Dead Set. || PURPLEPHONE

Funtime Freddy.

(( IDK SQUAT ABOUT THE NEW CUTSCENES (don't spoil pls!!!!! I'm going to be playing thru them this afternoon when my dad gets home (he's also a fnaf nerd i cri)) BUT

[INSERT A GIANT PILE OF LORE THAT I'VE SINCE REDACTED BC I WANT YOU GUYS TO FIGURE IT OUT FOR YOURSELVES] 

oh well i guess ive already screwed up the timeline enough does it really matter if i screw it up some more i need material here i am but a poor author. i live in a potato sack. i can only feed my children with the scraps of lore scott gives me. 

THIS CHAPTER IS ONE GIANT JUICY STEAK OF LORE. THAT'S IT I'M BREAKIN AWAY FOLKS, BREAKIN AWAY FROM CANON AND BEATIN MY OWN TWISTED PATH AND I THINK YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT! omg it's actually really cool. THEORISE AWAY!!!!!!!!! 

sorry for the quality kdfjdkj believe it or not Scott was not meant to faint last chapter he just did bc he's a frickin sissy and then I had no idea what I was supposed to do with him. Gdi, Scott. ))

The first thing Scott was aware of, before even the feeling of the cold tiles against his stomach, was the metal piercing into his back. 

Something light and soft tickled against his bare skin, the tattered shreds of what must once have been the back of his shirt. He kept his cheek pressed flat against the icy ground, his half-open, glassy eyes keeping track of the puffs of fog that appeared every time he breathed.

Don't make a sound.

The ballerina's fingers drifted down Scott's back and Scott had to hold his breath to keep from squirming or laughing. His skin was far too sensitive to be tickled like this. 

"Scott," a voice hissed from somewhere in front of him. It was barely recognisable but Scott knew who it was. What did he think he was doing, calling out to Scott? If he made a noise Ballora would kill him instantly. 

Although, with the distraction, her fingers had stopped trailing around his back.

"Scott," the voice hissed again, "If you're alive, move your fingers a little. She can't see your movement!"

Ballora shifted. Scott could hear the clacking of animatronic parts, feel an incredible pressure as she pushed down on his spine as if to pin him to the floor, "Is someone there?" 

She's not sure if I'm alive or already dead, Scott realised. She's going to wait here until I make a sound and she can kill me. Like hunting. Cat and mouse. Playing with her prey. 

Scott gently clenched his fingers into a fist and unclenched them again, taking extra care not to drag his sleeve across the tile. He wasn't going to trust even the slightest sound. 

He heard Vincent mutter a curse under his breath. Obviously he'd seen Scott move, then. He didn't have time to think about the fact that Vincent was somewhat pissed off that Scott was still alive - it was understandable. Now, Vincent had to try to figure out a way to get Scott out of the situation, which was going to take more time and probably end up with both of them dead.

Scott would have been pissed, too. 

Rustling. Gentle rustling. Scott couldn't see where Vincent was, but he could hear him sliding out from somewhere diagonally left of him. Ballora heard it too. She pressed harder down on Scott's back, and Scott had to bite his lip to stop from crying out. 

"I can hear someone creeping through my room..." Ballora said. 

"Yeah."

Scott stiffened as he heard Vincent's voice. He was speaking quietly, but he wasn't far away enough. He was barely a few metres away! What did he think he was doing?!

"Yeah, you can hear someone, you spidery piece of demented scrap parts." 

No. No, Vincent was going to get himself killed doing this! Ballora could understand at least some of the things she was told and angering a murderous ballerina was not a good idea. Her hand was lifting from his back. Scott could hear gears clicking, springs coiling back. She was going to leap at him. Damnit. 

"I can not see you. But I know what you look like. She has told me about you. Described your voice to me. Soothing and deep, sly and violent. You are the reason we are trapped."

There was silence from a while. Scott frowned to himself as Ballora's hand disappeared entirely from his spine. What the hell is she talking about?

"You- understand me? I've never been here before," Vincent muttered, and Scott could just barely see an outline shifting slightly backwards in the darkness. His eyes were adjusting quickly, "I didn't know you existed until about five minutes ago." 

"No. But you were there," Ballora shifted away from Scott. Closer to the fuzzy outline of Vincent, "You were there, with her, and you made us." 

Scott gently, gently let his arms extend on the tile. The door was only five metres away. Maybe, if he could just wiggle a little, crawl like an axolotl just a little bit further... 

"You've got me mixed up with someone else," Vincent's voice had lowered still, quieter and deeper until it was just a low murmur. Was he planning to trail off into silence? Or was he still trying to distract her away from Scott? "I didn't make anyone." 

Scott carefully, quietly pushed himself up. Barely a few inches off the floor, but enough that he could plank walk without his stomach dragging on the ground. He pushed himself forwards.

"He was inspired by you. He worked on the team that dealt with her place. He saw what you had done and he wanted to try and succeed in where you had failed. He didn't just want to create life. He wanted to control it."

Scott stiffened for one second. For just one snippet of a second Ballora's words flitted through the recesses of his mind, but he didn't have time to focus on them. What mattered was getting Vincent and himself out alive. Don't reply, Vincent, don't reply! Let's just focus on getting out with our internal organs intact! He glanced over to the side. Vincent had stopped moving. Frick!

"He... he made you?" Vincent asked, his head tilting slightly as his eyes narrowed, "He... created... you, you're... alive." 

Scott glanced over once again, his fingers barely two metres away from the door frame, and he almost lost his balance. Vincent was grinning. Vincent was grinning and he was inching towards Ballora, his hand outstretched.

No, no, no! Scott's eyes widened. What could he do!? If he made a noise, Ballora would know she was being fooled and she would kill them both. But by the time he got over to Vincent Ballora would already have sprung out at him and attacked him! 

 Scott let himself give way, dropping once again to the tile and rolling over as fast as he could. His eyes never left Vincent as he reached down to his shoe and pulled at the laces, tearing mindlessly at the strings. 

"How did he do it?" Vincent whispered, his voice dazed and oddly entranced, "How did he-"

Scott pulled off his shoe, reached up, and threw it as far as he could away from Vincent and himself. 

Ballora pulled back, away from Vincent's hand. She spun around to face the direction of the noise, "Three. Three! Three in my room! Three- or two? Two, there are two. Was there one? Or two?" 

She doesn't have object permanence, Scott thought to himself as he shifted himself backwards on the floor. She can't remember whether I was actually here or not because she can't hear me anymore. As long as I stay quiet, I don't exist.

He kept his eyes trained on Ballora as he edged himself back carefully towards the Breaker Room. She was still staring off into the direction of where Scott's shoe had landed, but she was still. Had she already forgotten that there was anyone in the room with her at all? 

Something warm brushed against his hand and he jumped, a jolt slicing through him. He would have called out if not for the other hand which quickly wrapped around his mouth.

Scott relaxed back into Vincent, feeling his heart beat slow and steadily against Scott's back. Together, in a kind of crab-like dance, they shifted back on the floor and over the threshold of the breaker room.