R is for Resolve

"I wish it were that simple."

"ɪᴛ ᴄᴀɴ ʙᴇ ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏ. ɪs ɪᴛ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ sᴏ ᴅɪғғɪᴄᴜʟᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ?"

"A year ago you would have tried to kill me"

"ᴀ ʏᴇᴀʀ ᴀɢᴏ ɪ ᴅɪᴅ ɴᴏᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ᴡᴇʀᴇ ɢᴏɪɴɢ."

That fucking voice... no matter how many times I remind myself who I'm dealing with, I still can't get over just how unnatural it all looks, like a nightmare brought to life. I keep on wondering back and forth whether I'm talking to a man or a woman, or some other thing with all kinds of...

who am I kidding, I'm standing in front of a black bear robot with only one eye.

Fuck...

I still don't know if I should trust... her? him? hir? them? Is that how people use that word these days? I always found it weird. I'm sitting here in front of a killer robot inhabited by the soul of a dead little girl and I find that grammatical formality weird.

I thought this would be over... I thought I'd finished it all off. How the fuck did I get into this mess?

***

Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental.

If any place would have answers it would be here. Perhaps it held the key to understanding these notes, what our families worked so hard to keep secret.

Any sane person who would have seen the state of the place would have considered it the height of stupidity to investigate. My mind was screaming at me to leave and to run as far away from this hellhole as possible as I made my way down the entry vent, the only sound being my footsteps echoing throughout the facility. Half of me wanted to obey so badly, but a more reasonable half assured me that I had already destroyed what was left back in the fire Henry and I set up. There wasn't anything here to fear... right?

Surely it's seen better days, but I wasn't expecting this. It couldn't possibly have gotten this bad over the last few years... but here I was, in the Primary Control Module, just like old times. I could just make out the full extent of the damage; it looked as if someone had taken the time to vandalize and loot everything here. Every window and screen had been smashed, all the drawers had been wrenched out of their cabinets and there were papers and all sorts of junk littering the floor like a hoarder's den. I can't shake the feeling that something's not right, that whoever last invaded this space was more than just some ordinary lowlife. But, what is it? What could you look for in a place like this? What I'm missing...? Where do I start to look in this junk?

In the end I opted for the vent that would lead me to the service room, since it was the only one wide open. Hearing my steps through Ballora's gallery was haunting as ever, but at least I didn't have to worry about suddenly hearing a music box. I was also glad that I didn't have to crouch through it, otherwise it would have taken forever. Before I knew it, I arrived at the service room. No one was in sight, but I was surprised at how much junk had been piled up near the doorway, as if to barricade the door against someone...  or something. The metal door was barely hanging off its hinges, and I was left unsettled by the massive dents and scratches inflicted upon it.

I sweep off some of the dust from the console, hoping that I remembered where the correct switches were when my hand brushes against something hard and jagged... instantly I recoil and something hits the metal floor with a loud clatter like a bucket full of spare parts. Apprehensively I shine my light over where I thought I heard the sound and I see something... blue... lying amongst the debris and papers littering the floor. No... it can't be... he's missing an arm and an ear and he looks unusually worse for the wear being all rusted and dented, but I ... do I really want to answer that question?

I bend down and reach for him, half afraid that he would jump up and attack me as soon as I touched him, half burning with that itch of curiosity that if only I turned him over I would bring myself so much satisfact-

NO.

My head spins as I drop the blue hand puppet in shock. A million different emotions swirling in a hurricane of panic as I process what I see before me. Fear. Awe. Paranoia. Horror and disbelief morphing ever so chaotically into terror at what could have possibly done this. My mind floods with images and sounds of children laughing, dancing, chanting... screaming... singing ... giggling... tempting... Oh poor Bon Bon...

I had seen what Father had done to all those children, and the various torture equipment he had in store for them in the form of the Funtime Animatronics, but this was a level of savagery even they could not possibly imagine. I mentally prepared myself for the possibility, as slim as it could be, that the innocent... thing... was still alive and was about to attack me once more; did I really have the courage to finally stamp it out of its misery?

