Baloons and Birthday Cake

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Everyone's here,
There's only one left.
Give them their happiest day.
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Ethan woke up even more confused than when he fell asleep. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes.
"Good god, this thing is like some dark soap opera" he mumbled before crawling out of bed. Considering what he now knew about Springtrap... he decided to try and talk to him while at the fright.
After helping the kids out of coarse.
"What did that shadow time bear guy even mean by happiest day?" Ethan mumbles while he tugged on his sweatshirt. He walked over to the kitchen, and started taking out the items needed for some cereal. "I didn't get any hints other than that... is it another poster window? I mean that would make sense... unless it's like the cupcakes again." Ethan scooped the cereal flakes into his mouth as he thought. Getting lost in his pondering. He then just shrugged and decided to just roll with it, it worked before after all. Soon enough he completely got dressed and made his way towards Fazbears Fright.
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Ethan walked into the fright and looked around. It was oddly quiet. He walked into the office and checked the monitors, he found Springtrap in a camera looking at a picture. From what Ethan could tell it was another crayon drawing of the puppet. He blinked at the screen. "What's this all about?"
"Hey Fart Face!"
Ethan turned and spotted phantom B.B. at the doorway. Behind him was the purple shadow bunny himself. He waved.
"You Gonna Do The Thing Or What?"
"Oh right! Well I don't know how to get there."
"Purple Fluff Back Here Will Show Ya. Get Moving Old Timer!" Ethan chuckled.
"Whatever you say Billy." And he stood up. The purple rabbit skipped ahead, but Ethan paused when he was next to the demon phantom. "So... what's your plan after this? You going to stick around?"
"Eh, Doubt It. This Place Is Boring. Maybe I'll Try That Wandering Spirit Gig For A Bit Who Knows." The phantom shrugged. "Or I Can Room With You. Doubt You'd Notice Anyway." He laughed. Ethan gave a nervous chuckle and decided not to comment. "Well good luck with whatever you do. Try not to get anyone killed this time."
"No Promises"
And with that Ethan started following after the purple rabbit. He was lead though the halls and into the room with the puppet drawing, there were present boxes thrown around that framed the room nicely. Springtrap had long since left, Ethan briefly wondered where he went but was distracted when The purple bunny nodded towards the image. Ethan understood. He reached a hand out and touched the drawing.
And Ethan's world went black.
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Ethan opened his eyes to find he was in a grey room, there were balloons and party favors decorating it, with tables of kids liking the walls, the kids had on various animal masks, Guess Ethan wouldn't stand out much with his bunny outfit.
"You made it." A familiar voice called, Ethan looked beside him and saw the long haired girl from the dream,
"Mari! ... Okay wow I'm not used to you being shorter than me" the girl laughed.
"Sorry if that startled you. Come on, we've got one more child to save." She loop her arm around Ethan's and lightly started to lead in foreword.
"So uh, I never got your name. Like your real one." Ethan commented, she smiled and looked up.
"My name is Marigold. Thank you for all of this Ethan" she had a relieved expression, like someone finally getting closure after many years. Ethan smiled back. "Glad I could help."
"Mister night guard!!!" Another little girl called out, she had on a white and pink fox mask, witch matched her playful attire, of a short sleeved shirt, skirt, and leggings with twin ponytails and sneakers. She ran up to the man and latched onto his leg.
"Mangle?" Ethan laughed and knelt down so she could hug him proper.
"Maggie! It's Maggie! I want you to meet my friends! They're here too!" She pointed over towards the party table she was sitting at, three other little kids were seated there, a boy with short hair and big glasses, wearing a plaid shirt and shorts sat there with a blue bunny mask in front of him. Another boy with curly hair and a camo pattern shirt looked up from his bear masked and waved. Finally a little girl with blonde hair tied up on a ponytail on her head wearing a puffy dress giggled and waved while wearing a bird mask. Maggie giggled and let go of Ethan. "They're here for the party!"
"A party?" Ethan questioned, looking at Marigold for some sort of explanation. The girl nodded and stated.
"It's her happiest day."
