Was that a fanfic?

Collected fics of Was-that-a-Pun

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

Waiting…

Chapter 20: A Pretty Bad State

Last< --- >Next

The operating theater was, thankfully, free of red smoke as he sloshed and scrambled his way through the vent. A mess of gooey arms dripping out to shove the construction light out of the way as he used wall beams and railing to drag them out of the vents narrow space.

Recorded voices looped from every corner as he gulped lungfuls of clean air and he tried his best to ignore them as he pulled himself back into a shape that made sense.

The fight was going out of her and he was scared to think too hard about whether that was a good or a bad thing. Her skin was so hot as he carefully moved her to lean against the wall and hesitantly unfolded from around her.

There was a surprising lack of resistance when he pulled the gas mask off, unsure if smoke could be trapped inside and wanting her to get as much fresh air as she could.

She only weakly grasped at his arm, no longer trying to dig her nails in; And he wasn’t sure if she was trying to hold onto him or push him away as they slid gripless down the clay surface.

Her eyes were unfocused, pupils dilated and darting. Tears lined her cheeks as her lips continued moving, still speaking to something not there.

How was she even still conscious? He’d seen so so many different reactions to the smoke over the years, but staying not just awake but functional that deep into the nightmares? He was pretty sure the only reason she was finally starting to wear out now was because of the struggle he’d put her through.

She’d stilled enough that he could hold her hand while leaning against the wall at her side. He ran cooler than a regular person did, being dough and all, he hoped it might offer some comfort from the fever.

He could feel the tremble running through her. No part of him was willing to leave her side while she recovered.

He was very used to this actually. Used to playing the caretaker, to standing watch, wondering if someone would ever wake up-

But this was…different.

Had she even needed him? He was used to being the defacto leader, the protector. But she’d been doing fine without him, probably would have managed to make it through on her own if his concern had sent him pushing her over the edge.

This wasn’t a critter in his care, or a bigger body who’d run out of their luck, or one of the final few employee’s struggling to survive (he hadn’t thought about that in a long long time)

He’d saved her from falling sure, but would she have ended up in that situation either if she had gone alone like she’d wanted to? The fear of losing her so soon after - (After so long…after never having anything like it…after thinking he would never have it again)

She was a real person from the real world beyond Playtime, an adult even before the hour of joy had shut the factory down. This was their/his/our mother. Everything she’d done had been to find him, to try and save and protect him.

He was so used to being whatever was needed. Couldn’t remember a time when everyone else wasn’t his responsibility. (Kevin scoffed in the back of their mind, the noise Jack made was more of sad concern. None of them had a way of knowing the term ‘parentification’ but they’d certainly reached a few conclusions regarding how the adults so many years ago had a habit of expecting Matthew to be in charge of everyone) it was hard to consider the opposite.

Would she be upset that he -

The hand, which had been limp in his own squeezed ever so gently cutting into his spiraling thoughts as she breathed a little more evenly.

-

Susan sat in Jack’s empty bedroom, the Doey figure held limply cupped in her hands as George read the letter again that had arrived slipped under their front door.

The man she loved, had built her life with before losing it all, was pale and glass eyed, his chest hung open in a perfect Y from the autopsy that had ‘proven’ his peaceful death of a heart attack in his sleep.

She’d never seen him like this, hadn’t seen him after he’d collapsed against the locked door in playtime. But she’d been forced to hear the autopsy report in the hospital in some strange perverse attempt to make her ‘accept’ the ‘reality’ of what had happened and this wraith she’d conjured up had sat in the back of her mind ever since.

His words drifted past her, reminding her that Jack was gone, this was obviously some sick joke someone with access to Playtime letterhead was playing, not to get her hopes up- The voice was fading out as it droned on and the bedroom along with it, dissipating like…

Like smoke.

The corpse of her husband took her hand in his and it was cold, but not the clammy chill of the dead and instead the soft give of dough.

Her heart was pounding in her ears but the world was coalescing into grey concrete and metal railings and a recorded, looping voice.

sigh

“Anything yet?”

She looked right through him, The last of the red smokes nightmares clinging to her most long lived fear. The one she’d lived through every day for over a decade.

The absence of her son.

“No nothing. Cognitive functionality appears minimal at best.”

The opposite actually, as fresh air filled her lungs and cleared her mind and she slowly began to regain focus. She blinked and he was suddenly there, right in front of her.

She couldn’t move right, couldn’t get the words off her tongue to reassure him, but her gaze was focused on him and only him when she gently squeezed the dough hand that held and that was enough to light the hope in his eyes.

She managed a smile, small and exhausted as it was, and forced herself away from the wall to collapse against him in a hug.

-

“W-you’re here, why are you here? Are you okay? The traps! Did you-” Her speech was slurred with exhaustion she broke the hug to grab his other arm, checking him over for frost.

“The smoke, are you alright? I’m so sorry.” She finally seemed to realize where they were. “You, I -”

It took a bit to calm her down, to reassure her that he wasn’t hurt and that he’d avoided the doctors traps and to explain how he’d found her and how they’d gotten there.

She couldn’t seem to settle on whether she was more worried about the risks’ he’d taken to get to her or relief that he’d made it unscathed. Both were shortly overtaken with a different worry (and maybe a little embarrassment) at what she may have said and done while under the red smokes influence.

“When I found you, you were working on getting to the vent to get in here, didn’t even really need help I… I just got worried…You were were talking to dad when I found you, but you knew he wasn’t real, you told him as much. I don’t think you could see me. ”

She sighed, running her hands over her face as she took deep breaths and chased away the last of the haze.

“That can’t have been pleasant to witness. I’m so sorry you saw that, sweetie. …And I can’t imagine I was easy to deal with getting me in here.”

Okay which part of them had the best poker face? Kevin? Probably Kevin…

He gave a noncommittal shrug, glancing down at the poor PJ below as he answered.

“You weren’t exactly happy about it but I wouldn’t call it a problem.”

Oh wait none of them had poker faces.

She gave a sidelong glance that tried and failed to disguise her doubt. He wondered if she’d notice the dough under her nails and put two and two together, he hoped she didn’t.

The moment hung, but instead of pushing, her attention was drawn to the recording as it looped yet again.

“Ugh great send him up to secondary lab maybe they can scrounge up something”

She tsked.

“I swear that stupid recording is going to make me snap harder than the red smoke did.”

Doey snorted, nodding in agreement. He’d destroyed a few nearby speakers before settling down besides her but that left more than a few in the rest of the observation theater.

The Doctor was a big fan of weaponizing recordings, Doey was all to familiar with the tactic.

She reassured him he wouldn’t have to deal with any of his games for much longer.

-

“This ones reads 1398.” He read the tag as he plucked it from the pugapillar’s ear, handing it to her to join the rest.

She nodded, looking the tags she still had in hand, the others back in the first room tucked into their respective screens.

“Good, that should be the last one…and the last number in the code too, if I’m understanding their little puzzle right.”

Head shoulders knees and toes after all.

“It’s…not going to be an easy time getting out of here. This filters spent and I seem to have hit enough of a nerve that the ‘good’ doctor has shut down the replacements.”

Doey looked over the filter in her hand and did that same patting-himself-down motion he’d done when he’d given her back her spare flashlight, after a moment and a little bloop he plucked a fresh filter from somewhere in his side.

“Is this the right kind? I found it lookin for ya, thought it might come in handy! Might be able to seal up the glass too, just wont be as easy to see.”

She handed the mask over, the filter fitting perfectly.

It was careful work but with some effort he was able to fill the cracks and gaps he could find in the mask and, while not perfect, it was a lot better sealed than it had been.

The door was still locked, there was the vent sure… but also a conveniently placed large red button. It didn’t go where they expected though, the cables leading back up to the second level. But with how thick the red smoke pressed at the window maybe that was a good thing.

A door they’d overlooked lead out onto a bridge skirting the tops of the labyrinthian walls below. The smoke was so thick it was spilling up through the grates, licking at their ankles as lost voices continued endlessly from below.

“- Do you think they'll be nice to me-”

“-Why can't i feel anything?”

“- you're safe here -“

So many lies, so many lives, and all for what?

The door at the other end slid opened with a hiss and Doey sucked in a breath of fresh air as they entered. It hadn’t been nearly as long to hold his breath but that didn’t mean it was any more enjoyable.

The room on the other side was surprisingly sparse, An exit sign glowed ahead, a small door (probably a utility closet) and an oversized plug were set into the wall to the left and on the right-

His mom had her hands cupped around her face as she peered through the glass.

“Well what do we have here.”

-

The sign over the door read: VITAL SYSTEM CENTER

A sad looking human liver floated in the tank of a machine inside.

If she hadn’t known who that was – or if this had been done to nearly anybody else Susan would have felt bad for them, maybe even considered what she intended to do an act of mercy.

But Susan was not feeling the tiniest bit merciful as she began to trace the cables so they could get inside.

Speakers crackled to life as they descended the stairs and found themselves back in a very familiar looking operating room.

You don't even realize you're pawns in someone else's game.

They ignored him, Susan instead pointing out the extremely thick sheet of reinforced glass that now lay on the floor.

“Wow, if Playtime’s little puzzle gives us any trouble I know what we’re trying next.”

Doey giggled, ducking bashfully as they made their way over to the screens.

“How did you get in, mom? It was locked pretty tight.”

Susan slid the gasmask off before she tucked the tags into their respective screens and checked the poster again

“It was wide open when I got here, only locked itself after I entered. I hope it wasn’t too hard for you to get here.”

“Poppy told me how to come find you, Didn’t want to cause you’d said I should stay in safe haven-” he nudged her ever so gently with his hip, still giving her a good bump as she entered the code so she needed to enter it again “But when I was going to go anyway she told me everything she’d found to look out for.”

She's playing you and you don't even CARE.

Susan was laughing as she nudged him back, not shifting him an inch, and finally entered the correct code to a cheery little beedldee!

“Good. Poppy, has the right-”

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HER AND I…

There was something different to this outburst, making them both jump. Exchanging a glance of surprise at the pause that followed before Sawyer continued more calmly. Was he getting nervous?

The sudden shift in tone made them more wary, wondering what last minute tricks my be waiting for them. The backpack slid slowly off Susan’s should as they both eyed the cameras wearily.

He had their attention now.

The ONLY difference, is that what I fight for actually gains humanity SOMETHING.

Otherwise, what was ANY of this worth? Would you simply make all that sacrifice meaningless?"

“You know it’s funny-” Susan gripped the crowbar tight in her hand as she glared down the cameras defiantly. “-that’s what White said too! He never was able to say just what he thought was being gained. Not that it would have helped him much in the end. Took awhile to track him down but…I made sure of that.”

She pantomimed a push and watching a long fall off a short balcony.

“And he was at least smart enough not to end up being forced to undergo his own procedures.”

The smile she flashed the camera was sharp and dangerous as she once again donned the gasmask and moved toward the stairs.

Doey followed, moving to wait at the far wall as she turned to the door of the Vital Systems Center, noting the plug set into the wall.

“But let’s be honest here.”

The door slowly slid up and suddenly there was nothing between them.

“What you bastards were doing here was always meaningless.”

"My MY Mrs. Ayers, I expected a bit more moral conflict from you."

Susan stalked up to the tank, checking over the claw of her crowbar as she tsked

“You hurt my son, Sawyer. There are no morals here.”

There was no hesitation, only a glance back for Doey’s approval, which he gave with a solemn nod.

“Just like there’s no you, either.”

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

This land confuses your mind

Chapter 19: Your Safest Path

Last< --- >Next

The puddle lay still, waiting in the silence for something other than the gentle melody of ~head shoulder knees and toes~.

Then a hat rose from the center, then a head, then the rest of Doey as he eyed the room wearily.

Even now, after narrow pipes and harrowing ice traps Doey was conflicted.

She’d asked him not to come, to stay in safe haven for its protection, and her peace of mind.

He’d never actually promised that he would stay though, just shrugged noncommittally and avoided eye contact as she’d looked up at him with eyes so filled with worry and care.

He made a low concerned noise as he took the place in, the halls past either of the door that did open were absolutely flooded with red smoke. Was she out in that? He just needed to know she was okay.

The image of her falling wouldn’t leave his head, of how clearly he could hear her scream even through the thick walls of the prison cells.

She was okay. She had to be okay. He was sure of it. He was just making sure.

“I mean, it’s not like she hasn’t done just fine on her own.”

