Chapter Text
“Shit, shit, shit!” You cry out, closing the doors to Sweet Street behind you with full force, carefully locking it, as to ensure the large blue monster on the other side won’t escape.
Huggy was hunting you relentlessly, desperate to get his revenge. You hadn’t meant to almost kill him, at least, not like the others—Mommy, the Doctor, and Catnap. You hadn’t meant just entered the factory, and you were simply caught off guard, merely pulling the box down to hopefully establish a protective barrier between the sharp toothed monster and yourself.
Unfortunately, as things often do, it took a turn for the worst. Huggy fell deep into that pit, seemingly gone for good…
That is, until he found you down here, in the labs. You were exhausted, nausea and horror eating at your mind. You didn’t necessarily want to kill Huggy, having just ended Doey (which you deeply regret now), but what other choice did you have?
So, you tried your best. You lock yourself inside Sweet Street, before turning away from the door and hoping whatever inhabits the purple mansion at the top of the hill isn’t worse than the giant blue monster that bangs ferociously against the reinforced door behind you.
You sigh, taking a single step forward. It’s not a lot, but it feels like you’ve just run a mile. The clothes on your back are ripped up and tarnished with dried blood and grime, your once smooth skin is filled with cuts, bumps, and bruises. Your ankles feel like they’re on fire from taking one too many jumps to the bone, and your throat is sore from all the dust you've been inhaling.
All in all, you’re in rough shape.
Maybe that’s why when you see a singular purple braid curling around the corner, you don’t fight.
You’re too tired. Instead, you just wait for your new foe to reveal themselves, even if your brain is mentally screaming at you to move, run—to do anything. But you won’t. Your feet stay firmly planted on the cold concrete under the bridge as your new enemy pops out from the darkness.
“Oh. My. Goodness!” A feminine voice exclaims, tone filled with awe.
The owner of the braid finally steps out into the light. It’s a doll with a large, braided bun that almost reminds you of Marie Antoinette with black eyes and tan skin. She’s wearing a matching purple shirt and a set of shoes with black leg warmers and overalls with star decals printed on.
You can’t say you recall seeing her before though, especially not as she bats those dark, swirly eyelashes. That certainly didn’t seem like a creation of Elliot Ludwig.
The doll wields a decapitated Candy Cat head in her right hand, holding it as if it’s the greatest treasure in the world—and to her, it probably is.
“I don’t think they’re here for the party, Lily.” The doll mouths. She almost acts like a puppeteer, holding Candy Cat up towards you as she contorts her mouth to make it look like she isn’t the one speaking, but Candy Cat is.
Was she insane? Probably, you’d assume, yes.
“Well of course they are, Candy.” She turns her gaze from the decapitated Candy head to yours. You gulp. She better not try to decapitate you. You’ve taken on enemies much stronger, and by now, you’d lost almost all of your morals.
“Why else would they be here?” The doll giggles, her hair beginning to come undone from her temporary bun, moving on its own as separate appendages.
“Oh, I was just-” You try to explain, nearly choking over your own words. “I was just passing through.” You swallow, the spit in your mouth giving a bitter taste as you bite your tongue. Are you bleeding?
Lily gasps, walking closer. “Perfect! You can come to my tea party!”
Her braids begin to wrap around you, encasing you in near darkness. The only thing visible is Lily’s joyful features, her eyes wide as she bats her delicate eyelashes at you.
“We are going to have…so…much…fun!” Her eyes start to turn red. It’s not a bright red, in fact it’s much closer to the eyes of your peers when they attended midnight parties and consumed too much coke for one night. Oh, the fond memories of college.
Lily claps her hands together, her braids fully casing you in, nearly smothering you to death in the process.
Then, everything goes black.
You can feel Lily carrying you somewhere, but you can’t see. Her hair is surprisingly strong, and it’s very unwilling to grant you any chance of escape. You give up struggling, choosing to wait for your (no doubt) horrific fate instead.
Then, something surprising happens.
After what feels like ages, Lily’s braids finally unwrap, dropping you hard to the floor. Your Grabpack slightly cracks, new scratches appearing on the interchangeable hands.
“They smell like dead bodies!” Lily, or rather, her version of the decapitated Candy Cat says.
“Well that’s not a nice thing to say, Candy!” Lily scolds, side eyeing the head as the rest of her braids move freely. “Whags a nicer way to tell a friend that they smell like gore?” She smiles, her gaze turning back to you, bubbly persona never faltering. It almost made you question if she was naturally like this.
