Chapter I: Part I, Everything starts with fire, it ends in it.
* * *
Nothing.
Just, nothing.
When the fire slowly consumed the iron alloys, when the plastic began to burst with a crack and slowly flow down his arms, becoming a black sticky substance at the end of its path. Tubes supporting oxygen circulation were also slowly melting in the fire.
The memories from his life are like an old film, the pictures change over and over again. That's all he had to do at the end.
I don't want to die I haven't collected them yet. On one, he sees himself as a very young child, his room in which he spent countless of his time, little William is clearly passionate about something, but what, he still can't see because a new picture flashes in front of him. And here he is almost nineteen. He meets Henry...
Henry... He wants to add something else, but because of the heat and stuffiness rapidly engulfing his body, he can't even move a finger, let alone think about something else. The picture changes again, and now there is a small pink face of a child in front of him. William looks so happy here, he tremblingly presses the child to his body and looks at him with great love in his gray eyes.
Michael? Is this Michael?
There is a strange feeling in my head. Maybe this is called enlightenment?
A feeling of
freedom. It seems that nothing else keeps him on this earth. William Afton no longer clings to this life like a cockroach, in his endless attempt to survive, get out and try to become something more.
This is the end. And he meets him in fire. Or maybe he has been here for a long time? Maybe this is just another episode of his miserable existence? Existence as
omnipresent. William Afton,
omnipresent. It sounds very intriguing. But not for him. Who he wasn't already in this world.
He was William Afton, an ordinary kid from far away... he...
He.... he... He can't remember
where he is from.
Where is he from? Where are youfrom? Where was yours? My childhood? The brain is no longer able to remember this information. It means that she was not so significant since even now, a step away from death, he can't remember anything.
He only manages to remember how
his Henry shakes his hand when he finds himself in the dorm apartment where he settled in his first year of study, For some reason it is Henry who is now becoming the center of his memories,
his smile,
his hair,
his...
That's where his memories end.
He barely manages to turn his neck to the left, towards the doors of the huge oven. Surprisingly, he is still aware of something, he is able to think and receive information, despite the fact that on the back of his head he already feels the fire slowly consuming the skin. Through the haze of smoke and red spots, he tries to catch at least something through the small holes of the furnace, but even this is already given with such difficulty. Finally,
a decent end. Yes, this is a worthy end for someone like him, those who are at the bottom. But is he at the bottom now? No, even now Afton is not at the bottom, no. It is
higher,
higher. Even now, he's taller than these damn kids. And they will not succeed. Nothing and never. Because he always comes back.
Always. And William Afton
is burning is sinking.
If he could see through the oven doors as clearly as Carlton and Jessica saw him now, he would be able to see in what horror and disgust their faces twisted, a truly interesting sight, but through the veil he can only make out two, no, five indistinct silhouettes, and the smaller ones seem to be grouped around two which is higher.
Curves, fuzzy shadows. These are just the children he abducted.
Carlton and Jessica. Friends
"Charlie." Haven't they realized by now that their precious friend has been dead for a long time? "Brave"
heroes. Surely they are already reveling in their victory over him. He even feels a little indignation, which gives off an unpleasant tingling in the back of his head, or maybe it's a fire that has already completely devoured a thin layer of skin under it.
Fuck, how tired he is.
Surely they now think that the fire will go out and Afton will get out of the oven to finish what he started
. And he will finish. Maybe not now, because the crackling of plastic and iron prevents him from thinking clearly, he is completely immobilized. The fire flared up to the limit. The flame has already devoured the silhouettes, and the crimson spots appear more clearly before the eyes.
Damn.
PLASTIC.
and why did he just use it?
Monster. The monster. The one behind the horrors. The child is a demon. Inhuman. Hurricane monster. The curse of Utah.
All this is him, and that's why he can't stop smiling. Isn't it funny, isn't it ridiculous? This all-consuming emptiness that he always felt, he was so tired, he was so lonely, he was always so lonely, he was never Someone, he was always pitiful and insignificant, and he was dying, dying, he would finally die soon. Years later, repeated examinations (or maybe his son had a hand in it) were able to shed light on the fact that the founder of the company, William Afton, was behind all the murders.
In person. All this is him, burning alive, and looks so funny, isn't it funny?
But the funny thing was that when they hired him for their own company, they did not recognize him in that lean and skinny body, pale face and
silverygray eyes. In his gray eyes that never reflect anything but emptiness. Hell, even his cheekbones always made his face stand out. Isn't that ridiculous? All this all-consuming emptiness that he has lived with all his life is leaving from under his body. Finally he feels, he feels, peace.
God, he's tired. How lonely he is now.
How stupid and blind were they not to see who they had been chasing for more than ten years? Only pain, so much death, so much
I'm so tired god help mebrokenhow are you? You're broken, admit it. And what an irony, because now he is burning with them. If he could close his eyes, then surely when he opened them, he would see a crowd of angry ghosts in front of him. Ghosts of the past,
children. William was always amused by one thought. How
delicate and
fragile they are. The blade of even a blunt knife passed through their small bodies so easily,
like lighting a match on a box.
Now he feels at ease. Is this how Henry felt when he committed suicide? And he was so hurt. He never saw the blood slowly engulfing his shirt, oozing through the hole in his chest,
didn't you know that you left the same hole for me when Hyung decided to do it?
A crackling sound is heard behind. So sharp that everything finally turns purple-red in front of my eyes.
It was the skull cracking.
Is the skull cracking?
Means he is already one step away from death. The brain will not live more than one minute in such heat. Physically, he couldn't do anything anymore, he's immobilized.
Finally, he smiles broadly. His last thoughts are occupied by a tall female silhouette. Easy gait, those red curls, freckled face and deep brown eyes... The last time he blinks, and the pain is reflected in every burn received.
The agony throughout the body passes for the last time before the brain finally loses contact with the immobilized body.
And just for a moment it seems to him that he sees a million stars in the sky.
Clara, is that you?
