Work Text:
CatNap’s P.O.V
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1991, the year CatNap was created
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“When are you gonna bring him back?” ——-[Hoppy] asked, tilting her head, eyeing —-[Player], who’d come to take Theo away for yet another test.
“I-…. I don’t know, but I’m sure you’ll see him again!” —-[Player] said, although their voice cracked at the start.
Theo blinked in support when he realized the employee was blinking back tears.
He didn’t realize the true reason the adult was crying, just assumed that maybe it was something going on with —-‘s[Player’s] life outside the factory.
He didn’t know the real reason, that Theo wouldn’t be coming back, at least not as a human.
“Where are we going?” He asked, keeping a tight grip on the yellow haired employee’s hand as they navigated the halls, halls Theo had never been in before.
—-[Player] didn’t answer, but their expression grew sad, and they lowered their head slightly.
“Mr? Where are we going?” He asked again, thinking that maybe the adult hadn’t heard him.
He blinked when —-[Player] stopped, crouched down and hugged him, whispering “I’m so sorry Theo, so sorry”.
“What are you sorry for? You didn’t break anything or get in trouble did you?” He asked, giving the employee a confused look.
They didn’t answer but simply scooped Theo up and carried him the rest of the way, gently stroking his hair and whispering “I’m so sorry Theo baby” while they walked.
Eventually —-[Player] paused at a door labeled ‘Room D-6’ and opened it, revealing a stark white room with padding on the walls, floor and ceiling.
Theo blinked in surprise when the adult set him down in the middle of the room and told him to stay before exiting.
This wasn’t like any of the tests from before….
He scooted back in alarm when —-[Player] came back with a needle filled with this strange purple goop.
The adult pulled him close once again, and whispered “I’m so sorry…” before sticking the needle into his neck and injecting him.
Theo screamed and scrambled back, clawing at his neck as it burned like nothing he’d ever felt before.
—-‘s[Player]’s breath quivered and tears streaked down their cheeks before they took a deep breath and exited.
Theo couldn’t help but feel betrayed, the nice adult -who had actually taught Theo and his friends about stuff, like how some people used different pronouns- had done this to him.
But at the same time…. they had been crying, and they’d look horrified when they injected him, like they were the monster for doing it.
He sobbed and clawed at his neck again as pain flared in the injection spot once more.
Pain spread through his whole body, he screamed, and everything went black.
~
He blinked open his eyes panicked, trying to move, not understanding why his body was twitching the way it was, or why the scientists were now dragging him away from the PlayCare.
His breath came in panicked gasps, his limbs were numb and failing to respond.
He whimpered, the sound alien and inhuman.
One of the scientists slapped him for that, snapping at him to stop acting like a scared child.
They threw him in a cell, and he barely managed to curl into a ball, shaking and sobbing, knowing somehow by instinct that he wouldn’t see his friends again, at least, not as Theo.
He whimpered again when the bars slammed shut, and the scientist who had slapped him snapped something at him before walking away with the others.
He didn’t know how long he lay there, shaking, in pain and so utterly confused and disoriented, refusing to belief the strange purple furred limb’s he could see were his own.
Footsteps sounded and he rumbled in alarm, before choking back his horrified sob at the inhuman sound.
“So it works” Mr. Peirre said, bending down to peer at him.
“Course it did, I perfected the method myself” Mr Sawyer snapped, his hostile and slightly offended tone drawing a whine from the scared kid.
They had never been nice to him, and now, now that he hurt and he didn’t understand they scared him more.
“How you feeling CatNap? Everything feel right?” Mr. Sawyer asked, his tone adopting a false kindness.
The scared kid didn’t fall for it, his name wasn’t CatNap, and everything wasn’t anywhere near “right”.
He copied a fake growl that he’d heard one of the creepy Mini Smiling Critter toys do when someone picked it up against itself will.
Instead of the tiny rumble he’d heard a full blown savage snarl came out, rumbling deep in his chest.
“Already got a behavior to correct, growling at employees” Mr. Sawyer noted, jotting something down on his notepad.
The kid froze when the man reached in and grabbed the back of his neck painfully before -with a grunt- jerking the startled experiment towards him.
He tried to pull away, but the harsh, tight grip on his neck and the numbness of his limbs made escape from the doctor’s grasp particularly impossible.
The man gripped his chin and forced him to look up into his eye’s.
“Speak” He ordered, gripping the kids chin harder when he didn’t obey.
He squeaked and tried to wriggle away, his attempts getting more frantic the tighter the grip became.
“GET AWAY FROM ME” He wailed, finally managing to move one arm to slap at Mr. Sawyer.
