Chapter Text
Eyelids flutter, darkness etches at the edges of your vision as you sit up slowly, groaning.
As the current events slowly unfurled in your mind again, you snapped your head up to look around nervously. Where the heck were you? Disappointment weighed in your chest as you realized you were in the same old woods as always. Your back was roughly propped against a huge tree, the only thing in a very gloomy hollow in which you were situated, but you seemed to be very alone. No sounds were heard aside from your quick breathing as you tried to calm down. Did the nightmares just leave you here? Were had Plushtrap gone...or that BB bitc-
You cut yourself off when you looked down at your leg, a horrible mess of dried blood met your eyes and made you sick to your stomach. That stupid rabbit had surely had a number done to your poor leg. Bite marks littered your ankle, and the fabric of your pants had been ripped away below the knee, leaving the skin on that leg exposed and chilled to the cold air. You bent forward to let your hand lightly touch the wounds, wincing at the rawness of the flesh, stinging underneath your fingertips.
You slowly stretched your leg from the flat sitting position you were in, to see if you could move it. Pain exploded in your ankle, which migrated up into your thigh and you chewed at your lip as you stretched your limb up and down a few times just to make sure nothing was broken. You gave a pained sigh of relief as you set it back down again.
"Damn..." you sighed, wiping a bloody hand over your forehead. Why the heck would those things chew up your leg and then just dump you in the middle of nowhere? Far away from Nightmarionne at that...would they have let him go? No......had they...killed him?
You swallowed a painful lump of emotion in your throat, the thought of that happening left a bitter taste on your tongue. No, something like him couldn't just...die, could it?
"I gotta go find him...or at least try and get out of here in one piece," you thought, glancing around. There seemed to be no one here, but you had an unsettling feeling in your gut that that wasn't the case. Those nightmares wouldn't just dump you in the middle of nowhere and leave you right? Not after they tried to harm one of their own to get to you...
Despite the thought you unsteadily tried to get up. Your legs felt like gelatin as you clawed at the tree that was to your back for support. When you were finally standing up on your one good leg, you let the injured one touch the ground. Sharp sensations immediately started clawing their way from your ankle to your thighs again, and you sucked in a sharp breath as you took a few steps on the cold earth.
A few unsteady steps led to you standing a few feet away from the tree, staring around the dark space, trying to get a sense of direction. Darkness and unsettling mist swirled around the edge of your feet, marking the border of the tiny hollow you were in and the unknown.
Well, you may as well start now.
You took a small step into the dark, losing sight of your foot in the swirling darkness when a deep voice interrupted your motion.
"Think you could get away that easily could you?" you took a panicked step back at the sound of Fredbears voice and quickly fled back to the tree as the mangled bear stepped out of the darkness into your vision, like it had been there all along, waiting for you to try something that stupid.
Your body quivered at having no place to run, and adrenaline flooded your senses as you shoved your back against the tree's slippery trunk. At the same time, Fredbear approached you slowly, its claws held behind its back in a relaxed manner like it knew you didn't have anywhere to run or hide.
You drew another sharp breath as he stood a mere couple of feet away from you. You wished desperately that at that moment the ground would just swallow you up and take your shivering body far away from that sickening grin that he had etched on his cruel face.
"Thought so...your game with us is far from done little one," growled Fredbear "Now that Night is out of the way, you'll be easy meat...though, to be fair he didn't go down easy,"
You dragged your eyes away from his bloodshot ones and quickly glanced over Fredbears body. You did notice quite a few scratches and a particularly big gash that lay on his arm that he was seemingly trying to hide from your vision. You guessed that's why he was holding his claws behind his back.
"Is...that so," you said, not being able to let a small smirk creep into your scared expression at how the skinniest of things could beat up Fredbear that easily.
"Don't look so smug, we did beat him in the end," thundered Fredbear, noticing your haughty words.
Your brief conceited grin was quickly replaced by a tense frown.
"What did you do to him," you immediately demanded, letting your tense position against the tree loosen enough so you could slightly stand up straighter to Fredbear, dreading his answer.
"Well... let's just say your precious Nightmare..." Fredbear drew his clawed paws from behind his back and harshly threw something to the ground "...had taken more than he had bargained for,"
What he had thrown made a soft clunk as it dropped to the earth mere inches from your feet and you refused to look down, keeping contact with Fredbear's eyes, very well knowing what he had just thrown before you.
You opened your mouth, your tongue twitched as you tried to desperately organize your thoughts into words, and you tasted sickly sweet tears as they dripped into your open jaw, leaving a sticky feeling in your mouth. What you were trying to say you didn't know, there was no way you could communicate the shock you felt or the stiffness of your limbs as you closed your mouth, giving up trying to revolt against Fredbears action, and slowly looked down at the ivory-white mask lying at your feet. The black tear streams were still intact, but no glowing pin-pricks of light started up at you from those empty sockets.
Saying nothing you quickly bent down to pick it up, carefully lifting the white mask in your fingers, holding the cold, thin material to your chest as you stared up at Fredbear again, ignoring the silent streams that were still trickling down your cheeks.
"Did...did you kill him?" you choked out, standing up, not even feeling the stinging pain in your leg anymore.
"Well...we probably should have, but without his mask, he's not anyone anyways," Fredbear chuckled, shifting his massive feet around like what he had just done was as simple as having an afternoon snack.
"How could you do this to one of your own..." you whispered in disbelief "...and all because of me? It didn't deserve this..."
"He deserved it more than anyone, even more than you my little scientist," growled Fredbear, flexing his bloody claws and you shuddered that they were also covered in black specks of blood besides older flecks of crimson red.
"Why..." you protested, hugging the mask to your chest while glaring at the nightmarish bear.
