Chapter 7 - Toby

I got out of the Mansion as fast as I could, trying to keep my cool and pretend it was nothing. Hoodie and Masky had already left, and were probably on their way to their respective homes. They lived together for a while, sharing a cabin near the outskirts of the forest next to the city. 

After years of living together they figured it would be best to have their own space, and so they built another cabin nearby. They were like neighbors, and anyone would've pitied whatever human soul that had the bad luck to stumble upon their creepy neighborhood.

I swear those two were like twins. In a way I've always wanted that companionship, but most of us were lonely killers, and kept to ourselves unless Slender sent us on missions together. Hoodie, Masky and I were sent when Slender wanted a big show, to send a message. Otherwise, EJ, BEN, Jeff... All of them were usually on their own out there, and they all had their own MOs and signature murders. 

We all knew where we lived, and we could find the others if the need arose, but Slender is so powerful that no one really dared touch us. Well, maybe Zalgo, but that's another story.

Most liked to be alone though, out of trust issues or just pure hatred to other living beings. EJ however, he kept to himself for other reasons. I remember he had a toy human once, a few years back. He fell in love with her, even if he never outright told us, we all knew.

He taught her how to fight, sort of, and even introduced her to some of us. She was nice, very open minded to EJ's... proclivities.

EJ met her when she was being hunted down by some drunk men, they cornered her in an alley and Jack heard her screams. For him, killing those guys was easy, but when it came to killer *her*, well, things changed. When he turned to her, he saw her frantic look in her eyes. Tears running down her face and mouth wide open in fear. Her shirt was torned and she was in such distress that Jack took pity on her, at least a little bit. 

You can call Jack a cannibal or a monster, but he despises men who try to sexually assault women, so much so that killing them is one of his greatest pleasures. Or so he said.

Jack took her to his lab, planning on experimenting on her and using her for his own research. It was all pretend though, he never found the will to hurt her and just kept her in his lab tied down to the examination table. She tried to escape several times, and even ran into the Rake once. 

EJ saved her and fought that thing like his life depended on it, and that night was when things changed for them.

EJ's demon however... it was never too pleased with the arrangement. As time went by, he kept losing control more often, as if his feelings for the human were making the demon restless. He hurt her a couple of times, and much like the story of Jekyll and Hide, EJ would lose his memories of what had happened. 

Things started escalating and his human tried to escape once again. 

That's when the demon completely lost it.

Jack "woke up" that night to her half eaten corpse.

He was never the same.

I didn't want that to happen to Y/N, but my own selfishness had already put her at risk with Slender's unwanted attention. Others, much like EJ, had kept humans before and he never showed interest in them.

'He knows something I don't, that's gotta be it. That piece of shit... I need to know what he's planning, what does he know that I don't'

The early hours of the morning were quiet when I arrived at my home. The rain had stopped, but the air still felt humid and the fog was creeping over the roots of the big old trees of the forest. All the lights were off, just like I had left them.

My cabin was small, but I liked it. I tried to keep it as nice and clean as possible, but it still looked a bit run down. I wasn't good at maintenance I guess. Contrary to Masky and Hoodie, I didn't build it myself. It was an old hunting cabin that I found. When the owners came during the hunting season they were met with me, and my two hatchets. But I got a cabin out of the effort, which is nice.

I opened the door and locked it behind me, turning the lights of the living room on. Everything was right where I left it, which was a good thing.

I walked down the hall to the room where I kept Y/N. She was still tied up, her head hanging uncomfortably but she seemed to be asleep.

"Hey...", I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to wake her up without scaring her, -"Y/N, wake u-up".

"WHAT THE- ", she woke up startled, gasping and trying to look around. So much for not scaring her. I guess I should've pulled off the hood first so she could see.

"It's me, Toby. I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean t-to scare you, I'm sorry", I blurted out, taking off the hodd from her head.

Her eyes squinted at me, trying to focus on my face. I took my goggles off and put them on the table near her chair.

"See? It's me"

"Right, ok. Are you gonna release me soon or kill me?", her voice was shaky, still a bit startled, but it held an air of determination. For a moment it seemed like she no longer cared what happened, as long as she was "released" one way or another.

"I... S-sort of can't... an-anymore"

"What do you mean you can't?"

"Well, remember w-when I said I was h-hired by someone to murder the p-people at the diner? He sort of... Found out a-about you? And he... uh... w-wants... to meet y-you..." my voice sounded apologetically, and I was begging for her not to lose her shit.

Her eyes were wide open in fear. I couldn't blame her, even if I didn't know about the supernatural beings that live in this world, if some "murder boss" wanted to see me I would freak out.

"Toby, what the fuck-"

"Look, it's n-not that b-bad. I m-mean, he's n-not usually in a s-sadistic mood!"

"What. the. FUCK, Toby"

I saw her starting to freak out. I knew I was terrible at calming down people. Hell, I haven't been around people socially for a long time! 'How do people calm dow-', her stomach grumbled, interrupting my frantic thoughts.

"You hungry?" I said with a nervous smile. Her face was pure disbelief, disbelief of how her body betrayed her and how I was nonchalantly just trying to change the subject.

She let out a sigh, "yeah, I guess I am".