“I really smell that bad?” You ask, bringing your shirt to your nose as you raise your eyebrows.
Jesus, you reek. Lily was right, it was largely from the blood and gore that coated you. Yet, you also smelled of swear, a consequence of constantly being chased by murderous toys who wanted nothing more than to put you in a permanent grave.
“Pee-ew!” Candy’s head says.
“Candy!” Lily warns.
“Maybe we could ask if they want to take a bubble bath?” Candy suggests.
The doll’s black, colorless eyes light up. She claps her hands together happily. “That’s a great idea, Candy!” She says, turning to you. “I’ll go upstairs and get the water running. You can take a nice, warm bubble bath while I set up for the party!”
“Party…?” You ask, cupping your cheek.
“The tea party of course, silly!” Lily exclaims. “And, we even have a special guest!” The doll squeals with excitement, practically bouncing off the walls with all her energy.
“Who’s the guest?” You ask nervously.
It could be anyone at this point, friend or foe. Well, except for anyone who had already died, of course. Wish as much as you want, but you wouldn’t be able to bring any of them back, even though it saddened you—especially Doey. You’d grown quite close to that glob of clay, and you’d appreciated his refuge more than anything else in this factory.
It was a shame he turned on you so quickly.
Lily gasps, reeling you out of your complicated thoughts. She covers her mouth, as if manually keeping the words from spilling off her tongue. Then, she shakes her head and places her hands on her hips. “Now, now. No spoilers!”
“Now be a good toy and go take your bubble bath.” Lily smiles. “Oh, and don’t forget to say hi to our friend Dolly Grub!” She muses.
With that, the doll and her many braids head across the hall, opening another door and disappearing. You sigh, looking up the stairs towards the bathroom.
You couldn’t lie, you were very confused by Lily’s kind yet intimidating behavior—but you wouldn’t take this softness for granted.
Now, it seemed like it was time for a bath.
“Ah! Look at you, all nice and clean, sparkly Sammy!” She giggles, the ends of her braids curled upwards as the doll multitasks.
In one of her purple appendages is a steaming hot kettle filled with green tea. Two others hold a large, plastic salad bowl and a fork to stir it simultaneously. Meanwhile, Lily is diligently chopping cucumbers, tossing them into the salad bowl one by one. She was extremely dedicated, wasn’t she?
Suddenly, she sets down the knife and lifts her gaze up to you, still wet and damp from the bath. “Since I’m such a busy Bentley, can you be a good toy and bring me the crumpets from the oven in the basement?”
“Sure…Lily.” You nod, still unsure of her.
“Great!” She smiles. “Off you go!” She says, shooing you with her hands.
You sigh, heading back into the main hall with the large dinner table. There were eight seats in total, one already filled by Dolly Grub, the small caterpillar whom you’d seen on Lily’s To-Do list.
So far, there were chairs for the two other friends you needed to collect—after the crumpets—one for Lily, one for the special guest, one for you, and two extra empty seats. All in all, this might not be such a disaster after all. It was giving you a much deserved break with a diligent hostess.
You couldn’t really complain.
As you open the door to the basement, you’re instantly shocked by the contrast. It was dull and gray with cold concrete on the floors, walls and ceiling. It almost reminded you of the prison, honestly—only this place was much cleaner.
From deep within the basement, you could hear a faint humming echoing off the walls. That wasn’t a good sign. Though, you suppose everyone has a dark side. Lily was nice enough to you, so maybe you wouldn’t end up like whoever was currently trapped in this dull basement…?
You sigh, reaching the bottom step with a hard echo. The humming suddenly stops. “Who’s there?” A familiar voice echoes out. Wait, was that…Poppy?!
“Poppy?” You call out, stepping farther into the basement. “It’s me!”
You let out a sharp squeal as Kissy’s long, pink arm shoves you closer to the door. It’s a cell. So Lily was holding prisoners in the basement after all.
“It’s you.” Poppy says, voice broken and eyes dim. Her perfect, silky blue dress is mostly gone, revealing the intricate petticoat beneath. Her hair remains in two curly pigtails, but it’s much dirtier and oily now, a consequence of not being able to keep up with the complicated maintenance the ringlets required.
