Chapter Text
Charlie instantly tackled Jen to the ground. A fight broke out, and as Clay wrestled with the others, Charlie and Jen went rolling straight into a wall.
“You ruined everything!” Jen shouted, spitting in her face. She looked horrific, her hair ratted and sticking to her face. Her bloodshot eyes bore holes into Charlie’s soul as she pulled out a knife. “I’m gonna kill you like I should’ve all those years ago!”
Charlie kicked into Jen’s gut as hard as she could, and as the CEO tumbled off of her she almost escaped. Then a burst of pain ruptured through her body as Jen plunged her knife through her back. Charlie screamed, tears rolling down her face, and Jen swung again when-
Bam! Vanessa tackled Jen, wrestling the knife from her hands. One stab, two stabs, three stabs, and Vanessa gave her one last kick to keep her down. Charlie thought Jen almost looked dead.
“Vanessa! Are you okay?!”
“You’re not the one who should be asking that right now!” Vanessa hauled Charlie back to her feet and ripped off some of her own shirt. “I’m sorry, but this is gonna hurt!”
She was right. Vanessa shoved the piece of cloth into the wound to clot the blood. Charlie nearly pushed her away, she was in so much pain.
On the other side of the room Clay slugged Carlton in the face, and Jessica pulled out her pistol and shot Clay in the back, although it looked like she was aiming for the heart. The chief turned around as he grabbed his son by the neck and threw him straight at her.
Charlie swatted at the chief with her crowbar, but Clay dodged, punching her so hard her shoulder dislocated. As she stumbled to the floor Clay slapped Vanessa twice across the face and shoved her down to the ground. He kicked them in the chest for good measure and dumped the girls next to Carlton and Jessica, beaming like a maniac.
“Now, who should I kill first?” Clay asked playfully. “My fruitcake of a son? The disgraceful sister of a better man? Wannabe hacker over here? Or maybe Little Miss Mechanic?”
“Shut your mouth, you son of a bitch!” Charlie spat; in the corner of her eye, something caught her attention. Jen’s body was moving.
Clay glared at Charlie. “You first then!”
Suddenly, Carlton leapt at him. The father and son slammed into another table, it breaking under their combined weight. Clay started to wind up his fist when Vanessa threw Jessica back her gun and she shot Clay through his shoulder.
As blood gushed from his wound, Clay was too distracted to notice Carlton thrusting his metal arm straight toward his chest. Skin ripped, and his arm burst out through the other side. In its silver hand held not just blood and muscle, but a heart as well. Carlton screamed with tears in his eyes, “Eat your heart out, you sick motherfucker!”
Carlton tore his arm from his father’s body and shoved the chief to the side. The man twitched and shuddered for a moment, choking on his own blood, and then went limp. Clay was dead.
The others stared at the scene with shock, and even Carlton began to look mortified, but they didn’t have much time to think on it when something above him and Clay’s body cracked. A part of the ceiling fell, and Jessica started to push Carlton out of the way.
Carlton got away just in time, but Jessica wasn’t as lucky. The chunk of concrete, wood, and insolation caught her foot, snapping bone as she screamed. Another chunk fell, scrapping hard against her face, and-
Jessica’s face was torn to shreds.
As she sobbed, blood spraying across the floor, the others ran over. “Don’t open your eyes,” Carlton ordered, directing the other two to lift up the rubble. “Whatever you do, don’t open your eyes! We’re gonna get you out of here!”
Jessica didn’t hear him, passing out as he tried to stop the bleeding. That’s when Charlie saw the gap in Jessica’s face where her eye was supposed to be.
“Carlton, it’s too heavy!” Vanessa yelled. “We can’t get it off of her!”
Panic set in, Charlie could see it on Carlton’s face. “Vanessa, you’re less injured than Charlie is,” he said. “Keep helping me lift this up. Maybe the robot arm will help. Charlie, go brute-force the front doors, maybe that’ll open them!”
Charlie nodded, but then she realized Jen’s body was missing. Before she knew what was happening, Jen, now fully-healed, slashed at her.