"Because he cared for you, simple as that. A nightmare shouldn't want to help its victim, it goes against every law in nature," Fredbear replied, taking enjoyment in your appalled face.
"And all because of that," you cried "All because he didn't want to kill me, all because he cared for me you decided to do this to him?! He was just trying to protect me..."
"You are deadly mistaken!" roared Fredbear, slashing out his paw to have it nearly miss your face. You gave a little squeak of fear and shoved your backside against the tree again.
"I will give it to you straight missy," he snarled, stepping closer to your trembling body until he was a mere inches from your face. He bent down, cruelly staring into your frightened eyes before starting to speak quietly in a drawn-out sickly sweet voice that made your skin crawl in fear and disgust.
"What you think is caring, what you think is love, what YOU think are feelings for you, they are not," you tried to avoid Fredbears gaze as those words echoed in your head, but he raised a clawed paw to tick at your chin, forcing you to hold contact with those bloodshot eyes.
"His love will crawl inside you like a parasite..." You felt cold claws lightly claw at your stomach, and you struggled to hold your composure as he went on "...it will creep into your mind until all your thoughts are blocked out by the darkness, eating at you from the inside, starting at your heart..."
You shakily breathed as the nightmare's claws crawled up your abdomen to your chest, lightly burrowing their digits into your breast as you held the mask closer to your skin.
"From there it will spread like a disease until you are nothing but a product of darkness, an empty shell. And then..." Fredbear leaned closer to your face until you had to visibly wince at the putrid smell of his breath as he hissed the last words to you, raising his claws from your chest to tick at your forehead.
"He'll drag you into the depths of despair until you'll have to beg him to finish you off, and eat you like the pathetic meat sack you are,"
You gulped as Fredbear stared at you for a few very long seconds before pulling away from you, making you take in very quick breaths of relief and fear.
"I don't...believe you!" you protested weakly, trying to stand up straight and stop the shaking in your lungs as you drew shuddering breaths.
Fredbear snorted.
"He's as much a monster as I or the rest of the nightmares Y/N, nothing about that could change...do you know how hard he resisted biting your soft flesh whenever he was around you?" he said, chuckling at you.
"I don't doubt it, I just...I know he can't change, but in all my hours spent here in the darkness he's the only one who tried to help...to keep me safe...and I...I don't know. I just wanted to be safe...I just wanted him to be safe," you whispered.
"Your loyalty is admirable, but, you are a fool, a bitter stupid fool," snarled Fredbear, gnashing his teeth.
You flinched.
"Where is he?" you stuttered, staring at the ivory mask as Fredbear's words weighed in your heart.
"You're not going to go find him by yourself, you're surrounded. There isn't a nightmare that isn't watching you right now little one,"
"I'm not little, and I know I can't..." you didn't finish your sentence, kept staring down, what was the use? You couldn't bargain with these things...there was nothing you could do, despite your desperately wanting to do something, anything to stop the horrible hurting in your bones.
"Well, enough of this talk...now you're all ours...mmmm, what to do..." Fredbear grinned, pacing slowly while watching you.
You sniffled and tried to blink the tears out of your eyes, at this point you were torn between wanting to wake up and never falling asleep again, or staying to find Nightmarionne...whatever Fredbear wanted to do to you at this point, didn't matter to you.
"You thinking about waking up aren't you?" Fredbear muttered, breaking you out of your thoughts. You violently shook your head as he stared at you expectantly.
"No! No, why would l want to do that..." you murmured.
"It's obvious Night didn't tell you then..." grinned Fredbear
"Tell me what!" you exclaimed, feeling a sickening cold bolt of lightning crackle up your spine. What did he mean by that?
"That this is a nightmare you won't be waking from..." he chuckled turning away.
You stared after him, what?
"What do you mean? I don't understand! What does he mean!" you shout at the darkness at the edge of the hollow, knowing the rest of the nightmares must be watching as well, but of course, there were no answers.
"What you don't know won't hurt you, just know that you won't be leaving us anytime soon," laughed Fredbear, turning back to you with that sinister smile.
"This is unfair! I released the souls, I thought I corrected the past! Why do I still have to be stuck here knowing the only thing I cared for was almost killed by you freaks!" you shout angrily, stomping your foot on the ground, earning you a vicious wince as you realize it had been your injured leg.
"Life is unfair stupid, now shut up so we can think what we're going to do with our new toy," shushed Fredbear harshly, making you snap your mouth shut as he glared at you viciously.
You bit your bottom lip and tried to hold back more angry comebacks, tears burned at the corners of your eyes as you hugged that mask as hard as you could against your chest.
That's when a thought came to your mind
Before Fredbear could make his next statement you shouted hurriedly, perhaps a bit more loudly than you expected.
"If you think he doesn't care for me, then test me! Let me show you that I know he doesn't want just my blood underneath the surface!" you slightly regretted the words as soon as they left your mouth at the sound of mocking laughter echoing around the small, dark area, seemingly from the nightmares that you were sure of now hiding in the forest.
Hot shame warmed your cheeks at their outburst, and especially at Fredbear's amused expression, but at the same time, you knew you meant what you said.
"Do you know what you are proposing little one? Night has fallen beneath himself, without his mask he is simply a shadow of his former self, it would be even harder for us to talk sense into him at this point, you..." Fredbear chuckled "...have chosen a suicide mission, he'll rip through you as if he never knew you,"
"That's exactly why I want you to test me, chances are, he'll end up killing me if what you say is true, IF what you say is true," you sharply retorted "But, if I end up helping him then you have to let us go, deal?"
