How many times has he been knocked out, Gabriel wondered. How many times has he been put under the throes of painfully induced sleep? He was almost beginning to lose track, and that is not even mentioning the time he has spent down here. Day and night became meaningless. Time only mattered whenever the circumstances demanded it.
And in his case, he has spent a long time running, and nearly dying.
Even as he was being carried by his friends the pain of fatigue never left. Every movement, every twitch of fiber his muscles made ignited fire in his very being. He felt like a tightly wound pull string, ready to snap at any minute. He hears the all too familiar shrill ringing in his ears, but past that he can hear the rush of frantic voices. He can't discern whether they are arguing with each other, or calling to him.
It is becoming routine at this point. Getting knocked out, getting dragged place to place, and everywhere in between he is running for his life. It has become tiresome, predictable, and it has taken every ounce of strength left in his bruised and battered body.
Gabriel then feels something on his face, something fuzzy lightly tapping each cheek. His delirious mind could barely register the sensation, he feels as if his nerves are shot. All he can sense the rocking of his head moving side to side, heavy like deadweight as it swayed around on his limp neck. But he hears a voice calling to him but to no avail.
He could hardly hear it, the dark embrace of sleep lulling him back to slumber.
Only for it to be suddenly blow away as ice cold water splashed on his face.
"ARGH!!" Gabriel shouted as his eyes shot open as he lurched forward, the sudden movement sending aching fire down his body as his muscles flared in fatigue.
"He's awake!" Mommy cried triumphantly. "The bucket-full of water was a good idea, Huggy!"
With his senses shifted into overdrive, Gabriel looked around in a frantic stupor if there is any would-be enemy. But when his vision focused, he was met with a dozen gazes of worried, familiar faces all looking down on him. Poppy, Kissy, Dogday, even Mommy and Huggy.
"Damn!" Dogday spoke first. "I almost can't believe you survived that!"
Gabriel didn't say anything, he simply stared at him with tired eyes. The bags under his eyelids visible underneath the bruised black eyes. He still was able to take in his surroundings, he doesn't know where he is due to all the toys gathered around him, but what he can tell is that he is leaning with his back against the wall in some sort of hallway. Most likely the Depot that Poppy told him about.
A short ten seconds went by and Gabriel was still silent, incurring impatience from Poppy. "Well? Are you okay?" Gabriel merely groaned, too tired to move his lips. "Well say something! Don't leave us hanging here!"
For a long pause Gabriel still with held his tongue. Though he doesn't feel like talking, let alone moving, he believed he should mind as well stand and address them.
He forces his arms to move and plant his hands to the floor and begins to push himself up. Seeing this, Dogday immediately acts and grabs the underneath of the human's arms and helps hoist him up to his feet. Gabriel's legs shook violently as his own weight was applied, but he held himself firm none the less. And now, standing at eye level with Poppy, whom is standing on Kissy's open palm, he finally asks her.
"Where's…Catnap?" He said, his voice laced with exasperation.
To the others however, they were somewhat surprised. "What do you mean where is Catnap?" Dogday replied with a joyous smile on his face. "He is dead! He is finally dead and we don't have to worry about him anymore!"
Gabriel winced as those words left Dogday's mouth. Perhaps he has underestimated just how much the others feel about him. Which leaves him rather apprehensive, given what he has done in the safe room.
"What…what makes you think that?" Gabriel said.
"We didn't see him when we brought you out of that safe room." Poppy replied. "We assumed you actually found a way to kill him."
"I…" Gabriel tried to say, but his words were caught in his throat. "I didn't kill him."
"We know that." Mommy Long Legs said. "That Ollie child told us that the Prototype was nearby, and said that he would finish him off himself if he has failed him for the last time."
"Well who cares right now!" Dogday said, his spirits high like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. "With Catnap gone, we no longer have to worry anymore! We should tell the others! I bet even Kickin will no longer feel so stressed anymore and…!"
"He's not dead."
Everyone was stunned silent, especially Dogday, who looked at him with terror laced in his face.
"He's…what?" Dogday weakly replied.
"Yes, he's still alive." Gabriel yet again answered.
All the other toys looked to each other. "But that doesn't make sense!" Poppy exclaimed. "Catnap wasn't there when we found you. And if you didn't kill him, then the Prototype should have killed him. Unless if-"
A sudden realization then flashed before her. She then turned to Gabriel, her expression shocked and appalled. "Gabriel…oh please don't tell me that you…?"
His eyes didn't leave their's, he then answered then fully and clearly. "Yes, I saved Catnap from the Prototype."
The silence that followed was so intense that a pin drop could be heard yards away, every single one of them are simply stunned speechless. But none more so than Dogday, whose gaze made Gabriel uneasy. He knew they wouldn't like it, but as of now he mentally braced himself for whatever it is that they will shout at him.
Then after a long, pregnant silence, Dogday was the first to break it. "Why…?" He softly said before asking through clinched teeth as his fists tightened. "Why did you keep him alive?"
"...Because I didn't want to." Gabriel said, his voice so profoundly weak and dry. "Because I saw what the Prototype has been doing to him. I was so angry. I had every right to kill him, to let him die. But yet I can't bring myself to just let it happen. I can't bear to watch another victim die."
"Victim…?" Dogday repeated. Until in one breathless moment, his face contorted to that of unfathomable rage. "VICTIM!?" He screamed with such intensity that the others with him reeled backwards afraid, except for Gabriel. "You want to talk about victims?! LOOK AT US!! Everybody here in this God forsaken place has been either tortured or killed by the Prototype! And you know who was there to help see it the whole way? CATNAP, THAT'S WHO!!"
Gabriel didn't even so much as flinch, he still remained standing there, still as a statue. His eyes tired and body aching as it twitched in unfamiliar places. He felt so numb that even Dogday's fierce yelling didn't so much as dissuade him.
"Okay Dogday, we get it." Poppy said trying to defuse the situation. Gabriel knows what has happened here, you don't need to keep yelling about it."
"NO!" Dogday continued yelling. "He needs to hear this!"
"You weren't there Gabe! You weren't there when Prototype started feeding us corpses instead of food! You weren't there when he forced us to stay and cannibalize each other! You weren't there when we were all fighting for our lives just because we wanted to be free! You weren't there for ANY OF IT!!"
