Puppets eyes bore into her own, but he didn't speak or move. He waited patiently for her to mull it over in her brain.
She knew she could ask so many, many things but the only thing she wanted to know, didn't really do much for her; except put her mind at ease. She had come this far, learned so much, she just couldn't stop now, she had to know all of it.
She threw a glance backwards at Spring Bonnie, but not entirely surprising- he was gone.
Her shoulders slumped, but she shook the disappointment away, determined not to waste a moment.
"Puppet. What do I do? What do we do!? Help, please..." Her emotions got the best of her, but she couldn't help it. Here stood somebody that she was sure could help her. But... he seemed so reluctant.
He watched her and the twinkle left his eye, he looked sad, empty. Just as lost as her.
"You could run..." he swept a hand towards the outside world, "but if you do this place is gone. It will crumble into dust."
"What?" She blinked, tears blurring her vision. Outside, the moon shone pure and bright, and the cool air tempted her as it mingled with the stink of the stale air inside.
She remembered something. "Did you change the room William put me into before? Did you make that field and all that? Did you make Spring Bonnie disappear?"
He shook his head, "I don't have that kind of time, to explain all that... but yes I did change the room."
"Why do you want me to run?" She whispered, finding herself scared to know.
Puppet grimaced and shook his head.
"I'll tell you what to do." He hesitated, looking angry at himself, but continued, "Go find Chica, Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie. Escape the Pizzeria, and I'll meet you in the field behind here. Don't engage the Toy animatronics. Don't talk to Spring Bonnie, or let him near you. And," he added with some reluctance, "Please don't kill William."
He fixed her with a serious gaze, "Or you can ignore my words. Run, and don't look back."
"...but,"
"No." He cut her off sternly, "we don't have time! Choose. Now!"
She shook her head, and found herself turning towards the doors again. She wanted to leave so badly, to escape. But not at the expense of her friends.
Would the place really collapse..?
Probably. This place had powerful secrets, she had experienced some of them herself.
The moon hung there, watching her. She turned to speak to puppet again, but he was gone, swallowed up into the darkness. Once again leaving her with so many more questions than answers.
She closed her eyes and remembered, this wasn't reality. Her reality was in the Puppet's box, with William; trapped.
So many more questions crowded her mind.
Why did puppet appear here instead of at his box?
Was she dreaming?
Why make this place look so foreboding? Did Puppet make it look like this?
If not... then who did?
I'm going to stay...
Her mind whirled beneath the weight of it all, making her stomach sick.
But it didn't last too long. The walls melted away into cozy blackness, the floors next, and then all the children's pictures, the tables, the stringy banners, the overwhelming smells... the only thing that remained was the chill of the night and a silver moon, hanging over the clouds.
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Every breath he took was painful and ragged, and although his mind was awake, his body wouldn't obey even the tiniest of his whims. He was trapped, unable to move, suffocating breath by breath.
He fought, panic mounting, but nothing budged. Another breath, drawn out over what seemed like minutes, escaped his chest. And another. Another. The seconds trickled into minutes of silent agony.
Something fell over him, something ethereal. A shadow.
He looked up, his eyelids as heavy as ten pound weights, searching the gloom for the source.
A white mask, stained with tears, stared down at him.
He clenched his teeth.
"Puppet," he managed to grind out, surprising even himself.
Another breath.
Puppet lifted a hand and held it over his chest.
Another breath.
He tried to wiggle away, but he was paralyzed, still suffocating in the stifling air.
Another breath.
A light erupted from the puppets hands, not a pure white one, but a hateful purple.
Another breath...
His breathing was slowing. He was dying.
Another...
Blackness was shrinking in around him.
...breath...
The light was coming closer....
Another...
But the next one didn't come.
Fear stole over him, panic gripped his heart and he tried to struggle, but he was still paralyzed.
Puppet...
The hand came down in a rapid movement, slamming into his chest.
Pain erupted in his lungs, like fire ants swarming and he tried to scream but he found no breath.
A...
His lungs screamed for air, and the edges of his vision blurred as he fought for life.
Another...
Puppet stood back up, almost to his full height, but something was wrong with him. He stood, hunched over at the middle, his eyes of white light watching him die.
Breath...
Air flooded in, hot and painful, stinging like boiling water on his insides.
