AN:

In this chapter we learn just who/what the mysterious Yekcim is.

Also, I felt really bad about a small snippet earlier about getting Harry new clothes. It should've been a more memorable shopping montage, but it completely slipped my mind. Well, I figured a way around it! Enjoy!

Harry woke up to the sunlight in his windows. The overcast drifted apart over the manor and Harry tiredly raised an arm to try to block the cruel beam shining on his eyes.

"Harry! Harry! Wake up!"

Harry mused that one of the downsides to having a guardian that can telepathically shout at you was that you couldn't put a pillow over your ears like he'd seen Dudley do on mornings. It just went straight to your head. He chuckled tiredly and got up for the day.

He walked down to the dining room and smiled at the sight he'd finally started getting used to.

Eyeless Jack (or E.J. as he'd started calling him) was reading Gray's Anatomy with a cookbook right next to it. Harry could see a little dribble of black saliva as he thought about what spices would work well with what cut of meat or what organ.

Laughing Jack (aka L.J.) had diagrams laying around his area for some new diabolical prank. Harry was impressed at the complexity of a good prank by L.J.'s standards. He even had a few diagrams and schematics that were heavily physics and math-based. Just glancing at it, he could tell everything mattered: the molar concentration of the cyanide, the mass of the pie, the trajectory of the arc, the compression factor of the spring.

On his face was a set of Groucho Marx style glasses complete with a fleshy pink nose that L.J.'s own conical nose compressed into. Evidently they were his "serious" glasses for problem solving that he pulled out of his pocket dimension.

Over the few months, the interdimensional clown revealed he had a small pocket dimension "hammer space" he could pull things out from including his glasses, pranks, inventions, weaponry, balloons, candy, and (as the name suggested) a large, wooden mallet or frying pan.

As an interdimensional being, he understood physics better than most on this plane of existence. Derivatives, wavefunctions, electron tunneling, gravity constants; it all came naturally to him. Especially considering he lived in an "imaginary world"… literally! He once informed Harry that before he began officially "existing" on this plane, his dimension was one where the square root of -1 existed as an observable value. He commented that this dimension was much "flatter" relative to his 5th-Dimensional origins.

Who knew?

BEN was engrossed in a game. He was blasting aliens, pokemon, demons, or whatever with one hand while shoveling some cereal in his face with the other. BEN turned out to be a computer genius, particularly when he was literally "one with the Code", as he put it. He also hosted "game night" with Jeff, Toby, Tim, Brian, and anyone else available where they spent all night chugging sodas and competing in Call of Duty, Fallout, Bioshock, or some other game that involved lots of explosions and blood.

Sally was content with brushing the hair of one of her dolls in between bites of her waffle. Sammy the Bear was sitting by her side, quiet and immobile in front of a plastic bowl of fake porridge.

Jeff was still asleep along with Smile. Harry generally found out that for Jeff to wake up before 10 AM was a miracle in itself.

Slenderman was reading a newspaper, one of his tentacles held a strawberry poptart with a bite taken out of it. For a moment, Harry's sleep-addled brain thought he saw a gray cat's tail pop out from the back of the pastry, but he blinked and it was gone.

Harry sat down and started enjoying one of the waffles in the center, but as he reached to try to grasp it, a tiny *rip* made itself known at the seam around his shoulder and he pulled his arm back in embarrassment. Looking around, he saw everyone glancing up at him. He sheepishly muttered, "Sorry."

E.J. smiled to alleviate his embarrassment. "No problem, Harry. I was expecting as much. Did you learn in school about how you need milk, veggies, etc. to grow?" Harry nodded. "Well at the Dursley's they kept those from you. Now that your body has them, it's started growing like it should. You just outgrew these clothes."

Slenderman nodded. "Yes, that's why I took you to the mall center nearby a few weeks ago. I figured you'd outgrow those rather quickly. How about this morning we can go visit another? I know one where we can find good quality for better prices. Especially for… us." He gestured around to the more unusual people around the table.

Harry nodded happily. The other time Slendy took him to the mall, the entity allowed Hoodie to walk Harry around and show him some things. The seven year old was amazed at the American proportion sizes for the food court, but given the size of his normal food portions, almost anything could top it. Looking back, he realized Slendy must have used his glamour to do the clothes shopping for him while Brian got him some food.

He remembered how happy he was when he got home and found that all of the clothes fit him perfectly. They weren't uncomfortable or scratchy like the frayed sweaters or old, dirty rags Petunia tossed his way. They weren't baggy or hung limply across his frame. They fit just right for the first time in his life.