His ruined, empty, unseeing eye sockets glance up at me in unremitting horror, his mouth torn open in a permanent scream as if driven to madness by gazing into an unfathomable evil, and his body shrunken and decayed like a soup can left to rot at a landfill for over 18 years, and parts of his face and upper jaw ripped - no... bitten off. **BITTEN**. The bites, the scoopings, I'd seen it all before, but to try to eat another animatronic like a Hot Pocket... what kind of monster could do this??? Was that even possible?

I scan the ground slowly, now much more conscious about any noise that could be heard throughout this abattoir. I see more evidence of the carnage that has been wrought upon this place. A few cracked porcelain masks that once sat on top of a ballerina doll. A pink disembodied arm desperately reaching for help. Even half a head, sliced down the middle by massive claw marks.

The scooper, however, had taken the worst of the damage.

Its mangled arm lay twisted and broken on the other side of the room, having been thrown carelessly onto the shredded piles of animatronic parts, some of which I recognized. Ballora... Funtime Freddy... all of them bent and crushed by whatever had ransacked the rest of the complex.

I strain my hearing as much as I can, even the drop of a pin could be heard in the heavy silence. But that's not what I hear.

Footsteps. I freeze. Too tiny to be a kid's, too regular to be an animal, and not heavy enough to be that monster. Is there a survivor to the robotic massacre? Didn't Bon Bon have a pink counterpart? Bonnet, I think. I don't know if I want to meet her.

The disembodied pink ear vanishing around the corner quickly disproves that theory. That wasn't a rabbit's ear, but a smaller one. What the fuck? I rush and turn around the corner to find a miniature of Funtime Freddy dashing to a vent. I think I've seen him before... Helpy? how did he end up here? Against my better judgment I follow him.

A million possibilities race throughout my mind as I contemplate the claustrophobic maw ahead. What if that... monster... the one who plagues my every shadow, the one that consumed so many others, what if it was right there on the other side? I knew what it was capable of... I saw the case reports, saw what it did to all those people. Sucking them dry like a glutton exposed to a rare steak. And then I realize... Helpy... god damnit, if he's with that monster and he tattles on me I will be killed for sure. I'll just have to catch him before he gets to draw any attention. The clanging sound of the vents is deafening in my ears; if I move slower I won't get him, but if I run, he might find me.

"Get here you pest!" The little toy squeaks and turns around, making a comical surprised jump. Just as he tries to jolt to the exit, he trips on the frame, making him fall to the ground. How can a toy make such a sickening sound hitting the floor?

Once in the room I grab him and he starts struggling against me.

"Hey, quit it! You are going to... Ouch! Stop biting me, you little shit!"

I try to mute the feisty toy, when I notice that I'm being watched. I immediately turn to the back of the room, heart beating like crazy in my ribs. The Fun-sized Freddy takes the opportunity to slip out of my arms and flee into the shadows; I shine my light in its general direction and that's when I see it.

It's pitch black. And big, very big.

And it's wearing a red hat.

No.

Impossible.

How did it survive?!

Henry feared his own creation enough to take his own life before it could seek him out in revenge in case we failed, and deep down I knew that it wasn't quite over yet, but I didn't want to believe it.

Yet here they were, standing at the other end of the room ahead. With all the confusion just before, it has to know that I'm here, and if hadn't already, Helpy's frantic behavior would definitely have been a dead giveaway.

I swallow the slump that formed in my throat.

Time to face my demons.

"Lefty."

"ᴍɪᴄʜᴀᴇʟ."

Just as it was back then, only there's now nothing stopping them from attacking me. In just one word they do the unthinkable; they speak to me, in a grating voice that sounds like a recording of multiple people talking simultaneously.

The air between us could be cut with a knife. Helpy stands in the middle looking back and forth between me and them. Lefty turns around and we stare at one another for a moment, before they slowly advance towards me. I back up against the wall and slide down onto a crate as Lefty looms over, a mere yard in front of me. Then, they turn to the side and drag another crate just behind them, sitting down likewise until we are at eye level to one another.

"ɪ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇʟᴘ. ᴀs ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴀs ʏᴏᴜ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴍɪɴᴇ."