He found some paper on the floor but it offered no real clues, just a memo about the place and procedure. He’d never been here to the secondary labs before now but every toy knew the quiet threat of it.

He crumpled the page and kept looking with a grumble.

“Just tosses herself over ledges no problem. ‘I’ve jumped gaps almost double that plenty of times!’ Yeah that’s reassuring.”

The body on the table didn’t even register, far too common of a feature around here.

“Can’t even pretend she’s gonna make rational decisions, Mrs. ‘Not a lot of other options.’.”

He toyed with the dispenser, inspecting the filter that tumbled out and tucking it into the dough at his hip. Could come in handy.

“Then again. If she did, she never would have found us! Or kept trying for twelve freakin years…”

He studied the monitors, at first uncertain if they were stagnant images or video feeds till a swirl of smoke danced about a screen.

“Might be able to just wait -” he mused as the images on the screen slowly became more obscured by the building smoke. “If it gets dense enough she might just light the whole mess, find her that way.”

Definitely not what he was going to do, but something told him she would have approved of the joke with no small amount of amusement.

He just needed something so he knew she was out there!

Motion caught his attention on the top center screen, a handless Huggy Wuggy, as a figure just barely stumbled against its container and into screen.

There wasn’t much, a shoulder, the side of a face covered in a gas mask that even on the grainy black and white screen he could recognize for what it was, the edge of her pack. It was just a momentary glimpse but he had no doubt who it had been.

She was close (probably).

She was alive.

Now he just had to get to her and make sure she was okay.

He glanced at the door to the left, furthest from the monitor bank he stood before, but he decided he’d go that way first.

Red smoke pressed and roiled ominously against the tiny window. While he was among those lucky enough to not hallucinate from the red smoke (a rare stroke of luck in all three of his lives) it still would knock him out.

But he’d also figured out a long time ago that he could hold his breath for an exceptionally long time. So before stepping forward enough for the door to open and the smoke to come tumbling in he took a deep breath in.

And in.

And in.

And into the maze he went.

-

Susan was not in the maze any longer.

The factory corridor stretched and stretched and stretched before her.

Plush fabric Wuggy arms stretched and stretched from behind to wrap around her throat.

Tightening so... so slowly.

They pulled.

They squeezed.

Her hand came instinctively to her throat even though Susan knew nothing was there, but she didn’t stop moving.

“Some have lost their way and never found it again, but Mommy won't let that happen to you.”

Susan could hear the creak and stretch of plastic limbs as the singsong voice came from nowhere and everywhere.

“You swore-”

Her foot caught on fallen canvas and she stumbled Mommy slammed her into the wall, pink face inches from the cracked leaking glass of the gas mask. The green of her eyes barely visible with pupils dilated to the size of dinner plates in her rage.

“You LIED. You were going to find them - save them. You said you would get them OUT OF HERE. But you’re just as USELESS of those employees! Just here to steal MY children from me!”

She didn’t argue, pushed away the hand that wasn’t there and stumbled onward as Mommy’s voice dropped into a snarl of cold fury that echoed after her.

“GIVE HIM BACK TO ME!!”

Susan hit a corner and kept going, she had to find that final tag.

Pain shot through her hand as she blindly ran it along barbed wire. The sharpened tips of Barb’s pencils stung as they stabbed into her hand, Miss Delight swinging it back to bounce the ruler handle against her free palm.

“I really thought you had a chance.”

The familiar doll was even more bloodied and damaged than what Susan was used to.

“Barb is especially disappointed.”

Her head was a crushed mess and there was blood and viscera staining down her dress.

“But you said yourself, this is it. You knew you weren’t coming back.”

The doll sighed, looking out at the decimated grounds of Playcare. Following along after Susan as she continued onward.

“You knew this was the end. You wanted this to be the end.”

Suddenly the teacher was in front of her again and Susan stuttered weak argument despite herself.

“N-no Del, I-”

A cold, blood slicked hand cupped her cheek as if the gasmask wasn’t there.

“You know what this is, nightmares tell us the truths we don’t want to admit to ourselves. There’s a point where you have to admit it’s over Susan.

Tears streaked their way down Susan’s cheeks as she weakly shook her head in denial.

“It’s time to rest dear.”

-

The red smoke just kept getting thicker, for a moment Doey considered stretching up over the walls to keep above the maze and the smoke. But the effort to either climb between them or to balance wasn’t worth the trouble. The corridor fed straight into an exam room which he peeked into but found empty, he left a smudge of clay on the wall to remind himself he’d gone right first.

A voice drew his attention. But that was just a dead end with a dead toy and a creepy recording he tried his hardest to ignore.

He went back to look at a corridor he’d skipped, this one enclosed and each wall lined with work stations of screens and terminals and switches, most dead but a few glowing with static. He was half surprised when none flickered to life with that all seeing eye to mock him.

A second exam room stood on the other side of a window. But it was clear the room was empty so he passed it by when he finally made it to the door that stood open. Just bothering to leave another smudge to mark his passing.

He almost didn’t follow the second recording, but the part that was only Matthew didn’t want to risk missing something and insisted. He was glad he hadn’t skipped it because they were met with the very green wuggy that they’d been looking for. She’d been here, and not long ago!

There was another noise now, a rhythmic constant one. Like metal hitting glass?

Maybe an automated door blocked somewhere? He stretched up but saw nothing, but it gave him a slightly better idea which direction the sound was coming from. So at least there was that.

Back to the window that looked into the exam room, head right not left. The sound grew louder as he rounded the corner and came to the door at the other end of that same stupid exam room.

There was a smudge on the wall, he’d almost got turned around back the way he’d come if not for his own markers.

The sound stopped and he carefully moved forward. Stretching to just barely peek around the chain link and fabric covered column and very nearly gasped when he spotted the familiar pack.

He wanted to call out to her, but resisted the urge. It was a good distance back to the clean air of that first room after all.

She must have been chipping away at the seal of the reinforced window set in the security door, trying to do the same thing he had, but without the bulk to back it up.

But she seemed to be admitting defeat as he neared and in an exhausted but fluid motion she swung the heavy pack off. She turned to sag into the wall beside the door, the act giving him a side view of her as she clasped the crowbar back into it’s place on her pack.

The gasmask was like a jumpscare, sending a shiver down his spine as she turned. The visage a bogeyman of impending punishment or procedure so ingrained it was hard not to feel uneasy at the sight of it.

She was talking. Quietly, sternly, and he didn’t think much of it at first (considering his own propensity to voice his thoughts when alone, talking to himself in both a literal and metaphorical sense from time to time.) But as he got close enough to hear he realized it wasn’t just self talk.

She pressed the gasmask to her face, her other hand blocking part of the glass as she took a deep breath. She pushed off the wall and walked forward out of sight and he realized she hadn’t noticed him.

Around that corner he found her in a dead end. Shoving a body away from where it slumped against the wall and he finally drew close enough to hear her.

Her voice was muffled by the mask as she looked at him and he got his first good look at it and how badly damaged it actually was.

“...no, don’t say that.”

No.. not at, toward. Her focus aimed just slightly to the left of him.

“George-”

The name, a third familiar yet so so distant, sent a shock through him. The pain in her voice even more so.

“But you knew there was something wrong - that Playtime was up to something.”

She felt along the wall over the corpses head, moving carefully across till she hit the rough stone jutting out then tracing up. She didn’t look down, instead feeling along till she found the block by her feet and started to drag it to the spot she’d just marked for herself.

“I know, I know. It’s my fault you’ll never know them… Oh George you would have been so proud of our boy… our boys. Jack and Matthew and Kevin... You would have loved them, loved Doey.”

There was that ache again, that shock at just how sincere her words seemed. He realized she couldn’t see past the hallucinations, she was working by feel, trying to make a way up to the vent above her head now that the door proved impassable. She seemed to be setting up the pair of cubes to get high enough to scale the rock outcropping and from there in.

“I’ve missed you so much- I know you don’t mean that, I know you’re not here.”

He was torn. She couldn’t see him through the hallucinations, He couldn’t say anything because the moment he took a breath he’d start to pass out from the smoke (he may not be effected with nightmares but that came at the cost of it knocking him out hard and fast) and even with his considerable lung span he was starting to reach his limits.

She’d started to mumble something about extraction specialists and when he touched her shoulder she yanked away from him, snarl audible even through the thick leather and glass.

“No. You will not touch me, I don’t care WHAT they ordered you to do.”

She was losing her grip, starting to slip into the hallucinations as a faceless extraction specialist cornered her.

The part that was only Jack wanted to get her out of there as fast as possible, but was scared they could hurt her. The part that was just Matthew thought they should help her. The part that was all Kevin was worried they would get in her way, upset her, and thought they should let her finish things herself.

He glanced back at the door she’d been trying to get into and it looked smoke free.

She faltered, sagging slightly and having to catch herself as her consciousness threatened to fade and panic shot through him, propelling him forward.

It wasn’t the first time he’d pulled something or someone through a vent system, but he didn’t expect so much of a fight. Usually if someone was hallucinating this much from the red smoke they would barely even be conscious by this point but someone, apparently, had forgotten to give one Susan Ayers the memo.

She fought, she clawed, if the mask wasn’t in the way she would have probably tried to bite, he just barely kept her from pulling the crowbar on him.

Their focus split, each individual part taking a task as dough flowed around her.

Extra arms snapped out to help drag them up the rock face to the little square above. Their form shifted and molded around her to pull her along and struggled to keep her from lashing out and hurting herself. Concentrating to keep everything together and ensure she didn't bang into anything, or strike out and end up hurting herself.

The part that was just Matthew muttered in the back of their mind that they could never tell her the details of what had happened as she clawed deep into the dough of their arms and the rest agreed immediately, hopefully she wouldn’t remember any of this afterwards...

...Some of those curses none of them had heard before.

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

Full Speed Ahead

Chapter 18: More Ways Than One

Last< --- >Next

The silence that had settled between Susan and Poppy’s Employee friend was broken unexpectedly and, much as she hated to admit it, they both jumped.

“You realize the futility of this, don't you?”

She’d expected something out of the ‘good’ doctor long before this, but there had been no snide greeting this time as they reached the edge of no mans land. Poppy’s friend obviously also been expecting something from the disembodied voice, suddenly becoming more guarded upon entering. But only the hollow howling of wind and a palpable shift to accompany the drop in temperature as they passed into his domain met them.

And again they’d heard nothing out of him as they’d crossed the morgue. The surgical carts left blocking each door from closing made her suspect this was where he’d gotten his cold shoulder the day before.

In fact the only thing that had occurred within was from the Employee, a single jerk of his head toward a side room and a frosted over tube which had presumably once contained a functioning pair of lungs before they’d continued on.

Susan met the Employee’s gaze, they hadn’t spoken or even glanced at each other till now but the look they shared in that moment could be summed up as utterly and exhaustedly unimpressed.

“Meat rots and loses its function, it’s replaceable as anything else. You're accomplishing nothing.”

She rolled her eyes, eliciting an amused snort from the Employee. If it was such a pointless endeavor why would he even bother?

“Eh, Not the worst waste of time, shall we?”

This was where their paths split, and with a simple nod he veered left through a security door and disappeared on his way to the brain as she followed its bend on to the liver.

As she continued along the steps she wondered absently why that piece of him had been preserved. Brain made sense, lungs mostly did, though she would have assumed the same function could be handled mechanically. Had there been more? Had they just slowly been failing, maybe even being destroyed over time?

A dark little smile formed as she imagined Sawyer, already trapped here and slowly panicking as he watched and felt the final pieces of himself fade away one by one.

The corridor narrowed, becoming denser with wires, panels, and heavy duty support beams molded to the rock walls. It wasn’t truly collapsing but the stray corrugated metal sheets sure made it feel like it was.

The corridor opened into an exam room where she was met with a corpse. This one laid out on a surgery table under the harsh operating light. She let it be at first, instead taking a moment to take in the rest of the room.

The first doors set to either side of the room were locked, the one she’d entered through having done the same as soon as she crossed the threshold. Beyond that there was a second set to either side that wooshed open at her approach to corridors draped with familiar red smoke.

Susan sighed in frustration, a memo and the monitor bank at the back of the room doing nothing for her mood as she realized she was being faced with yet another ridiculous puzzle.

There was music being pumped into the room, barely audible, playing the children's song mentioned in the note… great now she wasn’t going to get that tune out of her head, was she?

