Chapter Text
6 am, just after the fire
Henry didn’t know where he was but he was in a dark, empty space. In front of him sat the mangled remains of what used to be his best friend. Someone he had trusted more than anyone.
William looked terrible, no longer in the rotting bunny suit but whole again. Arms covered in little marks he assumed were from the spring locks. He was rail thin and he looked sickly. He couldn’t believe he ever thought this monster was charming.
It was silent before William rasped out, “hello, darling.”
Henry remembered a time when William's voice had been smooth, not ruined and cracked by his corruption.
“Don’t call me that.” He stood tall above his business partner. He had won after all. He’d lured the man to his doom and finally disposed of him.
He wanted to tell William how much he despised him. How he was the bane of his existence, but instead he said, “I wanted you to love me so badly. I did everything to make you recognize me. I wanted to impress you.” He sounded disappointed to even himself.
William was silent for a long time, staring straight ahead before his head lifted a little and his blue eyes met Henry’s brown ones.
“I did notice you, and you did impress me.”
“Don’t lie.” He snapped down at his partner, “Don’t lie to me, it doesn’t work anymore. The moment I found out what you did the illusion shattered. Your hold over me was broken.”
William, the lunatic, laughed at that, “Was it?” A large Cheshire grin overtaking his features.
Henry scoffed, he wasn’t going to let this man run circles around him. There was nothing he could do to him here. “Not even going to try and tell me I’m wrong? You truly are a monster, Will.”
“If you say so,” his scratched and garbled voice huffed out.
“I spent my whole life wanting you. You were so charming, I should have known you were a trap. You believed in me like no one else did, and I thought you did it out of the goodness of your heart. I thought you were a good friend. It was always a sick power play for you.” Henry wanted this man to realize how much pain he had inflicted on him, on everyone around him.
“Henry-“ William looked up at him again.
“I loved you,” he spit out. He felt like tears could come to his eyes but he didn’t want to show any weakness.
“I loved you too-“
“No you didn’t,” he cut the other man off, snapping at him, “you don’t love anyone but yourself, William. You don’t know what it is to love anyone else. You used me. You manipulated me. You took everything from me. I hope Hell has only the worst in store for you, Will."
“I hope Heaven only has the best for you, darling.”
“Excuse me?” That actually startled him. It sounded somewhat genuine.
“I believed in you. And I did love you. You’re perfect. I wanted you to be mine. I trained you to be mine.” William let out a terrible little chuckle, “You thought I never noticed all your hard work but I did. I always did. That’s not how the game works though, Henry. You don’t let the prey know you’ve caught it.”
“You’re sick.” Henry shook his head as he listened to his friend talk about him like he was some prize to win. Like everything was a game. It made him feel sick.
“Yes.”
“Good bye, William.”
“Goodbye darling.”
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9 am, 1985
Henry awoke in his bed, the sunlight from outside his house filtering in through the blinds. This was a weird place to wake up after dying in a fire. He sat up quickly, his breathing had picked up as he looked around the room. It was definitely his, but without the pictures of his wife around the room. He did, however, have several pictures of Charlotte and him.
His heart ached looking at them.
Perhaps he had only dreamt that he got revenge on the man who had tormented his life. That didn't explain why his wife was missing from all the photos he had though.
He heard the TV from the living room, he didn't remember leaving it on last night. He pulled himself from bed, slipped on his glasses, and made his way to the living room to turn it off.
“Good morning, Daddy!”
The voice of his daughter made his eyes start to tear up. He slowly turned the corner to see her sitting in front of the TV, a bowl of cereal in her lap as she ate the soggy pieces. He stood there, eyes glued to her as she smiled up at him. He had missed her smile, her voice, her cute little cheeks.
“Charlotte?” His voice shook as it left him.
“Yes, daddy?” She tilted her head a little, inquisitive.
Henry slowly approached his daughter. This had to be a dream. He had burned in the fire and this was all a delusion, or perhaps the opposite. Maybe he had dreamt every terrible thing that had happened to him and this was the real world. Both felt real enough.
He knelt down to cup her cheeks, which were warm to the touch. She was real. She was real.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” He leaned forward to press a little kiss to her forehead. She giggled at his actions, squirming a bit. He tried to hold her closer as she did.
“Daddy! You're late to work! Uncle Willy called wondering where you were!”
A cold chill ran down his spine and he pulled away from her to look her in the eyes, she was looking up at him with a sweet smile. He didn't like hearing his name come out of her mouth.
“Oh, I suppose I better call him back then, huh..” He tried to keep his voice even so he didn't alarm her. William was waiting at the diner then, they were still on somewhat good terms.