The man yelled and clutched his arm, scarlet liquid dripping down, glaring at the scared child as he managed to drag himself to a corner of the cell.
“Looks like his claws are sharp” remarked Mr. Sawyer, removing his hand to reveal four long, deep slices in his arm.
The child looked down, and nearly freaked out when he noticed one of the strange purple furry paws was sticky with blood, and that it responded to his movements.
“He is capable of speech and movement of his limbs, so I’d say it was a success” Mr. Sawyer remarked, before opening a hidden cabinet door in the wall and pulling out some bandages, which he wrapped around the wounds on his arm.
“Schedule his first training session, I want him walking by the end of next week” Mr. Sawyer snapped, before leaving.
“On it” Mr. Peirre responded, before glancing back at the kid and saying “Attack another employee CatNap and I’ll make sure you get punished for it”
Tears leaked down his cheeks as the adults left.
And he finally admitted defeat, the more feeling returned to his limbs the more he realized that the purple furred limbs were his own, and that his body wasn’t as it was.
He was CatNap now, a freak, no, a monster was better, only monsters had claws that could slice through human skin like it was nothing.
He covered his head and sobbed.
~
He was alone in that cell for days, his only interaction with people was when they “trained” him, acting like he was nothing more than a dog.
Eventually he figured out how to walk with his new limbs, how to move his tail and how to exhale a horrible red smoke that the scientists called Poppy Gas.
He assumed that he was and would be the only creature they made, he was wrong when they tossed a version of the Smiling Critter Bobby BearHug in the cell opposite him.
He blinked and walked over to the bars once the scientists left, steps still a bit wobbly.
“Why?” The red bear creature whimpered, managing to drag herself to the nearest wall and bring her knees to her chest.
CatNap gasped, he recognized that voice!
“——[Bobby?]” he asked, unable to keep the hope out of his voice.
“Theo?!” She asked, whipping around to look at him, nearly falling over when her limbs threatened to disobey her.
She froze when she spotted his face, and the marks all over his body, just barely hidden by his fur.
“What did they do to you?” They whispered, sounding horrified.
“A lot” he responded, sitting down.
“I’m so sorry” she whispered, tears streaking down her face.
“Don’t be, it’s not your fault”
~
After that the rest of his friends were turned into the rest of the Smiling Critter’s, and did something to his mind, tying it to DogDay, which meant long hours of flinching every-time a spike of pain came from the pairing bond during a training session.
He wondered when it would end…..
When the Prototype would save them.
He hoped it would be soon.
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1992, a year after CatNap was created….
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They had chained him again.
It stung, to be caged and muzzled like an animal, the stupid safety lock digging not just into the third airway like it was supposed to but also into the second airway.
He would attack them if they let him out.
Harley Sawyer watched him even now, Leith Peirre standing beside him, both men watching CatNap with a strange expression.
“He’s perfect, perhaps even better than Experiment 1170” Harley practically purred, reaching out through the bars and grabbing CatNap’s chin.
The scared, angry and disoriented former child snarled, making it clear that if his paws weren’t bound to the floor by heavy chains Harley wouldn’t be walking away with both hands.
“Aw now, don’t be like that 1188” Harley purred, forcing the experiment to look up at him.
“You should be glad, you weren’t first choice for this body but your perfect now”
CatNap snarled again, trying to jerk his head away from the man, but the chains attached to either side of the muzzle kept him from moving his head much.
“Should I up the chain count? He is quite a bit stronger than predicted for his build” Leith said, looking at CatNap like he was a monster, not a former human.
“Perhaps that would be a good idea, schedule more training for him, he’s been rebelling, especially with that stupid Prototype nonsense” Harley said, walking off.
“I shall do that, oh and cat? Get used to this, no one is coming to save you, not now, not ever” Leith snapped, before following Harley, leaving CatNap alone in the dark cell, chains digging into his skin.
He felt something wet roll down his cheek, possibly a tear, he would’ve wiped it away but he could barely move his paws in any directions.
Eventually the dingy lights shut off, and he was left in complete darkness, trying his hardest not to break and give in.
The Prototype would save them right?
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1995, the year of the Hour of Joy….
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CatNap was trying to nap when the screams started.
He struggled up, the chains fighting him and biting into his skin.
“What’s going on?” CraftyCorn wailed, their voice panicked.
“I don’t know” Bubba answered, sounding almost terrified about not knowing.
CatNap listened, it seemed almost wrong to enjoy the pained screams on the employees, but after all they’d done, they kinda deserved it.
DogDay came running down the hall, chest splattered with blood, a key ring gripped in one hand, and quickly started opening each cell, unlocking the chains binding each critter.
