Three days passed, Skwisgaar acted as though nothing had happened. It was better if nobody else knew about Toki's problem, they would only see it at face value. Toki being a pussy, and he really, truly was not. Not with that history.
He'd never admit to the rest of the band that he cared about Toki. The constant mockery that would ensue was not worth it, and so he continued to watch out for him in secrecy. Skwisgaar really did love the kid, though that had only been a relatively recent development. Toki Wartooth had been through some serious shit lately.
After his father's death, his cat's death, his turmoil over Rockzo and his countless relapses, his drinking problem, the rock camp and the kids there who tried to kill him, not to mention his childhood, and all the shit the band had gone through together… It had left a lasting scar on the boy.
Skwisgaar was pulled from his thoughts by Charles Offdensen clearing his throat.
"Ah, if I could have your attention, everyone? I'd like to make an… Nathan, why do you have my plasma globe? It doesn't belong to you."
"Hey. Hey. Check this out." Nathan poked the ball with a finger, jumping back slightly when the vein of lightning shot from the centre to the point he was touching. Of course, suddenly, everyone was fascinated too, and they all gathered around it, save for Toki, who was missing from the meeting room entirely.
Charles, defeated by the band's childish attraction to stupid things, let them play. It was then that he noticed Toki's absence.
"Hey, uh, where's Toki?"
"Toki?" Murderface poked his head out from the tightly-knit group around the strange zappy-flashy ball on the table, "Haven't scheen him schinche yeshterday."
"Huh. Well, if you're all happy to continue…" They obviously weren't, "We can just fill him in later."
"Looks! It zaps for my tongues!" Skwisgaar had his face pressed against the ball, while Pickles uncapped the bottle of vodka in his hand, preparing to pour it over the globe. However, despite their total immersion in this new toy, once they heard the distinct sound of a zipper going down, they pulled away faster than Charles had ever seen them move before in his life.
William, standing on a chair, looked around.
"What?" his hands were still on the fly of his shorts, evidently preparing to put his dick on the globe. Their manager was strangely grateful.
"Alright, now we've all had a little fun, let's talk about business. You guys have an international tour coming up, and the press wants to know more about it. Where you're going, when it's happening, whether it's actually going ahead, the usual stuff. I've called a conference for tomorrow afternoon, and I need you to make sure you have all the details before you go out there. Nathan, I've got your speech here, read it, remember it. That's all."
As Charles turned and left, the band turned back to the plasma globe, except for Skwisgaar, who got up and left the room without a word.
Toki sat in his room, focusing intently on the model plane he was building, when Skwisgaar knocked and opened the door.
"You's okay? You's missed the meetings."
"Yeah, I knows…" It was then that Skwisgaar noticed the black rings around Toki's eyes, and the general tiredness that clung to him like a disease. He sat down beside him and sighed.
"You shoulds sleeps, Toki. Yous looks like…" He shrugged, letting the sentence trail off. Toki was well aware of how shitty he looked; he felt much the same way.
"I can't." He turned to face Skwisgaar now, pleading with his eyes for him to understand, "I tried, I's too scareds! Every times I close my eyes, alls I sees is death and pains and…" He choked back tears now, terrified out of his mind, "I saws him, Skwisgaar. I saws Mr. Selatcia."
That name suddenly meant something to Skwisgaar. Never before had he heard it in his life, but here, in this room, in this context, it was dangerous. Every hair on Skwisgaar's body suddenly stood on end, and for a brief moment, he could almost see him in his mind's eye. This was huge. This was bigger than him, bigger even than Dethklok.
Bigger than Dethklok… A memory floated into his head; Charles' voice, recalled vaguely from a comment some time ago. Perhaps this was what he had meant.
"Tokis. I thinks its time to talks to Charles."
"You've seen him."
Neither Toki nor Skwisgaar had said a word, yet as soon as they'd entered Offdensen's office, he'd known what was going on.
"Um, dat's a bit creepies…" Skwisgaar muttered, but Toki just wailed hopelessly.
"Whats do's we doooooo?! He ams followsing me! I can'ts sleeps, I can'ts thinks, I can'ts do's it!" Suddenly, he was gripping Skwisgaar's arm with an intensity that he was sure would break it, but the lead guitarist pretended it didn't hurt, instead subtly pulling the distraught man closer.
"His name is-"
"Mr. Selatcia. He tolds me…" Toki's lip was quivering, frightened beyond compare. Charles sighed heavily.
"Toki, sit down, and try to listen. This is not something to be taken lightly. Skwisgaar, have you seen him in your dreams?"
"No, but when Tokis saids his name I saws his face."
"Very well. Wait outside. There's no point endangering you, too." Skwisgaar's heart skipped a beat, and the colour ran from his face. Endangering…? Toki was in danger? Real danger, too, by the sounds of it. He left, numbly closing the door behind him, eliciting a scared whimper from Toki, who watched him go.
"Toki, you are in grave danger. Selatcia shows himself to his targets before he comes for them. And he never fails. What he wants from you is unclear, but you need to know that I can only tell you so much. If he knew that you were aware of the circumstances surrounding this, which he would, he's already in your mind, he would kill you outright. I'm prepared to do anything to keep that from happening. That's why I sent Skwisgaar outside. Just knowing about this is enough to put him at risk."
Toki's skin paled with every word, and as he struggled to process this new information, he began to tremble. Charles continued.
"I already know too much, I have seen Selatcia face to face in his true form, and I survived. When I 'died' after the attack on Mordhaus, I ensured my safety for a time. I gathered information, and came back to protect the band as best I could. There is something coming, Toki, and you are going to be hurt. Possibly killed. Separated from the rest. I don't know, and if I did, I couldn't tell you. You can't tell Skwisgaar, or he might be at risk, too. I'd avoid telling anyone else, also. If you need counsel, come to me."
Toki nodded, on the verge of blacking out as the combination of this terrifying information and exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him. Charles helped him to his feet and to the door, where Skwisgaar was waiting, pacing restlessly outside.
"Put him to bed, he needs to sleep. And don't ask him about our conversation. It will only hurt."
And so Skwisgaar tucked Toki in bed, and within moments, he was asleep, clinging to his stuffed bear for dear life. Skwisgaar stayed and watched him for some time, before urgent matters had to be attended to in the studio with the rest of the band, and he left him to rest.
Hours later, Toki would jolt awake, screaming, heart racing and sheets soaking with a combination of sweat and, from the waist down, liquid terror. He was certain, then, that his death was coming, at the hands of someone he trusted dearly. Who, he didn't yet know, but the image of the knife sticking out of his back was enough to fill him with dread.