***

"ʏᴏᴜ sᴇᴇᴍ ᴛʜɪʀsᴛʏ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ... ᴘᴇʀʜᴀᴘs...?"

Lefty cocks their head to one side as if expecting me to reply. Hearing nothing, they turn to the side and make some clicking noise, which is followed by tiny footsteps as Helpy emerges, holding a King Drunk bottle over his head like a worker ant. He turns to face me, offering the bottle, and we stare at each other for a moment. As if in an afterthought, he pops the cap off with his hand and places the bottle on the ground before me before returning to Lefty's side. Unconsciously, I reach for and take a swig from the bottle of skunky piss-flavored gas station swill which I'm pretty sure was stolen from some roadside bodega at the edge of the [town](https://redd.it/7s0pa2).

Hmph. Any port in a storm as they say.

I knew this thing was smart, but I never could have imagined just how competent their programming was.

We sit in silence as I contemplate my next move. One question bubbles to the surface almost immediately.

"Why are you here?"

Lefty raises their eyebrow in amusement.

"ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ᴀs ʏᴏᴜ... ʜᴇᴇ ʜᴇᴇ ʜᴇᴇ..."

Lefty then froze and leaned forward to stare at me with their good eye, brows narrowing in confusion and a touch of what I think was disbelief.

"ᴏʜ ᴍʏ... ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴍᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀɢᴏᴛ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ??"

Lefty certainly knew how to get under my skin, their face now uncomfortably close, eye burning through me like they were searching for something, any hint or facial cue it could latch onto. They blinked, gave off what sounded like a sigh, then stood up, wandering back out past me towards the former Funtime Gallery.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to follow it; but then again, if Lefty had really wanted to kill me they would have done so already. And what did they mean by suggesting I forgot? That I forgot why I came here in the first place?

Maybe.

I emerge into the ruined auditorium, to find Lefty sitting where Funtime Freddy once rested, pensively examining a familiar blue piece of scrap. Bon Bon's desecrated corpse. They place the half-eaten bunny beside them and then slowly cover it with a nearby tarp, as if paying respects to a fallen comrade.

"ʜᴇ ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ʜᴇʀᴇ." Lefty turned to stare at me "ɪ ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴇsᴛʀᴏʏ ɪᴛ, ɪsɴ'ᴛ ɪᴛ ᴡʜʏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ᴛᴏᴏ?"

I wanted to say yes, but I knew that it would see through that lie. The truth was, I didn't quite know anymore what I was supposed to do. At first, I thought I was picking up the pieces of my life after finishing what we started, but then I realized the colossal trial before me. This monster that visited me so long ago, he was only a part of it.

"ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴍɪssᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ."

I stopped pacing and turned to ask Lefty.
"Who did?"

"ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴛᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏᴜɴᴅ, ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴅᴏɴᴇ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ. ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴍɪssᴇᴅ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ ʏᴏᴜ...ʜᴇᴇ ʜᴇᴇ ʜᴇᴇ... ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɴ ɪ ʀɪᴘᴘᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ғᴜᴄᴋɪɴɢ ʜᴇᴀᴅ ᴏғғ."

"why-"

"ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴅᴇsᴇʀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙᴜʀɴ"

I thought everyone had gone up in flames. Apparently this fire only did a good job on my only known ally Henry.

"ᴏʜ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ... ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ... ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ sᴏ ᴀʟɪᴋᴇ. sᴀᴍᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴇʟɪᴢᴀʙᴇᴛʜ. ᴘᴏᴏʀ ɢɪʀʟ..."

My heart skipped a beat. Did she survive too? Just thinking about it made my heart ache, and my hands shook with anger.

As if reading my thoughts, Lefty responded with an air of curiosity.

"ʜᴇɴʀʏ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴋɴᴇᴡ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴅᴏɪɴɢ. ʜᴇ ᴄᴀᴜɢʜᴛ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀs ᴏғғ ɢᴜᴀʀᴅ, ᴄʟᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴍᴀɴ... ᴄʟᴇᴠᴇʀ ғᴀᴛʜᴇʀ... ɪ ᴋɴᴇᴡ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ʜᴀᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ."

