All three of the boys, plus Fredbear, were standing around at the lot with all the doors, that lead into the small pocket worlds they had previously left. The pizza box was sitting on the floor, while Sora was leaning up on one of the door's frames, munching away on a pizza slice. Roxas and Hayner were doing the same.
Roxas was standing near Hayner, he looked over at Fredbear, who was to his left. "This pizza's really good Fredbear!" He said.
"Not gonna lie, it's way better than the ones from that door," Hayner said, pointing to the second door amongst the others.
Fredbear gave them a comforting expression. "You really think so? Well, thank you!" He said cheerfully. He then looked over at the new door. "So... you all going to go into that... new door?" He asked.
"Yeah... we gotta," Roxas affirmed.
"Well, I won't stop you. At least you guys got something to eat for your journey," Fredbear said nodding.
After Roxas took the last bite of his pizza, then swallowed it, he looked over at Sora. "You ready Sora?"
Sora nodded. "Yeah, let's go,"
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
I always come back... And I always will...
Cassidy.... took a deep breath, then opened her eyes. Her eyes looked around the dungeon-like walls, that loomed around her. The dark, decrepit atmosphere didn't set right, with the green leaves that hung off the walls, all glitching, and fading in and out of existence, with a purple-like hue to everything.
She turned her head and looked behind herself. At the body of... Afton. It was lying on the ground. Probably... because Cassidy had to give him another good slap in the face when she had dragged him back out of the void.
Cassidy hovered over towards Afton. She could see that he was knocked out. But not for long.
She raised her hands, then slapped Afton across his face. The slap echoed throughout the dungeon.
"AHH!" Afton winced, then blinked. He looked up at Cassidy but with a tired-looking expression.
Cassidy then slapped Afton again. "Wake up!" She yelled at him. Then slapped him again.
"OUCH!" Afton yelled. "What in the bloody..." Afton blinked, then looked up at Cassidy who was hovering over him. She was looking at him with anger in her eyes. Her eyes were completely black, with bright white pupils. Afton gasped, then tried to back away.
"N-No! Get away from me!" Afton yelled.
Seeing Afton try to run like that, Cassidy grabbed Afton by his collar. "Listen to me you barf bag, I don't want you here at all... But I need you to be here! You're the only one who can supposedly end this mess!"
Afton just sat there, out of breath, and terrified as Cassidy held his shirt collar with such a strong grip. "I-I... what?"
"Look around!" Cassidy yelled.
Afton darted his eyes all over the room. "I- What... What is this?!" He looked at Cassidy. "I didn't do this!"
"You didn't, but you did!" Cassidy screamed.
Afton blinked. ".....What?" He said with confusion on his face.
"Ugh!" Cassidy yelled, then let go of the shirt color, letting Afton drop to the ground on his back. "Oof!" Afton grunted. He groaned, then stood up. He looked around, then at the walls. The walls were glitching in and out, and there were some blocks scattered around that had a computer panel-like texture to them, and they were glowing. "What... what is this?"
"This is all your fault!" Cassidy yelled.
"M-My fault?! Cassidy what the bloody hell are you going on about lass?!"
Cassidy's eyes went red, and she zoomed up to Afton's face. "Don't you dare call my name!" She yelled her red eyes piercing into Afton's soul. "My name isn't worthy to come out of your mouth!"
Afton gasped, then took a step back.
Cassidy's eyes went back to being black. "Follow me..."
"Follow you? Where the hell even are we?! I can't trust you!" Afton yelled.
"Hmm... Just like when you told me to follow you. See how it feels?" Cassidy said side-eying Afton. Afton just stood there, watching her.
"Come on," Cassidy said. "This way. You have no choice. Consider you being here as a privilege,"
*****
Afton and Cassidy walked down the dark decrepited hallways. Afton didn't know where he was, or what was happening. He just stayed near Cassidy but at a distance.
Cassidy didn't want Afton with her, but she knew there was no choice she could make. If he was needed to solve and end this madness, then so be it.
"Cassidy, what is going on-,"
"Don't talk to me..." Cassidy said sternly, as she continued to walk. "Just keep up, and don't say a word."
Afton stayed quiet after that. For a good moment, until the walls started to fade in and out. "W-What's going on?!" Afton yelled out. More of those computer-like blocks appeared around them.
They were appearing out of thin air, and landing on the ground by their feet.
Cassidy tried to move one of the red ones out of the way, but it zapped her. Wincing from the pain, she blinked and then looked up. "Careful," She said to Afton. "Not that I care about you, but... these things seem like they can hurt us as spirits. Watch your back," Cassidy slowly tried to drift around the blocks, so her spirit body wouldn't touch it.
