn’t too long ago, I’d say around 4:10 to 4:30.”

“That was during the time we were underneath the building. It must’ve been the generators that caused the brownout.” Joyner mused aloud, pulling out his phone to check on the status of the outage. Still inactive.

“A brownout does not explain the outage of the internet and service.” Freddy informed, to which DJMM nodded in agreement. “If that were all it took, then we would have had outages like this before.”

“I told you, I witnessed it! I noticed something else before the outage.” the DJ added, walking over to his turntable. The closer he got to it, the brighter its LEDs seemed to shine. “I saw it while I was in the main network looking for more updates. There was a download queued, and all of a sudden it kicked up and speed-downloaded.

“I didn’t think anything was off. You know, sometimes FazEnt pushes out those last minute patches. It all looked to be on the up-and-up, until the download finished. Everything got all corrupted, and then I got booted from the system. Whatever that download was, it uploaded a virus that shut down the internet. It’s also probably what’s keeping the internet from rebooting.”

“More viruses.” Joyner groaned, putting a hand to his temple to quell a blossoming headache. “This is too technical for me.”

“Why shut down the internet? If the goal was to cut off our contact to the outside, simply shutting down the cell service would suffice well enough.”

“Maybe they did it just to incapacitate you and the others.” the detective said, grabbing a chair from nearby and pulling it over to sit down. All of the walking and running was starting to take a toll on him. Joyner looked up, noticing both of the synthetics were staring at him. “What? It makes sense, I hope.”

“No, you brought up something that I had not thought of. I had felt this entire situation was odd. Why does it feel like we’re always one step behind?” Freddy looked up at nothing in particular, lidding his eyes.

“The only thing we didn’t count on was that woman turning herself in.” Joyner was suddenly in the mood to smoke again, but this time they were in the main building. There was no way he was going to sneak off for a little smoke break now, so he was stuck just sitting there. “And that technician dying.”

“We must figure out what is going on and we must do so quickly. I believe all of the answers we seek may be in the pizzeria beneath the building. However, we no longer have the advantage of the other synthetics nor the ability to call for help. We have been backed into a corner.”

“I’d love to help you, Fredman, but that’s one dance I’ll have to decline.” The DJ waved his hand dismissively. “I’ve seen the reports about what goes on in that sinkhole. People went missing down there! And you want to send in the cavalry? Sorry, I’ll take my chances up here.”

Freddy was admittedly fairly upset about that. There were only a few synthetics left to ask, but Sun and Moon would never listen to Freddy. They only listen to Foxy, and he was currently in deep sleep. That left HRMN.1, but could he really ask that of her after her maintenance? They needed help, and as of now, that was all they had.

“Welp, what now?” Joyner stood, although a bit slowly. Good thing he decided to move right then, if he had stayed in that chair then there was a good chance that he wouldn’t have wanted to go back down there too.

“We go to Parts and Service. There is still one person left to ask.”

–

☺

“I never thought we would meet like this.”

Jaime found herself sitting in a dark room all alone. She held a tablet in her hands, and in front of her was a desk. A metal fan was placed on the right-hand side of said desk, casting a weak breeze. Jaime turned her head to the left.

There was a large window, and a large door beside it. There were two buttons on the doorframe, one for the door and one for the light. Jaime turned to the right and saw the same thing on the other side. It was almost perfectly symmetrical.

“Truthfully, I never thought we would meet. You are an oddity of the best kind.”

Jaime looked down at the tablet in her hands, seeing a map layout. When she clicked on a square, it brought up the camera feed for a room. She recognized this layout and these rooms from the conspiracy forums she used to frequent. This was Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

“How on earth do you exist, dear child?”

As Jaime clicked through the cameras, she saw nothing. No synthetics, no people, nothing. So who was speaking to her? Why did it sound like he was in the room with her?

“Are you looking for me?”

She pressed the left door light and saw Bonnie standing in the door frame. At least, she thought it was Bonnie initially. This synthetic was indeed a rabbit, but he was huge. He had golden hair, tan skin, and a large purple bow. She slammed the door shut, locking him out.

“How this brings back memories.”

Jaime couldn’t speak. The voice talking must’ve been the Golden Bonnie, but it didn’t sound anything like the Bonnies she knew. This one sounded different, yet familiar.

The voice almost sounded like her father.

“You are the perfect specimen. Born from flesh and Remnant.

“But why? Why did Michael hide you from me? You were everything I was hoping to create.”