Gabriel still remained unflinching, but yet he responds, a noticeable sadness laced within each word. "I know, and that is why I saved him. I don't want to repeat the same mistake I made all those years ago. I can't bear to leave him like this again."
The others looked to each other, confused about what he could have meant by that statement. But that didn't stop Dogday from continuing yelling at him, tears beginning to stream from his eyes. "Then what about me!? I was supposed to be the leader, everybody's shoulder to lean on! And yet…" He continued sobbing, the fur on his cheeks becoming wet and matted.
"You weren't there when I watched as my friends disappeared one by one without knowing why, whether they are dead or alive! You weren't there when I realized that Catnap, one of the only people I could trust in this whole world, betrayed me! You weren't there as I was chained up, legs torn off, as I watched Catnap torture my friends one by one, right in front of me!!"
Dogday then grabbed Gabriel by the collar and pulled him towards himself, face to face, his eyes piercing into the human's clouded eyes. "If you actually understood what we have been through, you would have killed him! You should have just let him die! Do you even care about how we feel!?"
There was a short pause, but then, Gabriel answered, his voice so weak that it almost sounded dead.
"I don't know what to feel anymore."
Dogday was shocked, he thought that he would answer differently. But the way his eyes looked, so clouded, so dull, he almost looked as if he was reanimated from the dead. The picture of a numb heart. Dogday continued staring at him, almost unbelieving, and then he turned around and walked off. His anger still manifest on his face.
The others with Gabriel, once they see Dogday disappear down the hallway leading to the Gas Production zone, they then set their gaze back to Gabriel, who looked like he was about to collapse again at any minute.
"Um…Well, we…we should get going." Poppy said breaking the silence. "The others are waiting for us."
"Uh, what about Dogday?" Mommy asked, still concerned.
"We'll deal with him later. He is already dealing with a lot of problems on his own. But for now, we have a bigger problem."
"Really?" Mommy asked. "And what would that be?"
Poppy fidgeted with her dress, a nervous expression plastered on her porcelain face. "You know what." She said almost dreadfully. "We need to continue on, but not before he…learns the truth."
Mommy tilted her head wondering. "What do you mean? What tru-…" It was then the realization hit her. "Oh…that." A sudden wave of apprehension trails down her spine, to which she hides with a more chipper attitude, though anybody can tell was strained. "W-Well! Why wait? Things to do and places to be! Isn't that right, Little Angel?"
There was however no response coming from him, he just kept staring blankly out into space. "Gabbie?" Mommy tried to regain his attention. But the way his shoulders sagged with his hunching back, the way the color of his eyes almost matched his pale skin. If it weren't for his slow, raspy breaths and the occasional twitching in some places, one would have assumed Gabriel to be a walking corpse.
But then at last, words began to come forth from his quivering lips. "I have something to tell you all…" The way his voice sounded, there is just so much exhaustion, and yet each word carried an eerie weight to it. "…I never got to tell you all…"
Poppy didn't know what Gabriel is implying, but there was no time to waste. They are in a disadvantage staying here in the depot, the Prototype knows these halls better than anyone, and given the fact there are so many corridors concealed in shadow, the Prototype could appear at any moment, they are practically a no-man's-land.
"Listen, whatever you want to tell us, it'll have to come later." Poppy retorted. "We have to get to the others and figure out what to do next. Let's move."
They all then began to make their way down the corridors of the depot, they made their steps as soft as possible so it would not draw attention of what could be anything within here. However, just as they are all heading around the corner, they noticed that Gabriel was no longer with them. Terror struck their hearts as the looked for wherever he could be, that is until they see him lumbering around the very same corner of which they turned.
His legs wobbled and throbbed under his own weight, the constant running and flowing adrenaline having leaving his legs practically numb. Even his very countenance, once full of color and energy, now faded along with his withered gaze.
"Oh dear." Poppy muttered as she watched the poor human trudging along. "I've…never seen him like this…"
Huggy, upon seeing Gabriel in such a weakened state, then decides to help the near crippled human. He then coils Gabriel up into his long, lanky arms, and proceeds to lift him and carry him. Poppy, content with Huggy's assistance, gives an affirming nod, and they all then continued on as planned.
"…I didn't know what to say…" Gabriel kept muttering. "…I am so scared…so, sorry…"
The others didn't know what to think of their human ally's ramblings. To them, it must still be the lingering effects of the Red Smoke still taken hold of him, that including all the physical trauma he endured to get this far. And that is not even getting into how degraded his mental state must be. He maybe the Angel of Playtime, but they all know he is still yet human. He is in no wise invincible.
But in Poppy's eyes, that isn't so. Sure he may be in a terrible condition right of now, but he is still capable. He is still exactly what she needed in order to enact her revenge. And once they have regrouped and gathered their strength again, they can continue on with their mission.
There is however some glaring problems they must settle before they reach the prisons. One is the Smiling Critters, though Dogday is certainly fit enough to journey along with them, the others however are in no condition to even move far, some of them with such extensive injuries, that venturing forth would be suicidal. Next is what to do about the others, Mommy and Huggy may not be actively working for the Prototype, but she can't trust them enough. That and the fact that Gabriel somehow managed to save Catnap's life, and the Prototype missing, it wouldn't be a stretch that an ambush would come soon.
And then there is the elephant in the room. Normally, she would at every chance try to prevent or at the very least hold off on revealing the truth of what happened to the factory. She knew Gabriel must have had friends here, since he was so willing to come this far to find them. And if she were honest, showing him that tape might be the hardest thing to do so far. How would Gabriel react? Will he be angry, sad, would he feel betrayed knowing he was helping the same monsters that destroyed what he held so dear?
Poppy was nervous, almost terrified, whether Gabriel believes it or not, this entire plan hinges on him. Whatever happens, it will ultimately end up being his choice.
Soon enough the group finds themselves within familiar territory, and sure enough, they can hear a crowd of voices and other animalistic noises. They are near their destination, and it is just behind a metal shutter door. Mommy then takes a turn to help and lifts the door up, revealing the Gas Production zone, along with everybody in it. The toys from the Game Station gathered in their own group, while the Smiling Critters on the other hand are in their own group, and they seem to be huddled around Dogday, who is clearly distressed as he sat in the concrete floor with his hands clasped on his face, whilst the other Critters, or at least the ones that could, tried their best to comfort him.