Slendy addressed the table. "That goes with everyone. Does anyone else need to go shopping?"

L.J. shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. I've still got to find the right mass-to-force ratio for this pratfall." He turned back to his diagram, punching a few numbers in a calculator. Harry still had to get over a crazy clown being even the slightest bit serious, but L.J. quoted that 'comedy is a serious business' and inventing a quality prank took preparation work as well as ingenuity.

BEN also declined. "Sorry, I promised Sonic .exe I'd work on some code with him this morning."

Slendy nodded, "Alright, so everyone else is going?"

"Goin' wherr Slendy?" A tired voice slurred. Everyone turned to see a bleary-eyed Jeff trudge in with his facemask still on his forehead.

"Ahh, Jeff. So wonderful for you to grace us with your presence at this ungodly hour of 9 in the morning." Slendy said sarcastically. Jeff scowled as he pulled out a small bottle from his pajama sweatpants and began applying his eyedrops in his seat.

"Whatever Slendy. So what're you doin'?" He mumbled, swiveling his eyes around to spread the drops.

"We're going to the shopping center-" Slendy began.

"Cool, I'll go too. I wanted to pick up some things." Jeff said. He stretched in his seat, grabbed a waffle and headed back upstairs with it still in his mouth. Slenderman was still poised to continue talking before drooping in exasperation with a sigh.

"Alright, I guess you should get ready."

They finished up the breakfast and started getting moving. Harry was dressed in a flash and back down the stairs before most even started their way up them. They waited as Jeff, E.J., Tobi, and Sally all made their way to the group. Tobi replaced his usual, "grinning" facemask with a white, paper surgical one like Miss Kuchisaka from Miss Akako's while E.J. had an odd red-and-white stick.

Slendy had them hold hands as they shadow-walked away from the house. Harry felt the usual exciting movement before they were dropped off in the middle of a forest clearing. Harry was very confused. He hadn't been to many malls, but he was relatively sure this wasn't one. Slendy led them through the clearing and Harry's question was answered as they came to a large sea of black pavement indicating a car parking lot.

"We're here." Slendy said. "Everyone, please activate your glamours. Except you, of course, Harry."

Harry watched as each of his friends activated their own glamour. He hadn't seen any besides Slendy's, which was back to the 'Western' theme after he dropped the Japanese glamour.

Sally didn't look much different, except the criss-crossed blood was gone without a trace and the dent was nowhere to be seen. Her dirty pink and bloodstained nightgown was replaced with a brighter pink and clean dress. Her normally-bare feet had some long, white socks that went up behind her skirt and a pair of shiny black shoes.

Eyeless Jack's skin went from his odd bluish-black to a normal, Caucasian, "fleshy" color and his hair kept its usual brownish color, but it looked much more natural with the common skin tone. He still had his blue jeans and black hoodie, but his mask was still in place, though the mysterious, tar-like substance was gone.

When he removed the plain, blue mask Harry was surprised to see that his normally empty eye sockets had two, dull, fogged-over blue eyes moving around in them. E.J. extended the red-and-white cane and hooked a hoop at the end to his wrist. His dull eyes glanced at Harry and he smiled reassuringly.

Jeff was the most drastic change. His long, black hair changed color to a mousy brown and shortened where it was above the shoulders, but still slightly shaggy. His skin was no longer pasty and white, but was normal flesh-colored, if a little pale like Harry's. His grin was also gone and it was surreal to see Jeffery Woods with a neutral facial expression instead of his constant carved smile.

Harry was surprised by his eyes the most. They went from their usual beady gray to a deep blue. Harry was also stunned to realize he had eyelids too. He stared at them for a long time and was amazed when they actually closed. Jeff noticed him gawping and rolled his new eyes at him.

"It's not real, kid. It's an illusion. It doesn't even affect my sight. To you, you see me blink. To me, I'm still staring at everything like normal. It's just to make it look normal to other people. Although," He grinned and leaned in conspiratorially. "I still entered, like, several bets on staring contests with Normies, that's what we call regular people. No one can top a champ who hasn't blinked in years. Easiest money I ever made."

Harry laughed, but glanced down at his shortened hair, which Jeff also noticed. "That's actually real. It takes more effort, but I can actually make my hair physically shorter to the length it was before my, er, accident. Only my hair, though, and so far I'm the only human who can manage something like it."

