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Chapter 8. Tenth Stage.
"The Burn Trap"
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[Words: 4000]
[Duration: Very extensive]
The woman witnessed how Afton jumped on the bear, driving the ax into its head, pushing it to the ground and falling next to it.
As Golden Freddy struggled in astonishment against the bunny's outbursts of anger, Vanessa took advantage of the moment to run out the door, the woman's footsteps drawing Afton's attention, who suddenly turned to see the woman run away from him.
Staggering to his feet, he ran out the door after her, leaving the object stuck in the bear's head.
The robot rose slowly, witnessing Afton disappear from his sight. He raised his right hand to grab the handle of the weapon, yanking it out of his head.
He took his irises to the axe, seeing in the background the briefcase they had left forgotten on the table.
Carelessly dropped the object to the floor, walking over to the box full of papers and utensils.
"Do you know how to read?"
"It's been more than 30 years since I died..."
"How old were you?"
"Just.. 8"
"I see..."
He rested his metallic hands on the leaves, pushing them aside to inspect them.
Picked up the one with the instructions to make the remnant.
"You know how to read?"
"Enough..."
And broke the blade in two, then those two into four, and those four into eight, until it shattered and burned to ashes.
He looked up at the briefcase, there were still more sheets that he didn't hesitate to grab with his hands.
"Come back here"
Vanessa heard in her mind, who was panting in panic repeatedly pressing the elevator button. She was desperately looking at the exit she left through, through the upper floor of the cafeteria.
As the elevator doors opened, she looked back in front of her to find Afton inside it.
The woman backed away frightened. At what point did he get in there?
- D-Don't come close to me - The guard stammered, awkwardly moving away from him.
He didn't move, the elevator doors closing as he stared after her.
Vanessa sighed somewhat relieved, until she saw how literally a hand passed through the metal doors.
The body of the rabbit passed through the doors without problems, his fur had turned a greenish-brown hue, which was gradually turning back to a yellowish hue.
- You are... - He murmured, walking faster and faster towards the woman who was backing up to the balcony of the stairs. - ..Just like him
Vanessa swallowed hard gripping the security fences of the balcony, she slowly crawled towards the stairs looking to run through them to flee from him.
But when she took a quick step he went to pounce on her.
- You damn bastard! - He exclaimed, grabbing her arm tightly.
The guard tried to push him away, but before either of them could do anything, they were both pushed hard down the stairs.
Both of them stumbled hitting the floor of the lower floor in a daze.
Vanessa dragged her gaze to the top of the stairs seeing Scrapbaby and Marionette peeking out, then Afton who was lying with his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
- He deserved it - Elizabeth's voice sounded.
- Fully deserved - Charlie agreed.
Vanessa tried to get up, along with Afton.
When she tried to stand up, she fell to the ground in pain, she didn't have much strength.
She coughed overwhelmed taking her gaze to the ceiling, smoke coming from the upper floors, the vents and the entire Fazcade, the PizzaPlex was completely on fire.
- It is all his fault... - Afton murmured as he stood up. - Why does everything have to be so hard...?
- Is this a game for you? - Golden Freddy's voice spoke, appearing where they were.
Slowly Afton turned to look at the bear, before he could answer, Golden Freddy's heavy metallic body attacked Afton stabbing him with the axe.
When Afton attacked him with the axe, it didn't hurt Golden, as he was unable to feel physical pain, but emotional.
But when Golden plunged the ax into Afton, it burned like a thousand volcanoes.
- ARE WE A GAME FOR YOU? - Cassidy's angry voice sounded intimidatingly behind the body of the robot.
The rabbit suppressed a cry of pain, grabbed the ax while being lifted by the immense strength of the animatronic, which opened its jaws threateningly.
Afton kicked it in the chest, freeing himself from the weapon that fell to the ground between them.
The man fell backwards to the ground losing his balance, the robot floating backwards in the air.
When Golden Freddy went to attack, Afton rolled on the ground to grab the weapon and avoid the opponent, getting behind it and swinging back with the axe.
Marionette came in to defend using her claws like sharp knives, while Afton defended himself, the bear took the opportunity to grab the rabbit and push it against the elevator.
The force it caused made a crater and the elevator glass shattered into multiple pieces that fell to the ground like a hail shower.
The elevator itself lost strength and grip, collapsing completely, the flames consuming the metal that held it up.