It didn't take too long for them all to notice their arrival, as one of the Critters, Picky, approached them.
"Is it true?" She asked worryingly, catching the attention of the other Critters behind her. "Catnap is still alive?"
Poppy can already feel the tension in the room, Dogday must have told them what Gabriel did. She was just about to answer herself, attempting to deescalate the situation, but Gabriel beat her to it.
"Yes." Gabriel said, his tone tired and yet blunt.
It was then Crafty's turn to ask. "You…You actually spared him?" She asked. "You saved him from the Prototype?"
"Yes."
The room suddenly fell silent at his sudden statement. An air of apprehension that was tantalizing.
That is until Hoppy screamed. "WHAT?!"
"Are you crazy?!" Crafty said.
"Do you have any idea what that means for us?!" Picky yelled.
"You mean we're not safe here?" Kickin stuttered.
"I don't know if you are with them or just stupid, but that is just wrong!" Hoppy harshly scolded.
Gabriel however said nothing, whatever insult, whatever harsh or critical word they gave him hardly mattered. He felt none of it, it all simply washed over him. He still remains in his decrepit and exhausted state, staring out into nothing as if there was nobody there. But then yet again, Gabriel tries to speak.
"…I have something to tell you all…" Again repeating his words spoken in the labyrinth they were in before, his voice ever so tired. "…I need to tell you all, before I…"
The others looked surprised, while they all have be with him briefly, they know there is something terribly wrong going on with him. They all turned to the group with him expecting some answer.
"Don't ask us." Mommy said. "He was like this the moment he woke up."
She then felt someone tug on one of her plastic legs, she looked down to see Bunzo, gazing up to her with worried eyes. "Don't worry Bunzo, dear. Gabbie is just simply tired is all."
"Is he?" Bobby questioned. "He looks worse than tired, and I wouldn't even say he is sick. He looks so..."
"D-Dead in..side." Bubba interjected, earning the attention of everyone in the room. "T-T-That isss, Wha…he l-l-looks like." He said in his usual stuttering.
They then looked back to Gabriel, still quivering and twitching. They can see how his muscles contort and flinch at the slightest movement, how his eyes glassed over as he stared out into nothingness. They even see sweat dripping from his brow, even though the air is bitterly cold. There is no denying that what is happening to him is beyond just fatigue. Even Dogday, who has now finally turned to look at him, knew that himself.
"It's the Red Smoke." Dogday said, still sitting where he is but now looking at him. "He's been overexposed to it. That's the only thing that can explain it."
Upon this realization, Kissy then wrapped her arm around the human, even tighter than Huggy, intending to keep him on his feet as much as possible. She then made a few chirps, asking Poppy whether it is even a good idea for him to even be standing now.
"I know how you feel Kissy." Poppy replied. "But we have no time here. The Prototype knows that we have beaten Catnap, and he has only a handful of allies left. Which means he'll most likely come after us, we need to get to the others as soon as possible."
"The…others?" Mommy asked, even Huggy tilted his head looking confused. "You mean, Safe Haven? I haven't heard anything about them in-"
"You two aren't coming." Poppy bluntly says.
Both Mommy and Huggy looked surprised. "What?"
"You both heard me, you two are not coming." Poppy repeated, glaring down upon them with a judgmental glare. "Did you two really think we would forget what you have done? Done to all of us? You worked for the Prototype, did everything he wanted. How can I trust you won't turn around and try to kill us all?"
"Well, I guess making promises won't help. Not even a pinky promise." Mommy answered with coy grin. "But let Mommy ask you a question. Since when does anyone have to follow you? From what Mommy remembers, you left Safe Haven a long while ago just to venture all the way up to the factory. You must have been soooo desperate for help that you would search all those employee files."
At the mention of this, Poppy immediately stiffened. Fear stricken through every part of her small, porcelain body as a dozen stares from the rest of her group look up to her.
Mommy notices this, and her smile grows wider. "Oh? So you didn't tell them, didn't you? If you haven't told anyone else you must certainly haven't told little Gabbie yet."
Dogday stood up and went closer to them. "Poppy, what is she talking about?"
"I…I…" Poppy tried to formulate words, make any sort of explanation, anything to divert the attention.
"Well? Aren't you going to tell them?" Mommy jeered. "Especially to Gabe? You know he's just as much a part of your grand plan."
Poppy didn't reply, could not answer, apprehension etched into every part of her face. Then after a long pause, she turns to the group, her expression forlorn and sad. "I'll explain. But first let us get Gabriel to the nearest TV, it is time we show him the truth."
Bobby's eyes widened. "Are you sure that is a good idea? I mean, tell him, as in now? Look at him, why can't he just have a moment to rest?"
"Bobby." Poppy replied. "Every moment we stay out here, the longer we are in danger. We have to get down to the prisons and to the Safe Haven before the Prototype finds us, and we have no better time to show him the truth other than now."
"You mean, all of us?" Kickin said nervously. "Some of us can't even walk! Going down there is suicide!"
"Kickin is right." Dogday agreed. "There are just so many more hostile Bigger Toys just down there, along with a whole army of smaller toys, and that's not even counting the traps everywhere. And worse yet is that it isn't just the Prototype we have to worry about, we all know who controls the prisons."
Poppy however isn't swayed. "We either make it to the Safe Haven, or we'll all die here." She coldly says. "There is no other option."
"Yes there is!" Dogday yelled, practically begging. "Just, give me a day. Give us a day so I can take care of my friends first. Hell, Bobby's heart isn't even in her chest! I don't even have to put them in their "True Body" selves! Just let me fix them!"
Poppy could hardly stand it anymore, she has done everything to put the right pieces in place and yet now there are so many complications that it is becoming worse by the minute. She didn't put so much on the line just for it all to come crumbling down because of a few loose ends. She has been dealt with all the cards and now she is putting them on the table. She either wins, or loses.
"Let's…Let's just discuss after the tape." She said pinching the bridge of her nose.
"But Poppy!" Dogday yelled but to no avail.
"Let's just get this over with!" Poppy yelled back.
All Dogday could do is clinch his fists and tighten his fists as he glared at the poppy doll standing just a head higher in Kissy's palm. But he knows arguing is only going to drag this ordeal on longer than it needs to be, and so with an exasperated sigh, he turns around and heads back over to Bubba, gripping the handles of the wheelchair he is strapped to.