"Only human?" Harry asked.

Jeff nodded, "Yeah, I mean, L.J.'s kinda human, but his glamour keeps his nose and teeth normal or else he'd be poking everyone with an invisible cone on his face. Slendy's glamour lets him adjust his height and make a somewhat physical face and hair. Otherwise, he'd be a bald, 8-foot creep with a painted-on face."

Slendy growled quietly and subconsciously brushed some glamoured, white hair behind a glamoured ear structure.

Harry gave up trying to wrap his head around that logic of physical illusions and, as Jack suggested, chalked it up to… "magic". He glanced at Toby and frowned. "Hey, Toby, what's your glamour?"

The bipolar pyromaniac looked the exact same. Same tan-and-brown striped sweater with gray hoodie underneath. He left his axes, axe guards, gloves, and goggles at home as well, but his paper face mask was still in place.

Toby shrugged. "I still look pretty human, so I don't really need one, but," He pulled down his mask and showed a clean cheek. No gash. "I make the slash go away in case the mask comes off or someone sees underneath. Even then, it's not as uncommon anymore to wear a facemask if you're sick. All I gotta do is pretend to cough every now and then and make sure no one sticks their fingers near my cheek. Otherwise, it's gonnna go right through. Like Jeff said, I can't manage a 'corporeal glamour'."

His eyes suddenly lit up like the Christmas lights workers began putting up in the parking lot. "L-let's go to those q-quarter rides! I want to be the b-b-bumblebee!" He sang, ticking with excitement, and skipping along. Slendy sighed and motioned for them to follow.

E.J. reached into his coat to pull out some sunglasses and put them over his "eyes". He then put out the red and white stick and leaned his elbow out for Sally to take. She looked like she was leading him along while he tapped away against the ground in front of him methodically with his cane.

Harry looked at Jack curiously. "Jack, why are you doing that?"

Jack smiled. "Well, Harry, I'm 'blind'. It's actually because my glamour can't make good eye structures. I can still see fine, but if people look too closely, they notice some things are off. It's easier for me to make the eyes purposely look off and pretend I'm blind. So, Sally's 'helping me get around' while I'm in the parking lot and I'm tapping my cane against the ground to avoid bumping into things and marking the next footfall. It's what actual blind people do."

Harry nodded in understanding. They made their way through the parking lot with Jack's rhythmic tapping and they found several parents awkwardly holding their children behind them while not-so-inconspicuously eyeing the mysterious teenager who was currently riding a toddler's quarter-slot ride going back and forth. Harry "ah"ed in understanding when he saw that the ride was in the shape of a giant bumblebee.

"WHEEEEEEEEEE!" Toby cried out from the kiddie ride.

"Toby! We're going in!" Slendy called out. Toby hopped out of the ride and rushed over to join the group as the sliding doors opened to let them in.

Harry was impressed. The first mall was really small compared to this one. He craned his neck to look up at a glass roof letting in sunlight. The place was a huge atrium of shops, stores, kiosks, and had real, indoor trees placed methodically and trimmed to perfection. It would've been uncomfortably like Aunt Pe- Mrs. Petunia Dursley's house, but shoppers milled about the walkways and the displays were haphazard compared to neat-in-a-row that Mrs. Dursley preferred.

Doctor Halloway suggested a mental exercise where he purposely dissociated from the Dursleys, referring to them as though they were strangers rather than relatives to help him put them in the past and detach from them and their poisonous influence completely.

They passed a couple of stores until they made it to a retail store at the back. Harry saw there were signs for everything: Belts, Shirts, Wallets. He wondered why people would need such a huge selection of things for something as boring as a belt or wallet, but Slenderman ushered them further into the store. Harry looked around at the white, featureless mannequins holding poses while displaying the shirts, pants, dresses, etc. that were available.

Slendy brought them up to a spot that sold shirts for men. He pretended to be looking over a selection while he was checking around discretely for people. Harry glanced around and noticed Slendy discretely glancing at a mannequin in the center of the display with brown pants and a tan sweater.

"Hey, Slendy, doesn't that sweater look cool?" Harry asked, gesturing to the mannequin.

Why, thank you!

Harry jumped back in surprise as the "mannequin" turned its head before hopping down from the pedestal and crawling out of the rows of shirts. He pulled out a pair of glasses from his pocket and put them on his nose indentation in front of the blank spot where his eyes would have been.

"Slenn, how are you?" The entity said.