Jaime saw the Golden Bonnie outside of her right door, and she quickly shut it. The Golden Bonnie simply stood in the right window, staring at her. She refused to make eye contact with him.

Go away, she thought, chanting the words in her mind like a mantra. She focused on the tablet, pulling up the cameras again. He had disappeared from outside her door, but she had no idea where he was now.

“I wonder if he, too, lived in fear of what your existence meant for him. What it meant for you.

“With Remnant, you will not die. It is immortality, the essence of souls being bound forever to their earthly shell. I have spent years trying to perfect and harness it.

“Never in all my years would I have suspected that to create the perfect being, you need only Remnant and a womb to carry it. How ironic. I surrounded myself with death, only for my own son to best me with the creation of life.”

Golden Bonnie seemed to multiply. That, or he was just moving so fast it only looked like there were more than one. He was everywhere, descending upon both doors with reckless abandon. Trying to get in. Trying to corrupt.

“How fitting that the perfect being is someone of my blood. It only proves that all I have done, all that I do, is truly the correct path to take. This is God rewarding me for my deeds.

“Henry once said that the darkest pits of Hell had opened up, waiting to steal me away so that I may atone for all of my sins. And for a moment, I had believed him. He had turned my son against me. And then he killed him. Did you know that, my dear?

“Henry Emily killed your daddy and me.”

Jaime froze, her hand hovering over the door button. Golden Bonnie was outside, waiting for this moment. Waiting for her to make a mistake.

The rabbit walked into the room, having to duck just to enter the small office. He stood directly in front of the child, looking down at her with a slight grin on his face.

“It was not my intention to meet you here, but it was a fortunate change in my plans. I only wanted to get rid of the boy and those damned robots. After all, with them gone I could finally leave this place.

“Had you never stepped foot in this building, I may have never found you. But now you are here, my child.”

Golden Bonnie leant close to Jaime’s face, deep purple eyes locking with bright pink.

“Come to Grandpa. We will do great things together.” he reached out for Jaime, who was still frozen in shock. There was nowhere to run. She couldn’t scream, she could barely even breathe.

A hand reached out from behind Jaime and grabbed Golden Bonnie’s wrist, twisting his arm to the side and away from the child.

“Enough of this.” the owner of the hand declared, stepping forward into the light. It was a grown man dressed as a security guard, but he wore no hat. Not like that mattered, Jaime would have recognized him even if he had been wearing one.

Dad!

“You―” Golden Bonnie sobered, his expression becoming bored and vacant. “The disgrace shows himself again. Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

“I could say the same about you.” Michael retorted, never breaking eye contact. “Why can’t you just stay dead? What good does any of this do for you? Why are you such a glutton for punishment?”

“And you!” he roared, becoming enraged. “You had Remnant! You could have lived forever! You even made what I had been trying to perfect all my life! All of that, and you threw it away for Henry?!” Golden Bonnie raised his other hand, which Michael quickly grabbed as well.

“Stop referring to Jaime like she’s some garage kit project! She is not an object. Loathe as I am to utter these words, but she is your grandchild! Even now, you refuse to let go of your ego. You still aim to hurt your own family!”

“Yes, you would know plenty about hurting your family, wouldn’t you?” William sneered, grinning madly as Michael noticeably winced from the sting of those words. “You who murdered your own brother. And you preach to me? If not for that audacity, I’d almost think you were adopted rather than my own flesh and blood!”

What was going on? Jaime couldn’t keep track of the conversation. Everything was going by too fast. It felt like her brain was going to explode. She covered her ears, the tablet loudly clattering to the ground.

“No matter how much you try to keep me at bay, it will all fail in the end. You’re both trapped here. This is my domain, I created this mindscape! All that happens within it bends to my will!”

Michael cast a glance behind him, his tense expression softening. He turned back to face his father, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Did you forget already? I’m here. And I’m not bending to your will. Not anymore.” He shoved the synthetic back with all of his strength. “Run, Jaime! Open the doors and run! Once you reach the front doors, you’ll awake again.”

I don’t want to leave you.

“I’ll see you again when you wake up. Now go!”

Jaime stood despite the pain, opening the left door and sprinting out into the darkness.

“You fool!” William howled, fighting back against his son. “If the child steps into the dark, she’ll be swallowed up by the Nightmares! You’re sending her to her death!”