"Fine, then at least help me move my friends." Dogday begrudgingly said.
Poppy sighs, that is one problem dealt with, for now. Now comes the second hardest part. The others then began helping the Smiling Critters in their movement, such as Bobby and Hoppy, whom the former is keeping her heart steady on PJ's back while the latter focuses on trying not to fall off, given that the only thing left of all her limbs are just nubs.
Kissy however kept hanging onto Gabriel, she knew well enough that he is on his last legs at the moment and didn't want to think how hard he would hit the ground should she let go, even now she could feel his heart pounding through his chest. She remembered back in Playcare, after he escaped Home Sweet Home, he ingested so much Red Smoke that it nearly gave him a heart attack, and that was almost a day ago. And now he faced Catnap head on, she almost can't imagine what kind of pain he is going through right now. He probably is in pain and doesn't even know it.
Soon enough they reached what will be the next leg of their journey, it was the same room they were in when Catnap attacked and separated Gabriel from the group. Even the faint smell of poppies still lingered in the air like burnt fragrance.
Poppy stared out to the scene in front of her from the vantage point on Kissy's shoulder, past the toys, both ally and "supposedly ally". She gazes somberly upon the massive metallic hatch sitting dead center in the room, to think the next circle of this hell lies just underneath it.
But knowing what comes first, she then asked Kissy to lead Gabriel somewhere to sit down, since he seems to out of it to even do it himself. To which she complies, and brings the human to the only available seat in the room, which turns out to be a plastic chair right in front of a TV in the far corner of the room.
With Gabriel along with everyone else now seated, Poppy with some help from Kissy, is brought down to a side table just right next to the TV and its VHS player.
"Gabriel." Poppy then addressed. "Listen to me, what I am about to tell you is one of the biggest secrets we have held so far…"
Yet despite her addressing him, Gabriel didn't even seem fazed to even look at her. She knew he isn't trying to be rude, but it is becoming tiresome to deal with him.
"Hey, look at me." Poppy said firmly, but softly.
It took a few moments, but his eyes then slowly lifted up to met her own. The way they are glassed over and so lifeless, it almost hurt her to see him like this, she even winced at the sight of him. But she needed to be held firm if she is able to tell him.
With a worried expression, she then continued. "You remember the letter that was given to you? The one that invited you here? Well, it was Ollie who was the one who wrote it, but it was he who managed to find you and get the letter to you. For you see, the truth is…"
She then took a deep breath, her small form shaking with nervous anticipation. "You are not the only one we have called here."
This earned the collective gasps from everyone in the entire room, yet for some reason, Gabriel doesn't seem surprised, not even moved by it.
Poppy then turned her attention to everyone else. "The reason why I left Safe Haven, all those years ago, it was because Mommy was right, I was desperate. We were running low on food, and the only food supply the Prototype gave us is…" She shuddered at the thought, couldn't even bring herself to speak it. "And we have lost so much. Far, far too many of us have died already! And me? I could do nothing but watch. But then Ollie gave me an idea, but to do it I had to do something…drastic."
Then with a sorrowful look, she then said. "I left Safe Haven, and then ventured up to upper levels of the factory, and I scoured through every office I could find, and took every employee document I could get my hands on. Names, places, addresses, families, everything, Playtime recorded them all in case someone found out about the projects, so they can deal with them better. It was the perfect way of finding help. But the Prototype found out about it, but just before he could get his hands on me, I managed to ship all the employee documents to Ollie, safe and out of the Prototype's reach."
The other toys looked at her confused, but then soon, a realization slowly began creeping onto them. Is this implying what they think this is?
She then explained further, a tear even streaking down her porcelain cheek. "But that's when the Prototype caught me, and then put me in that awful display case. That was how I ended up trapped in there for all those years. But I did what I had to do then, Ollie then did the rest of the work. He…then looked over the files I sent him, and then started…calling people over."
The whole world suddenly froze still, as all the toys except Huggy and Mommy gasped in abject shock at the implications of what the doll is saying.
"He went down the list in order, and started sending messages." Poppy continued. "Families that have been affected with loss of the employee who ever worked here. Mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, anybody who ever had a relation with an employee, Ollie would call upon them. The plan was to call upon someone who could help, they would come, end up finding me, and I will lead them on to destroy the Prototype. And some do come, but they…" She could barely bring herself to speak the next sentence. "But they never made it past Huggy."
They all then turned to Huggy, who is rubbing one of his arms abashed and ashamed. All except Dogday, who still fixed his wide eyes on Poppy. His expression completely and utterly shocked.
"How many?" He asked.
"Huh?"
"How many people did you bring here?" He asked again, his fists clinching tightly as his brow furrowed towards anger.
And then after a long pause, she replied, in a voice so small and quiet. "...…ninety seven."
Everyone audibly gasped, astonished and horrified by such a number of victims.
"My oh my!" Mommy mockingly said waving her finger. "It looks like our little princess isn't so innocent after all."
"Don't so self righteous!" Poppy bitterly scorned. "Do you have any idea of the things that you all have done to ruin us!? You both could have helped us stop the Prototype, but no, instead you sided with him and started killing hundreds of us! And that's not even counting the thousands you have already killed!!"
"But Poppy! All those lives!?" Dogday then interjected. "None of us wanted to kill all those people! We only did it because the Prototype promised us freedom! And now it is not enough that all those people died, but now their families as well!?"
"Well look around you!" Poppy yelled back. "Nobody here is innocent, not one of us! We-"
"Issac…"
Everyone suddenly turned as they surprisingly hear a name come out of Gabriel's mouth.
"Issac…my friend's father…long gone…" He breathlessly said, speaking almost to only himself.
But the others however were confused, but then it clicked.
"Oh sh*t!" Hoppy exclaims. "He knew someone! He knew someone that Poppy called here!"
"Poppy!" Dogday yelled. "How could you?!"
"I'm sorry! I couldn't have known!" Poppy threw her tiny hands up. "Besides, Ollie was the one who called him here!"
"I wouldn't be shifting blame if I were you." Mommy mocked in a sing-song tone. "You were just as complacent as he was. You are as just to blame."
It was then as soon as those words left Mommy's smiling mouth, Poppy turned and gave her a look. At first Mommy wasn't concerned, but after meeting her gaze for a few seconds, it then started to sink in. The way her eyes pierced her soul with a menacing glare.
