TALES FROM THE ARK [CORRUPTION OF THE CALAMITY TRIO S4 CHARACTER STORIES]

Story 1 Daddy's little monsters

[This is set before chapter 1 The abduction]

In the dimly lit Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, the air grows heavier with tension. Scrap Baby, with her patchwork body of jagged metal and her mechanical claws twitching, moves desperately through the corridors, the echoes of Cassette Man's final words ringing in the air. The building creaks and groans as systems begin to shut down one by one, the sound of doors slamming into lockdown filling the restaurant.

She races past the crumbling animatronics, the flickering neon lights reflecting off her metallic face. "Daddy..." she murmurs, her voice trembling with fear and frustration. She tears through the restaurant's maze-like hallways, eyes scanning frantically for any sign of him. But the place is empty, eerily silent except for the distant sounds of the fire beginning to roar.

The walls seem to close in on her as flames start to lick the edges of the rooms. Sparks fly as the inferno swallows everything in its path. Scrap Baby's circuits scream with panic, her claws dragging against the metal walls, leaving deep, desperate scratches.

"No... no... Daddy! Where are you?!" she screams, her voice a haunting echo that no one answers.

The fire is relentless, surrounding her on all sides. It climbs the walls, consuming every bit of life and metal alike. Scrap Baby tries to push through, her metal joints groaning under the strain, but the flames are too strong, too close. The heat sears her outer shell, and she can feel the burning sensation begin to warp her parts.

Her eyes, filled with a mix of anger and terror, dart around as the fire surrounds her entirely, leaving no escape. Her creator, the one she longs to find, is nowhere. No comforting voice, no guiding hand. Just the consuming flames.

In a final desperate moment, Scrap Baby looks up, as if hoping beyond hope that her father is watching, that he's proud of what she's become. But there's only silence. The fire, hungry and all-encompassing, closes in, until all that's left is the sound of crackling flames.

And then, nothing. The story ends, just as Cassette Man foretold.

Elizabeth jolted upright in her bed, her chest rising and falling rapidly as if she could still feel the heat of the flames licking at her metallic skin. Her eyes, glowing faintly in the dim light of the room, darted around in confusion, scanning every shadow, every corner for signs of danger. Her heart, though no longer human, felt as if it were still pounding against her ribcage, as if the remnants of her old life still clung to her mind.

She slowly unclenched her hands, her sharp, slender animatronic fingers leaving tiny imprints on the bed's reinforced material. This bed, customized specifically to withstand the weight and intricacies of her new form, had become her refuge. It was cold, rigid, and far from the softness of the bed she used to know as a child. But it was all she had now. Slowly, she sat on the edge of it, her mechanical joints creaking softly in the silence of the room

"It was just a nightmare," she whispered to herself, though the words tasted hollow, even in her own mind. Her synthetic voice, though perfectly crafted, couldn't hide the trace of fear laced within it. She pressed her metallic palms to her face, trying to block out the fading images of the fire, the lockdown, and the voices-the haunting voice of Cassette Man still echoing in her circuits. The flames had felt so real, so consuming, and the hopelessness of being unable to find her father, of being trapped in that inferno, weighed heavily on her.

But it wasn't just a nightmare, was it? Elizabeth knew that it was more than that. It was a memory-a reflection of what had almost been her end. The fire had been real, the burning of the pizza place, the entrapment in a maze with no exit. But she had survived, somehow. She always did. The lingering fear, though, that her father, the man she had sought for so long, would never be proud of her-would never truly find her-still gnawed at her, day and night.
She lifted her head, staring at the small, cracked mirror across the room. The reflection that stared back was a grotesque amalgamation of who she had once been: a young girl, bright and full of life, now reduced to a cold, slender animatronic shell. Her once vibrant, human features were masked behind layers of rusted metal, wires, and sharp, unnatural parts. A twisted smile, permanently etched into her faceplate, only deepened the sense of isolation she felt.