A bit of troubleshooting later (including a shot at breaking the glass on the locked doors the cables lead headed through, to no avail) gave her no way to bypass it either, meaning she wasn’t left with many options other than to play along, and only one way to do so.

She returned to the operating table and removed the gas mask with a certain delicacy, though that had a lot more to do with the state the mask was in rather than any respect for the dead. The glass was cracked and the straps were starting to degrade, stiff and crackling. But there was a filter dispenser in the corner so as long as she was careful it should still work well enough for her needs. She just had to be watchful of how long she was out there.

The corridor was barely lit, path further obfuscated by the red smoke that swirled and danced about her ankles with every step. She moved slowly, tracing a hand along the wall as she went, hyper vigilant for whatever creature Sawyer was going to unleash on her now.

But nothing came.

It was just the quiet and the smoke and claustrophobic-despite-lacking-a-ceiling corridors periodically dotted with barbed wire and suspicious looking equipment.

A voice, quiet at first, drew her attention and she followed it warily.

“-o you think they'll be nice to me Dr. White?” The voice was young and nervous as she rounded the corner into an alcove “Whoever adopted me?”

It was coming from a speaker mounted in the upper edge of the wall. It hadn’t escaped her there was no ceiling on most of these halls. Walls just stopping suddenly and the cave ceiling far above.

“I should think so Danny. I promise you, you're in good hands.”

There was no hesitation, no waver in the mans voice. Just a bald faced lie to a vulnerable child before mutilating them.

She recognized the Bunzo from the screen in the first room. An arm laying on the grating behind it torn clean off its body. A tag was tucked next to it, 1395, and she gently tugged it free.

A few more turns, a few more dead ends, and she was surprised to find another exam room.

The Bubaphant left to rot on the table didn’t have a tag. What it did have, for whatever obscene reason, was a vhs tucked into its arms.

‘Experiment 1354’ the label read, the number didn’t ring a bell but there was sure to be a vhs around here somewhere.

A sickly sweet taste was starting to coat her tongue and she removed the mask, snatching a new filter canister from the dispenser and checking it over again.

She wished she had duct tape... or superglue, that might have worked to shore up the cracks in the glass. But by chance she hadn’t grabbed either in her rush to get to the factory.

“Why do you submit to their whims? PLAYTIME hurt us. My EXPIREMENTS hurt us.”

She glanced up at the camera in the corner, scoffing as she equipped the mask again and the world narrowed to cracked edges, muffling her voice as she answered.

“I’ve got to admit, I do wonder what whims you think I’m submitting to? And if you think I don’t know where they got those ideas that did all that hurting?”

There was no answer, but as the door slid open she could hear another soft voice looping close by.

“-you're safe here.” The female voice was so sweet and comforting, the boy sounded so small with his nervous “oh... okay…” before the message looped again and she got to hear the whole thing as she located the decapitated Bron.

“We're here for you Timmy. We always will be. I know you're scared, you're hurt. But this is Playcare! Your new home-”

Susan laid a hand on the dolls side, a surgical saw spattered with dried blood lay guiltily on the floor besides its head.

Was this the same honeyed lies they’d told Matthew? with his heart freshly wounded from the loss of his family? Or Kevin? Abused and afraid and maybe daring to hope for the care and safety he should have always had? Had they even bothered to lie to her own poor Jackie when he’d woken from death in a body that wasn’t his and no longer alone in his own mind?

The tag that hung from the Bron’s severed neck practically slid itself into her hand. 1393, three to go.

More corners to check, more dead ends, a song stuck in her head as she kept an ear open for voices other than the quiet whispers that were creeping up.

~Head, shoulder, knees, and toes. Knees and toes~

Susan hummed along absently and it reverberated in the mask. She’d ended up back at the first room and tucked the tags into the corner of their corresponding screens before heading out the other door.

A few dead ends and empty alcoves later she’d noticed a window into another exam room and backtracked till she found one of the doors.

Just like the other two operating rooms the air was stagnant but smoke free, the exam rooms seemed sealed fairly well against the heavy fog. There was another dispenser and, to her surprise, a tv/vhs player.

Popping the ‘Experiment 1354’ vhs in she took the moment to readjust the straps and replace the filter as she watched, it didn’t take long to realize what it was she’d found, that mean little smile returning as she listened.

“White?! White is that you?!-”

It didn’t take long before the first snicker bubbled up at the sheer outrage desperately trying to cover panic.

“-you're the one who keeps making mistakes-”

By the end she was fully laughing.

She’d heard the cameras shifting to focus on her as she’d watched and laughed and the speakers crackled to life.

“Your boy’s a fool you know. He and his little pets. So comfortable in the false security of their little haven. Unaware they’ve more in common with an ant farm.”

“This temper is a bad look for you, Harley.”

She dissolved into another peel of laughter as the vhs ended and ejected itself.

“He’s right! Not a great look.”

“Do you think Poppy cares about them? She'd sacrifice you in an INSTANT if she believed it means getting what she wants”

She was pushing things too far and she knew it, it was probably the red smoke making her feel heady before the inevitable lurch into nightmares but it was just so tempting to push his buttons. He obviously wasn’t used to it.

“GASP!” She actually said the word as she turned dramatically to look up at one of the cameras, a hand to her chest “Surely it is a lie! The doll I’ve never met before and know hardly anything about?”

Her other hand appeared from her side, the gasmask over it like a sock puppet

“You enjoy watching me writhe like one of them?” Susan puppeted the gas mask mockingly as she imitated his frantic tone. “Because you are! And not just that! You didn’t even end up some cute toy, they pickled you!”

“Such bravado, I admit my curiosity in you continues to be piqued. Perhaps it’s time we see just what it is that haunts you.”

The doors slammed up as the speaker screeched into silence. Red smoke billowing in thick and fast.

“Oh you little son of a -”

She swung the mask back on as the haze crawled it’s way up her legs, her stomach, her chest. Now settled so high it was like she was wading through it. The red smoke was growing thicker by the moment making the already cramped and confusing corridors even worse as she hurried to find the final tags.

With the red smoke so much thicker it was getting harder to keep track of the path she’d already tread as it leaked through the cracked glass, she wouldn’t have much longer.

She dragged her hand along the wall again, focusing on the texture under her fingers as voices whispered in her ears and focusing to pick out the ones she needed.

“Subject appears stable.”

She perked at the voice, surprised he’d left it playing, and followed.

“Operation clean. Not... getting much response here. No eye movement, stand by.”

Another Bubaphant lay slumped in another alcove corner. A button eye dangled loose and a leg nowhere to be found.

At first she was worried that there was no tag, till she spotted the corner poking out from beneath it. 1399.

She starred at it for a moment, and at the tag as the message looped and looped.

“ ’Clean’ operation my ass … you useless bastards.” There was no sense dwelling, she needed to keep going.

At her back had been another window into the exam room she’d just left, but it wasn’t there any longer.

Instead the wall had transformed into a familiar mural, scribbled red and frowning stick figure children with ‘zzzz’ ‘sleep’ and ‘help’ written here and there around them, The mural she’d stood before on her first entry to Safe haven.

Susan reached out shakily, her fingers pressing against cold glass instead of the rough cement her eyes told her would be there.

She was running out of time, she needed to keep moving.

“Don't you worry now Cassie, the feeling will pass. Just a pinch that's all.”

She paused, trying to orient herself to the voices.

“Why can't I feel anything?”

The mural was in front of her again and she turned her back to it, trying to focus on the looping voices, trying to find the right way to go.

The wall was cold and rough behind her, the fabric of her clothes against her skin, the weight of the pack across her shoulders, the whisper of voices behind her, the haze rising at her feet. The hair that fell across her face brushing her cheeks. The red red haze as the voices begged help help help sleep sleep sleep and she could feel the stick figure children reaching out from the mural behind her. Reaching out to her and pulling her back and away and she was reaching but Jack was too far away as he realized-

She tripped and stumbled to her knees and suddenly she was now again, not then, and before her was a green Huggy Wuggy, sans a hand, floating suspended in yet another alcove.

“This is to be expected but you'll feel better. Don't you worry now Cassie, -”

The recording just kept repeating over and over and over as she plucked up the tag. 1391.

Mommy hissed in her ear as she pulled herself back to her feet, listing a bit as she stumbled back the way she’d come.

“Not bad, certainly farther than I thought you would manage.”

She could hear the stretch of limbs, see the shadow of a shape crawling along the open ceiling above her.

“But Mommy always knew you couldn’t make it. Just another little cheater who couldn’t finish the game. Soooo Saaaddd.”

There was canvas and board under her fingers, she was still here, not in the Games Station. Mommy was gone.

“It’s not cheating just because I don’t want to play your stupid games.”

There was another voice, a recording, a real one, she was sure of it and she continued on.

“And this game isn’t over yet.”

Five screens glowed quietly in the corner, tags tucked in the corners of two of them. The filter dispenser glowed red and empty in the corner The body lay still on the operating table, mouth agape without the mask to keep it closed. The room was still free of smoke even as it pressed red against the glass windows in either direction. The only sound was the gentle melody of head, shoulder, knees, and toes.

Thump

…

Thmp Thmp ccrrRRR

…

BANG

The entrance door barely rattled as it failed to be opened from the other side, frustrated grumbles not even audible through the thick metal.

A slower, quiet creak grew steadily in volume as the tiny window filled with with swirls of red orange yellow and blue.

Creeaakkkk

A crack.

Then another.

Slow at first spidering across the thick blast proof glass as the seams strained till.

BAM

The glass tore free in a single pane and smacked into the floor below, followed by a wave of dough that poured in through the hole into a multicolored puddle.

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

New intel

Chapter 17: But Now

Last< --- >Next

Almost no one else was awake.

Doey had snuggled, somehow, even deeper into his blanket. His head was tucked back into his dough body bringing to mind a picture she’d seen of a seal.

A peacefully sleeping loaf.

It warmed her heart to see him so comfortable as she lethargically followed Poppy to the infirmary past smaller toys sleeping in their tents or curled up in odd spots.

Poppy’s employee friend was already waiting patiently for them as they neared the fabric partitioned room Susan had left her things in.

The dolls voluminous blue skirt bobbed and bounced as she scaled from floor to chair to side table to bed and stood at the end of it.

“You wanted Information?” Poppy spread her hands wide in presentation “We got it!”

The hospital bed Susan had been using as a desk was no longer covered with her previous project. Those papers had been carefully sorted and stacked onto the side table (which she appreciated) and been replaced with a handful of new ones along with scribbled notes and post its not unlike what Susan had made for her own research.

Susan took it all in, groggily pawing her pack from the corner she’d left it in as Poppy excitedly presented what the employee had found.

Wordlessly Susan passed each of them one of the snack bars Medic had forced her to take back the day before. Poppy was thrown off for a moment as she hesitantly accepted looking from the Bunzobar and back uncertainly before (between bites) launching right back into detailing the employees ...chilling ordeal in a secondary morgue that had ended with the organs destruction.

That explained the state he’d been in when her and Doey had gotten back.

A polaroid of a pair of lungs in their holding tank that had been attached to a work order for repairs had a big satisfying red X over it which the doll presented proudly.

“And with one already taken care of that only leaves two left! The Doctor’s days are numbered!”

Her other little hand clenched into a victorious fist as she spoke.

Susan had to admit the gathered intel was more than promising, and told her as much as she looked it over.

A VHS titled simply ‘The Doctor’ was interesting, showing that not even the other department heads could tolerate Sawyer (It was odd to hear Stella’s voice again after so so long) and seemed very much like they would have been more than happy to off him if they didn’t also need him so much. The documents revealed their decision to subject the “good doctor” to his own procedures and turn him into an experiment as well.

And, most importantly, what he’d been reduced to.

Lungs, Liver, Brain.

Other documents had been notated connecting together schematics, work orders, and memos that gave a strong indication of where the final two organs were being stored.

A secondary lab and a holding area, seemed doable.

Susan motioned between the two locations on the rudimentary map that had been put together looking over at Poppy’s friend.

“Preference?” A non-commital shrug. “I’ll take the lab then, nice work.”

Poppy was almost vibrating with excitement. More than a little over the praise (though she wouldn’t admit that to herself) but mostly over just how well everything was going. This could actually work! They were going to save them! ...Maybe -

As Susan questioned the employee about some of what he’d seen in certain area’s Poppy worried at the lace of her dress, her gaze drifting to the fabric partition as she thought about the residents of safe haven beyond, who they could hear just starting to stir.

