Chapter Text
Red.
Red was all Poppy saw. After the toys' Angle from outside, the Playtime Butcher made the last moments of their life as they were in the hands of the Prototype, who performed the last mercy anyone had shown in that hellish factory. Which was to use the poppy smoke bomb the Doctor made and placed it on the Prototype before using the Ominhand to activate the device and blow him up.
But it didn’t just blow up the Prototype. It blew up everything. Poppy, Kissy, Giblet, everyone. The factory, the playstation, the labs, the testing rooms, maybe even “A better place” where the last of the children were, and whatever was left of Safe Haven, gone. Everything was gone. All Poppy could hear was Kissy's scared screeching as the flames engulfed her while Huggy tried to shield her. The last words she could recall before succumbing to the blast were Giblet's last broken words.
“Poppy…Why? I thought we’d go home. Why did they do this? Why did we deserve this…I want to go…home.”
She wished she could’ve told him. She wished she knew the answer. Maybe she did…or maybe she didn’t want to answer him because it wouldn’t have mattered in the end. No matter how much blood was spilled, no matter how many lives were lost, none of it was worth the chance of living forever. None of it.
She began to regret that her father chose this foul path to bring her back to life. She regretted that she was the reason he started this company that was supposed to bring joy to children, not pain or suffering for a senseless cause. If Poppy had one wish that she wanted to be true, it would be that she had never existed.
I’m sorry, Kissy…I’m sorry, Giblet…I’m sorry, Angle…I’m sorry…
Those were the last thoughts Poppy had before everything she saw was red. And the entire Playtime Co. factory was up in flames, and for the first time, it made its presence known through the glowing infernal light cast by the flames.
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Those were the very last thoughts of the broken porcelain doll, cursed with life after death. Made by a “loving father” who was desperate for his daughter, who would never come back. At least not the same as she was before, not in the body she once had. But now in death, perhaps she will finally find peace and a new life. Free from her despair, her pain, her memories, and…her guilt.
But unfortunately, those in high places in the afterlife don’t always make it easy for a soul to pass on peacefully to a better place. In fact, some souls end up in far worse places after death. As told in biblical scriptures and the warnings from heavenly-taught Nuns, there is one place a fallen soul will go after death, and it’s the one place many souls tend to end up due to past sins or misdeeds, going unpunished. This place can be the worst and best nightmare for souls who are now in the afterlife. And it was the only destination that many people who have died will go to.
That place in the fiery pit is Hell.
The home of thousands upon thousands of damned souls who were punished to suffer their time in the dark hellscape with others like them. It is a cruel but fitting fate for those who deserve it, but it could also be a place for second chances. Maybe not a lot, but in every dark pit with no escape, there is light, and light can be guidance for something greater. Good or bad, everyone at some point will chase that light, no matter the cost.
So what will happen if you give a group of broken, tortured souls like those who have suffered in Playtime Co. a chance to follow the light?
And, how will a bright, hopeful, and naive future queen of hell be able to provide a new Safe Heaven in her infernal kingdom for her subjects?
Perhaps a gamble of fates to answer these questions.
In the darkness, a shadow figure of a woman appears, long black locks flowing down, as if it had a life of its own. As she approaches one of her many seeing-eye portals, she used to watch all of hell under Lucifer's watch. As she approaches, her eyes open to her silent command, revealing a secluded junkyard filled with old machinery, broken furniture, and the occasional hidden body in a brown sack. Nothing too out of place for those who don’t notice any change. A perfect place for a new trial. The woman in red smiled as she went through the portal and appeared in the middle of the deserted yard, making sure that no sinner or demonic royalty could see her or sense her presence.
She used her powers to create a circle of deep crimson and unknown symbols as she performed the ritual. Her words were bland in the air as she spoke a forgotten language lost in time, while the circle illuminated shades of bright red. Deep black, gooey forms soon took shape as a couple of figures. They all vary in shape and height. One was large and massive, while others were skinnier but longer, and some were just smaller, almost the same size as a porcelain doll. The red woman smiled widely as she had succeeded with the ritual. Now it was time to leave her playthings to their own devices and watch from the background in anticipation. She left only a small red envelope near the porcelain doll as she petted the doll's red curly hair before whispering.
‘May the day we meet be the last day you exist, my dear doll. For now, I leave you with these words…anyone who claims you and your kind will be the only masters you serve for the rest of your afterlife. Disobey these orders, and you will cease your purpose and existence, and I will claim what belongs to me. May you enjoy this new toybox I call home…wake up, Poppy.’
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Eyes wide, Poppy shot up, coughing deeply as if the air had been stolen from her lungs. She was on her hands and knees as she gripped the dark, hard ground, her wide, bloodshot eyes shut, as she found air. Soon, when she found balance in her breathing, she slowly raised her head to see that she was no longer in a burning factory or in the clutches of the Prototype. Instead, she was in a secluded junk area that smelled of rust and decay. She breaths heavily as she turns her head towards the sky…
Deep cloudy Red.
The sky is red…was she in hell?