Work Text:
The faint light emitted by the screen of a monitor illuminated the underground bunker meant to serve as office. In a chair in front of the desk holding said monitor was sitting what once was the man called Michael Afton, son of one of the founders of the franchise of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and secretly a murderer responsible for the deaths of six children and perhaps more, it was impossible for Michael to know for sure. And yes, I said "what once was" because not even he was sure of what he was now. Was he even still human? The purple-ish rotten skin that hanged from his bones and body, combined with the hole in his chest and his lack of most organs begged to differ on that notion.
Still, whatever crime against the natural order that he was now, it took a backseat in his mind when it came to his worries, as he now had something even more important to put his focus on.
For decades he had been searching his so called "father", in order to get revenge on the man most responsible for the state he was currently in. He had acquired jobs as security guard in distinct location of the Freddy's franchise, somehow having the feeling that he would eventually find him in one of them, yet, as the years dragged on and turned into entire decades, he began to lose hope. That is, until the fright attraction was opened.
At first, he didn't held too much hope for said attraction after decades of unsuccessful attempts, less so with him actually despising the sole idea of the attraction, with it being almost a mockery by the people that wanted to make a quick buck out of his family's and Fazbear's tragic past, but still, he head to try, but big would be his surprise as it seems that fortune really favors those that persevere.
In that rotten, one could even say rundown, building, he had finally found him. His father, the man that had given conception to him and the source of all the wrongs and bad things that happened in his life and the lives of so many others. His father didn't look like he expected, he expected... He didn't really knew what he expected him to look after so much time, but certainly not like a 6'5.1/2 rabbit animatronic. Well, he always liked quite a bit that bunny suit of his, perhaps a little too much for a sane person. In hindsight, that should of have been an early indicative of his father's true nature.
In that building, haunted with the ghosts of so tragic a past, they had a brief reunion, staring at one another through a glass window in front of his office in that facility. No words were spoken, not by Mike that didn't really have anything to say to the monster in front of him that hadn't been said in the phone call he left for him all those decades ago, and not by his father, who didn't even seem to recognize his son. It actually seemed as though he... wasn't quite himself, as if whatever he had gone through had been too much for his mind to bear and had finally broken entirely. Regardless, there were no words that needed to be said in that moment, for Mike knew what needed to be done.
In short order, and almost in complete disregard of his own safety, he set that attraction on fire, with his father inside. He escaped through the door besides his office, finally a location Freddy's related that had a convenient design, though the fact that he set it on fire so easily would say otherwise. Nevertheless, he escaped and watched the building burn down until he heard the sirens of the firetruck approaching. He was so sure he had finally ended, that the disappointment and disgust when he came to know that his father had survived the fire hit him harder that they probably would have otherwise. His father was a lot of things and slippery was clearly one of them.
It didn't matter, he would find another opportunity, and he just had to wait. And he didn't wait for long, since shortly after the burning of the Fright attraction he noticed an advertisement in the newspaper (yes, he still read the newspaper.) that announced that an offering was up for any exceptionally business sabby individual to open and manage their own Freddy Fazbear's Pizza location. Apparently, the building was already made, they just needed to decorate it and buy the animatronics to populate the local.
This was just off in every sense, why the hell would someone open a new pizzeria? With all the bad reputation that the franchise had and with the recent failure of the fright attraction, it stood to reason that it would be economical suicide to even attempt such an idea. That and the fact that few people that had the brand rights to restart the franchise were left lead Mike to formulate a theory (A GAAAAME THEORY!), a theory that this was absolutely not what it seemed. As such, he had to join in, if only to confirm his suspicions.
And his suspicions were indeed proven right as the days passed and, when he salvaged the animatronics in the back alley of the building, he recognized the voice in the recording machine. None other than the best friend of his father, co-founder of the franchise, Henry Emily. That confirmed Mike's theory, this was not just another try at opening a local for the franchise, this was a trap meant to end this once and for all and he was more than happy to help it succeed.
