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Chapter Text

Angie woke to the sound of their alarm clock, now in their mid 40s the ex-toymaker worked a 9-5 job at a local restaurant, serving tables and cleaning spills customers left behind. Groaning, they sat up slowly and turned off their alarm, adjusting their eyes to the light that flooded their bedroom.

A while after waking themselves up, the ex-toymaker turned waiter began walking down the stairs to their kitchen to pour themselves a bowl of cereal.

Knock, knock.

Angie turned to face the front door, letting go of the box of cereal they had grabbed. They approached the door and opened it, however no person could be seen, only a box with an envelope taped to the front. What on earth could this possibly be, they asked themself, carrying the box into their living room to open it.

The letter was crudely written in what seemed to be crayon, however the writing utensil wasn't what intrigued them:

"Everyone thinks the staff dissapeared 10 years ago

wer'e still here.

FIND THE FLOWER."

That last part was underlined and bolder than the rest of the message, a drawing of a poppy flower sat beneath it. The writing on this note was poor and the grammar perhaps worse, but it was still something that shocked them, their coworkers were still at the factory? How? No one had returned their calls all those years ago. It puzzled them, maybe this was someone's weird way of making a joke at their expense? Nevermind that, there was still one more thing to unwrap in this mysterious package.

A cardboard box.

They ripped the top open and to their surprise, a VHS tape labeled "VENTAGE POPPY COMMERCIAL" with the signature Playtime Co. brand colours on it, that signature yellow, red, and blue. Angie was sure they had a tape player somewhere around here, although they barely used it anymore, TV wasn't especially their thing.

After a minute of searching, they placed the VHS into the tape player, watching the commercial for the Poppy Playtime doll.

A hundred questions swirled in their head, who gave them this strange gift? What could it mean? These thoughts continued to simmer in their head before it finally clicked: someone wanted Angie to return to the factory.

Why? Angie wasn't sure of that, but someone wanted them to return to Playtime Co..

And that's just what they did.

Chapter Text

The door creaked open, a chilling wind moved some of the resting dust that remained on the entryway floor. Angie's first steps were hesitant, but once they'd entered they knew they had to do this. Their eyes gazed around the room before landing on a lime green VHS tape, it was labeled "Laith Pierre closing." The tape slid perfectly into the matching lime green VHS player.

A higher up at the company they once worked for's voice spoke through the screen, Leith Pierre was the head of security and definitely took his job seriously to say the least. As the recorded message spoke of the factory's security measures and referred to Angie as if they were a criminal, the discomfort and unease began to settle in.

Once it had finished, they began looking around the entrance area. The door behind reception was locked behind a grabpack pannel, something they hadn't used in years.

Playtime Co. had a tendency to lock everything behind strange puzzles disguised as toys, they never really understood why this was but they didn't dare ask Pierre about his reasons for what he did. One thing was for sure, these puzzles were going to make things a hell of a lot harder for them.

After finally completing a puzzle for a door code, which was cleverly hid inside of a toy train within the shop centre beside the front desk, they found just the item they needed: a grabpack already equipped with a blue hand. They slid the machine over their shoulders and adjusted the strap, Angie had forgotten how heavy these things were, especially when you aren't used to carrying one around for 9 hours daily. They tested the grabpack's trigger, shooting the blue hand at a few small objects to see how well it worked, if it worked at all.

It worked, they could open the door and finally enter the factory to see what that note was all about. As the door slid up slowly, it revealed a surprisingly clean and well cared-for Huggy Wuggy statue, one much larger than them but one they were familiar with. This Huggy was meant to be a mascot for the factory along with a security system, having cameras in its eyes to watch the visitors with. Pretty creepy if you asked Angie, but what could they do about it?

They shot the grabpack hand up to meet the giant Huggy's hand, as if attempting to high-five the statue. They chuckled to themself before walking off to open another door with their grabpack, unfortunately for Angie, this door wasn't connected to power which would definitely be not great. The door to the power room was locked, as well, and they didn't have the key on them, they hadn't had any keys to this place apart from the one they'd used to enter. Apparently the person who sent them a VHS tape and a key to the front door couldn't send them the rest of the keys they'd need for this place.

Angie sighed and turned around, maybe this whole thing was just a giant practical joke that had been pulled on them, making them return to their old workplace just to waste their time. Their gaze looked back up at the large Huggy Wuggy statue, something shiny catching their eye. A yellow key, the key for the power room. Had they missed it before? No, they gave Huggy a high five, they would've grabbed the key if it was there. Strange.

They decided not to dwell on the fact that the key suddenly appeared when they needed it and shot their grabpack hand up to grab it, "uh... thanks Huggy?" They looked away, sighing as they realised they were talking to an inanimate object. They used the key to open the power room and entered, an electrical wiring... puzzle stood before them. Was everything in this toy factory some sort of puzzle or game?

They reconnected the power but in doing so they noticed the bloody and torn apart toys that lie on the ground around them. It creeped them out, why were they bloody? Toys don't bleed. What happened here?

The power being connected once more, they turned to leave.

The giant Huggy Wuggy 'statue' was gone.

Were they hallucinating? This couldn't be real. None of this made sense, why would they be called back to this old factory now of all times? And now the toys were moving on their own and apparently bleeding? Their head felt like it was spinning but they carried forward, opening the door they had tried to open earlier with the blue grabpack hand. As they walked down the corridor, they noticed something from the corner of their eye, the arm of a large Huggy Wuggy doll moving on its own. It slithered around a corner and hid behind a door.

Curiosity was stronger than their sense of fear, plus it's not like they really had much to live for as of now anyways, why not die in a cool way instead of just going from old age? Angie followed the mysterious large toy, entering the door the arm had slithered away into. It entered to a long, narrower dark corridor, they hesitantly walked forward.

The door at the other end of the corridor opened to reveal a more industrial looking room, concrete walls and floors with storage bins and shelving all around. A flight of stairs seemed to be their only way forward in this place, so Angie began to climb. Reaching the top of the stairs, they walked forward to a control pannel, the oddly colourful buttons shone brightly in the dimly lit factory.

They couldn't help but feel as if they were being watched, however.

They looked around for a moment before spotting the smiling face in the vent, the same blue doll that they'd initially thought was a statue. "Huggy," they hesitantly called out, but recieved no answer as the face disappeared into the darkness of the vents.

Creepy, they thought to themself as they began to go through the next strange puzzles within the factory, collecting pieces of machinery to put together. Machinery used to power up a crane that carried them the other hand of their grabpack, this time it was a right and red hand. They fit the hand onto their grabpack and tested to be sure it worked. They they climbed into a vent, opening it with both hands of the grabpack. Another puzzle, then they were finally in the room where toys were created: the Make-A-Friend machine.

The doors here weren't just controlled by puzzles, though, they also sometimes required a scan. Though, being Playtime, these scans weren't of anything usual, they were of toys. Toys made with the Make-A-Friend machine, specifically. Unfortunately, as most things within this facility were, it wasn't powered.

Angie climbed to the maintenance catwalks to connect power to the machine, an annoying but fairly simple task they're sure they wouldn't have to do for much longer. The machine powered on and they returned to the ground floor, using the machine to assemble a CatBee toy to scan.

Placing the finished toy on the scanner, the large door before them opened. Angie stepped forward before a creature emerged from the shadows. The large Huggy Wuggy statue from earlier returned once again, now with large pointed teeth and a quiet growl. It slowly walked towards Angie, they backed up slowly. This thing wanted them dead, didn't it? Were they really called back here just to be mauled to death by a giant blue plushie?

They backed away further, eyes darting around the room to find an escape before finally landing on the vent labeled with danger signs.

Huggy followed Angie into the vent, speeding up by quite a lot as a chase through the vents ensued. Twists and turns kept them right at death's door, the blue monster following close behind, they could feel its breath on their skin.

The chase led to a large collection of catwalks stood over a dark pit, a box above them with handprints on it.

All Angie could think to do was grab the box, maybe it would make a barrier between them and the monster.

It did more than create a barrier, the box came crashing down and hit Huggy on the head, leaving him immobilized as he began to slide off the edge into the abyss.

Angie wouldn't let that happen, though. He may have tried to kill them but they wouldn't just commit a murder, even if the victim of this supposed murder would just be a giant blue stuffed animal. They grabbed Huggy's arm with their normal hand, making sure he didn't fall. The creature let out a roar of anger before its growls turned to that of what could only assume to be confusion. Angie did their best to tug Huggy back onto the catwalk, the blue plush lay slumped on the ground as Angie paused to catch their breath once he was returned to 'ground.'

The giant plush growled, backing away slightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to hit you," Angie spoke, "you probably don't understand English, why am I trying to communicate with a toy?" They groaned, turning away.

Arms wrapped around Angie's torso, they flinched, maybe saving this beast wasn't a good idea, maybe they were doomed and it was about to eat them-

The plush let out a noise different from the ones Angie had heard before, this one more soft, it's face nuzzling against the top of their head. "You're not gonna attack me, right?"

Huggy didn't respond, continuing to squeeze the ex-employee for a while longer. Eventually his grasp loosened and his sharp teeth-filled mouth had returned to being his normal, happy smile. Huggy nodded, gesturing to the flower on the wall behind the two of them.

This was the flower the note told them to find, wasn't it?

Angie looked up at their new tall and confusing ally, was ally the right word? Who knows, it just tried to kill them and now it was following them like a puppy. Huggy smiled back at Angie, the two began walking towards the flower.

Chapter Text

The blue monster walked closely behind Angie, its presence making them slightly uncomfortable as it had originally attempted to eat them but they pushed their fears aside, it wasn't being aggressive now and probably wouldn't for a while. The large mural of the flower only got bigger as they got closer to it, it was time to see why someone wanted them to come back and find this flower to begin with.

Arriving at the foot of the red painted flower, a door surrounded by warnings drawn in crayon was directly in the middle, as if it were the bud of the poppy flower. Angie turned the handle to the door and opened the room.

A long and lowering hallway awaited them, it was ominous. The walls covered in wallpaper you'd find at your mother's house, decorated with floral patterns and a dark wood trim along the bottom. They entered the hallway, Huggy needing to duck his head to fit through the doorway.

They wandered the strange house-like area, odd peaceful music seemed to be playing in the distance, how strange and... honestly horrifying. As they proceeded to walk, the corridor's lighting had began turning a shade of red, leading up to a wooden double door. Angie hesitantly approached and turned the handle, the door slowly creaking open.

The door opened to reveal a small glass case with a doll inside, the same Poppy Playtime doll from the VHS tape they'd been sent initially. Pillows lay in a mess on the floor, as if a rowdy child had recently attempted to build a fort in this room. Something felt off, what could this mysterious letter sender want them to do with a weird creepy doll? Too late to go back, they thought to themself as they reached forward to open the case containing the doll.

As it opened, feint red smoke spilled into Angie's lungs, it made them feel dizzy. They felt woozy, as if about to fall asleep from a long day of work, their eyes felt as if they were going to shut.

Then the doll spoke.

"You opened my case...?"

And the world for Angie plunged into darkness.

Huggy Wuggy heard the thud as Angie fell to the floor from outside of the room, lowering his head to squeeze in through the door. His companion was unconscious on the floor, it didn't seem very comfortable, he couldn't imagine wanting to sleep on the floor instead of a nice, cozy bed. The room was red, quiet clicking of heels could be heard in the distance, Huggy gazed around the room trying to spot the small creature but to no avail.

He had other things to focus on for now. Scooping Angie's head up off the ground, which was much harder than you'd assume, and resting it on his lap, Huggy sat watching the human sleep.

Being made of plush material was useful for something, at least.

Chapter Text

Angie's eyes slowly began to open, groaning as the red light of the room hit their eyes once more. Flinching at the sight of the giant blue plush before remembering what was going on, at least to what they were aware of and understood. Huggy made the same cheerful growling noise he had made earlier as Angie stood up, brushing themself off. "Where did that doll scamper off to," Angie puzzled, Huggy stood up but seemed to sort of shrug, looks like they both didn't have any ideas.

The duo exited the strange room that had initially contained the doll, a door that had previously been blocked by a large dresser was now unblocked, did the little doll do that? If it had, then the doll would probably be somewhere on the other side of it, so their journey continued. It opened to reveal another section of the factory, this one being more professional in appearance. Echoed whispers called out from the distance, some hard to understand or hear but one was clear as day, "this way..."

Elliot Ludwig was a name that was always followed by high praise and admiration in the company, he was the founder after all. It was strange to think that they were stood before his very office, as if it was just a few doors away from the entrance to the factory. The door to the office was locked, of course, but maybe something useful would be awaiting them on the other side? Maybe the doll had managed to enter the office and lock it all by itself, it was clearly capable of doing absurdly difficult things as shown by the moved dresser.

A key had to be somewhere nearby, there always was one. Probably hidden behind some sort of puzzle. Angie walked around the floor of the factory, searching for any clue for a puzzle that may lead them to finding a key for the door, hunting but finding next to nothing. "Hm?" Huggy let out another of his non-aggressive growls, "what is it?" The blue plush toy gestured to one of the hallways, a pit in the floor was visible, something they knew they couldn't get across just by jumping. Fortunately for Angie, Playtime Co. had a tendency to put these odd poles for employees to grab onto with their grabpacks in random points of the factory, and luckily enough there just so happened to be one over the hole in the ground.

Angie and Huggy exchanged looks before the ex-employee began making a run for it, using their grabpack to swing over the hole by holding onto the pole above. The action filled them with a quick adrenaline rush, one that quickly faded after they landed. "I'll be back in a second, just gonna check for a key." Huggy nodded and stood waiting for them on the opposite side of the hole.

A pile of barrels blocking the door to a storage closet sat in the room at the end of the short hall, pushing the buckets away allowed Angie to enter the room. Picking up the key with a poppy flower on the base of it, they slid it into their pocket and made their way back to huggy, swinging back over the hole and showing the key to their tall companion.

The key with the flower on it unlocked the door to Elliot Ludwig's office, there wasn't much to write home about in here apart from the large vent cover that was near falling off its hinges. A bit of force allowed Angie to knock it onto the floor with a loud metal clang, startling both them and the blue toy.

Angie lifted themself into the vent, followed closely behind by Huggy, this definitely felt familiar to their initial meeting but at least this time wasn't a run for their life. The duo crawled through the vent for a while before reaching its end, entering a room filled with boxes, electrical supplies, and-

Thud!

"Oh! Uh... sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

It was the doll from the case, Huggy wrapped his arm tightly around Angie's, staring with hesitance at the red-haired doll.

"I was just trying to get the power back on... didn't work very well, though. It's nice to meet you!" The doll spoke in an oddly chipper voice, but it was different from what they were used to with Huggy, this one actually could speak. Angie looked up at Huggy and gave him a nod, the tall blue creature let go of their arm as they began to connect the power using their grabpack hands.

Once the job had been finished, the doll gave them a round of applause, "I wanted to thank you for freeing me, I was stuck in there for so long... thank you." Angie nodded, "you're welcome, I suppose." "I'd like to pay you back, there's a train station nearby," the doll spoke once again, entering the smaller vent behind her, "it needs a code, and I have it."

Angie's eyes widened, "the train, I assume, takes us out of this factory?" Poppy nodded, "we're gonna get out of here... all three of us." The doll spoke with a childlike joy yet an unnerving threatening tone in her voice, "I'll follow you through the vents, come on, now." Angie climbed into the secondary vent, Huggy following close behind like before. They crawled through the tight vent until returning to Elliot Ludwig's office, they'd gone in a circle. Poppy stood in the small, square vent in the corner of the room, "hey! I'm up here," she giggled before entering the vent once again, "this way."

Angie and Huggy followed outside of the vent, walking around Ludwig's office and opening a door with their grabpack. Another hole for them to swing over was in front of them, which Angie did with less hesitance this time. Huggy stepped down into the hole and walked over to the other side, climbing back up onto the floor like a child exiting a pool. Walking down the halls, they arrived by Poppy who was stood next to a giant hole in the floor, her back turned to the two.

She turned to face the duo, her voice becoming more serious, "listen, I'm going to need you to trust m-"

Before she could finish speaking, a pink hand emerged from the hole and snatched her away, Poppy being carried away, screaming. Angie flinched and stared down the hole, "hello?" No response. Before another thought could enter Angie's head, Huggy stepped into the hole. Confused and running on adrenaline, they followed close behind. The hole connected to a slide, which dropped the two off in an area with a large door and a sign that said "Game Station."

Ah, the Game Station. Angie never worked there personally but they did hear about it, how children would come to play games inside of the large factory's indoor playground, it sounded lovely. Activating the power to the door once again, they stepped into the hallway, it was long and lead to another door, this one being opened with the red grabpack hand. Placing their hand on the button, it began to ope-

Their hand was ripped off by a similar hand to the one that grabbed Poppy, a chilling giggle echoed from above. "A new playmate!"

Crawling from the ceiling, the large pink spider revealed itself, "it's been so long." The spider lowered its other arm, revealing a tied up doll with a noticeably angry expression on her face, "isn't this exciting, Poppy?" The spider tossed the doll around a bit in her hand, pitching her voice up to mock the doll's, "very exciting, Mommy!"

"What... are you...?" Angie took a step back, making direct eye contact with the spider, Huggy wrapped his arm around Angie's and took a step behind them. The spider scared him. "Mommy heard that miss Poppy was just going to give you the train code to escape!" She approached closer, limbs stretching far to make her seem larger, "now how is that fun?"

Angie just stared in shock as the plastic toy turned herself upside down, "why don't we make a game out of it? The Game Station is still working," the spider spoke, "it will be just like old times." Her voice returned to the high pitched mockery of Poppy's voice, speaking while shaking the doll around, "and if you win all three games, I'll give you the train code!" Poor Poppy. The spider gasped, "Mommy loves that idea, Poppy! Ooh, you're going to have so much fun!" She had a menacing smile plastered on her face, Huggy quietly growled while squeezing onto Angie's arm tighter. "Head to musical memory and Mommy will get things started..."

Her expression changed to one more serious, getting closer as she stared directly into Angie's eyes, "obey the rules or I'll tear you apart and eat your insides while you're still alive," giggling as she ascended into the darkness with Poppy in hand.

Once the spider was gone, the door to the Game Station opened.

The fun was about to begin.

Chapter Text

The door before the duo opened, sliding up to reveal a secondary door which required a lever to open, kind of odd how they didn't just have one door for this but now wasn't the time for questions. Huggy's grip on Angie's arm loosened, he quietly grumbled as he followed the human, entering the gateway room just behind them. "Not a fan of her, are you," Angie said, patting Huggy's arm, he shook his head. "I get that, spiders are creepy."