Afton was too busy looking behind himself, to have seen that Cassidy had gotten hurt by the blocks. "Huh? What do you mean?" Afton saw Cassidy moving away from him, trying to avoid touching the strange blocks. He looked down at one of them. "This little thing?" He stretched his arm toward it, then laid a finger on it. Afton's eyes widened as he felt a surge go through his body, and he got blasted back and bashed into the wall.
Cassidy heard the commotion, turned around, and saw Afton one with the wall. All she did was shake her head, then turn back around. "Idiot..." She said loud enough for Afton to hear.
She made her way through the halls until the glitching happened again.
"Okay, what the heck is actually going on?" She said looking around.
Once she turned to her right, down one wing of a hallway that led to a dead end, there was a head of a green, glitching, deformed rabbit.
Cassidy gasped, put her arms in front of her, then shoved it into the wall. The rabbit got blown up into many of the blocks.
Just at that moment, Afton finally caught up with her.
"The bloody hell happened? I heard an explosion," He said looking at Cassidy standing in a fight stance, in the hallway that led to nothing.
Cassidy sighed, then stood up straight. "Are you "bloody" blind?" She said rolling her eyes, saying "Bloody" with a fake British accent.
"I-I just came over! I wasn't here!"
Cassidy scoffed. "There was a rabbit...."
"A... rabbit?" Afton asked, confusion taking over his face.
"Yes... and it exploded into those blocks... "
Just then, more of those rabbit heads appeared again.
Afton gasped from seeing them. "W-What are those?!"
"Our enemies. They don't want us here," Cassidy got into her stance, arched her back, then shoved her arms forward, and blasted all of them back. The blocks once again showed up. "Don't touch the blocks," She reminded Afton as she slowly drifted around them. "Just progress forward,"
Afton looked at the blocks with a worried face, then tried to navigate around them, without touching his body on any. "Cassidy... please, tell me what's going on..."
Cassidy was already ahead of the blocks. She stood still for a moment. Afton stopped walking when he saw she was just standing still. She looked behind her slowly, looking directly into Afton's face.
Afton felt a sense of unease.
Cassidy just stood there, staring into Afton's eyes with a look of anger. Then... she finally said something.
"Something here... is using you. They're somehow using your consciousness," Cassidy spoke.
Afton's mouth hung down a little. "My... consciousness? What... what do you mean?"
Cassidy fully turned around. "People are becoming brainwashed by your past... actions. They're following a cult... from this- this virus..."
Afton squinted his eyes. "Come again?"
Cassidy flew up to Afton's face. "Do you see what you've caused?!"
Afton gasped, then backed up, trying to protect himself from Cassidy. "I don't understand! How is that possible!"
"Well, it is! And it's happening! I'm trying to fix it! But the truth is... only you can successfully get rid of it all," Cassidy drifted away from Afton's face, backed away, and then flew down the pathway slowly.
Blinking, Afton just followed her. Not saying anything for now. After walking some more, more of those rabbit heads showed up, but Cassidy took care of all of them. Afton just hung back, while she did her thing.
But After walking for a few minutes, that felt like hours, Afton had to get something off his chest.
"Cassidy..."
Cassidy didn't answer him and just kept floating down the hallway.
"Cassidy..." Afton repeated.
"Don't talk to me, Mr. Afton. Just make sure you avoid touching the blocks," Cassidy spoke.
"No... please, I need to say something,"
Cassidy sighed, then looked behind her as she still was floating forward. "And what is that? How much you're a cold-hearted monster who should've been tortured more by me?"
"No... I... I- I just want to apologize..."
Cassidy rolled her eyes and then looked forward again. "Oh please. Like an apology can fix the damage you've done,"
Afton looked down. He was about to say something, but then Cassidy continued to speak her mind.
"The damage you've done to not only me but to Gabriel, Susie, Fritz, Jeremy, Charlotte, your own sons, and daughter, your workers... not to mention that Sora and his friends got wrapped up in all of this mess... all because of you," Cassidy spoke. "You're a monster, Mr. Afton," She turned around to face him. "A cold-hearted demon who deserved all the pain in the world."
Afton stood still. They both stood still, looking at each other. "I... at least hear me out! I want to speak about why I did what I did."
Cassidy stood there... she was squinting her eyes. "Excuse me? Why? You're a cold-hearted monster. There's no other reason!"
"No! Just... let me explain!"
Cassidy stood there, and then she eased. "Fine. On you go. As you would say with your stupid accent,"
Afton took a deep breath, then started to speak-
I lived... a rough life with my family. My eldest, Michael, was a rebel in any way imaginable. Evan was very sweet, but Michael kept on harassing him, and Elizabeth, and it was getting out of hand. Evan was scared of my creations.... and Michael just pressured him so much...
My business partner, Henry... had only one kid, and they had such a close bond together. Always happy with each other, not a single family issue like the ones I had. One day... I let the jealousy take me over... I lashed out at his kid, Charlotte.