"Just who...? Never mind."

"ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴍᴇ," Lefty spoke innocently. "ʙᴀʙʏ ғᴇʟʟ ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ ǫᴜɪᴄᴋʟʏ ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ, sʜᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ sᴀᴡ ɪᴛ ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ."

I bit my lip. At least I hoped she got where she deserved, be it heaven or hell.

"ғʀᴇᴅᴅʏ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴏᴡᴀʀᴅ, ᴛʀɪᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴀʀɢᴀɪɴ ғᴏʀ ʜɪs ʟɪғᴇ. ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴘᴜʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ sʜɪᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ ᴅɪᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ."

"And..."

Lefty's glassy gaze suddenly turned sour, if animatronics could even do that. With a hard gaze, they looked me in the eye.

"ɪ ᴡᴀsɴ'ᴛ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʟᴇᴛ *ʜɪᴍ* ɢᴇᴛ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ᴀ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴛɪᴍᴇ. sɪʟʟʏ ʀᴀʙʙɪᴛ... ᴛʀɪᴄᴋs ᴀʀᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴋɪᴅs."

"Geez, he was an asshole but you don't fall back too far-"

"ᴄᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜ ʙʟᴀᴍᴇ ᴍᴇ? ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ ᴅɪᴅ? ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ʜᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ ᴅᴀᴅ's ᴛᴀᴘᴇs?"

Lefty looked positively pissed, and that in their animatronic body translated to sparks flying and uncontrolled shaking. Even the voice sounded more distorted.

"ɪ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴀʏ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀɪɴ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴍᴏɴsᴛᴇʀ ᴅɪᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ... ʜᴇʜ ʜᴇʜ... ᴀɴᴅ ᴀʟʟ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏᴏᴋ ᴡᴀs ғᴀᴛʜᴇʀ sɴᴀᴘᴘɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ɪᴛ. ᴀɴᴅ sɴᴀᴘᴘɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʙᴀsᴛᴀʀᴅ's ᴀʀᴍ."

I wasn't too sure it was a good idea being in the proximity of a huge robot reliving their most sadistic memory.

"ᴛʜᴇʏ sᴀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʙᴜʀɴɪɴɢ ғʟᴇsʜ sᴍᴇʟʟs ʟɪᴋᴇ ʙᴀʀʙᴇᴄᴜᴇᴅ ᴘᴏʀᴋ, ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴏɴᴇsᴛʟʏ... ᴡᴇʟʟ... ᴀғᴛᴇʀᴡᴀʀᴅs, ɪ ɢᴜᴇss ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ғʟᴀᴍᴇs. ɪ ᴡᴀɪᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴀʟʟ ᴇɴᴅ. ᴀᴛ ʟᴀsᴛ..."

They trailed off, reminiscing about it all. They let out a chuckle after a few moments.

"ɢᴜᴇss ғᴀᴛᴇ's ɴᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜʀᴏᴡ ᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʟʟᴇʏ ʏᴇᴛ, ɴᴏ?"

I didn't respond.

"sᴏ ᴀɴʏᴡᴀʏ, ɪ ᴅɪᴅ sᴏᴍᴇ ['ʟɪɢʜᴛ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ'](https://redd.it/7v56k8) ᴀs ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀʟʟ ɪᴛ... " ʟᴇғᴛʏ ɢᴇsᴛᴜʀᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ғɪʟᴇs sᴛʀᴇᴡɴ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ғʟᴏᴏʀ. "ʜᴏ ʜᴏ... sɪʟʟʏ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ... ᴘᴏᴏʀ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ... ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ...ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ʙᴏᴛʜ ᴀʟɪᴋᴇ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ, ᴡᴇʟʟ... ɢᴜᴇss ɪ ᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ ᴜᴘ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ ᴏɴᴇ"

I kneeled on the floor, taking a look at the papers. They were mine. I shot Lefty my dirtiest glance. How much did they have to get under my skin!?

"These are private, jerk!" The animatronic let a girly giggle.

"ᴏʜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ʀɪᴄʜ, ɪ'ᴍ sᴜʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀɴɪᴍᴜs ᴍᴜsᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ sɴᴏᴏᴘᴇᴅ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ғɪʀsᴛ."

I froze. That name...

"How did..."

Lefty's eye was filled with mischievous glee.

"ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇᴍ? ɢᴏᴏᴅ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴍᴀᴋᴇs ᴛʜɪɴɢs ᴇᴀsɪᴇʀ."

There was a rustling inside the robot, then a thin black and white striped arm emerged from the bear's belly handing me some folders. Seeing that image unnerved me on a subconscious level.

"*ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ɢɪғᴛ ᴋɪᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ғʀᴇᴅᴅʏ's!* ᴇʀʜ, sᴏʀʀʏ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ; ɪ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴏᴠᴇʀʀɪᴅᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴘʜʀᴀsᴇ."

I opened a folder to find some newspaper clippings, most of them talking about people's disappearances, animals found dead under freaky circumstances. [Even other animatronics](https://redd.it/7tf65k), just as mutilated and decayed as Bon Bon had been. And yet a pattern was forming. [That beast was killing on his way to the East Coast](https://redd.it/7ud00r). More files came out, I recognized Henry's handwriting.

"So that coward has left me more work..."

"ɴᴏ, ᴍɪᴄʜᴀᴇʟ..." Lefty murmured with a hint of sadness and shame. "ʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴀ ʙʀᴀᴠᴇ ᴍᴀɴ, ᴍʏ ғᴀᴛʜᴇʀ... ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴋᴇᴇᴘ ʀᴜɴɴɪɴɢ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ғʀᴏᴍ ʜɪs ᴘᴀsᴛ ғᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ. ʜᴇ ᴋɴᴇᴡ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴏɴʟʏ ᴀ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ *ᴛʜᴇʏ* ᴄᴀᴜɢʜᴛ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴏ ʜɪᴍ, ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ *ᴛʜᴇʏ* ᴛᴏᴏᴋ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ sᴛᴏʟᴇ. sᴏ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏғ ʜɪs ʀᴏᴘᴇ, ᴡᴇʟʟ..." [Lefty thrust two fingers under its chin while giving off an explosion sound](https://redd.it/7r5pmx). "ᴇᴠᴇɴ *ᴛʜᴇʏ* ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ sɪғᴛ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ sᴄʀᴀᴍʙʟᴇᴅ ᴇɢɢ ᴛᴏ ɢᴇᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴡᴀɴᴛ."

[I finally start reading Henry's request, his voice somehow sounding in the back of my head as I read.](https://redd.it/7uoku2)

I don't quite know how to process what I'm hearing, what I've learned and read. Somehow, I find myself back in the shattered control room. Leaning upon the ruined pipes, I let the full gravity of my failures sink in. I recall how I failed to save Kevin and Elizabeth, running away like a coward to save my own skin, I recall how I turned a blind eye to the sins of our fathers, and those who came before him. Even that last ditch attempt to set things right and end it all that just fell apart.

It all flashed before my eyes, and before I know it, I'm screaming my head out, not unlike the animatronics that had tormented me for so many years.

I've heard people saying that during extreme rage all they see it's red. So why am I seeing purple? Purple robots, purple men, purple wires, purple ink, purple eyes, purple blood.

It all became a whirling haze of destruction... crystals were smashed, pipes were bent, anything in my immediate radius was thrown or stomped. The control module was ripped out with inhuman strength. Impervious to the sparks scorching my skin and the blood upon my knuckles, wires were snapped and glass was shattered. Storming from room to room, nothing standing in my path. I had been deaf to the world.

***

A familiar sound grounds me back in reality, quelling my rage and replacing it with incongruous shock.

The red phone rings off the hook for 26 agonizing seconds, before Lefty pipes up from behind me.

"ᴡʜʏ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏ ᴘɪᴄᴋ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴜᴘ?"

Slowly, without even bothering to glance over my shoulder to confirm the bear's presence, I reach for the handset and hold it to my ear.

"Hello?"

[A little girl's](https://redd.it/7ud00r) voice starts coming out of the other end, monotone and calm like those number stations back in the Cold War. Coordinates, names, all in that steady voice. I can't tell if it is simply a recording or another living person on the other end.