Another breath...
He gasped, breaths coming and going in a steady rhythm. Like a miracle, his arms and legs began to respond and he sat bolt upright. His insides still on fire, he curled up in a ball in the corner of the box, letting the air swim in his lungs.
He laughed bitterly, feeling the fear of death leave him.
He looked up, but of course the puppet was gone.
"Why?" he asked the empty room, his mouth filling with the bitter taste of contempt.
"WHY!?" He shouted, his voice echoing throughout the present.
"Why not just let me die, you metal fucker?" He whispered the last part, disgusted.
The pain started to dissipate and he put a hand to his chest, still feeling a weird tingling sensation where the light had passed through. Somehow there were bandages there.
He ran his fingers over it and realized that it wasn't bandages, but cloth. Then he remembered.
His eyes shot upward and he found her, lying on the ground only a few feet away. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing softly, curled in a ball on the floor of the present. The remnants of the cloth apron still in tatters near her hands, tears still glistening on her cheeks. But she was out like a light, oblivious to his presence.
He chuckled under his breath despite himself. She could have let him die, and with him, the whole nightmare that she was living through, but did she? No. The dumb little wench actually patched him up.
He couldn't fathom this reaction, what it must have taken for her to tend to him, even though he had cursed her to this hell.
He shook his head, confused and annoyed. The beast in his body stirred, but was quieted easily this time, retreating into some back corner of his mind to lick its wounds- presumably.
His eyes swept over her, taking in the whole picture. The girls sleeping form, Emily was her name, he recalled; the tall and empty box, the silence of the pizzeria above. It wouldn't be long though. Enough time had passed that the animatronics that she associated with would come for her sooner or later.
He eyed the lip of the box, and knew that he could have reached it and escaped easily, if not for his injuries.
He returned his gaze to Emily, the beast inside clawing to get out again. Puppet wouldn't let her die for anything, would he? He had tried so hard to save the others, but he was too late. He had tried to save William too, hadn't he?
He smiled bitterly, that hadn't gone so well had it? If he wanted this hell to end he had to get this girl to remember- on his own terms.
Puppet was feeding her pieces of information, he had to be, but who knew which parts? Which fragments was he leaving out?
Making himself look good... Making William the monster.
The beast inside stirred once more, reminding him that he was the monster, wasn't he?
Well. He could play his part, until puppet messed up and his veil fell away, revealing the whole truth.
In the meanwhile, he had to escape this prison.
"Emily!"
A voice shouted sharply and she startled awake, still groggy from sleep. She looked up and gasped.
Not only was William seemingly well- he looked healthy and alert, and more than a little annoyed.
She quickly got to her feet and eyed him with suspicion.
"Now, now, " he said, "let's call a truce for now?"
"Why would I do that?" She spat, suspicious. She eyed him with curiosity and a twinge of fear, "and how... are you...?"
She lost the words and just stared.
He sighed, his cold eyes watching her every move.
"Puppet." He answered, shrugging, "ok? He did it."
Wait... what!?
"Puppet..." she stuttered, her mind going a mile a minute. He had said that he didn't want William to die, hadn't he? But why?
Also, if he had come down here, then why didn't he save her? Wasn't he on her side?
She was confused, scared, and tired. All she wanted was to find that she was still sleeping on Bonnie's lap, fully immersed in a nightmare that she was soon to wake from.
"You can stop looking at me like that," he said, breaking her chain of thought. "If I wanted you dead I would have already killed you."
She glared at him, but he was right. He had many chances. She was about to give him the benefit of the doubt but then she remembered how he had touched her, and fear took over.
It wasn't lost on him. He watched her face go from adamant and stubborn to fearful and unsure.
"Look," he said, rubbing his temple, "lets just get some stuff out in the open air, will that make you trust me?"
She shook her head and glared harder, but her trembling hands gave her away. She was terrified of him.
"Well it can't hurt to have some questions answered can it?" He tempted her.
It worked.
She perked up at once, but mulled it over for a moment before asking; "Why are you so angry at me? You're the one that tried to..." she faltered and covered her mouth, letting the question drop to the floor.
"Wait a minute," he snarled, "Puppet showed you something didn't he!" He demanded, stepping up to her.
