Cycles [A Charlie & Elizabeth AU]

Chapter 12- Repairing Old Mistakes

  There was an excruciatingly loud ringing in her ears, followed by a throbbing pain behind her eyes. Charlie Emily would have rubbed her eyes clear of the black clouds fogging her vision, if she could move them. Instead she found only resistance, something blocking her movement.

What?

Upon closer inspection, she found that the rest of her was incapable of moving at all, save for her head. Where was she? Unwanted bile rose to her throat as her heartbeat quickened its pace.

She was trapped in some sort of contraption, or device, with only two eye-shaped windows allowing her to see through. Then something clicked in her foggy mind.

She was trapped inside of an old animatronic suit.

Of course, she'd worked with plenty before— but this model wasn't quite familiar, it had to have been ancient- or at least built the old-fashioned way— of course, she had never been inside one.

And if she could fit inside one it meant that the suit was built to house someone inside it which—

It could only mean one thing;

This was a springlocked mechanism suit.

As if on cue, a small giggle echoed from across the dark room. Charlie flinched, and heard a few clicks resound, as if warning her.

"Careful, we're not quite ready yet." The voice said and began to hum a small tune with ease. A part of Charlie recognized the voice, but her latest memories were very fuzzy; she couldn't remember much.

Then there was a click, followed by a low static noise and another bright light filling the dim room. Charlie winced.

"Alright! Here we are," The stranger said, and clapped her hands together childishly. It was if she was talking to an audience.

Charlie squinted her eyes, trying to focus on what was in front of her. She could faintly make out a mess of newspapers thrown about, books lying around haphazardly, a desk covered by all sorts of buttons and devices, and perhaps most disturbingly, a stack of old TVs showcasing static, except...

There was something in the static. A silhouette of a person.

It was then that fear struck her like a brick. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a quiet rasp. The stranger turned her attention back to her.

"I suppose I could explain a few things to pass the time while we wait for Mr. Afton." She giggled, and moved closer to look Charlie dead in the eyes. Charlie moved back in repsonse, followed by a series of loud clicks.

"Careful!" She warned, smiling, "Hmm... where should I start..."

She put a finger to her chin as if in deep thought.

"You're well aware of the 1987 incident, I'm sure..."

No reply.

"I'll take your silence as a yes. But what you don't know was the purpose behind it. When someone dies in a tragic, or untimely way, sometimes the remains leave behind remnant, something like a soul. Presumably, it's a life force of sorts. But it can only be attained by... well... unfriendly means..."

The lady smiled, pleased with herself.

"Of course, all of this was found out by your father, and of course, the genius Mr. Afton."

Why does she keep bringing him up?

"So he ran a little experiment. See what would happen if you infused animal remnant with a robot. It didn't quite work, no autonomy. So he tried with human remnant. However, for some strange reason, adults don't usually expel remnant. But younger humans do. And they're easily accessible, if you own a kid's pizzeria chain."

Charlie barely suppressed the urge to vomit.

"It was a success. The animatronics had full autonomy. Exactly what he had hoped for. In a sense, he had found a way to become immortal. To live on after death."

"..."

"Of course, some things got in the way... but now I'm here to fix that. Put things back on track. And I need you. You're special, Charlotte Emily."

"..."

"Mr. A had always suspected this of you, but now we know for sure. You have a gift, a world-breaking gift, and with that, a strong soul. With you, and with all the scraps of past remnant I've managed to collect, we can bring him back. For good."

"What...?"

"I'm bringing Mr Afton back to life, of course! Here, why don't you say hi?"

The stranger walked over to a tv monitor and turned it so it faced Charlie.

"See, it's Mr. Afton! Long time no see for you, Eh?"

The figure, now more clear, looked oddly more familiar, but remained a silhouette. Garbled static noise echoed throughout the room, like if the figure was speaking, and the lady responded to it with hums and nods.

He was... inside the tv?

"Yes. We should be ready now. Once the spring locks go loose with her trapped inside, I'll grab the remnant and then we can move on to the next stage."

No. I can't—

Charlie's heartbeat felt like it sped up to a million beats a second, and she could hear it in her ears. She tried to thrash about but such a feat was in vain. She could hear more clicks, more spring locks loosening.

Ignoring her, the stranger continued. "No I didn't think of that. I'll go scope it out right away, sir." She turned to leave but looked at Charlie one last time. "You're doing great! Each second you move, breathe, or have your heart beat the spring locks keep loosening, and soon they'll just go pop!"

And with that, she left the room, leaving Charlie alone with her thoughts, a death device, and a static... ghost-abomination.

And more locks loosened.

She could hear it, and now she could feel it.

Each lock moving caused her heart to beat faster, which caused more locks to move and oh god this was the end. She was going to die here. She was going to die here alone and afraid. It was so early, she was so young!

But she had accomplished some things, right? She thought back to the two little newspapers hung in glass at home. Aunt Jen, she must be worried sick. Sparky, her first project. The ghosts, she had failed them. Lizzie-

"Charlie!"