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The Pizzaplex is on fire.
Freddy set the fire. A small lighter in his finger meant for birthday candles. That's all it took.
They'd set fire to some of the old tablecloths down underground. In the abandoned Freddys. It caught quickly. Some dumb part of Gregory cant help but notice how the place almost seemed designed to be flammable.
Gregory thinks its fitting; fire for hell. Its certainly a title he believes the Pizzaplex deserves. Fire for hell. Fire for the devil who lives deep underground.
Only pain and misery has come from this place. He can't think of another word he would use for it.
A boy who just came inside for some food who almost lost his life. An animatronic bear who lost his friends and home.
A woman who almost lost herself.
Gregory understands now. He completed the third Princess Quest game. It was almost like everything clicked into place.
The emails. The messages. All accessible on his Faz-Watch. Apparently, included with the many upgrades he picked up, an archive for his watch was installed.
It was after they'd found Vannys hideout that he searched Vanessa's name in the archive. Every email sent out to @nessie97 just added one more piece to the puzzle needed for the full picture.
And it wasn't a pretty one.
Then they'd found the monster in the basement.
"We must go." Freddy says suddenly. The fire has spread enough that they just heard something collapse somewhere in the building. They don't have much time left. "The Pizzaplex will be fully engulfed soon."
Gregory nods at him, and they return to Vannys hideout, where the third Princess Quest was located.
Where Vanessa is.
Whatever had controlled her didn't want her to be free so badly it sent her after them. She was in costume, knife and everything. Freddy had to hold her off while he completed the game.
And when he did, she had dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.
He hadn't known a person could look so dead.
"Vanessa!" He yells. She doesn't stir, just like the other times he'd tried to wake her. Before they had to leave her behind, crumpled on the floor to go kill the thing that controlled her. He drops to his knees next to her and shakes her. "Hey, Vanessa!"
Still nothing. He moves to her other side, where her face is, and he sees that shes not unconscious at all. Not like she was before. When she'd fallen to the floor like a ragdoll and Gregory thought she'd dropped dead.
Her eyes are wide open, but unseeing. Tears slip out of her eyes and leave tracks on her cheeks.
It's only after he enters her field of view do her eyes dart to him.
"Vanessa!" He says after her eyes are on him. "Come on, you gotta get up. We have to leave."
He tries to grab her, to bring her back to earth, to get her to move, to haul her to her feet, anything, but she flinches back so violently before he can even lay his hand on her that hes left wondering if he accidentally struck her.
"No." She whispers. Shes trembling badly. "You have to-- g-get away from me."
You have to get away from me. Because I'm not safe.
They all hear the implication behind that sentence.
He can feel the temperature going up. The fire must be getting closer.
He grabs her arm. "Vanessa, we have to go now--"
"No." She just hangs limp in his grip; he didn't think a person could be so still. "You-- I-- can't"
Shes making no sense. Even if he did haul her to her feet, she couldn't carry herself.
He sighs. "Freddy?"
He doesn't need to say any further. Freddy walks up and begins to grab her.
"No..." She mutters. She tries to curl away from Freddy. "Just leave me."
"What?" Gregory startles.
"I--" Tears are still rolling down her face. Her chin crinkles. "It might be enough."
"Enough for what?"
"For what I've done." Is all she says.
Gregory thinks he understands.
It's written all over the newspapers he uses to cover up at night.
He just sighs. He tries to ignore how it shakes.
"We have to go now." He says. Theres sweat beading on his forehead and he can hear Freddys fans working overtime. They've wasted enough time.
Freddy takes her out of his hands and gently lays her across his shoulder. She mumbles complaints, but Gregory doesn't think shes in any condition to argue.
He may just be a kid, but he knows someone shutting down because of trauma and grief when he sees one.
It's a straight shot to the entrance. Nothing gets in their way. Theres not anything to get in their way.
Everything is gone. Not even the other Glamrocks are in sight.
Gregory can see Freddy looking for them from the corner of his eye. He thinks he's being subtle, but he's not. He knows Freddy wants to find his friends. He knows Freddy wants to find them and for them to be back to normal. He knows Freddy wants them to escape with him.
Gregory doesn't know how to tell Freddy that they left them underground with the monster. Gregory doesn't know how to tell him that they burned with him.
So he doesn't. Even when Freddy stops searching and keeps running. Even when his eyes flash with some kind of grief when theres no sign of them.
He doesn't tell him. He knows Freddy isn't dumb. He probably knows already.
He doesn't say anything when Vanessa looks like shes finally waking up. He's watching her in the corner of his eye. Shes lifting her head up ever so slightly. Her eyes are still unfocused, like shes not really seeing the world around her, but they're darting around, like shes trying to.
It's not a lot, but its progress. It's better than the paper doll she had turned into when her strings were cut.
Something rumbles far behind them and the floor shakes. Dust falls from the ceiling.
The place is coming down.
"We have to hurry!" He yells to Freddy over the heart seizing cracks the building is making.
"Gregory!" Freddy yells and holds a paw out. "Grab my hand!"
