Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long, in comparison to the other chapters before this. This one was pretty hard to write and I really hope you all like it. I hope with this one some of the warnings from chapter 1 make a bit more sense, if not, I'm sorry, this is my first time really trying to write out this very specific type of story. Thank you all again for your support and I hope to get another chapter up tonight, and maybe a few tomorrow.

Curiosity

Hearing this, apparently, monstrous, murderous clown say that he had no plan to kill her, peaked Maria's growing curiosity about it even more. She still wasn't positive about what had made her jump on his back, maybe just a fierce loyalty to Charlie, but just the action of it felt so, wrong in a bizarre way. The clown's body had been very hot, like when you are opening an oven, for a moment she thought she might get burned from it. But no. All she got was a claw to the arm and a big bump on the back of her head.

That very brief moment of seeing it sitting beside her in the hospital had been enough to severely confound her. She clutched that had, and had felt happy. But why? She knew that if she had been normal, she would have been terrified, but luckily that part of her brain just didn't work right anymore. Instead, anything she should be afraid of, turned into curiosity.

The morning after the incident, Maria woke to an empty hospital room. None of her friends were there, her father wasn't there, even the clown was gone. All that was present was a table holding some basic medical supplies and one red balloon, tied to the handrail of her hospital bed. She stared at it for a moment, reaching one hand up to tug on the thin string slightly, causing it to bounce in the air. The low light in the room gave the rubber an almost liquid appearance, Maria able to see her reflection in it.

She watched as it swayed and bobbed for a few moments before a small clack grabbed her attention. Slowly turning her head to the door she saw David peeking inside. As soon as he saw that she was awake he gave a big, fairly handsome, grin and stepped inside, a vase with some yellow flowers in his arms.

"Maria...hi." He said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm dizzy and my head hurts, but I'll be fine." She said returning a smile. He started to walk in more when he saw the balloon. His face lost some of his color when he saw it and looked at Maria again, concern clear on his face.

"It's from a friend. Don't worry about it." She explained. David let out a breath he had, apparently been holding. Maria tried not to smile at this, finding it fairly amusing. David walked over and set the flowers on her bedside table before sitting in the chair the Clown had left beside her bed.

"Where's everyone else?" Maria asked. "Are they okay?"

"Yeah! Yeah, everyone's okay. Charlie had a few bruises and scrapes, his arm's gonna be in a sling for a while, but the doctor's said that it would heal as long as he avoided straining it."

Maria smiled and nodded, glad to hear her childhood friend was okay. She sighed and leaned her head back against her pillow, closing her eyes. She felt so tired, and her head was really hurting. All she really wanted to do was go back to sleep, but she figured that would not be a good idea, since a doctor would probably be in at any minute anyway to check on her.

The two of them sat together for a while, occasionally talking about unimportant things such as the latest episode of the Walking Dead, or if the rain would keep up. Out of sheer curiosity she had asked how her father had reacted to hearing she had gotten hurt, and she had to admit the answer didn't surprise her.

Apparently he had asked if she would die, and she they said no, he went back to his nap. That was pretty much her father in a nutshell. But, in some ways, that was okay. She liked taking care of herself, being responsible, for the most part, for her own life. It wasn't glamorous, and she admits to letting almost every part of her house besides her room become a pigsty, but she was able to live in relative happiness.

After a short while a doctor did, indeed, come to check up on her injury. And he brought a friend in the form of a trauma psychiatrist. They had to ask David to come back later, as they had to do some tests that would take quite some time. David complied, quite grumpily, and gave Maria a firm squeeze of the hand before leaving the room.

The tests included a brainscan and several questions about how she felt. Her headache, dizziness, and fatigue were all signs of her concussion and the swelling that had resulted from the trauma. Luckily it would seem that the swelling had already started to go down, and he said that the pain and what not should go away in a couple of days.

The real pain in the ass was the psychiatrist. He had been brought in to help her deal with the trauma caused by being attacked and to assess her mental wellness.

"My head got cracked open on a lock, my brains are all swollen and scrambled, how the hell will you know if I'm mentally sane or not?" She had asked after the Nth question about how she was feeling. The doctor simply gave her a soft, obviously practiced, smile.

"We are aware of all the physical trauma, and will be taking it into account." He replied before looking at his notes again. "I know you must have been terrified. It was very brave of you to protect your friend like you did."