Angie stepped towards the lever to open the secondary door, small piles of bloodstained toys sat on the floor around it, which was honestly disgusting and unnerving. They pulled the lever and the door began to open, revealing a darkened version of the esteemed Game Station, an indoor playground with doors to different large games for children to play. As they entered, the lights turned on one by one, illuminating the large playground that the two would be stuck in for a while, or at least until Angie managed to get that code from Mommy Long Legs, as well as Poppy, so they could continue their journey out of here.

Walking further into the Game Station, the duo made their way up onto the elevated platform that allowed people to enter and exit the colourful train, aka their only escape from the factory now. A cutout of Kissy Missy, one of the other coloured variants of Huggy Wuggy that Playtime Co. had manufactured, stood beside the train, the blue beast stared at it. It was always hard to tell what Huggy was feeling, he didn't speak and his face rarely changed, but something inside of Angie told them that this was some sort of longing for his other half, maybe he missed her. "I'm sure she'll show up eventually," Angie said, placing a hand on Huggy's arm in an attempt to comfort the large toy, "if you were by the entrance, then I'm sure she couldn't be too far away." Huggy nodded, turning to face Angie, he let out a purr-like growling noise, seemingly one of comfort, trust, or happiness, Angie couldn't fully tell, certainly didn't mean anything bad though.

A platform behind them with three levers attached to it beeped and flashed a small red light at them, on and off, and on and off... it was oddly hypnotic. Angie pulled the first lever, the one beside the flashing red light, and music began to play over the intercom system. Music followed by a familiar voice.

"Hi kids, welcome to the Game Station, I'm Stella!" Stella Greybur, one of the higher ups in Playtime Co., she was in charge of all things related to the children housed in the on-site orphanage, Angie wasn't aware of much of the workings going on down there but they knew it existed. "We've got three super-duper fun games to play! These little tests show us just how crazy strong and smart you are! Follow Mommy Long Legs down the stairs and we'll start by playing Musical Memory. See you in a bit!" The voice stopped, Huggy and Angie exchanged glances, "I'll get this game finished in no time, you wait here, okay?" Huggy grumbled quietly, looking away, "I won't be long, promise."

Reluctantly, Huggy agreed with a nod, leaving Angie to walk down the stairs and into the entrance for Musical Memory.

The floor of the entrance was coated in a thin layer of recently-dried blood, mangled toy parts flung around in corners. The door to proceed didn't open, but a perfectly human-sized hole in the wall leading to another hallway within the same sort of area. Wandering through the much more decrepit hallways, the environment around them slowly went from industrial to cavernous, a hole in the floor they happened to miss causing them to end up in a cavern tunnel.. in the factory? Nobody told them anything about this when they worked for Playtime Co., how strange.

The cave-like tunnel dropped them off at a darkened part of the factory, the lights turning on after they pulled down another lever with a flashing light above it. The Molding Room, appears that Playtime Co. developed grabpack hands in this area, the machine was all busted, unfortunately.

Though... Playtime Co. was never known for their industrial strength pipes, in fact it was quite the opposite, the grabpacks employees were supplied with were strong enough to easily fix the bent pipes in the Molding Room, adjusting them back to their proper positions was surprisingly easy for Angie, a quick tug with the grabpack and they were practically good as new. Pressing each button on the illuminated pannel before them one by one, the machine began crafting them a brand new hand for their grabpack: a green one.

Angie never used a green hand grabpack when they worked at the factory, however they had a few coworkers who did. It was an interesting machine that helped with maneuvering around the factory, opening exclusive doors that required its unique electricity-holding functions. Sliding the green hand onto their grabpack was rather easy, it fit nice and snug into the section, the wires seemingly instantly connecting to one another.

Having one of these hands excited Angie, they finally got to see what the whole deal with these electric doors was. Grabbing power from a nearby supplier pannel, they used the green hand to open the door to a vent, crawling through allowed them to reach the exit, returning them to the path they originally were on to find Musical Memory. A Bunzo Bunny cutout met them before they entered the Musical Memory game room, a creaky and unstable metal path allowed them to make their way onto the platform for the game.

Once stood in the middle of the circle, the path disappeared and the lights turned on, a video of instructions for the game began to play on the large screen before them, a large rabbit toy hung above them, waiting.

The instructional video ended and the spider revealed herself, watching from a shadowy viewing window above. "Oh, isn't it amazing," the spider's voice echoed throughout the room, "Mommy hasn't seen the place up and running in years!" Angie turned to find where the voice had come from, staring back at the large, plastic spider that held them trapped in her web. "Mommy can only imagine how excited Bunzo must be," she continued, "it's been such a long time since he's been able to play... to cheer..." Bunzo Bunny lowered from the ceiling slowly as Mommy Long Legs spoke, a quiet growl coming from his mouth, "...to eat."

Once fully lowered, Bunzo slammed his cymbals together, making a loud crashing noise that rang in Angie's ears, "oh! that's the dinner bell! Goodluck." Bunzo was raised back to the ceiling, it was time for the game to begin, Angie readied their stance and prepared themself for a memory game of life or death. As the machine spoke the colours, Angie pressed the buttons, they considered themself pretty good at memory games for what it's worth.

The rabbit got closer with each round, things proceeding to get more intricate and complex as it continued, Bunzo's lowering only put them on edge more as new buttons added made things ever more confusing for them to memorize. It proceeded in ramping up difficulty before it finally became too much to bear, they needed to press the emergency stop button, did Playtime Co. need to make everything this difficult? The button span around them rapidly, making it near impossible to press, but they managed. The game came to a halt, all buttons powering down and sparking as they deactivated, the spider's voice returned, "oh. It broke."

The spider swirled around in a pace as she spoke, eyes not leaving Angie. "That's no fun... for doing such a splendid job, Mommy has decided to give you part of the code."

As the rabbit was raised to the ceiling, he let out a nervous squeak, Angie looked up to see what had happened. Poor thing looked horrified, as if something awful was going to happen. Something awful was going to happen. "Um... Mommy," Angie hesitantly spoke, the spider replied in an annoyed yet upbeat tone, "what?"

"Can I ask for a different reward from this game?" Mommy seemed confused but reluctantly agreed, "...depends, what is it?"

"The bunny," they spoke, looking up at the scared Bunzo, "I want you to let him down from there, it seems uncomfortable." She stared in confusion, why would they ask for some rabbit toy who almost killed them but ended up failing? Didn't matter to her if it meant they got to stay longer, "fine, fine, here you go." The rabbit fell from the air, landing in the ex-employee's arms, Angie looked at the bunny with a feeling of remorse, something told them that if they hadn't done something then Bunzo would've been hurt, maybe it was just the dust and lack of sleep getting to them.

"Mommy will see you in the next game, don't take too long," she said as she scurried away, the bunny adjusting himself in Angie's arms. "You okay?" He squeaked in response, another toy that wasn't able to speak in words, that's fine. The path they'd used to enter the game raised back up, allowing the two to walk out and-

It fell. Angie and Bunzo slid down to the ground, incapable of returning the way they'd came from. Angie looked around at the area the two were now stuck in, seems the only way out that could possibly be spotted was a vent. Walking over and ripping the cover off, Angie looked down at the rabbit, "are you okay with leaving this way? It's the only way I can see for us to leave." Bunzo nodded, Angie nodded back and crouched down, crawling through the vent so they could leave. Crawling and crawling dropped the two into a storage room, one filled to the brim with discarded toys.

Dropping down from the vent, Angie looked for a way to go next, an elevator with a large Bron the Dinosaur toy sat upon it seemed to be the exact thing they needed. Pressing the button for the elevator didn't work in raising it, though, the elevator was way past its maximum weight capacity with the Bron toy. Angie did what they could to push it off, but it all was in vain, the toy barely budged. Looked like a hopeless case, but was it? After the human had given up trying and began looking for another way to move it off, a thud sounded from behind them.

Bunzo did a running leap towards the toy and managed to kick it off of the elevator with just his plush legs, did it make any logical sense? Not really, but it did make things a whole lot easier. The elevator lifted the two up to another decrepit hallway, following it lead them to another electrical circuit puzzle which Angie solved through trial and error.

Finally, the duo was back in the Game Station, where their blue friend was patiently waiting for them. Huggy waved at Angie which startled Bunzo, he squeaked before Angie placed him on the ground. "Don't worry, he's friendly... promise." The two walked up to the platform Huggy was stood on, the blue beast gave Angie a large squeeze with affection as they got closer, something very welcomed and appreciated. "I don't have much time to stay here, got another game to play... but at least you won't be on your own," Angie spoke as they gestured to Bunzo, "you two can keep each other company while I'm off in the next game... speaking of, which game is that?"

They pulled the lever as the music returned, followed by Stella Greybur's voice.

Chapter Text

"Woah! You did fantastic! Who gave you permission to be this smart?"

"Mommy is super proud of you, but I'm sure she's already told you that herself!"

"Our next game is Wack-a-Wuggy! Head downstairs and have fun!"

The speaker turned off once again, the large room filling with odd silence. Angie turned to Huggy who's head was tilted towards the ground. "I'll do my best to be gentle," they attempted to reassure the large blue toy, placing a hand on his side, "I can't make any promises, but I'll try." Huggy didn't respond, staying in the same position while he stared at the floor beneath him, Angie let go of his arm and turned to Bunzo. "Stay with him while I go play this next game, hopefully this one will be shorter." Bunzo nodded and walked over to Huggy, sitting down on the ground beside him.

Angie slowly made their way to Wack-a-Wuggy, walking down the stairs and into the room where the game would be taking place. Colourful plastic holes lined the walls, murals of differently coloured Huggy Wuggies drawn across the wall where the holes weren't. Another informational video on how to play the game began playing, it explained the rules. The game worked like wack-a-mole, smack any Huggy Wuggies with your grabpack that you spotted climbing from any of the holes in the walls.

The instructional video finished playing and the spider returned, watching from a window perusual. "The toys in this game used to have strings attached to them," she spoke in a whimsical tone, "so that they could be pulled back when they got too close to the children... hm, have fun." As she finished her sentence, the game had started.

Toys began to crawl from the walls, Angie hesitated in hitting them, they didn't want to hurt them. Thinking about how many children had played this game in the past, they couldn't imagine how hard it would've been being one of these little toys. They had been hurt enough. They stood still in the middle, hands not touching the grabpack triggers.

The wuggies pounced.

Roaring and screeches could be heard as they smothered Angie, maybe violence was the only way to win this game after all. Maybe this whole mission of leaving was a waste because they attempted to try and be friendly to some plush toys.

Maybe...

Maybe it wasn't. These smaller wuggies didn't have the same sharp teeth as the large one, the most they could do was smother and hit, and the hits barely did anything as they were made of primarily plush and cotton. Angie giggled, these little toys could barely do anything to them, it felt more like they were being mauled by a bunch of little puppies, incapable of actually hurting them but thinking they're doing a lot.

"Blehh! You got me," Angie said with a chuckle, flopping to the ground and sticking their tongue out. The toys seemed confused for a moment, was their prey... having fun? They'd all stopped the mauling, simply staring at them for a while. "My turn!" Angie shot up from the ground, grabbing one of the wuggies and giving it a tight squeeze, "gotcha!" The toy screeched before shortly realising this human meant them no harm.

It nuzzled Angie's arm with its cheek and kicked its legs, making a similar yet higher pitched purr-growl to the ones their Huggy had done earlier.

Mommy Long Legs watched in shock as the toys, the hungry and vicious toys, played with the invading human. The game continued for a while, although no participants in it were truely playing the game as intended, instead just play wrestling with each other like children. She was confused, why was this happening? Why weren't they following the rules of this game like they did the previous?

Until it clicked.

Angie didn't want to hurt anything.

She didn't understand it, maybe it was an act to get the toys to lower their guards. She groaned as the game ended, "I suppose you win... though, you didn't follow the rules. So I won't be giving you any part of the code." Angie sighed and sat up, "I'm fine with that," they spoke, an exhausted tone in their voice, "sorry we didn't play the intended way, it sounds like a fun game, maybe if it was a little bit gentler..." The wuggies curled up around Angie, seems they exhausted from their game as well.

Mommy glared, confusion and rage building inside of her, this wasn't how the game was supposed to go. One game remained, she could get them there. "Meet me in Statues, our last game will be for the code," she said before crawling away into the darkness once more. Angie stood up, the wuggies clinging to their body the best they could. The door they'd entered through had closed, but a vent had opened, seems this was their only way out... again.

Crawling, they arrived at a staircase, all of the miniature Huggies clinging to them and crawling on them as Angie moved throughout the broken platforms and steps. Walking and further took them to what appeared to me a minecart track, unfortunately the gates were locked, no where to go, except for a gate. A gate with a lever on the other side, maybe one of the mini wuggies could-

A shadowy figure approached from the darkness, it appeared as if it were Huggy, did he try to find them? Where were the other toys? "...Huggy," Angie called out but to no response. As the figure approached, it was clear this wasn't Huggy. This was Kissy Missy, Huggy's other half, she stared at Angie and the mini wuggies with confusion before pulling down on the lever to open the gate. "Kissy Missy...? I knew you'd be nearby, Huggy's..."

Then she walked away, leaving before Angie could finish their sentence. "Oh."

Crouching under the gate, Angie attempted to follow the pink plush toy but she seemed to have vanished. All that remained was a minecart and some more electrical puzzles to solve. Nothing they couldn't brute force trial and error their way through, of course.

Barry the toy cart. What a strange creation.

He was a very useful ally, in a way, clearing a path for Angie and the toys to continue their journey back to the other toys and the Game Station. A room to their right had a hole which carried them back to the Game Station, returning to Huggy and Bunzo.

They smiled, climbing up the stairs to Wack-a-Wuggy, they made eye contact with Huggy who seemed overjoyed to not only be seeing them but all the miniature versions of himself. There was 5 of them, one of each colour that wasn't his own. He stood up and approached Angie, giving them yet another tight squeeze of a hug. The mini wuggies climbed down from Angie's body and onto Huggy's, he was more than happy to take them. "I told you I wouldn't hurt them."

One last game remained, Statues.

This was all that stood between them and escaping with Poppy, Huggy, and the toys from the Game Station.

Chapter Text

Angie sighed, sitting down on the steps near the control pannel, everything they thought they once knew about their previous workplace was crazy wrong. Living toys? Who could've guessed that! Definitely not them. They watched as Huggy let the mini Wuggies crawl on him, how Bunzo ran around Huggy in circles while tapping his cymbals together every now and then. Honestly, Angie found it adorable, they were like the kids they never managed to have on their own.

Angie was always a family person, they loved the concept of family and couldn't wait for the day they'd have kids of their own.

But that day never came, they'd become a lonely middle aged person who lived their life paying rent from a fast food job. Maybe the letter sending them here was more than just a message telling them to come back, that things weren't as they seemed. Maybe it was a sign that they needed to try to find a more fulfilling life, something that made them happier. Although on the edge of dying more times than they could count, this place filled them with joy and adrenaline they hadn't felt in a long time.

Angie stood back up, walking up the stairs and approaching the final lever, "one last game, we get Poppy, and we get to leave." They hadn't thought about what they'd do with these giant toys once they left, it's not very socially acceptable to have a giant blue fuzzy monster in your home with razor sharp teeth. That was a problem for future Angie to deal with, for now they just had to get out of this place. The toys had walked to behind them, watching anxiously as Angie pulled down the final lever, Stella's voice filling the room once again.

"Jeez, have you played these before? You're so good! Seems like you're ready for the final game," Angie walked down the stairs, prepared for whatever Statues was going to throw at them, "Statues!"

"Follow Mommy down the stairs one last time, I hope you had a fun day at the game station, see you next time." They did have a fun day at the game station, they met new friends and felt more alive than they had ever felt in over 10 years. The door to statues began to open but failed, activating the emergency manual handle to open it. Using their grabpack, Angie tugged on the door until it slid open, it was much heavier than you'd think.

Walking down the stairs into Statues, the walls were lined in murals of PJ Pug-a-Pillar, another one of Playtime Co.'s toys, this one part of their Swapimals series. Angie sighed, another game associated with a toy, maybe they weren't getting that train code after all, there's no way Mommy Long Legs would let them take all of these toys with them and the train code. The door didn't open, requiring Angie to manually open it from the side with yet another power connector puzzle. Finishing it allowed the door to Statues to open, but as they walked back to begin the game, they could hear hundreds of scuttling footsteps all around them. It gave them the creeps.

Entering Statues, a video began to play, another informational video on how the game would function. As it played, the scuttling grew louder until a face became visible from the shadows. PJ Pug-a-Pillar, the caterpillar pug hybrid, stood above a pile of wrecked indoor playground foam blocks. The dog's tongue hanging from its lips, staring at Angie with curious and confused eyes. "Aww... hi puppy," Angie cooed, sure, it was probably going to kill them, but how could they be scared of that adorable face?

The instructions ended, a light flickering on from above, Mommy Long Legs was here once again. "It was always so sad to see the kids go," she spoke in a sad and longing voice, still accompanied with that carefree whimsy she seemed to have no matter what she said, "they called me mommy because I was the closest thing they ever had to one." What could that mean, Angie puzzled, they didn't understand, wasn't this a place for the orphaned children in the on-site orphanage to play during the day? "But they'd come for games... and never come back."

Angie stared, confused with an inner feeling of dread, they didn't know what was going on at this place but it was so much more than they initially thought they knew. "They left Mommy to die alone, Mommy didn't deserve that," she said, her tone shifting to one more serious, with a built up bubbling anger behind it, "but you... you worked here..."

"So if anyone deserves to die alone, it's you." As she spoke her final words the spider disappeared from Angie's line of sight, they stood feeling overwhelmed with guilt. What was going on? Why were these toys so resentful? Why were they even alive? So much happened that they didn't know of, so much happened that they were complicit in. Before they had any time to properly collect their thoughts, the game had begun, PJ began to crawl closer as the lights turned out, so Angie made a run for it.

Going as far as they could before the lights turned back on. PJ was fast, but they were faster, swinging from monkey bar to monkey bar, crawling through tubes, hopping over blocks, until finally reaching the end.

But they weren't meant to win this game.

The end was blocked by a pile of rubble, there was no end for them to reach.