Your words hung in the air for a few moments. Silence rang in your ears as Fredbear looked down at you thoughtfully as if thinking over your proposal. The only thing you heard was muttered whispers from the darkness as the seconds dragged by.
"Well little one, while your proposal sounds like a truly entertaining one, we cannot risk losing our little plaything, can we?" Fredbear gave an exaggerated shrug and grinned at you.
"What's the difference if I die anyway? Your little gremlins already beat me up beyond repair, I'd be surprised if I would still be any use to you,' you muttered, not being able to suppress glaring at the yellow bear.
Fredbear snarled but didn't step closer to you.
"I told you to be gentler with her..." he said through gritted teeth toward the forest and you could almost see BB and Plushtrap growling at Fredbear from behind his back.
"Come on, do you don't want to see a little tiny human win over a nightmare? Are you scared of losing to my bet?" you ask haughtily, you were pushing your luck, but what else did you have to lose?
You clutched the mask harder, at this point this was the only way you could see Nightmarionne again, you had to make Fredbear say yes to it somehow.
"It's not possible, and even if you did end up alive in the aftermath, what makes you think I would let you two go free..." Fredbear questioned like he already knew the answer, and sent another tense, but villainous grin your way.
You took a swift breath, there had to be something else you could bargain him with...
"Look, just tell me what you want from me ok? I'll give you whatever you want! Just let me go find him again!" you exclaim, looking pleadingly at the nightmare.
"I had already told you what we wanted, we wanted your weak mind, your body. We want control..." Fredbear growled slowly, twisting his claws like they were around your neck "...but due to the unseen circumstances...there is an even more precious tool to be obtained...one that lays inside you,"
You pushed yourself against that tree as hard as you could as the bear pointed a beastly claw at you.
"What do you want?" you whispered, feeling the hair on your neck stand on end as you waited for an answer.
"We want your pretty little soul, we want the very energy that fuels you...we want your r̷̩̻̫̆̿͑e̴̘̠͆̃̋̚m̸̤̪̠̃̈́͌̕n̸͉̗̼̥̔̉ạ̴͑̾̓̾n̷̳̽̏t̸̢̞̀͂̉ͅ. Ohhhh imagine, we wouldn't even need your weak human body, just the matter itself that will give us the power we need, to show people how real nightmares can be!"
Glitched laughs echoed around you, and you felt your knees shaking. This was getting worse...
"Then why the heck do you care if I live or not? Why not kill me and take the...whatever you called it...already and get it over with?!" you shouted as the laughs died down.
"Well little thing...if we let you get torn apart by that traitor, then what would stop him from taking it for himself?"
"Oh, so you're scared," you blurted out, scoffing at Fredbear.
He eyed you furiously and showed his dirty teeth.
"Come on, you're telling me you're just scared? What makes you think I would give my soul away to anyone? Chicken," you taunted, prodding at the nerve you had struck.
You heard a confused cluck come from the forest that most likely was from that nightmarish chicken, but kept your eyes focused on Fredbear, trying to desperately stand your ground and not shiver under that lived gaze as Fredbear slightly approached your smaller figure.
"I am not scared of anything," he growled, eyeing you from his superior height.
You stood up straight and looked him in the eye as best as you could.
"Then why are you too scared to let me try-" you began again "Why not just kill me yourself? Mmm? What's stopping you-"
Fredbear roared, and you felt spittle fly at your face as the sound exploded in your eardrums, you would have clutched both of your hands to the side of your head if you weren't holding the mask.
"ENOUGH, we'll leave this one to the dark for a little while and then later...we'll come back for the torture," Fredbear snarled, turning towards the darkness.
You watched him go, shocked as the giant yellow bear faded into the darkness, now what?!
You suddenly became aware of the unholy pain in your leg and collapsed against the tree again, taking in a sharp breath of air.
Well, you tried...
Trying to ignore the pain you looked around the small space a few times, and although you couldn't see any eyes peering at you from the darkness, your gut feeling told you they were still watching...
You sighed deeply and tried to distract yourself by tracing the edge of Mari's mask with your fingertip, feeling the smooth, cold texture that made your skin crawl.
There had to be something else you could do...
.....
How many minutes you had sat there tracing the ivory mask you didn't know, but a rustling had caught your attention from one of the bushes at the edge of the hollow, looking up you quickly clutched the mask to your chest again, and tucked your legs to your chest, deathly afraid it was Fredbear again.
But to your surprise, two green velvety-looking ears poked out of the black-leaved bushes, and a moment later you saw those little black greedy eyes, the eyes of plushtrap, staring at you hungrily.
"What are you doing here?" you squeaked, tucking your legs closer to your body as he crawled towards you, stopping a few feet away from your body to sniff at the air, eyeing your injured leg.
"Don't even think about it," you warned, placing one hand on your leg to block his view of it.
He hissed and just kept eyeing you.
"What do you want? Did they leave you to guard me or something," you said hesitantly feeling very uncomfortable in the presence of this ankle chewer.
To your immense surprise, it nodded eagerly in response, huh?
"Heh? You? You barely caught me last..." You glanced back down at the mask and sighed again "...last time..."
You glanced back up to see it peeking at the mask from behind your hand, wait, perhaps...
"Hey, do you know... where they put him? Do you know where he is? The one that wore this?" you say quickly, pointing at the mask.
Plushtrap nods, and quickly shakes his head like he had caught himself, before going back to eyeing your leg again, you swallowed when you saw him licking his lips.
"Hey! What did I say, do you know where he is or not?" you interrupted his gaze, pointing to the mask again.
He just blankly stared at you, but it looked like he was hiding something...there was a particular shine to its eyes, that of a child not telling if they stole a cookie or not.