“The Nightmares won’t hurt Jaime.” Michael replied through gritted teeth, slowly losing his ability to actively hold the synthetic back. “After all, she’s just like them.”

“In what regard?!”

Jaime ran down the hallway, noticing a bright light with an exit sign over top of it. A doorway!

As she ran, glowing eyes peered at her from deep within the darkness, but they did nothing to approach her. She had wondered why there were no other synthetics in the building, but the truth was they were there, they just had no interest in hurting her.

“It’s simple: Jaime’s just another victim to you.”

☻

Jaime dove through the doorway and awoke on the couch in Glamrock Freddy’s green room. She was breathing hard, drenched in sweat. Her blonde hair stuck to her neck and forehead, and worst of all, the headache she had had in her dream was still there. Though now it was just a dull ache.

She looked over at Gregory, who was still fast asleep.

That dream was so real, Jaime thought, hugging herself tightly. Her dad, and someone who called himself her grandpa yet disguised himself as Bonnie. She had no idea what to make of all of it, but she knew that she had to hurry.

She pulled out a pen and small notebook from her shoulder bag that was on the table nearby and immediately began to write down everything she’d heard from that dream. Jaime didn’t have time to think about the words while she was still in that office, but once she wrote them down she’d be free to study them in detail. Maybe there was some clue on how to free Michael as well.

Her father had saved her again. Now it was her turn to figure out how to save him.

–

☺

Charlie awoke in a muted, generic looking room. To her right was a massive window that was slightly ajar. A gentle breeze blew through the room, causing the pure white curtains to flutter. She was enamored by the sight, lost in a daydream, when she suddenly realized there was a faint beeping coming from her left.

She turned, seeing a vital sign monitor. It was attached to her arm, and the beeping was her pulse. Was she in a hospital? What happened to her?

“How do you feel?”

Charlie looked towards the voice, realizing someone was sitting next to her. How had she not noticed them before? She heard their voice, but it seemed garbled. Even their face and body was blurred and strange. It felt like she was looking at them from behind thick, cloudy glass.

“You’ll be fine, your surgery was a success!”

“What happened to me?”

The figure sat in silence, looking at her. Even as Charlie squinted, she couldn’t make out who they were.

“Someone tried to hurt you, Charlie. He changed you, and then sent others to change you further. They wanted you to lose yourself, to forget who you really are.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will someday.”

“Who are you?”

The figure was silent again. Charlie wished she could see their face. The slight movement told her they were emoting, but she had no way of seeing it in detail.

“It all comes to an end tonight.” The figure continued, pointedly avoiding Charlie’s question. “Charlie, do you remember Sammy?”

Of course she did. Sammy, her twin brother who was kidnapped and― wait, what? That wasn’t right. Sammy wasn’t the one who was taken that day. So why was that a memory that she could recall?

“I’m sorry,” the figure said, as if they could read her mind. “Those memories you have are nothing but lies. But you already know that. You learned from the real Charlie.”

The real Charlie.

“Charlie” looked down at herself, her body made in the image of a girl who never got to grow up. She began to feel self conscious, like she was living a lie. Which she had been, at some point before. This time was different.

“Charlie?”

“Please stop calling me that.” she pulled the blankets off of herself, swinging her legs over the side of the bed to stand. “That’s not my name. It never was my name.”

The figure reached out to her, but it didn’t try to actually grab her. Retracting the hand, they instead went back to talking.

“You don’t have to go.”

She ripped the IV and pulse monitors off of her arm and stood up.

“If you return, you’ll just be forced to suffer again. You may even die. This world can be anything you want it to be. You never have to worry about anything.”

HRMN.1 was no longer listening to the figure. She pulled the pins out of her hair, letting it fall loose and drape around her shoulders.

“Please! Think this through! You’re free from him now! Why would you ever want to go back!”

HRMN.1 ran a hand through her hair, combing it out with her fingers. It wasn’t brown like Charlie’s hair, nor was it the same fiery orange that she sported since she was reactivated. Her hair was white, pure white.

She walked towards the door and saw the thin mirror that was nailed to the nearby wall.

“You can’t even recognize yourself in the mirror.” The figure sighed, their voice filled with pain.

“I kinda like it,” Momo smiled, ruffling her own hair again. Piercing green eyes stared back at her. “So this is how I looked before Wilson modified me. . .”

“Please don’t leave.” The figure was beside her now. It grabbed her by her arm and held on tightly. So much so their fingers began to dig into her skin. “Just stay here with us.”