Ethan looked forward and saw the ghost kids from before, they all sat around a large table, with the twin bun girl seated at the end, she was curled up and looked sad, they all were monochrome colored, but the last girl looked especially dull. Ethan paused, turning to marigold he quietly asked. "So how come I never had to bring any of these kids cake? Or you for that matter?" He nodded towards Maggie and her friends. Marigold paused, then answered.
"I, along with them, were satisfied with just seeing out killer dead. We could move on with that alone, but the others... they weren't satisfied. They needed an extra helping hand to allow them to fully move on."
"Okay, but why are you here then if you already could move on to... whatever the next life is?" Ethan questioned. Maggie is the one who answered this time.
"Nobody gets left behind!" She cheerfully answered. Marigold nodded in agreement, Ethan started to understand. So he smiled.
"Nobody gets left behind." He quietly mumbled.
Ethan nodded to himself and stood up, Holding his hands out for the cake to once again appear, he was slightly surprised to see it was bigger than before, and the candles were all lit. He only paused a moment before Marigold held onto his arm and he smiled down at her. "Let's get this party started." Maggie had run back to her table as he walked forward, as he got closer to the table he found himself humming a birthday tune, he didn't know her name but he still continued. Soon enough he reached the tables, he felt all eyes on him as he placed the cake in the center. "Happy birthday kiddo, hope the wait was worth it." He grinned. The girl looked up, she reached a hand out towards the cake and grabbed its edge, recognition filled her eyes and she blinked up towards Ethan.
"...thank you" she mumbled quietly. She looked at the other kids at the table, Fritz nodded and the others looked at her expectantly.
"My name is Cassidy."
"Well Cassidy it's very nice to meet you. I'm Ethan." He smiled. Suddenly all the other kids started singing happy birthday, they all put on masks of the various animatronics they used to be, and Ethan soon saw Marigold had even put on a puppet mask. Ethan found himself joining the song.
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Cassidy,
Happy birthday to you!
And the candles were blown out. All the kids at the table suddenly stood up, colorful balloons appearing in their hands. And one by one they dropped their masks and started floating away. They all eagerly waved goodbye as they faded, Marigold lingered momentarily. She smiled and nodded, saying "you know what to do next" and soon joined the others.
Leaving Ethan alone in the now silent room.
But he wasn't alone for long. Soon enough he felt a presence behind him. He turned and saw the purple rabbit standing near the wall, he waved, and waited like he expected Ethan to follow him. Ethan turned back towards the table and saw a plate and a cake knife where they weren't before.
He knew what he had to do.
He picked up the knife and cut out a slice of the cake, he then carefully placed the piece onto the plate and picked it up, turning on his heels, he walked towards the purple bunny. Once he was close enough the bunny smiled, turned, and skipped through the wall. Ethan, who was now used to this invisible wall stuff, fallowed through. But instead of falling through a void he was greeted with a somewhat familiar room. It was the glitched purple room from before, with its static walls and black boarders stretching far above his head. Ethan looked foreword and saw a figure curled up against the wall, Purple Bunny was kneeled down next to him, smiling, and talking to him like an old friend.
The purple man didn't look up though. Not until Ethan had approached. This man's eyes looked tired, and sad, and Ethan knew full well what he did.
But he smiled. "Hey, what's up?" The purple man blinked, and tried to look away, but Ethan held out the cake slice, offering it to him. The purple man looked back, looking between the cake and Ethan with a baffled expression.
"I can't speak for the others.. but I think you have a chance. But it's your call if you want to take it, man." The purple figure looked over towards the purple rabbit, who nodded eagerly with a grin. Slowly, hesitantly, he reached a hand out and took the offered cake. He held it in front of him, as of contemplating the baked good in front of him. Then he slowly looked back up to Ethan. He opened his mouth and spoke.
"Thank you..."
Ethan smiled.
And Ethan's world went black.
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Ethan woke up back in his office. The building was oddly quiet and warm. He checked his phone
3AM
He still had time. So Ethan got up out of his seat and walked out of the doorway. He silently strolled though the attraction, looking at all the decorations since he had time now.
"...yah this place isn't that scary." He chuckled. "But it's got heart, so points for that?" He hummed as he continued looking around, he had gotten to the very end when he finally found who he was looking for.
