POV Henry Emily
I looked over the reports I had collected for the past several months. Something was off. A few locations that had been shut down for a long time caught on fire, and the places were destroyed. Once would be an accident. But twice within a month? I don't think so. I reviewed the blueprints for the buildings myself. There wasn't any logical reason they caught fire.
'Unless someone set them.'
The even more worrying part was the fact that the animatronics are missing. While some were destroyed in the fire, most instead vanished, which caused me to think back to the old reports about the animatronics getting active at night. Wandering and even attacking security. I checked them back then but found nothing out of the ordinary. I then thought someone might have stolen the animatronics, but that didn't seem likely. They aren't easy to transport, and getting them out of the building would cause alarms to go off.
'What if... What if they wandered off when the fire started?'
I shook my head. That was ridiculous. I helped program them. I knew they couldn't leave the premises. Not to mention, even if they did, they would run out of power quickly and be found by now. Then again, I hadn't been involved in company affairs for years at this point. Not since...
'Sigh. I did the right thing. He was a monster.'
I reach for the bottle of whiskey, but stop myself just short. I didn't want to drown my sorrows. Not anymore. I promised myself I would try to rebuild my life.
Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring
I look at my phone, confused. It wasn't a number I recognised, so I was about to ignore it, but then I thought it might be important. So I answered the phone.
"H-Hello?" I say.
"Hi, is this Henry Emily?" the voice asks.
"Um, yes, this is he. May I ask who I am speaking to?" I ask.
"My name is Rio, and I could use your help," Rio offers.
"I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I don't do robotics anymore," I reply.
"Before you decide, I would like to prefice this by saying that he is still alive. Waiting patiently to return. And when he does, he will kill again," Rio replies.
My hand shakes, and I have a feeling I know exactly what he is talking about. But I try to deny it.
"I-I don't know..." I start to say.
"We both know you do. And before you hang up, I want a chance to speak in person. You can choose the place, I just ask that the meeting happen as soon as possible," Rio offers.
"I-I... Okay. There is a small cafe on Main Street in Hurricane, UT. Meet me there at noon tomorrow," I reply, not knowing if this is a good idea.
"Excellent, I will see you tomorrow," Rio replies before the call ends.
'I should be fine. If this was some attempt to kill me or kidnap me, then choosing that cafe should prevent anything like that.'
The Very Next Day (Waddling Intensifies)
I enter the cafe, and my eyes are drawn to the back of the building at a booth that has someone sitting in it. I didn't know why, but I felt like that was who I was meeting. I checked the time.
11:43
'Either he is even earlier than me, or I am imagining things.'
"Mr Emily, over here," the man says, and I walk over.
"M-Mr Rio, I presume," I say while offering my hand.
He shakes it and smiles.
"Indeed. Thank you for agreeing to meet me. I know that this is quite unusual, but I didn't want to wait any longer. While we aren't on a time crunch, the sooner I can release them, the better," Rio replies.
I raise an eyebrow in question.
"Release who?" I ask.
"The spirits of William Afton's victims," Rio says with a completely calm tone.
I worry that he might be crazy, but then I notice something odd. Everyone was ignoring us. I look around and see that no one is paying attention to us, even after Rio said something so outlandish. I also noticed that despite being able to see them speaking, I didn't hear anything. I turn back to Rio with a confused look.
"Magic. We are in a privacy bubble. It blocks out all sound from leaving and creates an illusion of us having a nice chat at a quiet volume about whatever nonsense people perceive as normal," Rio explains.
Before I can call him crazy, his face starts to shimmer and fall apart, and what replaces it is something I have never seen in my entire life. It was something truly and completely alien.
"Wh-what are you?" I ask with awe.
"An Alicorn or something like it. And what you are seeing right now is my real face. You can feel for yourself if you don't believe me," Rio offers.
I hesitate, but I reach over to touch his face, and I feel the soft, almost velvety fur, the breath from his nose, and the hard horn on his head. It all felt far too real to be fake. My entire worldview was shattered in that instant as I was certain he was real.
"I-I don't know what to say. Th-This is... I don't even know..." I say as I return to my seat.
"Well, things are about to get a little weirder," Rio replies with a grim look.
I was scared to ask how.
"Okay, so some info you need to know. William Afton has killed anywhere from 14-46 children. And all of them are still alive in one way or another. William was messing with powers he couldn't begin to comprehend, and it's also what's keeping him alive. That and his ridiculous willpower," Rio explains.
"T-That many? I mean, I knew or at least strongly suspected he was responsible for at least 8 deaths, not... not 46," I say, horrified.
"He was pretty good at hiding it. Even I can't be certain who he killed, as I only created these numbers based on when he was active, where he was active, and reported missing children, as he only targeted kids. But that's not really why I came here. I can deal with the kids fine. But I need to know where you sealed William. And if you have had any contact with Michael Afton or your daughter," Rio asks.