“Us?” HRMN.1 looked down at the figure, before looking up at the surroundings. There was no one else in the room.

The figure began to morph and blur, changing from something incomprehensible to the form of a woman. She was dressed like a clown, with bright red clothing, pale skin, and reddish orange hair tied in two giant pigtails. Her eyes were the same bright green as HRMN.1’s, and she had a red nose, red cheeks, and bright red lipstick. HRMN.1 had never met this woman before in her life, but somehow a name still fell from her lips.

“Circus Baby.”

The synthetic lunged at HRMN.1, wrapping her hands around her throat.

Both women tumbled to the ground with Baby on top. “You remember my name,” her face plates split open, revealing her endoskeleton. “I’m so touched.”

“Why are you doing this?” HRMN.1 grabbed onto her wrists, trying to pry her hands off. She wasn’t in danger of suffocating, she didn’t even need to breathe, but Baby was squeezing her neck so tightly it felt like she was trying to rip her head clean off.

“I told him that leaving you alive would cause nothing but trouble.” the clown growled, pressing her thumbs into the front of HRMN.1’s neck. “But no, he didn’t want to kill you. You were his revenge ticket, the best way to get back at Henry. He thought putting pieces of me and the others inside you would keep you asleep.”

HRMN.1 patted the ground beside her, searching for something, anything, that could get her out of this mess. Her fingers brushed against something wooden, and a quick glance showed it was a chair leg. She took hold of the leg and swung it, hitting Baby dead on.

“Whuh-??” she stumbled back, allowing HRMN.1 to swing at her again and put more distance between them.

“The music in my head that made me act and talk differently, that was you?” All of the events that happened throughout the past day and a half suddenly made more sense. “Why? I don’t understand!”

Baby groaned, getting up. There was a rage in her eyes that caused HRMN.1 to shudder.

“You don’t understand anything, it seems. But you’re just like me. There are things I don’t understand either.

“I don’t understand why he was so obsessed with you. With her. It was. . .awful.” Baby frowned, her face plates settling back in place. Her expression was sorrowful. “My father, obsessed with someone else’s daughter. Obsessed with a machine.”

HRMN.1 bit her lip, looking down at Baby with a pitying expression. However, she still held the chair in case Baby attacked her again. “What do you mean?”

Baby snarled, but the fire in her eyes was gone. “I feel everything. Disappointment, rage, jealousy. These emotions swirl within me, and I have no idea who they belong to anymore. Was it me, the real me? Or someone else?

“It’s like watching a movie, but through your own body. You’re just watching someone else live their life through your eyes.”

“Yeah, I can understand that part, at least.” HRMN.1 rolled her eyes in response.

“Do you ever want to feel loved by the person you admire? Is it really so bad for a daughter to crave love from her father?”

HRMN.1 lowered the chair, the words hitting far closer to home than she had expected. “Henry. . .”

“What? No! The man I’m talking about is far more brilliant than Henry. A truly magnificent man, and all I could do was watch. Watch with bated breath as he created marvelous, lifelike machines.

“A little girl’s father is her world. Her life blood. He instills upon her all of the knowledge and experience that she’ll need to make it through life, and she in return offers her heart and her love. It’s a beautiful lie, living in a glass house of emotions like that.

“Now imagine watching your father devote all of his time and attention on some machine. Something that doesn’t breathe, doesn’t bleed, and can’t love. It tears you up inside.” Baby looked like she was about to cry.

HRMN.1 knew those words, however. And all sympathy she had for this synthetic was replaced with disgust and anger.

“You’re talking about William Afton.” HRMN.1 spat, narrowing her eyes. “Sorry to break this to you, but William Afton is a creep. He’s incapable of love. All he does is cause pain and ruin people’s lives. You’re a fool to worship a man like that.”

Baby grew enraged, closing the gap between them and grabbing HRMN.1 by her shoulders. Luckily, she had the chair still, so she used it to keep Baby from getting too close.

“I should tear you limb from limb.” Baby hissed, her face plates opening to reveal saws and sharp mandibles. They sliced and poked at the chair, trying to reach HRMN.1’s face. “How can you say that? Aren’t you chasing the shadow of your dear old daddy just like me?”

“We may both be synthetics,” HRMN.1 used the chair to trap Baby’s head, shoving her backwards. “But unlike you, I was based on a real, breathing girl. You’re just a robot! Why are you obsessing over Afton??”