"You know...if you take me to him...I'll give you something in return," you slowly taunted, using your very best 'pretty please' talk.
Plushtrap snorted and turned to leave.
"Wait!" you quickly quiet-yelled "You want to...god, I can't believe I'm saying this...you want my blood right? You want to eat me?"
Plushtrap turned to you eagerly and nodded quickly, its little beady eyes shining and it scurried towards you again.
"Wow wow!!" you squealed, blocking it with your foot.
"Not so fast!"
He stared at you angrily, showing his needle-sharp teeth.
"Look, here's the deal. You lead me to him, and then...you get to eat me? Hey? How does that sound? That way we'll be away from the other so they won't be able to stop you," you assured the rabbit, trying to smile brightly through the bucketful of lies you were spilling at the moment.
He looked at you suspiciously, like he wasn't buying a thing you were saying, and then he looked back towards the woods again. You guessed what was on his mind.
"Fredbear won't be mad, if you kill me then you can give him the soul stuff...crap...or whatever he wants! You'll be a hero, and have a meal, and I'll be freed from my suffering. Still, we HAVE to go to where Nightmarionne is or we won't...uh...be able to do...that..." you stuttered, trying to desperately convince this nightmare of plush that what you were saying was one hundred percent sensible.
Plushtrap paused for a few seconds, like he was considering what you had said, and to your immense relief, and perhaps amazement he nodded, grinning at you in a very eager manner that made you thankful that he was much smaller than you.
He immediately started running off towards the darkness of the unknown on the other side of the clearing all of a sudden, and you quickly picked yourself up to follow, clutching Nightmarionne's mask to your person as you desperately tried to follow the nightmarish plush despite your hurt leg still bothering you as you struggled to catch up.
"Don't worry Mari, I'm coming..." you whispered, diving after Plushtrap.
Let's say the chase after the small gremlin rabbit was no easy walk through the daisies. The small ragged nightmare kept dodging underneath huge slimy logs, and climbing through thick vegetation as you two made your way through the gloomy forest, and you struggled to keep up without dropping the mask, not to mention your leg slowing you down.
It was also so so dark, you could barely see a thing, much less the dirty green pelt of Plushtrap as he led you on through the confusing, disgusting environment.
"How much further do we have to go?" you panted after nearly half an hour of rapid sprinting, raising a hand to mop your brow.
The nightmare snickered at you, and kept leaping from one dark area of ground to the other, always keeping you on your feet. You kept glancing around, trying to make sense of the maze of trees and darkness, but nothing stood out to you, nothing recognizable met your eyes as your feet pittered-pattered on the damp ground, sinking into the slimy ground, making unpleasant feelings creep up your spine as you kept going.
You just hoped that the other nightmares hadn't noticed you two missing after all this time and were hunting for you by this point. This would be your only chance at finding the one nightmare you hoped to find and hopefully find in one piece.
You knew now wasn't the time to think about it...but what if what Fredbear had said was true...did you stand a chance at all?
"Come on, what else do you have to lose?" you strongly assured yourself, focusing on Plushtrap again, even if you were just leading yourself into another trap, what would be worse? Dying beneath the claws of that you cared for or being slaughtered by those monsters?
"How much further now? It's been awhile..." you began when suddenly Plushtrap stopped abruptly and nearly made you trip over him.
He was standing up straight, and his green ragged ears were standing up straight in an erect position.
"What happened...?" you whispered, stepping away from the rabbit again.
Plushtrap didn't reply but instead stared right ahead, you followed his gaze but saw nothing but a small slightly-lit clearing like there was a very weak light source somewhere, although you couldn't pinpoint where.
Besides, it seemed to be very still. Nothing but erie shadows and the stench of the forest that reeked around you.
But that's when you felt it.
A cold creeping feeling that started at your toes and filled up your head, leaving a ghostly feeling in your veins. Something wasn't right...
Whatever it was it made Plushtrap's ears suddenly bow down towards his head, he gave a little growl of fear, and skittered past you, giving one last longing look at you before disappearing into the darkness in a matter of seconds, leaving you alone on the edge of the clearing.
"Where did you...never mind," you muttered, and ignoring your uneasiness you slightly limped into the center of the clearing, and stretched your neck to look up at the sky. There of course was no starlit scene for you to lay your eyes on, only cloudy darkness.
Damn, you missed sunshine.
You tore your eyes away from the dark sky, and instead scanned the clearing slowly, turning around and pricking your ears for any sounds that would tell you that Nightmarionne was near. Nothing but eerie silence met your ears...and that dreadful icy feeling that something was off.
You finally opened your mouth:
"Mari...? You there?"
Your voice came out as a tiny squeak and you listened for a few seconds. Nothing.
You tried again, a little louder this time.
"Mari! Nightmarionne! Are you there....?' you shouted, your voice hanging uncomfortably in the air as you stood shivering, waiting for an answer, mask clutched tight in your hands.
Finally, you heard something.
It didn't sound like the large lumbering footsteps of Fredbear, or the smaller scurrying of Plushtrap, no...it sounded much quieter, much more...slithery.
You angled your ears towards the noise and turned sharply to look behind your shoulder.
That's when you saw two white glowing eyes looking at you, the sharp white pupils that you had grown used to, however, they were dilated and a very stark white, not the soft glow you knew.
You couldn't see the rest of Mari's body either, just those two pupils watching you from the darkness.
"Mari...? Is that you? Are you ok?" you hurriedly asked, stepping towards it cautiously.
"There you are little one! Sneaky little thing, thought you could get away could you!"
Goddammit, not him again, you spun around to see Fredbear lumbering towards you angrily, teeth bared, both in his mouth and his tooth-lined stomach much to your disgust and terror.