Through the smoke Afton tried to get up and teleport to avoid being crushed by the debris.
But he couldn't.
He was unable to teleport, and without understanding why, the pieces of metal and stones fell on him causing him to stumble.
He pushed them to try to get out, but was forcibly pulled out by Golden Freddy who grabbed him by the neck to slam him against the wall and throw him back to the ground on top of the sharp piles of glass and metal.
Afton coughed feeling cornered as he got up with the ax attacking the bear that floated away, Marionette appeared behind stabbing him.
- Filthy rat.. - Before he could finish the sentence, Afton was again attacked by Golden for having tried to attack Marionette.
Whenever he tried to attack one, the other would lead to defend.
They helped each other, but he was alone, Vanessa wasn't going to help him.
He pushed the bear away and turned to Charlie, the puppet watching him carefully.
He pretended to attack her, she defended herself with her bare hands trying to grab the axe, but the weapon stuck on the bear's arm, which fell to the ground as it was split in two.
He jumped and pushed Golden before turning around and attacking Marionette, who managed to float away from the attack but couldn't avoid get a cut on the abdomen.
Charlie had to be careful, her robot's body was thin and she would easily snap in two if Afton landed a critical hit.
However, he didn't expect to be grabbed by a floating golden arm, the same one he severed from Golden Freddy. And as a result he was pushed and thrown through the air to end up slammed against the wall of the Glamrock Gifts store, through the glass and falling on the counter of clerks.
Slammed against the wall, it left him dazed and sore as if his bones had been broken. A crack in the wall as a result of the blow began to expand to the ceiling, and as Afton got up in pain he could see how the roof of the store was falling on him, he quickly ran out of there being hindered by Marionette who went ahead to cut his step.
The ax had been left at the entrance of the crumbling tent, he had dropped it from the unexpected hit.
Afton tried to fend off the puppet's blow, as the store shattered and fell slowly, engulfed in flames that erupted from the upper floor.
Charlie preferred to prioritize escaping from the rubble and avoiding being crushed to continue futilely fighting each other.
But as Marionette nimbly ran away, Afton spiteful as if alone, couldn't help but jump from her to grab her and prevent her from escaping, even though they were both badly injured.
The floating arms of the bear hit the body of the rabbit, which was forced to release the puppet to defend himself against them, Afton could see the floating body of the bear recompose itself again in the air, even separating its own head, showing that although it had been exploded in flames, it could be put back together again.
As the ground shook, the store completely collapsed causing the entire PizzaPlex to slowly collapse.
Afton gasped in exhaustion using the smoke and dust to escape being crushed.
He felt suffocated and overwhelmed by the situation.
When he saw the opportunity he tried to find a way out before being consumed by the flames and the wreckage of the slowly destroying mall.
His powers for some reason, had been somehow deactivated, so he tried to jump the stairs quickly to get out of there, if it wasn't because Scrapbaby was blocking his way upstairs while Marionette looked for him again.
- Get away Elizabeth... - He murmured avoiding Baby's gaze that threatened with the saw in her hand to split Afton's body in two.
- I think you don't understand the situation... - The girl's sweet voice sounded inside the robotic suit.
Afton watched the puppet come to attack him, so he tried to get away from both of them, while Charlie tried to corner him.
- You have nowhere to run - Charlotte's voice murmured. - You never had a chance to escape...
The puppet sounded grim as she tried to approach Afton, who was backing away defensively.
Golden Freddy flew over the place separated into pieces, to proceed to rebuild itself in front of everyone present, then approach the scene with pure aggressive intentions.
Scrapbaby stepped into the middle, cutting off the bear's path.
Afton recoiled in confusion at the sight of Elizabeth, supposedly protecting him.
He backed away looking both ways, for a possible escape to try to recover and retake his powers.
The heat increased strongly as the ceiling cracked.
The bear separated again into multiple pieces that covered the exits while its golden head floated omnipresent in the scene with its melted jaw open and showing its powerful teeth.
When Afton turned his back on Scrapbaby to face Golden reforming behind him forcing him to move, that's when he fell for the trap, and Charlotte blew Scrapbaby up at point-blank range.
Setting fire to Afton's body that was forcefully pushed to the ground.
A groan of pain escaped from his body as he tried to escape from Golden Freddy's arms trying to grab him to make him burn in the fire that little by little began to devour the place.