"You think you are so innocent?" Poppy said, her voice shifting to a darker undertone. She then turned to Gabriel, her same angry expression on her face. "Gabriel, you came back for your co-workers, right?"
Gabriel's eyes aer set on her, and he simply nodded.
"Well have you ever wondered how they disappeared, why they are gone?" She said with a growing anger laced in each word. "Huggy, Mommy, Catnap, they are the reason why."
She then went back behind the TV and began shuffling for something behind it. Then to everyone's fears, she pulls out a red tape from its hiding place. "You don't know the whole truth about what happened. Catnap, Mommy, Huggy, even the Prototype, you kept on saying that you didn't want to kill them, and instead showed mercy to those…those monsters! You want to know the kind of people you've been saving, well here's your answer."
The tape was just a hair's breadth away from the tape player's receiver, just a simple shove, and all the truth will be revealed. But just before she did, her expression then changed from vengeful, to somber. "This…this is the reason why your friends are gone."
It was then, that Gabriel's attention immediately broke through his tired and broken state.
"We call it th-"
"The Hour of Joy." Gabriel finished for her.
All at once, everyone's eyes widened as for the third time in a row, they are all surprised.
And Poppy in turn, her face turning even paler than the pearly white porcelain that is her skin. "W-Wait…" Poppy stuttered astonishingly. "H-How did you…?"
She didn't anticipate however Gabriel suddenly standing from his seat, immediately walked over to her, and then plucked the red tape from her hands. Desciding to take matters into his own hands, he inserts the tape himself.
The screen then flickered to life, but only showing a black, static void. A string of white text appeared on screen, distorted by the static, showcasing the namesake of the event that took everyone away.
"THE HOUR OF JOY"
The scene then cuts to a video feed of a security footage, and it displays a familiar sight. The lobby, the very same room he first met Huggy Wuggy in. The first leg in his journey through Playtime's hell. But there is something different about it.
The Lobby, was filled with people. Regular, ordinary people. A dozen or so tourists and factory workers that are gathered and and simply conversing with one another. And standing at the center of them all, was Huggy himself, standing perfectly still in his statue position.
Everything was fine, nothing out of the ordinary.
Until Huggy's eyes moved.
Gabriel watched as Huggy lurched forward, his mouth wide and needle teeth bare, and bit down and tore the unsuspecting man in half and swallowed his torso, letting the waist and legs flop to the floor in a pool of gushing blood.
The civilians barely processed the brutality right in front of them before Huggy set his sights on a new target, lunging forward biting the head off of another man, then crushing another woman underneath his arms.
With everybody finally registering what is going on, they all began to run, fleeing down a hallway with Huggy giving chase. The footage continues with as the massacre continued off screen, as limbs, organs, and pieces of flesh were sent flying from the hallway.
The scene then cuts to the Game Station, and lo and behold, there was Mommy Long Legs, her eyes black as the void as she chased down a number of people. Grabbing a bunch in her stretching arms, pulling them up out of camera view.
Only for them to be dropped from the ceiling, their brains and intestines splattered like swatted insects.
Another cut, this time showing a hoard of smaller Huggies, Mommies, and a whole slew of Critters pouncing on top of a man as he desperately tried to escape. He watched as the man flailing his arms everywhere with the smaller toys tearing into his flesh, ripping his stomach open and devouring his insides.
Another cut, an entire troop of Delight teachers chasing down a man as he fled for his life. The man was in a hallway with five Delights behind him, but then the man was cornered as a dozen more surged in through the other side of the hall. The victim panicked, and then ran in through the closet door, the Delights giving chase. A pool of blood soon flowed out through the threshold.
Another cut, images show Kissy strapped down on some kind of metallic stretcher, bound by heavy duty leather straps. There were personal present, adjusting the straps, with Kissy barely even bothering to acknowledge them. That is until she suddenly sprung to life, knocking one away before crushing then next beside her. With two dead, she looked over her shoulder to see more running away. She gives chase.
Cut…
In a corridor, a living jack-in-a-box was on a rampage tearing through a dozen people. One unfortunate soul was caught in its grasp and Gabriel watched as it ripping her limb from limb, swallowing the rest of her mauled remains whole before continuing on with the others.
Cut…
The Bigger Body Smiling Critters were in the living room area of Home Sweet Home, their colorful fur coats doused in blood as they crushed skulls, mangle limbs, and ripping apart organs. Turning the living room into a festival of gore.
Cut…
Catnap And Dogday, standing side by side, as they treaded though the piles of bodies in the central area of Playcare. Catnap made sure each and everybody in the room is dead, even going as far as throw a twitching body so hard that he splattered on the stone steps of the Councilors Office. But Dogday, he watched as Dogday, among the most kindest people Gabriel knew, in a bout of violent madness tore into a singular corpse, ripping flesh from bone and organ from tendons.
Cut…
There is an area that looks nothing like what he has seen so far, possibly somewhere deeper below the factory, full of prison cells. He watched as what can only be described as a giant, colorful, berserk blob of clay rampage its way through. It's many arms all over its salamander shaped body grabbing as many victims it can before shoving them all into its gaping maw full of teeth and even more smaller arms.
Cut…
Another unfamiliar place, this time a what looks like a literal prison yard complete with barbed wire fences and watch towers. There are other Bigger Body toys there that appeared a lot like the Smiling Critters, except strangely different, more angrier design. They laughed hysterically as they tortured to death any victim they had gathered. A black crow sharpening his claws as a gaged person panicked while strapped to the wall, a literal dragon burning someone to a blackened charcoal, a white bat tearing another's ears off, and a rat busying devouring another's insides.
Cut…
A massive water treatment plant, pools large enough to be Olympic sized. The same strange critters from before, But now an alligator and a shark viciously pulling both ends of a person apart in a violent death roll inside one of the circular pools, while a yellow and black frog vomited a sickly purple substance down someone's throat which then melted the poor victim from the inside out.
Cut…
A room full of wired cages and littered with bloodied corpses, chopped to pieces. And standing in the midst of the carnage, is a slender form of a black sheep, her fuzzy black fur stained red with blood with a knife in hand. One of the bodies began to squirm and tried to crawl away, prompting the sheep-like creature to look over their shoulder at him, her sadistic smile growing ever wider as her eyes pierced the dark.
