February 23 2023
Dysis stopped typing. She was breathless with excitement. Never in all her life had she been party to something so intensely weird and cool.
She hadn't really been looking for an ARG but apparently, here she was! Prompted by the latest Game Theory, she had decided to try and unlock the lore of Security Breach. As a starting point, she had returned to the only theory she had ever typed up - a series of thoughts on how Gregory was a robot and infected by Glitchtrap. Reading back it back, she'd clicked the youtube clip she had used as evidence and entered the twilight zone.
She had not watched Dawko's video in around a year but even so, she couldn't see any way he would have put out the video she was seeing now. The editing was all over the place, with strange cuts and out of sync dialogue. Even weirder still, the video was filled with strange visual glitches - like a digital TV with poor signal - that she knew definitely hadn't been there before. That was when she'd noticed the strangest thing of all - the items in Sun and Moon's room had somehow completely changed places. It was subtle - a moved table, different plushes, items rearranged - but she knew Security Breach like the back of her hand. The game's broken glitchiness gave her so much joy, she'd watched more than enough playthroughs of the game to notice the small details.
Jaw dropping open, she had scrolled down to the related videos. Unsurprisingly, there were more than a few videos on the secret minigame. Desperate to compare what she'd seen, she clicked a random video and her breath caught in her throat. The minigame was different again! The game graphics were unique, with new star-adorned blocks replacing the hay bales she remembered. The iconic tinny music was different too - it was faster and higher pitched, making it sound frantic.
The experience was so surreal, her sleep-deprived mind couldn't grasp what she was seeing. How did the game suddenly look different? And why?
Filled with astonishment, she clicked through to multiple new videos from creators she had never watched before. It didn't matter that it was 6am and she'd barely slept a wink the past few days, she had to see how far it went. Low and behold, they had changed too. Each video she watched contained very slightly different versions of the pizzaplex and minigame from one another.
"What on earth?!" she said in a hushed whisper, feeling like she was going mad.
Gripped with a need for confirmation, she plugged "Markiplier Security Breach" into the search bar.
Her eyes widened. The pizzaplex had changed here too! New advertisements, different colours, different items everywhere. It was like someone had inserted brand new assets into the game.
It was at this point it clicked in her head: It had to be an augmented reality game! Matpat had theorised about one and here it finally was! Her theory must have unlocked it, she just hadn't realised.
Hyped beyond words, she'd hopped on to the r/FiveNightsAtFreddy's discord server and posted the link to Dawko's video.
Is this video glitchy for anyone else?
It didn't take long for someone to respond.
What am I meant to be seeing here? It looks totally fine to me.
Bemused, Dysis went back to look at the video again. She had been shocked to find it now looked entirely normal. Even more confused, she checked Markiplier's Let's Play again.
All normal.
Despite feeling like she had a screw loose, Dysis felt a pang of disappointment. She supposed the four sleepless nights she'd had in a row had gone to her head.
The next day, however, she was left blinking again when she opened a Let's Play up in the early hours of the morning to find - you guessed it - the different version of the pizzaplex there once again.
It was at that point that she'd messaged her brother. This time, she wasn't going to make the same mistake again. She'd keep it quiet, only telling people she trusted and who wouldn't think she was certifiably bonkers.
Yet, almost as soon as she'd finished typing, something even weirder happened. Something surfaced from the depths of her mind, truly sending her down a rabbit hole.
~*~
May 18th 2022
"So, there's no easy way to say this but… the Afton family from Fazbear Entertainment's games was based on our family."
Dysis looked at her brother, openly gawping. "Now you HAVE to be joking."
Ciaran shook his head, "Trust me, I wish this was even close to the weirdest thing I am going to tell you today."
"But how?" she asked, gobsmacked. "I mean, we're not even in the right country! Scott Cawthon is American! Fazbear Entertainment is American. We're British!"
"Good point but, if you go look at Sister Location, William had a British accent. So canonically, he is British."
Ciaran snatched his phone from his pocket and dug up a video of the introduction to the game. Dysis watched on, waiting for the confirmatory evidence before shaking her head.
"Ok, I stand corrected on that one. But the rest of what I said still stands. Scott Cawthon is American."
"Scott Cawthon is a character," Ciaran said without missing a beat. "The name itself is a clue. 'Caw', as in raven, 'thorn' like the spikes you get on a rose. It's missing the R but close enough."