He could see the various parts of his daughter's animatronic body ripped apart on all sides, and Marionette's brilliant, imposing flippant gaze from behind the scenes.
As panic filled his blood as he was unable to defend himself, Afton's violet eyes began to glow a deep purple, desperate to escape and draw the last of his strength.
Golden Freddy began to glow in a powerful purple aura, Marionette recoiled in confusion, the bear's body began to convulse and tremble the more Afton's eyes glowed.
Finally the arms that grabbed the rabbit ended up in its own jaws, grabbing them and separating them, splitting its own head into two parts, to later seek to destroy other parts of its own body.
"Charlotte"
Cassidy's voice sounded in the puppet's mind, Charlie reacted by flying to Afton to attack him and force him to release the huge golden bear.
Then as Afton stumbled away, his eyes glowed even more intensely and the puppet itself began to give off a purple glow with her white irises turning a deep purple.
Charlotte's soul tried to break free of the rabbit's grip, but she was unable to overshadow the force of control of the other.
Afton rose from the ground, meticulously controlling the trembling bodies of both robots.
-Ob...ey...- He growled with fury and desperation in his words.
Unable to control the body they possessed, the souls were abruptly ejected from the robots, leaving them motionless and lifeless, like broken and useless plush toys.
Afton gasped weakly from the heat of the flames, the temperature beginning to rise too high for the remnant body of him.
- Naive souls... Stupid children... - He murmured outlining a victorious smile. - Did you... Did you all think you had a... lousy chance? All of you don't know who I am...
The ground shook making him try to keep his balance as Charlotte and Cassidy tried to get back into the bodies of the robots, they were useless without them.
Marionette's body began to crack from the pressure, after some sparks came out, Afton tried to find the strength to explode it into pieces, but the fire and heat weakened him.
And the moment the ground shook once more, he lowered his guard being stabbed by hundreds of wires all over his body. He let out a choked sound of pain, releasing both animatronics from their possession of him, his cloudy vision able to see hundreds of wires surrounding him and lifting him into the air.
- Y-You should be dead... - Afton growled holding the cables trying to rip them out of his body, Molten Freddy's melted head peeked through the vent facing the opposite.
- You too! Funny, right? - Molten Freddy laughed confidently seeing Afton in trouble.
His eyes began to glow bright purple again, Molten was completely mesmerized releasing the rabbit and letting it go.
Afton ran out trying to get away, but was attacked by Golden Freddy who had collected itself again.
"He is an idiot"
Cassidy murmured in Charlie's mind.
"He always has been..."
Charlotte replied.
Molten attacked Charlotte under Afton's control, grabbing her with the cables as she tried to use her slender frame to her advantage to extricate herself.
Cassidy figured Charlie would be fine against Molten as she tried to free him from Afton, attacking him in the process.
The rabbit jumped down the stairs landing as best he could to avoid the golden bear, when Golden approached again Afton had already picked up the ax from the ground.
With his purple eyes, it was enough to in a matter of seconds, riddle the bear's body with cables that abandoned his attention on Marionette, who was seriously injured and in poor condition.
"Cassidy we have problems..."
Charlotte muttered seeing that her animatronic body couldn't take another outburst from Molten Freddy.
"I need Lefty..."
Lefty was a powerful protection that Henry created for Marionette, to defend her from Afton, and especially from the aggressive Molten Freddy, who even being able to hurt Lefty with her cables, would directly destroy Marionette.
Charlie flew over to them carefully keeping her distance, seeing that Golden didn't answer her because it was busy freeing itself from Molten Freddy's restraints.
She tried to reach out to help, but one ax blow was enough to finally split the bear's internal endoskeleton in two.
As the robot's body fell to the ground, he climbed on top of it, slamming the ax over the bear's head and body multiple times, shattering it while couldn't free itself from the cables holding it down as Afton tried to control them both again.
Marionette backed away from them as cables rose behind her.
She tried to fly around the area avoiding them, watching Afton shoot up the stairs to find or search for a way to attack Marionette, who was floating weakly.
- Oh no.. - Charlie murmured when she was cornered and pierced by one of the cables, soon another bunch of cables grabbed her and attacked her looking to destroy her and pull her limbs until they were ripped off.