He made sure to keep the business afloat as he salvaged the animatronics that appeared in the back alley, two of which for his delight were his sister Elizabeth, now turned in a species of scrapped version of her favorite animatronic that ended up killing her, Circus Baby. And, more importantly, his father, now in a new, more strange looking animatronic rabbit suit. For some reason, it reminded him of the protagonist of an animated series from the early 2000's, Jimmy... something.
Other salvaged included an amalgamation of wires of sorts with a white and dark orange Freddy head, which reminded him of something that he rather forget. And a more traditional looking Freddy, though this one was black with a red hat, cheeks and a start in the stomach. Curiously, when he salvaged it, he noticed that it had some sort of black and white stripped looking spaghetti arm protruding from its right arm. That seemed... oddly familiar.
Nevertheless, he salvaged all the animatronics that appeared and survived their nightly attacks until the fifth night, curious, these type of things always seemed to happen on the fifth night. He had done his tasks like he normally did, until the lights flicked out and he heard a voice that he immediately recognized as his sister's. She spoke about how he had been a fool for opening this place, how this wasn't really a pizzeria but a gift for them and how she would make their father proud. Poor Elizabeth, always seeking to make "daddy" proud, not realizing the aberration she had become. Did she even knew that it was her own brother that she had helped kill?
Then, as he suspected, his sister's speech was interrupted and a new voice began speaking, Henry's voice. He gave a speech about how this wasn't a gift, but a trap meant to end it all. It was a good speech, Mike had to admit. This is the point by which we started, in which Michael was sitting on the chair of his desk, listening to Henry's speech. Henry said that there was an exit planned for Mike, though he didn't really wanted to leave, if this was to end here, he was happy to finally die and go to whatever comes next with hopefully his sister, his mom and his..... Younger brother. It seemed as though Henry knew that he wouldn't leave, based on what Henry himself said and that the door by which he would theoretically exit was shut tight.
Henry seemed to be finishing his speech, which confused Mike ever so slightly, he thought Henry would have started the fire by now. The monitor in front of him were showing images of all animatronics in the building, the thing made out of wires, his sister, the black bear that apparently was Henry's daughter Charlie... poor kid. And last but least of all, the bastard of his fa- No, wait, his father wasn't showed, there was a distinct lack of a green bunny shown in the cameras.
In that moment, with a loud beeping sound, Henry's voice was cut off from the speakers. There was a confused silence for a few seconds, until the speakers audibly activated once more and a new, different voice, spoke through them:
"Connection terminated. I am sorry to interrupt you, Henry, if you even remember my name or recognize my voice, but I am afraid that you have been misinformed."
The voice that spoke was very raspy and had a robotic tone of sorts. Michael was extremely confused, who was that? It sounded familiar somehow... Then, it clicked, he had heard that voice before, that was none other than his father! What the hell was that bastard doing speaking through the speakers!? He should be burning for his sins in these very moments!
His father continued:
"You are not here to free our souls, nor have you got here the individuals you assume. Although you have indeed called someone, we have all been called here, into a labyrinth of sounds and smells, misdirection and misfortune. A labyrinth with no exit, a maze with no prize, you don't even realize that we've escaped."
Mike felt as if he had been slapped when hearing those words, his heart sinking inside his chest. Then, his blood, if he even had any still, began boiling with pure righteous rage. That pompous, miserable excuse of a person had managed to escape somehow and was now gloating of it!?
The speech continued:
"Your endless lust for freedom has driven you into equally endless circles, chasing the cries of souls in some unseen chamber, always seeming so near yet somehow out of reach, but you will never free them, Henry, none of them. This is where your story ends."
He gritted his teeth, the bastard not only had the nerve to gloat about the situation, he also had the gall to degrinate Henry's words and efforts, also dismissing his' in the process? This was just proof of why he was ashamed of ever calling this person his father.
Continuing:
"Enter you, my asinine ungrateful son, who somehow found this job listing, not intended for you. Although there was a way out planned for you, I have the feeling that you know that's not what I want, that you are exactly where I want you to be and that I would never let you leave after what happened in that attraction, hence the locked door behind you. Like I said, this is where your stories end and where a new chapter of the great saga that is my life begins."