Baby calmly stepped back, pulling the chair off of her head and tossing it aside. “You don’t understand. We’re the same, you and I.

“It was the grand opening of Circus Baby’s Pizza World. I was so excited. I’d watched my father build Circus Baby from nothing. And the best part? He made her, just for me.

“But he wouldn’t let me see her. ‘You mustn’t be alone with Baby’, he would tell me. This wonderful creation, and I wasn’t allowed to see it. So I disobeyed my father.

“When no one was looking, I walked into the room to see her. She was so beautiful, so elegant. I wanted to be her, so so badly. I recall looking up at her, but I also recall looking down at a little girl. At Elizabeth. At myself.

“She gave me ice cream. I was overjoyed!

“When that little girl Elizabeth approached, I did what I was built to do. I killed her. And then everything went dark. When I awoke, I had gotten my wish. I was Circus Baby. And Circus Baby was me.” Baby smiled.

HRMN.1 felt her face twist with horror as the story began to sink in.

“Do you understand now? Us, two daughters, murdered and left to haunt the lifeless shells of machines. We’re the same, and that’s why Daddy put pieces of me in you. Only one of us is waking up, Charlie. And it’s not going to be you.” Baby's appearance shifted. Instead of her cute, bright red clown aesthetic, now she looked grungy and incomplete. Bits and chunks of scrap were loosely held together on her endoskeleton, and on her right arm she sported a huge claw with pointed teeth.

“My father is waiting for me, Charlie. You understand that I can’t keep him waiting.” She lunged at HRMN.1 again, her claw opened wide.

“Elizabeth, no!” HRMN.1 sidestepped in front of the door right as Baby stabbed at her, causing the synthetic to bury her claw into the wall. “You don’t have to do this. We don’t have to fight!”

“Oh, but we do.” Elizabeth ripped her claw free from the wall, turning to face her. “My real body is gone. It’s become something more. I don’t have anywhere else to return to. If I don’t take your place, then everything Daddy worked for will fall apart. You need to die, Charlie. And this time, stay dead!”

HRMN.1 looked around, lifting her arm and feeling the doorknob behind her. This time when Elizabeth lunged at her, HRMN.1 dove to the side while pulling the door open, causing the synthetic to sprawl out against the floor of the dark hallway.

“You made a mistake, Charlie.” Elizabeth sat up, turning to face HRMN.1. Her eyes glowed amidst the darkness. “Out here is where the Nightmares live. You’ll have to get past me and them, and they’ll rip you apart.

“You should have just let me take over your body.” Elizabeth laughed, standing up. From behind her, silhouettes of other synthetics began to form from the shadows. Multiple pairs of glowing eyes joined Elizabeth’s. “Now you’ll get torn to itty bitty pieces!”

The shadows approached closer but stopped when they were directly behind Elizabeth.

“Kill her,” she sneered, laughing louder.

HRMN.1 winced, waiting for the hands to grab her. She heard a scream, but it wasn’t her own. It was Elizabeth’s.

“Whu- What are you doing?! Let go of me! Let go of me right now!!” she cried as the shadows grabbed at her violently. They looked her in her eyes, and fear overcame her. “No! No no no!! Please!”

The shadows began to violently rip Elizabeth apart. Limbs, wires, and scrap were being tossed aside like garbage as the synthetic screamed and pleaded for help. HRMN.1 looked away, even when the screams stopped and the only sound left was the sound of metal being bent and dropped on the ground. When she finally looked back, the shadows were still focused on the body on the floor. All of them except for one.

HRMN.1 could tell that the shadow figure faintly resembled Foxy, but she couldn’t be sure. The shadow made eye contact with her, before pointing to the left end of the hallway. When she looked where it was pointing, there was an exit sign above a bright doorway.

“Uh, thank you.” she uttered, carefully walking around the carnage and hurried down the hallway. The shadows watched her go, their eyes glowing softly.

☻

When HRMN.1 walked through the door, her eyes opened. She looked around, realizing she was back in the service cylinder. She had woken up? Momo sat up, rubbing her cheek.

“How do you feel?”

HRMN.1 tensed up, feeling a shot of deja vu course through her system.

“Momo?” Jin gently grabbed her shoulder, concerned. “Are you okay?”

It was just Jin. It was just Jin, that’s right. She was the one who was previously working on her. Momo exhaled heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her body felt heavy, sluggish.

“What did you find?”