Cut…
A lion-like creature covered in layers of large bonds of yarn in all the colors of the rainbow tore through a storage facility, ripping everybody apart in unconditioned brutality. It's head splitting down the middle, opening a cavernous maw full giant teeth as it clawed on a man's torso and then bitten his head off.
Cut…
A massive, red dinosaur stomping people into red puddles.
Cut…
A large feline creature, mixed between a cat and an insect, stinging a man to death.
Cut…
Another cat-like creature, blue in color, as their long tongue lapped up a trio of workers and engorging itself.
Cut…
A green, robotic creature, slicing a lab technician in half from top to bottom with a circular saw.
Cut…
Another dinosaur with piano keys for teeth, bashing its head against another man's skull, caving it in.
Cut…
PJ swallowing a woman whole.
Cut…
Bunzo crushing a man's head between his cymbals.
Cut…
There was no one stopping them. Nothing can stop them.
Cut…
And so they ate.
Cut…
And ate.
Cut…
And ate.
Cut…
And ate…
...
Then finally, it was over. The camera feeds showing every part of the factory, no sign of life, no man or woman left alive. The factory, the Game Station, Playcare, the prisons, everywhere to be seen there were nothing but bodies. Hundreds of bodies, a thousand corpses. Strewn everywhere in a cacophony of blood and gore.
The tape then makes one final cut to black, ending the reel.
...
A certain palpitation filled the room with bloodcurdling silence, everyone holding their breaths waiting for whatever response was from the last human that survived what would have been his final hour.
Because what startled them the most was not the fact that he somehow knew of the Hour of Joy, but because he is aware that the very people that caused such a massacre on such a high caliber are standing just a few feet behind him. He knew who his friend's murderers are, and he is with them, and yet has not done anything to protect himself.
But then the silence was broken.
"It went on for so long." Gabriel groaned. "So agonizingly long. They were all screaming, terrified, confused. They had no idea what was happening. And then you killed them all."
Poppy felt all the blood in her veins run cold as those words set in, Gabriel didn't just know about the Hour of Joy, he experienced it.
"H-How…" She stuttered. "You weren't…but you weren't there. You couldn't be. And that was the only tape! How did you know? How longdid you know?"
Gabriel was silent for a moment, before saying. "Awhile."
Even Mommy was dreadfully surprised. "But how did you know? You weren't there,…were you?"
Gabriel bluntly replies. "No. I was shown it. He showed me."
"Who?" Dogday asks.
Gabriel gazed at Dogday, his eyes furrowing a menacing look, even though it wasn't directed for him.
"Who do you think?"
It took only a few seconds for them all to realize just who he is talking about.
"I was in the Councilors Office and got knocked out by the Red Smoke, the Prototype was there and somehow, and I really don't want to know how, but he went inside my head and started messing around inside and you know what he did?" He said, the corners of his mouth twitching to a strange, subtle grin. "He made me experience and reenact the Hour of Joy for each and every second of it."
He then turned to Dogday, and the way the human's gaze set upon the orange canine he couldn't help but flinch, for even he felt that there is something stirring beneath that odd look.
"So in a way you are actually right, Dogday." He said as he stepped closer to him till he is almost face to face with him. "I wasn't there for all the sh*t you and the others went through but yet you're also wrong too, because I was just lucky enough to not only know but experience everything that you, all, have, done." He ended emphasizing the last few words with a subtly aggressive tone.
Dogday reeled back some steps away, for some reason and almost certainly knows it but he can see that this once resolute human he has known in the short time knowing him starting to buckle under the weight of everything that has happened. All of it and he's still trying his best to hide it under a painfully strained smile. And the way called back to that moment in the hallway it made him feel, guilty for it.
He felt like such a hypocrite.
"Gabriel…" Dogday nearly whimpered. "I-I'm…I'm sorry."
"YOU'RE NOT SORRY!!!" Gabriel screamed out, making everybody jolt back in fear. Even Huggy and Mommy, two of the strongest in this room were freaked out by Gabriel's sudden scream. But even they can see, there is something painful cracking through.
"No no no." Gabriel replied, this time, though not screaming, he continues with a shaky and demented tone. "No, no. What I mean is that, you don't have to be sorry I understand it all! You see I always wondered why bad things always just keep on happening and I always, always wondered why, but now, I finally see why. All this? Was really my fault to begin with. Everything that has happened, I deserved it."
"Gabriel, you're scaring me." Poppy said with a tremble. "What do you mean you deserve it?"
"Oh OH right! I didn't tell you all. Didn't get to tell you all, but I am really nothing more than a piece of dirt." He said with fervor that it didn't sound like some self inflicted insult, but as a self proclaimed fact. It is almost he doesn't care anymore, and it scared them.
He then continued, bringing himself closer to Poppy, till he is practically leering over with bloodshot eyes. "You see the reason why I left this factory, is because I knew. All I did was take a little detour to the cafeteria and I ended up seeing something that I shouldn't have and would you like to know what that is?"
Poppy and the others listened intently with strained breath in their throats. "It was Catnap. I saw those white-coated, rat bastards strapped the poor guy down to the floor with arms and legs chained and spread apart, and I watched them as they were beating him senseless. I watched as they somehow made a toy bleed. And what did I do next? I ran away. I ran out of that factory with my tail between my legs so fast I didn't even know I was quitting. And just when I regained my bearings wondering what the hell I just saw, everyone that I knew here disappeared."
He continued, his eyes glossed over unfocused as he started wandering and pacing in between the living toys. "I always wondered what could have been the cause, but yet deep down I felt it within my gut that it was all somehow what ever it was that they were doing. But I didn't go back, because I was just simply too scared. I could have known and figured out what happened and yet I didn't, all I ever really was is nothing more but a coward."
On and on he ranted, now pulling his hair in bundle fulls in his grip, his bloodshot eyes burning under accumulating tears, his voice trembling between hoarse breaths and pained hisses behind his ever widening grin.
"And that, that is the reason why all these bad things keep happening! I was just simply a little coward that couldn't get anything right. My parents saw that and they knew I was a lost cause, that must be why they left me to rot alone. I was just so useless. But they couldn't have just taken Derek and Sophia with them, they are much better kids than me. Oh but poor Derek, he was so shocked when mom and dad left, he didn't know what to do with himself, whatever faith he had was just gone! I knew I should have done better when he turned to alcohol and pills, but I was too weak. Too worthless. Even Sophia, my own sister had enough and dumped it all out."