Marionette struggled with all her might seeking to psychically exploit Molten Freddy, but his mask was hidden behind all the wires, and with no visible endoskeleton or CPU, she couldn't counter the amalgam's attacks.
"Do not fight"
Evan's voice sounded in Charlie's mind.
The puppet was confused when listening to the child, she continued struggling but with less strength.
"There's no need"
The boy continued, but was interrupted by Cassidy's voice.
"You always try to defend him"
She looked angry and frustrated, helpless that she couldn't win.
"I don't defend him"
He explained, he seemed calmer than normal for the situation they were in.
Evan continued to speak in the girls' minds.
"You all get carried away with an insane revenge. You will not achieve anything, you cannot harm him, that little mistake that Freddy made, doomed you all"
Charlotte felt annoyed internally, but she preferred not to say anything. Instead of Cassidy, who wasn't afraid to say things to the face.
"You're not helping"
Cassidy answered, seeing Afton recovering in an area a little further away from the fire.
She searched for Vanessa with her eyes, she had completely disappeared from the scene, she was smart to run away as soon as she could.
"In strength you can't win... But you don't need to fight"
The boy continued speaking in a calm and somewhat saddened voice. Cassidy growled in rage, this time it was Elizabeth who joined the conversation speaking to her brother.
"What are you talking about?"
The girl asked, Evan turned to look at her, her sister was fine. The plan to exploit her was victorious, managing to weaken Afton with that point-blank incineration, but Afton was still very resilient.
"We don't need to win physically..."
The boy went down to the second floor where Afton was.
Evan began to glow giving off a gloomy aura that made the man noticeably nervous.
"But psychologically..."
He ended up materializing in front of his father.
The rabbit was petrified looking at the body of his deceased son.
When the eyes of the boy and the father met, it was the moment when a kind of connection separated them from reality.
Molten Freddy was released, and the body of the destroyed puppet fell to the ground inert and powerless. Charlotte abandoned the animatronic.
Freddy, confused and lost, watched the world around him crumble into flames.
Quickly the amalgamation's eyes searched for Afton.
He was shakily backing away from the body of his son's ghost, who was slowly approaching him.
Afton was afraid of the ghosts of the past, those that haunted him.
And when he was surrounded by the vengeful souls, he panicked and ran off desperately seeking to flee, while Cassidy, Charlie, Elizabeth and Evan chased after him to terrify him.
Molten Freddy took advantage of the moment by looking at the cracks in the ceiling.
It was now or never.
He raised his cables, and nailed them hard into the ceiling, in one jerk widening the cracks until it couldn't support its own weight and the entire entrance collapsed.
Molten jumped from one side to the other, breaking the walls and knocking over the support pillars of the mall.
He followed Afton's gaze as he fled toward the daycare. He tried to reach him and cut him off by grabbing him with the cables.
The rabbit's bright purple eyes warned him not to get close if he didn't want to be controlled.
Afton stopped when from the door at the entrance to the Daycare, Moon's character fell to the ground bouncing playfully from side to side.
Molten took advantage of that slip to start surrounding the room in flames with cables, even if he hurts himself and weakens himself. The bear mask hid behind its own wires to avoid being controlled by Afton again, contrary to Moondrop, who fearlessly stepped forward to approach the rabbit.
Afton in a reflex act tried to control him, however something failed...
In order to control it, he had to control the animatronic's internal CPU, but Moondrop had no gaps leading to the endoskeleton, and his eyes were completely opaque. He couldn't control him.
He was able to control Golden Freddy with no problem, and the puppet didn't even possess an endoskeleton as its own body was full of fragile high-tech circuitry, but Moon was a different case.
And as Moon approached and Afton planned to blow him up to finish him off, a fifth soul floated out of the robot's body in the direction of the rabbit, scaring him to death by the proximity.
Afton fell back to the ground to the laughter of a male-voiced child.
At that moment Molten took advantage of his best moment to riddle him and tie him with his cables, while the opponent was struggling, the souls approached to grab him and prevent him from escaping.
He was terrified, he tried desperately to free himself.
The PizzaPlex shook again, creating huge new cracks, leaving the ceiling on the verge of collapsing.
Molten lunged at Afton throwing him into the flames and fire.
Without strength, the man who tried to escape was answered by one of the souls.
"Enough is Enough, Father"
It was Elizabeth's voice communicating with him.
"There is no point in continuing a fight for an endless goal"
Afton looked up after hearing his daughter.