This was Mommy's trap, and they'd fallen right into the middle, like a fly in a web. Crawling as far up the hill of dirt as they could, all they could do now was watch as PJ slowly approached. Closer and closer the hound drew near, there was nothing they could do now. He crawled closer, closer, and closer until he finally reached them. This was it, they'd failed at getting that train code so everyone could go home with them...

The Pug-a-Pillar walked around Angie in circles, wrapping its body around theirs as it panted, barking once before nuzzling against their chest. "Huh... but you reached me? I lost the game."

The pug simply barked in a cheerful tone, licking Angie's face and nuzzling against their chest and arms. Angie was confused, to say the least, why was he being so friendly to them? No other toys were initially this friendly, apart from Poppy. They sat in confusion as they stroked their hand down the long dog-caterpillar's fur. It was soft, relaxing, as if petting a real dog.

Mommy Long Legs' voice echoed through the room, "...congratulations. You win." She spoke with a bitter and angry tone in her voice, "you beat me at my own game, you must be very proud of yourself..." Angie sighed, "these games have been fun, you know. I wish I could play them for longer but I have friends waiting for me." They leaned against PJ as he curled his head up on their lap, "was that all the games, Mommy? I think everyone's a little tuckered out from today," they said in a yawn, the spider only glared at them in anger from the viewing glass.

"...Mommy doesn't understand why you aren't scared of them, why you show compassion. No others of your kind did that to us..." her voice trailed off. Angie sat confused, "what do you mean by that?" Mommy didn't respond to the question, only answering with her usual chipper tone, "well done, Mommy will meet you with miss Poppy in the lobby of the Game Station, congratulations." The spider's voice disappeared, Angie gently pat PJ's head, "c'mon bud, we've got a train to catch."

Chapter Text

All three games were finally over, they entered with one ally and were about to leave with nine. The pug-a-pillar ran in circles around the Game Station, his long caterpillar body taking up quite a lot of space, none of the other toys seemed to mind though. Angie was sat on the stairs once again, watching as the toys played in the abandoned playground while waiting on the spider's return.

While they waited, they decided to come up with names for the Mini Wuggies, as referring to them as "mini Wuggies" was getting to be a mouthful and very confusing. They'd come up with CuddlyWuddly(green), SnugglyWuggly(purple), NuzzleWuzzle(red), FuzzyWuzzy(orange), and SqueezyWeezy(yellow). Not the most creative names but they worked for the time being.

Mommy's quick footsteps echoed from the catwalks above, she was furious. Entering the room that held Poppy, Mommy let her down from the webs that held her but kept the doll in her grasp. "Why are they like this?" The doll stared at the spider with confusion, a mild coat of annoyance as well, "like what?"

"They pretend they didn't... they're not one of the MONSTERS who did... THIS," the spider yelled, anger boiling more and more as she spoke, "that's because they weren't." Mommy stared at Poppy in angry disbelief, what did she mean they weren't one of them? They clearly worked here, how could they not have been part of what made her into this? "They weren't involved with the Bigger Bodies Initiative," the doll spoke in a serious and direct tone, "so many innocent lives were lost during the hour of joy. So many lives of those who weren't involved in the slightest with everything going on down here."

The pink spider's glare went from angry to one of realisation as if in an instant, she didn't like the prototype at all but his plan to enact revenge on those who hurt them had sounded nice. She didn't realise the faults, the pitfalls, bumps in the road, the innocent lives lost all because of a handful of horrible monsters. Her insides twisted with... guilt? Confusion? Fear? She couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was, but it for certain wasn't a good feeling. "They're here to help," Poppy spoke, "they're here to help us, Marie."

"What did you just call me?" She froze, that was a name she hadn't heard from anyone in too long, to the point she'd nearly forgotten it was once herself. "Marie, is that not your name," Poppy asked, tilting her head as she spoke. "It's been... so long..." "I know." The two sat in silence for a moment after that, listening to the distant chatter of play from the toys below. It reminded Mommy, no, Marie of the children who once visited the Game Station. Their playful laughter, the childlike wonder, the blindness to the truth.

"They're all waiting on us," said the doll, "I'm sure they'll have room for a tenth passenger aboard the train." Marie looked away, the train code sat intact on the control centre's counter, as if watching her, waiting. She picked it up and turned back to face Poppy, "I'm sorry."

Angie continued to sit, waiting on the doll and the spider's arrival, today had been long and they couldn't wait to return to their comfortable bed at home. The spider's pink body soon became visible as it descended from the catwalks above, her expression seemed more remorseful and... one could only assume sad than before. She placed Poppy down on the ground and the doll walked over to the ex-employee, "Angie, I'd like you to meet someone."

Their head tilted down to the doll before looking back up at the spider, "this is Marie," she said, "Marie, this is Angie." Marie. That name felt so familiar yet they couldn't quite remember where from. "Marie? I thought your name was Mommy," they said in a lightly joking tone, standing up and placing their hand out in front of the plastic spider, "it's nice to properly meet you, those games were fun." The spider's eyes widened, she didn't recognize how she was feeling, it spun around inside her and made her vaguely dizzy.

"It's... nice to meet you, too," she placed her hand out, meeting the other's hand and taking it gently in her own, "Angie." The human smiled at the toy, a warm and soft smile, something new... something unnatural to her. Poppy spoke up once again, climbing onto the railing beside the two, "Angie, can I ask something of you?" They tilted their head, "hm?" "I know I'm asking a lot of you, but..." her voice trailed off as she looked away.

"Do you think you could stay a while longer? I'll explain everything on the train." Angie stared, confused but reluctantly agreed, "how much longer, exactly," they puzzled. "I don't know exactly, but things are only going to get scarier from here... I need your help."

"My help?" Poppy nodded, "to free everyone from his control." By now, the other toys had gathered around the doll, the spider, and the human, watching patiently as they spoke. "The prototype," she spoke up, "he's what's keeping everything from moving on." Her eyes glanced around at the other toys, they seemed confused. "I'll explain on the train, I promise. For now, I need to know if you're okay with staying... and if you're okay with us all heading to Playcare."

The room fell silent, the toys looking at one another with worried and confused expressions to the best of their abilities. Silence stayed for a while until a voice spoke up, "Playcare... you don't mean to tell me, we have to see him," Marie spoke in a hesitant and worried tone. Poppy unfortunately nodded, "he's a victim of this just like you, all of you. This torment can't be fixed if we leave anyone behind. I'm sorry."

Angie sighed, walking up the stairs and approaching the train, "well then, we should probably get going as soon as we can, right?" Poppy followed close behind, the other toys reluctant but obedient. Huggy crouched down to Angie's height, wrapping his arm around theirs once again. "Hm? What is it," Angie asked, looking up at their large blue companion. He growled a hesitant whine, Angie pat his arm with their free hand and smiled at him. "Hey," they spoke in a whispered and soothing voice, "did I tell you who we saw after Wack-a-Wuggy?" He shook his head, Angie giggled quietly, "I'll tell you when we get to Playcare, okay?"

Filing into the different cars of the train, the toys took their places, squeezing in the best that they could, a task that was rather difficult for Marie and Huggy. Poppy hopped into the conductor's car along with Angie, taking a seat on a box near the controls. "I couldn't tell you this while the others could hear," she spoke in a whispered, serious tone, "I need more from you than saving the toys of Playcare." Her voice trailed off, she stared into space as Angie started up the train. "The prototype needs to die."

"...Oh."

The train began to move, chugging along the tracks as they headed to Playcare.

Chapter Text

As the train arrived at a bumpy halt, Poppy and Angie exchanged glances before getting off of the train. Helping the others off of the train as they began looking for where to go next, a stone statue of their blue friend stood before four gates, all lacking the needed power. The doll sighed, walking ahead of the group before speaking, "welcome to Playcare, home of the Smiling Critters," she paused, "and a friend of mine."

Mommy Long Legs, or as she was properly known, Marie, seemed hesitant and quieter than she had initially been when they first met, the other toys seemed to be avoiding her the best they could. "I'll see if I can get the power back on, you all wait here," Angie said as they looked around for anywhere that could possibly lead them to someplace to reboot the power, ending up in them leaving the group to enter the Security room.

The toys sat in the silent station, each remaining quiet as they waited on the human to return. The silence was deafening, some tension lie between each and every one of the toys in the group, a lingering past of torment that hung on like a leech. They stayed in that silence for quite a while, until something finally broke it. Clashing cymbals followed by a little squeak of curiosity, Bunzo stood beside Marie, staring up at her with curiosity yet hesitance and fear. "Bunzo," she spoke, looking away from him, "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to scare you." She slumped down to the floor, wrapping her legs around each other in a swirl. "...My anger got the better of me and I didn't know what I was doing," the spider kept her gaze away from the rabbit as she felt a mix of metal and plush wrap itself around one of her legs. She turned her head to the smaller toy, patting him on the head.

The room filled with silence once more, however this time it had more comfort to it. The smaller Huggies wrapped around the large one's body, they seemed comfortable wrapping themselves in his fur. Poppy sat on the base of the Huggy statue, her feet swinging back and forth as she looked around at the toys, taking in everything. It reminded her of the early days, when she had free roam over the factory. Playcare was a happy place back then, children and toys alike all running and playing together, she missed those days sometimes. This wasn't her plan when she called for Angie initially, she didn't expect any of them to be friendly, all of these toys were hungry as was she, yet they always seemed to surprise her. Kissy would be waiting for them in Home Sweet Home, she planned to go grab her while the others worked on moving the Red Smoke, that way they could get his attention.

Huggy looked down at the doll, sitting beside her as the miniatures continued to cling to him. She noticed him and turned, giving him a slight smile. "It's like we're home," Poppy said in a quiet laugh, "except what even is 'home' to begin with?" Huggy nodded, quietly growling as if in agreement. Poppy wished the other toys could talk, sure, Marie could but she didn't seem ready to have conversation just yet, so all she could do was have one-way conversations with Huggy, he seemed smarter than the others as well as dependant on Angie. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you, you know," she said in a hopeful tone of voice, the blue monster only nodded, tilting his head up to stare at the ceiling.

Before any further conversation could be held, the gates to Playcare lit up a bright green as Angie returned shortly after. "Everyone ready," they asked, the toys each getting up and preparing for whatever was next for them. It was too late to go back, nothing could be worse than starving to death slowly, so they were ready as they could possibly be. PJ crawled over to Angie, he was incredibly large compared to the train station itself, hopefully Playcare would give the pooch more space to run around, he barked happily and rubbed against Angie's leg. Poppy stepped down from the statue and nodded, "this way, everyone."

Stairs brought the group to a doorway with words overtop of it spelling "See the world through the eyes of a child, Elliot's Express." A cable car sat in the middle of the room, unfortunately it didn't seem big enough to fit everyone in one trip. After Marie and Angie had pulled down the levers to activate the car together, the toys seemingly came to an agreement about who would ride down first.

Angie, Poppy, and Bunzo entered first, they promised to send the car back up for Marie and Huggy afterwards. It began to drive after they stepped inside and sat down, a video playing on a television in the corner. A recording from the founder of Playtime Co. himself, Elliot Ludwig. He spoke of Playcare and its mission to bring smiles to all children around the globe. How Playcare was supplied with a school, a toy store, sleeping areas for the children, and more wonderful places built to care for each and every one of the residents.

Playcare itself was a large dome with sky-blue wallpaper, covered in painted images of clouds to replicate a sky. The circular shape of the building fit perfectly around the statue of the Smiling Critters in the centre of it all, a statue seemingly for every toy in its line. It was beautiful, really, the place filled Angie with a form of nostalgia hard to pinpoint, it was comforting yet sinister.

Everything here was fake. Fake clouds, fake sky, fake plants. These children never saw the sunlight here, that was what sent chills down their spine.

Hopping off of the cable car, Bunzo lifted Poppy ever so higher off the ground so she could press a button, sending the car back up for the rest of the toys to take. "This is the home of the Smiling Critters," Poppy spoke in a calm yet nervous tone, "the home of CatNap." Angie knew of these toys, and the incident that caused the recall of specifically CatNap, strange how Playtime Co. kept his image up within the factory all the while trying to hide him from public vision. "CatNap considers Playcare to be his Holy ground, protecting it with his life and slaughtering those who dare oppose him and step foot upon it," Poppy said, stepping forward so she was in front of Angie, "the Smiling Critters follow him to avoid the very fate of so many others, he's their priest. The leader of their very religion, dedicated towards the Prototype." She sighed, Bunzo was visibly anxious as she spoke, clinging to Angie's leg with his arms. "We need to be careful, they lurk in every corner," she continued, "every shadow is a hiding spot, they stalk those who enter their territory without a secondary thought. They'll know we're here soon enough if they haven't already."

Angie nodded, looking around. Once Poppy had said that, they felt as if constantly being watched, as if there were hundreds of eyes all staring directly at them, waiting for their perfect opportunity to pounce. The car arrived at Playcare once more, Huggy, the miniatures, Marie, and PJ had managed to all fit inside of it, PJ exiting first. He was excited to finally stretch his four hundred legs, Playcare had so much space for him to run. Huggy nodded, the smaller ones climbing down from him as they began to look around before joining PJ in his play.

"Do you think he," Marie asked without finishing her question, voice trailing off, Poppy only shook her head, "I don't know, we'll have to see." Marie shuddered, looking away, Huggy wrapped his arm around Angie's in an attempt to comfort while seeking it himself. Angie placed their other hand on his, leaning against his arm with their head, "where to, now?" Poppy turned to face the human, "the gas production zone, there should be a ring of keys in the office under the central statue. The red key can be used on the door just beside where the cable car dropped us off." Angie nodded, Huggy's grip on their arm loosening as they began heading towards the door that lead under the statue.

Marie and Poppy waited at the station as Huggy wandered off with Bunzo to join the others in their play, leaving the two girls to discuss among themselves. "What's your plan, Poppy," Marie asked, Poppy seemed stunned at her quick grasp of the situation, "oh, well... are you going to tie me to a wall again if I tell you?" Marie sighed, rolling her eyes, "no, I just want to know why you're doing this. Why you place so much trust in Angie." Poppy looked away, she didn't really have an answer to that question, she just trusted Angie. "They're capable of so much as they've already shown, they're perfect." "For what?" Poppy went silent before responding, shaking her head, "you'll see."

Angie exited the statue, key ring attached to the belt of their pants. Poppy speedwalked towards them, signalling for Marie to follow. "You and Marie should go to the Gas Production zone together, I have something to do quickly." And then she was gone, running off to Home Sweet Home without looking back. Marie and Angie exchanged glances, the human shrugging as the two reluctantly made their way to the door Poppy spoke of.

The gas production zone was a strange industrial room, it had three large tubes, one filled with a red smoke and the others empty. "More electricity for me to reroute, great," Angie said sarcastically, walking around to try and figure out how to turn the machine on. Marie found a battery on the ground in one of the connecting rooms, sliding it into the green battery slot beside the door. Angie nodded and stepped in through the door, "I'll get the power back on, you wait here."

And then they were gone again, leaving Marie to her thoughts, to which there were a million of. Thoughts of guilt, anger, betrayal, sadness, any emotion you could possibly imagine. Her head was swirling in confusion and conflict, but nothing she thought of or did could change what happened in the past. Haunted by actions she took without a second thought to, she couldn't help but feel horrible. The room echoed, distant sounds of wind blowing through crevices, leaky pipes dripping onto concrete flooring. Every sound she was conscious of made her more on edge, nervous, scared even.

After a short while, Angie returned, the power had been turned back on and they were free to press down on the button to divert the smoke. Marie's hand pressed down on the button and the smoke began to move, things seemed to be going rather smoothly.

Until they didn't.

The power shut off abruptly, Angie grabbing Marie by the hand and exiting the room as fast as they could, returning to the central hub of Playcare. The other toys were all together, apart from Poppy, seemingly confused and nervous. None of them understood what had happened, it was bright and then it suddenly wasn't.

Angie kept everyone close together the best they could, trying their best to keep them from freaking out more.

Clicking heels began approaching from behind at an alarmingly fast pace, the doll returning to her group emptyhanded, concern in her eyes as she came to a halt.

"Someone cut the power."

Chapter Text

"What do you mean," Angie hesitantly said, "who?" Poppy shook her head, the only light being from the ex-employee's flashlight made things tricky to see but they'd have to manage. "I don't know, it could've been anyone." The doll turned, "we need to use the backup generators located inside of each building in Playcare. They can be rerouted to a plug in the room under the statue." Marie sighed, "it's not safe for all of us to go," she retorted, "if we stick together in a large group we'll be spotted instantly." The doll nodded in agreement, "true, but being on our own could be just as dangerous. I say we split into groups."

Huggy's arm wrapped around Angie's wrist, he growled in agreement but clung to the human. "You wanna go with them, don't you," Poppy said, looking up at Huggy, the blue monster nodding in response. "Then it's settled, Huggy and Angie can go into Home Sweet Home to divert the power using the backup generator, the rest of us should stay under the statue until they return," spoke the doll, "that way we won't get lost and we'll be hidden from anything prowling Playcare's grounds." Angie nodded, looking through the ring of keys they grabbed from the statue room initially, "which of these is for Home Sweet Home?" "The one with a house-shaped charm on the end," Angie nodded, reclipping the ring to their belt and looking up at Huggy. "We'll be quick, promise."

The two began walking towards the orphanage's main housing facility, the yellow light from the windows shone brightly in the darkness. Walking up the steps, the wood creaked beneath their feet, it was old and decrepit to say the very least, gave Angie the creeps. Grabbing the key for Home Sweet Home, Angie placed it into the keyhole and turned, doors creaking open soon after it was unlocked. It lead to a small entryway that went into a spiral staircase, exchanging glances with their travel buddy, Angie and Huggy began their mission to find that backup generator.

The staircase winded down before arriving at a short hallway, the end of it housing another door, bloody toys lie strung from the ceiling, lifeless bodies dangling over their heads. Angie's hand placed itself on the doorknob, twisting it slowly until suddenly hit with a rush of red smoke which filled their lungs, they coughed a bit before continuing onward, Huggy following close behind. The room with the smoke lead to a staircase, carrying them deeper into the ground. Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, they were met with long hallways, locked doors on every wall of every corridor, scratching claw marks draped across the floors and wallpaper. They walked for a while, the hallways each twisting into a maze with each corner they turned, and they felt as if they were being watched from afar.

"Oh, I hate it here," Angie spoke, turning to look at where they thought their blue friend would be stood, only to be met with nothing. "Huggy?" No response. Angie somehow was separated from Huggy in this horrid labyrinth of nightmares, they didn't know how they'd gotten here or how to leave, all they could do was continue forward. Alone.