"Huh," Dysis blinked, "I never put that together myself but now you mention it… what about Scott?"
"Oh, that originated from from The Santa Clause. Scott Calvin was the average guy who put on the suit and became Santa. So put together, the name implies a gift giver with a sting…"
"Plus a reference to Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven," Dysis finished thoughtfully. "I have to admit, that's pretty smart. But even if Cawthon is a 'character', how on earth did whoever made the games know about our family?"
Ciaran looked at me. There was a glimmer of guilt and sadness in his eyes.
"So, I know you probably won't believe me when I say this but… our family is actually one of the most famous in the world. Loads of people know all about us."
Dysis felt a lump in her throat. This had to be a practical joke surely?!
"Dad bugged the house," Ciaran continued, "He was recording everything we said and did. Our whole lives. It was all an experiment for Fazbear's research division. He shared the recordings with a bunch of people too."
"What?!" Dysis said, feeling panic rising in her throat.
"Mum found the recordings, before you ask. I saw them."
"What the frig?!" Dysis said, speechless.
"It's hinted at in the fourth FNAF game. There's a bug toy in Crying Child's room. Look."
Ciaran paused to show Dysis his screen.
"Oh my gosh. I never noticed that. Blimey!"
"I'm afraid it gets worse," Ciaran said bluntly. "The reason why Dad was recording us was because… well, you're special."
"Huh?" Dysis said, scrunching her nose with distaste. "Special how?"
"You can influence people. You can put your thoughts in other people's heads. And kind of read them too. It's like… a special ability."
Despite her anxiety, Dysis let out a laugh. "You don't expect me to believe that one, do you?! I know you said the ARG was tailored to my life and fears but this is utterly ridiculous!"
"It's true, I'm afraid," Ciaran said, eyes shimmering with sympathy.
"Well, how on earth can I do that?" Dysis asked, face still crinkled with amusement.
Ciaran looked her in the eye, expression dead serious. "Look, I know the answer to that question but we have a lot to cover today so we'll have to revisit that next time. There's too much to cover in one conversation, it's too overwhelming. For now, all I'll say is that these abilities mainly manifest in women and are passed down by the mother. Mum also has it."
"The frick?" Dysis said, "Right. So our hyper-religious mum - who is scared of magic and psychic stuff - has magical abilities? Do you get how batshit that is?"
"The irony has always amused me," Ciaran admitted, the first inklings of a smile crossing his face. "Anyways, the reason why dad was recording us was because he was testing your abilities and working to mould you into who he wanted - needed - you to be."
Dysis felt the colour drain from her face. Out of all that had been said, sadly this was the most believable. Her dad was very superficially charming but had always been subtly controlling. They'd butted heads over it more than a few times over various things.
"So our dad was like, the ultimate manipulator? Now that I can believe."
"Yeah, even more than we could ever have imagined at the time. Everything we did was to craft you - you specifically - into who he wanted you to be. He told me he was like a painter with a canvas, moulding and shaping you. He said he and mum saw you like a dog-"
"A dog?!" Dysis blurted out. "That's horrible!"
Ciaran reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, doing his best to comfort her.
"I wish it wasn't true but that's what he said. The whole point was to channel your super-intelligence by training you. Positive reinforcement if you did well. Negative reinforcement if you misbehaved or didn't reach expectations. It's why he was so strict on you. You and your training came first, before any of the rest of us."
"What a knob," Dysis spat, "Blimey, what an absolute prick. It's not even like he did the positive reinforcement bit much at all either!"
"I know," Ciaran said, "You deserved better. So, so much better. You've always been such a loving person and he took advantage of that. That's not even the end of it though…"
"Oh God," Dysis said, "How many other awful things do you have to tell me?"
Ciaran sighed, "It's a good thing you are sat down, let's just say that."
"Then hit me. It sounds like there's a lot of ground to cover."
"I'll try and rush through. That way, you can then ask me any questions you have," Ciaran said, eyes glittering with sympathy.
"Dad had a plan. He saw how much empathy you had for others - something he never had - and he saw your potential. He'd raise you modestly. Instil you with a sense of social justice and morals. Lead you towards pursuits that he could use, like psychology and writing. However, he knew he needed to teach you how to stand up to narcissists and psychopaths, so he decided to play the bad guy. Mum would be good cop, he would be bad. They planned it together. They had to keep you under control because… well, you were a government secret. In fact, he used to stay up all night, keeping watch for threats. That's why you play as a night guard in the FNAF games."