In front of him were 5 expectant souls watching him die, just like 30 years ago in the Springtrap suit.
And he lowered his weak eyes because of Molten Freddy's fire, finally and after a long time, William Afton stopped fighting.
One last tremor and the PizzaPlex finally collapsed.
Among the souls, Cassidy approached the body of Afton and Molten Freddy.
- Rest, I'll go to hell on the condition that I keep him there... - She murmured, the rest of them nodded.
Elizabeth and Evan disappeared together after hugging each other, and in front of them Charlotte was left alone with the last two souls.
- I'm sorry... - Charlie murmured.
- It's not me you owe your apologies to... - Cassidy answered before she disappeared.
The girl moved her gaze to the last soul, the boy smiled and nodded.
Everything was fine now.
Right?
Charlotte floated away, she definitely didn't want to leave yet, she wanted to do one more thing.
She approached the entrance looking for Marionette's destroyed body.
At the entrance, outside the premises, Firefighters, Security and Fazbear Entertainment personnel watched the PizzaPlex collapse along with Samuel and Vanessa, who had escaped at the last moment.
- Will they make it? - Vanessa asked the man.
Sam clenched his fist into which he kept an important item that she couldn't quite make out what it was.
Next to them was Freddy, who was carrying Gregory's body, refusing to let him go.
The man stood up when he saw the silhouette of the puppet come out of the doors. He approached the animatronic to help her, hoping not to be attacked.
- Charlie? - Sam asked scared.
The puppet looked up from him, laying her eyes on his brother's.
- I'm sorry.. - Were his last words before his eyes stopped shining. - I couldn't protect them all...
Sam shook his head with a sad smile.
- Actually... You didn't protect them, you saved them... - He replied smiling at her.
Without strength, the puppet fell limp to the ground. Samuel went to pick her up, verifying that Charlotte had finally gone to rest in peace.
- I'm proud of you, my little sister - He murmured looking at the body of the robot.
- What will we do now? - Vanessa asked approaching.
- You, look for a psychologist - Samuel said while he carried the puppet in his arms - I'm going to throw Marionette's body into the fire, so that she burns and can rest next to dad...
And he did, he approached the flames of the entrance, being escorted by high-ranking security guards. And he threw the body of the animatronic inside, being melted and consumed.
- And now... - He murmured, seeing the flames hypnotized, he sighed sadly to turn around.
He glanced around the scene, Gregory's body being treated by the paramedics, the firemen preparing the hoses, the ambulance reaching out to the wounded, including Jeremy.
Vanessa and Freddy talking to each other, he came over to see what they were talking about.
- And Bonnie? - Asked the woman, Freddy lowered his ears.
- He... He went to reactivate the secondary security magnetic field that is in the subsoil of the Roxy Raceway, it prohibits and largely drains the remnant... - Freddy replied sadly, knowing that Bonnie would not leave that place standing after the fire.
- Don't worry... It can be rebuilt like the rest of the Glamrock - Samuel replied approaching them.
- So they'll come back? - Freddy seemed somewhat animated, although remembering Gregory his ears fell back in sadness.
Vanessa was surprised how a supposed artificial intelligence was able to show human emotions.
Samuel went ahead of them calling their attention, he had a small bottle in his hand, it was what he was hiding.
- That's... - Vanessa didn't finish the sentence.
- It's remnant... It's the last bottle that remains... And those who knew how to create it, well... you know where they are... - Samuel hesitated, looking away. - The glamrocks will be repaired for the last time, but if they are destroyed again, they cannot be replaced...
Vanessa silently stared at the remnant bottle.
Freddy spoke.
- What will you do with it? - Asked the bear.
- You should throw it into the fire, who knows what could come out of it... - Vanessa murmured suspiciously.
Samuel clenched his hand, putting the remnant vial back.
- I have other specific plans... - He justified seriously looking forward.
Freddy and Vanessa turned their eyes to where Samuel was looking, the ambulances where the paramedics were.
- Tell me Vanessa.. - Sam called the woman, she answered her name. - Do you want to be a Beta Tester?
The woman seemed surprised, she did not expect that request.
After all, she shouldn't even be working there, but behind bars in prison for murder.
But without proof, and with Samuel and Freddy unwilling to explain, she was left absolutely free of any possible crime.
But... would it be a good idea?
[THE END?]