"L-look, if I untie you, w-will you stay put?". She just looked at me, not saying a word, expectantly. Oh, she was gonna try to run alright."Ok-k you're just the worst at k-keeping appearances", I chuckled.

"Well, can you blame me? You seriously think the person you kidnapped would blindly trust you and not try to run?"

"You c-can't run, Y/N", she scoffed in return. "I'm s-serious, love. In this forest, t-there are others like me, worse t-than me. They don't k-know that Slender wants t-to see you, and t-they will try to torture you, hurt y-you, murder you... It won't be a q-quick death, and you're g-gonna be begging to be k-killed".

She gulped. 'I guess that'll do it'.

"I guess you're right, you didn't kill those people by yourself after all..." she looked down at the floor,- "fine, I won't run, for now. But my legs and arms hurt, so please untie me, Toby."

'For now... she's gonna be a handful, jesus', I thought while untying her feet and then moving up to her arms.

She wearily looked up at me, rubbing her wrists. I helped her stand up, and she gave a few pitiful steps towards the door, but before I could put an arm around her she gave me a death glare.

"Don't. I can walk on my own."

"Sure, I g-guess we'll get t-there by Christmas at your pace"

"Well, I've been tied up in an uncomfortable position for two nights now. You'd be in pain too!", she looked back at me in the hallway.

"I w-wouldn't..."

"Of course you would"

"I p-promise you, love, I w-wouldn't"

Another annoyed glare, 'I'm on fire today'. The morning light was seeping through the windows, warming up the cabin and the forest outside. It was a nice morning, they always were after a rainy night.

"Why wouldn't you? That's nonsense", she was annoyed at me. This interaction was so new to me that I couldn't help but chuckle.

"I will t-tell you the whole s-story in t-time, but just know t-that I was born without t-the ability to feel p-pain. It's called C-congenital Insensitivity to P-pain, it's hereditary", I shrugged. I sometimes wondered who had that gene in my family, but I suppose it is not important now. A bit late to pull up the family medical records.

"Oh. I...- I'm sorry, I didn't know", her face softened.

We kept walking to the kitchen, which wasn't really that far, it was just outside the hallway next to the living room. With her sloppy steps though, we were really taking our time to get there.

But she didn't want me to touch her, and so I wouldn't help her walk. Lyra, my sister, was my favorite person. She was so strong, yet kind to everyone and would always look out for me. When I was still attending classes in highschool, she defended me as much as she could. Getting in trouble more than a few times. She taught me to be respectful, especially towards women, and in her memory I would never touch a woman without her explicit consent. Well, I mean, I kill women too, but that's not the point. And I guess I kidnap them now too. If Lyra could see me now... She would probably kick my ass.

Once we got to the living room, I could see her glancing around the cabin. She sat down at the table, and I went into the kitchen to grab something for her.

"Do you know a dude with grey skin and glowing yellow eyes?", she said while raising her voice a bit so I could hear her from the other room.

My eyes widened in surprise. 'Is she talking about Puppeteer? It's gotta be...'

"W-why do you ask?", I asked, walking back with a sandwich and doing my best not to let my voice falter.

"He has visited me a few times, in my dreams or something. I don't know how to explain it, it's weird", she said with her mouth full.

"Uh... Yeah. I g-guess you're talking a-about Puppeteer. He d-does that sometimes. What has he t-told you?"

"Nothing much, only that I might go insane in this woods. He seems familiar to me, I don't know why though"

"I don't k-know either, Y/N...", I lied. I mean I didn't know for sure, but that's what Puppeteer does. Stalks and feeds on people's mental issues until he kills them. If Puppeteer was after Y/N, I wonder how she's still alive.

She looked up at me from her plate, she squinted her eyes. She knew I was keeping something from her, but I just didn't want to scare her.

"Right... Ok. I'll drop it, for now. He did say I could trust you, especially if I started feeling a bit loopy"

"Loopy?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know... Insane".

I was worried about that. Puppeteer was right, because of Slender's mojo this forest has an effect on people. More so in some cases than others, depending on the person. But I would protect Y/N, I would keep her safe. Even from Slenderman himself.

"You'll b-be ok, love. I p-promise."

"Of course! What could go wrong when some kind of mob boss wants to meet me? Don't think I've forgotten about that!", her sarcasm was palpable.

"He's not a mob b-boss, strictly sp-speaking. Eat your sandwich, Y/N.", my voice came out more demanding than I meant.

"No, Toby, tell me. What's going on? Seriously, you talk all mysterious about others in this woods, but I want to know more. Especially now that some weirdo wants to meet me and I guess I don't have much chance of running away, do I?", her voice was weary and a bit nervous. And she had every reason to be terrified and yet, she was trying her best to see things rationally.

With Slenderman, there was no place for rational thinking.

"Ok, if t-that will keep you from running away into t-the woods like a dumbass," I said with a small smile, trying to lift up her mood,- "I'm gonna tell you t-the story of the Slenderman".

--------- A/N ---------

To the couple of people reading this story, would you be interested in me writing this story about EJ x reader? I guess I already spoiled the ending, but maybe you'd be interested in knowing what happens. Perhaps as a one shot.

Thank you!~