Charlie smashed her crowbar into the CEO’s shoulder. It snapped, and as Jen tumbled back Charlie was too hopped up on her own adrenaline to realize Jen had slashed right through her side, where Bonnie had originally cut her. And to think that was only a few hours ago…
Jen ran at Charlie when suddenly, William teleported over and grabbed the CEO from behind. “Will, don’t you dare-!” Jen didn’t get to finish as the bear lifted her by her throat and threw her as hard as he could into the tile floor. Charlie ran toward the front doors while she still could and burst them open with a chair, watching as the fire spread to the rest of the withering mall.
She started to run back for her friends when she saw Jen take her knife and stab it straight through the living costume’s rubbery face. The CEO dug her hands into William’s head and ripped off the rest of his face with ease, throwing the pieces into the spreading flames.
William swung at her, but Jen bested him again as she pushed him with all her might. Something cracked above him, and Charlie screamed, “Dad, watch out!”
He didn’t have time. Another chunk of the ceiling fell, and William disappeared under the debris.
Jen began to walk toward the others, and Charlie dodged debris as she sprinted as fast as she could. Her old boss nearly made it when Charlie punched her so hard her knuckles shattered.
Stumbling back, Jen had the gall to laugh. “You’ve always been feisty,” she said, spitting blood. “But no matter how many times you try to kill me, I’ll always come back.”
“What if I boil you alive until you’re nothing but bones?” Charlie grimaced, losing more blood than she wanted to. “How about that?”
“I guess I’ll find out when the time comes… But you won’t get to see it!”
Jen rushed toward Charlie and tackled her into the wall, punching her hard in the stomach. Charlie felt vomit spew up her throat and she took advantage, puking straight into Jen’s face.
As the CEO gagged Charlie wiped the gunk from her face and gave Jen a crowbar to the ribs. Jen fell to the floor, and Charlie swung again when her legs were kicked out from under her. Charlie barely rolled out of the way as Jen thrust her knife toward her throat. The blade jammed between some tiles, and Charlie struggled to get back up, feeling lightheaded; the blood loss was getting to her.
Jen’s wounds gushed more than before, but she barely seemed to notice as she stomped onto Charlie’s knee as hard as she could. It snapped, and as Charlie recoiled from the pain, Jen took back her knife and yelled, “You’ve ruined my life, do you know that?! You ruined my company! You’re the scum of the earth!”
“So I’m just like you then, right Mom?”
Jen hesitated, but she didn’t pause for long. “I’m going to finish,” Jen screamed, “what I fucking started!”
The blade plunged down into Charlie’s throat, and everything went black.
—
Charlie opened her eyes to see she was back in the void with William. “No,” she breathed. “No, don’t let me die! I can’t die! I have to save-”
“Normally you would die,” William interrupted as he grabbed her hand, “but you’ve never been one for normality, have you?”
“...There’s a way back?”
“Only this once. Jen experimented on you when you were young, and she gave you more remnant than someone would normally have. She was arrogant enough to think there would be no effects.”
“Just tell me what I have to do already! I can’t let them die,” Charlie begged.
“I used the last bit of my energy to activate that piece. It’s healing you at the risk of it dissolving itself into nonexistence.”
“And you’re alright with doing that to a piece of someone’s soul?”
“I’ll let you in on a secret,” William smirked. “That extra piece is Jen’s.”
“Oh. Damn.”
“You do understand that this is a one-time deal, right? If you die again after this, there’s no going back.” Charlie nodded, and so did he. “I love you, Charlie.”
“You called me Charlie.” She smiled and said, “I love you too, Dad. I’m so sorry I-”
“It’s alright. I’ll see you on the other side.”
Everything got brighter, and-
—
Jen started toward Vanessa when suddenly, the lights began to flicker. They all stopped, and from the corner of Vanessa’s eye she saw Charlie’s body move.
Charlie stood up, her clothes soaked in gallons of her own blood. She opened her eyes to reveal pitch black voids, her pupils a single pinpoint of white light. Her wounds patched themselves up as she picked up her crowbar, and her ghostly gaze met Jen’s. Charlie smiled, blood staining her teeth.