He froze, he, he couldn't have heard that right, he couldn't have. He then smelled something, it was... gas? No, smoke, it was smoke. His head snapped to the side and he saw smoke entering through the vents at either side of the office.
No, no no no no, this couldn't be happening! He jumped out of the chair, it spinning a bit before falling to the floor in its side, as he began banging the door and trying to open it in desperation despite the fact that it was made of steel and not budging in the slightest.
All the while, the abomination that was his father continued speaking:
"I am remaining as well, I am nearby, watching your final moments from a safe location with clear view to the action. This place will not be remembered, but the memories that started this will continue to grow stronger, just like me, as the agony of every tragedy should. Enter you monsters present in those corridors, be vigorous and thrive in your primal urges and power that I provided, they belong to you."
"As for most of you, I believe there is eternal life and perhaps more waiting for you after the smoke clears. Although for one of you, I hope that you can rest easy, knowing that all of your efforts and your life's work has gone to waste just to prove that my intelligence and resilience remain unmatched in this entire world. You should have seen this coming, after all... I always come back. So, rest in peace, old friend, we will never meet again."
As that last part was being said, the screen of the monitor lightened up once more, drawing Mike's attention, he turned around and his eyes widened at what he saw. In the scene, a heart wrenching scene was being displayed.
It showed another office, not too unlike the one where Mike was in, though there was a grim difference. Leaning against a wall, there was visible a man, a man of age that he, despite the difference in age from when he last saw him, clearly recognized as Henry. He seemed unmoving, even though he didn't have any visible burn or injury, indicating that he had suffocated with the smoke of the fire. There was something else in the room with him, a slim and somehow floating animatronic that Mike remembered from a different location, the Puppet. So it was what was contained inside the black bear, no wonder it had seemed familiar to him when he first saw it. Though that meant... Charlie.
The puppet approached the body of its father, seemingly talking to it judging for the movements of its head, when he didn't answer, it moved closer and began nudging him in the shoulder. When he once again didn't answer, the animatronic seemed to grow desperate, grabbing Henry's body and shaking it with fervor but to no avail. It then seemed to collapse, wrapping its arms around Henry's body, laying its head on his shoulder. Mike could tell that it was crying, he could almost hear it in his mind, all he could do was watch and mutter some sorry again and again as the smoke and flames obscured the vision of the camera that was projecting the image to the screen.
If he had felt like being slapped before, this felt like his heart being stabbed and the blade being twisted while still in. He felt to his knees, wrapping his arms around his legs as he felt tears swell up in his eyes, threatening to descend like an unsttopable torrent.
All the while, the monster continued speaking:
"My daughter, if you can hear me, I knew you would return as well, it's in your nature to help those that deserve it, such as your beloved father. I am sorry that on that day, the day that you were left alone to die by my own creation, no one was there to protect you, the way you protected others yourself. But then, what became of you, I should have known that you wouldn't be content to just disapear, not my daughter. I couldn't help you then, so let me help you now, it's time to go, for you and for those you have guided to me. Daddy... Is proud of you. We won, all of us, end communication."
A new beeping sound and the transmission ended, though Mike wasn't really listening by the end. It had been too much, too much for him to bear, so he broke down crying, just as his younger brother had done when he tormented him in his teenager days. Oh, so many things he wished he could correct, so many things he wanted to change, but that wasn't going to happen, what happened has already happened, there is no changing that and now he wouldn't even have the chance to redeem himself for all of it.
As the flames approached him and blistered his skin, melting down pieces of purple skin off of him, he let out a scream. A loud blood curdling scream that carried a myriad of emotions: Pain, rage, sadness, despair, desperation, frustration and so much more packed in a single guttural sound.
That was the last sound he ever made, however, the last thing he ever saw before the flames engulfed him entirely was the vision of a small boy with dark brown hair, a black shirt with two grey stripes, light blue shorts and gray shoes that was carrying a golden bear plush in one of his hands. With tears evaporating from his eyes, his mouth curled up in a melancholic yet joyful smile as the young boy told him the last words that he heard while in this world.
