The Springtrap Saga Book Four: Darkness in the Stars

Chapter Twelve

All motion evaporates from Springtrap's body for a moment. Horror throws a frozen haze across his mind. The metal tracing his jaws slackens into a gape that radiates disbelief.

     Then, rage explodes across his soul. Before he can suppress it, an inhuman screech shredded into a rasp rips itself from his voice box. His feet hammer against the round, sending vibrations pouring up the sandstone walls. Once again, he's briefly aware of a veil of resistance pushing against him as he crosses the threshold into the room. His fist rockets forward, and the air streams against his arm as it cuts through the world. His knuckles collide with the imposter's jaw, sending his head into a sideways lurch. A dull, metallic bang resounds from where Springtrap's hand slammed into the fabric-coated steel lining his foe's face.

     His thoughts are seared into a nearly-incoherent torrent of pure, burning hatred. He's never hated anyone, other than himself. But he's finally, after decades, found someone he hates more than himself. Again, the strange, foreign urge to carve violence across another person's body fizzes through his trembling fists. A ghastly ringing boils from his hearing receptors, nearly smothering the sounds unfurling from the outside world.

    Memories rake across his mind. The dust-choked darkness of the shed as sobs seeped past the rope lodged in his mouth. The desperate calls for help that ripped themselves from Summer's tearful voice. The glint of the knife as it sailed through the air, ready to embed itself in her throat.

     His voice spills into a shout that pummels the entire room with its might. "YOU TRIED TO KILL MY DAUGHTER!!!"

     The words fail to penetrate Afton's composure. His eyelids dip over his stare, crafting an image of snide boredom. Dry amusement quirks his mouth into a robotic smirk. A scoff scrapes past his voice box. "Oh, please. She's not even related to you."

     "That doesn't matter!" Poisoned energy rushes through him, nearly muddling his balance. He's not used to having so much anger ravage his heart. "I love her like she's my own child!! And you tried to take her from me! You're a parent, aren't you?! Summer told me your lore! You had children, you did!! I was denied a family my whole life!!! You had one, and you threw it away! How could you, as a parent, put other families through the pain of losing their kids?!"

     "I don't know, Springtrap." Afton's voice lilts into a placid taunt. Vindictive satisfaction ignites a gleam in his eyes. "How could you? You forget, I'm not the only one who took innocent lives."

     "I'm not justifying my actions! I was sad and lonely and confused, and I made a horrible, horrible mistake, and I will never forgive myself! But what's your reason?"

     "What's yours?"

     "You know what?! My personal life isn't any of your business!"

     "You asked first."

     "I hate you!!!"

     "Enough of this!!" An inhuman voice, riddled with a faint rasp, slices through the flames of their argument. Their gazes swivel toward one of the aliens, its body wound in a loop of regal coils. A glow of authority simmers in its beady stare. "We did not bring you here to fight. We have something much more intriguing in mind: we will bring the children in here to see whether or not they can distinguish the difference between you two."

     Vexation pushes Afton's brow into a furrow. His face hardens into a scowl, and his arms fold into a belittling crossed position. "Haven't we already done this?"

     As soon as the words slither into Springtrap's hearing receptors, the world sharpens into focus. Afton's demand, thrown out so flippantly, dredges a memory up from the anguished murk of his thoughts. Before Afton was apprehended by the police, he said a group of scientists planted him in Springtrap's dimension. Could these be the scientists...?