“Can we go to the pizza place?! I wanna play the games!” She bounced a little on the floor. The cereal in her lap sloshed a bit.
He didn't know how to answer that, perhaps he could use this moment to clarify some things he was questioning, “The diner, sweetie?”
“Nooooo,” She shook her head, “The pizza place.”
The pizzeria then, which meant that Evan had already died, but somehow Charlotte was still here. She had died before Evan had. His neurons were firing faster than he could comprehend, everything was wrong.
“Uh, yes, I’m going to go call William,” his business partner's name tasted like copper on his tongue. “Get your shoes on so we can go, sweety.” He needed to be alone for a moment to collect his thoughts. His daughter scrambled to her feet and ran to her room to get her shoes.
Henry turned off the TV and walked to the phone he kept in the kitchen. He knew William's number by heart, he had dialed it so often before the illusion had broken. He plugged the numbers into the plastic little buttons and waited for the line to ring.
It took a couple rings for his partner to pick up, “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, William Afton speaking.” The man's voice was smooth again, no longer sounding like a rotting monster. He had mixed feelings about it. William had said the name of Henry’s restaurant, a place Henry didn’t allow the other man.
He almost forgot to speak as he heard his friend's voice again, “William, it's Henry.”
“Henry!” WIlliam’s voice was different. No longer sounding distant or far off. He sounded invested, concerned even, “You had me worried, you aren’t often late. Is everything alright? Charlie said you were still asleep an hour ago.”
This was a mistake. William's voice still brought him nothing but dread as he listened, “Yes, I’m fine, I’ll be at the restaurant shortly.” He was confused. Who had let Afton look after his business? Why was he there waiting for him and why did he sound like that? Like he cared at all?
When Henry had met William in college he had been dazed. He would admit that he had been charmed right away. His friend was smart, manipulative, and sharp. Henry had simply been a chess piece in Afton’s game of life, something to control and use. He hadn’t even noticed, too busy trying to impress William or too busy trying to figure out if William felt the same way. It had been hard, he knew what happened to boys who kissed other boys, and it was nothing good.
William had, on occasion, played him like a well used instrument. He knew exactly what to do in order to get Henry to do whatever he wanted and Henry had never even known. He’d, quite frankly, been in love. William believed in him like no one else had. Told him he was the smartest man he had ever known and he, like a fool, believed it was real.
He had fallen right into the trap, but once he had freed himself everything became clear. It was easy to see all the lies, all the manipulations for what they really were. Once everything had crumbled so had William’s life.
Henry had hoped that would mean William was atoning for all his atrocities in hell, but here he was, speaking to him in a concerned voice. He knew the genuine from the lies now, and this was real. William barely sounded the same even.
“If you’re feeling sick you should just stay home, I can handle things here. If anyone deserves to rest for a moment it's you, my friend.”
No. No, William wasn’t allowed at that location, let alone be left to his devices. Why hadn’t the toy animatronics killed him yet? They were designed to do away with William when they saw him.
“No! No, it's fine.” He hurried to cover his rushed tone, “I’m fine. I’ll meet you there.”
William sounded concerned again, but there was a bit of resignation there, “If you say so, I’ll see you in a bit. Goodbye, Henry.”
“Good bye, William.” He set the phone back down onto the receiver, and stared at it. This was all so strange, but it all felt so real. He had to get to the bottom of this. He was an analytical person, and in order to gain control of what was happening he needed to understand it inside and out. For now he would play along with whatever this was.
He felt a little tug at his arm, “Daddy, you need to get ready to go to the pizza place.” His daughter was looking up at him expectantly.
“Oh yes of course, sweetie, I’ll be right out.” He gently ran a hand over her long brown hair and took in her loving smile.
He could use this time to analyze the rest of his house. He first went to his room, going to the closet to fish out some clothes to wear. There wasn't a single woman’s article of clothing in it. Okay, so wherever they were his wife wasn’t here, and apparently had never been.
After changing his clothes he made his way to his bathroom. Seeing himself in the mirror made him jump. He was younger for sure, much younger. He didn't know why he had expected to not be, seeing as his pizzeria was still open. That meant it had to be the 80’s again.
As he got himself ready he tried to compile a list of things he knew:
- Charlotte was alive.
- His wife wasn’t here.
- His pizzeria and diner were open.
- William was at his pizzeria currently.
- His animatronics had not killed/ kicked William out which meant they had either been tampered with or weren’t working in the first place.