By now tears are streaming down his cheeks, his face red as he breathlessly ranted to borderline yelling. "He got so angry! I didn't know what to do! I thought it was someone else attacking so I picked up a gun. By the time I found them he already stabbed her so many times! I-I can't get look in his eyes out of my head! He hated her! He hated me! I—I don't remember how angry I was, before I realized it Derek is already dead on the floor."
He then clutched the sides of his head, his nails digging into the flesh on his skull, He then began pulling them down, slowly, agonizingly, trickles of blood seeping through the trail of nail marks. And then with a hushed whisper, he confesses saying. "It's so quiet. There used to be so much noise in the house, so much talking, so much yelling. Now there is no one to talk to, no one to see me. The silence was so loud it is the only noise I know of. I spent so many nights crying, because the only family I have now is in a picture frame next to the very gun that took my brother's life. Sometimes I wondered, what if I just gave up? All it will take is to pull the trigger and it will be over. But I couldn't, because I know it is a sin in of itself, and it will drag me to hell for it. So what is the point? No one will be there for my funeral, no one will miss me because there is no one else left for me. I, am a stranger in a world that hates me."
Everybody couldn't do anything except listen with shocked and worried written on their faces. They had never been a human act like this before, never seen another person reduce themselves to such a state. Perhaps they saw Mommy succumb to her maniacal anger, but this wasn't anger, it was despair, and acceptance. He is accepting the fact that his life isn't worth anything.
And Poppy, despite seeing everything that he has survived and accomplished so far, she never thought that he was harboring such feelings inside him. She kept wondering why he was going through such great lengths in order to keep everybody alive, even his enemies, but now, it is starting to make sense. Back when the scientists were experimenting on her, she ended up seeing herself as something other than alive, a thing. It was one thing for her to feel that way herself, but to see it from someone else, to see him inflict that same pain on himself, it hurt her. He's human and they are toys, how could he think like that of himself and not the others? She felt hurt for him.
But for the others, they were sharing different feelings.
"You…" Mommy muttered. "You knew…" Her tone beginning to shift quickly to that of anger. "This whole time, YOU KNEW!?"
"Uh, didn't you hear that he said he had no idea what was happening, literally just after that?" Picky said in his defense.
"But he lied!" Mommy yelled. "He said he could have known, he could have known what they did to us!"
"And what could he have done?" Poppy interjected. "That was ten years ago, he was just a kid then!"
"So were we!" Mommy shrieked. "What excuse does he have?!"
"Marie." Dogday said using her real name, his voice serious and strong as steel as Mommy glared daggers from her eyes. "What excuse? Gabriel was just one guy, one out of an entire company full of bloodthirsty people who did this to us. What was he supposed to do? You've seen yourself what the executives do to whistleblowers."
Marie however wasn't having it. "Will all of you shut up!"
"Okay now you're just full of sh*t!" Hoppy yelled furiously, to which a second later, Bunzo then smacked her upside her head with one of his cymbals. "OW! What the hell is your problem?!"
Bunzo then hissed at her.
"So what if I can't talk to Mommy that way? She's full of it!" Hoppy yelled back, earning her another slap followed with more yelling between the two.
Mommy then continued. "Can't you all see it!? That human lied to us! He is just playing us like some sick game!"
Dogday then interrupts. "Games? Oh now that's rich coming from you!"
In response to this, Huggy immediately shoves Dogday away and throws him to the floor. Kissy watching this unfold then went and tackled Huggy, pinning him to the ground as they both went into a shrieking contest at each other's faces. Their fang-like teeth bared and ready to tear each other apart.
Dogday tried to break the two giants up before something messy happens, that is until he felt a sharp pain on his side. He looked, and saw Mommy holding a tuff of his orange fur, with a cheeky grin plastered on her face.
"Don't do that again." Dogday growled, his white irises shining brightly like an intense fire.
"Or what?" Mommy replied arrogantly. "You're going to hit me? Keep defending that human of yours?"
"Don't. Test. Me."
"My, you are so dull! Maybe it is just your brain lacking some necessary blood, you must certainly have lost some while you were playing hangman with Catnap."
At once Dogday roared and lunged at Mommy, claws unsheathed and fangs bare. They both tumbled across the floor till reaching a wall, with Mommy being able to pin him against it thanks to her dexterous flexibility.
"Now now, little puppy!" Mommy said, her pupils expanding to match her feral thoughts. "No one plays rough with Mommy, it looks like I must punish you!" She said stroking his cheek.
But as she did however, she brought her fingers a little too close to Dogday's muzzle, to which he reacts and bites down on one of them. Mommy screamed as she glared at him angrily, tossing him away like a rag doll.
Meanwhile the other toys, PJ, Daisy, and the small group of smaller toys from the Game Station, are starting to get riled up from all the commotion, the conflict beginning to escalate as they began wondering what to do. But seeing as Bunzo is yelling at Hoppy, Dogday attacking Mommy, and Huggy and Kissy in a wrestling match, they figured that it is the Smiling Critters that they should be up against.
But as they got closer to the two weakest ones, Bobby and Crafty who clung to each other scared for their lives, Kickin ended up pitting himself in front of them, his wing-like fists raised and ready to fight. But despite putting up some display of bravado, there are terrified tears in his eyes as his skinny frame was shaking up a storm.
"D-Don't, c-come, n-n-near them!" He stuttered nervously as PJ looked at the chicken with predatory intent. This prompted Picky and even Bubba to put themselves in between them.
There is so much happening all at once that all Poppy can do is stand witness to it all, the fight unfurling without any rhyme or reason, just a maelstrom of pure unadulterated emotion. She sat there, whimpering, crying. This isn't what she wanted, she knew accepting Huggy and Mommy into the group was a bad idea, and now it is all falling apart. They are so close to beginning the next leg of their mission and they are destroying it right in front of her. She felt helpless, weak. Just like how Gabriel felt.
Wait a minute…
As Poppy then began looking around, she noticed something wrong. Something missing.
"Guys! Everybody!" Poppy screamed.