CatNap stretched out once his limbs were free, enjoying the absence of the metal links digging into his flesh, and the muzzle making it hard to breathe.
He bolted into the darkness after, and promptly froze at the exit of the hallway.
It was chaos, blood was everywhere, and he could see mangled employee bodies as far as the eye could see.
The killing fest seemed to have moved on and every human in the room seemed dead but he still checked, prowling the area, killing any survivors he encountered.
He paused at one body, and without really thinking crouched down and began to eat.
Theo would’ve been bothered by eating a human, but CatNap wasn’t.
They’d starved him as punishment sometimes, chained him, beat him, shocked him and made it clear that he wasn’t human, that he was a monster.
So he had no problem eating them, they deserved it.
He looked up when footsteps approached.
“Get to your spot, these are mine” the pink spider-creature practically snarled.
CatNap hissed and dashed off, carrying the half-eaten body with him.
He quickly made it to PlayCare, and was greeted with the same bloody mess of torn apart dead bodies.
It was immediately a little bit horrifying to see all the bloodshed and somewhat unnecessary killing, and the blood smell did sting his nose, but they were free.
He was free, and he wasn’t letting them chain him again.
The Prototype had kept their promise.
HE saved them.
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2000, five years after the Hour of Joy
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Everything was fine for those first five years, but then, the food supply began to dwindle, and toys turned against each other, killing just to survive.
CatNap didn’t think he would lose his friends, he thought they would be fine….
He was wrong.
The first to die was Hoppy, after a dare by CraftyCorn to see if she could touch the roof.
Hoppy smacked her head against a concealed beam, cracked her head and slammed back down, legs taking the full brunt of the blow and shattering.
CraftyCorn screamed and wailed, curling in on herself.
Bobby went to check to see if Hoppy had survived the fall, but Crafty’s reaction alone said everything.
It shocked them all, nobody expected one of them to die, yet Hoppy had, after a simple game of truth or dare.
CraftyCorn blamed herself and locked herself away, Bobby spent a long time staring at the wall as she tried to process.
The others were just shocked.
CatNap had to watch and feel as DogDay blamed himself, his emotions dragging him down dark paths, of what if’s and but if I.
It broke him to, Hoppy had been his friend, but she was dead now, skull cracked open like a walnut, legs shattered like twigs.
He turned to the Prototype, and the fellow experiment whispered in his air, twisting the events, making it seem like a simple fact rather than a tragedy.
“Tell them, this is what happens to heretics” HE whispered into CatNap’s ear.
“Tell them they will suffer a similar fate if they don’t OBEY”
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2003, eight years after the Hour of Joy
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CraftyCorn, Bubba and Kickin died next, CatNap found their corpses outside the PlayCare.
He gently touched the shoulder of CraftyCorn, absolutely horrified at their fate.
Barely any skin or flesh was remaining, the only things left was scraps of hair, skin and muscle, bones and her pendant.
Bubba and Kickin’s corpses were the same, CatNap could only tell who they wore due to their pendant’s.
He sat beside them and sobbed, curling in on himself, wishing he could have prevented this.
DogDay walked up to him and gently hugged him, whispering “it’s not your fault…..”
Bobby hugged him to, she stayed silent but released some of her scent, maybe hoping the rose smell would help soothe CatNap’s grief.
Picky wasn’t even there, she was off somewhere, but CatNap had a horrible nagging feeling about her, like something was horribly wrong and that he shouldn’t trust her alone in the same area as Bobby or DogDay.
The Prototype twisted the events again, saying that they were heretics and deserved to die, CatNap didn’t even fight the words, in his grieving state he believed anything his friend.
Because why would The Prototype lie?
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2004, nine years after the Hour of Joy
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Picky and Bobby were next.
Bobby’s death hurt the most, not just because she was the kindest and most loving person he knew, but also because one of their FRIENDS killed her.
He watched it happen, watched Picky rig a door to slam down on Bobby’s neck, he tried stopping it but was too slow.
Picky bolted but he didn’t chase after her, he was too focused on his dying friend.
He curled around Bobby, cradling their head with one arm as they fought for breath, blood gurgling from their torn throat, their neck halfway sliced through.
“C-catN-nap” Bobby rasped, her eyes darting around before focusing on CatNap.
“Don’t leave me” he whimpered, unable to stop the tears streaking down his cheek’s.
He didn’t even know he could cry anymore, he thought he dried out his tear ducts after he found the remains of Bubba, CraftyCorn and Kickin.
“D-don’t….. c-cry…. P-please” they whispered, reaching one shaking hand to wipe at the wet fur under his eyes.