"Trendy, please! You are in public. You need your glamour." Slenderman insisted, frantically glancing around at oblivious shoppers. The other entity gave a mental scoff before his appearance changed. Instead of a store-mannequin-like blankness that Slenderman's family seemed prone to, he was a guy in his mid-to-late 20s with sandy blond hair and with hazel eyes behind his glasses instead of Slendy's black irises.

Slenderman sighed. "You still waste precious energy adding unnecessary color to your glamour, don't you?"

"Presentation is everything, Slenn." He smiled cheekily.

The entity in a suit pinched the bridge of his nose, though he didn't biologically have sinuses, so it didn't really help. "Harry, this is my brother, Trenderman. Also known as Trendy."

Trendy smiled and waved to the kid currently peeking out from behind Jeff's leg, much to the disguised serial killer's annoyance. "Let go of my leg, kid." He growled.

Harry complied and gave a small "Hello" to the fashion-conscious entity. Trendy nodded a greeting back and turned to Slenderman. "So, Slenn, what do you want? You hardly ever come to visit and you know Offendy rarely comes out of the city and Splendy… well, you can only take so much of him, you know?"

Slendy sighed in agreement before continuing. "Trendy, I know how much you know fashion and, well, we've been meaning to get Harry some new clothes-"

"Say no more. I've got you covered." Trendy interrupted. He walked the group over to the kids' section and started picking out some of the more colorful t-shirts when Slendy tapped his arm.

"Trendy, we're going for discrete, remember?"

Trendy pouted. "Oh, Slenn, you and that stupid privacy of yours. All those dreary, black suits and such, at least Sally has some good taste." He gestured to the girl who beamed and twirled in place to show off the bright, pink dress.

Slendy sighed. "Yes, well, females are expected to be a bit… flashy. Boys are not."

"Slenn, you have to get your mind unstuck from the 19th century! Kids these days, and men, are all wearing bright colors. It's a "norm", not that you'd know. I bet you still have that virus kid, BEN, do the texting because someone doesn't know how to operate a cell phone."

"My sigma radiation causes it to fritz! What do you expect?!" Slendy defended himself. Trendy waved it off.

"Whatever. I'd argue that my phone doesn't fritz and I have the exact same radiation as you, and a good 2 thousand followers on Twitter and my blog, but it'd fall on deaf ears… old deaf ears." He enunciated.

"We are practically the same age, Trendy." Slenderman growled.

Trendy huffed dramatically. "Yeah, yeah, Mr. I'm-only-a-whole-millenia-older-than-you. How about we do half-and-half? I'll pick out some dreary colors so you can be happy and then some actual clothes for him to go out in." Trendy offered. Slenderman huffed but conceded. "Great! Okay Harry, try this, then that and we'll see about these."

Trendy discretely teleported around the department store picking out bits of clothes and accessories off the rack before popping back to the group. Harry found himself soon literally buried underneath a large pile of shirts and jeans. Jeff and Toby snickered at his predicament while Sally was trying to help him dig his way out of the heavy pile.

Jeff grabbed Slendy's attention. "Hey, Slenn," Slendy grimaced, "I'll be right back, I'm going to that punk store a few doors over to get another hoodie and maybe something for Smile."

Slendy nodded in acknowledgement. "We'll meet back in the food court around 11:30." Jeff nodded and headed off. Jack and Sally also left, claiming to need to do a bit of shopping as well. Toby's quiet streak was broken as he suddenly rushed off, excitedly yammering about a carousel ride by the food court.

Meanwhile, Harry was buried under a pile of clothes from his neck-down and shrunk back into the enclosure as Slendy and Trendy started arguing about which he should try on first.

What felt like an hour and a thousand outfits later, Harry now had several pairs of jeans both in his size and a size or two above for when he grows again, multiple shirts both long and short-sleeved, a formal dress suit (Black, because Slendy insisted, though Trendy managed to argue for a dark green tie to match his eyes), several shorts, and lots of miscellaneous.

Though, Harry was glad to have something that he felt was mandatory by the young males of the house. A hoodie.

Jeff had a white hoodie. Jack had a black hoodie. Toby had his gray-black hoodie under his sweater. Hoodie had a yellow hoodie. Even a few glamours for normally non-hoodie tennants had hoodies.

Harry's was a dark gray that zipped up all the way and divided two pockets at the stomach area. It was meant for older kids, so it was really baggy on his frame. He wore it as they walked out, but let the lady at the register scan it while it was on him. She teased him about trying to run off with it and he panicked ("cutely" as she later put it) before he realized she was joking.