—
Alive once more, Charlie leapt at Jen. The two of them rolled around in the carnage of Freddy’s, and Charlie grabbed at Jen’s neck and squeezed. As Jen struggled, Charlie lifted her up into the air and slammed her head into the wall about a dozen times.
Jen kicked Charlie hard in the stomach, but as Charlie dropped her she swung her crowbar down into Jen’s chest. A thunderous crack rang out as Jen’s ribcage caved in on itself, and Charlie went for another swing.
The hit landed straight in Jen’s face as she tried to get up, and as teeth spilled out onto the floor, Charlie aimed another blow.
Jen grabbed Charlie’s arm and snapped it in half. As Charlie winced her former boss shoved her out into the middle of the dining area. A piece of debris fell and crushed one of her legs, and as she writhed and screamed, Jen limped her way toward her, picking up Charlie’s crowbar.
“Time… to… die…” Jen wheezed, barely holding onto her own life. “Charlotte… fucking… Afton!”
She raised the crowbar.
A blinding flurry of sparking electricity suddenly fired straight into Jen’s back, and as the CEO spazzed and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Jen finally dropped to the ground, dead. There stood Vanessa, taser in hand and blood streaked across her beautiful face.
Charlie immediately passed out.
—
When Clay awoke again, he found himself surrounded by the black of the void. Stepping from the inky mist was a vague figure he could barely make out as he struggled back to his feet. The figure’s face was that of a skull, and as it stared down at him from a distance, Clay came to a realization he hadn’t wanted to for many, many more years.
Death gave him one good look, and then turned on Clay and walked back into the abyss. “Hey!” he yelled. “Come back! I demand that you come back!”
“That’s not how that works, chief. You know that.”
The familiar voice behind him sent shivers down Clay’s spine, and he turned around to see Neil Dunn standing there, a smug vengeance strung across his face. “You don’t understand, you child!” Clay snapped at him. “You were nothing! I am everything! I cannot be dead, this is a mistake!”
“Jen left you,” Neil smiled, “and I promise you now that my sister and your son will do whatever it takes to make sure your reputation is buried six feet under, forgotten.”
“What will be forgotten is you. Victims always are.”
Neil had the gall to laugh at him and said, “Again, those troublesome teens won’t let that happen. Now, as for your fate, I’d rather not be involved. I have better things to do. But those kids… Good luck, chief. Not that you have any now.”
Clay screamed and punched him, but the impact hit nothing as Neil disappeared. He was about to yell some more when someone else asked, “Ready to play a game, Mr. Burke?”
He looked over his shoulder to see the four children he killed, all staring delightedly at him. “Maybe we should cut off his hands first,” Marla smiled.
“What about jabbing his eyes out with our bare hands?” Jason asked.
“No, you aren’t thinking hard enough,” Lamar said. “And he certainly won’t be when we smash his head in on concrete!”
“All of you, settle.” John calmed the conversation and said, “I’m sure we’ll have time to do all three and more! After all, we have eternity to await.”
Clay began to back away, but the children suddenly grabbed him. With inhuman strength, the four of them pulled him down, and as he struggled, he realized that his power was gone. He was about as strong as a kid now. He began to scream for help, but he knew it was too late as he was dragged down into the depths of Hell.
—
Charlie gasped for breath as she woke up to sterile walls and her body covered in tubes. She was alive! Her skin was patchy and lined with stitching, and everything smelt of rot. It reminded her of when she had gone on a field trip to a cadaver lab; she had thrown up just at the sight.
Her stomach did gymnastics inside of her as she saw how dark it was outside, the rain pouring down like cats and dogs. Little did she know, this was the longest storm Hurricane had had in years.
She tried to adjust her leg, the one which had been pinned down, but then realized she couldn’t even feel it. Dread building in her body, she looked under her sheets, and shock rattled her body.
Her leg had been amputated.
—
Carlton was the first of the surviving victims to leave the hospital, and he knew where he wanted to go first. So now he stood, for the first time since his father’s party, before his home. Well, his old home; it was complicated.