"So he's claiming that he did bad things for good reasons?" Dysis said, unsure what to think. "For my protection? While manipulating me to become the person he wanted me to be? I mean, I can kind of see where you were coming from but… that doesn't make a lot of sense. How could he give me moral values by being a dick to me?"
"That's the bit where it gets really screwed up," Ciaran said with an audible sigh. "He did two things. One, he systematically created means to isolate you and monitor who you socialised with."
"Yeah, that's certifiably frucked," Dysis said
"Two," Ciaran said with a nod, "He programmed our TV to show particular things and manipulated your internet feed to keep you living a bubble-"
"He WHAT?" Dysis said, absolutely aghast "Surely you can't believe this yourself?! I mean, how would he even have achieved that?"
"The tech exists. I've seen it. And you weren't the only one whose parents did as much," Ciaran cut in quickly. "He's still doing so to this day too. He's been watching you too. He's hacked all your phones since you left home."
A shiver ran up Dysis' spine. This conversation was only getting worse and she wasn't even sure how that was physically possible anymore. A surge of revulsion coursed through her but she had no time to dwell as Ciaran rolled on.
"He hacked Mum and Ben's too. In a weird way, that's what brought me here today. Dad uncovered a plot between them to kill you."
Dysis swore her blood had turned to ice in her veins. Her breath caught in her throat.
"You know how Ben proposed? Well, the plan was to marry you so he'd get everything when you died. Then, he'd split your money with mum."
Dysis felt as if she had just fallen through the game map in a video game and she was hurtling endlessly downwards towards a dark sub-ocean.
She couldn't believe it. Her brain could hardly conceive of the idea. Her mum was a gentle soul, willing to do anything and everything for everyone. Same with Ben - he was blunt and not very social but he had never been anything but kind and supportive to her. He was everything her dad hadn't been. The idea that either of them might want to kill her shorted her brain.
"He also found out, through his links with powerful people, that you've upset Fazbear Entertainment with your social media presence and they want rid of you too."
Dysis gawped, speechless.
"But it's ok!" Ciaran said quickly, "Dad and I have a plan to save you. We're going to use this ARG to scare everyone off. You'll be so well-known, no one will dare cross you."
"What the frig," Dysis whispered, still catching her breath. "So you mean that I'm supposed to trust Dad over my partner and the gentle woman who has always taken care of me?"
"If you want to stay alive, you'll have to," Ciaran said flatly. "Mum is a religious nut. She has secretly taken issue with you shunning your birth name and your gender identity. From what Dad said, she was always the one in control. She worked with him on your training and agreed to continue to feed you food you were allergic to as an experiment to slow you down. She's no better than dad."
Dysis blinked. Then, she felt a wave of misery.
"I can't believe it," she said in a quiet voice. "I really can't. You mean that most of my support system is out for my blood?"
"I know, it's a lot. And I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry. Whatever happens, you know you'll always have Solana and I, right? The power of three. Remember that."
Dysis felt a lump in her throat but nodded weakly. Nothing felt real anymore.
"But Ben… I can't believe Ben might want to do me harm. He's not like that."
"I'm afraid he's been working for Dad all along," Ciaran said with a sigh, shaking his head. "He's being paid to be your partner. He has been since the very beginning. They needed someone who could keep reporting on your progress. That's not all, I'm afraid. He's a Russian sympathiser and… well, worse."
Dysis felt her heart break. After so many years together, she trusted Ben implicitly. To hear that he might secretly have it in for her rocked her trust in the world in general.
"I'm sorry. I know this is all a lot to take in all at once but I had to tell you."
"Of course you did," Dysis said, shoving her feelings away. She was very good at that - it had been a necessity growing up around her dad. "I'll cry about it later. But what does this all have to do with Five Nights at Freddy's?"
"Right," Ciaran said, "So this will be hard to believe but… the games are semi-biographical. They present heavily fictionalised versions of events in our childhood up to the present day. It's all written in thick metaphor though, as you can imagine."
Dysis blinked. This all felt so outlandish and silly, it was almost impossible to process. She found herseYet, when she cast her mind back to the games, she had to admit that she could see some similarities. Three kids. A doctor carrying out experiments on his own kids.
"I'm Mike, aren't I?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.
It was Ciaran's turn to be surprised. "How did you know?"