They left Trendy to drop the glamour and continue modeling next season's comfort wear in the display area. Slendy paid using a sleek, black credit card with a red circle with an X symbol. He explained that it was linked to the Council for purchases in the human society. Harry briefly wondered exactly where the money came from, but Slendy explained it was a complex system and left it at that.

They walked out of the shop and Slenderman turned to him. "Harry, since we got out significantly earlier than anticipated, I thought maybe you'd like to use this time to gather some gifts for the holidays."

Harry's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You celebrate Christmas?"

The glamoured entity shrugged. "Yes and no. We're not Christian, naturally. It's mostly just a party, but a few of the previously-human tenants enjoy the holiday, especially Sally, so it's just become a regular thing."

Harry nodded and then paled when he realized something. "Um… Slendy? I've… never actually gotten anyone presents before… or really received them, either… h-how do I… um."

Slendy put a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "I understand, Harry. I'll help."

The seven-year-old beamed and started looking around for a few shops with his new family in mind.

At 11:30, the band of disguised beings and killers met at the food court. Each one had lots of bags in their hands. Jack was holding onto Sally's bags as well while she pretended to lead him along without his cane, which was compressed and dangling off his wrist. Some people "aww"ed at the scene, while others just looked away to avoid staring. Harry had to admit, it was a pretty good throw-off.

Toby had a large bag at his side as well, along with a cone with pink cotton candy at the other end. His minimal glamour held up as he took bites from it with his mask down.

Even Jeff came over with a few black bags with punk and goth designs on the outside, but also a few other retailers that wouldn't sell anything remotely appealing to the psychopath.

Jack glanced at them and smirked, but kept up the 'blind' act. He tilted his head pretending to listen for something. "Jeff, that sounds like a lot more crinkling than just the hoodie and dog toy you said you'd get. What'd else you get?"

Jeff's face flickered in annoyance before becoming a devious smirk reminiscent to his permanent grin. "Well, I got a few hoodies for myself and a few dog toys for Smile when I thought, 'Hey, I'm right next to this other place', so I picked up some "magazines"… if you know what I mean."

He grinned until Slendy smacked the back of his head admonishingly. Harry tilted his head in confusion. "Magazines? Like the money ones and garden ones the Dursleys got?"

Slendy was slightly flustered as Jeff looked away sullenly while rubbing his head. "Well, you see, Harry, it's nothing you need to concern yourself. They're for… adults. Kindly don't look in his bags. Whether there are those… unnecessary purchases or not, I'd rather not let you find out." He shot a look at Jeff, who shrugged it off and continued looking around in a seemingly random direction away from Slendy's glare.

"Aww, Jeff going soft on us?" Toby mocked, gleefully.

Jeff glared at him and his mousy brown hair suddenly darkened to his unglamoured midnight black, but it didn't grow past his shoulders. Slendy cleared his throat meaningfully and Jeff saw a strand of his hair before he rolled his shoulders and his glamoured hair returned to its usual brown. Harry's eyebrows went up in surprise, "Jeff? What was that?"

Jeff huffed, "I got angry and my control slipped. It's hard keeping that corporeal glamour going. First thing that goes is usually just color." He explained, glancing around and confirming no gawkers noticed the brief hair change. Harry nodded and returned over to Slendy to pick up the gifts he bought everyone.

Slendy glanced at the large clock in the food court, "Well, let's go and get these back home. I have a… surprise, I suppose, afterwards."

Sally and Toby -started jumping up and down. "What is it!? What is it!?" They asked excitedly simultaneously.

Slendy "smiled", "Well, it's not a surprise for nothing." He just turned around, carrying some bags and left the actual kid and childish teen to their imagination.

"I bet it's candy!" Sally exclaimed.

"I hope it's gasoline!"

"Or taffy!"

"Or a squirt gun with acid!"

"Or a doll!"

"Or an exploding penguin!"

"Or a head!" Jeff chimed in. They turned to him and he shrugged. "What, can't I be excited too?"

Toby shook his head at the psychopath. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Why would Slendy give us a head?"

Jeff scowled. "Well, maybe to make sure you have a brain with you. I mean, seriously, where would you get an exploding penguin?!"

"The South Pole, duh! Everyone knows penguins live down there." Toby rolled his eyes as though it were an obvious statement. Jeff was in a confused silence, before shaking his head and returning to his usual, sulky self.