"I'm sorry, big brother, I'm sorry..."
He watched silently as the smoke and the blazing and mesmerizing golden flames rose from the building meant to be the death of him, turned into the doom of those that sought to end him instead.
Henry had always been brilliant, in some areas, he would grant him as much, but once he had recovered his memories and more importantly his intellect after the fire of that attraction, there was no chance that he would ever fall for some paltry trick as the one that Henry just tried to pull out.
From the moment he read about the location in a discarded newspaper he knew something was up, something rather fishy. Once he arrived and recognized his son, Michael, as the guard and manager of the place, he knew that it was a trap, the layout and obvious fire dispensers were only further confirmation.
Though something that did surprised him was his son's appearance, he hadn't expected Michael to be... purple. And, not like he in the sense that he used to wear purple clothes when he was alive, no, Michael had somehow taken it to the next level by making even his skin purple. Guess that the obsesion runs in the family.
Now that he remembered, he had actually met Michael before, he just wasn't in the right state of mind at the moment and wasn't capable of recognizing it, just seeing one more victim to conduct future experimentation in. Oh well, that didn't matter anymore, that was in the past, now came the future and for him it was looking as bright as the fire in front of him.
Speaking of fire, he saw a figure emerge from one of the doors of the burning building. He didn't even needed to fully discern the silhouette of whoever it was to know the identity of this survivor, his daughter...
"Elizabeth!"
He called out, just loud enough for her to hear him over the noise made by the burning building, parts of which were already collapsing, good. She quickly turned to look at him after taking a various steps away from the blazes. She stood there, seemingly contemplating his appearance before rapidly skating her way to him and wrapping his metal body into a hug, wrapping her hand in one side and the claw that she for some reason possessed in the other.
"Daddy!"
He had expected such a reaction, hence why he was prepared and hadn't fallen backwards when she crashed against him. He wrapped his remaining arm around her and patted her in the back of her animatronic body. From the moment he saw her inside that trap, he recognized the animatronic as Circus Baby, albeit a more rudimentary and broken down version of it. Still, the implementations of the animatronic and that new claw that she had could prove to be useful. Oh, Elizabeth, his sweet daughter, always so bothersome when a little girl, now she had the potential to prove being of so much worth to him, he only had to feign giving her the love that he hadn't given her when they were alive.
The hug lasted for a few more moments before it broke and both turned back to look at the burning building, the ashes from the vanishing past already beginning to fall around them.
"So... what now, daddy?"
She asked, clearly curious about the prospect of what the future might entail. He chuckled dryly, if he could still move his lips he would be grinning. Oh, he had so many plans for the future, now that they were free to do whatever they wanted, relieved from anyone with the knowledge of their existence.
He turned around and began walking away from the crumbling location, as his daughter hastily turned and followed besides him.
"Now? Now we return home, I need to figure a way for us to be human once more."
There was only so much that they could do in the human world while being animatronics, some of the illusion disks that he had in his old workshop would do for now. Afterwards, he would research for a way to be humans once more while retaining their immortality, he knew that if such a thing existed, he would find it eventually, he had all the time in the world after all. One thing was completely certain though:
William Afton is coming back.
...
And, that would be it, a finely done work I would say.
Greetings dear reader, it is nice to see you.
I know that this might come as a surprise to you, since the only other story I have published in my account is about Deltarune (Which, speaking of it, don't worry, I am close to finishing the next chapter.)
You see, I am actually a member of the fandoms of both Five Night's at Freddy's and Undertale/Deltarune. Alongside a myriad of others but if I listed them all we would be here all day.
Moving on, I hope you liked this short story, it is actually based on a video that I saw on YouTube about an alternative universe in which William fooled everyone in Pizzeria Simulator, the speech in this story is almost the same of said video with only a few tweaks where I saw necessary. I saw the video with the altered speech just today and had inspiration suddenly strike me to write this story, which I finished in a few hours, so... yeah, I hope you liked it, I'll leave the link to the video which inspired me down below this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1CbwaMKWXs
And... that's it. That is all that I have to talk about, hope that you have a nice day and a good life.
See you next time!