Level 6 had everything William Afton and Henry Emily could ever need or want. Good food was produced in the Hotel's dining room three times every day; attractive and comfortable clothes could be found in the drawers, freshly cleaned every night and neatly folded every morning by unknown means; the beds were soft to lie down on; there were many forms of entertainment to be found in the Eternal Ballroom; the music that played throughout the Hotel was beautiful and relaxing. What more could Henry desire? William could keep him here.
They were best friends, yet their friendship was based on a lie. William burned to reveal the truth about himself to Henry but was terrified that Henry would leave in horror. William was afraid that maybe Henry should leave, and never return. How could he live without his best and only friend? Was it wrong that William's entire life was built around Henry? Was it wrong for him to want Henry all to himself, to the point of killing anyone who got in the way? To the point of keeping Henry caged? But if Henry must be trapped, it ought to be in Heaven, not Hell.
Henry needed a certain degree of freedom, for sure, but William could only give so much; otherwise Henry would never stay where William could find him. The Hotel, fortunately, was small, containing only two bedrooms, the dining room, the Eternal Ballroom, two golden and nonfunctional elevators, and the hallway which connected them. All William had to do was make sure Henry did not exit the Hotel, nor have incentive to do so. Sealing off the exits the same way the elevators had been mysteriously sealed off was the perfect solution to this dilemma.
In order to seal off the exits, William had to find them first; so after making sure that Henry continued to breathe in the chloroform, he explored the place. Finding only one exit to the hotel, which led to a dark and hazardous boiler room, William was able to work quickly and prevent Henry from escaping. William had no motivation to leave himself, so he and Henry would be in the Hotel together, forever. When William came back, Henry was still sleeping. William fastened a collar to Henry's neck, then removed the cloth to wake him up.
Henry woke to find himself inside a hotel room, with his best friend staring almost lovingly into his eyes. What was going on? Why was he collared around the neck? Why had Will suddenly pushed a cloth against his mouth earlier, after inviting him to his house? How long had Henry even been unconscious? When he finally found the words to ask the many questions he had, Henry was stopped from speaking by Will gently laying an index finger on his mouth. The only thing Henry was allowed to know was that he needed to stay where Will could see him.
"You're ill. Please remain in bed and take some time to rest and get well." Those words were Will's justification for silencing Henry, but explained next to nothing. Pushing against Will's resistance, Henry opened his mouth a second time and asked "Where am I? Why did you collar me? What was the cloth you held to my mouth for? How long have I been out? Were you trying to kidnap me? What the Hell is going on?!" Henry didn't really know why he would suspect his best friend of kidnapping him, but he was so scared that the question just came out.
Kidnapping…William was being asked about kidnapping. Henry knew; he wouldn't ignore the obvious forever, and he just confronted William about what really happened that day. William struggled to find the words to explain himself; in fact, he always seemed to struggle with words around Henry. "I-I…I love you. I want you to be with me forever. I- please. Please stay. You're my best friend." It felt wrong to give this as an answer for why Henry would never go home again, and if the latter's answer of "Really?" was any indication, Henry agreed.
Will was squirming, and not answering Henry's questions. That wasn't a good sign regarding Will's intentions, and it gave Henry only one explanation for how he ended up in this strange place: Will did in fact kidnap him. Even if Will really did love him, and wasn't going to hurt him, he now wanted nothing more than to escape. He had a family he had to get back to. Charlie and Angelicka would miss him; they loved him. Charlie needed her father and her mother; Angelicka needed her husband to support her and to do his part for the Emily family.
Did Will even understand how wrong he was to take Henry away from those who depended on him most? Not only did he have a wife and a child who relied on him, his aging mother also required him to take care of her, as she had cared for him as a boy. It was criminal of Will to actively prevent Henry from fulfilling his familial obligations, and claim to love him. Even Will, selfish as he was, could not live alone; others gave of themselves in order for him to survive. If only Henry could make him see that, then maybe Will would learn to contribute.
Instead, Will just took what he wanted, as he nearly always did. Henry had tried, time and time again, to teach him how to love, how to connect with those around him, but it seemed that Will was broken deep inside. Henry couldn't imagine the Hell his friend must be going through, to be physically close to people yet emotionally isolated. The way Will had been raised, with a father who never showed him the path to emotional maturity, must have left a permanent scar. Yet his mother's tenderness should have at least planted a seed of love in him.
No. Henry couldn't leave, not like this. It would break William's heart. Henry was the only real person William had ever known. So many people were just like William: self-centered and pretentious. Many of them denied this, perhaps so they could look good to others or feel good about how 'unselfish' or 'honest' they were. After all, society dictates that people be good at pretending they aren't a bunch of selfish bums, while not appearing to be liars. A person like Henry, who was genuinely selfless and truthful with both himself and others, was rare to see.
William loved Henry for being the person he was, and wanted to know how it was possible to give so much to someone else. How did Henry not leave his marriage when things got rocky? Why was Henry personally attending to his elderly mother instead of sending her to a nursing home? What made Henry willing to lose sleep at night to comfort Charlie when she was scared? But even more than that, William desired to have Henry and his love all to himself. The only way to truly understand such a feeling, such life, was to experience it for himself.
The idea of giving more than he received terrified William, yet Henry insisted that this was the way to be truly happy. How could one survive that way, let alone be happy with so little? If William were Henry, he would have taken their robotics inventions to Washington DC, where they would have been rewarded with money and fame. Instead, Henry used his genius to entertain children in a tiny village. How that so easily made Henry happy was an enigma to William. But the most important problem right then was how to keep Henry from trying to escape.
An unknown amount of time later…
Henry felt better, despite his collar, about being near the one person he had left in his life. He started to see the appeal in having nearly free rein with regard to both amenities and entertainment, but he was still terribly afraid of being alone. Worse, he was starting to forget the faces of first, his mother; then, his wife; and finally, his baby daughter. Had he missed Charlie's birthday? His and Angelicka's anniversary? Had his mother died with no one to comfort her? How many precious moments of their lives was he missing as he stayed in this ornate hotel?
Finally, William wasn't run ragged worrying about whether Henry would be too strong or too clever for him to hold. Henry had given up on escaping on his own a while ago, and only occasionally asked William to let him go. He never told Henry of the struggles he had gone through to get them to Level 6 in the first place, like nearly going insane from the endless yellow halls of Level 1, or befriending a Smiler on Level 4 during a blackout. All he knew was that letting Henry go was the one thing he couldn't do…yet. Henry enjoyed his stay in the Hotel, right?
An unknown amount of time later…
"Henry? I love you. And I've started to realize…you have always loved me, even when I couldn't see it, or return that feeling. It was wrong of me to kidnap you and keep you in chains, so I will do anything you want in return."
"I only want one thing from you, Will. Bring me home. Please."
William considered for a long time whether he had the emotional strength to do that, and risk losing his beloved Henry forever. In the end…