A/N: Hey guys. I'm REALLY sorry this took so long-but I was on Spring Break. At a lodge in Kentucky where there was no wifi. But the next chapter is here now, so no need to worry! And yes, I just HAD to put the Puppeteer in here, even if it is just in a flashback. Also, I MIGHT put in Hobo Heart later, maybe as an antagonist, maybe as a neutral character. But enough about that-read on!
Disclaimer: If I owned any of the creepypasta characters, they'd be antiheroes like in here instead of villains.
"Where are you? Come out, come out wherever you are…" The black-haired boy grinned viciously, and the redheaded girl next to him shot him a disapproving glare.
"This isn't a game, Puppeteer! This…thing has been responsible for the deaths of six children! Who knows what tricks he has up his sleeve?!" The Puppeteer gave her a look of mock hurt.
"Come on, I'm just trying to lighten the mood." He said. "Besides, from what I heard, he's basically just Furby's evil twin. How bad could he…?"
"LOOK OUT!" Puppeteer spun around to see some knives flying at him. Fortunately, he was able to slender-walk out of harm's way just in time, and the knives either embedded themselves in some nearby trees, or fell harmlessly to the ground.
"Aw, you ruined my fun!" At the sound of the voice, Jessica gripped her sickles tighter, putting on her 'serious' face.
"Show yourself!" An evil giggle came from the shadows.
"Well, if you say so!" The thing waddled out of the shadows. The first thing the teens noticed was that the nickname was well-earned. The evil little creature's mouth must've taken up most of its face. It was pretty small, but there was still something unsettling about it, an evil feeling that sent chills down the teens' spines.
"Are you here to play with me?" Mr. Widemouth asked, his grin growing even wider. "You're a bit older than my usual playmates, but I'm nothing if not flexible."
"Game's over." Puppeteer pulled out some thread, which was tied to small throwing knives, and tossed it at the little demon. However, he was able to roll safely out of the way, and let out a little laugh.
"Not bad! But look at what I can do!" Puppeteer and Jessica turned around to see the knives from before floating in the air behind them. Once again, they had to dodge to avoid getting stabbed, though they had a harder time now, since the knives were following them wherever they went. Jessica swore as she knocked some knives aside with her sickles.
"This is gonna take longer than we thought…"Mr. Widemouth just kept grinning the whole time, showing off his many teeth.
"Heh heh, you two are fun! I can't remember the last time I had such lively playmates!"
Don't get used to it. It's time your sick fun was put to an end once and for all. The knives fell to the ground, and Mr. Widemouth slowly turned around to meet Slender Man-or rather his ankle, since he was much, MUCH smaller than him. He didn't need to see all of the faceless man, however, to know that he was in for a world of trouble.
You've led many children to early deaths. Now we will personally send you to hell. Mr. Widemouth screamed and tried to run off, but Jessica slender-jumped in front of him, an uncharacteristically wicked smirk on her face as she raised her left sickle.
"M-Mr. Widemouth?" A little voice asked. The trio all turned as one to see a little girl staring at them, a horrified expression on her face.
"What are you doing to him?!" The Puppeteer bit his lip nervously as Jessica turned slightly to look at the girl.
"Look, kid, your friend isn't what he seems. Trust us; you'll be better off…"
Pain suddenly shot through Jessica's shoulder as one of the little demon's knives embedded itself in her flesh. Letting out a cry of pain, she dropped her sickles, and while she was disoriented Mr. Widemouth pulled himself up and started to run to the little girl. Slender Man slender jumped in front of him, however, preventing his escape.
"Help me!" Mr. Widemouth shouted, and as if she were under his control, the little girl ran in front of him, throwing her arms up to protect him.
"Please, don't hurt him!" She begged. If he had a face, Slender Man would have scowled.
This was a problem. On the one hand, the vile little creature had to die. On the other hand, he couldn't risk harming the girl. And yet she was so insistent on putting herself in harm's way to help him.
From behind her, Mr. Widemouth let out an evil giggle.
"Feeling conflicted?" He waddled out, giving an annoyingly big grin. "Just look at how ironic this whole thing is. I'm their friend. I'm the one they'll listen to, do anything for. To them, you're the stuff of nightmares. And yet YOU'RE the one who can't bear the thought of harming them."
"What?" The little girl asked. She started to turn to face Mr. Widemouth, but before she could, she was suddenly pushed out into a nearby road by his telekinesis-right as a car came speeding out of the darkness.
NO! Slender Man slender-walked into the road just in time to save her. He teleported them back into the woods, fully intending to destroy the little monster for endangering a child just to rile him. When he rejoined his proxies, however, the thing was gone. And not only that-Puppeteer was pinned to a tree by two of his own throwing knives, one impaling each hand. He swore under his breath, then turned as he noticed his boss rejoining them.
"Mr. Widemouth?" The girl wriggled out of Slender Man's arms, jumping to the ground and running to find her 'friend'. "Mr. Widemouth, where are you?" Puppeteer managed to (painfully) rip the knives out of his hands and staggered towards her.
"He tried to kill you just now, you know! How can you…?"
"Don't come near me!" The girl looked from him to Slender Man to Jessica, her eyes wide with fright. "You're monsters, all of you! You tried to hurt him!"
"No," Jessica started, "You've got it all wrong!" But the scared girl didn't stick around to listen. She ran off, tripping once, but quickly pulling herself up, desperate to escape.
"The reports of dead children stopped after that." Jessica explained back in the present. "We didn't see or hear from Mr. Widemouth again. But I knew deep down that we hadn't seen the last of him."
"There's one thing I don't understand." Clockwork said. She, Masky, and Jeff were in Jessica's van, on their way to her house. Slender Man would meet them there after dark to face Mr. Widemouth.
"Mr. Widemouth pretty much admitted that he killed kids, so why would the girl still trust him?" Jessica grimaced uncomfortably.
"Like he said, Slendy's a scary-looking guy. We were all pretty scary. If you were in that situation, it's not too much of a stretch to think that your friend was threatened into saying those things. She was just a kid, after all." Jeff was about to argue that Sally was a kid and knew better, but then he remembered Angela. He shook his head and gave Jessica a serious look.
"There's something I'm curious about, too. You used to be one of Slendy's proxies, when did you stop?"
"Actually, it didn't take too long." Jessica admitted. "Only a year after he saved me. I thought I wouldn't have any problem with killing bad people…but it weighed heavily on my soul after a while. I had nightmares." She craned her head a little to look at the teens. "Honestly, I'm surprised you guys have lasted this long."
None of them spoke. Masky thought back to what Jane, Hoody, and Toby had told that morning, of Eyeless Jack's words.
"Even knowing that, knowing what that MONSTER did to these kids, how he took their lives away from them and made them kill for him-how the hell can you still serve him?!"
"I don't understand why you're so angry. After all, that's exactly what the Slender Man has been doing to you and the others."
No. Masky thought. He didn't force us into this. We chose this life.
So why did he have to convince himself of that every day?
A/N: Hoo boy, this is a problem. I'm back to shorter chapters -_-
Jeff: (Scoffing) THAT'S your biggest worry right now?
Me: Shut up, I'm a writer! (Turns back to audience) To clarify, Mr. Widemouth is a bona fide demon in this story like Zalgo, though not as powerful. But yeah, he has telekinesis, to give him a bit of an advantage over our protagonists. Anyway, will the group be able to save Jessica's kids? Or will Mr. Widemouth put them in an early grave? And is there more to Slender Man than it seems? Keep reading!