Springtrap was sitting on the ground, looking up at a poster hung on the wall, it had a chibi rabbit smiling, but with the worn out quality of the poster it looked a little unnerving.
"Hey Spring," Ethan waved, getting the robots attention. "Mind if a join you?" The rabbit was quiet for a while, then sighed,
"Do what you will" So Ethan sat next to him. They had a comfortable distance though, mostly because Ethan was starting to notice the smell of death coming off of him. (How'd he not notice until now?) they both sat in silence.
Ethan eventually broke the silence.
"I don't think I ever properly introduced myself did I?" He whistled. "Kinda rude on my end, better fix that" he leaned over and extended a hand, like he was casually greeting someone new. "Names Ethan, Ethan Smith. Local disaster and twin of Fritz Smith." He grinned. "Pleasure to meet ya" Springtrap looked Quizzitively at the open hand, he hesitated. Then slowly took it with his own rotten paw.
"...William Afton, also known as Springtrap... dead murderer." He stayed quiet, Ethan tried not to wince at the feeling of something wet and sticky on the animatronics paws. After a quick shake he pulled back. "Gotta admit, did not expect for your name to be William. Not that it's bad of coarse"
"...you aren't familiar with that name?" The rabbit asked, a little baffled. "I believe your brother used to work under me... did he not talk about me?"
"To be honest, he only worked there like an Day and then just sorta ran off without a word."
"Oh" both fell silent, Ethan was apparently on a roll with trying to get some answers and boldly asked. "So uh... why'd you try and kill me anyway?" He asked, when he noticed Springtrap look away he added. "Be honest, I can take it if you just hated my face or something." He tried to lighten the mood with a joke. When Springtrap was still silent Ethan decided to just be patient, after a long moment the animatronic opened his mouth.
"I was... trapped in a room for a long time, I don't recall how long. I was angry, frustrated, god I just wanted to break something but I couldn't move. When I finally could I just wanted to kill the first unlucky fool I could find."
"And I was that fool?" Ethan asked, Springtrap slowly nodded. Ethan leaned back against the wall. "Yah that seems about right" both slipped into silence again, just looking at the wall ahead of them. Springtrap was studying every crack and loose cable hanging from the grossly colored wall. His mind slipping into unpleasant thoughts, he felt sick. Ethan's voice cut him out of his spiral though.
"You have any regrets Will?" The man asked, still looking up at the wall. Springtrap glanced over at him then looked down at his hands, they were a rotten green, and some of the foe fur had rot away from decades of neglect.
"...several" he replied darkly.
"If given the chance... would you try to atone for what you've done?" The animatronic didn't reply. But he looked to be thinking. "...I've got some stuff I need to work on myself. Best day to start is today right?" He chuckled, then looked at his phone to check the time.
5AM
"Aw, I gotta head out soon." He pushed himself up and off from the wall. "I'll see you... tomorrow then? Man the attraction opens in a few days, how time flys huh?"
"...opening?"
"This is a horror attraction? Kinda forgot that myself for a bit" Ethan laughs. "Guess that's what happens when you get swept up in ghost and murder antics"
"Right... it's a horror attraction"
"I wouldn't worry too much about it. You definitely look scary enough, don't even have to try hard to get people screaming. You'll be fine"
"I wasn't worried about that" Springtrap deadpanned Ethan snickered.
"Sure sure whatever you say." He smiled, paused, then added. "Maybe I should bring some cards."
"...what?"
"Some cards. We could play poker or go fish or.. Well any other games. We've got a whole night ahead and I'm pretty sure we'd get board stiff with nothing to do but talk and maybe look around. Might as well make a day of it" The man grinned. Springtrap seemed a little lost in thought, but nodded.
"Do what you will..."
"Well if your going to be like that maybe I'll bring some cake too. After everything that's happened this week I could honestly go for a slice" Ethan chuckled, and was surprised to hear Springtrap give a short laugh of his own.
"You... are something else aren't you?"
"Like I said, I'm the local disaster man." Ethan grinned. He then turned to walk towards the office, he was surprised to hear heavy footsteps follow him, glancing back he saw Springtrap had gotten up and was following behind him. Ethan shrugged and allowed the rabbit to follow him back to the office. As Ethan picked up his things he noticed Springtrap tapping away at the screen. Ethan was a little amused when he set off the sound cue and he immediately looked up and towards the direction of the laughter.