Knocking on the door, he was greeted by Betty, her expression emotionless. She smelt of body odor and wine, grieving for someone who didn’t deserve such. “Hey,” he said. “I’m, uh, here to get my stuff. They scheduled that today.”
“Come on in.” He did, and Betty didn’t even bother shutting the front door as she dragged herself into the kitchen. “I’ll be in here if you need anything.”
Carlton didn’t answer as he locked the door behind him, looking around. The place was a mess, most of it still the same after the disastrous party. He couldn’t help but pity her the smallest bit as he made his way upstairs, carrying a large stack of cardboard boxes. As he said, he was just grabbing what he wanted to take before he left for his new foster home; after all, he wasn’t eighteen yet. He couldn’t live on his own. Someone had actually volunteered to foster, surprisingly enough.
It took a while for him to clear everything from his old room, hurrying in and out of the house as he carried full boxes of clothes and collectibles and whatnot. Betty didn’t leave the kitchen a single time, and he could hear her occasionally, crying over another bottle of wine, empty replicas of the same brand littered around haphazardly.
Finally, his room was empty. Carlton took one last look at the pastel-green walls and the barren shelves, the empty closet and the bed with the permanently wrinkled sheets. He gave the wall one last pat, not sure what else to do, and smiled. “Thanks for everything.”
Then, he walked out.
The sun shone on his face as he walked outside, and he felt the slightest of hope in the easy warmth of a coming autumn. Bad things had happened, yes, but when did that ever stop anyone?
“Carlton!” He looked over and saw his foster dad, Henry, waving at him. “Got everything?” The redhead gave him a thumbs-up, and Henry walked over and asked, “Do you wanna say goodbye one last time?”
“To Betty?” Henry nodded, and Carlton looked back one last time, her hollow frame watching him through the window.
“No. I think I’m good,” Carlton said, and he loaded his last box into the car. The two of them hopped into Henry’s van and drove away; Carlton had never felt more free.
—
As Charlie and Carlton watched television together in her hospital room, she asked him, “How’s Henry anyways?”
“He’s great,” he smiled. “He even signed me up for those cooking classes I’ve always wanted to take.”
“That’s nice.”
Carlton must have noticed the distant, maybe even jealous, look in her eyes because he said, “If you ever need a place to stay, you’re always welcome with us. I’m sure Jessica or Vanessa would say the same. Also, we haven’t told anyone about your Afton-Emily lineage. It’s chill.”
“Yeah,” she said faintly, “Thanks. I just… How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Your arm. How long does it take to adapt to just… To just losing something like that?”
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it’ll take a while to get used to. Even regular, non-Fazbear prosthetics like yours are heavy, and you’ll have to learn a whole lot over again. But we’ll be here for you, and you’re gonna be alright. I mean, you’re Charlie freaking Schmidt, after all!”
Charlie managed a laugh, and so did Carlton. “Now that I think about it,” she said, “how are Vanessa and Jessica doing after all?”
“Well, why don’t we tell you?” Charlie looked over at the doorway and felt her heart skip a beat. Jessica, a patch over one eye and holding a cane, and Vanessa, bandaged and stitched and clinging to a portable IV drip, stood there, smiling at her.
She smiled back.
—
Months passed, the summer turning to autumn; Hurricane turned slightly cooler, although there were no true trees around to lose their leaves. One by one, they all left the hospital, and Carlton used his newly-inherited money from Clay’s death to pay for the treatments. His mother would have gotten the money if she hadn’t been put on temporary house arrest for her involvement with Clay and Jen’s crimes. The court was still deciding on a more permanent punishment for her (which would probably take a while).
“Your employment and Fazbear account will be terminated at the end of October 2029,” Charlie’s old watch beeped when she turned it on one morning, now living in Jessica’s brother’s old bedroom.
The warning didn’t faze Charlie very much, despite the fact that today was indeed the 31st of October. In fact, she took the watch outside into the dry backyard with her crowbar and destroyed it herself.
“What are you doing?” Charlie looked over her shoulder and saw Jessica, standing on the rickety back porch half-asleep as she drained a cup of coffee.