In an instant, I am rocked with needles burrowing into my brain as the world around me flickers and fades into a kaleidoscope of nightmarish hallucinations. No, not hallucinations. Prophecy. Visions, flashes of all the things that have happened, of faraway things, terrible things, of things that have yet to be, of things that could be, or could have been.

I see Tangled Freddy's genesis, the acolyte finding Henry's worn notes in the wreckage of the old pizzeria, as he anoints the old animatronic with blood in all sorts of blasphemous markings. I feel him seize up in ecstasy as he is crushed and twisted by the animatronic components as he reawakens as the monster. [I see him chase away the ruddy young man who disturbed his slumber and stole the keys of his work, before ordering his minions to destroy all the evidence of their presence.](https://redd.it/7nddo9)

The location around me fades back into view and I find myself in the console room once again, except clean, desolate, untouched. Freddy makes his way towards the scooper room and stares in wonder at the parts littered about as he bends down to scrape something off the ground before rubbing it into the yarn; the scene changes once more to the subsequent feeding frenzy, as he ransacks the place looking for more and more. I witness him ramming his way into the Parts and Services room before snatching up the squealing Bon Bon and bringing its terrified face up to his mouth. I see him ripping apart the scooper like a soda can, followed by a disjointed sideshow of his eastward rampage, spiraling out of Utah as he consumes soul after soul, both human and animatronic, becoming less and less human with each hit. By the time he [snakes his tendrils into a screeching Chica under a crescent moon](https://redd.it/7tf65k), the yarn begins to look less like string and more like the blood vessels they supposedly represent. A cyclone of emotions sweeps me into its whirling embrace, some mine, some others'. Rage. Sadness. Greed. Hunger. Fear. Despair. I feel all of it and so much more.

Throughout it all, several more elements present themselves, taunting me, beckoning to me. A blond-haired man in a hospital bed, with a raven necklace, followed by his younger self mauled during his birthday party. [A young boy struggling against a group of older children in masks before being shoved into the mouth of a large bear just before it clamped down upon his skull.](https://redd.it/7qjykz) [A drifter cowering in a discarded fridge at a junkyard as his hand was bitten off by a golden monster](https://redd.it/7skblz), [a teenager choking on his own blood as something stomped upon his back again and again and again](https://redd.it/7qg3g7). [Henry facing the corpse of a blonde girl stuffed into Golden Freddy before aiming the shotgun under his chin.](https://redd.it/7r5pmx) An abandoned ghost town lit ablaze as the ground opens up like hell itself was advancing its way towards the earth. [A couple being stalked by disfigured, burnt animatronics](https://redd.it/7onu3i), before the view shifts to the interior of a bloodstained house. [I see a boy with no ears being brutally tortured and taken apart while his mother laughs maniacally and rips pieces of her own flesh off her bones with her bare hands.](https://redd.it/7tnews)

Names, places, key facts, all of these worm their way into my mind as the scenes flicker and flash before my eyes, each volley taking moments and eternities to pass. The man in black, Meisberger, chanting and laughing in the background. [A woman speaking to a tall gentleman as he slides a grey padlocked box towards her](https://redd.it/7uoku2). Charisma trapped in her underground prison, crying, mourning the loss of her friend. A photographer speeding away down the interstate as Tangled Freddy inexorably makes his way towards him. And a little girl, Samantha, that same one on the phone, over and over again. The girl, no... not a girl at all but the soul of a wrathful angel in the mind of a woman and the body of a child, gaze burning with the light of a thousand suns. She calls out to me, offers me her hand, inviting me to find her. I see her past, how she hid in her closet as Tangled Freddy terrorized her family, salvaging and violating her father like a sack of bloody meat, yet sparing the innocent in his last vestiges of humanity. I see her talk to the police officer, playing with his thoughts like a predator eyeing a potential snack. She mentions me. [I sense her gaze bore into my very soul.](https://redd.it/7ud00r)