Slendy's head popped back in. "Let's go."

They gathered their bags and left the mall before Slendy teleported them away.

They got back to the house and dropped off the bags in their respective rooms. Slendy waited a few minutes at the door until they regrouped. Sally came in with BEN trailing behind, apparently finished with his code project and just playing a DS game upstairs.

Slendy addressed the group. "Now, I thought you may enjoy something. Doctor Halloway has suggested that Harry meet more children his age and I've been looking around for people for him to meet. Now, I got a message from Yekcim-"

"EEEEEEEE!" Sally squealed. Toby was also hopping up and down like a rabbit on coffee.

"W-wait! Wait! L-let me g-get something!" He stuttered and ticked spastically in his excitement before running upstairs. Jeff scoffed and folded his arms. Harry just looked confused.

"Who's Yekcim?"

"Well, he's… something. He's not human, but he can teleport around certain locations in the world. I can't recall who he's supposed to resemble, but-"

Jeff cut in. "Look, kid, I guarantee you're gonna love it."

Harry nodded, still unsure. "Okay. Where are we going."

Before anyone could answer, Toby's footsteps came bounding back to the stairwell. Harry turned and saw the teen rush down the stairs. On his head was a weird hat that resembled a black cap with a logo on it, but with two black ear-like circles on top. Even behind his paper mask, they could see he was grinning madly.

"W-we're going to D-D-Disneyland!"

A few minutes later, a group of seven appeared in a swirl of black mist in a secluded area in an "alleyway" behind one of the themed restaurants. No one around noticed, they were too busy enjoying the comfortable warmth of Florida despite the month of the year and running around to get to the next attraction.

Six of the seven were already glamoured. After a quick scolding from Slendy, BEN went into Ben mode as well.

BEN still had green, but it was a dark green zip-up hoodie with a light green shirt underneath. Harry could see a gold pattern of three triangles printed on the green shirt exposed between the zipper of the hoodie. Below that, he also had dark-blue-practically-black jeans and black and white trainer shoes. His glamour also featured a dark green knit-cap as well that further messed up his blonde hair.

The glamoured Slendy motioned for everyone to stick around. "Are we all ready? I'll summon a messenger."

Slendy sent out a low mental whistle with seven notes. Sally whispered, "It's a small. World. After. All" in time with the seven whistles. Harry was about to wonder what was wrong when he saw everyone shift to something behind him.

He turned-

-And was face-to-face with black, glass eyes.

"Augh!" He jumped back and almost tripped on the curb. He steadied himself and looked back.

The black eyes were actually glass goggles embedded in a large, leather mask with an odd circle at the bottom resembling an elephant's trunk that was cut off near the base. Harry vaguely remembered a few tidbits about those weird masks from his history class. If his memory served, they were for toxic gases a long time ago.

The boy with that mask had blonde hair sticking out behind it and what looked like a worn, dark blue suit jacket and shorts with a few shirts underneath.

Next to him was another, taller boy in similar clothing, but his mask was much different. It still had black, glass goggles embedded in his mask, but the mask itself was plastic molded in the shape of a cartoony, smiling mouse with an odd cylinder attachment underneath. Harry could hear labored breathing echoing from inside both masks.

Harry looked around at the people rushing by, surprised no one noticed the pair of oddly-dressed boys in the middle of the theme park. He supposed that either they couldn't see them or didn't notice with the rush of the theme park.

The two masked kids started walking away and Slendy motioned for the group to follow. The group was inconspicuous from others as families and large gatherings moved around the park's sprawling streets. They passed a few odd characters in suits resembling a cartoonish duck, two large chipmunks, a female mouse in a red and white polka dot dress and bow, and something that Harry had no clue what it was, but it had two buck teeth, a bright orange shirt with a black vest, and an odd, green hat.

Harry saw they had appeared in an area that was comprised of multiple buildings that resembled fairytale cottages, shops, taverns, and such right next to rides and attractions with themes like flying elephants and spinning teacups. The young wizard saw more theme park people, but they weren't in suits this time, they looked like normal women in fancy dresses, Sally was whispering excitedly to Slendy to get a picture with someone named "Belle", but Slendy told them they'd come back in a bit, to her disappointment.

The group passed a colorful castle-like building and Harry could make out a tune that matched the mental whistle that got those two kids there. Jeff eyed the place and gave a shudder, whispering "The Horror." to himself. Harry was absolutely confused.