"Just wait until the others get here... they're off chasing Plushy, ohh, then we will have a show for you..." he snarled, lunging for you.
You gave a terrified shriek as the huge nightmare leapt towards you and you squeezed your eyes shut, waiting for the killing blow.
That's when you felt Mari lunge past you, knocking you to the ground as he flew at Fredbear.
You opened your eyes and watched from your shocked position on the ground to see a dark creature fighting Fredbear, one you didn't recognize as Mari. Sure, his pupils still shone that white glow, but with no mask on his face, all you saw was a very black humanoid head that had no existing features besides his sharp, visible teeth that ripped at Fredbear's shoulder as he viciously attacked, flying at the bear by jumping on top of him, clinging to his fur with his claws. A far cry from the fluid way of fighting you had seen him exercise when the nightmares first attacked.
Fredbear hadn't been expecting the surprise attack and was struggling to throw Mari off of him. Roaring in pain as the much slimmer nightmare tore at his shoulders, and ripped chunks of fur off his back with his claws.
Normally you would feel glad that Nightmarionne seemed to be having the upper hand, but the way he was fighting made you feel afraid of him. He didn't speak at all as Fredbear kept trying to rip at him and throw him off. He just hung on and let out occasional growls full of venom, and hate.
When Fredbear finally shook him off, Mari fell to the ground but immediately got back up again, and circled Fredbear very quickly, making the bigger nightmare spin around in confusion, struggling to land blows on something that was a moving shadow, as without his mask Mari was practically a pair of floating claws, spinning around his opponent and ripping at him.
You winced as the two tussled to the far end of the clearing, but from your vantage point you could still see the blood spilling from Fredbears wounds, it was becoming obvious he wasn't winning this fight unless one of the other nightmares showed up.
You squinted your eyes, trying to focus on Mari, who took one last flying leap at Fredbear and wrapped his long claws around the bear's throat, choking him. Gurgled noises came from Fredbear as he held onto Mari's hands, trying to rip him away, but Nightmarionne gave a vicious shriek that hurt your eardrums before throwing Fredbear harshly into the dark forest again.
You flinched at the huge shudder that rippled throw the earth when you heard the huge nightmare get thrown to the ground. Thankfully, it sounded like he wasn't coming back to the fight, as you also heard the thundering sounds of him quickly retreating into the darkness.
You got up quickly, eyeing Mari, who was staring after the bear. He said nothing and for a few seconds, you didn't either before clearing your throat. You had to admit you felt a little nervous...but Nightmarionne had defended you from Fredbear...
"Well, I don't think he'll be coming back anytime soon, we should probably get out of here!" you exclaimed quietly, trying to sound optimistic.
That optimism was instantly crushed when Mari whipped around to face you after hearing your words. Those pupils pierced your soul as he stared at you.
You gulped.
"Uh...Mari...? Are you ok? I got your mask..." you stuttered, looking down at your hands, what-oh-no! You glanced around frantically, you must have dropped it when Mari knocked you over!
"Hold on...it's around here somewhere...ACK!" You cried as Mari suddenly slammed into you, knocking you to the ground again.
"Mari! What are you doing...?" you asked, nervousness creeping its way into your voice as the nightmare held your hands down against the cold earth, digging your wrists into the dirt, making you wince painfully.
He leaned over you, holding that empty face close to yours, his teeth shined as much as his eyes as he growled at you, and you saw blood seep from his fangs, dripping onto your chin, making you gag.
"Mari...you hurting me..." you cried, kicking your feet as its grip on your wrists tightened server, making tears etch at the corners of your eyes.
He didn't answer and instead bowed his head at an unnatural angle, and you sucked in a sharp breath of panic as he sunk his teeth into the flesh on your shoulder, ripping at your soft flesh, earning a pained scream from your throat.
"MARI, STOP!" you cried, stinging tears sliding down your chin. Still, you only heard a hissed response as the nightmare pressed you against the ground, making an icy sensation run through your skin like electricity as his cold body pressed against yours, pushing you harder against the hard earth until you felt like your spine was about to snap.
That's when you knew he was finally letting himself go, no longer suppressing the urges he had always had, if you didn't get out of this now you surely would be dead if he decided to move onto your neck next.
"Stop... you're not an animal like the others, stupid..." you said through gritted teeth, and you sharply kicked at his underside with your feet, making his grip loosen slightly on your wrists, giving you just enough wriggle room to slip out of his grip.
Sliding out from underneath him you struggled to your feet, spinning around to face him again and trying not to immediately want to collapse to the ground again at the harsh pain in your shoulder.
He was eyeing you angrily, blood-stained claws quivering excitedly as he circled you, snarling as you held your hands out towards him.
"It's ok...it's me, Y/N... remember?" you begged, backing away from him as he stalked towards you, like a phantom. This wasn't like the playfulness or taunting manner of stalking he did to you when you first started getting to know him, this looked like stalking of a crazed predator, and you were the prey.
"Mari...?" you pleaded weakly, letting one hand clutch at your bloody shoulder as you two did the circling game, quiet footsteps, one after the other, you waited with bated breath for it to make the first move.
He gave no response, and just narrowed his white eyes at you. You kept your eyes on it, but at the same time you looked around desperately for his mask, perhaps that was the only thing that would give him an ounce of his sanity back.
That wasn't before he gave another snarl, and lunged at you again, you tried to dodge, but that was futile with a hurt leg.
You were surprised he was even fighting this hard after being supposedly beaten up by the others, perhaps he healed faster than you.
But none of that mattered, because he then grabbed your leg as you tried to get away again, the same one Plushtrap bit. You gave a startled eep as he tugged on it, making you fall to the ground again, banging your chin, making a shoot of numbness radiate throughout your jaw.