- maybe all of them.

Don’t wander off! Stay right here with us… He’s not listening to a thing I say is he?

This is playcare! Your new home! you're safe here.

Clear neural abnormalities were detected in his recent check-up

Heh, not even a little bit.

We want to make him better. But he can only get better if we take him to where we can provide proper care

Maybe not as intelligent as some of the other children, nor as physically gifted.

Please! OPEN THE DOOR!! PLEASE!

SLAM

Doey jolted awake and for a moment wasn’t sure where exactly he was. In Safe haven of course, and a bit relieved to be waking from what were by now fairly normal dreams of disjointed memories.

Except - not all of the memories had been the usual old trauma rehashing itself yet again. He could almost feel the warm hand at his cheek, gentle kiss to his forehead, the soft whisper “I love you, sweet dreams.” .

That hadn’t been part of the dreams... right?

As the world blearily resolved into focus Doey found he was still in the quiet room nestled comfortable in a little mound under a blanket. He could just imagine the others when they’d realized he’d fallen asleep, they got such a kick out of tucking him in when it was usually the other way around. Safe haven itself was only just starting it’s morning, he could hear the rustling and tired voices from the main room as everyone started their day.

Only a handful of toys had stayed in the quiet room. A dogday on a shelf stretching as they woke (which one it was he couldn’t tell from here), a mini kissy was woozily sitting up from a mess of blankets they’d buried themselves in the night before in the center of the room (Bitsy), a pugapillar under the table there kicking in their sleep (Pudge). On top of the table a catnap was looking unbelievably comfortable as it slept soundly with its little head just barely poking from the top of the dark blue hoodie they’d commandeered and tail poking from the bottom of it. Besides the table, very seriously considering the little plush critter as if trying to decide if they should wait or gently try to wake them to get her hoodie back was his/your/our/my/their mom.

He watched for a moment, comforted by her still being there and not just a long ago fantasy cropping up again, as she considered. Reaching out then pulling her hand back, tilting her head as she watched the hoodie rise and fall with the catnap’s breathing, circle the table to watch for a moment from a different angle.

The pugapiller made a noise as it started to wake and she bent down to talk to it. With her hoodie otherwise indisposed she was left in a simple gray t-shirt. The short sleeves giving a clear view of the support she wore on one forearm and how it was becoming a swollen swirl of bruising as she held the tables edge while they quietly conversed.

The moment he caught site of it his mood tanked. The part of him that was just Kevin retreating far to the back of their mind in a rush of guilt.

Outside of themselves Doey shuddered under the blanket as the sudden panic attack left him reeling. His form losing a bit of distinctness as he struggled, though it was hard to tell with how he was bunched up.

That was his fault, he’d done that.

The immediate rebuke from Matthew pointing out that was most decidedly Rabie Baby’s fault fell on deaf ear’s. He knew what he meant! They knew what he’d done!

They were part of each other, their memories and thoughts mixed and laid bare to one another. It had taken years to separate themselves out, to create the boundaries of the parts that belonged to each one of them and not the shared whole. But they still shared it all. There was no way they couldn’t know.

Under the blanket he was almost melting into the floor, shivering as he kept it all inside, breath coming only in small shuddering huffs as he spiraled.

She hated him, she had to, he’d ruined everything just like he always did. Killed her husband Jack’s father, almost killed her, the only reason she even pretended was because he was trapping her son! He was going to ruin everything all he could do washurtitwasallhewasgoodforhe-

NO.

There was no malice in the single solid thought as it reverberated through their mind. The force of it though, the finality and the authority it carried was enough to give Kevin pause.

Jack wasn’t usually stern or serious, having spent much of their time together very intentionally being a force of joy and lightheartedness. Everything was shit. They needed every ounce of positivity they could get and it was his life’s mission to provide it to the other parts of himself and those they cared for.

That bubbly, giggly veneer was gone for the moment though, replaced with a calm seriousness.

It wasn’t true. She didn’t hate him, he wasn’t only good for hurting, he didn’t break everything. It hadn’t been true back in Playcare, wasn’t now here in Safe Haven, it had never been true.

Outside he pulled further under the blanket even as he continued to collapse while inside Kevin shook his head nonono.

Jack pushed recent memories to the fore of their mind. She’d known him by name, she’d gone out of her way to find out about him. She’d said it herself. Playcare had manipulated them to attack that day, dressing them in lab coats after an especially traumatizing round of testing and experiments.

Matthew pushed the memory of that day forward, focusing it on the time leading up to the meeting. How even back then, when they had no idea where one of them ended and another began and their thoughts were a mixed and muddled mess Kevin had understood they weren’t alone. Had still pushed them down in their mind when the worst happened, protected them from fully experiencing the most painful of the tests.

“I know you were just protecting yourself, protecting my Jack. You and Matthew. I can never thank you both enough for that.”

Her voice rang through their mind as Jack and Matthew pulled every warm and loving glance and smile they’d seen since her arrival, the way she’d started to tear up when they said they wanted to call her mom.

“Doey, you are my son, every single part of you.”

The words echoed through their mind and Kevin could feel how much Matthew and Jack believed it.

If this wasn’t in their mind, if they were three separate people instead of the amalgamation they’d been turned into, Kevin would be wiping the tears from his eyes as his racing thoughts finally settled.

He didn’t completely believe it, but for the moment it was enough.

Doey pulled himself together, made difficult as he tried to stand and stuck to the floor like used bubblegum. He raised his head, still hung heavy but he had a neck again and concentrated on arms separating out from the mass of dough. A little tug to unstick them from the floor was followed by stubby fingers. Pressing his palms flat for support he focused on the sticky mess of his lower half, pulling the dough up while leaving enough in place for a pair of nubby legs. It felt like forever till he was himself again, but it hadn’t even been a minute and Susan was still seated on the floor with her back to him as her and Pudge continued their quiet conversation.

She laughed at something the little pugapillar had said and struggled to stifle the sound, though at this point the catnap was the only one still asleep. He felt a hand on his shin and Bitsy was comfortingly patting him before offering up his hat she’d retrieved from where the critters had set it the night before and with a reassuring prrrrtt wandering off to the lobby.

Pudge wasn’t far behind her and that meant Susan was getting back to her feet, flinching as she put weight on her injured arm without thinking but also smiled wider as she spotted him.

“Good morning! Glad you’re up, I needed to talk to you abo-” She paused as she got a proper look at him, her expression turning to concern. “Hey, are you okay?”

He was sure he’d pulled himself back to normal before she’d seen.

“Everything’s great! Did you sleep well?” He was all smiles and giggles as he replied. Pulling himself in, just a little, from his normal height so he wasn’t towering over her quiet as much.

The concern didn’t leave her eyes though and the way she looked into his, as if she was searching to check on each of them. Her hand lifted and faltered, still nervous about breaking boundaries neither new the edges of.

“Hey, really, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“...It’s … just bad dreams. ‘m okay.”

His gaze lingered just a little too long on her other arm. She followed his gaze and frowned as she considered the most swollen and painful area around the long ago break point, the obvious surgery scars.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He didn’t, he wanted to pretend everything was fine and run away or bury himself in taking care of safe haven or-

He shrugged.

She took a breath and let it out in a sigh, pulling the arm to her chest the way she had after he’d caught her.

“I’m sorry. For all of this, for opening old wounds and adding more worries-” She searched for the words “But I’m just so glad I found you… all of you.”

She took the risk to push forward and cup his cheek. Care, concern, love. They were all there as she looked up at him and they seemed so real.

“My boys.”

She was enveloped in blue once again as he wrapped her in a hug burying his face in her hair.

“I’m glad you found me too.”

The doubts were still there, lurking at the edges as they always had. But for the moment that was where they stayed and he could let himself believe.

“Oh,uh – what was it you were gonna talk to me about?”

“ah, that, well-”

She told him all that Poppy had told her, the exciting news that her employee friend had already landed the first blow and that from everything they had there were only two targets left.

“That’s great news! I’ll just double check the generator and we can-”

“That-” She caught his elbow, bringing him up short before he could leave. “Is the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I’m going on my own.”

He balked, sputtering at the unexpected news.

“Did Poppy-”

“No, no. I don’t think she thought about that part one way or another. But - ” Susan searched for a way to explain. Her entire world for so long had been to find him, now that she had all she wanted was for him to stay safely safe and sound. “Safe Haven needs you, and I need you safe, and with one of his organs lost Sawyer and the Protoype are going to be on high alert. If not retaliatory. You need to be here.”

She could see the arguments as they formed and pulled his hands into hers.

“I know what I’m asking, and that this is just another worry I’m piling on everything else. But I need to do this. I couldn’t protect you then but I can now, and you need to protect Safe Haven. Will you let me?”

The hoodie was still warm from it's time serving as a catnap nest when she finally pulled it back on. Settling her pack onto her shoulders and double checking the copy she’d made of Poppy’s pieced together map.

She followed Poppy’s friend to the back of the infirmary, pausing to give one last parting wave to her son and receiving a half hearted one in return, the worry still painted on his face.

Without her bat, now lost to the bowels of the prison, she instead readied the crowbar as they crossed out of the water treatment doors into no man’s land.

“ I think it’s time The Doctor had a house call, don’t you?”

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

Storytime

Chapter 16: If You Need To Catch Your Breath

Last< --- >Next

t didn’t take long for an audience to form in storage, which they used as what they had dubbed the quiet room.

Susan hadn’t gotten to see much of this particular area, what with it having been locked from the inside when she’d first arrived due to an argument between a pair of toys.

It was maybe the coziest room in safe haven.

Mismatched carpets covered the floor. More streamers and a few blankets decorated the ceiling and walls, and themed furniture arranged at one end. Floor to ceiling shelving took up most of one wall with equally mismatched shelves scattered against the rest of them, all scattered with books from children’s to novels to heavy research volumes and manuals as well as the odd box and toys.

Doey had settled in with his back to the wall leaving plenty for the gathering toys to get comfortable in. Some tucked themselves in at his sides or his arms (Joseph settling himself into the crook of his arm)

Scout rolled by to check on everyone and squinted at the book before dramatically lamenting "Oh no, REVENGE OF THE NERD WIZARD!” Susan was fairly sure Scout was trying to dramatically throw her hand to her forehead but her little robot arm didn’t quiet reach.

Doey sniffed haughtily in return. It had that feel of familiar, well established horseplay instead of genuine teasing.

“Well nobodies making you listen, you can go see what you can watch in the tv room.” He opened the book dramatically and flicked to a page with an overly serious expression, Joseph was fighting back giggles by hiding his face in Doey’s arm.

“And risk you messing up my girl Vera the Verbomancer? You wish!” She was backing out of the room though as she said it, disappearing just for a moment before popping back in “Hey, don’t start till I get Izzy, okay?”

“Course not!”

He’d been right, as she'd known he was.

Every face was smiling (static expressions aside) and mesmerized from the very first line.

Susan quietly made her way around the audience, noting Maggie had found a comfy spot in the middle of the crowd, and glancing at the floor to ceiling shelves that took up most of the right side of the room. It didn’t escape her there was a pile of well worn engineering and repair manuals for the generator on a higher shelf. Was it to make more room on the low shelves to what the other toys would be more interested in? There was a tall Bron themed light at the end of it. Wuggy face pillows and discontinued toys were piled up where the toys had been laying on them. The little table was shorter than her knees and in addition to the two normal little chairs there was a catbee and a bron themed stool.

In the opposite corner, in front of two sheets covered with playtime co characters hung decoratively, was a bron couch with the man himself seated to one side of it.

The small bron was the first she’d seen and looked more than a little worse for wear. There were chunks torn from it’s nose, neck, cheek and here and there across their body. Fabric had been carefully sewn back over the injuries as best could be managed. They watched with half lidded eyes as the crowd shouted out ideas of what the word wizard should be taking on his journey before Doey let them know what happened next.

“Mind if I sit?”

Slowly the head turned to her, looked up, then down at an electronic toy sitting at their feet.

Susan waited as they carefully stepped on the volume button, lowering it to something that wouldn’t interrupt the story, then a moment later after another careful press she was answered with an electronic voiced

“NO.” He didn’t mind one bit.

Conversation was slow going. Anything that wasn’t a yes or no involved the bron sluggishly, carefully pressing each letter with his foot before they could answer.

