William reached for the glass of water that was seated on the table before him as the trial continued.
Beside him was their chosen lawyer, Rachel Burton, and on his other side was Henry Emily.
As both the owners of the Diner and the one directly responsible for hitting Cassidy Lloyd, the two were seated together as a company-related lawsuit rather than a personal one which was being combined to put most of the blame on William until Henry stepped in to try and defend him from any wrongdoing.

"Mr Afton was not driving recklessly that day when the accident occurred on November 4th, 1984. Just outside of Mr Emily's Fredbear's Family Diner." Burton announced to the jury as she got up.

Their prosecutor was a man known as Adrian Schmidt who had quite the reputation for being brutal when it came to court cases and accusations.
William was about to be cross-examined and he had avoided the man's eyes up until this point where he was addressing the jury.

"To the ladies an' gentlemen of the Hurricane jury. I act as the state an' stand in for Haley Lloyd. A hard-working, unfortunate yet kind-hearted single mother who had lost her baby girl in a tragedy. Because of the reckless actions of this man-" Schmidt pointed at William as he raised his voice. "Who let his emotions get the better of him that day an' chose to drive which put everyone's lives in danger."

"The court of Hurricane County, Utah, calls Mr William Afton to the stand." The Judge leaned forward and delicately spoke into his microphone.

Henry patted William on the back before he got up and timidly took his place on the stand. He glanced across the crowd of swimming faces and blinking eyes to see Steve, Dave and Jess sitting nearby - as witnesses.

"Mr Afton." Adrian rolled the man's name off his tongue coolly as he stepped forward with a stack of paper in his hands.

William had to admit, the man was quite nicely dressed for the occasion and so was everyone else. 'Just keep your calm, old boy. Nobody wants to be here any less than you do.'

"You were there that day when this so-called accident took place. Weren't you?"

"Yes." William nodded and just stared straight ahead at the wall to avoid being intimidated by the other man.

"Do you recall how long you were at the Diner for?"

"Uh... Maybe half an hour or more. I-I'm not sure - h-how long exactly that I was there."

"You had almost no reason to be at the Diner that evening, did you?" Adrian leaned against the jury box with a smug smirk as he began setting William up to fall.

"Uh, no, that's... That's not true. I hadn't been called there - no - but I was useful there."

"So you could say that you were somehow needed there that day?" Adrian sneered slightly.

"Yes," William nodded. "Yes. Because Fredbear - that's one of the animatronics that operates there - had slight problems with his foot... Its foot."

"But Mr Emily did not call for you to be there? Neither did any other employee that worked there that day?" Adrian pushed himself off the box as he started forward with a frown.

"I do not need permission to be at the Diner, I work there. I built half of it." William felt slightly offended by the other man's questions.

"Ok." Adrian nodded and looked at his stack of papers as he spoke. "We're gettin' a little off track but I wan'ed to ask you about what happened that day?"

William gave a nod and peered down at the sheets of paper in the man's hands before he spoke again.

"You had gotten into an argument with another employee that day. Do you recall who it was or what it was that had made you so upset?"

William's stomach flipped as he realised that he had to repeat a very private conversation in front of a crowd of complete strangers. His eyes found Henry as they widened with slight fear. Henry stared back at him but gave a tiny nod in hopes of encouraging the other to continue.

"I-... I had gotten into an argument with Henry... Mr Emily. Henry Emily. That day an'... We-we talked about his daughter, Charlotte. Charlotte Emily." William's breathing quickened as he stared into space.

"What was that conversation about? If you don't mind me askin', Mr Afton. It seems like a very strange topic to get upset over. Are there any underlyin' reasons as to why talkin' about Charlotte Emily would get you so worked up?"

William sighed softly through his nostrils before he stubbornly answered. "Mr Emily claimed that I was being too harsh on his daughter with her grades. It... It became personal to me because I don't have any children of my own."

He paused to stare directly at Henry as he continued on.
"I see myself in Charlie - Charlotte Emily, that's what we call her - because I was worried that she had no friends at school or that if she didn't get good grades, she'd... She'd end up miserable." Like me.

He didn't need to say that last part because he knew that Henry already knew and no one else needed to judge William's mentality when it came to Henry's daughter. This town had always pictured and labeled him as a freak but all William had ever wanted was for Charlie to be happy.

"I see," Adrian nodded as he stared at his papers before continuing. "How did that conversation become so... Overwhelming for you, Mr Afton?"

William briefly closed his eyes to relive that moment before he answered. "No comment."

