Deceptive

Haze

Riley figured that she should have felt something.

Maybe sadness? A very, very, very small part of her cared for William Afton. The one that she knew back before the accident. She knew that that version of him was not who he truly was, though.

Maybe some sort of weird relief? He wouldn't come back to haunt her and the rest of her family ever again. He wouldn't be able to try and control her ever again.

Or maybe shock at her actions? She had killed him and stooped down to his level.

But in reality, Riley felt numb and nothing else. Despite her hard, shaky breathing and the tears streaming down her face, she felt numb and nothing else. She tried to force herself to feel something but it didn't work.

After what could've easily been thirty seconds or thirty minutes, she could see somebody appear in her peripheral vision.

"Miles," she managed to force out.

"Riley," he greeted. "It's good to have you back. Do you know what's transpired since the warehouse burned down?"

"For the most part? No. But I can guess."

"What do you remember?"

Riley paused, still not turning to fully look at her brother. She racked her brain for concrete memories but it was difficult to find anything.

She could recall being in that hallway underneath the warehouse after the stairwell collapsed.

It was pitch black. Everything part of her ached or stung horribly. The only thing she could see was the blue lights of The Wolf's eyes as it tried to drag her away. She struggled as hard as could and eventually managed to wrench her ankle free.

She only stumbled a couple of feet away before it tackled her to the floor. The burning hot, sharp metal pieces that framed its body stabbed into her flesh. It cut her with its long claws and bit into her with its rows and rows of sharp teeth.

Riley fought as hard as she could to keep it off but it was hard to avoid attacks that she couldn't see.

She was losing a lot of blood. It quickly became difficult to stay conscious and to keep hitting back...

She couldn't breathe!

"Well, I remember dying..."

Riley could hear her father's voice in the very back of her head, his words starting off as completely incomprehensible.

"And when I first woke back up, I think..."

"Elizabeth... Wake up."

Riley was immediately greeted with blurry vision and a metallic taste in her mouth. She coughed and there was definitely blood.

Everything hurt like red hot needles were stabbing directly at every nerve in her body.

Her torn-up clothes clung to her body with blood, far more blood than should have been allowed outside of her body if she was still breathing.

William Afton, her father, stood in front of her. There was a nasty, unsettling grin plastered on his face that was partially hidden by a molting, discolored mascot head.

A hulking creature sat behind him, slightly obscured by a wheeled metal table. It sputtered and growled, its empty gaze finding hers.

A bit to the left of the creature stood somebody that she couldn't make out all that well. They were mostly concealed by shadows.

"Don't call me that name."

"I'm just trying to help you, Elizabeth." Afton's hand reached for her face.

Riley flinched away. She instinctively tried to bring her arms in front of herself, only to find that she couldn't. Chains strung them up and prevented her from doing so. "Don't fucking touch me! I'd rather choke on my own fucking fingers than get help from you."

"Elizabeth—"

Scott, it was like he kept saying it just to annoy her.

"Stop calling me that!"

"And that's it..."

"Perhaps that is for the better. Some things are best left forgotten."

Riley didn't really know how to interpret that but didn't doubt that Miles was right. She had a strange feeling that she didn't want to remember what was missing.

"Miles?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think... that," she nodded towards the body on the floor, "was because my head was still fogged up, or...?"

"It's difficult to say. It is possible that you still weren't quite there, but it's also possible that your years of pent-up anger and resentment finally got the better of you..." Miles paused. "Believe whatever you think seems more likely."

Riley was still unsure. If she was being honest with herself, both of those seemed just as likely.

There was a long drawn-out silence between them.

"I know that everything feels strange and confusing to you right now, but I feel that I must remind you where we are and that we cannot remain here for too long. Father may finally be dead and gone, but one of his dangerous creations -- the one that brought an end to you -- is still roaming free. Your friends may need help taking it down. Your help."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." Riley rose to her feet and forced herself to regain her usual composure.

If she could keep her fear, self-doubt, resentment, self-hatred, and trauma locked deep inside for nearly seventeen years, she damn well ought to be able to do it again now.

...And then maybe after all of this, she'd finally try to find a healthier way to deal with those things.

"I'll see you soon, Miles."

For the last time, Riley turned her back on William and started to leave the room.

"Hopefully you will." Miles vanished again.

As Riley walked, she undid the straps connecting the pincer to her arm. She really didn't want the thing anymore. Seeing the blood and brain matter clinging to it was making her kinda nauseous. And even if it didn't, the Spring bonnie head and her father's skull had busted it so it wasn't useful anymore anyway.

There were a few different wires connected to it that fed straight into her arm, but Riley didn't care about the consequences of pulling them out, so she did just that. Spots of crimson started to appear under the bandages on her arm. It didn't matter. She let the pincer loudly fall to the floor.

"Now, where has everybody gone?"