At one point a letter was just out of his reach and Susan was on the fence as to whether or not it was rude to offer to press it for him. A picky piggy who’d come to drag some pillows back to the story though settled the matter for her. Peeking over the edge of the couch as she passed she pointed to a letter.

“This’n Papaw Bron?” A half nod and she hit it for him and was on her way.

He had been Thomas Clarke once upon a very long time ago. But now he was Bron, or Papaw, or Gramps, or PopPop, the kids had given him lots of nicknames.

After a bit of thinking he told her he was pretty sure he was 73 by now. He’d volunteered (cancer), but back then the program had been a very different thing. Well, more likely those who heard about it like him were just being lied to.

At one point-

Just a bit after the climax had kicked off in the story and as he was giving the truncated tale of being found and rescued from solitary confinemen-

the -t sound died out with a dejected whine.

Bron tapped it a few more times before giving a dejected sigh.

She’d barely started to get up to see what she could do when a catbee peeled off from the group, seeming to have noticed his distress despite being caught up with all the rest, and padded over to look the device over, nosing at it for a moment.

“Uh oh, batteries dead. I got it!”

They bounded back and nudged at a dogday with a missing half an ear, who followed them to one of the many stepladders scattered around the room to riffle through a box till they emerged with one, then another battery. Holding them over their head in silent triumph before tumbling back down the steps and hurrying to swap them out for him.

Bron gently nuzzled the two, the catbee saying welcome and the dogday squeaking as they went back to enjoy the rest of the story.

“G.O.O.D. K.I.D.S.”

She had to agree. Their resilience under such horrific conditions was amazing.

“D.O.E.Y. D.O.E.S. G.O.O.D. U. S.H.D. B. P.R.O.U.D.”

“I don’t think I can take much credit. But …heh... I don’t think I could be any prouder… I just wish he hadn’t had to do it without me.”

She watched Doey hold up a bubbaphant in one hand and the book in the other who’d wanted to read a particular characters part so she could give a proper performance as the final twist was revealed, aware of the slow taps of Bron working on his next message, but was surprised to feel the soft press of him leaning into her comfortingly.

“H.E.R.E. N.O.W.”

Such a short message and simple gesture. But it meant so much and she found herself choking up.

She couldn’t find the words, just nodding as she wiped the tears away and gave the doll a gentle squeeze back.

It was getting late, for whatever that was worth this far underground, and everything was starting to wind down.

The Word Wizard had saved the day, other books had been brought out and the smaller toys had started taking turns choosing and reading them off to the steadily dwindling crowd. The rest of safe haven had been slowly darkening as lights were shut off for the evening till only a few were left to glow.

Scout was quietly trying to convince Izzy it was bedtime, the obviously exhausted bearhug was barely managing to sit up straight but somehow had enough in her to resist.

“Teddy bears don’t have bedtimes, so I can stay up long as I want.”

The huge yawn that accompanied it as Scout finally coaxed her to her feet didn’t help her argument much..

She mumbled “ ’m not even sleepy” blearily as Scout held her hand, leading the way back to their tent.

“Of course not. We can stay up long as you want back in bed ok?” Scout reassured her gently

“m’kay.”

Susan knew Scout wasn't Izzy's sister, but she might as well be with how she cared for her.

Meanwhile Doey, who a few stories ago had leaned forward first propping himself up on his elbow then laying on his stomach, had also lost the fight against sleep and snoozed quietly as the last few critters leaned against him reading to each other in hushed tones.

In the time it had taken her to find a spare blanket and return the critters had already beaten her to it. She could just imagine the effort it must have taken for them to carefully position the blanket over his sleeping form without waking him and set his hat carefully aide where he’d easily find it when he woke.

She couldn’t help it, creeping closer to tuck him in just a little more comfortably and press a kiss to his forehead whispering “I love you, sweet dreams.”

He stirred, just a little. Just enough to give a little stretch and yawn like an especially comfortable kitten and smiling up at her warmly and murmur “mmn l’ve you too Mom... g’night.” before dropping back to sleep.

The nest of pillows and discontinued plushies made for a comfortable resting spot as Susan drifted into a peaceful sleep of her own.

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

Triple times the friend

Chapter 15: Is Also Yours

Last< --- >Next

With a contented sigh Doey set his empty bowl aside, taking a moment to truly appreciate such a rare moment.

Even if it was only for a fleeting moment no one needed them, there was no immediate danger, everyone was fed and happy, there were more supplies in their stores than they’d had in...he couldn’t remember how long, probably ever.

There weren’t even any smaller toys climbing on him at the moment, which was a rare experience while inside Safe havens confines. Not that he minded normally, it was just nice to have a bit of space for reasons other than being overwhelmed to the point of a meltdown.

Susan, Scout, and Izzy were finishing up arranging supplies in the store for easy access, the rest were being kept at the back of the infirmary. (They had so many! Storage had never been a problem before!) And she was holding Izzy up to place the last few packets on the top shelf.

She’d changed clothes at some point while he’d been checking over the generator, so the one leg was no longer a semi solid crust of rust brown flowing down from the flap of jeans torn at her thigh and had been replaced with identical rumpled but clean jeans. She was still favoring the other leg and the same with the opposite arm as she pretended to struggle to lift Izzy high enough to reach the top shelf. Scout and Ian (a purple mini wuggy who’d decided to lend a hand too) giggling at the antics.

She’d probably left the massive backpack in the infirmary again like she had before, and the thought of it made something come to mind as she was setting the bearhug critter back on the ground.

“Oh, Mom, I almost forgot! I still have your-”

Susan was presented with the rather entertaining scene of Doey patting himself like he was trying to figure out which pocket he’d left something in despite his complete lack of them. She wasn’t entirely sure if this was a wind up or if he really had forgotten something.

He finally found or remembered.

Reaching into the dough of his shoulder and, with a shlorp, carefully extracted the flashlight she’d given him as they’d entered the North Block. He carefully made sure no spare bits of dough had been left behind before giving it back.

She could only imagine how much trouble it had been to keep hold of during his frantic race through pipes and breaking through cells and a mid-air smash and grab.

She was a bit stunned to say the least and he suddenly had that look again, like he’d be blushing if he could.

“I really hope you didn’t go through too much trouble to keep hold of this. Thank you though.”

She’d pressed a kiss to his forehead before she’d thought about what she was doing and for half a second was worried she’d over stepped. But when she checked for his reaction he was absolutely beaming again.

But much as he’d enjoyed this rare break his meal was done and he couldn’t relax for too long. There was still plenty to be checked and taken care of to keep safe haven living up to it’s name.

Doey stood, ready to start his rounds making sure everyone was okay and everything was secure when -.

“ATTAAAACK!!!!”

The unexpected cry came from a green blur launching itself from the rafters to land with a splat into the side of Doey’s head, swiping the hat as it was flung up by the impact and perching it between his ears triumphantly.

Doey’s brow had furrowed as he looked at the Hoppy Critter that stood on his shoulder looking pleased with himself.

The slight frown turned into a toothy, red needled grin and with a slow, calculated motion Doey (to Susan’s shock and momentary concern) reached across and flicked the little toy away. Leaving the hat flipping up into the air where he caught it with ease and placed it back on his head. All in the time it took the bunny to go flying into a nearby tent roof (cheering the whole way) and rolling back to the ground in a flurry of giggles before hopping right back chanting

“AGAIN AGAIN!!”

It was like watching something out of a cartoon.

As Doey casually tossed the critter around Susan wasn’t sure if she should be entertained or concerned. The hoppy hopscotch sure seemed to be enjoying himself as Doey threw him up so high he snagged the rafter again and hung there for a second before dropping back down to be caught.

“That’s Joseph, by the way.” Scout explained “Apparently he was Kevin’s best friend back in Playcare.”

They watched for a moment as Doey casually leaned on Joseph, pining the rabbit to the counter as he struggled and cheered. It left a funny little rabbit shaped indent in his arm once Joseph had finally wiggled himself free.

“Apparently they really liked to wrestle. And a couple hundred pounds weight difference hasn’t seemed to hamper that.”

Joseph, the name rung a bell, she could swear she’d heard that name before, perhaps in a tape?

Izzy was reaching to her in the universal sign of ‘up’ and Susan obliged, only to find herself being used as a bridge to Doey as soon as they were close enough where she expertly scale up and flop across his shoulder in what Susan suspected was a preferred spot.

“Me next me next!”

Scout shut that one down fast.

“No Roughhousing with Izzy!”

Three different aaawww mmaannnn’s of disappointment answered.

There was a certain worry that Susan had trouble shaking as she waited for Doey to return from checking the perimeter.

She’d had no trouble being out there herself, even having him out there with her hadn’t caused this level of apprehension. But knowing he was out there alone? And not knowing if something unexpected could be happening to him?

It was hard not to grab her bat and demand Scout open the doors.

…And she was reminded that her trusty metal bat was somewhere back in the prison either in the back passageways from her frantic run or a random stretch of track from her fall.

Damn, that thing had gotten her out of a shocking number of tough spots. But there was no way she was going back into the prison without a hell of a reason.

At least she still had the crowbar.

It was only happenstance that she was in the right spot to see when he got back-

Her and a few other toys were watching in quiet amusement as the craftycorn Odd Ed (who, she was told, had called himself that and had never seen fit to tell anyone why which honestly made it all the more appropriate) fussed and focused on his masterpiece as he drew. Periodically instructing the player to move an arm or a leg just so or look just a littttllleee more that way.

- When something made a noise behind them by the blocked shipping exit.

The blue hat bounced and tumbled until it came to a stop at the toe of her boot and for one terrifying moment she wasn’t sure what to think, till she realized there was a lot more dough covering the bars of the barricade.

The dough pressed and deformed between the bars till suddenly it snapped together in a very familiar shape, doey hopping on one foot as the other finished squishing its way through, stumbling a bit as he finally pulled free.

“I believe this is yours?” she held his hat out with a little wiggle of her hand.

He giggled as he took the hat back and gave it a little flick back onto his head.

“Why Thank you! Moved some defenses around but everything’s looking good!”

“And I believe this is for you as well.”

She plucked the novel from her pocket and presented it with a flourish of it’s own. He took it with the same playful glee that quickly became confusion and then amazement as he realized exactly what she’d handed him.

THE ADVENTURES OF THE WORD WIZARD!

There was a...shift in his demeanor. The way he stood, the look in his eyes. It seemed so particular.

And inside of him the part that was only Matthew swelled up till his shock, wonder, and nostalgia was all that filled them.

“You – this – but how?”

“Not me, Poppy’s friend. He said you’d asked him to keep an eye out for it.”

“He found it! Uh – I – I’ll have to thank him!”

He looked at her and seemed suddenly bashful.

“It may not seem like much, but this is... well... it’s a reminder.”

The book was worn, the cover flaking, and there were pieces missing from the spine. But it was intact and legible and had a familiar weight in his hands, changed though they were from those long ago memories.

“We used to read this all the time in the orphanage, all of us lined up in a circle on the floor. And even after having heard it a thousand times, even if you were too young to really get the meaning, each and every face would still be smiling the second the first word was read.”

He flipped the pages with a thumb, a warm sigh escaping him as he watched the pages flutter fondly (and Susan had made sure every page was accounted for)

“I think we need a little of that again, in case... Uh- anyway, thank you! I won’t forget this. And I’ll make sure to thank Poppies friend, too."

She hadn’t missed that little tell at the end that he was still concerned Poppy would go through with her plans but the joy of having this book seemed to be outweighing that fear so she would let herself just be happy to see his joy as well.

This was Matthew, this book had been something special to him, from before. Every new little bit she learned about these boys, it was a dream she’d always refused to let go of but had hardly believed would ever come true.

He was already excitedly showing the book off to the nearby toys, who scattered either to the quiet room or off to tell the others about the impending storytime.

He was right, they needed a bit of that magic again.

They deserved it.

And so much more.

