Work Text:
A high, vibrating scream shattered the silence of the night, and, deep in Freddy’s core, he knew this shift would not be an easy one.
He hurried in the direction of the noise: the Daycare. From the elevated space that gazed over the play area, he could see Gregory, Sun, and Vanessa, along with a scattering of colorful plastic balls that must have been dumped over someone’s head. That someone had to have been Vanessa, as she was currently the one on the ground, thrashing and flailing like she was trying to fight off some unseen assault of demons. Gregory and Sun both stood above her; Gregory looked amused at the outburst, while Sun was brightly curious. Freddy was too far away to see the tears, but he could hear the sobs already.
Oh, Vanessa...
Things had been rather rough for a while. For reasons unknown to all of them, Vanessa had become quite restless, always on edge, like she was constantly walking barefoot on eggshells. There was always a hollow sort of glaze that haunted her eyes and her complexion became paler and paler as the days went by. She didn’t talk about what was bothering her, she seemed to prefer pretending nothing was wrong, but doing so bottled everything up, and it appeared that all of that baggage was finally bursting out.
Freddy started forward again, hoping it wouldn’t be too hard to calm her down.
He was just passing through the entrance doors of the play area when he heard Gregory’s voice: “WOW! We got you GOOD! You should have seen your FACE!”
He was completely oblivious to Vanessa’s genuine distress—or maybe he did notice and simply didn’t care about how she felt. Regardless, he seemed fascinated by Vanessa’s continued hysterics.
Vanessa didn’t seem to hear the boy. She was still swiping at the empty air, eyes shut tight and face screwed up, flinching away from her nonexistent assailants.
“Come ON! It wasn’t THAT SCARY! Get up!”
The sight was heartbreaking—but as Freddy hurried towards them, he saw something that made his heart stop.
He broke into a sprint.
“GREGORY! Gregory, stay away, she’s not playing!”
The boy blinked over his shoulder at him in surprise, apparently noticing his presence for the very first time. But he had already lowered his arm to touch, to tug on Vanessa’s night guard uniform, and he carried through with it nonetheless. Even though Vanessa was already whirling to face him.
A flash of sharp silver glinted in the too-bright Daycare lights.
Freddy watched it as though in slow motion, feeling like he had just sprouted human guts inside of his suit, only to have them drop out of him with the weight of a cinder block. He instantly prepared for the worst, guilt already pummeling its way into his database to take over all of his code, but, by some stroke of luck, the blood he was expecting to see never tasted open air.
He didn’t know how the attack missed—Vanessa’s aim bore sniper-like precision; she had been going straight for Gregory’s thin throat, seeking the jugular. But, somehow, it missed, slicing off a few strands of hair instead of tender flesh.
Gregory stumbled backward, a look of shock in his wide, bulging eyes. His jeering smirk was now gone, replaced by an expression of genuine terror after his neck was nearly cut out. He had nothing snarky to say, not one comment. He was stunned into silence.
On the other side, Sun looked equally as shocked, but he recovered much quicker. He reached out and grabbed Vanessa’s shoulder—big mistake.
A horrible scream erupted from Vanessa’s throat. The arm wielding the knife flailed wildly; Gregory squealed and careened out of the way, while Sun jerked back. It was that awful sound that got Freddy’s brain circuited back into control, and he burst into motion, lunging forward to scoop Gregory out of danger’s way.
“F-Freddy, what’s wrong with her?” Gregory stammered, his face stark white.
“I do not know,” Freddy said as he was retreating away. Once they were both through the large doors of the play area, he set Gregory down. “Stay here.”
“What?! You can’t go back in with her!” Gregory argued. “She’s INSANE!”
Freddy frowned. “Be that as it may. I cannot leave her to potentially harm herself. Just stay here.”
“But— but— Freddy!”
But Freddy had already turned and strode back into the play area.
Vanessa was still in the same spot she had been in when Freddy swooped in, except now she had one arm wrapped around herself tightly. With the other, she slashed at the air blindly, turning in place, choking out thick sobs. Sun seemed to have retreated elsewhere.
Not even a wink of color remained from the rain of plastic balls that had startled Vanessa—she was fighting something else.
The blade flashed in her fingers.
Freddy stopped a few feet away. He knew better than to get too close, especially when she was like this.
“Vanessa!” he called out to her. “Vanessa. It is alright. I promise, it is alright. There is nothing there.”
A humming whine rose in her throat like an out-of-tune violin and she lurched, flinging the knife-bearing arm out so wildly that it became a blur, making his shoulders lurch slightly. He regained himself quickly—he had to. For her.
“Vanessa, listen to me,” he tried again. “Listen to the sound of my voice. Try to focus on it. Everything will be alright.”