"I'm told that you have a strange family history. I know what happened between your parents an' what with that horrifying Christmas that no one can forget about involvin' your brothers. I mean," William found Adrian's snobby laughter to be annoying. "Come on - it seems like everyone in the Afton family has some sort of problem."

"Objection, your honor!" Burton soon stood up. "How does this relate to the case?"

"With all due respect, your honor." Adrian swiftly turned to cover his own ass. "My analysis of William Afton's mental state may actually help his case. If Mr Afton is suffering from a mental disorder should that not be somethin' for people to be aware of? They could take proper action to keep him an' our community safe."

Adrian turned to the crowd and then to the jury. William noticed how Steve narrowed his eyes at Adrian Schmidt as a dark frown came over his features. Henry was unreadable as he sat there silently and Rachel scoffed.

"It seems relevant. Continue on, Mr Schmidt." The judge muttered.

"Thank you, your honor." Adrian did a mock bow before he turned his horrible green gaze back onto William.
"What kind of mental state were you in after this conversation with Henry, Mr Afton?"

"I was upset." William bluntly and briefly answered as his walls stood tall.

"Right. You were upset. Help me to understand somethin', William. How does someone like you get access to a driver's license?"

William froze up as the question was fired from a canon and landed in his fucking face. His eyes scanned the faces of Henry, Rachel, and Steve but only Steve appeared to offer him a shared hatred for their legal enemy. The courtroom was silent as everyone expectantly looked at William to answer the question.

"I'm not sure I understand what exactly is being asked in its entirety." William finally looked into Adrian's eyes as something came over him. "How do you mean by my allowed to get a driver's license? Are you saying that because I am an Afton and even though my father died in a car accident - should no Aftons from here on in be allowed to drive? I wasn't aware that there was a law in Utah - let alone this country of free men - suggesting something like that."

"An' there it is." Adrian whispered through grit, pearly-white teeth as he smiled.
He appeared to recognize something in William that no one else yet had.

A recess was soon called and William was glad to seek shelter - even if it was only temporarily - back over by his friends' side. He silently stared down at his hands on the desk in thought as Henry was called to the witness stand when they resumed.

"Mr Emily," Adrian began as his voice took the room through effortless force. "It comes to my understandin' that both you an' Mr Afton own Fredbear's Family Diner?"

"Yes." Henry nodded as he stood with his hands clasped together on the podium.

"And how did it come to be arranged like this?"

"Well. I had first met Mr Afton when we were children. We were twelve at the time when my family had moved to Hurricane. We came about the idea together through our love of robotics. I handled the insurance an' finances whilst William built an' fixed most of the technological side of the Diner."

"Who does the security fall to the most at the Diner?"

"Our daytime security guard is Steven Peter an' Davon Miller relieves him of duty from 12 am to 7 am."

"How do you intend to protect children in or around the Diner, Mr Emily?"

"Well... We figured that since we have many adults in the area, both parents an' our employees - that someone would usually keep an eye or would see somethin' happen."

"That seems almost a little reckless for a family-friendly business, don't you think Henry?" Adrian asked as he stood close to the stand.
"Just leavin' it up to chance? Is that how Cassidy died - with nobody watchin' her? Do you think that it was Mr Afton's responsibility to watch a child that wasn't his own? I mean, if he was so concerned with your child - wouldn't you want him to carry that same mindset over to any child that visits the Diner?"

He made a good point and Henry sighed as his eyes danced over the crowd to process the question being asked.

"Yes. I think that it was William's responsibility to do the right thing that day. Whether he should've gotten into his car or he should've been thinkin' more clearly when he did - perhaps then Cassidy Lloyd would not have died." Henry casually leaned back in his seat as he kept his eyes on Adrian.

"What do you think triggered your close friend - William Afton - into stormin' out of the Diner an' what had upset him so much that he had gotten into his car to physically remove himself from you?"

Henry sighed as he looked down. "There was one thing that Mr Afton forgot to tell you, Mr Schmidt. Before we talked about Charlie - my daughter - William had insisted on gettin' inside one of the animatronic spring locked suits."

"He insisted?"

William watched breathlessly as Henry nodded.

"What are these suit animatronics that you speak of?"

"Well. These were designed an' manufactured by William Afton. I wanted normal mascots an' robots an' he birthed the idea of combinin' the two through a method that heavily involved a spring lock system."

"That sounds awfully dangerous, wouldn't you agree, Mr Emily?"