“You’re alive…”
“That I am.” You emit a breathy, humorless laugh. It wasn't funny, though. Nothing about your situation was.
“I know saying I’m sorry won’t mean much to you at this point, but…” She pauses, eyes wide and full of sorrow. “I am sorry. For running away, for not letting you leave at the Game Station. For everything.” The doll confesses.
“Poppy,” You grab the bar cells, resting your face against the cold metal. “It’s okay, everything’s okay. I forgive you.” You attempt to reassure the little, porcelain doll, but she’s inconsolable.
“We tried to cross Sweet Street,” She explains. “I didn’t know she was still here after all this time.” Poppy sighs.
“If…you can help us get out, maybe find a lever or a key. Anything.” The doll motions with her hands. She was quite expressive in that way, you’d noticed over the past week you’d known her. Still, down here, that felt like forever. Decades, centuries even.
“I will. Don’t worry, Poppy.”
The doll lets out a small, controlled sigh of relief as you turn away, heading towards another small room just to the right in pursuit of the crumpets. Inside are three small chambers. You didn’t like guessing games, and you knew you wouldn’t like this.
You swallow deeply as you open the first compartment. Nothing. You open the second, a small mini Dogday falling out onto the concrete. Dead. God, you missed that canine more than you could express. You wish you could’ve saved him—not just stood there, eyes wide as you watched the miniature Smiling Critters crawl into his body, eating him from the inside out as they possessed him.
What a horrible way to die.
Sighing, you open the last compartment, the one to the very right. You let out a deep breath of sheer relief when all you find is a plastic pink plate with a white rim, atop it sitting six or seven buttered crumpets.
And damn, they smelled good too…
Still, they belonged to Lily, you remind yourself as you run up the basement steps and push open the white exit door. You nearly jump out of your skin when you see Lily waiting for you, concealed by the shadows. Did everyone in this factory have to scare you to near death? You ponder that, silently.
“You weren’t talking to anyone, were you…?” Lily asks, tone dark and malevolent.
“No, why?” You ask, handing her the plate of warm and buttered crumpets.
“Oh, nothing!” The doll avoids the answer, simply gasping in awe and clapping her hands when you hand her the plastic plate. “Oh, that’s amazing! Good job!” She smiles widely, her grin uncanny.
“Next, we’ll have to find the friends.” She instructs, taking the plate as you follow her into the kitchen. The ends of her braids curl upright, almost like the tail of a scorpion. You’re unsure if you should take that as yet another warning sign. “They should be around here somewhere, and I know they’d hate to miss this!” She claps her hands together, eyes narrowing.
She lets out a shrill laugh.
“Oh, he’s just gonna love these!” The doll takes an abrupt turn, heading back to the dining room and placing the crumpets on the table. “I’ll set the mood with a little music just in case our special guest arrives early!”
And yay! Now you have more duties to fulfill…
First, you trekked up the stairs into the music room. Baby Long Legs, a small yellow spider, was stuck in the hole of a blue seal tuba…saxophone? You couldn’t really tell. You attempted to use your pressure hand to create enough force to shoot Baby out, but accidentally launching him into the back of a piano, collapsing the leg and locking the small yellow spider inside.
You sigh, but carry on nonetheless. On a random pink shelf next to a pile of discarded books, Lily had foolishly left the piano code on an otherwise blank piece of scratch paper. She didn’t put much thought into things, did she?
It doesn’t take long for you to decipher and quickly enter the code. Yellow star, purple diamond, blue flower, and finally, pink heart. The piano slides open again, allowing you to reach inside and scoop up the small yellow spider. He isn’t like his mother, Mommy Long Legs, though. She was very alive, while Baby is completely unresponsive. His yellow eyes stare at nothing, almost as if he’d never even been alive at all.
You don’t think much of it, slotting him into his designated chair as Lily files back into the room with a devilish smile on her plastic face, giggling and cackling in delight.
“Oh, Baby! So nice of you to join us for tea!”
“And I’m so sorry for your loss.” She says, faking sincerity. From the way Lily acted, she seemed like a complete recluse, someone who’d gone insane from years without interaction…and yet, she knew of Mommy’s death?
Who else knew of your sins?
You brush it off, heading downstairs to find ‘Dusky’. You do a few small puzzles and acquire a beaten up battery from one of the cabinets. In hindsight, it might’ve just been easier to have broken the car window with your pressure hand, but oh well!