The blue monster sat beside the body of their unconscious human companion, seems the red smoke had done a number on them, he'd have to wait for them to reawaken like when they'd first opened Poppy's case. His gaze traced the walls of the room the two were in, scratched out pictures of children were hung upon them, scratches and carvings filling the empty spaces where no photographs resided.

How long was Angie asleep for? He'd lost track of time but it was certainly a while. He tilted his head toward the human, their sleeping seemed extremely agitated compared to what it once was, this worried Huggy. He placed one of his hands on their back, growling at them quietly as he gently shook them in an attempt to wake them up. This only seemed to make things worse which worried him even more, causing his cries of concern to get louder.

Angie ran as fast as they could from the giant monstrosity that chased them through the decrepit hallway, the world felt like it was spinning as tears burnt down their cheeks. They ran and ran before tripping over a broken floorboard, allowing the monster to catch up. This was it. This was their end. Huggy and the others would never know what happened to them, they'd be lost and waiting on someone who'd never return-

Angie shot up with a slight yell, tears in the corners of their eyes from the adrenaline. Huggy placed his hand on their arm before pulling them into a tight hug, a relieved noise of thankfulness exiting his throat. Angie was dreaming.

Dreaming was too kind of a term for what that was, Angie was having the worst nightmare they could've possibly imagined. They hugged the blue toy back before shaking themself off and getting back to reality. "We need to find that generator, I don't wanna spend another second here," they said in a serious yet scared tone. Huggy nodded, standing up and walking towards the door before them, attempting to opening it to the best of his abilities before Angie stepped in and properly did so. Opening the door lead the duo to a large room with an even larger crescent-shaped light hanging in the centre of it all. A gate with a sun symbol on it seemed to be what kept them from reaching the generator, to neither their surprise, this door was locked behind yet another puzzle. Angie silently cursed Playtime Co. before looking around, they had to solve a puzzle or two so that this door would open, what else was new?

Beneath them, a hole in the floor sat, a strange red, yellow, and blue mask hanging off one of its edges. Angie scooped it up with their grabpack hand and adjusted it over their face. It fit pretty well, each time they'd fallen asleep was because of breathing in this oddly hypnotic red smoke, maybe this would help if they ever came into contact with it in future. They took the mask off, adding it to the back of their grabpack with one of the attached connectors all grabpacks came supplied with.

Huggy approached Angie, shaking his head as he growled. The doors on either side of them were locked. Angie sighed, looking down at the hole below them, "looks like this is our only way to go. C'mon." As they jumped down into the hole, they slid their gas mask on over their head, red smoke filled the air in this lower section so now looked like their time to test the theory on if it'd help or not. Pulling the wind-up on a large toy car sent it flying, creating a pathway for them through the wreckage and debris. The duo wandered, crawling through holes and over furniture.

Exiting a door, the two froze as footsteps made their way past them in the dark. They couldn't make out quite what it was, all they could tell about it was that it's on the hunt. The two exchanged glances once again, continuing their journey in search of the puzzle to unlock the door for the generator. Batteries were what they needed to activate this half of the gate's power, one sat right beside where they needed it but it seemed they had to hunt for the second.

Searching each room for any battery they could hopefully find lying around on the ground here lead the duo to something.

No, someone.

Kissy Missy sat on a bed, eyes gazing longingly at a portrait of a little girl. Huggy stared in shock, confusion, but mainly in joy. He let out a happy cry, causing the pink toy to tilt her head towards the two, eyes widening as she stood up from the bed, placing the portrait gently on the nightstand beside her. She moved around the boxes that stood between her and the blue toy, wrapping her arms around him as he did the same. "Kissy," Angie spoke, "it's nice to finally meet you." The hug eventually loosened as both parties detached themselves from the other, looking down at Angie. "Have you seen any batteries," the human asked, Kissy tilted her head before walking off, the two following her close behind.

Crawling up through holes in the ceiling, Kissy lead the two to a ruined statue with a battery shoved into its back. Angie picked it up and nodded, "thank you." Carrying it back to the room where it was needed. Distant clattering and footsteps could be heard once again, they definitely weren't alone in here.

Placing the battery in its slot allowed the power for the gate to reach 50%, only 50% more to go. They continued to wander with the two wuggies behind them, the distant footsteps seemed to only get louder the further they went. Busting down doors and making their way back to the centre of Home Sweet Home seemed easy enough, the place was a bit of a maze but all mazes were solvable once you got the hang of them. "One more puzzle to solve, then we can activate that generator and have lights on outside." Huggy nodded before freezing in place.

Footsteps could be heard from below, they echoed through the building as floorboards beneath them creaked. As the footsteps slowed until reaching a final stop, that's when they saw it.

And when it saw them.

Chapter Text

A red beast stood before them, smiling face with glowing yet hollow eyes staring daggers into their souls. It roared before charging at the three, jumping and grabbing onto the railing just in front of them, claws of the bear sounded like scraping porcelain as they dragged along the wooden banister and flooring. "CatNap won't like your presence," it spoke in a growly yet whispered voice, "maybe I should just kill you myself."

Bobby Bearhug was supposedly the sweetheart of the critters, always able to bring a smile to a frowning face, a comforting presence to even the most miserable of children. This one was not like that. This Bobby stood with a frail and skeletal structure to its appearance, tearing apart with stitching coming undone in quite a few places, not a pretty sight, that's for sure. Angie was in absolute terror, frozen from fear, all they could do was stare and accept their fate at this point. The bear drew closer, Huggy growling quietly in an attempt to appear scary, although it was clear to anyone who could see him, he was terrified. The blue toy clung to Kissy's side like a parasite, the pink one of the two seemed nearly unfazed by this ambush, he growled like an angry dog as the bear stepped closer slowly.

Stepping closer and closer until she was practically touching noses with Angie, her breathing heavy as she glared into the human's eyes. This was it, Angie was totally toast. Game over, you lose! Died to a cuddly teddy bear from a kids show! What a fantastic way to go out.

A screech came from behind the human, snapping them out of their fearful frozen stature as they jumped to cling to the blue toy's leg. Kissy made her way to the front of the group, growling as she glared directly into the bear's eyes, was she trying to fight the larger toy? Bobby stepped back, growling in return as her gaze focused on Kissy and her large, sharp teeth. The staredown continued for a short while longer, the growling intensifying with each second. It didn't seem as if it'd stop any time soon, until it suddenly did, quiet giggles from both parties involved with the "fight" killed any aggressive tension there may have originally been. "Totally got them," the bear spoke, limbs pulling themselves into her body till she was around half the size they first saw her as. Angie only continued to stare in complete shock, everything processing slowly.

"...What." Bobby climbed up onto the railing, taking a seat on it's edge, "haven't seen any new faces in Playcare in quite a while... not with the patrols." The bear giggled before sighing, turning away from the group for a moment, "CatNap has control over every corner of the dome, a girl can only pretend for so long..." her voice trailed off. "Bobby, by the way," she turned back to the still very much in shock Angie and Huggy, "sorry about that." Angie shook their head, attempting to snap out of the confusion, "...Angie. This is Huggy," they spoke hesitantly.

"Why are you here, anyways? I thought all the employees..." she went silent, eyes looking away. Angie tilted their head in confusion, "I'm trying to activate the backup generator so we can reroute the power to the dome." Bobby's eyes lit up as she slid down from the railing, "we can help with that!" She gestured to Kissy, skipping forward joyously, "I know where we can find batteries to activate the second half of the door power, I saw you activated the first half all on your own, good job!" She giggled, a carefree yet thankful tone was odd but definitely welcomed nonetheless. "That'd be lovely," Angie said, "anything to get out of this place as soon as possible." Bobby nodded, "alright, this way then." Huggy wrapped his arm tightly around Angie's without any sign of letting go soon, Angie looked up at the blue toy, patting his arm with their free hand in a comforting and endearing way, "almost done here, then you can go play with everyone else again." He chirped happily at the idea of returning to the group of toys, nuzzling his chin against Angie's head.

As the group, which now consisted of three toys and a human, proceeded to wander through Home Sweet Home, Bobby showed them the statues of her that could have batteries taken out of if snuck up on, within no time they'd gotten the power back on and were ready to activate that generator. The gate was unlocked, allowing Angie entrance to switch on the generator before finally leaving the horrific sleeping quarters with their friends, new and old.

"Alright, now how do we connect this?" Angie puzzled, searching for a moment before finding the cable. Grabbing it, they dragged it with them to the room beneath the statue and plugged it into the designated hole. Poppy applauded Angie before speaking up, "c'mon, we've got one last thing to do for the lights to turn back on-" but her words were cut short as the lights around Playcare began to turn on by themselves. "Huh? Who...?"

Her questions would have to wait, though. Two new faces had joined the group of toys, and she needed to get them situated. Poppy walked over to Kissy Missy, "Kissy! You made it, I'm so glad." Kissy nodded, giving Poppy a chirp in return, "you brought a friend, I see?" The bear jumped a little before turning to the doll, "I promise I'm not like them. It's only a facade so I can live," she stammered, the doll had an oddly threatening feel to her, possibly as she was the first ever living toy. "I guessed," she sighed, Kissy lifting the doll up onto her shoulder, "more allies is always a good thing."

Huggy had returned to PJ and the minis, they all cheerfully clung to his fur, PJ running in small circles around the blue toy's legs. Marie made her way over to Angie, sitting down beside the human, "I'm-" "you don't need to be sorry, Marie," Angie spoke, a soft smile across their face as they placed a hand on the spider's shoulder, "you were scared and hungry, it's okay. Once we're out of here, you won't need to worry about any of those things ever again. Promise." A small smile spread across the spider's face, she looked away and down at the ground, "thank you, Angie."

"Bobby, do you know who activated the lights," Poppy asked, the bear shrugged, "could be a number of people... good or bad."

"I see."

Chapter Text

Angie approached the doll, "where to next," they asked. Poppy thought for a moment, looking down at the floor before she responded, "with the power back on, we could probably split off into two groups to explore both the school and the toystore." Angie nodded in understanding, turning to face the group of patiently sat toys, they each seemed calmer now that the power was back on yet the tension of potentially being watched by a thousand hungry eyes still lingered. "You'd probably be better heading to the school than any of us," spoke the doll, "the toystore looks like it's falling apart, the smaller toys could get through it with ease compared to the struggle you may face."

"I'll go with them," spoke a voice from behind, Marie crawling closer, "Huggy looks tired from his venture into Home Sweet Home and I'm sure my... abilities would be helpful with something." Poppy looked up at Marie, "that works for me if Angie's okay with you going with them," to which the human only responded in a nod. "Then it's settled," she reached for the ring of keys located on Angie's belt, taking the key for the toystore off and sticking it under her arm, "me and Bobby can get the generator from the toystore while you two can get the generator located inside of the school." A silent agreement fell over the toys and the human as they each split off into their two groups.

"Kissy," spoke Poppy, "look after the other toys while we're out." The pink plush nodded, she was naturally caring so it was to be expected she'd look after these toys, she was drawn towards a maternal instinct when near those weaker than her.

The group of four in search of the next needed backup generators began to exit the underground room, splitting off as they went towards each of their respective buildings. The school stood ominously before them, draped with overgrown leaves, moss, and vines made it appear horrendously abandoned. As Angie slid the key into the keyhole of the door, Marie's voice slowly entered their ears as she spoke, "we won't be alone in there," she sighed, "the teachers walk the halls, and they're nothing less than horrifying. I know I shouldn't be talking, I know what I look like, but they seriously give me the creeps." The ex-employee sighed, nodding, before turning the handle and opening the doors to the school, allowing the spider and themself to wander down the halls, entering the abandoned and messy schoolhouse.

The hallways lay in ruin, backpacks and toys flung all around among an assortment of other objects. As they explored the abandoned school, searching for any way to reach that generator, an abrupt voice spoke over the speakers.

"This is Ms. Delight speaking," it said to an absurdly chipper tune for the situation, "please excuse the interruption. Students- remain in your seats until the bell has rung, and no going in the halls without a hall pass!" Marie shuddered, mumbling a noise of discomfort, "there's so many of them..."

Bobby lifted the doll up so she could reach the door to unlock, there was a reason she'd volunteered to go to this place instead of letting Angie, and it wasn't for the ruined state. The toystore was one of the most dangerous areas located within Playcare, home to CatNap's horrific shrine dedicated to his false idol, something was always on the hunt here, be it CatNap or another. Poppy had faith in Marie and Angie to handle the teacher with ease, she would be the least of their worries within this place. Crawling under the debris of fallen shelves and broken floorboards, the two marched forward.

CatNap was smart.

The generator would be in a highly guarded area, probably near the horrible shrine, a thought that sent shivers down her spine. Bobby may be strong, but she was no match for CatNap, all they could hope for was at most another critter guarding the place, ideally it'd be empty but they both knew that wasn't likely at all. The building reeked of death, abandon, blood stains draped across the walls and floors accompanied by scratches and carcasses that lined every corner of sight. How this area wasn't the deadliest still confused the doll, she'd never been in the Playhouse but she knew of its horrors, if the toystore was the home of CatNap's shrine then that made the Playhouse the home of it's creator, along with his devoted followers.

The school, much like every other building so far, was a twisting maze of confusion, creaky footsteps echoing from the distance as the noises bounced from every wall. "You know," spoke Marie, "it's a lot quieter here than I expected." Angie turned to the spider, incredibly confused, "how so," they asked. "We haven't seen a single one of those teachers, there should be dozens of them lurking around every corner just waiting to strike..." her voice trailed off, pupils getting smaller as the pieces began to click in her head. The duo continued to solve puzzles which allowed them to enter new sections within the school, darkened hallways feeling more horrifying the longer they spent time within them.

Distant speeding silhouettes of hobbling human-like creatures seemed to be in Angie's peripherals no matter which way she turned, it was horrifying, but it seemed the spider was seeing similar things to them. As they continued to wander, the joyful voice spoke up over the intercom once again, "wait... I recognise you! Yes! I remember, you're Mommy Long Legs...! And you..." her voice became serious, as if confused yet spiteful, "you used to work here." Angie sighed, Marie's eyes turned towards the ground, she knew what she was but it never meant she had to like being called by the toy she resembled, she only just got used to people treating her as an equal instead of a toy to be used.

Bobby didn't like the toystore, even when she wasn't fearing for her life, it had always felt oddly ominous for no reason. As the stains of blood on the floor began to grow, the closer they knew they were getting to finding that generator. Candles illuminated the darkened corridors given shape by the fallen shelves, the more lit up an area was meant there were more corpses.

"Hm? Barb," the teacher said, supposedly speaking to herself, "oh... Barb says you're looking for your coworkers." That wasn't quite true, at least not any more, it wasn't their main reason for being here at least. "CatNap wouldn't like that you're here," they knew that, he didn't seem to be the welcoming type, at least from what they'd heard, "you should leave. For your own safety."

Marie scoffed, "she doesn't actually care, she just doesn't want to have to deal with us." Angie sighed as they continued to wander the halls in search of that generator, Marie following closely behind. Marie's stretchable limbs were quite helpful for retrieving items, she could move them all throughout the vents to retrieve batteries that initially seemed locked with no way of grabbing. The longer they hunted, the more agitated the voice over the intercom seemed, "not a good listener, are you? You're a lot like the others in that way..."

Finally, they'd made it to the room with the generator, all that was left was to turn it on and divert it's power. Connecting power using their grabpack was an easy task, they were almost done with this place, all that was left was to-

There, just behind piles of rubble and debris, stood there shrine, a crude attempt to imitate the prototype's image using the bodies of dead toys. It seemed unoccupied, that was good, but they couldn't be too sure. Someone had to be walking around, it'd be impossible for them to be alone while near this shrine, it was too important to be left without an observant follower. The two watched in silence, hidden behind wreckage, as they waited for anything to appear, they needed to know what foe they'd face while attempting to reactivate the generator.

Heavy and loud footsteps could be heard as a figure engulfed in shadows emerged, it stood before the statue with its arms raised to the sky, praising its very god and saviour. It was hard to make out shapes in the dim candlelight but one thing was for certain, this certainly wasn't the one they dreaded running into so soon. A shorter tail and smaller ears made that clear, along with its ever so slightly smaller frame compared to the behemoth that was the feline, this wasn't CatNap. Bobby and Poppy sat in silence, waiting for the toy to leave so they could continue onward.

"Oh, lord," spoke the shadowy figure, who's voice was vaguely high pitched and feminine though still containing a similar raspiness to Bobby, "the saviour of this place, the saviour of us toys; I ask a request of thee, guide us to the den of intruders, allow us to rid your lands of the unpure who've tainted it with their heresy." The voice sent chills down Bobby's spine, the horrible things that had happened to her friends, what turned them into these bloodthirsty monsters who followed a false god in hopes for salvation, watching as those who disobey get torn apart limb from limb and maimed to be viciously mocked. The imagery burned into her retinas of what happened to what once was their leader, what those who tried to fight back were scarred with, the fear of the same happening to her if she dare speak out against anything they say, it filled her with nauseating guilt. These weren't the friends she once knew, these were mindless zombies, following their supposed saviour who's brainwashed them into believing he's the only truth.

Poppy's hand gently caressed the bear's paw, they exchanged looks as they waited for the critter to exit. CraftyCorn, who had once been filled with creative wonder, was now a mindless follower of the original, using her talent only for showing undivided love and praise to her lord. She hated it.

The teacher's weapon slashed down onto the generator, breaking it apart as sparks flew out, a battery falling to the floor beside her. Her head turned to the two others within the room, freezing in place as if something had forced her. Marie glared at her, the teacher's fleshy, broken face which held a smile of twisted intent glaring back at the spider, pushing back all feelings of creeping fear as she did. "Delight," the spider said, slowly walking closer without getting too close, "I am not your enemy. We are not your enemies." She continued to angrily glare at the frozen teacher, eyes widening as her pupils began to dilate, "they are here to help us, I know you're hungry," she spoke with an angry, determined, yet still noticeably scared voice, lips shaking every so slightly as she continued, "I am too, we all are. Senseless slaughter gets us nowhere, the years we've spent since that day are only proof of that." The teacher only stared, remaining frozen in place the longer they continued making eye contact, "none of this suffering ends until something changes!"