"Yes, but-"

"What if a child had gotten stuck inside one of the suits?"

"No. That's not how it works, Mr Schimdt. A child can't just wander inside one of the animatronics. The suit is designed so that the spring locks extend outward an' the endoskeleton - that's the robot's skeleton - expands out like a set o' lungs when someone's takin' a breath of fresh air. There's a crank that moves automatically inside the suit to unwind and wind the spring locks. The robots themselves can be overridden with voice command. I an' William Afton are the only ones who are able to use the voice command as he had programmed us as their creators into their systems."

"What are the voice commands if I may ask?" Adrian mumbled almost curiously and one look around the room proved that he wasn't the only one.

"'Fredbear, release' gets you to open up the suit. 'Bonnie, autopilot' gets the robot to revert back to its performance mode. That's the one where the animatronic takes back control of its endoskeleton an' sings an' dances on its own. 'Pilot mode' is the command for pullin' the spring locks back so someone can get inside." Henry did his best to explain it down into simple words for the court to digest.

But William knew that there were at least a hundred other commands, such as:
Release.
Power down.
Shut down.
Pilot mode.
Autopilot.
Stop.
Perform.
Guard.

The animatronics could do that much and with the sentient artificial intelligence that William had installed into Spring Bonnie - it could probably do more.

"Spring locks are very dangerous, Mr Emily. You allowed your best friend an' partner to willingly create these machines an' despite knowin' the risks, you still allowed him to climb inside it?"

"I know what spring locks are," everyone did.

Hurricane was mostly a farm town and during wintry months, they'd use inhumane rabbit traps to catch any food they could - especially back in the old war days when food was scarce.

"I did not wish for William to risk his life that day - nor any other day - when Cassidy passed. I believe that Mr Afton was upset about the fact that Davon Miller had not tested out the Fredbear animatronic. The animatronics have a daily spring lock test to make sure that all their pieces are still adequately movin' around. No child is able to climb inside without mine or William's voice command an' that goes the same for anyone else." Henry let his eyes sweep slowly across the courtroom.
"William seemed upset that he did not have a family - or a reason - to take caution whilst at work. I fear that I may have said somethin' in the heat of the moment which angered him an' led him to storm off."

Henry's eyes landed on William as the taller man stared down into his glass of water as their coworker, Dave was called to the witness stand next.

"You were asked to wear the suit that day an' you didn't. Were you aware of the animatronic's limp or were you just too afraid to put yourself into harm's way?"

"A little bit of both." Dave answered timidly as he looked out at the courtroom.

"I wan'ed to ask you some personal questions, Mr Miller. About William Afton's mindset - overall an' on that day when the so-called accident occurred. The security footage provided by Fredbear's Family Diner as well as the dozens o' witness statements taken on that day - provide an image that stands out to me. Could you say that William Afton was violent towards you on that day?"

Dave fiddled with his fingers as he looked down before he shook his head and licked his lips with a shaky inhale before he answered. "No. No, William was not violent towards me that day."

"But he pushed you out of his way?"

"Yes. Yes, he did but not hard enough to where I would fall."

"You had chosen to put yourself between him an' the doorway to the Diner. Is this a regular occurrence, Mr Miller? Does a man like William Afton let his emotions get the better o' him so that he lashes out frequently at you an' your coworkers?" Adrian asked as he smirked whilst glancing back over his shoulder to where William was seated.

Dave sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before he responded. "Yes. William Afton often yells at us - especially me. Sometimes at Steve 'n' Jess too. He gets moody but he never gets too violent. You understand what I'm tryin' to say, right? He's a jerk - a real jerk - but he'd never hurt anyone."

William just stared down into his glass as the trial carried on.

"What do you mean exactly by 'moody', Mr Miller?" Adrian asked as he frowned down at the stack of papers in his hand.

"Well... There's days where Will's just kinda mellow an' out of it. He swings by the Diner every night to check in so that's how I know. He's mostly just Henry's lapdog. He'll do whatever the boss asks - both him 'n' Steve. If one of the cameras are down, the cash register's not workin', or if one of the animatronics ain't feelin' right then he goes 'n' fixes 'em up. Then there's days when Mr Afton is snappy or tired. In recent years I've noticed that Afton's not actin' right. I mean, I didn't know him that well before, y'know... What happened on Christmas, but he originally seemed like a quiet an' shy kinda fellow."

"What changes in Mr Afton's behaviour have you noticed the most so far?"

"Well, he's tired all the time." Dave sighed and shook his head. "He seems agitated whenever Henry asks somethin' from him."