As you struggled to get your bearings in the sea of pain that was now your body you felt a sharp sensation in your leg that made you shriek in agony, you were dismayed to see he had leaned down to sink his teeth into your injured leg. Giving a harsh cry, you kicked him in the face, buying you a few more minutes to try and crawl your way out of his rampage, but that didn't get you anywhere because you were pulled back into his grasp a minute later like a cat hooking a juicy mouse.
This time he gripped your leg with his ivory claws, sinking his sharp digits into your skin.
Your red blood seeped onto the ground as he brought his crimson-stained teeth near your face again. Your terrified eyes looked into his, and you breathed heavily as he leaned forward to sink his teeth into your neck. You stuck up your hands to block his attack, and held each side of its face with your hands, trying to stop Mari's advances towards your neck. He snapped at your fingers and you struggled to hold it off as you felt yourself getting shoved towards the ground again, when your head finally hit the solid surface all the air got knocked out of you, and you felt your eyes getting heavy as your strength ebbed. You didn't know how long you could keep this up...you couldn't imagine the amount of blood you had already lost, your fleshy human body couldn't take this sort of stress much longer...
Maybe it was time to give yourself up...your grip was weakening after all, and your gaze was extremely heavy while darkness pulled at you temptingly, beckoning you to join it in the depths forever as you slowly succumbed.
Fingers were slipping, jaws snapped dangerously close to your neck, what would it matter if you gave up now? You were so tired... too tired to carry on.
But that's when you felt something hard beneath your un-injured shoulder as Mari pushed you into the earth, the mask!
You let go of your grip on his face, using the last of your strength to snatch the white mask that was lying beneath your shoulder, ripping from underneath you, and holding it in front of your face like a shield as Mari dove for your neck again.
You shut your eyes tight and whispered one last desperate plea, the iron taste of blood bathing your tongue as you choked out the words.
"I'm sorry Nightmarionne. This was my fault, they hurt you because of me...if you're going to put me out of my misery just know I'm glad it's you, and not one of those other monsters ripping into me...just know I'm sorry it was me who had to..."
You couldn't finish, emotion had risen in your throat, and even if this wasn't death...it still hurts. Hurts bad, not just the physical wounds either...a hurt that started in your heart and made its way to your mind. A hurt that pricked at your soul, and at this point you had run out of tears to shed.
You didn't even bother to open your eyes when that last lethal bite never met your skin. You didn't even hear Mari murmur your name as the mask slowly slipped from your hands, and lay resting on your chest. That comfortable darkness just seemed to lap at the edge of your mind like gentle waves, you smiled softly, it felt so good, so cold like you could stay that way forever...the fuzziness numbed you to everything, you couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything...
Just comfortable silence.
But as soon as it had come, it slowly faded, and you cracked open your eyes feebly. The mask was still lying on your chest, and you still felt the awful burning of your wounds, but...Mari was holding you...had...had not even a few minutes gone by? It felt like a whole lifetime had just flashed before your eyes there...
You shifted slightly in his gentle grasp, groaning at the awful pain in your body, but that couldn't distract your locked gaze with those pupils, those soft white eyes.
You were both sitting on the ground still, you being cradled in his arms, and Mari was staring at you like he couldn't believe you had even woken back up.
"Mari...?" you whispered, shifting your head.
"Don't try to move too much..." he growled softly "...if you hadn't snapped me out of that I would have killed you Y/N,"
A smile pulled at the corners of your lips.
"But you didn't kill me idiot..." you coughed.
"More than an idiot, I was a monster. An animal like the others," snarled Nightmarionne, staring down at his mask that still lay on your chest.
"It was my fault, Mari, because of me they took the only thing from you that made you...well you...I brought this upon myself like everything else in my life..." you muttered bitterly, trying to blink the last of the lingering drowsiness from your eyes.
"Still, I never wanted you to see me without my mask, without it I may as well be a shadow that is no different from the coldness of this forest. Having it off made me forget who I was and almost kill you," growled Nightmarionne, "...and I'm sorry I suppose,"
"Woah! An apology coming from you? What's next..." you chuckled, wincing.
Nightmarionne rolled his eyes as best as he could despite not having his mask on and reached down for it with the arm that wasn't supporting your back. But before he could wrap his claws around it you gently blocked its clawed hand with yours. You saw those white pupils eyeing you questionably, but you grabbed his hand and lightly laid it on your stomach.
"I was going to put it back on..." he muttered, narrowing his pupils.
"I know,"
You then reached up and rested your hand on one side of its face, pulling at his cheek gently so he would lean closer to your face.
"What do you want little bird?" Nightmarionne asked looking rather amused, or at least...that's what you thought you were reading based on his eyes.
Saying nothing you stretched your neck to close the gap between your faces, and even though there weren't any lips to connect with your own, you softly pressed yours where you knew his mouth was.
His reaction was rather tense, and you knew it probably had no idea what you were doing. Still, you felt your cheeks stinging with heat as he returned it as best as he could, lightly nipping at your bottom lip as it relaxed into your kiss, sending a tingling sensation through your skull as you let your eyes close, enjoying the loving gesture that temporarily distracted you from your wounds.
When you pulled away, you didn't know what to say, other than to savour the feeling of being that close to someone and having that fiery warmth spread throughout your face at his confused yet pleasurable expression. Even someone who had hurt you so many times, but you were pulled back every time...such a sweet serendipity.
"I don't care if you wear that mask or not, you're the same to me either way..." you smiled, stroking your fingers down the side of its cold face as you took your hand back.
"All that I can say is that you are a curious little creature," chuckled Nightmarionne, picking up his mask.
