I'll See You Again (Across the Years Part Three)

Let Me Die

William suddenly shot up, breathing out, panicked. His body felt raw, like it had been burned, and he was filled with a sense of panic and fear that he hadn't ever truly felt before. Dread, perhaps, but not terror.

How did he...

Right! The fire! The trap! He remembered now! Henry had reopened the pizzeria, and Mike had brought him in.

The killer's time as Springtrap felt like a blur. He could sharply remember his past-the deaths, running from the police, his final fight against the spirits of his victims-but after being Springlocked, everything got confusing.

Of course, it didn't help that he'd been locked up. Though blurry and confusing, Afton was rather sure that he'd been sealed into a single room for...a very long time. When the barricades holding him back had been removed and he'd finally been allowed to leave, to see the world again, he had...changed. He'd become little more than an animal, his mind breaking after so long.

His time free was the blurriest, foggiest part. He was rather sure that he'd been in the same building for some time, looking for someone. Then...Mike. It had been Mike, of course.

He could remember Mike shouting at him from the other side of the hall, then...

A burning pain shooting through his chest. Fire, fire everyone. A pounding sensation, slamming against a wall-

Then a desperate run. Coldness, numbness as he sunk through water.

Then dread as he was found by a familiar form. A wraith. A specter from the past.

Then a sudden rescue, with him desperately running, like an animal, to escape.

Then...he'd seen some advertisement on a billboard, and it had reawakened some form of memory inside him.

Waiting outside in the rain...

Electrical shocks, convulsing through his being...

Being lost. Hearing strange sounds all around him, trapped in the darkness...

A fight.

One final room.

And then, fire.

And then he was here.

William swallowed, eyes darting around as he tried to see exactly where he was. His body appeared to be stuffed into a suit-no, he was wearing a suit. When he looked outside, he saw nothing but darkness. He was in a black void, with a spotlight shining right on him. There was a wooden stool underneath him, that he was sitting on.

William shifted, reaching up to remove the head of the mascot costume so that he could see better, but-

A faint popping sound came from his arms, and William froze as he recognized that sound.

Springlocks.

Oh shit.

"I wouldn't recommend moving too much," a voice suddenly said, echoing in the void around him. "Those springlocks are a bit...weak. I wouldn't be surprised if the smallest factor caused a full, suitwide springlock failure. A bit of movement, a bit of moisture..."

William froze, terrified. Not just by the sudden threat hanging over him, but also by the voice he heard, echoing all around, almost omnipresent.

He knew that voice. It belonged to the one being in the universe he truly feared.

"You recognize this, don't you? You always loved Fredbear, didn't you? And you were so proud when Henry gave you a way to both wear the suit and to have it be an animatronic...until tragedy struck."