“Alright, sweetie, let's go.” He held her hand as they walked to the car. She was very excited the whole drive, singing to herself and watching the trees go by outside. He kept glancing over at her in the rear view mirror, just to prove she was real.
That wretched purple car was parked outside of his restaurant. As they walked in he held his daughter's hand, but she let go as they walked into the back office.
“Willy!” She giggled as she was scooped up into lanky arms.
There he was, standing tall. His hair hadn’t yet started graying on the edges, he looked a lot healthier than he had when Henry had known him. The dark patches under his eyes were missing and he didn't look thin as a rail. He looked like he was taking care of himself, like how he looked in college. He was wearing his white button up with a purple tie, the shirt tucked into some black pants. His sleeves were rolled up as he had just been working on one of the robots.
William hefted Charlotte up a little in his arms, smiling at her. Henry had never seen that particular smile on his face. Something easy and light. Not filled with intent, “Well hello, Charlie.”
Henry’s blood ran cold and his hands started to shake. He took his daughter from her killer's arms and set her down, “Charlotte go watch the floor show, I need to have a few words with Will.” The only thing he wanted was for her to be as far away from him as possible. She looked only a little confused before smiling and running out the entrance door to the main floor.
William looked a little confused, too. There was a certain calculation to his blue eyes, just like there had always been. The feeling of being analyzed almost gave him solace, because it was the only normal thing since he’d woken up.
“Is everything alright, Henry?” His partner's tone was concerned, back to not being normal.
“No,” He answered truthfully, he sat down in one of the rolling chairs in the room. William swiveled the other chair around to face him and took a seat, “No, I’m not okay. I am very not okay.”
“Henry-”
He cut the other man off, “Do you remember the fire?” He asked shakily. Gauging his partner's reaction.
“The fire?” William said slowly, eyebrows pinched together. “Did you hit your head this morning?”
So William had no recollection of being lured to his fake pizza place by Michael. “What about the spring lock incident? Michael, Evan, and Elizabeth?”
William seemed even more confused by his rambling, leaning forward a little, “What are you talking about? Who are you talking about?”
Henry leaned back, jaw slightly open as he held a hand to his head. Afton didn't know who his children were. His eyes snapped to the other man’s hands. No ring. He felt like throwing up all of a sudden. He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths.
“This is going to sound crazy,” He opened his eyes and leaned forward a little.
“More crazy than what you’ve already been saying? Because you sound like you've lost your mind, my friend.”
“Yes,” He takes a deep breath, “I think I’m in some kind of alternate universe.”
William’s blue eyes bore into him, “Do you need me to call a mental hospital?”
Henry frowned, he didn't know what he had been expecting. It was foolish to think he’d get any support, he didn't even realize he’d fallen right back into his partner's trap. He’d gone right back to William for comfort, “No, forget it.”
He had to get out of here, things were so confusing and this was too much to handle. “You know what, I am feeling sick. I am going to take Charlotte and go.” He stood up to make a break for the door.
“Hey hey hey,” William stood up, blocking the entrance off with his body, which usually wouldn't have been a problem. As he mentioned before he was healthier than his sickly looking friend had been in his universe, which made his frame impossible to get around.
Henry suddenly felt like a cornered animal, his breathing started to pick up. His daughter was in the other room. He can’t believe he brought them right back into this situation. William was going to kill him.
“Henry, I dont know whats going on but you’re scaring me,” William’s voice was gentle, like coaxing a scared animal out of a corner. Henry’s eyes shot open as the taller man touched his shoulders.
“Don’t!” He backed up, “Do not touch me, Will.”
His partner's hand immediately retreated, something his William would have never done, “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.'' The other man unblocked the doorway and Henry took the opportunity to bolt.
The floor show was still happening but he didn't want to wait for it to be over. The first thing he noticed about the place was there was no large box for the puppet. It wasn’t anywhere in sight. Something must have happened to it. He frantically looked for his daughter in the crowd and let out a relieved sigh when he located her.
“Charlotte, honey, we are going to go home now, I’m sorry,” He gently took her hand in his, not wanting to upset her but he needed to leave right away.
“Do we have to go right now, daddy?” She batted her eyelashes up at him, trying to convince him to let her stay. He knew she liked it here. She had always liked it here.
"Yes, honey, I’m sorry.”
Charlotte, being the trooper that she was, just got up and followed him. He knew she was going to be upset but he would make it up to her. If he got this chance to do things over with her then he was done being at the pizzeria. He was done being near William.
He wanted to spend the rest of his life or whatever time he had here with his daughter. He wasn’t going to let William ruin this for him again.