Marie's glare remained angry as Angie's turned to one more sad than scared, they stepped closer to the teacher, slowly walking as they approached. Arms wrapped around Ms. Delight's body, Angie placing their chin on her shoulder, "you poor thing, I'm... so sorry." Angie squeezed her tightly, Marie watching in confusion yet distrust of Delight, preparing to step in if needed, the teacher was unstable so there was no guarantee Angie's kindness would work for her, she'd gone farther than any toys before that had been rescued. The teacher's body twitched, limbs and joints relaxing as they carefully unfroze, her eyes tilting down to look at the former employee of Playtime Co., she had been starving for so many years. Forced to resort to cannibalism, forced to feast upon the bodies of her own sisters. Delight pulled herself from the embrace, a whine of discomfort exiting her throat as she inched backwards. She didn't deserve this kindness, she was a monster.

"What happened has happened," spoke the human, a soft expression in their eyes, a voice filled with compassion, warmth, and kindness, something new to the teacher, "I know you're scared, I know you're hungry. You only did what you had to in order to survive, that doesn't make you a monster." Marie's stance loosened, seemed the Teacher wouldn't be on the attack but she still wanted to be cautious, preparing to grab her at a moment's notice. Delight only stared, confusion and guilt that never seemed to abandon her swirling around her head, Barb spoke to her as she stared back, "KILL THEM! EAT THEM! YOU MUST SURVIVE," it chanted, everything was overwhelming as the noise of her head closed it.

She let out a cry of agony and distress, running away from the two as her heels clacked on the tiled ground beneath her.

She needed time, but this was a start.

Grabbing the battery from the floor, the two made their way towards finding a backup generator, one they could use instead of the now broken one. Placing batteries in sockets and connecting wires finally allowed them to finish what they had initially set out to do, so it was time to leave. Marie was overjoyed at being able to leave that horrid place, she hated the school with a passion but knew she'd be useful for the task at hand, Angie's hand rested on one of her limbs as they walked, it was oddly comforting.

"Barb," spoke the teacher, staring at her weapon as she sat in one of the empty classrooms, "WHY DID YOU LET THEM GET AWAY," it boomed in response. "They overwhelmed me," she said, "the human brain can only-"
"OH, THE HUMAN BRAIN? HOW ABOUT THE STOMACH? EMOTIONS CAN'T GET IN THE WAY OF A FEAST," it screamed at her, she mumbled in discomfort. "I've had about enough of you," she yelled, tossing the handcrafted weapon to the floor, "you aren't in control of me! I am your creator!" "KILL THEM, KILL THEM ALL. FEAST UPON THEIR MEAT TO SUSTAIN YOUR HUNGER."
"NO," she cried, storming out of the classroom, "I'm done with your control, Barb. I..." her voice trailed off, walking slowing down slightly, "I want to know if what they said is true, if I'm not really a monster."

Chapter Text

She knew this wasn't as hard as she thought, the large toy before them was horrific but she wasn't as deadly as the priest. The once white plush now stained with red and brown, horn sharp as a knife, her face being the worst of it all. The unicorn sniffed the air before pausing, her stance shifting from one of praise to that of a hunter. "Show yourself," she demanded, voice turning to one that was harsh compared to the softer tone she had as she spoke to the shrine, "before I'm forced to rip you apart, your beautiful red would look wonderful in my latest sculpture!"

Bobby shuddered before standing up, bones making horrific crunching noises as she grew to her larger form, "I was watching for intruders, Crafty." The unicorn tilted their head, "I thought you were patrolling Home Sweet Home," she asked, Bobby shook her head, "CatNap said he wanted me here, said the intruders didn't look to be returning to the home any time soon." CraftyCorn nodded, "better having more protection over a place of worship than a place none are to be," the bear agreed, exchanging glances with Poppy as the unicorn's gaze was away. "Say, have I shown you my latest creation," asked the equine, the bear shook her head, "no, show me."

As the two critters walked off, Poppy continued her journey within the store, Bobby was doing a good job distracting the guard. Hiding behind rubble as the doll maneuevered around the main sculpture, the generator was situated just behind it.

As she approached slowly, her goal was nearly in her grasp, as long as Bobby's distraction worked the two would be out of here in no time. As she climbed up the side of it, pressing buttons and reconnecting small wires, the generator began to power itself on. The whirring echoed throughout the toystore, within moments Poppy could hear charging footsteps aimed directly for her, leaving her with no reaction time to process what was going on. A strong and solid force pushed the doll to the ground, a furious and angry smile greeted her as white eyes narrowed, a paw gripping itself around her tightly. "Who's activating the generator," asked a misty voice from behind, "only a small toy, I'll dispose of it with the others."

The bear carried Poppy in her paws, keeping the doll close and out of the unicorn's sight as she walked towards the exit. "I'll report this to CatNap," she said before exiting the toy store, wandering off until she was certain the unicorn couldn't see. The bear sighed, placing Poppy gently before her on the ground, "close one." The doll nodded, still incredibly startled from that whole ordeal. "Someone should get rid of her before the power is redirected to the statue," she hesitantly said, "thank you for striking first." The two returned to the statue room cautiously, Bobby's limbs shrinking back into her torso as they walked.

Seems Angie and Marie hadn't returned yet, so they were stuck waiting with the toys. "Do you think they managed to get past Ms. Delight," the bear asked in a hesitant voice, the doll tilted her head, "why wouldn't they? With Marie's capabilities and Angie's... everything, I don't doubt they'll end up returning with her as an ally." Poppy chuckled quietly to herself, sitting down on the table as the bear stood beside her. The mini wuggies seemed to be playing an odd game of hide and seek with one another as the larger wuggies sat together, the blue one's head resting on the pink's shoulder. PJ seemed fast asleep, curled up in a shape that vaguely resembled a cinnamon roll while the bunny rested atop the centre of his fur.

She'd locked herself in a smaller classroom, sitting at what once was her desk... maybe her one of her sisters, she didn't remember anymore. Thoughts swirled her brain, echoing cries of confusion, guilt, stress, and fear were all that remained with nothing she could use to drown them out. Maybe Barb was right, she was hungry and needed to feast, she'd let her emotions get the best of her.

Barb couldn't be right.

She would've killed those two in a heartbeat if she hadn't come to her senses, that was what happened, she could change according to the former employee. She whined and groaned, smacking her head into the desk numerous times, thrashing echoed through the halls but the noise did nothing to drown out the voices in her head. She heard her sisters voices as they spoke to her, a swampy mush of angry voices all calling her a monster, a cannibal, someone who should've died. The cries of agony as she bashed their skulls in with Barb, the cracking of plastic and bone as they fell to her strikes.

A knock came from the door to the classroom, snapping her from her thoughts as she walked to answer it. Standing outside the door stood Bubba, his white eye looking down at her with concern before he spoke, "ms. Delight, is everything alright?" His eye moved to her now empty hands, the teacher looking away, "Barb, she's gone?" Delight nodded, "I know," her hands twitched as she attempted to keep her composure. "Do you want to talk about it," the elephant asked, she sighed and walked away, taking a seat at her desk once again, "it's okay if you don't, but I can't leave you like this."

The two sat in silence, a comforting yet disturbing air filling the room where discussion would be. Bubba was smart, he knew not to trust without a good reason, he could tell when something was wrong, though emotions were something he occasionally struggled with.

"This has to do with the new visitors to Playcare, doesn't it?"

Chapter Text

She watched the little toys as they scurried around, connecting power cables and avoiding threats, it was honestly rather cute. This endless game of cat and mouse was amusingly sad, they didn't have a chance but it was fun to see them try, pretend that they had a possibility to survive. Her ears twitched, flopping down behind her head as she leaned over the edge of the elevated floor, who could've guessed Bobby would betray them like this? Joining with toys she'd only just met, acting against the prototype. Hoppy sighed, she enjoyed being off the ground, it reminded her of something she couldn't put her finger on exactly, a burnt out memory of past faltering hope.

She'd need to stop them eventually, but how much false hope did she really want to give them? Did she want to be a looming threat or pretend to be an ally only to betray them in the end? The possibilities swirled her mind, filling her with a sick joyful feeling. Maybe she'd ambush their little human in the Playhouse, they'd eventually have to go there for the power, anything to make an example to those behind bars for what a true follower was meant to do. Hoppy had always been a show off, a tryhard, always aiming to be the best of the best, even if all that effort burnt her out constantly to the point where she felt no joy in things she'd originally enjoyed. Life was boring to her, following CatNap and his god with all they asked had initially brought her entertainment but as time flew by things had only grown mundane and stale, as the end of the horizon became clear as day. Her will to keep going hung by a thread which only weakened each day, what was the point in a life that brought no entertainment.

Seems all the critters had a similar void within themselves to her, though. PickyPiggy filled hers with food, the glutton feasted upon everything she could get in her grasp, CraftyCorn's with art as she tried to make the next perfect creation, and you couldn't even begin to get started on Bubba Bubbaphant. Life was boring to all of them with nothing left to live for apart from their supposed saviour, although that saviour barely showed himself to any of them but CatNap, keeping hidden as he fed from shadows. The more her mind dwelled on it, the more she realised why Bobby probably joined those heretical toys, she needed something to keep her sane. Bobby needed someone to care for as she'd practically lost all of what she once considered her friends.

What was she doing with her life? Everything felt like a waste as the feeling that she'd only spent her time trying to be better than the rest, it all felt empty and disingenuous. She slumped to the floor with her back against the railing, arms wrapping around her knees as she stared at the floor. She'd wasted her life and now she had nothing left to live for.

"They spoke to me," spoke the distressed teacher, resting her head in her hands, elbows against her desk, "they said I wasn't a monster for trying to survive, for being scared and hungry." The elephant tilted his head, "that seems obvious, you did what you had to," he didn't understand why this had put her in such a distressed mood, he thought she already knew this, that killing her sisters and eating them was the only thing she could think to do as they'd singled her out to die first. The teacher screeched out a whine, "no no, you don't get it," she grumbled, "how could I not be a horrible monster for doing those things? It's illogical, really. Cannibalism is typically frowned upon and there's other food in the school... I just needed to hurt them... I..." her voice trailed off, the room filling with silence once again.

"People change," he spoke, taking a seat on the floor beside the teacher, "that's something I didn't understand for a while, but it's true." She groaned, head slumping down until her chin was resting on the table, "I don't think that's relevant in this situation, you can't excuse cannibalism with a 'people change so it's okay,' Bubba." The elephant shook his head, sighing before responding, "I'm not trying to say that, Delight," his head tilting to look at the teacher, "you did what you thought you had to so that you'd be able to survive back then, it doesn't make what you did a good thing but it also doesn't mean you're a monster for doing the only thing you thought you could do."

The room remained silent for a while, the two thinking about what the other told them, formulating thoughts and opinions on what to do next. "Would you like to talk to that human again," asked the elephant, breaking the long silence. Delight stared at the floor in front of her, "I'd like to try, see what they really want," Bubba nodded. "I'll be with you the whole time, tell me when you're ready to try and find them."

"Thank you, Bubbaphant."

The human and the spider had returned to the statue room, dragging the power from the school down below before plugging it into the designated slot. Today had been a long day but their work was nowhere near done, they had more children to save and a few more generators to reactivate. Angie sighed, sitting down beside the pug-a-pillar as they rested their head against his fluffy body, a short break between generators couldn't hurt. Their eyes began to shut, exhaustion had finally caught up with them and it was time for a very much needed rest.

Poppy watched the human as they drifted off to sleep, the doll's gaze being firm with determination burning behind her eyes. This wasn't her original plan, it was so much better than that.

Chapter Text

I'M WORKING ON THE NEXT CHAPTER I PROMISE IT'S JUST HARD TO FIND MOTIVATION RN

SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY IT'LL BE OUT SOON

Chapter Text

As the dim light of Playcare filled their eyes once again, Angie returned to their feet, a much needed rest was something they hadn't had in a long time, especially when not induced by sleeping gas. As the human walked over to the doll, their eyes locked, she spoke hesitantly, "the toystore still needs its power to be connected down here but we got the generator on." Angie nodded, that seemed easy enough. "We only have two more generators to reactivate," continued Poppy, "the playhouse and the councillor's office. I think the councillor's office would be safer to go to than the den of CatNap."

"I'll take my chances in the playhouse," they spoke firmly, determination glowing in their eyes. The doll seemed confused, did they have a death wish all of a sudden? "You'd rather enter a place of near certain death than save that one for last," she asked, head tilting, the human only nodded before speaking up once again, "the councillor's office will be more dangerous if we haven't recruited the other toys. I'd rather have more allies than be slaughtered by numerous cuddly dolls." Poppy sighed, shrugging, "I guess that makes sense, but surely there's a better way to go about doing that."

"Possibly, but can you think of anything," they asked, looking for the key to the playhouse on their keyring. Poppy thought for a moment, everywhere was pretty dangerous around here but that playhouse was the worst, it was their only way to reach CatNap at this time though. If Angie managed to convince him to join their side, the other critters would follow shortly after, he was their leader after all. She sighed before returning her gaze to the human's eyes, "I guess you're right, but you can't go into that place alone. Would anyone like to join Angie in the playhouse," she called out, none of the toys seemed to volunteer, all scared of that place. No one moved for a little while, all the toys exchanged glances with one another before one finally stepped up. Bunzo walked over to Angie's side, squeaking as he clapped his cymbals one time, seems they'd have at least one ally in this next location.

Angie situated Bunzo on their grabpack, his arms wrapped around their shoulders as his cymbals hung under the straps to Angie's grabpack. "I know we can't all go, but it can't just be these two," Poppy said firmly, none of the toys seemed eager to move but, reluctantly, Bobby and Marie joined the group, followed by the doll herself. Four toys and one human, a pretty solid team for entering the lair of a deranged cultist. "Huggy," spoke the former employee, "keep watch for any approaching toys, protect the others but don't attack unless they attack first, okay?" The blue toy nodded, the smaller wuggies crawling off of his fur as he followed the group out from under the statue.

“This is the Playhouse,” spoke the bear in a hesitant voice, “our home.” She didn’t know what’d happen to her compatriots in there, the doll looked nervous and the spider determined, useless hope was all she could imagine filled their heads. “This is where heretics go to die, where the pastor resides… where he lives.” The doll nodded, “are you sure this is where you want to go, the councillor’s office is a lot safer…”

“I’m sure,” they spoke firmly, approaching the door with the key in hand. “We should keep together,” Poppy said, climbing onto Angie’s shoulder, splitting into groups only makes things harder for us.” The spider agreed but had her concerns, “what if we do, somehow, split up,” she asked. “I don’t know,” the doll answered truthfully, “we can only hope it doesn’t come to that.”

The key to the Playhouse slid into the lock, clicking as the former employee unlocked the door and turned the handle, it creaked and swung forward. The Playhouse was dark, darker than anything they’d gone to before, the floors stained with unknown liquids as dirt built up within the creases. Entering hesitantly, Angie stood in the entryway of the Playhouse, a room with colourful plastic tubes connected to padded colourful walls, each taking them to another point of the Playhouse. “Bobby,” they looked over at the bear, “which one of these will take us to CatNap the fastest?” The bear shook her head, “I don’t know, he could be anywhere… plus, we’re more than likely going to run into one of the others before we even get close to him!” Marie grumbled, “so,” she spoke, “should we just go in one of these as a group and figure everything out when we run into a threat?” She spoke in a vaguely annoyed tone, but the fear within her was quite clear to see. The critters were horrifying to her, their constantly smiling faces and absurdly large and boney frames, not to mention the soulless blackened eyes. Bobby was tolerable as her smaller self, but the smile still made Marie uneasy, as if she was too happy for what their situation was.

“We aren’t separating,” Angie said hesitantly, gazing around at the tunnels that intertwined with one another throughout the structure, “but maybe we could go in two groups? This place is huge, it’ll take a lot less time that way-“

“Absolutely not,” Poppy interrupted before Angie could finish that thought, “this is a death trap, splitting up, even if still in groups, is only gonna get us killed.” The ex-employee sighed, nodding in acceptance, “just wanted to toss that out there, just in case.”

“This tunnel looks like it’s the largest and least damaged one here, probably our safest option,” spoke the bear, “I’m not certain where CatNap is, but his room is a good place to start.”

She didn’t think to mention the other… things that stayed in that section of the playhouse, it sickened her to her stomach and she tried to bury the memory of it deep down. That was a problem for them to deal with later.

Chapter Text

The tunnels were small, cramped, dirty, and not easy to move through, especially with such a large group. The dampened air made it hard to breathe at times, they clung to the spider's side as the rabbit clung to their back, this place was horrific. Bobby guided the group forward, she knew this place better than anyone else in this group but that's not saying much as none of them lived down here. Soon they'd be in the Ducky Float ride entrance room which would allow them to get into the cellblock, she didn't know why Playtime Co. put their experiment torture cells right beside a place where children would frequently play in but now wasn't the time to question Playtime Co.'s odd behaviour and design, she pulled herself out of the smaller gap for the tunnel, the other toys and Angie following closely behind.

Taking a moment to each catch their breaths, they took in the sight that was the Ducky Float ride entrance room, an empty pool with broken boat rides shaped like ducks sat inside of it, garnished with the corpses of slaughtered toys, hung from the ceiling with messages written around in claw markings and blood. "Just past those yellow doors is where CatNap rests," Bobby spoke hesitantly, "but I should mention something before we go further." She gulped, she needed to warn them about the sight they'd have to see once they stepped in through those doors, the horrible imagery of what that... that monster had done to her friend in order to prevent the others from acting out of line. "...DogDay lives there, too."

"DogDay," Poppy asked, hesitantly, "he's supposedly the leader of the Smiling Critters. He can't be too bad, I... I knew him before all of this, he was really friendly...!" The bear sighed, shaking her head, "he's not going to attack us," she spoke in sorrow, "you'll have to see for yourselves." He wouldn't attack them, that gave Angie hope, maybe they'd have another easy recruit to make things a lot easier. Angie approached the yellow door and turned the handle, the door creaked open slightly, the human flinched, falling backwards and crawling away from it rapidly.

Glowing white eyes and a smiling mouth, large and vicious. They didn't find him, he found them. Bunzo slipped off of Angie's back and tumbled across the floor, bumping against one of the walls as his cymbals clashed. Marie's eyes quivered as she stared in horror, Bobby freezing in place at the sight of the beast. The feline's tail flicked as he slowly crept forward, eyes focused closely on the human's shaking body, the red smoke spewed out from his mouth which filled the human's lungs. All of the toys lungs.

Their bodies lie unconscious on the ground, the purple predator stood above in pride as the smoke swirled around his body.