"It's not hard to guess," Dysis said with a shrug. "It figures I'm the older brother character who plays pranks and jumps out at his younger siblings. Plus, I always related most to him and Foxy, silly as it sounds."
"Well, you're right," Ciaran said, "Solana is the Crying Child. I'm Baby…"
"And Dad is Afton?" Dysis mumbled thoughtfully before her brow furrowed. "Wait! Does this mean he killed a bunch of kids?!"
Ciaran shook his head adamantly, "No, he didn't kill anyone. He's innocent of any crime… other than the whole stalking us thing. But he did that for our protection, basically."
"So who killed those kids then?"
"No one. There weren't any dead kids. It was a metaphor for emotional death. You're one of the five yourself, actually."
"I am?!" Dysis squeaked.
Ciaran nodded, "The whole series is a metaphor and highly symbolic. Trauma makes people into robots."
"Ahhh," Dysis said, "That does fit… but what about that scene where the souls trap Afton in a suit? How does that work?"
"It's… complicated," Ciaran said delicately. "Originally, Purple Guy wasn't meant to be William, he was meant to be Mike. That scene represented Mike being trapped by the trauma of finding out the truth behind the games. Problem is, the fandom came to a different conclusion and we ended up having to go with it."
"Right," Dysis said with a nod, "So MikeTrap was canon at one point. Who'd have thought it? Bet the fandom would be having a field day to hear that! I'm still confused though. Really confused. We never had anything to do at a pizza restaurant... How does that fit?"
"Freddy Fazbear's pizza represented our church," Ciaran said grimly.
"Really?" Dysis said skeptically, "That seems farfetched."
"Well it's true!" Ciaran said defensively.
Ciaran's snappy response hit Dysis like a slap to the face. Suddenly, she became aware that her response was essentially dismissing what could be someone's very real trauma. She balked at the idea. Suddenly, she felt her stomach twist. Would her brother really have claimed there was abuse if it wasn't true? Nausea rose in her at the thought.
"Sorry," she said immediately, "I don't mean to say the abuse isn't valid or plausible, just that it's a hard sell to say Fazbear Entertainment represents a church. If it IS true, that's awful. Did dad...?"
"No," Ciaran said sharply. "He didn't find out about it til years later. He said he'd have put a stop to it if he knew."
Dysis shook her head, trying to get the dark thoughts out of her mind. "Well that's reassuring at least. So Dad made the games to reveal it?"
"No," Ciaran said, raising his gaze to hers again. "It was Raya."
"Raya?!" Dysis yelped.
Raya was her childhood best friend. She had attended her church and had also joined her in attending Christian activity days and social groups. They'd been incredibly close and then one day, for reasons she'd never understood, she'd been cut off. They hadn't spoken in at least a decade.
"Yup," Ciaran said. "She created the games to help process her trauma - with dad's help and funding. She's represented by Chica. She's the only individual outside the Afton Family depicted in the first game."
"I guess that fits," Dysis said, "Feck, I wasn't expecting to hear that today."
"I bet," Ciaran said with a sigh, holding her gaze. "But I'm telling you because we need your help. We need you to be the one to tell our story for the greater good."
"The greater good?" Dysis asked, feeling a wave of ominous terror overcome her.
"Yes," Ciaran said, "Because we aren't the only ones with a story like this. The same thing has happened over and over across the world. Countless children are at risk. But if we tell our story, it'll start a chain reaction. Others will feel brave enough to come forward and share their own experiences."
Dysis thought about the idea for a moment before responding. Her head was swimming.
"Ok, I can see what you're getting at," she said tentatively. "But why do you need me to do it? I wasn't involved in any of that. Surely it'd be better for one of the kids who were to come forward?"
Ciaran's mouth once again twisted into a frown, his eyes glittering with sadness.
"I'm afraid you were," he said gently. "You just didn't know it. You know how Foxy has a hook for a hand? Well, that's because you were the lure. You were so naturally friendly and kind, you were the perfect religious kid designed to help cover up the darker stuff activities and encourage other kids into the church."
Dysis' breath caught. "What the frig?! That is… I can't… I didn't know!"
Noticing her obvious distress, Ciaran put his hand on her shoulder.
"It's ok, sis," he soothed gently. "You couldn't have. Everyone bent over backwards to keep you ignorant. That's why the original Foxy had an eyepatch but two working eyes - it represented him only having a partial vision of events."