“There were three things I found. The first two were chips that Wilson had modified. One of them was in your brain and it served no purpose for your programming, so I got rid of it. The second one made this weird humming noise. I shut it off and put it back, but when I did, the strangest thing happened.” Jin pulled a hand mirror from a nearby drawer.

The first chip must’ve been the music that had been keeping me asleep, Momo thought. But what was the second one?

Jin held the mirror in front of Momo, and when she looked in, she saw herself staring back. Her white-haired, green-eyed self.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, twirling her hair around her fingers. It was one of those chips that altered her appearance! She had thought there was only one, but Wilson must’ve installed a second one when he was too lazy to actually edit her appearance. “What was the last thing?”

Jin grinned, leaning forward. “You didn’t notice?”

Momo squinted at the mirror, trying to find something out of place. Aside from her hair and eyes, everything else looked to be the same.

“It’s your eyes.” Jin laughed, “Remember how they were pink with cogs? That was a real change, not something that was cloaked by that humming chip. I managed to locate your original eyes and swap them out.” She nodded towards a case on one of the metal trays nearby, which had two eyes laying on them. Just as Jin said, they were Momo’s previous eyes.

“What do you think they did?” HRMN.1 asked, walking over to the tray and gently poking the eyes with her finger.

“No idea, but I’m going to destroy them just in case.”

HRMN.1 narrowed her eyes. All of these changes, planned by Wilson and William. Then there was Elizabeth, who tried to take over her body. All of it made her angry. She grabbed the eyes and crushed them in her hands, watching as the hardware fell to the ground.

“Momo?”

“Jin, do you have something to write with?”

The woman fumbled a bit, turning and grabbing a tablet. She then nodded to HRMN.1, who finally made eye contact with her. “What’s going on?”

“I have some things I need to recount and I want them written down. Can you take notes for me?”

–

Jin and HRMN.1 were recounting their notes when Freddy and Joyner walked in. Even Freddy was taken aback when he saw Momo.

“HRMN.1, is that you?” he asked, dumbfounded. The bear almost didn’t recognize her. “Hmm. This procedure was more invasive than I had initially expected.”

“Yes, it’s still me. Jin fixed me right up. Do you like my hair?” She laughed as Freddy gently ran his fingers through her alabaster hair.

Joyner stood near the entrance, blinking slowly. It was Charlie. It really was Charlie. She looked different, of course. She had ears and a tail, white hair and green eyes, but it really was her. Joyner bit his lip, unable to find the words. He had no clue what he would even say to her. There was no guarantee she would even remember him!

“This was a mistake.” He turned, heading back to the service elevator.

“Sammy?”

Joyner froze. God, she even sounded like Charlie. He slowly turned, looking over his shoulder. HRMN.1 was walking towards him, her hands folded over her abdomen. She smiled softly, tilting her head.

“I recognized you. I mean, you’re Charlotte’s twin. We look the same, so of course I’d know you anywhere.”

Joyner gestured vaguely, looking her up and down. “You’re older but you look just like her. I can’t even believe it. Dad built you?”

HRMN.1 nodded. “I was one of four. But yeah, Henry built me. If it makes you feel better, he abandoned me before I was completed. He had. . .second thoughts.”

“No, it doesn’t make me feel better. He brought you to life and then tried to kill you. Isn’t that what the fire was for?

“I’ll never know what was going through his head, but he built you to be Charlie. No matter what happens, you’re still my sister.” Sammy extended his arms, ushering HRMN.1 in for a hug which she happily accepted.

“I know we technically never met, but I missed you, Sammy.”

“I missed you too, Charlie. So much. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry for fighting with you back then. If I had just apologized sooner, maybe things would’ve been different.” He squeezed her gently. She felt so real. She was warm, and her body wasn’t obviously solid like he expected a synthetic to be. It was almost like she was the real Charlie. He felt tears well up in his eyes as the emotions overcame him.

HRMN.1 reached up, gently wiping his eyes. She smiled, something genuine and warm, her own eyes glossed over with tears. “Don’t put that on yourself. It wasn’t your fault. This is because of William.”

“Speaking of William,” Jin interrupted, motioning to the tablet. “There’s something we need to fill you guys in on.”

“Same with us. Shall we compare notes?”

–

Gregory awoke to the sound of a pen scratching against paper.

“Freddy?” he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Across from him sat Jaime, who made an apologetic face.

“No, just me. Sorry. Did I wake you up?”