“Please don’t go” he pleaded, hating the way her blood soaked into his fur as she just kept bleeding.
“S-sorry….” They rasped, a tear trickling down before their body went limp and they were gone.
CatNap sobbed and pulled her body close, body shaking as he grieved.
Eventually though he had to accept that she was gone, and he gently set her body down before getting up.
He turned toward the direction he’d seen Picky flee, snarling when he spotted her eyes gleaming in the darkness, hungry, watching, waiting.
He lunged, claws out and she fled, trying her hardest to stay ahead of him.
He caught up though, pouncing on her back, claws ripping through her skin like it was nothing.
She wailed and pleaded, begging him not to do this, begging like he bet their FRIENDS had before he killed and ate them.
He lashed out, ripping into her, but backed away when blood started gurgling, reminded of the blood gurgling from Bobby’s torn neck.
He bolted, sobbing, bloodied and heartbroken.
He would later learn Picky managed to drag herself onto Mommy Long-legs territory before dying of her wounds, giving everyone the false idea he’d killed her just for being a heretic.
He didn’t feel like forcing himself to relive his grief just to tell them he attacked Picky because she killed Bobby, so he stayed silent, and let the rumors run wild.
~
DogDay didn’t die, but he probably wished he had.
By then CatNap was barely clinging to sanity, trying not to flinch whenever he accidentally pressed the button of a cardboard cutout and heard one of his friend’s voices again.
While he was grieving the Mini’s did something that they would later regret when scores of them were killed over it.
They ATE DogDay’s legs.
He had been sitting on a ledge by Home Sweet Home when he felt a stinging pain start in his ankle, he wailed and looked at them, only to note that they were unharmed.
Meaning….
He immediately bolted, hurriedly searching for DogDay, trying not to scream in both pain and horror as the pain got worse, then turned into empty numbness, like the body part wasn’t there anymore.
He found DogDay, but it was too late for the dog toy’s legs.
He shrieked and lashed out at the Mini’s, killing then without pause as he rushed toward his friend, his brother, who was laying there, the mangled scrap’s of his legs still being chewed on.
He had to cut off the remains of DogDay’s legs, they weren’t salvageable.
These again were twisted into rumors, this time of how he cut off DogDay’s legs as punishment for the dog toy refusing to obey.
The Prototype took advantage, and snipped the last strings of his sanity.
He didn’t even care anymore, he just wanted the pain in his heart and body to end.
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2005, time of “Poppy Playtime”
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He was already a lost cause when the human entered the factory.
And Player knew that when he saw him, although it hurt their heart they knew that the kindest fate for CatNap right now was to be released from his suffering.
He had been at the shrine when he felt the stinging pain start, this time from the inside out.
He wailed and clawed at himself, shrieking and sobbing, begging for it to end, until it ended.
And the link snapped.
And he was ALONE.
ALONE.
ALONE IN THE DARK.
He nearly stabbed himself in the chest with a nearby sharp piece of metal, but then he realized that I could get revenge, he could kill both the Mini’s and the Human!
And avenge DogDay!
It was the perfect plan!
~
He shrieked when the green hand slammed into him, when the electricity arced through his body.
Then, his brain cells promptly killed off by his grief and insanity, he did something stupid.
He tried to exhale the Poppy Gas, which was highly flammable.
He shrieked in sheer pain when the smoke was set alight, and started rolling around as the fire ravaged his body.
He managed to get the fire to go out, but the burns stung and hurt, already sapping his strength enough that he knew they were fatal.
[Theo baby]
The mental whisper managed to enter his mind now that the link was missing.
[Theo baby, I’m so sorry]
His eyes widened, he knew that voice.
It was —-[Player], the one employee who’d been nice….
The vent creaked and he looked up, fur bushing out in surprise when The Prototype reached down.
But…. His faith was cracking, The Prototype didn’t save them, he doomed them to a painful, slow death while they wasted away and fed on each other.
[Theo baby please]
He looked back at —-[Player], he wanted so badly to just crawl over there and let the ex-employee stroke his fur and reassure him that it would be okay.
But it wouldn’t be okay.
CatNap’s burn wounds were fatal, he would die no matter what he did.
And if The Prototype didn’t get his way he would just kill —-[Player]…..
And the ex-employee needed to survive if they were going to save them all.
So CatNap made his choice.
[Theo baby, please, no-]
He reached toward The Prototype, and his body went slack when the hand pierced his mouth and severed his spinal cord.
And so the twisted, broken tale of Theodore/CatNap’s life ended, or did it?
His body was lifted upwards, his zipper pendant falling to the ground with a click.
It opened, revealing Hope.
Not literally, but a hope, a hope for a second chance.