Deceptive

The Final Monster

Mere moments ago, Foxy was passing through one of the facility's many hallways in vaguely comfortable silence with Elizabeth trailing one or two feet behind him.

Then, very abruptly, that all changed.

Somebody stuttered out Foxy's name in alarm.

Somebody else grabbed his arm and pulled him forward.

Before Foxy knew it, four people stood between him and Elizabeth, all of them raising a weapon up in preparation to strike.

Charlie's voice cut through the otherwise dead quiet sounding almost strained. "Foxy, you gotta keep a better eye out. She was right behind you."

Elizabeth's one-eyed gaze briefly swept across the four blunt instruments aimed at her before she slowly raised her hands up in surrender, her expression making her seem completely unthreatened and almost bored.

"No, no, guys!" Foxy squeezed his way past the blockade that Michael, Freddy, Ballora, and Charlie had formed, standing next to Elizabeth once more. "It's okay, she's on our side now."

All but Freddy raised an eyebrow at that, continuing to look at the animatronic with mistrust and suspicion. "C-cool!" he whisper-shouted.

"Not so fast," Michael said, clearly still out of it. "I... Wait, I thought she was... y'know, all taken care of."

"Me too," Charlie muttered from beside him.

Deciding that that question was not the most important one to dwell on at the moment, Ballora decided to bring something else up. "Foxy, what makes you think you can trust her? What makes you sure that she's not just trying to trick you again?" Her voice was much less harsh than Charlie and Michael's.

"She saved my life just a little bit ago." Foxy's eyes flitted over Elizabeth, who appeared to be very uncomfortable with being spoken about as if she wasn't standing there and was trying not to show it. He then added, "She realized that she wasn't aligning herself with the right person, and would rather give us a hand now."

"Yes..." Elizabeth started awkwardly, "I am sorry for what I've done. I am sorry for impersonating your friend and for aiding Father in his plans. Charlotte, I am... sorry for stabbing you in the shoulder. With this knife." She brandished the weapon for emphasis.

Charlie briefly looked down at the weapon before making eye contact again. She seemed slightly less suspicious of Elizabeth, but only slightly.

"Alright... I guess if we're apologizing, then I should say sorry for slashing you across the face..." she slowly pushed the redhead's arm down so that that blade wasn't so close to her face, "...with that knife. Sorry. It was a knee-jerk reaction."

Elizabeth waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine. Only a simple scratch. I've experienced far worse throughout my existence. Plus, I deserved it anyway."

"I'm still not buying any of this," Michael said. "This... this copy of my sister is probably gonna slit our throats when our backs are turned. Then she'll run back to Dad... She's not remorseful. She's happy with what she is."

That clearly hit a sore spot. Elizabeth's voice became so stiff that it somehow made her sound more robotic.

"Happy? Forgive me if this is just because of my inexperience with the emotion, but I do not believe that I am. Trust me, if I had the choice not to be built as a replacement for somebody else, I would take it, because the shoes are impossible to fill as perfectly as expected from me and my failure drives me mad.

"And for your information, I can't run back to Father because he is dead. Again. How do I know that? Because I stood by and watched as he was killed. I understand why you are apprehensive to trust me, but I urge you to let me help."