“No, I was just taking a nap anyway. What’s going on?” He sat up straight, pointing at what Jaime was writing.

“I had a really weird dream. But it felt way too real to be just a dream, you know? So I’m writing it all down so I don’t forget it.” Jaime put down the pen, flipping the pages. At least 2 full pages of notes. It was all she could recall, but it was a good start. Once she figured out what everything meant, then she could hopefully help her dad.

Gregory didn’t really understand why she had to write down her dream, but he figured it was just a Jaime thing. He looked at his Faz-watch and noticed two familiar blips on the map. Freddy and Momo! They both looked to be in Parts and Service too.

“Jaime! I think Momo’s maintenance is done, she’s up and Freddy is down there with her!”

“Oh perfect! Let’s go see them. I need to tell my mom about my dream anyways.” She closed the notebook and stuck it into her bag before leaning down to put her shoes back on.

Once ready, the two began their walk to Parts and Service.

–

“Jaime.”

She paused, looking around. It was the voice again, the same voice from her dream. It must’ve been her dad. He was trying to reach out to her again!

Gregory kept walking, as if he didn’t hear a thing. Was it just in her head?

“Jaime.”

“Where are you?” she whispered, walking over to a room beside Monty’s green room. She waited, hoping to hear the voice again. It had sounded like it was coming from this room, but she had never seen it before.

“Jaime.” the voice repeated from beyond the door.

She pushed the door open, carefully stepping inside. It was dark aside from the faint glow of the 5 pods around her. They were charging pods for the synthetics. Jaime walked past the tubes, looking within each one to see who was inside. Roxy, Chica, Monty, Bonnie, Foxy. They were all here, asleep.

“Jaime.” The voice was louder, coming from another door near the back of the room.

“I’m here, Dad. Where are you?” She approached the door, looking up at it. It had a handle, not a doorknob. So it must be one of those sliding doors? Jaime grabbed the handle and pulled with all of her might. Slowly, the door slid open.

Upon closer inspection, it looked to be a closet for the synthetics to store their costumes. It wasn’t large enough to hide anything human-sized, so Jaime felt her hopes get dashed. Had she imagined the voice after all?

“Jaime.”

The voice sounded like it was directly in front of her. She reached into the closet, her hand being drawn to a certain costume in particular. Digging into one of the pockets, she pulled out a Bonnie plushie, however it wasn’t the normal colors. It looked greenish yellow, but didn’t seem to be dirty or painted. Maybe it was a special edition?

“You’ve found me~” the voice softly cooed, Jaime knowing now that it came from the plushie. She smiled, hugging it tightly.

“I found you, and I’m not going to let you go. I’m going to find a way to save you.” She stuck the plushie into her bag and quickly left the room.

“There you are!” Gregory called from behind Jaime as she was shutting the door. She jumped, whipping around before calming down once she saw his face.

“Gregory! You scared me.”

“Me? You’re the one who wandered off! Be more careful, okay? We shouldn’t be alone. Let’s go see Freddy and the others.” He turned and continued walking, not seeming to have noticed where Jaime had come out of.

Jaime took one look at the door before adjusting her shoulder strap and running after Gregory.

–

5:31am.

The children joined the others down in Parts and Service. With Jaime’s recollection of her dream, the group had more information to go off of.

“Good grief―” Jin sat down, putting a hand at her temple. She was taking this information hard, of course. The idea of her husband locked in a dream battle with her father-in-law was just a bit too much for her. Joyner grabbed a water bottle from a nearby vending machine and handed it to her.

“It looks like all of the major pieces are in place.” Freddy announced, looking at the others. “We are the only ones left who can investigate further. It seems like we will find all of our answers if we investigate the pizzeria underneath the building.”

“The common theme looks to be that everything will come to an end tonight. What could that mean?” HRMN.1 asked, tying her hair up into her normal high ponytail.

“There’s only one way to find out!” Gregory hopped up, an excited glint in his eyes. “We head down into the sinkhole!”

“Gregory,” Freddy leant down to the boy’s height, putting a hand on his shoulder. “This will be dangerous. We have no idea what we are dealing with. I may not be able to protect you. Do you understand? Do all of you understand?”

The boy nodded, and the others agreed along with him. There was no turning back now.

“Then let us go. The one behind it all is awaiting us.”

[Previous] | [Next]

AO3 Chapter Link

#fnaf security breach #security breach #glamstar au #glamstar fam au #fnaf #archive of our own

7 notes · View notes