[was-that-a-pun]

Are you planning on waiting for chapter 5 before you write stuff beyond 4 or just write your own version? I'm currently hyperfixating so hard on Doey right now and I need to know the future of my favourite Doey fic :D

I have plans for Love Him Till The Day That You Die up to just before the end of 4 then i'll probably play with side stories and au's of my au till 5 comes and to see how/if i can keep things going X3

I currently do have a few side and auau's in the works though even as i'm working on this one actually! Including what if Susan had stayed longer at the Pianosaurus enclosure, What if Doey's death caused him to split into the 3 boys (like @neon-nick's mitosis au), and What if george also survived and they found a way to stay with their son.

also minor canon stuff for my au like when susan found out that doey is 3 boys not just jack, first meeting with mrs delight, and that time she blew shit up because mommy wouldn't stop trying to force her to play her games.

i'm makin a list so if anybodies got any ideas for side stories they want feel free to share

[was-that-a-pun]

Absolutely adoring your doey mom fic, read it through three times now, and I keep thinking how would susan react to monster doey, but also I want them to be happy and not get to that point, but on the other hand, mom calming down giant monster son(s) in the greatest piece of writing ever created

You're doing great and I'm loving your work!

THANK YOU SO MUCH I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT! I just dropped part 12 so now you'll have a little more to read through X3

OOF I think seeing him in that state would make her deeply deeply sad, It would largely matter on who they're upset with, is it her? did she fail him? (for real or just perceived) She might just let him kill her, or run until he's calmed down enough to listen.

If it was someone else, like the player, she might wait until they've warn themselves out and maybe help them get away, but wouldn't help them hurt him.

who knows you may see some of this in the fic itself ;)

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If this Susan were to meet , canon Susan, what would they do?

Hey, I also remember Marie ( I think that was the name of the woman who adopted the kid that became Mommy Long Legs) she seemed pretty devastating in that VHS tape when she heard that her daughter got turned into Mommy Long Legs ;I think it's a similar situation to Doey. And now I just imagine both of them traveling to the factory together, both working together to get their kids back.

Now that matters what you mean by 'Canon Susan'.

Canon like at the current point in the game? She'd probably leave flowers at her grave, along with George's. Tell her she's sorry she didn't get the same chance to try to save him.

If its post canon game ending she'd do the same but possibly also deface Jacks headstone to add Matthew and Kevins names.

If it's pregame?

Pre-vhs She'd grab herself by the shoulders and desperately tell her that it's a trap, that playtime is manipulating their son to hurt them and cover their tracks. She'd also frantically tell her what tools to sneak in with her and how to get them all out and that she needs to LISTEN to him or she'll just make things worse.

Pre-tour she'd force her to promise not to take the tour, never to let Jack anywhere near there, but maybe give them Kevin and Matthews names and tell her to get those boys OUT.

I'd COMPLETELY forgot that vhs was the kid that got turned into Mommy Long legs! She definitely would team up with her if they'd known but man that'd be just a little awkward cause Susan and Mommy do NOT like each other XD

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IDEA! I don't if you have plans to have Susan be with the employee when there's the choice to sacrifice a nightmare critter (I think it's Simon Smoke) to get through or stay and die but if she is, I think it would be fun if she broke the glass tube and just took it with her. Doey gets a little sibling and she can piss off the doctor, a win win.

Very good idea, want some spoilers?

Right now the plan is for Susan and the Player to split up to finish him off in one fell swoop (they think) with Susan going into the red smoke maze to destroy his liver while Player is sent to do the same to his brain, off screen he gets booby trapped same as canon and ends up meeting back up with Susan and Doey afterward with a snarling critter on his hip and blandly tells them it was a trap before they all head back to safe haven to regroup for the final fight

bonus spoiler the Mako Nightmare critter that lead her into the prison is also going to make a comeback and join them soon, X3

Havent decided on any others though

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Saw someone with this idea and I've been percolating it within my evil mush brain.

What if Susan and George both barely survived and were used as BBI experiments? Waste not, want not, as they say.

For shits and giggles, imagine they were made into smaller toys, like the critters. Doey and his small parents he may or may not know are still alive.

OMG it'd just be @Justabeewithapen's Babysitter program but swapping out Lucas and Bella for Jack's parents!

What would Playtime even turn them into? For some reason my first thought for George is a Bron, just this little dino huffing at the scientists grumpily at every little thing.

I have an AU of my AU i keep poking at on the side where they both survive and they talk playtime into keeping them as prison labor (human surprisingly) in order to stay near their son and his glasses getting busted in the hour is a plot point.

Susan I'm not as sure about, maybe a catbee to stay with the older toys? what if she was made into something like Mrs Delight? Or maybe a mini critter thinking it'd keep her from being able to cause too much extra trouble (it wouldn't) ugghhh so many choices!

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Fleshin out more background characters in my AU fic for later chapters like I have with Medic and Thomas and a recent cut content video gave me ideas for Scout the boogie bot and Izzy the bobby bearhug

Scout I've decided was an older kid in Playcare and was a close friend with Matthew before he was 'chosen'. They were similar ages, though Scout had been there longer and had lost her parents in a car accident she wasn't part of. It gave her a slightly better idea of what he was going through than most other kids did and tended to play backup to his leader role.

Neither ran into Kevin much just by chance, the little they did see of him he seemed fine to them although Matthew caught some other kids setting him up to get in trouble once and put a stop to it.

After Matthew was taken Izzy arrived, probably younger than Jack when she got there, and instantly clung to Scout as big sister. Scout returned in kind and goes out of her way to care for and dote on her.

Scout though was also 'chosen' a little more than a year after Matthew and Kevin were, Izzy had a hard time in Playcare for the few months before she was as 'chosen' as well because she couldn't connect with anyone else the same way.

Scout and Izzy are dumped into the workyard/general population at the same time and Izzy does not handle things well. Scout would know that sobbing anywhere and scrambles to comfort her and convince her of who she is and that Izzy isn't alone. Doey overhears and oh shit this is one of my friends.

They all end up in trouble/punished because Izzy can't calm down enough to work, Scout wont leave her side, and Doey wont let the guards touch either one of them. But afterwards it makes things a little easier because Matthew knows he can trust scout, which means Jack and Kevin learn to trust her and she becomes one of the main people he talk to about the whole confusing experience of being three kids turned into one.

Cut content lines under the readmore that inspired me

Scout: Izzy, have you done what I asked you to? Gathered all your things?

Izzy: Oh, yeah! I’ve got my journal and my crayons and my dollys and my-

Scout: Good. Good I just wanted to make sure

Izzy: You. Y-you sound sad -

Scout: No! No. Just thinking…

Izzy: Thinking about what?

Scout: About everything to come, about our part in it.

Izzy: Oh...okay. Are we still gonna play our game later? Y-you promised we would-

Scout: *chuckles* I remember kiddo, and a good scout knows to keep her promises.

Izzy: Yes!

Scout: But finish up your tasks first please! Then my time is all yours.

Izzy: Okay! I’ll get them done quick! Super quick! You wont even see me doing them!

Scout: That better mean they’re actually getting done though *sigh*

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

At least the trip back was uneventful

Chapter 14: Our Safe Haven

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Poppy’s employee friend was there in the infirmary when they arrived.

He sat shivering under a blanket that had been draped over his shoulders and was further covered in a handful of the smaller toys. There was a mini pugapillar wrapped round this neck like a living scarf, a mini Kissy had tucked herself into the crook of his arm sitting on the grab pack handles, and a pair of critters were perched one on his lap and the other sitting on his foot clinging to his shin. They all looked very comfortable with their chosen spots while Poppy’s friend looked miserably chilled but accommodating.

Susan was about to ask what had happened to him out there, but was cut short by the residents of safe haven noticing their return.

Everything was suddenly a mess of excited shouting and little toys underfoot as they swarmed. Doey expertly navigated around the tiny crowd as he deposited more of their loot. Meanwhile Susan was almost scared to move, fearful a misstep would lead to a tail or paw being tread upon. Critters and toys excitedly bounced about, some clinging to his legs and pulling at his hands trying to lead him to the lobby while others tried to see in the containers they’d been stacking by the tunnel entrance amid a flurry of pronouncements and questions.

Some wanting to tell him how happy they were they’d made it back, Wanting to know what had happened out there. Did they really make it into the prison again? Who’s their new friend? Wait did you find something?! That’s a lot of something!!

It was the nice kind of chaos. The kind that made it clear how much the resident’s of Safe Haven cared about Doey and he for them.

“Ah-Hem”

The exaggerated, robotic cough to draw her attention filled her with a sense of dread.

Medic stood in the middle of the infirmary hall glaring at her bloodied and bruised state, striking an imposing figure for a toy that was barely bigger than her shoe.

He jerked a claw towards an unoccupied partition room and wordlessly wheeled inside. Susan shot a glance toward Doey to make sure he was fine moving the rest of the supplies they’d found (and whom had gained a few critters on his shoulders) and was met with a playful expression that said ‘Oooo you’re in trouble!’ getting a quick tongue stuck out in return before she followed the bot.

Medic huffed as he looked over one of her newest injuries, a cut hiding under Susan’s graying hairline from her tumble on the catwalk.

He stood on the palm of her hand and would periodically instruct her to move him this way or that so he could get a better look as she recounted blow for blow what had happened since they’d left.

He chastised her quietly, there was no privacy here but he could at least keep his voice down. And she’d at least bothered to do a halfway decent job of cleaning and bandaging her injuries this time.

She set him back on the side table and Medic tsked as he turned his attention to pulling some supplies from the drawer below him.

“Young lady you really need. to take better care of. Yourself.”

Susan sputtered as the toy pulled out needle and sterile thread, her cut needed restitching.

“You realize I’m pushing fifty, right?” He didn’t look at her, laying the supplies out neatly on the tabletop.

“And I am Fifty Seven. As the kids say Ha. Ha, I win.”

That was unexpected, adults hadn’t been nearly as common test subjects from what she’d seen and even fewer of those seemed to survive very long. But that was on her for assuming.

Turned out he’d been an on site doctor for workers comp injuries up in the factory.

It had all seemed very normal where he was, he’d had no idea how large the factory was or how deep it went. Heck at the time he hadn’t even realized the orphanage program posters scattered about were for an orphanage in the factory.

He hadn’t even seen what Bigger Body toy had taken him out.

He’d just been carting some supplies from storage to his office and something was suddenly looming behind him in the corridor then the next thing he knew -

“Let’s B-b-b-boogie!”

The unexpected catchphrase and accompanying little spin drew a snort out of her as she finished the final knot. The conversation had made for a good distraction during the stitches even with the less than cheery topic.

“GUYS THERE’S MAC N CHEESE IN HERE!!”

“YAAAYYYYY!”

Susan struggled to stifle her giggles at the toys excitement on the other side of the thin fabric barrier, flinching at a bruise blossoming on her ribs.

Finally Medic had checked over every new scratch, bruise, stitch, and temporary hearing loss (courtesy Rabbie Baby’s echolocation screeches. Thankfully the ringing was already fading from her ears) and he was finally satisfied. Giving her a… okay not a clean bill of health but he was confident enough she wasn’t at risk of a concussion so he was willing to let her leave his care.

She’d set him back on the ground when he motioned for her to wait, rolling off and appearing a few moments later with four snack bars stacked precariously in his tiny arms. Not breaking eye contact as he shoved them pointedly into a side pocket of her pack.

She’d figured she wouldn’t get away with that one.

Poppy’s Employee friend was still where she’d last seen him, looking less frozen and miserable and still covered in toys. The pugapillar had now moved to the top of his head with the other end still dangling over his neck, the kissy was still perched on his elbow and both critters were now on his lap, using the end of the blanket in some pantomime adventure as the Employee made sure neither fell off.

She’d found something in the Extraction Specialist cache he might find rather interesting, tucked into a back corner of a shelf with a post it note that read ‘Todd’s Do Not Touch! That means you Mark!!! >:C ’

“Hey, think you were looking for this?”

At the site of the prepackaged snack cake the Employee’s eyes widened in shock and the toys gasped and oooed dramatically.

A cake for Izzy.

He starred at it in stunned silence as she started back to the lobby.

“Wait!”

It was the loudest she’d heard him speak so far and it honestly made her jump a little. He carefully maneuvered around his passengers till a book appeared from the blankets depths.

“Your… Doey asked me to keep an eye out for this, I think you should get to give it to him.”

The novel was well worn but still readable and smelled the way old books should. Susan suspected it’d taken more than just ‘keeping an eye out’ to retrieve it.

She feathered through the pages with a quiet thank you as the toys crowded somehow even closer than they’d been before to gaze in awe at Izzy’s good birthday fortunes, beginning a debate over the best cake/frosting combinations.

The tv room was surprisingly devoid of inhabitants.

