Idea5 - Tumblr Posts
I've just realized I never posted idea 5 to my main account lol, might as well do it now that I've added an addendum to it.
Idea 5 and addendum: Vanessa visits the graves of her victims and sees ghosts
An idea that I've seen exceedingly few fics try and cover is Vanessa encountering the ghosts of the people whom she (as Vanny) murdered after the 3-star ending.
I am unsure as to how one would make this situation happen. Maybe it could be a dream.
A scenario that I like most has to do with the idea that Vanessa visits the graves of the children she (no vanny) killed. After she was freed, she reported the location of the bodies so that they could recieve a proper burial. Vanessa knows that it isn't enough, she doesn't think that she will ever be able to do enough to atone for what she did to all of those children (it wasn't you, it was Vanny.) At the very least she tries to go and visit their graves once a week, making sure to bring flowers for them everytime. Vanessa doesn't say anything during the visits, what is there to say? "I'm sorry?" Yeah right, as if SHE is deserving of forgiveness...
I really like it because there are a lot of things you could potentially cover, including:
How would the ghosts react to seeing the freed Vanessa? Would the children be enraged? If so, what would they do?
Or would they be able to see that the person in front of them is not really the same as the one who murdered them, not mentally, at least? Maybe (relating back to idea 2) the children who were taught by her would be able to convince the other children of this.
How about the therapists? They would likely be more willing to listen, being adults trained in understanding psychological conditions.
One could discuss how Vanessa has been dealing with having 2 sets of childhood memories, a fake abusive one (again, put there by Glitchtrap for reasons of trying to make her more obedient, which ended up failing) and her true, standard, evidently normal one. (in this universe patient 46 and their tapes didn't exist, save for that one line about lying about childhood, just pretend it was in one of Vanessa's tapes)
And, of course, we can't forget Vanessa. What would she do? It is most likely that she would curl up into a ball and await the punishment that she thinks she deserves (she doesn’t). After all, it is HER fault, right? (No, it’s Vanny's.)
If you include Gregory in this encounter, he, being the "no fear" gremlin that he is, would probably try and start to defend his… uh… paternal guardian of unspecified rank in some way, either by trying to explain that Vanny is no more, or try and actually fight the ghosts.
As you can see, there are many ways that I think someone can make a mini story out of this concept.
Addendum 5.1: Why Vanessa isn't prosecuted for the murders
Figured I would try and answer this potential plot hole. The ghosts of the children would eventually realize that it was VANNY who killed them and not Vanessa. If anything, Vanessa is as much a victim as they are. Now that they know this, they are free to move on to the the afterlife.
Before they do this, they all decide to appear before their parents and tell them what happened. After convincing them that they aren't hallucinating. The ghosts tell their parents about how they died and the person that killed them, Vanny. They also tell their parents not to punish Vanessa since she literally couldn't do anything to stop their deaths and that she already is punishing herself enough as it is. Then some tears are shed and final goodbyes are said before the children move on.
After this the parents would stop pressing the investigators to find the culprit since now they have all the answers they need and getting closure. They all begin the slow process of acceptance and moving on with their lives. It is up to you all what happens after, maybe they just ignore Vanessa, maybe some of them decide to try and contact her. The world is your oyster!