Chapter Text
In the weeks following the Hour of Joy, The Playtime Co. factory had become quiet. Before, it would have been teeming with workers going about their duties, running the vast machinery that churned out toys by the dozen every minute. The upper levels would regularly have visitors tour Playtime, to see how the various parts of the factory worked, oblivious to the darker nature of their surroundings. The outside world was unaware of the dark secrets that lay within the factory's depths, and there were no witnesses left to expose what had happened.
In the lower levels, Playcare still stood. The generators still powered the enclosed dome, turning the lights on and off at preprogrammed times just as they did before the Hour of Joy. The speakers continued playing cheery theme music, even though there were no children to hear it. In the center still stood the stone statues of the Smiling Critters, all of which remained on the central pillar holding hands. Much of Playcare was a mess because of the events that took place weeks ago; all the bodies that once lay about were gone, taken away, but not by any authorities. One of Playcare's remaining residents emerged from the Playhouse as he did every morning. Catnap.
The large purple feline toy looked around Playcare, the theme music gently playing in the background. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Catnap once again went about his new routine of patrolling Playcare. He didn't bother cleaning up the mess caused by the Hour of Joy; he didn't care. All the humans were gone and no longer a threat. Almost all of them anyway. Even after several weeks had passed, Catnap didn't understand what had happened to the human he had cornered in the Gas Production Zone. It didn't make sense. He just vanished without a trace before his very eyes. After the Hour of Joy, Catnap returned to that spot to search for any clues as to where the human had gone, but found nothing. He even spoke to the Prototype about what had happened. The mystery regarding the human piqued the Prototype's interest, and he said he would speak with someone about it. Catnap didn't know who the Prototype intended to talk to, but decided to leave it to his lord to figure it out.
Catnap came out of his thoughts upon arriving at his first stop, the School. It was here that the orphans were educated by the Miss Delights, along with Bubba and Craftycorn. Now it was the Miss Delights' prison. Upon arriving at the School entrance, Catnap saw that the barricade he had put on the front doors still held, keeping the Miss Delights trapped inside. The main reason Catnap did this was food rationing. The factory had large food stores for all the employees and the experiments that lived at the factory, but they wouldn't last forever, even with the humans dead and their bodies used as a food source. It was only a matter of time before the food ran out, with no more food deliveries, and the experiments would have to feed on one another to survive. The Miss Delights didn't have much use after the Hour of Joy, with no children to teach, and they ate more than what the Mini Critters did. Catnap wouldn't let them all die. He only needs one to serve as his eyes and ears in the School.
Moving on, Catnap headed towards Home Sweet Home, where Picky Piggy and Bobby Bearhug used to be stationed. Upon walking up the steps leading to Home Sweet Home, Catnap stopped when he heard something coming from the toy store next door. Turning his head, Catnap growled in his throat, seeing one of Playcare's other residents. Boxy Boo stepped out of the toy store entrance, the building now serving as his home just as the Playhouse did for Catnap. The red and blue toy walked out into the artificial light, his body wobbling on his spring legs, his black eyes spotting Catnap in front of Home Sweat Home. Boxy regarded Catnap with a snarl, which Catnap returned with a hiss of his own. Sure, the two of them worked together during the Hour of Joy, but that didn't mean they liked each other. Catnap considered Boxy to be beneath him, Playtime Co.'s disposal unit, and Boxy considered Catnap to be the Prototype's stuck-up lapdog.
The two toys stared each other down briefly before Catnap spoke, "Keep to yourself, Welp! Be lucky I don't take you apart!" Boxy couldn't talk, but his contempt for Catnap was evident in another snarl before he wandered off to do his own thing.
With Boxy gone, Catnap proceeded to enter Home Sweet Home, opening the front door and stepping in. Despite his size, Catnap had no trouble navigating the dark halls of Home Sweet Home, thanks to his flexibility and slender frame. Catnap's claws tapped the wooden floor beneath him, the sounds echoing down the halls. Entering the center foyer, Catnap stopped, thinking about how quiet it had become since the Hour of Joy. All the children in Playcare were taken to the lower levels as per the Prototypes' instructions, and without them, Home Sweet Home was eerily quiet. Catnap could recall wandering these halls in another life before this, being just another unwitting pawn for Playtime Co., hoping for a better future, only for it to be taken away. He could only vaguely recall his parents, the ones who simply left him on the company's doorstep and left with no intention of returning for him. It was because of them that Catnap is what he is now, and he would never forgive them for the torment they had abandoned him to for years on end.