Then I see us. The future. Lefty storming a mansion with Samantha and the blurry man, the broken man, one wearing a pitted white mask locked in a rictus grin with lavender tears streaming down from its hollow eye sockets. Guards' heads exploding like watermelons as Lefty slams them against the tiled floor. A [dark-haired stranger](https://redd.it/7v56k8), scars and track marks winding around his arms and neck, executing scientists with a shot through the temple each. So much blood. A man in indigo shirt and white pants opens a door and is instantly decapitated by a rain of buckshot, a crimson burst like a desert rose decorating the wall behind him. A cacophony of screams as a room of people rip each other apart on a child's orders. Masses of flesh and mechanical parts exploding as the angel lets out a warcry that rages throughout the heavens. I see myself holding a pistol to Meisberger's head, as he taunts me one last time before I pull the trigger. And a single black pearl, the size of a golf ball, tempting me like the serpent of the Tree of Knowledge.

There is one last battle of wills, as angel and demon face each other, each pushing against one another as their auras clashed horribly. Her eyes and nose begin to bleed under the effort of fighting the sheer force and determination animating the now-mutated half-flesh, half-machine abomination, without a clear winner in sight. All the while, the blood vessels covering the scarred skin like those on a diseased organ pulsate and glow as the bear tries to bend yet one more innocent child to his whims.

One final vision overcomes my senses. I'm floating in an underwater abyss, with nary a surface or bottom in sight. All is quiet except for the sound of the current, as I lay there suspended in the watery grave. And now I know the answer.

Now I see everything. I know their pain, sadness, and rage. I know what fate has in mind for us, the only way left. Past, present, and future unravel before me like a horrific tapestry and I know my place within this tragic cycle. The killings, the fires, the animatronics burning, all of them, dying as Lefty hunts them down one by one. More children in pain, experiments, psychological and ritual abuse, and so much more. Oh so much more.

It's enough to drive anyone mad. Perhaps I already was to begin with.

***

Just as quickly as the nightmare begins, it fades, and I'm lying on the dirt and debris-covered floor in the fetal position, rocking and crying. I lay there catatonic as Lefty reaches underneath my armpits and raises me to a seated position. It's all I can do to lay back upon their belly and stare into the abyss that lies ahead of me.

"ғɪɴᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ?"

It doesn't take a genius to realize what they bore witness to. What they saw in those dreams.

I feel like a little kid again, facing a big scary world and wondering where mommy is. Helpy reaches over to comfort me and I just want to hug them both and huddle like this for the rest of eternity. Alas, deep in my heart, this newfound knowledge fills me with determination, with a new resolve. With a heavy heart, I realize what has to be done. I realize that there is no fighting what destiny has in store for us, and if it means finishing this once and for all...

I turn to Lefty and we stare at each other with a mutual understanding. Lefty then raises a hand to their mouth and opens it smoothly, revealing an ivory mask with purple streaks coming from the eyes, Charlie is watching me with her intense white glowing pupils.

"ᴍʏ ᴍᴀsᴋ... ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ɪᴛ. ɪᴛ's ʏᴏᴜʀs ɴᴏᴡ."

Gingerly, I reach and detach it slowly. It feels like a rather special gesture, like she has letting someone see her real face in a long time, enough for her to forget how she looked like. We ponder what could have been. Charlie... perhaps in another life we might actually have been close friends. But now, this is the price of my failure... it is only a matter of divine providence that we have one more chance to finish this. For Kevin. For Charlie. For Henry. The old man was right; soon, this ends for all of us. And I am the key, the lynchpin of fate's schemes.

I may not have been able to save them then, but I can still save others now.

I grasp Lefty's hand as I get up and wipe the vomit off my face, now placing her mask over me. There is no time left to waste to do what has to be done. But one last detail yet eludes me.

I pick up the phone again and hold it to my ear. Silence. Confused, I follow the cord only to find that it wasn't even plugged into the wall.

Whatever. That's not important now.

We may not know if this is going to work out in the end. There are not that many people left who we can trust, but at least now someone showed us a way out. A way to finish this once and for all.

Perhaps then, we shall both be worthy to walk with [angels.](https://www.reddit.com/r/26FrightsOfFreddy/)