As they moved onwards, he realized they were getting closer and closer to a large castle in the center of everything. Harry was awestruck at it. He'd read about castles before, but never actually gotten to see one. Even then, the Dursley family wouldn't have taken him if he tried.

The two children led them to an inconspicuous door tucked away. It looked just like a normal, wooden door you'd expect inside a castle, but it was pink and blue to match the color scheme around it and it had an "Employees Only" sign tacked onto it. The two opened the door, paying the sign no attention and the rest followed suit.

Harry was surprised that the ornate, decorated door led to a very utilitarian stairwell. It was lit by a dull, white fluorescent light and the walls were a drab off-white with grime and some rust. They went down the stairs and Harry was amazed to find that they were in some kind of tunnel system.

The tunnels were also a bit dirty, but well organized. Men and women were walking past with mops, brooms, and tools while talking rapidly in a language Harry didn't understand. There were also more of those costumed people, but one of them in a large mouse costume with a formal suit had removed his head, revealing a sweaty man gratefully taking sips from a watercooler. Another area had a few chairs, sofas, etc. and there were teenage girls or young women in the brightly colored dresses or helping each other get in their own costume while some applied make-up in front of some large mirrors. A metal rack of fancy, expensive costumes rattled by while a large crate of the random stuff he saw in the gift shops went the other way.

No one paid much attention to them, so they went unhindered through the maze. They passed more costumed people and utility workers. They even saw a couple guys in red with "First Aid" in white letters rush by. As they continued, they got further and further away from the activity and into the more dilapidated and forgotten areas of the maze. Exposed pipes were rusting and the red-brown stains leaked where the metal met the wall. Probably-once-white paint was peeling away in flakes or had rotted away in sheets, exposing cement cinderblocks behind them.

The two masked kids eventually led them to a single, iron door at the end of the hallway. Harry couldn't make out much because the lights flickered so much, but he thought he saw flaky, black letters saying "Room Zero". They pulled at the metal latches which screeched open against rust.

The doors opened and Harry shuddered at a sudden burst of very cold air. The kids led the others into the area and Harry lingered around the doorway. The room was pretty poorly lit, to the point that it looked completely dark. He felt goosebumps on his arm from the chill still seeping out of the room.

He continued peering in from the entryway, before he was startled to see a girl in a black dress with a white, lace collar appear in front of him. She had albino, white hair peeking out behind her own cartoony mouse gas mask.

"Shut the door. You're letting out the cold." She rasped. Before he could protest, she grabbed his arm and led him into the room. He heard the door shut behind him and the room was in complete darkness. He heard shuffling and stumbling around him before Jeff shouted at the other end of the room, "Found it!"

There was a bright shower of sparks from that area and Harry was blinded as white fluorescent lights suddenly flared to life. As he blinked away the brightness, his adjusted eyes took in the room. The walls were almost all cement along with most of the floor. There was a television set against the wall with a large collection of DVD cases. A lot of colorful posters featuring various characters and animals adorned the walls and a gray cat was prowling around for mice which had just scattered with the sudden lights, much to the cat's ire.

The room had about 20 kids in those odd masks hanging around, drawing in coloring books or playing with figures. Another 10 didn't have masks and were blue-lipped, pale, or covered in an almost permanent frost despite the relatively warmer room (even if it was cold). They seemed unperturbed by the sudden light. One boy walked by Harry mumbling about the "comfortable cold" and "rotten Florida weather".

He shuddered in the cold and suddenly wished he'd brought along his new hoodie. Everyone else was either inhuman or had a warmer wardrobe than he did. He huddled in on himself to retain what heat he had.

He remembered his training with Slendy and how he had read the books about people conjuring flames in their hands. He hadn't managed that yet, but he did make it so his hands got a lot warmer. He focused on his chest region and felt the energy in the center sluggishly start moving. Then, like clay or dough, it became easier and easier to mold and shape until it was flowing around his body like a second circulatory system of melted wax or molten silver.

It didn't go everywhere like his blood, but it went around enough that it warmed him against the chill.

A shadow passed over him and he whirled around to come face-to-face with a grinning 6 foot man in a black suit and top hat with a glossy finish to his skin. "He-he-hello there, little boy! My name's Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Chucky! What's yours?"

The man's stutter was unnatural. It cut off and restarted spontaneously and didn't match the lip movements as they suddenly reformed to repeat the former phonetic.