Or so Susan thought at first glance, till a quiet voice drew her attention to the red haired doll tucked into the little nest of cushions at the top of the climbing arch.

“-I’m just worried Poppy, we have so little time!”

The colorful play phone was propped up across from her as she conversed with the mysterious Ollie.

“I know, I Know! But we don’t really have a choice. There’s nothing we can do until we have the omni-hand.”

She could only see the back of her but even then she could tell the doll was worrying at her dress.

“And don’t forget about the explosives, those are gonna be really important”

There was something off about his cadence that Susan just couldn’t place. Though it was most likely just a byproduct of whatever Playtime had done to him. (You know what? she’d never seen a Baby Long Leg’s… what if-?)

Silence stretched as Poppy looked anywhere but the phone...was she not telling him something? Was she having doubts? Had she really heard them?

The doll turned just enough to catch site of Susan from the corner of her eye and startled as the older woman offered a friendly wave while she finished glancing around the room and departing.

“Poppy?”

She jumped again and scrambled to pick up the phone, holding it close.

“Sorry Ollie! I- I think I’m just tired. Let’s talk more about this later, okay?”

“Don’t worry Poppy I understand. I’ll be here for you, always.”

Maggie, for her part, was handling the sudden rush of popularity fairly well. Letting them all have a good look at her as they threw rapid fire questions her way without actually leaving any room for answers (not that she could).

They all seemed excited to share toys or have her color with them or play ball. Maggie bouncing along from one activity to the next chirping and growling responses, many toys already in safe haven couldn’t speak anyway so they seemed well versed in that particular form of communication.

She suddenly paused, the little swarm she’d amassed leaving her behind for a moment before they realized they had. She plucked up a Lovebug plushie one of them had brought her and turned on her heels to head into the bathroom.

Her new friends watched her go, and as the door swung closed on her collapsing onto the blanket in the corner they turned to each and nodded knowingly.

“Naptime.”

“Mhm, later we should tell her ‘bought the quiet room!”

“Yeah! Hey, wanna go see if we can get the nightmare critters tape to work?”

“Yeah let’s go!”

Doey was giving the generator a once over, making sure it was still running smoothly from his absence. Apparently there had been a few flickers while they were gone that had him worried.

Again Susan helped with distributing everyone’s meals. This time every tummy was well and truly full by the time they were done (with some watchful eyes and gentle reminders to make sure no one ate too much or too fast and made themselves sick)

They tried to talk Doey into pausing his upkeep as he tried to keep a particular set of gauges to stay within a particular range. But Izzy pointed out at this rate he’d probably just dump the whole thing in his mouth to keep going and not get to enjoy it at all. So they saved some to make for him later.

“Was he like that in Playcare too, Scout?”

Izzy asked as she was passed packages and packets to place properly in the store. Kicking her little bearhug feet off the shelf ledge as she waited for the next thing to be handed up.

Scout nodded as she checked her notes before handing the next supplies to Susan to hand to Izzy.

“Yup, Matthew sure was anyway.” Another item was passed along “Didn’t get in trouble often, but if he thought he could fix something? Didn’t matter if it was a toy or one of the other kids was sick or sad he wouldn’t rest till he’d tried everything he could.”

The next item made it’s journey, Susan was paying rapt attention to the conversation, Izzy was now laying hanging her arms over the edge and kicking her feet in the air.

“You...knew them before?” Susan asked hesitantly, unsure if she could be crossing any unspoken boundaries.

“Only Scout knew ‘im.”

Izzy explained, unintentionally cutting Scout off

“He’d got chosen before I was at Playcare. We thought that meant you got adopted but it actually meant they made him int’a Doey. I knew Scout before we got chosen though! But you didn’t know Kevin, did you Scout?”

The Bot started to answer but Izzy was already talking again so she just made a little shrug that said ‘am I even needed here?’ and somehow getting her amusement across

“Oh! I remember! You only saw him a little bit cause you guys were always assigned in different places you said. An’ Jack was never even in Playcare was he? You were Jack’s Mama, right?”

“Izzy.”

“What? What’d I do??” She flopped down from the shelf with a little bounce as she landed. Somehow looking utterly confused with her little fixed features and went to Scout who pulled her into a huddle, backs to susan, and scolded her quietly.

“Are you his mom not were.” Scout glanced at Susan and lowered her voice even more, but still just barely audible “Were’s mean.”

Izzy finally caught on and gasped with a little “ooohhh”

The pair turned back to her and Scout motioned her to try again.

“Sorry… ARE you Jack’s mom?”

Such a little thing, Susan would be lying to herself to pretend that the ‘were’ in the question didn’t hurt the tiniest bit when she actually thought about it. There was that lingering fear that he could still reject her as a mother. He’d been without her longer than he’d had her as one at this point and Matthew and Kevin didn’t know her at all. But for now he called her ‘mom’ and seemed happy enough that she was there so she put her fears aside.

“Don’t worry Izzy, you didn’t say anything wrong.” The little bear scurried to her lap and gave her a big hug that she returned in kind. “yeah, yeah I am.”

It was such a tiny drop in the bucket of everything that had gone on, and everything that was still going on for them, she hadn’t paid it any mind. But boy was it sweet that they worried.

As she was giving the teddy bear girl a good squeeze when the doughman in question finally emerged from the Auxiliary Power room and beamed as he spotted them.

“That should take care of things for awhile! How’s it going out here?”

“Pretty good, I’m still tallying everything up and we’ve got everyone fed-”

Scout paused and almost like they’d rehearsed it Susan chipped in with an “almost” as Izzy turned in her lap to put tiny hands on hips and they all starred him down pointedly.

He ducked his head looking properly chastised.

“Sorry Mom, I’ll eat soon, promise.”

Izzy made an excited noise in Susan’s lap and Doey felt like he’d missed something.

It was good they’d waited till he was done, because now Doey got to give his full attention to and properly enjoy every cheesy noodley bite.

Mac ‘n Cheese. Who would have thought they’d ever get to have this again! Inside, the part that was only Jack was especially pleased.

A lot of kids liked mac n cheese, Jack loved it.

The joy radiated through every inch of them, of him, as he kicked his nubby little feet while he sat next to the lobby store and enjoyed his meal. Making it last as long as he could manage while Scout, Susan, and Izzy continued with their stocking and inventory and safe haven moved around them, a little happier than it had been in a very long time.

[was-that-a-pun]

“Get-” The expression above her twisted without actually changing. What had once been ecstatic bloodlust became confusion, then fear, and suddenly they were gone. A stretched orange wrist where it had been. “-AWAY!” He roared the words. Red, needle like teeth bared and something peeking (reaching) from the corners of his mouth as Rabie Baby was smashed into metal and concrete, blood splashing from under his palm as it made a pitiful noise with the impact. Love Him Till The Day That You Die Part 13: Things Gone Wrong

Spent all that time on the background for that other piece and realized I had another use for it. >:3c

Poor Rabie Baby <_<

[was-that-a-pun]

The walkway was getting farther, Rabie Baby’s smiling face growing ever closer, pistons passing in a blur as the Nightmare Critters clawed wing stretched out toward her. Not what people usually meant when they said ‘go out with a smile’. A sound, somewhere below, bangs and rending metal. Would it be ironic for one of the mover hands to take them out before they hit the ground? She never got that one right.

Love Him Till The Day That You Die : Chapter 13 Things Gone Wrong

This moment has been stuck in my head ever since I wrote it and it pushed me to get my old tablet out and draw for the first time in ages that wasn't just a cheap trace.

I spent so long on those hand movers (or whatever they're called that move the jail cells behind the walls of the prison) and i'm kinda proud of how the perspective turned out on Rabie Baby as they glide casually after Susan unaware there's about to be an orange palm comin at em in a few second.

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

Down Down Down

Chapter 13: Things Gone Wrong

Last< --- >Next

It’s always amazing how long time can stretch itself in those truly horrible moments of your life.

This wasn’t the first time it had happened, a body falling from a walkway in this factory. But... two nickels, right?

Was this what it had been like for Jack? The feel of the air ripping past him, the walkway shrinking above, that weird feeling in your stomach of false weightlessness, the anticipation of that inevitable final contact?

Her last conversation with Del came to her.

“Maybe this will be the trip you find him!”

“It will be. This is it. If I don’t find him this time… I’m not coming back out.”

Find him or die trying, a part of her had known this was the end. There was a certain comfort, in finally knowing he was alive, even if she couldn’t say he was fine.

Guilt.

She’d only just found him. She still had so much to make up for, so many years she’d missed. She’d wanted to save him, to help, not to add yet another trauma to their tally. But he’d survived, he was so strong, and he wasn’t alone.

She’d really been looking forward to getting to know Matthew and Kevin more.

She’d left all her notes and theories written out back at Safe Haven, and she’d told Doey everything she could think of about what to look for and what he’d need to get into the extraction caches.

God she hoped he’d find a way out of this hell, him and his friends.

The walkway was getting farther, Rabie Baby’s smiling face growing ever closer, pistons passing in a blur as the Nightmare Critters clawed wing stretched out toward her.

Not what people usually meant when they said ‘go out with a smile’.

A sound, somewhere below, bangs and rending metal. Would it be ironic for one of the mover hands to take them out before they hit the ground? She never got that one right.

“Get-”

The expression above her twisted without actually changing. What had once been ecstatic bloodlust became confusion, then fear, and suddenly they were gone. A stretched orange wrist where it had been.

“-AWAY!”

He roared the words. Red, needle like teeth bared and something peeking (reaching) from the corners of his mouth as Rabie Baby was smashed into metal and concrete, blood splashing from under his palm as it made a pitiful noise with the impact.

The air was driven out of her as she hit something with a suspiciously familiar give, the surface flexing to reduce the impact as she was caught in Doey’s stretched palm.

Even with her vision refusing to focus, ears still roaring and head still spinning from the fall she managed to smile as he looked down at her. She’d instinctively pulled her bad arm to her chest, cradling it (at least it probably wasn’t broken again) And reached shakily up to cup his cheek even though it was stretched out of her reach, his face filled with concern.

“Are you-?”

He asked as he went to push the hair from her face, to check her over. But cut himself short as he noticed his own red-smeared fingers.

With one last glare at the bigger body bat (which was twitching and struggling to peel itself from the wall) he tucked her close to his chest and everything moved very fast again as he shifted them back down, through the hole he’d torn in an already damaged cell and slammed it’s door after them with a bang.

-

Doey stumbled away from the cell door as scraping and screeching rang fruitlessly from within.

His whole focus was on the figure cradled in his arms. The blood stain on her pants leg had grown and more was trailing from under her hair. Scratches on her shoulder where Rabie’s claws had struck her. One arm pulled tightly, protectively to her chest.

Was that the same one that he- no, no time for those thoughts, focus!

She was looking up at him, but something about her eyes made him think they weren’t focusing right. She had a tired, relieved smile as he finally un-stretched himself back together enough she could reach up and cup her free hand to his cheek.

And she was so small, he’d never truly gotten used to that, how small everything had become after-

“You okay? Did he hurt you?”

“ME?!”

All thought came to screeching halt at the question, The Doctor hadn’t even bothered with him except to laugh as he fled down the pipes and she was asking if HE was okay?!

She huffed a barely audible laugh, patting him before pulling back gently, trying to get back on her feet. He let her, carefully setting her back on her feet and hovering as she swayed, that just seemed like so much blood on her jeans.

She sagged into the cement wall, that same wane smile as she watched him, quietly waiving him off that she was fine. She just needed a moment, that was all.

“Subpar results,”

Something shifted behind them. Doey’s heart dropped.

“But a mildly entertaining diversion I’ll admit,”

Nightmare critters, dozens of them, were crawling their way from every crack, hole, and cell. Slowly stalking over the rubble and cornering them.

“Alas, I have more important things to attend to. But don’t worry, I’ll leave you in capable hands.”

The speaker snapped off with a screech and a pop to signal Sawyer was finished with them.

There were so many... too many.

Alone he would have been fine, whether to fight or to run, but mini critters were small and fast and he would have to not just keep them away from himself but from his mother too. If any got past…

That distorted giggling filled the air, scattered with screeches and growls as they waited for their moment.

He could feel fingers crawling up his throat, ready for what he would need to do, need to become.

And suddenly she was stepping in front of him.

-

Head held high, bat in hand and injured arm raised to block their path to him in a protective pose he was all too familiar taking himself.