He does, and Freddy slings him like he weighs nothing across his chest and onto his shoulder where he holds on for dear life.
Cracks spiderweb through the tile as more dust rains from the ceiling.
Gregory's heart jumps up into his throat as Freddy slides down the escalators like hes on a playground and hits the ground running.
But the exit is right there, right in front of them, and he doesnt realize how much smoke was in the building until they break through the doors and fresh air hits him in the face.
Freddy stops running after they're far enough from the danger. Vanessa looks up from Freddys shoulder, eyes staring at the Pizzaplex as smoke pierces the air like a sword and her tears start to dry.
Gregory slides off of Freddy and watches. He watches as the smoke travels higher into the sky. He watches as the fire slowly consumes the building. He watches as one wing falls in on itself.
At some point, Vanessa joins him.
Shes still in the suit. The suit that's covered in soot and blood, with rips and tears littering it. The suit that caused her so much grief.
She just watches with him.
"Good riddance." He offers. She looks over to him, face tear stained and covered in soot, and she rips off the half destroyed bow tied around her neck and balls it up in her hand.
Her jaw clenches as she stares at it all. "Yeah." She agrees, and her eyes are shiny as something else in the building rumbles. "Good riddance."
She risks another glance at him, dark circles under her eyes that are getting a little more aware every moment that passes, and her gaze falls somewhere below his eyes.
She frowns with her teeth after locking her eyes on something.
"I'm sorry." She says thickly. "I--" Shes stuttering and begins to tremble. "I'm so, s-so sorry."
Something on his face begins to burn and flare up again and he realizes.
He almost forgot about that.
"Its okay." He tells her. He tries to ignore the urge to wipe at the cut on his cheek; he's sure getting soot and mold in open wounds is something you should try to avoid.
"Its not." She says so quietly he has to strain his ears to hear her. "Its really, really, not. I--" She chokes back another wave of tears. "I almost killed you..."
She whispers that last part. Like she doesn't want it to be true. Like if she says it quietly enough, it'll make the gash on his face fade away with her voice.
Her eyes are unfocusing again, like shes falling back into her memories.
He's afraid she'll get trapped there, so he offers his hand.
"We killed him." He says to her, before she retreats too far, before shes unreachable. She flinches, and stares at him like he just pulled a really unfunny prank.
"We found him in a crusty old rabbit suit and we burned him." He gestures to the fire as an explanation of some kind, and can't help the chuckle that escapes him. "Well, he's still burning, right now. Along with everything else."
He's laughing because of how good it feels. Hes laughing because everything tried to get him, to kill him, and he still came out on top.
They all did.
"He's gone now." He tells her. tries to catch her eye so it'll really sink in for her, but it seems theres no need.
"...He's gone?" She says hesitantly, like if she acknowledges it too soon, it wont be true.
"Yes." Gregory says. And when Vanessa looks at the fire with something new in her eyes, he adds, "And you're still here."
She just turns to look at him. She stares at him, as if seeing him for the first time.
"And you are too." She says quietly.
Gregory sighs, and stretches his aching limbs.
"The good guys win and the bad guys lose." He says. "Take that, Pizzaplex!"
Something passes over Vanessa's face when he says that, but she recovers quickly.
While they were talking, the fire pretty much completely engulfed the place. Even from his spot in the parking lot, far away from the building, he can feel the heat lick his face.
For some reason, he becomes heavily aware of the bag slung around his shoulder. Like an itch that won't go away.
He finally realizes why.
He gets up from the ground, his legs sore and weak from hours of running, and he holds a bloody, dirty palm out to Vanessa to take.
"Come on." He tells her. "Theres one last thing to do."
She takes his hand uncertainly, but even after they're both standing and closer to the fire, she doesn't let go.
That's fine. He reaches into his bag with his other hand and pulls something out.
He had acquired quite a collection of items in his bag. Items that could (and did) help him out while inside the Plex. But one item feels more important than the others.
He hands Vanessa Vannys head.
She recoils as soon as it's in sight like it burned her, but he just guides her hand that's clasped between his to the mask, and after she doesn't pull away again, he hands it to her fully.
"I was thinking." He starts, staring at the flames licking the sky. He turns to Vanessa. "Theres one last thing that hasn't burned yet."
He only knows she heard him because as soon as hes done talking, she locks her eyes on the Pizzaplex.
They walk close to the fire together, mask held in both of their hands. Gregory tries to pull away; he thinks Vanessa should have this to herself, but she just squeezes his hand as soon as he tries.
She doesn't say anything. She doesn't have to. Gregory understands.
He nods to her. And only after that do they toss the mask into the fire together, hands on each side.
He can see Vanessa smile for the first time he's ever seen while she watches the fabric curl and fray inside the fire.
Only after all that's left of the head is ash does he help her out of the rest of the costume, leaving her in her security uniform.
She throws that one in herself.
It's something small--something barely noticible. But Gregory can see it. He can see the spark in Vanessa's eyes. He can see the hope burn inside her, even if it's just a tiny flame.
But that's all it takes.
As flames lick the sky and sirens pierce the air, he knows it's enough.