I shouldn't have done that... yes, I know that is horribly wrong. I killed more kids after that. I let the rage take me too far.
The day Evan died, I found out about something... I found out about the remnant. Remnant, to my knowledge at the time... I could have used it to harness souls.
I killed more kids... those kids... were you, and the people you know. I wanted to experiment with the remnant. I wanted... to keep your souls for myself. I wanted to have a family again... a loving family. I did all that, not thinking how wrong it was... but then... I built the Funtimes... got to... kill more, so I can gain more spirits...
Cassidy, this was when I changed. No human on earth should have this much power... I let it control me. I went on a power trip. I caused so much pain and suffering... and now you're telling me I have started... some cult. That is not what I had planned. I don't want this, not in the slightest...
Afton then looked at Cassidy. Cassidy stared back at him. She just stood there with a blank expression. "You let the power take you over," She said. "You were weak-minded..." She said. Afton looked down.
"But... so am I," Cassidy spoke.
Afton looked up at her, tilting his head in confusion.
"I raged on you so hard, I forced the spirits to come back to hurt you. Not see the wrong in that at all... they were supposed to pass on... and now, I'm certain they're still lingering around. Just one more thing to deal with..." Cassidy turned around. "When we find what's causing this "cult" and end it... we then find the other spirits... and free them. Once and for all..."
Afton sighed, then started to walk with Cassidy again. "And how do we do that?"
"We'll hopefully cross that bridge when we get to it..." Cassidy said.
***
As they left from another room, that had them fighting a lot of of those green glitching rabbits, they heard a light rumbling sound. Cassidy squinted her eyes as she heard it. "What was that...?" She mumbled. The sound played again, this time, sounding like... a techno sound.
She realized it sounded like the green rabbits, but it sounded way differently. They were in a hallway, it sounded like it was coming down it. There was a corner. Cassidy knew whatever it was, was just around that bend. She looked behind herself and looked at Afton was who walking up to her, looking left and right with a scared expression. "Stop," She said to him.
Afton stopped walking and then looked up at her. "What's wrong...?"
Cassidy turned her head back to the front of her. "Something is around that corner. I can feel it. Keep your guard up," she said.
Afton watched Cassidy slowly drift down the hallway, up to the corner. "Um... what is it you can feel exactly?"
Cassidy fazed into the wall, near the corner edge, then poked her head out from the wall on the other side. It just led to a large room... that had nothing inside. There was nothing there at all.
Cassidy blinked. She saw Afton just turned the corner, and was walking down the hallway, like he had no care in the world. She rolled her eyes, she wasn't going to go out of her way to protect him.
She came out from the wall and then followed Afton.
Once they entered the large room, at every corner, were those digital blocks. The room itself was fading in and out with occasional glitches.
"What is this place?" Afton said.
Cassidy looked around with her head, scanning the area. Sue hasn't seen anything like this before. Especially those blocks. "Remember, do not touch them," Cassidy reminded Afton. "They inflict pain,"
Afton nodded, "R-Right..."
"Not that I wouldn't mind that happening to you," She mumbled. "But I need your help... ugh, I can't believe I'm saying that,"
She hovered around the room, looking for clues. But, she couldn't find any, and she was getting agitated. This was what the path led down. Just an empty square-shaped room. All that was in were with those blocks.
"This doesn't make any sense," Cassidy said. "You didn't see any other paths coming here, did you?" She asked Afton, thinking maybe there was another hallway to have taken back on themselves.
Afton shook his head. "No, I don't think there was..."
Cassidy sighed. She really didn't want to go back, but if that's what they had to do, that's what they had to do. She lowered herself to the ground, and the turned around to the entrance they came in from. "Follow me. Let's try to get-"
There was a rumbling sound.
Cassidy gasped and looked behind her at the back of her, at the back of this room. Afton did the same.
"Cassidy... what was that?" Afton asked, with a tinge of fear in his voice.
Cassidy didn't answer him and stared at the wall. The longer she stared, she started to notice the wall glitching with purple code.
The glitching blocks started to float into the air, then drift over to the spot of the room that was glitching.
"Watch it!" Cassidy gasped as she saw a few of them were about to slam into the back of Afton's head.
But it did before she could've said anything more. Afton fell to the ground.
"Ouch!" Afton yelled as he slammed onto the ground. "Ugh, that didn't feel good..." He groaned and stood up.
Once Cassidy saw that Afton was fine, she looked up and saw all the blocks... even the ones that were behind them in the path they went down, were all flying into the room... taking the shape of something.
A glitching purple and black rabbit.
Cassidy made a determined face. "This is it... let's take it out,"
Afton was now fully on his two feet. He looked up at Cassidy, then at the glitching rabbit. "Take... Take- Take... TAKE IT OUT?!" He yelled. "How the bloody hell are we going to take THAT out?!"