"WHAT?!?!" They all scream simultaneously, now earning their attention.
But what she said next made their stomachs drop.
"Where's Gabriel?"
<<<<<<<<<<~>>>>>>>>>>
It was too loud, too loud. Th screaming and yelling, the fighting, it was all too much for his mind to handle. He didn't know what to do. And so he ran away.
It felt ironic, just as he did before he has done again, run away like a coward. Shame crept within the aching regions of his weary heart, but it has become so numb that he would have mistaken it for nothing but melancholic nihilism.
Why can't he feel anything anymore? What are these dark thoughts that keep plaguing his mind? Is this what it means to go insane? To lose one's sense of identity and belonging to then drown in an endless sea of despair?
It makes sense, painfully logical sense. His family is figuratively and literally dead, including all his friends, even the friends he isn't that close to are also dead, just like Issac.
And there is no mistaking that very people that he would call friends now hate him, after everything he just revealed he wouldn't doubt them so. Who would want someone who is as worthless as him? Someone who can't even keep himself sane and his own paths straight and just. He is just like any hypocrite now, a man pretending to be somebody who is strong enough, but is not.
He doesn't know how long he has been running, nor does he care where. His direction was as aimless as his senses as they dulled to an indiscernible blur. And so he kept on running, and running and running.
Until finally, his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground in a miserable pile. Every fiber of his being on fire.
He then takes in his surroundings, he is back in the depot from whence he came. He didn't get a good look since he was dragged out by the others. The yellow tile walls and florescent light fixtures in the ceiling emanated an eerie atmosphere. The halls stretching as far as he could see, in many directions that must connect with many parts of the factory. And not only that the height and width is massive, open enough to fit a truck inside, must be for shipping any large cargo.
And as always the many corpses of yet even more toys littered around, there's seemingly no end to the amount of living toys these mad scientists have created.
Gabriel didn't know where exactly he was within the depot, but it is certain that where ever he is, he is far away from Playcare, and from the others. Was this a bad idea, of course it is, but at the moment he doesn't care. He may have grown to loathe the silence of his house, but the quietness was a comforting familiarity that he would give anything for.
And so he sat there, in between a junction of three corridors, the one up ahead has the light out, leaving the hall in front of him pitch black. He gazed into that darkness as if it were the very void itself, his eyes drooped as he was hypnotized by the blackness encroaching his vision. How he would want nothing more than to bask and sleep in the cold embrace of nothingness, to see no evil, to hear no evil, to feel no evil.
Serenity in its loneliest perfection.
That is he sees some movement within the void he had been staring at, a form begins to emerge from it. Standing straight up, mentally commanding his legs to respond he readies himself to run, prepared for what ever may come through.
The movement then congeals into a form, and the form gave way to color as it reveals itself into the light. It was a miniature Huggy Wuggy, limping along holding their side, blood spilling out from it whilst staining their blue fur. The small toy then ends up noticing him, their beady glass eyes staring at him with anguish within them. And just as quickly as they had appeared, the toy then dropped to the floor, the spark of life leaving their eyes.
Gabriel walks over, curiosity running through his nerves. He picks the toy up gingerly, and peers into those black eyes, now cold and dead. It was at last that his emotions and feelings returned to his numbed heart, feelings of guilt, sadness, anger, and a thirst for revenge. He is reminded of what this place is, and what atrocities they had done. He lets out a tear, as it then falls onto the toy's lifeless body.
He did not expect however there to be a second visitor in these forsaken halls. For out of the darkness for which Gabriel is kneeling in front of, a hand reaches out, as if the shadows itself is made manifest. Made of black metal, bones etched into its frame, and electrical wires and clear plastic tubes carrying blood to the thin, needle-like fingers that look sharp enough to pierce through all flesh.
The hand then lowers itself onto the dead toy, and with a strange elegance picks it up from Gabriel's grasp. Gabriel's eyes trailed upward, and in the void in front of him, two white irises are seen, piercing the dark. Just then another hand appears, gripping the wall, or at least what is in the shape of one. For this hand, made with flesh, is a massive and bulky arm, with wires and metal jutting out from underneath the colorfully patterned cloth that it uses for skin, the dozens of fingers of said arm are actually an assortment of tools that are made for either crafting or surgery, such as drills or scalpels.
The lights within the hallway suddenly flickered on, as if by some thematic effect, revealing the rest of its form. Towering over Gabriel by twenty five feet, its hulking body made in the shape of some skeleton, the chest as if some giant ribcage made of black, polished metal with flayed pieces of flesh and parts of human skeletons stitched onto its frame. Inside are gears twisting and turning, organs pulsating, muscles convulsing, and clear plastic tubes pumping gallons worth of blood. The six legs of this thing is a mixture of crab and spider, made with heavy duty steel, and ending in thick pile spikes that crack the concrete, etched in yet more flayed skin and sewn onto human bones that are long since decayed.
And in the center of this thing's chest though, is what caught Gabriel's attention the most. Inside it, is a massive cluster of hundreds of hearts, all of them linked together in a misshapen mass like that of a vine full of grapes, each of them pulsing as if each hold a life of its own.
And above it all, in where a head should be on the abomination, is what looks like the head and torso of a human being connected to the rest of the body from the waist. But looking at it more intently, despite being in the shape and form of one, this thing that is mounted on, is not human at all. The face of this creature, it was so uncannily human, with its mouth perpetually open revealing rows upon rows of mismatched teeth, the black eyes with white irises piercing his soul, and patches of long, dark hair on top of its head.
It still looked half decayed, yet despite its face sunken and missing a nose, its skin looked smooth like rubber, colored in an unnatural tar black that has never been touched by sunlight. And locked into the back of its head and running along the spinal of this hanging corpse are bundles of wires and tubes, bringing life and independent movement that looked borderline supernatural.
And placed on this creature's back is a gruesome sight. Appearing as a cloak, thick and dark of some kind, but yet instead of flayed skin or mechanical wiring this cloak is made entirely of the bodies and corpses of smaller toys. Huggy's, Mommy's, even Critters, a massive cloak made of the dead victims of the factory that is so long that it trailed behind it on the floor. A colorful cacophony of polyester fabrics that has been stained black with dried blood.
The abomination leers down on him, their eyes locked onto each other.
"Hello, Gabriel." The Prototype said. "I told you I will find you."