In the end, the Prototype had freed them, guided them to throw off their shackles and take revenge on the humans who had tormented them for years. And those children that would have been used in the company's experiments were now under the Prototype's care, safe and secure. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Catnap continued his patrol through the halls of Home Sweet Home, passing the doors of empty bedrooms and staff areas.
Turning a corner, Catnap spotted several Mini Critters scurrying along the hall. The Mini Critters fearfully got out of the way as Catnap passed by; none of them dared to get in his way, especially after what he did to the other Smiling Critters. Catnap largely ignored them, walking past without giving them a second thought. They knew their place in Playcare and obeyed him without question, so they would be useful to him.
Unlike the Smiling Critters, the Mini Critters lost most of their intelligence when they were created, behaving more animalistic than intelligent. They could still follow orders, but they couldn't devise complex plans or comprehend complicated subjects. Because of this, the Smiling Critters saw them more as animals than as fellow Smiling Critters. They primarily acted as pets for the orphans to play with before the Hour of Joy. Their childish noises are a dark reminder of what they once were.
Catnap passed through the bunk beds, the large rooms with dozens of bunk beds where most of the orphans in Playcare slept. These were for the children who didn't perform well in the Game Station tests. Catnap himself did well in the Game Station years ago, which earned him his own private room in Home Sweet Home, but also contributed to his selection for the Bigger Bodies Initiative. As Catnap navigated through the room, his attention was drawn to the sound of the Bobby Bearhug statue turning itself to watch him. Even as a child, he found the statue disturbing, more so when he learned that it was a surveillance device the staff used to monitor the children.
Moving on, Catnap went to the Kitchen area where Picky Piggy once worked to prepare meals for the orphans. Inside, there were dishes, pots, and pans scattered about, either sitting on the counters and stoves or knocked over onto the floor during the Hour of Joy, spilling their contents and wasting precious food. Catnap made his way to the meat locker, opening the door and revealing a particularly horrifying sight. The bodies of the Playcare employees were gathered inside, the cold temperature helping preserve their meat. Some of the bodies were strung up on meat hooks, others were stacked on top of one another on the racks along with boxes of regular animal meat and vegetables that were used to cook meals for the Orphans. Catnap used his claws to cut up some of the bodies, eating some of the meat and stuffing the rest inside his zipper to carry it. Exiting the locker, he closed the door behind him and made his way out of Home Sweet Home, leaving some bits of meat on the floor for the Mini Critters there to eat.
After leaving Home Sweet Home, Catnap returned to the Playhouse. Most of the Mini Critters in Playcare resided in the Playhouse, scurrying about like they did in Home Sweet Home, awaiting the return of their leader. Dozens of small eyes greeted Catnap upon his return, emerging from the woodwork in hopes of being fed. "For your loyalty," Catnap opened his zipper and pulled out several pieces of meat and piled them onto the floor, "You may feed. Never forget who your lord is." He ended with a subtle threat and allowed the Mini Critters to eat. With various cries of joy, the Mini Critters rushed to their meal like piranhas, quickly picking the slabs of meat apart for their enjoyment.
With the Mini Critters fed, Catnap went to the back of the Playhouse, navigating through the clutter of colorful plastic stand-up walls and tunnels that were set up as a maze for the orphans to have fun in. Catnap returned to the cells where he and the other Smiling Critters were kept when they weren't carrying out their duties in Playcare. Striding down the hall, Catnap reached the end, stopping in front of an occupied cell. "Time to eat," Catnap said to his prisoner.
Inside the cell, Catnap's prisoner weakly raised his head upon being addressed, his arms outstretched, held up by several leather straps connected to the ceiling. His multi-orange fur was dirty and had blood stains around his abdomen because the lower half of his body had been violently removed, and a large leather belt wrapped around him, keeping his insides from spilling out. Dogday looked upon his fellow Smiling Critter with fear and disgust, Catnap's glowing white eyes digging into his broken soul. "What? More pieces of your victims?" Dogday mustered, the forced smile he had betraying the dread he felt inside.
"Not victims!" Catnap hissed, stomping his foot on the floor, making Dogday flinch. "They were far from innocent! They tormented us! Used us! Made us their slaves! Took away everything we were! Now they are dead! They are our sustenance now! The Prototype has led us to freedom!"