"An' why do you assume that best friends William Afton an' Henry Emily seem to not like each other anymore?"

Henry lifted his head to glare daggers into Dave but there was no brain cell strong enough to understand what Henry was trying to stop Dave from saying.

"Ah, that's because Henry took Asston's girl!"

And there was the bombshell dropped in the courtroom as a ripple of murmurs soon sparked to life and as the judge roared and banged their hammer - William risked a glance over to Henry who was fuming at Dave for having no tact.

It was true, however.
Henry Emily had married the woman that William Afton had fallen head over heels for.
Though William had never wanted to talk about this with Henry - now the entire town had a piece of their life up for simple gossip.
William had never before felt so naked. Dave had just dropped a very private piece of their lives in front of everyone on display and William feared that his friendship with Henry would never recover from this. Because they hadn't sat down properly and talked this out yet. William no longer loved Belladonna like he once had but now he feared that Henry had a reason as to why William was so protective of their little girl - Charlotte was the child that William could've had if Belladonna White had chosen him instead of Henry.

"Order! Order!" The judge growled loudly as the crowd swam wild with conspiracies.

The two best friends since sixth grade had a grudge!
It was a shock wave that no one saw coming and it was something that they were going to devour.

"Mr Miller." Adrian turned back to Dave once the courtroom had been restored to its original tranquility.
"You just told us that William Afton had liked the same woman as his best friend - allegedly - but do you truly believe this to be the reason why William Afton was so upset at Mr Emily that day?"

"Yes," Dave nodded without a thought behind his eyes. "Yes, I do. Belladonna White didn't like William because she thought that he was a little off. She didn't like him because he wasn't like Henry 'n' I swear that one day somethin's gonna happen because o' it."

"Fucking idiot..." Henry quietly muttered under his breath as he rubbed a hand over his face.

"So you believe that this gives reason to a premeditated attack?"

"I do."

Once all the evidence had been documented and all the witnesses had been interviewed, William Afton was once again called to the stand. Weeks had passed since the accident and he swore that he must've looked like a zombie as he shuffled his way over to the podium. He didn't even acknowledge Henry as the two passed by each other. The trial had been grueling as he watched one by one, his friends take the stand and try to gently admit to this crowd of complete strangers that whilst William Afton was their friend - something just felt off about him.

No one knew what it was that was wrong with him.
Just that they knew they had to be careful because if they weren't, William would explode into a ball of rage and after hearing that be repeated over and over again from the people that had supported him for the last four years - it changed you.

William now realised that with each passing day of this court battle - he had been reflecting a monster that he knew all too well and the last thing that he wanted was for that monster to get out.

Was Vincent right?
Did William deserve to be punished?
Was William Afton a monster like the rest of his family?

Just remember, he told himself. Michael wasn't a monster.

"Mr Afton. As the courtroom just heard; is it true that you demanded that your best friend - since you were twelve, William - you demanded that Henry Emily get inside the Spring Bonnie animatronic? Did you want him to get inside the suit so that he could hurt himself?" Adrian asked as he stood before the jury.

"Yes." William stared dead ahead of him without so much as giving even a hint of emotion as he answered in just a simple word.

"So you admit to wan'ing to hurt Henry?"

"Yes."

"Ok," Adrian nodded. "Did talking about Charlotte trigger this reaction in you or was it the immense work pressure that you were under durin' that same time period? You found it funny if Henry hurt himself, is that right?"

"No."

"But you laughed at him, right?"

William turned his ghastly steel-grey eyes to look at Adrian as he remembered what Vincent had told him. "I was not myself in that moment. I had snapped under the pressure of working tirelessly to help out my friend. I was tired and upset so I just wanted to go home and get some rest. I had hit Cassidy Lloyd with my car as an accident due to the fact that I was unable to see her."

"Well." Adrian hissed quietly with a smirk at William. "Let's see what the jury has to say about that."

The eighteen people muttered quietly between themselves before a young woman with straight, brunette hair soon stood up. "We the jury of this court find William Afton - the defendant - not guilty. Based on the evidence provided by the Coroner's office of Hurricane County, three-year-old Cassidy Lloyd died when her head hit the pavement. Whether or not Mr Afton would have hit her with his vehicle. Based on the security footage from Fredbear's Family Diner parking lot, we were able to see that William Afton was not traveling faster than under 10 miles per hour in the location at the time. We the jury, find that the fault of negligence lies with Cassidy Lloyd's mother - Halely Lloyd - as her mother by birth, you should have been watching your daughter to prevent this tragedy."