She slammed the end of the metal bat onto the floor then struck a piece of rubble and -

TnkTnk Clnk

Every.

Critter.

Stopped.

Every gaping smile filled face. Every beady eyed gaze was locked on her as she glared right back.

“We’re not doing this.”

Her voice was stern, even, and left absolutely no room for argument.

A beat, then another.

The critters looked at each other, and Doey got the distinct feeling they were very seriously thinking some things over.

Then quietly, slowly, they just

– left –

Crawling or climbing back the ways they’d come, periodically glancing back at her looking confused and unsure.

But she stood firm, watching them till the final few Allister’s and Poe’s had vacated the area.

Well, almost all.

-

A single Maggie Mako sat on a tall pile of debris happily wagging its little shark tail as it waited patiently to be noticed.

Susan waited a few moments after the last few critters left before she relaxed.

Heaving a long sigh of relief as she rested hands on knees to keep herself up as she got her breath back and her thoughts in order.

Doey was still blinking at her in disbelief as she, with a just barely noticeable limp, approached the last Nightmare Critter standing who was looking very very pleased with itself and gave it a little scratch under the chin.

“Well hello again. Didn’t think I’d be seeing you here. I see you did tell your friends about me.”

The little Mako did a happy little spin as Susan turned her attention back to Doey.

“Guess it wasn’t just Pianosaurus following me in here last time. Lucky that worked.”

Something occurred to her and she dug in her pocket for a particular memo scrap.

“Any chance you’d be interested in helping us again? We’re looking for a container, about the same size as these cells, with this symbol on it?”

The shark plushie considered the paper seriously. Glancing around as if trying to piece placements together before giving a decisive nod.

“M-maybe we should rest first, take a minute to catch our breath?” He was really worried about her.

“It’s okay,” She assured him, starting to get her breath back “I’m okay, we can’t risk Sawyer coming back. Still looks worse than it is, I swear.”

“That is not as reassuring as you think it is.” He grumbled as the little Mako hopped down the rubble and lead the way.

-

On the other side of the block was another of the many damaged holding cells. This one was missing an entire corner that let out onto a solid concrete space and into more utility passages behind the cells including a skeletal staircase that this time stretched down into the darkness.

Doey hovered close to Susan’s side, a hand always ready in case she stumbled or slipped. Especially since she was still staying to the center of the stairs away from the handrails.

A few flights down she finally relented, setting at the top step of the landing they were on and shrugging off her pack.

“Okay, you’re right. We should take a break. Should be out of sight of those cameras here.” They all cast a wary eye into the darkness “Hopefully.”

She grimaced as she tore open the quick fix she’d done to the cut in her jeans and peeled the blood soaked fabric away to check the damage.

“Plus I’d better take care of this. So that a certain someone doesn’t give me another lecture.”

Doey held the first aid supplies and passed her what was needed. They talked, quietly. About the high security block and his time there, about the pipes and whether traveling through them hurt. Doey wincing every time she did at the sting of alcohol wipes.

About how impressed she was with how he’d helped her from inside them. As he helped her apply butterfly bandages to the spots she couldn’t reach.

About her first run in with the mako critter and how they’d helped her get into the prison to begin with.

“And speaking of,” She turned their attention to the Mini Nightmare Critter who’d been laying lazily behind them playing with discarded packaging.

It perked as they turned to it, pausing mid paper fold.

“I was wondering what’s your name, or if there’s something you want us to call you?” She asked as she went to pull something else out of the bag.

It looked rapidly from one of them to the other, somewhere between confused and conflicted.

Doey coughed, drawing attention.

“A-uhh- A lot of critters can’t talk, or never learned to. Some of them were really young when-” He let the sentence hang. “And most can’t write either.”

Now Susan’s shoulders slumped as she’d been setting a pencil and paper next to the toy, who seemed pleased but only proceeded to scribble. Pausing in it’s doodling to tug pointedly at their pull charm.

-

Maggie, it seemed she liked Maggie, like the toy she was.

She couldn’t talk or write but was decent enough at getting her point across when they asked her things. Didn’t know where Sawyer actually was, avoided No Man’s Land the same as the safe haven toys did. She like the idea of more food, and the idea of coming with them back to safe haven much to Doey’s relief.

It was hard to offer sanctuary to toys who traveled in feral packs.

Train tracks greeted them at the bottom of the stairs, an abandoned train waited for them further along them. It was different than what usually transported toys into the prison, but was exactly what Susan had been expecting. A single prison cell sized container sat on one of the cars, the rest enclosed passenger carriages meant to carry the extraction specialists. A hand scanner stood as the final hurdle.

“Now that we know where it is, maybe we can get Poppy’s friend to open it?”

Doey offered, Susan shook her head.

“These are different, like the omni-hand. It has to be one of the specialist's grab pack hands. Can’t even brute force this one.”

And she’d tried more than once, even on a particular occasion doing so on purpose to cut an especially bothersome team off from their supplies.

“We’ll have to find a member of the extraction team. Hopefully at least one of them didn’t get too far before something got them. And hope that the hands still intact. Thankfully we don’t need it still attached to the main pack. Just wish we knew which wa-”

She was cut short as Doey gently tapped her pointing back along the tracks with a surprised and confused expression as Maggie proudly pranced her way to them dragging a dismembered arm that was still grasping a very distinguishable grab pack hand.

“Or that!”

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Till The Day

Susan's First attempt at breaking into Playtime Co. after recovering from vhs 1322 Report: Jack

Chapter 2: The First Attempt

Last< --- >Next

“Welcome to Playtime Co!”

The secretary smiled up at her cheerily from the reception desk as Susan handed over the $2.99.

“You’re just in time, your tour is going to be heading out in just a few minutes.”

The momentary glance that flitted over Susan’s rumbled pants, hoodie pulled over her hair, dark sunglasses that obscured her eyes held no suspicion or recognition as she took the money and printed a receipt.

“Just head on through, there’s a posted sign where you’ll start.”

They handed back the receipt and a guest sticker which Susan dutifully filed out with a fake name as they pointed her in the right direction and greeted the next person.

Susan’s nerves vibrated as she took the sticker with the fake name on it and offered a quick forced smile.

The tour guide was someone different, of course it was. This one older but no less bubbly and chipper as he greeted them all and launched into his spiel. Expertly corralling the attention of the gathered youths.

Susan zoned out, standing toward the back with other tired looking parents, caregivers, and teens as he went on about the wonder of Huggy Wuggy.

She starred at the giant Huggy Wuggy statute that waved down at them.

She felt like it was staring right back at her.

They moved onto Make-a-Friend.

The selected child was a shaking little thing that looked like she was about to burst with excitement as her parents urged and encouraged her through each pressed button and pulled lever as she looked back at them for reassurance before every action but squealing in glee after

Her hand drifted to her opposite arm, fingers gently prodding where just recently the cast had been holding her together had been removed. It ached. She wondered if it always would.

A tour of the Playtime factory was one hour.

It was like floating through a memory, she could see them everywhere. Jack running ahead, bouncing excitedly, eyes wide with wonder as he took in everything the tour guide said like he was being taught magic. George at her side making quiet jokes and comments to try and make her laugh while she recorded it all.

Forty-five minutes into it they entered the Doey Dough production area.

The group was halted in the corridor before they entered, a short safety talk given. A reminder that this was an active factory and that each of them were responsible for remembering that and a reminder for all children to stay within arm’s reach of their parents at all times as they went through.

There’d been no safety talk last time, Jack staying closer wouldn’t have made that handrail any less unsturdy. Susan managed not to react.

She wasn’t sure what she expected to happen, how she’d expected to react.

Really she hadn’t put any thought into it, any of this actually. The cast had come off her arm and an orderly had been late for a shift change and she’d just left.

And now she was here.

And as the crowd of the rest of the tour cleared the doorway and she could see through the room seemed to grow, bright yellow Playtime logo emblazoned at the other end rapidly speeding away from her and cheerful Doey mural on either wall coming closer, looming over her, ready to engulf her and it was like it was trying to suck her in.

A rushing filled her ears as her lungs failed. She was breathing in and out but it wasn’t doing anything and her stomach had simply disappeared out of the bottom of her.

She could hear his voice, hear the metal creak and crack, could see fingers just breaking the surface coated in molten dough before sinking again.

Everything distorted, becoming hazy and unfocused and too detailed at the same time.

There, the exact wrung.

Could the other’s on the tour see?

How shiny and new the metal was? Welds overly thick to compensate for past failures? How the guide gave that particular spot such a wide berth?

She’d yet to put a foot on the walkway, still standing in the doorway looking in.

She was shaking, she felt like she was falling, like she was dissolving while all too solid, like she was going to die.

He didn’t die, that was why she was here. he’d endured, was enduring, so much worse. but he didn’t die, or didn’t stay dead.

A man who would have been a little older than her husband would be if he were still alive still here of George she missed him so much asked if she was alright.

She waved his concerns off.

Vertigo, She says, it hadn’t occurred to her this would trigger it.

He nodded in sympathy, told her about a cousin he had, pointed out a water fountain back the way they’d come and she sighed in relief at the easy out and excused herself.

Finally, now she could get to the real reason she was here.

She passed the water fountain with barely a glance, still in a haze, still floating through memories.

She followed those memories through the halls, a phantom of the intern they’d sent to lead her and George further into the facility leading the way.

A turn here, turn there, take this elevator to that floor.

Susan moved with the confidence of someone who’d trod this path thousands of times before, which she had in a way. Playing it back over and over and over in her head till it was burned into her memory almost as deeply as the tour was.

Someone hadn’t closed the door all the way making the security card reader pointless.

A locker room was open, maintenance coat left on a bench and she pulled it on.

At least it wasn’t a lab coat.

People were working. But most didn’t even look up from desks or paperwork and those that did saw ‘maintenance’ and she could see herself dissolving from their vision as their gazes slid right past her.

Down this hall, turn here, that door.

She was almost there, fewer office suits more lab coats. Not much further.

They hadn’t changed the pass code, probably didn’t see a reason. Hadn’t anticipated her ever returning.

She’d been so impatient to get through the door last time that she’d stared willing him to go faster as he’d keyed the numbers in.

The door swung open.

Her heart was in her throat as she rushed in, the viewing window huge before her.

The cell was empty.

Susan forced down the disappointment, it wasn’t like this was a surprise after all.

She’d known.

She hadn’t allowed herself to think about it but she’d known.

There was no reason to think this was his permanent room. As if he was a patient in a hospital.

That he would still be here waiting for her.

Her sweet Jackie.

But it was the only thing she had, the only location she could aim for.

She was searching through the pc in the corner (the password found on a post tucked under the desk) looking for leads when she was suddenly very aware of someone in the doorway behind her.

Ritterman smiled.

“Well hello there Mrs, Ayers. Back so soon?”

“Where is he.”

Her words were clipped and barely restrained, he feigned an expression of hurt.

“No pleasantries? How unfortunate. Sadly I haven’t the foggiest who or...what you could be referring to.”

“Where is he.” the words devolved into a growl.

“It doesn’t much matter where he is Susan, you are never going to see him again.”

“Where IS HE!”

The snarl turned into a snarl as she launched herself at him, ready and willing to do whatever it took to get her answers.

The smirk didn’t leave his face and he simply stepped back, a pair of sturdy security guards taking his place from either side of the door to tackle and restrain her.

It was a close thing, even with each guard outweighing her twofold.

“Give me my son!”

She fought with the fury of a wild animal, screeching for the return of her son, gaze filled with blood lust and never leaving Ritterman’s face.

“Now Susan, you and I both know that’s not how this is going to work.”

They finally managed to pin her and she still hadn’t stopped struggling, blood smeared across her face from headbutting one of them. He was honestly surprised they’d avoided being bit.

“Let Go!”

He knelt beside her, arm resting on his knee as he tilted his head to look her in the eye.

“While it’s been lovely seeing you again, I’m afraid it’s time for this visit to come to an end. But don’t you worry, we’ll have you back at the mental health institute soon enough.”

She spat blood on his boot when she couldn’t get her arms free.

“I won’t sto-”

He patted her condescendingly on the head, cutting her off. Quickly yanking his hand back as she snapped at it.

“I don’t doubt it Mrs. Ayers.”

He stood in one fluid motion and headed out the door, pausing just long enough to toss back a cheery.

“In fact, I’m counting on it.”