"M-Michael? I haven't talked to him in nearly a decade. I don't even know where he is. As for... Charlotte. She's dead. Has been for many years," I reply with a pained look.
"Yes, I know, but she is like the other victims possessing the animatronics. Or in this case, the Security Puppet that tried to protect her," Rio replied.
"Wh-What? She's... Of course... Now it all makes sense. The missing animatronics. The hallucinations," I reply with clarity.
"What do you mean by missing animatronics? And hallucinations?" Rio asks.
"Someone burned down some old restaurants that housed some animatronics. Several of the animatronics went missing. I was actually investigating this before you called me. As for the hallucinations. A year or so ago, I started seeing things. I thought it was because of the alcohol. It... It was Charlotte. And the puppet. I would see them. But now I realise that... that she was looking after me. There would be times were I would blackout only to wake up back in my bed at home. I... She was always such a kind girl. Always trying to help others," I say while tears stream down my cheeks.
For a moment, I feel as if she were with us, looking out for me even now. If I were paying more attention, I would notice Rio wasn't looking at me but above me.
POV Rio
I look at the spirit of a little girl looking down fondly on Henry. She looks at me and nods before fading. Henry takes a moment, but he recovers and looks at me.
"I'll help in any way I can. It's the least I can do for all the mistakes I have made. What do you need from me?" Henry asks.
"Williams' location and the location of the Golden Freddy Suit. I need your daughter's help because the spirit possessing the Golden Freddy Suit has become a Wraith. And a much more powerful spirit, full of hatred towards the entire Afton family and anyone who looks like a security guard. While I can destroy the Wraith with enough force, the issue is that they can be very tricky to destroy, and it's always better to help them move on," I explain.
"What was this child's name?" Henry asks.
"Cassidy," I reply
The lights start to flicker, and I feel a malevolent presence for a moment before it fades. Henry was covered in cold sweat from that mere moment of exposure.
"Wh-what was that?" Henry asks.
"It seems that spirit felt us talking about it, and it woke up for a second," I explain.
"But I thought others can't hear us?" Henry asks.
"Undead are immune to almost all forms of illusions, and this privacy bubble is fairly low level. I didn't make it stronger as I didn't see the reason. This world has no understanding of magic and is quite easy to manipulate with magic. Or at least distract," I explain.
"This world?" Henry asks.
"Yeah, I am not from this Earth. In fact, I am from an entirely different universe. But that's not relevant right now. What's important is dealing with the spirits," I explain.
"I... You're right, that can wait until after we deal with the others. How are you going to do it?" Henry asks.
I looked at the system update progress that just hit 100% and smiled.
"Music," I reply.
Henry looked at me with raised eyebrows, and he didn't seem to think I was being serious. But when he realised I was, he was even more confused. But I refused to elaborate, just told him to meet me at his house later tonight.
When I met back up with Henry, I was holding a Lyre, and I had to admit I wasn't fully sure if this would work. Theoretically, it should. But this was technically a newly created spell. But it was now or never. So I took a deep breath and strung the first chord, and started flying.
(AN: Play Children of the Night by Duo Cartoonist on YouTube at the 55-second mark for the music. I tried the Hocus Pocus Version, but I prefer this version. )
"Come little children
I'll take thee away
Into a land of enchantment
Come little children
The time's come to play
Here in my garden of shadows
~~~~~~~~~~~
As I am flying, I feel the eyes of many spirits looking up at me, and many even start to float up.
~~~~~~~~~~
Follow sweet children
I'll show thee the way
Through all the pain and the sorrows
Weep not poor children
For life is this way
Murder in beauty and passions
Hush now dear children
It must be this way
Too weary of life and deceptions
Rest now my children
For soon we'll away
Into the calm and the quiet
~~~~~~~~~~~~
My voice echoes for miles, making an ethereal atmosphere and the procession of spirits increases by the second.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come little children
I'll take thee away
Into a land of enchantment
Come little children
The times come to play
Here in my garden of shadows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The instrumental keeps going, but my voice fades. I look back at the massive procession of spirits and count over 200 different spirits of various types and sizes. While plenty were children, many were also adults and even teens. It seemed a lot of people had been lingering for a long time. Just waiting for someone to shepherd them to their afterlife. As the song starts to end, many of the spirits start to dissipate, and plenty smile at me and thank me. Once the last of the spirits had faded, I went back to Henry's home and saw him sleeping on his roof with a calm smile.
'I imagine many will find that they sleep well tonight.'
------------------
Author's Note:
The choice of what world Rio would end up in was a tough decision, but when I heard this song after so long, I just felt it fit so perfectly with this situation. The spirits of many children suffering and stuck on Earth, unable to move on. Until next time, Ciao.