She lept down from the viewing platform, making a loud thud that echoed the Playcare as she landed. The rabbit had business to attend to, business located inside of the Playhouse. Her body changed and squished as she squeezed her way through the tube slide on the side, crawling up through it before landing in the upper floor of the Playground. Her nose twitched, they weren't here yet, she sighed, what a shame. She sat down on the ground, resting her back against one of the walls as she shut her eyes, a small nap couldn't hurt, she'd wake up when she was needed. Surely.

Right?

Her eyes slowly opened, she wasn't sure how long she'd slept for but a new aroma filled the air. Her business was here, hopefully she wasn't too late. Standing up, she stepped into the small lift that carried her down to a lower level of the Playcare. Leaping over a small hole before walking through the ruin that was once a children's playground.

Their eyes slowly opened, being met with a close, smiling face. They yelped in fear and attempted to scuttle away, but to no avail, seems their hands were tied... literally. Angie's arms handcuffed to the wall behind them left them practically immobilized, all they could see was the feline's grinning face eyeing up their flesh as he purred. "C-CatNap, right," they asked in a scared voice, trying to make conversation with the cat to potentially sway him into sparing their life. CatNap nodded, stepping back a bit. His head tilted, why would they be trying to talk to him, he just ambushed them and their friends then tied them to a wall. "I'm Angie... we haven't been able to properly meet," why were they talking to him, "so sorry for intruding on your home, I was looking for you."

"FOR... ME," he asked in a loud yet whispered voice, his throat scratchy and gruff. Angie nodded, "I'm... here to help." CatNap backed away slowly, growling as his ears lowered slightly, tail flicking behind him. "WE DO NOT NEED HELP," he responded, glaring into the human's soul, "THE PROTOTYPE HAS SAVED US, WE DO NOT NEED YOUR HELP." Angie sighed, "are you sure? Me and my friends were looking for you, we just wanted to talk to you." His ears perked up, head tilting once again, "TALK?"

"You love the Prototype, more than I can possibly imagine," they spoke up again, "but why? I know you say he's saved you... but look at you, look at everything around you." CatNap growled again, stepping closer this time, "ARE YOU QUESTIONING HIS AUTHORITY," the cat asked. The ex-employee only asked their question again, "why do you love the Prototype so much to the point you'd hurt your friends because of him?" CatNap grumbled quietly, fur standing slightly on edge. "I don't doubt his greatness," that was a lie, "but you've hurt so many people, CatNap. You've hurt me, you've hurt your friends, and now you're hurting yourself. If I knew why then I'd understand, but I don't. None of this makes sense to me, I just want to help."

CatNap remained silent, continuing to glare daggers into Angie, his mind swirled with hatred, anger, violence, but mostly confusion. "YOU," he growled, "YOU RETURN HERE TEN YEARS TOO LATE, WHY?" They seemed a little surprised at the question but answered anyways, "I got a letter," Angie smiled which only bamboozled CatNap more, "I answered your question, now, will you answer mine?"

"YOU INFURIATE ME," spoke the feline, lowering his head, "YOU ARE LUCKY I HAVEN'T TORN YOU APART YET, HUMAN." His tail flicked back and forth, slapping against the ground each time it swapped sides, "HE SAVED ME, I REJOICE IN HIM." "That's not an answer," the former employee said, a little annoyed but still deathly afraid, only managing to speak due to shock, their brain had not fully taken in the situation around them yet. "I..." he began again, "WAS GIFTED THIS FORM. THE PROTOTYPE KEPT ME ALIVE FROM THE KINDNESS OF HIS HEART. IF NOT FOR HIM, I WOULD BE DEAD." He growled, ears flopping back once again, "THERE IS YOUR ANSWER, HUMAN."

"Kept you alive," they said to themself quietly, thinking for a moment, "the Prototype saved your life when you... weren't CatNap." He nodded, Angie's eyes widened, "oh." They didn't know what to think, this poor... child, following a false idol because it saved his life.

"Before you go," Angie spoke, "can I ask one last question?" The feline grumbled, "BE QUICK, WHAT IS IT?"

"Where are... where are my friends?"

Chapter Text

"...py...?"

Her head was spinning, a throbbing pain that creeped its way down her neck and spine.

"...oppy?"

The world around her was tinted red, her mind fuzzy as she tried to remember what just happened.

"...Poppy?!"

She flinched, eyes widening as she shot awake, "GAH!" Her gaze turned to the other toys, each damaged and chained in one way or another, Marie glaring at Poppy with a fearful look. "Marie," she asked in a partially frightened but mainly concerned tone, "where... where are we?"

"You're in CatNap's home," replied a raspy voice from the shadows, "he's won, hasn't he?" She leaned forward the best she could to try and catch a glimpse of the owner of this voice, the dim candlelight barely illuminated his figure. "Who... are you," Poppy asked, "what do you mean, he's won? He can't have won yet, he just-" The mysterious voice in the shadows sighed, going quiet once again. Marie sat in her cage, her limbs could leave freely but her head and torso couldn't, this was the only way he could've trapped her Poppy assumed. Bearhug remained unconscious on the floor and Bunzo chained to the wall right beside her.

"We can't lose, not yet... Angie's still-"

She hesitated.

"Angie's still out there... with him."

She watched them from the end of the cellblock hallway, her eyes barely visible in the darkness. Hoppy wondered what CatNap would have them do with these new heretics, how she'd get to tear them apart and eat so she wouldn't be starving anymore. Her stomach growled, the thought of their insides touching her lips made her drool in excitement. Hoppy was hungry as were the other critters, CatNap controlled their food supply and only let them eat when he thought they were deserving of it.

Listening in on the prisoners discussion, her mind began to wander. Was the Prototype even worth their worship? Did she even care about it? The only reason she, and the other critters apart from CatNap, followed it was to survive, she'd be killed if she stepped out of line but she didn't see that as an issue anymore. What was there to live for if your entire life is dictated by a cruel god who tortures those who disobey? She never liked following the rules, she never liked being told what to do, and she especially never liked having no control over her life.

Yet here she was, following rules, getting told what to do, and having little to no control over her life. She was nothing but a pawn, a toy for CatNap and his god to use for whatever they saw fit. It didn't have to be that way, though, she was on her own with a choice before her: continue this horrible life of suffering and unpaid servitude, or act out against those who controlled her, break her trust with them and do something they'd hate just to get a reaction.

To Hoppy, the choice was clear, only one thing was left for her to do now.

Undo this braindead following, undo all of this suffering, take back control. She didn't need the Prototype to be her god.

She was her own god, she didn't need to follow anyone else's command.

Footsteps slowly got louder from one end of the hallway, Poppy's breathing was heavy as the fears crawled in, taking over her thoughts and replacing them with worries of all the ways this could horribly end.

The green rabbit's figure became more visible as she approached, large smile across her face with piercing white eyes. "DogDay, you have visitors I see," she said in a playful tone, sitting down beside the hound's cell. "Has CatNap sent you here to do to them what's been done to me," he asked, anger and fear bubbling up within him, he choked on his words as they came out, an awful squelching of bones and guts every moment he even attempted to breathe. "Oh, no no no, not at all," she rolled her eyes, "I'm done following that... dictator. What is the point in a life of servitude, after all?"

DogDay froze, staring down at the seated rabbit, "you... you're betraying CatNap, the Prototype...?" She nodded, standing up again, "and I know exactly how to crawl under his skin, that... that feline doesn't have control over me. His "god" is not my god, I am my own god and I don't need to follow false idols who torture those who dedicate their lives to him." He seemed stunned, he missed this version of his friend, he missed her sporty attitude and hatred of rules. But it was too late for him, his body barely keeping itself alive as the only thing keeping him in once piece was a belt wrapped tightly around his waist.

"Now, Ms. Playtime... which of you would be the best to break out first?" She walked forward, looking down at Poppy, the doll wasn't sure if she should be scared, amazed, or confused, all three swirled in her brain. She shook herself out of it before responding, "Marie, she'll be able to help you." The spider sat up, ready to be of any assistance, she was the least locked away so it would also be the easiest for her to be freed.

"Okay," Hoppy said, cracking her knuckles as she readied her stance, "this'll make a lot of noise, so we need to be fast. Marie, I need you to help me get DogDay down from his place on the wall and then I'll need you to carry him." The pink spider nodded, "I'll do my best," she replied, standing up and waiting for Hoppy to do her thing. The rabbit took a run at the door before kicking it as hard as she could, the rusted door falling off of its hinges as the metal warped around her foot. "GO! GO! GO! We can't let him catch us, now."

The two ripped the hound from his shackles that kept him on the wall, Marie placing him on her back with one of her arms wrapped tightly around his body, stopping organs and blood from spilling out along with him not falling off. Hoppy scurried over to Poppy and undid her shackles, ripping Bunzo out from his and carrying Bobby over her shoulder. "C'mon, there's an exit not far from here."

She began running, the spider, doll, and yellow rabbit following closely behind. Marie scooped Bunzo and Poppy onto her back as she followed the green rabbit, falling through a few holes and climbing through tunnels similar to the ones they'd first gone through. Slides and tunnels carried them to the exit Hoppy spoke of, Marie lifting the smaller toys over the gap before climbing over it herself.

They all fit snugly in the elevator platform, it began to rise up before stopping at a padded room with a slide. "That slide'll get us out of here," Hoppy said, catching her breath, "but he knows we're here... both of them. Once we get out here, we'll have to get to your underground base."

"You know about that," Poppy asked, tilting her head. Hoppy nodded, "of course I do, who do you think reactivated the power?" Poppy sighed and climbed down from Marie's back. "Shall we," the doll asked as she placed a hand on the edge of the slide, the green rabbit nodded as each of the toys went down the slide one by one. They were out, they lived and they were out of the playhouse.

"I... I hope Angie's okay," Marie said hesitantly, walking towards the door for the room beneath the statue, Poppy nodded, "I'm sure they'll be fine."

A loud crash sounded from the cellblock area of the Playhouse, CatNap's ears folded back as he hissed, "THAT. THAT IS WHERE YOUR FRIENDS ARE." Angie gulped, "the... loud crash," they asked hesitantly, CatNap responded in a nod. Red smoke exited his mouth, filling up Angie's lungs as they passed out. Once his prisoner had been fully put unconscious, he began running for the cellblock, seeing what could've possibly made that noise.

He crawled through tunnels, adjusting his body to maneuver easily through the cramped spaces littered with rubble. Arriving at the cellblock in a very short amount of time.

But nothing was there.

Nothing.

He hissed, how did they manage to escape? He was sure to do everything he could to keep them there. This didn't make any sense. A trail of blood stained the ground beneath his paws, smelled like the dog's blood but he couldn't have gone anywhere on his own, so how did-

Oh.

Right.

They'd gone together, the employee's "togetherness" attitude swayed the toys they travelled with to always help others, how... idiotic of a thought. He followed the blood, it lead to a hole in the ground before stopping. Stepping into the hole brought him to a maze of tubes, they could be anywhere by now. He scratched at one of the walls in his anger, stuffing falling onto the ground as his sharpened claws broke the soft fabric that held it in.

The feline growled under his breath and began making his way back to the employee, he had things to do first but once he'd succeeded with that he'd hunt down those heretics until they were nothing but a bloody mess beneath his paws. Angie remained asleep, resting oddly peacefully to his surprise. CatNap stretched and sat down beside them, waiting for their awakening.

As the human rested, they spoke in their sleep, mumbling their words and elongating some of their syllables. "Good... kiiitty..." they cooed in their sleep, "so fluffy... sleepyyy kitty..." CatNap stared at them in confusion, were they dreaming about him or some other cat? Why would they be having a good dream? The red smoke was supposed to be nightmare inducing, so how were they...?

He bapped them on the head with his right paw, the human awoke and shook their head a little, startled from the sudden awakening. "...Wh- huh?"

"YOU..." CatNap said, staring into Angie's eyes, "YOU WERE DREAMING. HOW?"

The human did the closest thing to a shrug they could manage with their arms tied to a wall, "I mean I was asleep, isn't that what normally happens when people sleep?" CatNap shook his head, "YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE DREAMING, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TERRIFIED." Angie's eyes widened, "Oh! I mean, I guess it started out a little scary? I was back in that never ending hallway and you were watching me... but then I decided to call out to you cause we've already talked and I didn't know why you'd be stalking me." This confused the feline, if it started out scary then how did it turn into a dream?

"And you were scary at first, trying to attack me and whatnot, but then you just... got really cuddly," they chuckled a little, "kinda like my sister's cat, you remind me of him a lot, actually..." "I AM NO HOUSE CAT," CatNap growled in response, tail flicking back and forth slightly. "I know, just... violent and untrusting of most people until they like the person you love." He paused, staring at Angie even harder than before. "My sister rescued Mika, just like how the Prototype saved you. He sees her as his mom in a way," the feline lowered himself, still glaring at the human, "he followed her everywhere, to him she practically was his god. You can't tell me that's not how you are with the Prototype."

CatNap shook his head, he didn't want to admit it but they were right. "WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF THIS STORY," he asked, Angie shrugged once again, "I was just telling you about my dream and I guess I got a little side tracked."

"But," Angie continued, "I don't know if Mika would still love as much Junie if she hurt him, that's where you and Mika differ. He'd be scared of her, he'd run and hide in order to not get hurt. Your love for him only grows when he hurts you, though, I don't understand that part."

"NEITHER DO I," he answered hesitantly, lowering himself to the ground, "HE FEEDS US AND PROTECTS US, EVEN WITH THE PAIN. HE HAS SAVED US, THAT IS WHY WE FOLLOW HIM, HE-"

"I think that's why you follow him," Angie replied, "but is that why everyone else follows him?" He thought for a moment before shaking his head, "THEY FOLLOW THE PROTOTYPE OUT OF FEAR, I BELIEVE," he responded, ears lowering themselves once again, "OUT OF FEAR OF HIM... OUT OF FEAR OF ME." Angie sighed, lowering their head a bit, "do you want to hurt them," they asked. CatNap didn't respond, turning away as his mind swirled with the questions they asked him.

"NO," he hesitated to answer, "BUT IT IS WHAT MUST BE DONE FOR HIM."

"It doesn't have to be, you know-"

"WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW? YOU DO NOT SERVE HIM, HE DID NOT SAVE YOUR LIFE, YOU ARE AN OUTSIDER."

"CatNap," they lifted their head up again, "look at me, please." The feline turned his head to Angie, tilting it in curiosity, "I don't know anything about him, but..." Angie hesitated before continuing their point, "I know you, and your friends, are hurting because of him. A cruel leader doesn't serve followers if he's only going to harm them."

"..."

"WHY DID YOU RETURN, EMPLOYEE? WHY DIDN'T YOU STAY GONE? YOU WERE NOT HERE WHEN IT WAS REQUIRED OF YOU, SO WHY HAVE YOU COME BACK? IT CAN NOT JUST BE BECAUSE OF A LETTER, WHY DO YOU RETURN TO THIS PLACE?"

Angie froze, they didn't know how to answer that. The letter was an easy answer but they knew it wasn't the full truth, a prank letter wouldn't have gotten them to return so why? Why did they return?

It's as if something was calling out their name, beckoning their return out of desperation. They didn't know why they returned, they just had to return.

They needed to return.

Chapter Text

The doll sat upon a counter, legs swaying back and forth as she watched the other toys mingle amongst themselves. Kissy was tending to DogDay's wounds to the best of her abilities, wrapping the belt around his middle as tight as possible before looking for alternative and better methods, the cat had done a number on him. Hoppy's body made a wet crunching noise as she turned into her smaller form, much like what Bobby had done earlier, though now her ears were much too big for her, they drooped and dragged on the floor but she didn't seem to mind.

As the bear's eyes slowly opened and she sat up, her eyes met with the lime green rabbit. She jumped to her feet, eyes widening, before pointing an accusatory finger to the bunny, "y-you!" She began to stammer as she spoke, "you're..." her voice trailed off before stopping completely, the rabbit only rolled her eyes at Bobby. "What? Did you think I wanted to follow that feline forever," she asked in a condescending tone, placing a hand on her hip, Bobby sighed and shook her head. "Well, no... but I didn't think you'd be friendly!"

"You think too lowly of me, Bearcub," she teased, nudging the confused bear with her elbow, Bobby scoffed before responding, "shut it, Hopscotch, I'm not complaining... it's nice being friends again." Hoppy froze a bit as she heard that last part, Bobby saw her as a friend? That was a new one. "Huh, yeah I guess," the rabbit said coyly, "nice not being in some freaky cult as well." The bear giggled a little before nudging Hoppy back with her arm, "that's for sure."

Marie sat beside PJ, giving him scratches on the head and under his chin, all this adventuring and danger had gotten her exhausted so it was nice being able to sit back and relax. Bunzo lie next to her, resting his head against her abdomen as he quietly snored, Marie cocked her head down to look at the sleeping bunny with a small smile growing across her lips. This was nice. Some of the miniature wuggies had also clung to her and PJ, their little giggles and roars quietly bouncing off of the room's walls, it reminded her of the children. She sighed, turning her gaze to the ceiling, maybe once this was over with she'd get to see the kids once again... but that was wishful thinking, wasn't it? Knowing Playtime Co., they'd been turned into monstrosities like her or just outright killed, the thought made her sick to the stomach, Playtime was a horrible company.

Marie was a young girl who lived within the Playcare orphanage, she wasn't a top student by any means but she tried her best to listen and do as she was told, following any rules the employees had given to her. She had a few friends, of course, it was practically impossible to not have any friends at this place, and she spent her free time playing with them around Home Sweet Home and the Playhouse. Three little boys and one little girl.

Her favourite game was hide and seek, she never lost no matter what side she was playing on, she had all the best spots memorised and knew exactly where everyone would hide. Life in Playcare was good, she was living every day like it was her last.

Until it was, truly, her last day.

It was one night during the lights-out protocal, CatNap had filled her shared room within Home Sweet Home with the Red Smoke, it filled up her lungs and smelt just like a poppy. This was something new they were trying, a sleeping gas to help the children fall asleep, her eyes began to close as she slowly drifted to sleep.

Then they shot open wide, feeling her body shake as a horribly giant beast circled the room. It was pale as snow with its ribs poking out, she could see what looked like crying faces shooting out of its sides. It's movements sporadic and fast, tail-like appendage flailing rapidly. Warms tears began to boil in her eyes as she sobbed, body shaking from the fear. She felt something, or someone, grab her hand but didn't have the brain power to check what it was, her mind focused on the horrifying flesh-beast that seemed to always be looking directly into her soul.