She looked up at him, a confusing mixture of terror and anger boiling beneath her skin.
"Don't you dare touch me," she half-whispered, "or I won't help you escape!"
He growled at her, the noise making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, but he didn't move. The sound was terrifying, metallic and robotic, with hints of animalism. It was not human. His eyes flashed, but he leveled out his voice before speaking.
"What did you want to ask?" He queried, words almost dripping with venom.
She shook her head and looked down at the floor. She wanted answers, but she didn't want to test the depth of this man's patience. Even though she now knew that it was Bonnie who had stabbed her, she knew that was as a result of William hurting the other children.
He was still standing over her, looking down at her. He was so close that she could smell his cologne and the blood that was still dried to his torn uniform.
He grabbed her roughly by the chin and yanked her head up suddenly, making her look into his hateful eyes. She flinched, but her voice caught in her throat.
"Ask whatever you want Emily. This is the only time I'll be willing to answer."
"Luna." She half whispered, her eyes hard, "my name is Luna."
He frowned, confused. He searched her eyes but she was serious.
"Luna?" He repeated.
She nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat.
"My name isn't Emily anymore," she said, "I'm Luna now."
He smiled and ran a finger down her cheek, where fresh tear tracks still glistened in the dim light.
"Luna then. Let's be friends."
He bent down close to her ear and she shuddered as his breath feathered over her skin.
"We have so much to learn about each other."
She struggled against him, pushing on his chest, and to her surprise he sprang back.
He hissed in pain, grabbing his ribs and glaring up at her. For a split second his eyes flashed a violent purple and she was sure that the animatronic was going to come out, but the light flickered and faded before her eyes.
"So... you aren't fully healed.."
He stared icily, "Why the hell do you think I needed your help?" He spat.
He fixed her with that hateful gaze, "You can't reach the top of the damn thing, and I can't without your help either. And fucking Puppet is off on hiatus somewhere, saving damn little children or something, guess you're not as important to him as we all thought huh?"
His words were so vulgar and hateful that she flinched again. He stood up to his full height and regained his composure.
"So, shall we escape this hell hole?" He said after a long silence.
She shook her head.
"What!?" He demanded, his fists balling up. With dismay she noticed the long-forgotten ax still setting close to his foot. Why hadn't she used her brain and picked it up?
She held up her hands in defense and spoke quickly, "If you hurt me I won't help you!"
He froze, and then slowly a smirk appeared on his face and he relaxed his fists.
"Oh really now?" He toyed, "giving me an ultimatum now?"
She squared her jaw and nodded, "I need to know- what's going to happen when we are both free of the present?"
Slowly, he crossed his arms over his chest and studied her.
"That depends," he said finally, "on what you are doing?"
"I'm going to find Bonnie," she said, only offering a portion of the truth, but he seemed to accept it, giving her a nod.
"I'm going to find Puppet, and finish the job." Her eyes widened and she tried to read his face to see if he was joking but his features gave nothing away.
"Bu.. but, he saved you," she whispered, confused, "he could have let you die and he didn't!"
He leveled his gaze down on her, piercing her with eyes and cold and as blue as an ocean of ice, "It seems that you did too, but that doesn't mean I won't hunt you down and finish this meeting some day," he sneered, "but I promised a temporary truce and I meant it. I won't hurt you until it's over."
She gaped at him and the bluntness of his words. For the splittest of seconds she thought she saw his gaze soften and something sad flashed across his features, but it slipped away so fast that she couldn't trust if she had truly seen it or not. The odd thing was... she was sure she had seen that look before.
She thought it over, and almost gasped out loud. She had! It was the same look he had given her in the memory, when he stood over her as she lay dying as a child. Bewildered she searched his face, to which his glare deepened, trying to see what he was hiding there.
"Fine. I'll help you. When does the truce end?" She asked hesitantly, "...and you realize that I can't keep the animatronics from killing you right?"
He flashed her an evil grin, "You realize that the same goes for you right? I can't stop the toys from tearing you limb from limb?"
She shivered despite herself and he laughed, "and since time is of the essence... let's say thirty minutes from now?"
She nodded and he bent down to pick up the axe before extending his hand to her. Damn...
She bit her bottom lip, apprehension making her stomach turn.
Tentatively, she put her hand in his and they shook on it.