"Oh, oh for the love of." Ethan stuffed a laugh as Springtrap glared at the tablet then him. "I knew you were behind this" Ethan laughed as Springtrap huffed and tossed the tablet down at the table. Ethan twirled his car keys on his finger. "So see you same time Tomorrow then?" Ethan grinned while walking towards the door. He paused when Springtrap stayed quiet.
"Spring?" The rabbit looked up, and quietly nodded.
"Goodbye Ethan." The rabbit quietly said. Ethan waved and walked out the door, he was leaving a little early but it was almost 6am and he was sure he could get away with it once. But it wasn't until he was in his car and driving away that an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach.
Why did this feel so much like an ending? He helped save the kids, he's at least got the murderer on peaceful terms, and then there's Billy who said he was going to head out... he didn't see that demon after the happiest day. And then there was the way Springtrap spoke. He sounded so sure that this was the end. But Ethan was coming back tomorrow so why send him off like that?
"Maybe it's just nerves finally catching up to me" Ethan shook his head. Deciding against worrying himself he instead looked foreword to tomorrow, he'd have to dig though some cabinets but he was sure he had a deck of cards somewhere. So he drove off and left the Fazbears fright to fade into the distance.
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Ethan got home and thankfully didn't take too long to find his card deck, it was well warn with use but had a thin layer of dust on the top. "We meet again old friend" he chuckled as he dusted it off with his hoodie sleeve. He placed the deck on the counter. "I'll go to the store before I head to work, maybe I'll go to that one grocery store that sells cake slices for like a dollar" Ethan muses to himself. He paused though, his mind drifting back to the kids. "Hope they're alright now. Wherever they are." He sighs, then walks over to the pantry. "Wonder if I still got that hot chocolate mix?"
Soon enough Ethan is sitting down at the couch with a cup of hot chocolate, flipping though the Channels until he lands on a c tier horror movie, he sips his hot drink as the slasher saws into a low quality prop of a screaming teenager. "I wonder if I can sneak in some movies to show spring?" He wonders. He didn't see a tv in the fright, but maybe he could play movies on the tablet? Eh, he'd figure something out. Eventually he finished his drink and decided to call it a night early. He had to go out for groceries before work and figured he'd might as well head to bed now. Changing into his sleepwear Ethan crawled into bed and turned off the lights. He laid on his back, the bruises from earlier fading so they didn't hurt as bad as before, and it wasn't long until he drifted off into sleep.
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The walls were covered in a blue plaid pattern. There was a doorway on the other side of the room,
He knew someone he was looking for was on the other side.
So he ran.
It felt like his shoes were filled with cement,
The hallway stretching out longer and further.
But he refused to give up.
He refused to stand idly by this time.
He reached out a hand and called his name.
But his footing faltered and he fell into a hole he didn't previously see,
He fell down and down until the blue walls turned purple and....
"Hello again!" Ethan looked up and saw the purple bunny across from him.
"Sorry for interrupting, I just uh... hm. Well I guess I wanted to say goodbye."
"Goodbye?" Ethan echoes.
"Yah goodbye, I know how Will gets, wanting to go down in a blaze of glory."
"Blaze of glory? What are you talking about?" Ethan tried to approached, but was pushed by by a gust of blistering heat.
"I wanted to say goodbye since... well I'm not sure if I'll see you again." The rabbit hummed and approached. "Figured I'd be nice and take a hit for Willy here." Ethan was silent and stood confused as the rabbit was now standing in front of him. The purple shadow took the man's hand in his own, he felt warm to the touch. "Take good care of him okay? I think he could use someone like you as a friend, even if he denies it at first." The rabbit hummed. Ethan nodded, thought was still confused. Was the purple rabbit leaving? What was going on. Instead of asking questions, Ethan silently smiled. He was filled with a sense of calm, that the rabbit would be okay.
"Catch you on the flip side" Ethan said, as the rabbit let go and walked away into the heat.
Ethan was pulled away into a cool blue sky, looking up he felt like he was floating in a lake of stars.
It was a pretty dream.

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