You quickly grab Dusky, a ragdoll with curly red hair and two matching button eyes. Like Baby Long Legs, she’s motionless. The doll doesn’t even attempt to put up a fight, her limbs hanging numbly.
Thankfully, once you set Dusky in her chair, you’re finally done, having retrieved Dolly when you’d taken a bath earlier. Now, you could go assist your allies-
“Oh, look who it is!” Lily gasps, emerging from the kitchen door. “Dusky, were you messing around in the garage?” Lily jests, half accusingly. Didn’t she know these toys wouldn’t (or couldn’t) respond to her? They weren’t even alive.
“Oh! And Dolly’s here too! Mmmm, vanilla!” The doll says, pretending to sniff the air despite not having a nose. “Oh, this is the best day of my life!” She exclaims. “All of the friends, in one place!”
“Yup…” You mutter in response, quietly.
“Ah, I almost forgot. I need to get ready!” Lily’s eyes widen.
“Quickly, follow me to the kitchen. We need to make final preparations before our special guest arrives.” Lily smiles, taking you by the hand and forcefully leading you down the long, winding hallway towards the kitchen.
Lily makes a sound of disgust as she enters the kitchen, seeing all the dirty bowls she had used in making all of her desserts and pastries. She leans against the smooth, pink countertops, looking at you dead in the eyes with those soulless black pupils. “Look at this mess. We need to tidy up!” She exclaims, pushing a dirty plate to the side.
“Do you want me to-”
“Return my recipe book to the nook upstairs while I get everything ready.” She cackles, completely interrupting you. “Chop, chop!”
“Oh okay.” You murmur, taking the purple recipe book as you carefully turn the corner into the main dining room and foyer before exasperatedly trekking back up the stairs.
You hated going back and forth.
Unfortunately, Lily never told you specifically what shelf to put it on, so you’re forced to guess, slotting it into a random baby blue shelf as you start to explore. You open an adjacent white door, leading you out onto what looked like an ‘employee’s only’ area due to the lack of color and thin railings. Playtime never truly valued the safety of its employees, you’d been told—but how would you know? You never even worked here. Your mother had.
For a moment, you hear nothing but the echoes of distant machinery, until you stumble upon another two way door. You shoot your blue Grabpack hand and pull it open, revealing what looked to be an enlarged heart-shaped Polly Pocket bed with a skeleton inside. Gross.
On the crumpled sheets lies an abandoned heart key, one that you quickly pocket for future use.
You don’t stay in the room for long, disgusted by the pungent odor emitting from the corpse. Instead, you hide in Lily’s closet before sneaking into a vent shaft, hiding in the compressed metal tunnels until you fall onto one of Lily’s balconies, your ankles screaming in protest as you land rather painfully.
Nonetheless, you continue on, sneaking into the basement and rushing right into Kissy’s arm.
“Did you find a way to free us yet?” Poppy asks, resting on Kissy’s shoulder as the pink giant slumps against the wall, utterly exhausted. You couldn’t blame her.
You shake your head shamefully. “Not exactly,” You sigh. “But I did find this.” You hold up the yellow heart key. Poppy’s eyes widen in joyful shock.
“That’s it! That’s the key to free us! Just-”
“Who…left this door open, Candy?” Lily asks from the top of the stairs. Your eyes widen in horror, an uncomfortable chill raking down your spine. You doubt Lily would be able to see you from this angle, but if she took a few more steps down the stairs, you would be a goner.
Poppy’s breath hitches. “Hide!”
You don’t hesitate, ducking past a pile of debris and sprinting past an abandoned Lily Lovebraids’ cutout as you dash into a nearby vent littered with small Smiling Critter corpses and heaps of dust. You resist the urge to cough, doing so would mean instant death. Rather, you pull your shirt above your nose, blocking out as much dust as you can, shivering as Lily comes nearer.
“Maybe it was Dolly Grub!” ‘Candy’ suggests as Lily rounds the corner and walks up to Poppy and Kissy’s shared cell.
“What is all the fuss down here?!” The purple haired doll demands, banging against the cell. “I could have sworn I heard you chitter chattering.” Lily accuses.
“I think they’re plotting an escape!” The decapitated ‘Candy’ head responds as Lily begins to turn away.
“Oh of course they aren’t!” Lily reassures Candy, gently stroking his round head with one of her smaller, purple braids. “They can’t leave before the party!”