You watched in fascination as it slipped back on easily, and it seemed to glue itself to his face, fitting around his skull until you could barely tell it had ever been gone. You were amazed they had even managed to rip it off in the first place.
You looked at the familiar face you knew, those black tear streams that were painted on beneath his black sockets, and those black lips, all familiar to you.
The face of your demons, the face you had grown to love.
You then shifted around again and winced painfully at the many wounds that still plagued your soft body.
"Stay still, I'll start cleaning up my mess," grunted Mari, smiling that same old tooth-filled grin.
You stopped moving around and held still and this time you didn't protest when he started licking your shoulder. It felt rather nice actually. You closed your eyes and sighed happily at the cool feeling of the rhythmic strokes as he lapped at your soft skin.
When it stopped after a few minutes you looked at it to see he was qestionly grinning at you.
"What?" you asked, giggling a little at his expression.
"The other nightmares never did that thing you did when it came to touching, is it like hugging? Do only humans do it?" he cocked his head and continued to grin at you, making you blush slightly as you tried to think of an answer.
"Uh, you mean kissing? It's um," you rubbed the back of your neck with your hand, ignoring the spike of pain in your shoulder as you did "...it's how people let other people know how much they care about them...it's like a loving caress, you know, like hugging, except for your lips," you finally reply, pointing at your mouth to further explain your point.
Nightmarionne nodded and went back to licking your shoulder like it was satisfied with your answer.
"What..." you began teasingly "Did you like it?"
Nightmarionne paused again, its tongue sticking slightly out of its mouth as it thought.
"I suppose, nobody's ever done something to me like that," it shrugged, lapping at your shoulder again.
You smiled and closed your eyes again, feeling tiredness etch at your eyelids as the rhythmic licking started again, lulling you.
"Will the others still come for us...?" you asked sleepily. Not that you wanted to be a buzzkill, but Fredbear was still out there...
"He'll retreat to lick his wounds...for now. The group is split up at the moment, with any luck it will stay that way until we get you back on your feet," replied Nightmarionne between laps.
"Mari...Fredbear told me something when I was stuck with them at the hollow..." you said suddenly, sitting up straighter and interrupting Mari's licking.
"Mm?" murmured Nightmarionne eyeing you in an annoyed way like he didn't like you interrupting him.
"He said...that you hadn't told me something, that this was a nightmare I wouldn't wake from...do you know what he meant by that?" you asked, staring into Mari's eyes.
Nightmarionne looked at you uncomfortably, like it didn't know what to say, which was a first.
"What...did he mean?" you asked again, feeling worried at his staring expression.
'Y/N, I've put off saying something to you because I knew that it would be hard for you to take, and I would prefer that you rest your weak body first,"
"No, it's ok, just tell me now. After everything I've been through, it can't be that bad," you assured him, smiling painfully. Dread was boiling up in your stomach and judging by Mari's grim, twitching smile this wasn't going to be an easy one.
He stared at you for a few more seconds, and then finally spoke.
"That night you ran from the facility Y/N...you died,''
The words rang in your ears, slowly at first, but building momentum until you were sweating with shock, WHAT!?
''I'm...dead," your voice was barely audible, every bone in your body had gone stiff, and your blood ran cold. No...this couldn't be the truth...
"They hunted you down and shot you while you were running," Nightmarionne replied simply. You knew he was trying not to sound harsh, but god damn, he was not comforting you at all by saying it like that.
"I...I thought after all of this was over...I would be ok...I thought this would end up with me waking up, I didn't know where I would wake up, but I thought I would...I just..." you were at a loss for words "Then...why does all of this feel so real? Heaven doesn't look like this does it? Or am I in hell or something..."
"You're in between life and death Y/N, real enough to seem like you're alive, not real enough to seem like you're dreaming," Mari replied, trying to console you by awkwardly stroking its striped claws up and down your arm, but you couldn't care less.
You were dead.
Your entire life was gone, the person you were, gone, everyone you knew, gone...
"I need to think about this..." you muttered, standing up shakily, and pushing away Nightmarionne's claws as he tried to stop you from taking feeble steps toward the forest.
"Y/N, stop, you need to stop..."
"Or what!" you cried turning to face him "I'm dead Mari! Not dreaming, dead! My entire life is gone! I don't even know who I am anymore or where I am...I...I just want to go home," you sniffled, looking down at your hands while clenching your fingernails into your skin until you could feel the sting of pain to try and convince yourself this was real, even though it wasn't.
"What's the difference, even if you had lived, they would have never stopped hunting you. You would have spent your life on the run, changing your identity, escaping those who want to kill you," muttered Nightmarionne "I know you weren't happy with your life, you had no real friends, and everyone felt like an enemy. You hadn't seen your own family in years Y/N! Everyone you let into your life only let you down,"
"You're missing the point! I'm dead and yet I'm stuck here,' you interrupted "No sunshine is here, do you have any idea how much I miss sunshine, Mari? And as much as I didn't interact with people much...I still miss them..."
"I didn't say you couldn't leave," growled Nightmarionne "You have corrected the past, you can leave whenever you want. Go live another life, find a human partner, have another family, and you could spend the next lifetime fighting those who wronged you! You can be free of the past,"
Silence.
You stared at Mari, salty tears streaming down your cheeks.
"Why didn't you tell me before? Why didn't you tell me earlier before I got captured? I could have left with the ghosts..."
"I tried...I just..." Nightmarionne narrowed his eyes and looked away bitterly, not finishing its sentence.
"You didn't want me to leave did you..." you said.
"My curiosity got the best of me, I was going to tell you but by then it was too late," snapped Nightmarionne.
You didn't know what to say.