Despite her brother's words, Dysis was ashamed. Sadly, she could see where her brother was coming from. In her childhood, she'd been the textbook sheltered Christian kid. Preaching to and praying for everyone she met, she had been like a walking talking billboard for the church. She likely wouldn't have even believed the church could hide such sinister activities as a kid. It was one of the places she had felt safest - although she never felt truly safe anywhere.
However, as she thought about it, a question floated into her head.
"That makes sense but hang on," she said. "You say I was the lure but I couldn't have been a very good one. I barely had any friends after a certain point in my childhood - you know how relentlessly I was bullied! I wasn't exactly bringing people to church each Sunday."
Ciaran sighed, closing his eyes. "You're right, of course. You weren't a great lure after a certain point. That's when you became the Mangle."
A wave of nausea caught Dysis off-guard. How had she forgotten about the Mangle, the mismatched fox with two heads and a jumble of body parts? He/She/They (no one had ever quite figured out their pronouns) had been one of the characters she'd related to most strongly. The games' lore had dictated that they were a children's toy made to be pulled apart and put back together again endlessly.
It had reminded her of her own childhood, being ripped to pieces by her peers. She had also related to the male Foxy variant's transition to a female-coded appearance, bright pink with lipstick. As a child who had shunned everything feminine with an intense dislike of makeup, Mangle felt very representative of her awkward late childhood and early teen years before she'd eventually caved and given in to parental and peer pressure.
"Of course," Dysis breathed. "Of course I was the Mangle. And then I went on to be Funtime Foxy, right? A 'girl' for all intents and purposes."
"Yup," Ciaran said.
"And I became pink and white," Dysis said with distaste. "Whoever made that character design was having a laugh. I made sure everyone knew how much I hated pink when I was younger."
"To be fair, it's because the colours were symbolic," Ciaran said plainly. "They tell a story. But yes, that was… unfortunate."
The statement made something click in Dysis head.
"Wait! If I'm all the Foxy variants, that must mean each iteration is just a version of the same character? A real person?"
"Correct. We've always described them as evolutions. The most important aspects of the lore are the character designs and behaviour."
"Huh," Dysis said, "So the 'souls' inhabiting them-"
"Irrelevant," Ciaran cut in. "I mean, that is one way of reading the games' story but… well, the games were never meant to be literal. They show fictionalised snapshots of real life events. There wasn't any thought of how to create a cohesive story or lore between games. They grew organically - no one thought they'd go beyond the third one."
"Well frick," Dysis said, fascinated despite her now-permanent state of horror. "I always had an inkling that might be the case so I'm glad I was on the right track. Things just… never quite matched up. Like, who was inhabiting the funtimes?"
"Exactly," Ciaran said, sounding almost relieved. "Your instincts were right. That's why we started the book series - to create a proper, linear narrative and use concepts like Remnant and Agony to tie everything together. And to make a coherent timeline because wow, the games are unintelligible. There are tons of dates cemented in the lore by the fans that were never intended. Quite frustrating really."
"Makes sense," Dysis said, "I've got a lot of questions but I realise that we've got off-topic. We are great at that, huh?"
"Just like old times," Ciaran said, clearly trying to add some levity to the conversation. It didn't work.
"So why do you need me specifically for this ARG? And why - for that matter - have you kept the fact that our family inspired a video game from me for nine years?"
All at once, Ciaran's more relaxed exterior vanished. His jaw became tense, body rigid. Dysis braced herself. She could tell this wasn't going to be good.
~*~
23rd Feb 2023
The memory of the past conversation flooded back to Dysis in an instant. It was like a video game asset popping into her field of view - sudden and alarming.
She was immediately profoundly confused. How on earth had she completely and totally forgotten that this conversation had taken place? It was inconceivable!
Feeling like a bit of an idiot, she hastily typed a new message.
Wow, sorry. I've just remembered you told me about the ARG. I feel really silly rn.
And with that, Dysis decided the sleep deprivation had to be getting to her. Without really thinking about it, she turned off her phone screen and leapt into bed.
She awoke a few hours later still profoundly confused. Why didn't I remember?
She turned her phone on to see a new message from Ciaran.
Don't know what you're talking about. I didn't say anything about a FNAF ARG. But I'd love to hear about it!
Dysis put her phone down and lay there, looking at the ceiling. What was going on?
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