"I wasn't scared."She said dryly. "I can't be scared. Check my med records and you'll see why."

The man frowned slightly, clearly observing her behavior. She complied and answered all of his questions as honestly as she could and after nearly two hours the Mind Man got up and left the room, stepping just outside to talk with her actual Doctor.

"The girl shows no sign of mental or emotional trauma from the attack." Maria could hear him saying. She frowned, her usual curiosity peeking up again. Very carefully she pulled the sheets off of herself and slowly stood up, using the nearby furniture for support as she made her way closer to hear better.

"I mean none. The girl faced down a lunatic with a knife, fought him, nearly died and her mental state is like that of a kid who had a candybar stolen. She has no fear?"

"Yes. She was diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder that destroyed the part of her brain that regulates the fear responses." Her doctor explained. She could hear Mind Man sigh slightly.

Apparently that explained a good portion of his concerns. Without being afraid it's kinda hard to be traumatised, though she supposed it would still be possible under certain circumstances. She heard the two of them start to walk away and she started to turn to make her way to her bed.

That had been a bad idea. The turning motion caused her head to spin twice as fast as her body, or so it felt. Her vision went black for a second as she felt herself start to fall. She reached out to find something to hold onto and she met a hand, arms and chest. All were covered in a soft material, and all were burning hot.

The smell alone was unmistakeable. At first she had compared it to the smell of a cellar, but at that moment it reminded her more of old, unkept books. Something that was too damaged to read, but still fascinating nonetheless.

She took a moment for her head to settle down and her vision to come back to her. Once her consciousness was fully regained she found that she was leaning against the clown that had caused the head injury in the first place. Both of her hands were pressed against his forearms, his hand having apparently reached out and grasped onto her waist to steady her. Her head was pressed against his chest, a single orange palm palm staring her in the face. She slowly looked up and saw his face.

The same paint and markings, with the same red hair, he was looking at her with those golden eyes. He looked as human as he had back at the graduation, with slightly bucked teeth peeking out from between his lips, rather than the rows of angry fangs she had seen before.

Now that she was steady she sighed and, very weakly, slapped his chest.

"Thanks for scrambling my brain, Ronald McDonald." She muttered, trying to sit up straighter, but those hands held her in place as she tried to take a step back. She frowned and looked at him, trying to read what was going on in those golden eyes as the hands clasped on her waist tightened and loosened, as if he wasn't sure if he wanted to hold on or let her go.

"Are you going to kill me?" She asked, just like the night before. There was a pause and for a moment, Maria thought he would. But he just shook his head.

"No...I won't kill you. I…." He was acting almost….awkward. It was kinda cute, like a puppy learning to play properly.

"Well if you aren't gonna kill me can ya help me back into bed?" She asked, feeling another wave of dizziness coming on. The face he made was downright hilarious, as if no one had ever asked him to do anything before. Well...considering he eats people this might actually be a first for him. She thought, looking at the face that was a mix of confusion and mildly offended. Nonetheless, the Clown did take her arm and started to walk her back to bed, slowly. He was quite a bit taller than her, she herself already standing at almost six foot. If she had to guess she would say he was probably in the area of 6'5" 6'6". He was sturdy though, and was able to keep her steady all the way back to the bed where she first sat down before swinging her legs up and under the covers. She got herself settled into bed, raising the back of it to a comfortable upright position and pulling the blankets up to about her hips as the clown stepped back and watched her. Once settled she leaned her head back and gave a tired sigh before looking back at the clown.

"Do you got a name?" She asked, folding her hands together over her waist and letting them rest there. The clown gave a small twitch, a light jingle emitting from him.

"No real name." He replied after a moment. "But there are those that call me Pennywise." His voice cracked slightly, going from something that had been shockingly dull into something more pleasant a sweet. The type of voice that would draw children towards him to buy a balloon.

"Pennywise, huh?" Maria said, watching as he started to walk around her in the room, moving and sitting back in the chair he had been in the other night. She could see it happen, he was settling into a...form? A personality? Whatever it was it was bizarre and interesting, like seeing how sand settles in water.

"I'm Maria." She said and he gave a big smile.

"I know." He replied and she raised an eyebrow. Creepy. Right? Is it creepy or eerie? Whatever.