"I don't know...what to think...could I really start again?" you whispered, hugging your arms around you.
"You always could," was the quiet reply.
You thought about that. You really did.
Not many people had the chance to start again, did they? What about your old life had been nice after all...being involved in propaganda, never telling anyone what you did for a living, no real friends...you could start again, have a better family, find a partner...
But that meant...
"I'd have to leave you wouldn't I?" you realized "That's why you didn't tell me?"
"You would forget about everything that happened in this life, including me and that is for the best," Nightmarionne replied sharply, turning on its sharp feet like it was going to leave you there like you had made up your mind.
Have you made up your mind?
"But, where would you go?!" you call, reaching out your hand, willing the nightmare not to abandon you this soon. "What about the others?"
"I would fade into the shadows again, go find another soul to internally haunt. I don't care about the others, I'm sure they'll not try to mess with me again," Nightmarionne hissed, not turning to look at you.
His tone was unreadable, but you couldn't help but think it sounded hurt, hurt that you had jumped to the possibility of leaving it so fast, but, what human wouldn't consider that? Here you were, stuck between a rock and a hard place. Choosing between starting anew or the devilish nightmare that had grown attached to you through this madness...that you had grown attached to.
You wrung your hands, Nightmarionne was still standing there...like it was waiting for a final answer, as it was obvious your sudden indecision was still hanging in the air, and to you, there were two choices, but only one you could choose.
"Mari...? If it was up to you...what would you want me to do?" you asked quietly, watching the nightmare turn to face you again, bright eyes dancing at you thoughtfully.
"Little bird, if it were up to me..." It smiled and bent down towards you "I would like to have dragged you into the deep pits of darkness if that was what it took for you to be mine forever, but of course that is your choice..."
He lifted your chin with one ivory claw and stared into your eyes, smiling the entire time.
"Maybe that is what I want..." you murmured, holding that claw to your skin.
You felt excitement lightly vibrate in its cold talons, and there was no denying the nightmare was delighted in the aspect of you accepting its desires for you to join it in the darkness forever. its
"As much as I would enjoy it, I must warn you that there would be little turning back...are you sure you wouldn't rather follow the path of light?" he whispered like the words were hard for it to utter.
"Well...as tempting as it is...I'm not a big fan of this forest..." you said slowly, tearing your gaze from Mari long enough to look at your dreadful surroundings.
"You were trapped here because of the ghosts, I'd say it be safe to say that we can go where we wish, to the deepest pits of hell or the starless skies above..." Nightmarionne smiled, tempetly teasing your mind with its words.
You murmured under your breath weighing the options, but it was hard to think with those bright lights staring into you, it would be so easy to just say yes...
"Ok, but under one condition," you said, holding up a finger before Nightmarionne could say anything.
"Promise me I'll at least be able to see the sunshine again? At least once," you pleaded, your warmth-starved body drooling at even the thought.
Nightmarionne huffed at your request and scooped you up carefully in its bony arms, spinning you both around slightly on its pointed feet, making you give out a little surprised squeal before coming to a stop to look at you.
"Fine, but I won't like it," he grudgingly agreed, grinning.
You laughed and wrapped your arms around its skinny neck.
"Thanks, it honestly means a lot, Mari,"
"Yes, your human need for sunshine," grumbled Nightmarionne but he held you close to his ribcage despite his playful annoyance, minding your still present wounds, but they didn't sting as bad now anyways...
"Why are you so cold, eh?" you joked, leaning up to playfully push your cheek against its cool face.
It immediately bent forward to rub his face against yours in response.
"You're so warm..." he murmured, a deep rumbling emitting from its throat.
Its skin felt so cold against yours yet your face warmed at its antics, and you blushed as you pressed your forehead against his, letting your eyes lock for a few minutes.
That's when you realized slow, oozing black streams were leaking from his black sockets, dripping of it's chin and onto your shirt.
"Mari? Why..." you began quietly, holding up a hand to wipe at the dark tears, did you do something wrong?
But he was still smiling, and not that same old grin that was always plastered on it's face, there was a genuine smile that was pulling at his lips and you felt confused.
That was until you felt the same tears etching at your cheeks, but you were smiling softly, and not crying at all. They dripped down your chin and left their salty taste on your lips, but that dreadful sorrow that had had a grip on your guts for so long wasn't gripping that tight at all at the moment.
"You would understand better than I would," he finally replied.
You shook your head, still gently smiling.
"I don't understand either...but as long as I'm with you it doesn't matter," you murmured.
For a few more minutes it was comfortable silence, eye-to-eye, face-to-face.
"Mari...I know it's not your thing, but would it be ok if I kissed you again...?" you whispered, letting your hand trail down the edge of his mask again.
Nightmarionne pushed its face into your hand slightly at your touch and considered your words.
"I think I could get better at it with time if you let me," he grinned teasingly, and you lost no time in leaning forward to let your lips pleasantly align with his.
You closed your eyes and enjoyed the spark of warmth that ignited on your cheeks as he seemingly relaxed into your caress. It even gently pushed his mouth against yours and lightly nibbled at your bottom lip, and you felt his long ivory claws twining around your body as he held you closely until it felt like you were two fitting pieces never meant to be pulled apart.
When you finally did open your eyes again and pulled away from him slightly to fill your lungs with air again, you saw those bright eyes looking into yours filled with adoration and protective affection.
You knew a part of you was probably bound to the dark forever because of your decision, and you knew a part of you knew this was wrong, that part of Fredbear had said was true. His love had taken over you like a parasite, winding around your little heart like his tentacles, never letting go until you had given in like the weak human you were, but you liked it, you loved it.
You wouldn't be leaving him anytime soon.