The woman spoke as she slowly turned to glance at Halely Lloyd who was sitting nearby.

"Mr Afton did the right thing that day by stopping his vehicle and trying to help Cassidy Lloyd out from underneath the car. Sadly, she did not survive her injuries. We as the jury, please ask that to prevent further tragedies, both owners of the Fredbear's Family Diner accept the invitation to take up better security and safety protocols - especially when it comes to the children in the area. We have collectively decided that William Afton will pay a fine to the state of Utah of $2,500 as per the negligent homicide act. We also ask that if William Afton is found in the spotlight of future cases involving a fatality - that he is to undergo house arrest and a mental health evaluation."

The woman stated with a small nod before she retook her seat. It seemed like a reasonable deal.

"Then by the court of Hurricane County, this case matter is settled. Mr Afton is found not guilty. Fredbear's Family Diner will pay the intended fine of $2,500 an' Halely Lloyd will face eighteen months in jail for her reckless actions." The judge explained before giving one last strike of his hammer.

William hurried outside of the courtroom as he had requested to see Haley before she was taken away. He tried to give her a small smile but the woman looked just as tired as him.

"I'm sorry for your loss." William began softly as he held the tiny, golden bear plush.

"I'm sorry for putting you through all of this." Halely sniffed as she hugged herself, watching as everyone soon left the courtroom.

William looked down at her and realised that she also held a horrible reputation of her own. She had been through just as much pain as him - if not more. William felt a hole of pity begin growing in his stomach before he tenderly held out the little bear.

"I... I had an idea."

Halely turned to look at the bear plushie being held out to her and her eyes widened. "Is that Fredbear? That one was always her favourite."

"Oh?" William raised an eyebrow with a soft tone.

Halely nodded with a grin as tears began to fall gently from her eyes. "She never liked the rabbit. I know you built it an' all but... She said that it looked like it was always thinking."

William frowned as his eyes looked off into the distance as he tried to figure out what exactly a three-year-old could mean by that when Halely's sharp laugh brought him back to reality.

"Like you." She sniffed and pointed at William. "Yeah, I can see it. You an' that bunny are the same."

"Uh, I... I chose Fredbear because his plush was bigger than Bonnie's." William awkwardly cleared his throat as he didn't quite know how to take what she had said.

Halely then curiously took the plushie and William told her to press its soft, round belly. The voice of a little girl soon giggled and rang out through some static and William couldn't help the smile on his face as he watched the look of recognition flicker across her teary face as she smiled and pressed the stomach again.

"Look, look, mommy! It's Freddy!" She laughed and cried at the same time as the voice of Cassidy Lloyd played from the little bear. "I love you."

"Thank you so much." She shook her head and tightly embraced William. "How did... I don't care. Just - thank you."

William watched her go and soon turned to spot Henry watching him from the entrance to the courtroom. William quickly lost his happiness as fear and hesitance set in his bones like wet cement.

"I guess I already don't have to ask you how you did that." Henry smiled as he looked down the hallway where they had seen Halely disappear.

"I... I found Cassidy on the tapes an' asked Steve to make me a copy so I that could put it on a recording and stuffed it inside a toy. She'll be able to listen to her little girl again an' the recording won't die because it's on a tape. All she has to do is press the stomach where I stitched it." William quietly muttered as he looked down.

"I'm just glad that it's over." Henry sighed after a moment of silence and carefully pulled one hand out of his pocket to tightly hold William's shoulder.

"What? This... This isn't over, Emily." William gave him a sharp look. "The Diner, Bella, Charlie, the pizzeria-"

"We'll get to 'em." The large man nodded without even so much as a change in his relieved face. "One at a time, old friend. I'm just glad that I still have you here beside me. Right?"

Henry turned to finally look at William and William wondered if this was his one chance at being able to walk away from everything. If he had any idea as to the torture that was going to befall him next - he would have turned and left Henry standing inside that courtroom.
But William could not see into the future and he was gullible and naive.
All William wanted was his friend. He had nothing but his friend in that moment.

If William knew what Henry was going to do to him one day, he would've ran like Hell as far as he could from him.

But William of the now did not care because he did not yet know what was coming.

So he nodded with a shy smile and once again put his life back into Henry's hands. He turned and began walking with his friend down the hallway and out of the building in hopes of picking up the pieces of their lives and stitching them back together after the storm that was Cassidy had tried to tear them apart.