She shook her head furiously, not even looking at him. Even as her body was turning in his direction, she whipped her head away. Sharply left, to the right, even down. Anywhere but at him. Like she was too ashamed to look.
“No. No, no, no,” she mumbled, breathlessly. Her lungs were working in sharp, huffing gasps, making her shoulders twitch and convulse. She was hyperventilating. “No, no, it's NOT OKAY! It's not!!”
“Vanessa, put the knife down. Please.”
Her knuckles tightened on the handle in response. She finally looked up at him, and he could see her face was wet with tears, and her teeth were gritted hard enough to bring out the tendons in her neck like ropes. Her eyes held a sort of desperation that seemed impossible for any human being, more animalistic and primal than anything caused by normal circumstances.
The poor girl was terrified.
“I can’t,” she whispered hoarsely.
“Yes, you can,” Freddy said. He took a small step forward, his hands in the air, reaching ever so slightly. “I know you can. You are very strong, Superstar.”
Vanessa’s face twitched slightly. Freddy knew she wanted to release the knife, she wanted this to stop, but she was so scared that she couldn’t give in. It was like some kind of force was holding her back.
“I— I—” Vanessa stammered. She shook her head wildly, like flies were buzzing around her ears, sending her ponytail waving around in a streak of gold. “Be quiet! I can’t THINK!”
“I— I didn’t say anything,” Freddy said nervously.
Something had truly fractured in Vanessa’s mind.
Vanessa released herself from her self-embrace to press her free hand to her temple. Her face twisted, tears coming down faster and faster.
“It— it feels like this isn’t my body anymore,” Vanessa rasped. “Like I don’t own my own skin. I can feel someone else breathing beneath my flesh. Laughing. Telling me what to do.” Her eyes became glassy and, for the first time, the knife pulled away from Freddy.
…But only so it could point towards Vanessa’s throat.
“Vanessa,” Freddy said, taking an urgent step forward. “Don’t do anything rash.”
“I’ve tried to get Him out,” Vanessa went on, ignoring Freddy completely. “I cut myself, He mends the injury. I peel my skin off, He places it where it should be. I tear my guts out, He puts everything right back.” She sobbed, her expression agonizing, her voice even worse. “Do you know what an apple peeler feels like on flesh? It’s horrible! But that’s what He’s driven me to! And He still won’t leave!”
She then raised the knife and—
“Vanessa!!”
—and she slashed out her throat.
A scream came from Freddy as he rushed forward, throwing caution to the wind.
The blood hit the ground before Vanessa did.
Freddy caught Vanessa before she could collapse. The wound across her neck was like an impossibly wide smile, a deep, dark red, so dark it almost looked black. The edges were cleanly cut and spread open like a ziplock bag. Blood was gushing out like a fountain, too much blood, too much blood—
Vanessa gagged and spit up red that dribbled down her chin and into the swamp of gore now drenching the front of her shirt.
“It’s going to be okay,” Freddy said, closing his fingers around the wound. He was worried about accidentally hurting Vanessa with his huge hand, but he quickly realized that nothing he could do would ever equate to what Vanessa had already done to her own body.
Freddy wondered if it would be better to just let Vanessa die. As much as he didn’t want her to fade away, the poor thing was suffering.
A thought then hit Freddy like a freight train.
Did Vanessa even want to live?
One glance into her wide, teary eyes was enough of an answer.
No. She didn’t.
So, Freddy decided that he would live for her. He would live for her and, hopefully, one day she would learn to want to live on her own. He knew he had no right to force her to stay alive, but that was the choice he made.
He wasn’t losing her.
“You’re going to be okay,” Freddy said again, more sure of himself this time. He looked deep into Vanessa’s glassy, hollow eyes as he applied more pressure to her neck. “I won’t let you die.”
“I won’t,” Vanessa coughed out, her voice nothing more than a croak. “I can’t. Look.”
Confused, Freddy looked down.
Beneath his fingers, the blood flow had slowed down.
And when he removed his hand entirely, he saw that the wound was no longer gaping. It was still an angry red, but the inside was clotted, the skin slowly mending itself.
“How— how is this—” Freddy stammered in disbelief.
Vanessa looked up at him miserably, pushing herself into a sitting position. “Don’t you see? I can’t die. He won’t let me.”
“I don’t understand,” Freddy said.
“I don’t expect you to,” Vanessa said, her words laden with anguish. “This is why I don’t believe you when you say everything will be okay. Because how can things be okay when my body doesn’t even belong to me anymore?”
And, for once, Freddy didn’t know how to answer her.
Because he realized that she was right.
How would she be okay?