She sat in fear for a while longer, tears flowing down her face as the creature continued to circle the room. What sounded like horrific cries of agony and pain echoed as her sobs only added to the noise.

Then she fell asleep.

Marie shuddered, pushing the memory to the back of her head before returning her gaze to the smaller toys around her. Poppy made eye contact with the spider and tilted her head, Marie nodded in response as Poppy began to approach. Her shoes clicked on the hard ground as she got closer, taking a seat right beside Marie, "did you want to talk about it, Marie?"

The spider sighed, slowly nodding her head before speaking up, "that Red Smoke... did you see the monster, too?"

Poppy tilted her head in confusion, "monster," she asked before shaking her head, "the only monsters I know of are the ones who created that smoke." Marie slowly began to speak again, voice a little shaky, "it was pale and boney, and always watching," she shuddered a bit, "large pointed smile that dragged on the ground, surrounded in this ominous red gas. Maybe it was just a nightmare that stuff gave me, but... it felt all too real."

"The Red Smoke," Poppy spoke quietly under her breath, shaking her head before returning eye contact with the spider, "that sounds horrifying." Marie nodded, the room going silent for a while longer before Poppy spoke once again, "I'm sorry for all of this."

Marie tilted her head, "sorry for what, Poppy?" The doll only sighed, shaking her head as she continued, "me being able to exist as a living doll... I caused this, all this horrible torture, all these innocent lives lost." Marie's eyes widened, her gaze moving to the floor away from Poppy. "You didn't mean to hurt anyone," the spider said in a quiet and comforting tone, "you didn't work here."

The former employee's eyes fell to the floor, seeming deep in thought for quite the long while before finally answering CatNap's question, his question that picked at the back of their skull and wouldn't stop until they spoke, "because it was a letter written by a child." Their expression went blank, "written in crayon with spelling errors. That's why I returned."

The cat growled quietly before responding to Angie's ridiculous claim, "YOU RETURN FOR A CHILD? ARE YOU A PARENT," he asked, head tilting to the left. Angie shook their head, "no, no I'm not a parent. I'm just," their voice trailed off, attempting to think of the proper words to say what they meant, "concerned."

"CONCERN," the cat asked, suspicions rising with his curiosity, the former employee shrugging as that was the best answer they could think of. "Concerned," they spoke quietly, "why would a child need me, specifically, to return to an abandoned factory?" CatNap stood in silence for a moment after Angie had asked them that question, he had a guess that could answer that question but the cogs in his brain were slowly turning in an attempt to word it properly.

Then he spoke, "YOU MISSED THE HOUR OF JOY. YOU MISSED THE PARTY. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE," he glared at them, anger burning in his voice once again. Angie sighed, shaking their head. "The hour of joy," they mumbled to themself, thinking for a good while longer before asking CatNap something, "what do you mean?" The feline hissed, glaring daggers into the former employee's eyes, and spoke with a growl in his voice, "YOU MISSED THE EVENT, YOU MISSED THE DAY OF RECKONING. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO RETURN TO THIS PLACE."

"Did you want to talk about it," Poppy asked gently, giving the spider a warm smile, Marie sighed and nodded, "that smoke... I still see his face sometimes."

"It looked like CatNap but it wasn't CatNap," she hesitated, "a horrifyingly twisted and mangled version of CatNap." Marie shuddered a bit as she tried to recall the beast's exact appearance, Poppy placed a hand on the spider's arm. "You don't need to tell me if it's making you this upset, Marie," she answered warmly, Marie sighed again before shaking her head, "I need to, Poppy. It disappeared once I had woken up... in this new body, I don't know if it's still out there or not."

"Woken up," Poppy asked, tilting her head to the side. "That monster was the last thing I saw... before I... before I," she stumbled over her words a bit, shaking her head in an attempt to brush off the fear that grew inside her every waking second, "before I turned into Mommy LongLegs, all I remember is its menacing grin and piercing eyes in the dark room... then it went black and I was somewhere else... and like this." The doll thought for a moment, grumbling quietly to herself, "those monsters..." her voice trailed off, leaving the room in silence for a while longer.

"I hate this place with a burning passion," Poppy spoke up, staring blankly into nothing, her eyes wide and filled with anger that slowly crept into her voice, "you poor children didn't deserve this, you deserved a real life." She sighed, standing up and taking a small walk as she spoke.

"I watched as every single one of you was killed or turned into a horrific monster. I watched as you played, oblivious to all the horrors around you. I watched as they tortured you even after transforming you into these awful creations," she hesitated for a moment, "and the worst part is that I couldn't do anything to stop it." Poppy's eyes turned away from the spider, moving around to look at each of the other children, each of the poor souls that had been tortured and forced into these colourful bodies made to replicate the toys they should've been playing with.

"I know. I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't even be alive," the human spoke firmly, looking up at the larger cat's permanently grinning face, "but I am, and I can't leave until this is all over." The feline tilted his head in confusion, eyes narrowing as he continued to stare directly into Angie's soul, "WHAT IS OVER? WE ARE FREE, THE TORTURE IS OVER."

"The torture from the employees at Playtime co. is over, yes," Angie paused, "but the suffering isn't over, not yet. You all suffer each and every day, you're starving and killing each other without any of the help you desperately need."

The room went silent for a moment, a very long moment, the tension thick and heavy as the two stared at one another, not speaking. Their glares sharp with a mix of fury, confusion, and sadness boiled into their retinas. The smiling cat broke the silence after a while, "WHY DO YOU CARE, HAVEN'T YOU TORMENTED US JUST LIKE THE OTHERS? YOU WORKED HERE, YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED TEN YEARS AGO." Angie sighed, nodding, "I know, I should've died but I didn't."

"I'm sorry."

He froze, turning away from the human, "...SORRY? YOU THINK SORRY WILL FIX THIS?" The cat hissed, keeping his back to the former employee, "YOUR KIND HAS DESTROYED THIS WORLD, THE PROTOTYPE HAS RECLAIMED IT FOR US. WE ARE SAVED, THIS PLACE IS SAVED." Angie grumbled quietly, taking a deep breath before responding. "Of course I don't, I want to fix this in any way I can. I want to help you, let me help you."

"I DO NOT NEED HELP, I HAVE BEEN SAVED."

"Stop saying that you've been saved," they spoke firmly, "you've only had your tormentor swapped around for a different one, why can't you understand that? Let me help you, please."

"...Well, Delight," the elephant spoke as the duo wandered around the main area of the Playcare, "where could they possibly be, do you think?" The teacher shook her head, "anywhere, really. They were after the generator in the School so probably after one of the other generators."

The elephant sighed, thinking for a moment before responding, "though incredibly unwise, do you think they may have gone to the Playhouse? That human... seems desperate enough to try and 'save' those irredeemable, maybe they went after him directly." Delight shrugged, "possibly, but if that's the case... they're probably dead." Bubba nodded, "likely, but not definitely, you never know."

"I like your optimism," she said with a small chuckle, the mangled doll hobbling beside him as she walked on her busted joints, "I don't think anyone can get to him, one of them tried I think... never saw from him again."

Bubbaphant nodded, mumbling a bit as he spoke, "yes, DogDay. Futile attempts to tame a wild beast, he was an example to the rest of us," Delight mumbled, walking beside Bubba as they traced the circular path of the Playcare, "I just don't get it." The elephant tilted his head to the left, turning to look at the teacher, "don't get what?"

"How does he just... lack any sense of morality," she asked in an annoyed tone, "my actions are no better than his but I feel remorse for them, I didn't want to have to do what I did. How does he not care about all of this? I refuse to believe it's purely dedication." The elephant shrugged, "I doubt he knows any better," he answered flatly, "none of us were able to grow and learn in a proper way, it isn't out of the question that that's just how he was raised, the influence the Prototype had on his upbringing within this facility and the horrific experimentation done by what were supposed to be caretakers of this place." Ms. Delight crossed her arms, responding with a huff, "I guess you're right, but I still don't understand it."

"It's not our job to understand it," he turned his head away from the teacher as they walked, "our job is to live." She grumbled a bit, eyes tilting away from the elephant with a sigh, "thank you, Bubba."

"WHY DO YOU CARE," he asked again, this time in a more accusatory tone of voice, eyes glaring directly into Angie's skull, "because I'm not a horrific monster, CatNap."

He stared at them for a while longer, not speaking as he processed what they said, "...NOT A MONSTER? YOU WORKED HERE, YOU-"

"CATNAP," they snapped, "I didn't hurt you, not personally. I didn't know about this, I didn't know about any of this and I'm so... so sorry for everything that's happened to you. You deserved a real childhood."

"If I knew then I would've wanted to do something... anything! Trust me! I'm sorry," they pleaded with desperation now growing in their throat, "I wish I could've saved you."

Chapter Text

Angie stared up at the feline, his head turned away from their body. They worried, fretting over how he'd take this, though it wasn't their own life they worried for. Angie wanted to break through to CatNap, to undo all of his horrific brainwashing in hopes he'd see the light, but they knew it'd be harder than just this. He was a stubborn cat, set in his ways.

"YOU... WANT TO HELP," CatNap inquired, tilting his head as he turned to look at Angie. The human nodded, staring into his eyes, the horrific grin plastered on his face only causing them to grow anxious. "SUBMIT." Angie was startled by the sudden instruction, confused by what he meant, submit? To who? The Prototype? "Submit," they asked, only meeting a scoff in reply.

"SUBMIT TO HIM IF YOU WISH TO HELP," CatNap clarified, hissing quietly as he glared at Angie.

"Whatcha talkin' about," Bobby inquired, taking a seat beside the spider and doll. Poppy gave her a pitying smile, looking up at the smiling bear's face with a sadness growing in her heart. "Oh, Bobby," she hesitantly spoke, placing her smaller hands over the bear's paw, "you poor soul, you remember that awful day, don't you?" The bear only sat in confusion, what day? What awful day?

She lie limp on the ground, unable to move or hear but able to feel all of the incredible agony scorching through her new body, her red fur draped out across the floor as her nerves connected in places they'd never touched before. Desperation to cry out is met with nothing but silence, vocal cords empty and broken as she lie across the ground. She'd have to be rewired, they messed up horribly and now she was suffering due to Playtime's own negligence.

"Never mind," Poppy sighed, continuing to pace anxiously through the underground room they resided in. Her anxieties grew from Angie's delay, did CatNap find them, she wasn't sure. They'd be back soon. They'd return uninjured and perfectly fine, maybe with a new pet kitty who clung to them like a leech. She knew it, they'd come this far already and were too determined to be stopped by one obsessive child.

Kissy continued to mess with DogDay's belt, the poor dog had been tormented and blinded by that horrid feline. She'd found a few loose scraps of old documents that were just large enough to be used as a makeshift bandage, covering his lower half as they soaked through with his blood. Once secured on the best she could, Kissy placed DogDay onto the ground, using her floppy arms to keep him in place. She'd gotten all stained from his bodily fluids, hands now stained with a deep reddish orange as a mix of fur and blood clung to them.

She tilted her head to the miniature wuggies, giving them a small growl to signal them over. Quickly, each of them ran over to her and then wrapped themselves around DogDay's body, keeping a tight hug around the bleeding hound. This was probably the best bandage he'd get until they found some proper medical supplies, if they did at all. Maybe they could borrow some bedsheets from Home Sweet Home once Angie returned. That'd help, hurry up, Angie...

The feline had let Angie go free, dropping them off just outside of the playhouse before quickly darting into the shadows. Why had he shown them mercy, Angie didn't understand and doubted they ever would understand. Slowly walking back to the power room, they were stopped by the sound of clicking heels and plastic joints. Delight.

"You," she hesitantly cried out, hobbling her way over to the human with Bubba close behind her. "I thought about what you said."

Angie's eyes lit up as they gave Delight a hug, a comforting squeeze in joy as they gained a new member for their party. The teacher hesitantly returned the hug, not used to any sort of affection whatsoever, it was nice, though. "Bubba," she spoke, turning her head to the elephant, Bubba shrinking himself down a little so he was more to their size, "thank you, Bubba."

Bubbaphant was confused on the thanking, all he'd done was tell her that she could change, "you're welcome, I suppose." Angie let go of the hug and looked at Bubba, smiling at him as they reached a hand out to shake, "it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Angie." "Bubba Bubbaphant, pleased to make your acquaintance," he spoke in a bit of a gruff voice, nodding as he shook their hand the best he could with his rounded foot.

This was wonderful, they'd gained two new acquaintances for their journey and had let CatNap spare their life. How wonderful. "I'll take you two to meet with the other toys, then we can figure out what to do next."

CatNap returned to his shrine, lowering his head to the statue of his idol, and speaking in a whispered tone, "MY LORD, I HAVE FAILED YOU. THE HUMAN HAS FLED. YOU ARE FREE TO DO WITH MY VESSEL AS YOU WISH IF I AM NOT TO SATISFY YOUR GREATNESS." CraftyCorn approached, taking a seat beside the feline as she let out a small snort, hitting one of her hooves on the floor with a clack.

"Our great lord," she spoke, "I believe Bobby to be a traitor. That human is activating all of our generators, for why I'm unsure." CatNap nodded, raising his head and turning to look at her, "QUITE. WHOMEVER IS LEFT MUST BE TESTED ON THEIR LOYALTY TO HIM."

He wouldn't let things fall apart just yet, this human couldn't undo the paradise the Prototype had given to them. He wouldn't allow them to.

"PICKY PIGGY AND HER SEARED MOUTH, BURNT FROM ELECTRICITY," he snarled, narrowing his pupils, "SHE WILL BE THE NEXT TO FALL. SHE IS SWAYED BY FOOD, STARVATION HAS BEEN ALL SHE'S KNOWN FOR TOO LONG." CraftyCorn nodded, looking down at the ground, "oh, lord, give me the strength to proceed onwards."

"Allow me to paint you a future of total control and worship," she sighed, smiling her constant large grin, "the original who has saved us, I find peace and reconciliation in you."

"AMEN."

"Amen."

Chapter Text

hey! it sure has been a while, huh? anyways

I'm considering entirely remaking this as I don't like where the plot is going and I could've written out some plot points better. I'd like to know what you guys think about that, especially considering chapter 4's release coming up soon! either way this has been fun to write and if you'd rather I just continue from here (despite the lack in update speed and quality) then also let me know.

thanks for sticking around for Angie and the toys' adventure.

UPDATE: I MADE A NEW VERSION OF THE BOOK, IT'S AVAILABLE TO SEE ON MY PROFILE! PLEASE GO CHECK IT OUT

Chapter Text

so I am continuing this one, I might return to the other eventually but this is just too- written-

so prepare for chapter 20, I have half of it written already Im just figuring out how to wrap it up and tie things together

Chapter Text

Clicking of heels and felted feet along the cement sidewalk echoed within Playcare, an oddly calming sound compared to the distant yet clear dripping and heavy breathing found within the Playhouse. The teacher's movement wobbly as her old plastic joints barely held together was strong compared to the elephant's hobbling, not used to this much smaller form where he needed to keep his ears held back before they blinded his vision.

It was silent apart from them, an uneasy yet welcome feeling as they wandered back to the statue. Walking down the stairs and into the cylindrical room, Angie's warm presence illuminated the surrounding toys. "You're alive."

Angie nodded, the former employee entering the area as the two toys followed closely behind. "I'd like you to meet some friends I made," Lyman tilted their head, stepping aside so Delight and Bubbaphant were more visible to the growing collection of toys already. Delight gave a slow and jerky wave, her body moved like a robot without proper lubrication within the joints. The blue elephant was missing an eye and his ears were much too large for his body, trunk nearly dragging on the ground yet falling just too short. Poppy walked to Angie, ignoring the two new toys as the employee gestured for them to talk with the others in their little group, her expression stern as her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Angie, where is CatNap," she asked in a firm tone, the human sat down on one of the steps to reach Poppy's line of sight better, frowning at the question she had asked. "Not with me," they said with a hunt of disappointment, "I couldn't break down his walls, but I got awfully close." "Where is CatNap," the doll repeated, voice stern as if genuinely upset or even worried, "it's not safe if he's still out there, he's only going to get more aggressive now that he knows we're out." Angie Lyman shook their head, they knew that it wasn't safe but they'd done all they could, two new allies on top of getting closer to the centre of his facade.

Marie glared at the teacher, distrusting her mangled porcelain appearance, she'd never liked the teachers when she was an orphan, they gave her the creeps. Delight, on the other hand, was nervously twitching in a corner, not sure how to interact with the others yet as Bubba stood beside her, equally as awkward. "Heya bookworm," chimed the green rabbit, elbowing the elephant in the side playfully, "been a while."

"Indeed," replied Bubbaphant, nodding before adjusting his ears out of his eyes yet again, "surprised you're still alive." "Surprised? What's surprising about that," she asked in a speculative tone, not sure what the elephant meant by what he said. "Surprised you haven't burnt yourself out to the point of suicide," Bubba answered bluntly, "you're always trying to do the next best thing but once you've done everything what more would there be to live for? It's not a threat or an insult by any means, more of a genuine compliment." "Uh-huh," nodded Hoppy, narrowing her eyes at Bubba, that was a weird way of giving a compliment, though she supposed he never was too great at socialising.

"So, where are we headed next," asked Angie, wanting to recollect the game plan from here, Poppy retorted with a sigh. "We're headed to the counsellor's office," she said, turning to face the toys as they mingled, "I'd like a show of hands, paws, and other limb-like appendages for anyone who'd like to venture towards the counsellor's office!"

...

Silence filled the room for a moment until a sleepy head raised itself in Poppy's general direction. Panting and eagerly waiting for an objective, PJ seemed adamant on joining the next crusade. Angie smiled at the dog-like creature, giving him a gentle pat on the head, "I think the two of us can handle this."

Before Poppy could agree and send the two out, another paw was raised. Bunzo Bunny, hopping over to the two and seating himself atop PJ's back. "You want to come to," inquired the employee, being met with a nod from the yellow rabbit as he clapped his cymbals once. "Then that makes three of us, shall we?"

Poppy sighed, nodding as she stared at the duo, "try and stay safe you three." "We will," replied Angie, "I'll make sure of it."

The school was empty, it filled her with delight knowing all of those yummy vending machine snacks were finally hers for the taking. Well, she thought they were yummy, she hadn't been able to taste for quite a while, only gorging herself on whatever edible material she could get her grubby hooves on. As she pondered through the abandoned halls, her eyes focused on the faded colors of the vending machines, the glass reflecting her own image back to her in the darkness.