When her footsteps finally stop echoing through the basement and you’re sure she’s completely gone, you don’t hesitate. You lunge forward, a spare pocket knife cutting through the bow of purple braids before you insert the yellow heart key, breaking the pink heart lock in two and freeing Kissy and Poppy.
The pair smiles at you brilliantly. “You did it!” Poppy exclaims, clapping her tiny porcelain hands together as Kissy pushes herself to her feet. “I knew you could.” The doll says. “Now let’s get out of here before she comes back.”
“Good idea.” You smile, half jokingly.
The three of you run up the basement stairs, carefully on the lookout for any sign of Lily. To your surprise, she’s nowhere to be seen. You can't tell if that’s a good or bad sign. Do you really care though? No. It’ll be an easy escape if she’s not around, you decide.
“The attic will be our easiest escape route.” You announce, leading Poppy and Kissy’s as your feet stomp against the reinforced purple plastic, using the magnetic hands to pull yourself upwards.
Kissy follows suit, placing her yellow hands on the hatch and pulling herself upwards with Poppy clinging on for dear life. The doll's eyes relax once you’re on stable ground again. She lets out a small ‘phew!’ and wipes the nonexistent sweat from her porcelain white forehead. She sure was dramatic.
From somewhere in the house, you can hear Lily’s screams of frustration. “No! No! No! You can't leave! The party hasn’t even started yet!”
Just like a child throwing a tantrum over their favorite toys.
As you near a white, flower shaped window, you’re suddenly reeled back at the waist. You look down, eyes widening in terror. A purple braid. You look back at your captor, who’s got the injured Kissy and tiny Poppy wrapped up in her appendages as well.
You were so close to escape.
“And just where do you all think you’re going?” Lily asks, floating you upside down in the air as she sassily places her hands on her hips.
You can feel the blood rushing to your head as you suddenly gain large black spots in your vision. You squint in retaliation and Lily narrows her eyes at you. “You wouldn’t want to miss the tea party!” She exclaims, her braids wrapping tighter around your body, completely restricting your movement.
“No!” Poppy lets out a muffled cry before being muffled by Lily’s hair.
Meanwhile, your vision fades in and out as you’re carried downstairs to the dining table, chest tied tightly to the chair and your wrists tied together behind your back.
You squirm, but it’s of no use. She’s got you right where she wants you.
All of you.
As you regain full consciousness, the first thing you see is Lily sipping on a purple teacup, which from what you can tell, is real glass. That must be her most prized possession, you think bitterly.
Her eyes flicker towards you, as if she’s shocked you aren’t dead–but you aren't. Maybe a little roughed up, but you were very much alive. “Oop! Our special guest is going to be thrilled!” She squeals, clenching her fists gently in the air. Her wide smile unnerves you, especially on such a plastic-y face. Although, that can’t be her fault. Nobody got to choose what toy they became—as far as you are aware, at least.
“He’s going to kill them all!” ‘Candy’ says, resting idly in Lily’s hair, only one large braid supporting his head.
Lily gasps, soulless eyes widening. “No, Candy! Not Poppy. She’s always been his favorite.” She says bitterly, slamming her hand against the table roughly, making one of the porcelain teacups shake dangerously.
Poppy and Kissy look at you, concerned glances on their faces. You can't do anything but look back at them, not even being able to provide the reassurance of ‘It’ll be okay’, because for once, you’re not even sure it will be.
“I think she’s a little asking Annie.” ‘Candy’ retorts.
Lily snickers. “She IS a little asking Annie!”
“Oooh! Please take me out of my case. Oooh! Please rescue the orphans.” Lily mocks, clasping her hands together as her braids float mid air. “Oooh! Please blow up the whole factory and burn EVERYONE ALIVE!” She bellows, bringing Poppy closer with one of her spare braids while simultaneously slamming the table harder this time.
Poppy just glares back, ocean blue eyes full of disdain.
Then the room shakes. Everyone’s caught off guard, including Lily. Unfortunately, that doesn’t last for long. Her eyes widen manically.
“Our special guest…is here!” She cackles.
Two mechanical hands come between the walls of Lily’s house, remaining stationary for a moment before splitting it apart with ease. A torrent of red smoke is released into the manor as a tall, six legged mechanical abomination wearing a jester’s hat and coat breaks into the party as Lily squeals in delight.
He was here.
The Prototype.