The gates | Henry Emily x William Afton |

The light

"Hello?... Hello?" A voice echoed through the void. I turned around immediately. I instantly recognised the red jacket and tie, the white shirt, the grey gloves... the wings, blank eyes and blood were new, but there was no mistaking him, that was Henry Emily, in the flesh. I was shocked and... honestly terrified. It felt like only 10 minutes ago this man burnt me alive and now I was stuck in an endless void with him.
He turned around, his blank, unseeing eyes lacking any emotion.
"Hey there.." I said as I slowly inched away from him.
"William!" He exclaimed, his voice with an unsettling echo, "how have you been?"
I didn't answer. This had to be a trick. No one would ever even think to be this friendly to someone like me.
"What's wrong? Don't want to speak to your old friend?" Those words started to ring in my head once again.
'Old friend'
"WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT EMILY?!?" I yelled in anger, but it came out all glitchy and distorted, like an audio tape of morse code was smashed up and then glued back together. Not English. Morse code. I couldn't even speak like a regular human anymore. I had been a mechanical monster for so long I forgot how normal people communicate.
"Oh..." Henry replied in a sad tone. He didn't continue with any questions.
A few minutes had gone by and Henry must have thought he should strike up another conversation. But this one was more serious.
"What did you see after you lost consciousness, William?"
I didn't reply. He obviously forgot I couldn't talk.
"I saw my daughter, Charlotte... she was smiling and waving at me. 'I'll be waiting for you' she said. 'Don't be too long!'"
I waited. I then took a shaky, distorted breath.
"I saw Michael." This time, despite the words still being distorted and glitchy, they sounded more like words than morse code. "It was only his silhouette, but I could tell it was him."
I paused. Then I continued.
"He told me that I could have prevented the things that happened to this family. That if I had been a bit more careful, we could've died and went to whatever hypothetical afterlife there is like normal people."
Tears started streaming down my face.
"You shouldn't blame yourself" Henry said. But his voice was different. When he had first spoke, his voice was intimidating, but this time, it sounded warm, kind, reassuring. He sounded like he did when they were still best friends. I missed when me and him were best friends. No I told myself. Me and Henry weren't friends anymore, period. Then I realised that Henry was suddenly sitting right next to me.
"How did you get there?" I asked.
"Walked" he answered, "you looked so sad, I thought you would've liked the company" he continued. "I can move if you want-"
"No!" I said suddenly (and maybe a bit to loudly) "I'm happy with the company" I stuttered out. He inched a bit closer to me. I thought for a second. I didn't know what I was thinking next, but I rested my head on his shoulder. I expected him to push me away and scream at me, asking what was wrong with me. But instead, he just sighed. He paused for a moment.
"Will... I always loved you. You know that right?"
I didn't answer. I didn't know how to answer. I did sometimes feel like me and Henry were a bit closer than friends back when we ran both Freddy's and Fredbear's, but I hadn't really thought Henry had ever felt anything similar.
"And I still love you now... even after everything you've done."
I couldn't just let him feel like he was talking to himself.
"I love you too" I replied.