“Destroying something that should’ve been earlier,” she answered, throwing the debris into the garbage. “I’d ask you the same thing.”
“Your commotion woke me up.”
“Sorry.” Charlie walked over to the porch and hesitated at the stairs, her leg suddenly feeling heavy again. Walking had become normal once again for her, but even running was still awkward, let alone stairs.
Jessica helped her up as she clung to the wooden railings, and Charlie couldn’t help but notice her friend’s own difficulties. Her eye had been removed, and despite its new robotic replacement, she was still getting used to the strange depth perception. As the two girls walked back inside, readying themselves to face the day and eating hastily-made breakfast, Charlie asked, “Are you going to that Halloween party tonight?”
“I’m going as a pirate.”
“I’m not sure what other answer I should’ve expected.” Charlie grinned eagerly. “I’m glad you’re going. Vanessa and I have to tell you and Carlton something.”
—
That night, Jessica drove Charlie to the Halloween party at the town square, a much livelier place than before. Now that Clay’s overbearing presence was gone and the police force, thanks to the four survivors of Freddy’s insistence, was being reformed, people began to be less afraid of the streets and the cops which patrolled them. There were still problems of course, but that’s why solutions existed after all.
As they pulled up into the nearest parking lot, Charlie saw where Cyclone Mall had stood tall, now just a hollow corpse. Rumor was that a new mall would be built there, and it would only accept vendors from Hurricane and the nearby towns. Of course, that was only a rumor, but they have to develop from somewhere.
Just as Charlie and Vanessa planned, the four of them all met up at the apple-bobbing stand; Carlton, in fact, was participating the moment they found each other, dressed up as an off-brand Spiderman. He looked ridiculous, and he owned it. Vanessa, meanwhile, looked beautiful in her pastel green witch costume, especially compared to Charlie’s rushed werewolf mask and red flannel shirt she had dug out of her closet.
Carlton’s head whipped out from the apple-infesting waters, and he said as his wet bangs stuck to her face, “Hey! You guys really came!”
“Why wouldn’t we?” Charlie asked, confused.
“I don’t know. I just figured I needed to say something.”
As the four of them toured around the square, passing by kids playing carnival-style games and adults taking long sips of likely-alcoholic apple cider, Charlie could feel the change. From summer to autumn, dreary to hopeful, it was startling how quickly it could all diverge. She wasn’t used to it all going so quickly, and yet she didn’t mind it as much as she may have earlier.
Maybe it was because without Jen, Fazbear Entertainment was struggling. The Pizzaplex project seemed to be going under last she saw. She felt bad for the animatronics, but that was about it.
Or, maybe it was because the other three were around. The possibility rang around in Charlie’s head as she laughed with the others, watching Carlton chug a hot chocolate as fast as he humanly could, Jessica consistently lose at ring toss, and Vanessa get her world rocked as she listened to live music for the first time.
Finally, as the four of them were nibbling on mini pumpkin donuts at the town fountain, Charlie looked at Vanessa and asked, “Now?”
Vanessa gave her a thumbs-up. “Now.”
“Okay.” The two of them stood up, and Charlie said, “Okay, can both of you promise not to freak out when we tell you this?”
Jessica and Carlton nodded, and Vanessa said, “Charlie and I are dating.”
Silence.
Carlton suddenly burst, “That’s awesome!”
“Yeah!” Jessica grinned. “How long have you two been going out?”
“We had our first date a few days after I got out of the hospital,” Charlie said sheepishly. “We just wanted to wait to tell you guys until we knew this was all official. Testing the waters, y’know?” Charlie looked over at Vanessa, asking, “I said that all right, right?”
“You were perfect,” Vanessa said, holding her hand. “Anyways, we don’t want this to change our group friendship. We don’t want things being weird.”
“Why would this change anything? We’re just happy for you!” Jessica said, Carlton agreeing silently.
“Cool,” Charlie grinned, and then she raised her mini donut. “A toast to the Hurricane Four, who brought Jen Emily and Clay Burke to justice!”
They all toasted, and for once in her life, Charlie felt like she was home.
TO BE CONTINUED…