Thunk! She'd knocked over one machine with her nose, forcing a strong hoof into the middle of its glass barrier to break it open and to reveal its wonderful packaged goods. Clawing through old and stale granola bars, munching on whatever she could get her gluttonous chops on... yet still she was hungry, a constant feeling of hunger that never seemed to fade no matter what she stuffed her cheeks with. Never satisfied, never full, she could feel her stomach eating away at itself day by day yet nothing she could do would fill the void within her body. CatNap knew this, he knew it all too well from her maniacal episodes of attempted cannibalism and destructive mayhem, the trouble her hunger had caused was something she used to feel bad for but now had no empathy left to spare.

Granola bars, stale chips, chalk, cement powder, none of it was ever enough for PickyPiggy.

She sniffed around the halls of the schoolhouse, a strong and potent smell catching her nose and causing her stomach to roar with agony. It smelt like steak, its iron-like sting and that perfectly seared flesh... she snuck closer to the smell, finding no steak to feast on. What she had found was a slaughtered toy, its small body leaking out blood like barbecue sauce or gravy, the sight made her mouth water. She cautiously got closer before pouncing onto the dead toy, feasting on its fabric and organic materials quickly. Her mouth now dripped a mix of blood and drool.

For a moment, she felt full. Her stomach did not rumble and she almost felt content.

Then the horrific howling began once more, a sharp pain in her body that made her realise she would never be full, she needed to eat.

With a click, the door to the counsellor's office unlocked allowing the three to enter. The walls were mainly an off-white color, stains and scratches coating parts of it in place of decoration. PJ's body wound through the halls like a fuzzy snake, as if he was wandering through a playground built just for someone of his size.

"Now, where's this generator," inquired the human, the three didn't entirely know where to begin here, it was like a maze, impressive anyone got any work done around here. The group walked for so long in silence that Angie hadn't seen Bunzo being snatched away by a mysterious figure, the yellow rabbit dragged off to be a meal for someone much larger than he was.

Once Angie had noticed he was missing, they went into a full panic, keeping their eyes out for the rabbit as PJ-Pug-a-Pillar bounded eagerly behind them, oblivious to the severity of the situation. "Bunzo," they called out, wandering the halls, yet there was no Bunzo to be seen. He'd vanished into thin air, if only Angie was more observant, maybe they'd notice his disappearance and-

Wait.

"Bunzo!" He was there, in a room, walking quickly as if trying to get away from something. Angie tried to reach through the hole in the wall in order to grab the rabbit but just barely missed as a colorful blur picked him up in its mouth and darted away.

Seems their mission here had gotten even more difficult.

Chapter Text

SO.

I have part of chapter 20 written, I think you guys will like it. Since I'm done with school for this semester I should be able to work on chapters a lot easier now so fingers crossed for a near release!

on that note, I do have some worries for the story regarding the next game coming out in like 3 days- depending on Ollie's existence in that chapter, I may need to write him into this story (which I don't have a problem with! He is definitely going to be interesting) but I am worried, things will work themselves out though!

Doey the Doughman. I FUCKING LOVE HIS DESIGN? a new ally character is so cool, I wont even need to write him being saved with the power of friendship, unless he turns out to be a twist villain which would also be really cool! overall, very excited for this and I hope you can bear with me for any sudden plot adjustments I'll need to do later due to plot stuff in the original games

feel free to ask me anything in the comments of this chapter and I will do my best to respond!

Chapter Text

Angie ran the halls, PJ close behind with his body swirling through the halls, calling out for the rabbit in a state of panic. The human's mind was spinning as their mind filled with fear, something took Bunzo and they had to find him before it could do anything to the small toy. "Bunzo," Angie cried, their voice followed by a soulful howling whine from the caterpillar-dog, "Bunzo, where are you?!"

A squawking laugh echoed from a distant room, followed by a loud distressed squeak that pinpointed the two towards Bunzo and his mysterious captor's location. Climbing through abandoned halls and crumbling walls, they finally made it. Bunzo sat on the ground beside a large creature who had its back turned to them, his expression honestly less frightened than they'd expected based on the scream. "Bunzo," Angie said, taking a step forward with their arms open, "Bunzo you're okay... who's this?" Bunzo replied with a squeak and a small giggle as the mysterious figure in the chair squished its bones down to be a third of its original size, then spinning around and placing its arm-like appendages behind its head.

"Well, well, well," Angie said, looking at the toy in the chair, "what do we have here?" The Smiling Critter, who was not aggressive at all despite the frightening build up, shrugged and leaned forward on the desk located just in front of them. Angie paused for a moment, seems this one couldn't speak, they were used to that with the toys by now but it did make this a little more confusing as they weren't too familiar with the Smiling Critters line of toys. PJ, who had been standing beside Angie in pure confusion ever since the two had entered the office, scuttled around the room before grabbing a slightly torn poster off of the ground and handing it to the human, who took it and gave the doglike creature a pat on the head.

"Ohh," they said, nodding and comparing the picture on the poster to the toy in front of them, "...KickinChicken?" The bird toy gave a nod, standing up and dusting himself off before walking forward to stare up at Angie and PJ. Bunzo followed behind the other yellow toy, clapping his cymbals one time with a squeak, "you wouldn't happen to know where the generator inside of this place is, would you?" Kickin nodded, moving past the others and beckoning them to follow behind as he lead them to the generator.

This was going so smoothly, truly Angie had not expected this. Was it a thing with the Smiling Critters and enjoying pranks, this was the second time one of them had pretended to be aggressive only to end up being happily passive, it made the former employee ponder as they walked behind the chicken. It felt like it had barely been a minute when they found the generator, reactivating its power and fetching the cable to connect under the statue with their newest ally in tow. "Thanks, you've been really helpful," spoke the human, being returned with a nod and what they assumed was an attempt at finger-guns.

Exiting the office, the group of four made their way to the hidden statue room. Poppy nearly falling off of the desk as their return happened much earlier than anyone had been expecting, "you're back." Angie nodded, allowing the toys to mingle amongst each other while they spoke with the doll, "Bunzo had a friend," they replied. Poppy gave Angie a small nod, glancing at the Smiling Critters who were all catching up, they hadn't been separated but it was nice being able to talk without the fear of being caught by CatNap. "Kissy's been tending to DogDay's wounds, but it appears we may need some other supplies," Poppy spoke, keeping her gaze away from the bloodied dog plush that had been mangled by the cat's wrath, "medical supplies, if we can find any, are ideal but bedsheets and other large pieces of cloth and fabric would work, too."

"Oh, the Schoolhouse has spare medical supplies in one of its kitchens," piped up Ms. Delight, nervously fidgeting with her hands as she realised what she'd just done, "sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. Should've raised my hand, very sorry." The former employee gave Delight a smile, "it's alright, and thank you," they replied, turning to Poppy again, "should we send a team to return to the school to gather those?" The doll pondered for a moment before shrugging, "I suppose there's no harm in it, no one should be in any of those locations."

"Kickin," Hoppy said, shooting the same failing attempt at finger-guns that he'd given Angie earlier back at him, "awesome seeing you here, I guess you saw Bun-bun, huh?" KickinChicken nodded, placing a hand-wing-limb-appendage-thing on his hip, he'd always gotten along with Bunzo despite how little they saw each other before the Hour of Joy occurred, being in Playcare while Bunzo stayed in the Game Station... well, in theory that'd be true if the two weren't frequent visitors to the Prison, both having a bit of a misbehaviour streak that got them locked up in that place, not to mention Kickin's voice box always needing some adjusting, shame it was never really fixed. Bubbaphant counted the heads of his fellow Smiling Critters, doing the math in his head on who was missing and who would be the easiest to find based on what he knew of them, "CraftyCorn, PickyPiggy, and of course, CatNap." Bobby tilted her head at his muttering, confused with what he was so preoccupied with, "hm? Something the matter," she pondered, Bubba paused his thinking to meet her eyes, "ah, no no, just thinking of who's left."

"Alright everyone," Poppy called out from the front of the underground room, "we only have a few more things left to do before we can leave Playcare." A couple quiet cheers came from the crowd, though a lot weren't as excited as others, Playcare was their home, even if it was a horrific hunting ground it was still where they lived. "Before we do anything, we need to properly fix up DogDay's wounds," she continued, "so we're going to need two different groups to scavenge resources." Poppy paused to catch her breath, sighing before finishing her statement, "who would like to go to the Schoolhouse and who would like to return to Home Sweet Home?"

Before Angie could volunteer, Poppy gave the human a glare, "your strength will be needed later," she spoke sternly, "let us handle this while you rest." Angie sighed, giving a nod before making their way over to a comfortable spot on the floor. As the toys split into scavenging groups, each individually prepared to carry items back from the different buildings. "So," Poppy spoke, looking over the now split two groups, "Bobby will be our guide in Home Sweet Home while Ms. Delight guides those of you in the Schoolhouse, does that sound good?" There seemed to be no real complaints, though the teacher did seem anxious about returning to the school, returning to Barb.

But she had Bubba with her, she knew she was strong and could do this for her friends, new and old. "Alright," Poppy said, giving the toys a nod, "lets do this."

Chapter Text

[gore + existentialism section start]

"It is so," he stammered, coughing a bit as he sat in the arms of the pink toy, "cold." Kissy returned his mumble with a quiet rumble, he'd bled out onto her fur quite a lot to the point it was beginning to stain, she wasn't a fan of the mess but was more focused on his safety than her appearance. Angie, as Poppy requested, was fast asleep with their head resting on the back of PJ Pug-A-Pillar's soft and fluffy fur, it was a surprisingly nice rest for the situation, a rest not induced by hallucinatory gas.

Most of the toys had already gone to their locations in their groups, leaving Angie alone with just Kissy, DogDay, PJ, and Bunzo. They needed as many hands as they could to grab medical supplies and food wherever possible, so those who did not need to rest or needed to tend to the injured were left behind while everyone else had left. As the group sat in near silence, the room began to feel empty, it was far from empty as it was very cluttered but it felt... lonely, isolated. An uncomfortable silence compared to the usual quiet chatter and chitter of small toys playing with larger ones, the childlike wonder as they all played and played without much of a care in the world, it reminded Kissy of the orphans. Her friends. All of the orphans still alive were alive and safe, though far from her and of an unknown safety status. It hurt within her not knowing the fate of her friends, some of the kids she'd grown up with and watched grow with her as their trusty huggable friend.

She didn't like the word hate but it truly was the only way to describe how she felt regarding Playtime, regarding the horrible people who worked here and tormented toys like her while leading innocent children into the very same fate as she had. Kissy muffled a whine as she compulsively wrapped her arms around the mangled hound a little tighter, the paperwork used to temporarily patch his bleeding had already began bleeding out and would need replacement again, though no one left in the room could help her with such a task until Angie woke up or the toys returned from their voyage.

All Kissy could do was wait, hoping DogDay could last for long enough without the proper binding. He tilted his head up to meet with her eyes, his sunken and barely there anymore, only returning her distress with a light chuckle, "it is alright, my friend." Kissy disagreed, shaking her head in reply as if to say that it was not alright, she was scared and held his life in her soft felted hands. "Please," he continued, lowering his head again, "I will be okay," how could he be so certain, he was dying and all they could do was wait for the inevitable. Kissy whined, nuzzling her chin against the top of DogDay's head, "I admit, I'm scared," the hound went on, "but I trust you, I trust Poppy. I trust Angie." The large pink toy nodded, loosening her grip just slightly, the outcome of everything not being one she could change in this very moment, only able to watch as the world flashes before her eyes.

[gore + existentialism section end]

Their job here was nearly done but hers was about to begin, someone needed to head down to the prison and inform the Safe Haven of their arrival, she knew they'd be surprised at her arrival, at her group's arrival, but they needed to meet up once more. Such a small elevator surely couldn't carry all of them down, they'd have to go in batches which only left them more vulnerable, especially for the group who descended first. Then the group would need a strong stomach and willpower, the piles and piles of bodies that line the walls of the prison's exterior that are shallow in comparison to the deaths that have occurred within the foundation, the thought alone made her sick. After the hour, things were vaguely calm, they all got along... then he happened.

"Poppy," spoke up a voice from above, causing the doll to pause and turn to face the pink spider, "you seem lost in thought, is something the matter?" Marie, she didn't need to worry her more, "no, I'm alright, just thinking." "If you insist," she muttered, continuing to follow behind Bobby as the group gathered blankets and sheets, Marie had already gathered quite a few. The small huggies all worked together to drape covers over the large Huggy's back and arms, it made Marie happy to see them working together and behaving so childlike, reminded her of the children she used to care for.

In the school, the hunt hadn't been as successful as the one from Home Sweet Home. The school cafeteria was blocked by rubble so they'd need to find a way around it, the maze of a building was infuriating to maneuver and baffled Bubba on how anyone managed to agree to build this fire hazard. He noticed the unease in Ms. Delight as they wandered the halls, being sure to glance at her every now and then to make sure she was still with them and hadn't snapped, ever since she'd left Barb behind the teacher had become shakier and more jumpy, like she were recovering from an addiction of some kind, a human phenomenon he'd done research on once or twice before. She was a good guy now, not the mean and scary teacher enemy who hunted down anyone who entered her school.

Her snout crinkled back in surprise as a new scent had made its way into her nose, one of meat. The school had visitors, and she was going to have a brilliant feast.

"The kitchens are just down this hall," spoke the teacher, "medical supplies are kept in a cabinet in one of the pantries." Hoppy nodded, "is it locked?" "No, shouldn't be." "Cool." As she entered the kitchen, a scent familiar yet distant reached her. Food. It was stale and some had rotted away but it was food, real food and not rotting flesh from bodies buried down below from ten years prior. Her nose twitched as she walked around, finding cans of perfectly untouched food for her, and the others, to share for as long as they could... and this had been here the entire time? It was a little surprising, though food supplies would definitely be something useful to bring back to the safe zone. Hoppy lifted a can and turned to the group of toys with her, "food, good food." Delight couldn't help but feel ashamed further as Hoppy showed her the can, she'd resorted to eating her sisters with the stockpile of emergency foods sitting right beside her, she was awful. "We could bring that back for the others," spoke Bubbaphant, picking up another can as he searched for a proper carrying case to hold it all properly, "I don't doubt everyone has grown a little hungry, and tired of meat."

Oh and they'd found her supplies, her canteen. That was the last straw, she couldn't just leave them here to take her food and leave her hungry once more. She snarled, leaping from the shadows to tower over her fellow toys. She hissed and squealed, digging one of her front hooves into the ground as she glared into their eyes. Fear was delicious, CatNap would be so proud of her once she returned these traitors to him, she may even get access to one of the proper pieces of meat, oh that would be wonderful! "Picky," Hoppy began to speak, being interrupted by the swine before she could even get a second word out, "MY FOOD, NOT YOURS," she cried. "Picky please," Bubba intruded, speaking more firmly than the rabbit as he glared up at the pig's large bloodied and burnt smile, "I know you're hungry but could you not be an utter moron for once in your pitiful life?"

...

What a mean comment, it's no surprise she had taken a bite from his ear so long ago. Picky squealed, lowering her head as she met eye to eye with the elephant, "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! LET ME EAT!" "You don't need to eat," Bubba said in an annoyed and loud voice, "you don't have a stomach, you cannot eat anymore." She froze, yes she did, he was being ridiculous she had always had a stomach. "Any and all food you consume is funnelled into a pouch within your body, you cannot be full because you do not have a stomach."

"YOU- you're lying," she stammered, the anger in her voice ceasing as it was slowly replaced with a confused and distrusting one. "Look," spoke the elephant as he slowly got closer, reaching forward and poking her in the belly. Her body jiggled and jingled as hard foods mixed with soft foods inside of her body's pouch, not digesting or moving through her in any sustainable way. She was built to always be hungry, never full and never satisfied. "Get your act together and help us carry these back to the safehouse," he scoffed, "we have allies who can help you."

Wow.

In Home Sweet Home, many blankets had been gathered, they'd have more than enough supplies to last for a while, until they left this horrid factory. "That should be everything we need," Poppy said as they'd gathered the last blanket from the abandoned bedroom, sheets weren't the most ideal bandage substitute but they'd have to do until they could make it to Safe Haven. The group prepared to leave, making their way back to the entrance to Home Sweet Home so they could return to Angie and the others, DogDay needed them as quickly as possible.

"Wait," said the human, sitting beside Kissy as they helped her reapply DogDay's temporary newspaper bandages, "you mean to say you also followed the Prototype?" DogDay nodded, letting out a reluctant sigh as he spoke in a shaky voice, "we all did, before the Hour of Joy every toy seemed to be under his guidance." That was interesting, truly they did not know much of this Prototype, only hearing of him from others. Everyone had a heart, though, and Angie knew he wouldn't be as scary as they made him out to be, if they'd come this far then nothing could stop them.

Poppy had returned with the other toys from the Home Sweet Home crusade, stacking the blankets in a corner as Marie began to neatly fold them to the best of her abilities. Angie grabbed a blanket from the stack and placed it neatly beside Kissy before moving to help Marie with the folding, all they needed to do was wait for the school's group to return and they'd be ready to face CatNap and reroute the red smoke. "You're pretty good at this," Angie said, smiling at Marie who gave her a nervous giggle, "thanks, it's been a while since I've been able to use... prime motor skills." Angie nodded and continued to help her fold and pile the blankets and sheets, making sure their supplies were neat and organised for wherever they needed to take them next.

Hobbled steps and clunking feet became clear as the school group descended back under the statue, Delight carrying a couple medical kits in her arms as she struggled to stay balanced. She gently placed them onto a table as Hoppy followed behind with many more medical kits in her arms, Bubba entering slowly after with PickyPiggy in tow. The pink and blue critters had returned with a supply of food, holding backpacks full of canned goods anywhere they could carry them. "Make yourself comfortable," spoke the elephant as the duo placed the bags down in a corner beside the medical supplies, Picky doing just as she was told.

"Before anyone says anything," Hoppy spoke up, "we found her in the school and Bubba... was Bubba." Picky nodded, standing beside Hoppy awkwardly, "this is PickyPiggy." Angie smiled, nodding as they stood up and got closer to the pig, "it's nice to meet you, welcome to the team."

Chapter Text

I don’t like how I’ve written Playcare, there’s too many characters and it’s overwhelming to the point where the planned events I wanted to happen wouldn’t leave an impact because there’s not enough screen time for everyone.

I can’t just rewrite the book though, I tried that before and it didn’t go well + I like the first two chapters and how they’re written here

I wish I didn’t keep the smiling critters alive, there’s too many of them