"So, Pennywise." She started. "If you aren't here to kill me then why are you here?" She asked outright, and the smile dropped. He stared at her intently for a while, some complicated thought clearly going through his mind. She wandered how he saw her. Was she currently a deer asking the huntsman why he's there? Or was it something even less than that, maybe a steak asking why you want to eat it? She wandered how a human would feel, if a pig from a slaughterhouse suddenly started to have casual conversation with them.

"I don't know." He replied, his voice deeper now. It still had that bizarre pleasantness to it, but it seemed more adult, and more serious. She wandered if this was close to his real voice. "You...confuse me."

"Right back at ya." She said, tilting her head. He shook his, violent jerks of his neck that looked very unnatural.

"I should confuse you." He said, brows lowering to a sinister frown. "You shouldn't understand me. But you...I have watched and hunted humans for centuries, I should understand you."

"What makes you think you ever could?" Maria asked. "Humans are capable of very rapid evolution, and our bodies and minds can make us all very different from each other. There is no such thing as a normal human."

He let out a small growl and looked away from her, his gloved hands wringing together as his elbows rested on his knees, the frills around his wrists swaying. Maria watched him struggle with whatever was going on inside his head, thinking hard before asking her next question.

"Did you intend to hurt me?" She asked, a frown playing on her own brow as she struggled to understand, at least a little more. Gold eyes raised and met hers before his head shook again.

"I was going to save you for last." He said, licking his lips slightly. "But I can't. I can't scare you so I cannot feast on you."

"So...you eat fear as well as meat?" She clarified and he nodded. "Well….sorry for denying you your dinner, but it's not really my choice to not be afraid."

A deep chuckle was his response. He was very confusing, for sure. She smiled and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the pillow. She was feeling very, very tired, and the was okay with sitting there in silence for a little bit as Pennywise collected his thoughts.

The silence extended for quite a while, the only indication that Pennywise was still there was the soft ruffle of his clown suit. Maria could feel herself starting to fall asleep in the comfort of the silence when his voice pulled her back.

"Do you really not think of me as evil?"

The question was quite the shock. Her eyes opened and she turned to him. He looked far less anxious now, his eyes and voice now steady on her. She shook her head and readjusted her sitting position.

"No. I don't think you're evil." She said, the tiredness coming out in her voice. "I think you are doing what is in your nature to do. And nature isn't evil, it's neutral."

Pennywise seemed to think on this for a moment before nodding. Standing up on his long legs he brushed off his suit, causing the ruffled collar to bounce slightly, before striding up to the head of her bed. He leaned over her slightly, as if trying to look her as directly in the eye as he could, and she stared back. He was very close to her now, she could practically feel that intense heat emanating from him again.

"You should sleep." He said, the slight smile playing on his mouth and she felt, for the first time, that it was a real smile. "You have my word that I will leave your friends be, for the time being." Maria raised an eyebrow and moved her hand, placing on top of the gloved one that was resting on the rail of her bed, right next to the balloon.

"Will I see you again?" She asked, causing both of them to blink for a moment. Well that's a fucking first, I just surprised myself. What the fuck am I asking? Pennywise swallowed a second and thought before giving a hesitant nod.

"If….you want to." He said, cautiously pulling his head and body back slightly. "If you want to I will come….if not...I'll come anyway and just stay out of sight."

Maria laughed, a strange sound even to her own ears, a small throbbing starting at the back of her head from the force of the laugh.

"If you're gonna be there anyway then yeah I want to see you." She said, her voice lighter than it had been in a long while. "Better than you probably creeping on me in the shower! Fuck, you're a creepy guy."

Pennywise smiled back at her, his eyes seeming to admit a small light from them. Does that mean he's happy? She thought as his hand pulled away from her own and he started to step away.

"Be careful Maria, Reigns." He said, a lilt of amusement in his voice, one that matched the original visage she had seen at graduation. Something that was not what it seemed. "Be careful, you might end up floating like all the rest after all…"

And he was gone. The guy was good at dramatic exits, if nothing else. She stared at the place he had been standing and ran her fingers up the thread on the balloon. He could tell, he had smelt it. She knew that. Her heart was pounding mildly as a feeling she hadn't experienced since she was seven years old rose in her throat and chest. What do you know, Pennywise. You did manage to make me afraid. But I don't fear floating. I'm afraid I'm Falling.