"This isn't freedom!" Dogday countered, "We just have a new warden!"
"Still refuse to see the truth I see!" Catnap grabbed Dogday by the neck, getting right up to his face, glowing white eyes staring into empty black ones. "The Prototype is the reason the humans are gone! The reason we no longer have to be experimented on! If you and the others hadn't disobeyed him, you wouldn't be here now!" Catnap let Dogday go backing up.
Dogday coughed before responding, " I'm not going to fall for his false promises! He's no different than the scientists who did this to us! He is just stringing you along until your usefulness is over!"
Catnap resisted the urge to run his claws through Dogday, "He has shown more kindness to me than any of our so-called friends! The others feared me, despised me, and wanted nothing to do with me! The Prototype saved me, gave me purpose, and freed us from the humans! What have you done!? Who have you saved!?"
Dogday was about to speak, but the words died in his throat. He didn't save anyone. All his friends were dead. He couldn't protect anyone. Hoppy, Chicken, Crafty, Picky, Bubba, and Bobby were all gone. They weren't able to save any of the orphans or the employees. All his friends died for nothing. He wasn't even able to protect Aiden in the end. Dogday hung his head in defeat, no longer having the strength to argue any further. "Why don't you just kill me, Theo?"
Catnap growled in anger, grabbing Dogday by the neck again, cutting off his air supply, "Don't ever call me that!" He warned in a deadly tone, "That person is dead! Do you understand!? DEAD! The humans made sure of that! I'm Catnap and no one else now! There is no going back! Not for you, me, or any of us, so stop clinging to the past!" Catnap let Dogday go, letting him breathe again, "This factory is our only home now. The Prototype watches over us and rewards the faithful." Catnap opened his zipper, pulling out the remaining meat he had. "And heretics like you are only kept alive to serve as examples." He grabbed Dogday's head with his free hand, "So eat!" Catnap used his other hand to stuff the meat into Dogday's mouth. Dogday gagged on the human remains, physically unable to close his mouth, and had to eat to avoid choking. Dogday finished after a few grueling minutes, then Catnap left him to his torment, ignoring the sounds of sobbing behind him.
With that out of the way, Catnap ventured down below the Playhouse. Stepping out the back door, Catnap entered the cavern around Playcare. Instead of dark emptiness and jagged rocks, construction scaffolding and lights had been set up. Before the Hour of Joy, the company was in the process of expanding Playcare, as it expected to have an increased number of orphans in the next few years, seeking to extend its influence to obtain more test subjects for its experiments. Catnap easily navigated the narrow walkways, eventually reaching the end of the scaffolding and jumping off before traversing the rocky terrain of the cavern. He climbed up a rock wall and onto a ledge where he was working on a personal project.
Catnap was constructing a shrine dedicated to the Prototype. He had collected various parts from throughout Playcare to build the shrine, so far having only completed the base that the shrine would sit upon. He would also have to collect toy parts later on to attach to the shrine, knowing the Prototype also collected parts from other experiments to complete his body. The other Smiling Critters had chosen disobedience and paid for it, but Catnap was wholly loyal to the Prototype and would serve him until death. The Prototype had saved his life years ago at the cost of his own freedom, and for that, Catnap would do anything to repay him.
The spot was illuminated by an ominous orange light that Catnap had set up. Standing up on two legs, Catnap showed that he stood taller than the other Smiling Critters did, standing on par with Huggy Wuggy in height. Catnap raises his arms, head turned up towards the ceiling, his purple frame lit up by the orange light with the darkness of the cavern behind him. "My Lord, please accept this work as a tribute to you." His prayer made, Catnap got to work on the shrine.
Catnap spent several hours working on the shrine, taking his time building it piece by piece, before choosing to continue working on it tomorrow. He made his way back to the Playhouse, returning to the cells where he lives. Dogday had quieted down since Catnap visited, the broken Smiling Critter having fallen asleep. The floor of Catnap's cell had collapsed, leading to another room below where he slept. The bed resembled a cat's paw, the cushions a dull peach color with a pillow for him to rest his head on. As Catnap curled up on the bed, his gaze lingered on some trophies that he had collected and hung as decor for his room. The pendants of Hoppy, Bobby, Bubba, Crafty, Picky, and Chicken hung from the ceiling, reminders of what he had done. "Good riddance," Catnap said, resting his head on his pillow, his piercing white eyes turning dark, leaving black voids in their absence.