"M-my name is Harry. A pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand, unsure, and the entity grasped it firmly. The man's skin felt cold and had a rubbery texture and there were unnaturally hard bones underneath. The man let go and stiffly walked off to stare at the cat stalking a cockroach.

Another figure approached, this time a young girl in a green German dress with blonde hair and the same glossy finish to her skin. "H-he-hello. My n-name is Helga. Guten Tag!"

"H-hello. My name is Harry." He introduced again. This repeated two more times for two similar figures, one was a tan-skinned boy wearing a poncho and another with a woman with pale skin, dark hair, and a french beret. All of them had stiff movements, unnatural stutters, and seemed to be interested by the new face, but Harry still felt wary of them even as they wandered off to stare at cracks in the wall leaking water or a gas mask wearing kid absentmindedly doing something, but completely ignoring the eerie people's presence.

Harry slowly wandered away from the eerie people and saw some more of the facility. There were several large vents streaming in chilly air. An archway led to separate rooms for each ward. There was an area reserved for general weaponry training, but the facility seemed to be primarily for child-like entities to be watched over, like a permanent daycare, not like the Mansion or Akako's School which purposely trained killers and creatures.

Slendy was in another room, marked by another iron door. He walked out and was followed by another person in a suit, but unlike the mouse costumes he'd been seeing around the park, this one was like a film negative. It's body was white with a black face and a blue bow. The figure raised an arm in greeting. "Hey, wanna see my head come off?"

The figure started lifting against his head with the sound of ripping seams and Harry stared as yellow ooze started leaking from the neck. Thankfully, Slendy put a stop to it. "Yekcim, please stop." The figure complied and the head went back on fully. The yellow pus-like stuff was absorbed back into the suit itself.

Slendy turned to Harry. "Harry, this is Yekcim. He's in charge of the Gascots and similar children who prefer cold temperatures."

"Who are the gascots?" Harry asked, still casting uncertain glances at the living costume.

"The gascots are the children with the plastic gasmasks. They were the original children that required this facility. Yekcim came over after an incident with the Treasure Island Park closing down. He still visits from time to time as I understand, but he mostly stays around the main, active parks." The giant mouse nodded to confirm Slendy's explanation. "This facility is meant primarily for the gascots, but also houses several other wards who prefer colder temperatures."

"Who was the man, then? And the girl and boy?"

"'Man', Harry?"

"I can answer that, Mr. Slenderman." Yekcim spoke. "Treasure Island was equipped almost immediately with a "Small World" ride, but at the time the Disney Corporation had found some old blueprints by Uncle Walt, himself. He designed them just before he died and hid them away before he could start building them. He practically invented the field of animatronics and made a breakthrough. The animatronics walked and talked, but they also had autonomous movement. That is, they could think and act for themselves, but tended to be somewhat… aggressive towards civilians and employees. We moved them here as protection sentinels. Oh, don't worry," He amended, seeing Harry's eyes widen in panic. "They're harmless now-a-days unless we tell them to attack… Just don't provoke them."

"It's their version of Protections, Harry. The Mansion has several ward structures protecting it, essentially encasing it in its own small dimension. Akako's School has protections in the mists that we saw. Here, these… 'animatronics' are the park's own defenses since they can't put up large-scale shields in a public amusement park."

"Well, we also share them around, too." Yekcim admitted. "Last I remember, we sold a few animatronics to this pizza chain for their floor shows. Didn't manage to reprogram them, though, so that'll be fun for the night guards. Hehe." He chuckled darkly.

Harry had a sudden feeling in his gut and silently hoped the nice pizza delivery guy was alright.

=A few nights ago=

"Aaaauuuuggghhh! Augh! Augh! AAAAAUUUUGHHH!"

Dave the former-pizza-delivery kid wailed, his arms flailing behind him as he bolted out the front doors of the small pizzeria. At long, long last his six days were up.

He almost barreled down the manager, just opening the doors at 6:01 AM, and ripped a small, pink check for $120.50 out of the stunned little man's hand.

Dave hazarded a glance back and nearly wet himself as he caught a glimpse of Foxy waving his shiny, metal hook from behind the curtain.

As he ran from his most recent job (which would receive a resignation form from him shortly after), he clutched a job offer pamphlet in his other hand.

He hoped Umbrella Corporation was still hiring lab assistants.

Slenderman returned to conversing with Yekcim and Harry took the time to walk around. All of the videos and posters featured cartoonish characters and a large, swirly signature that looked like either a swirly, fancy "D" or an oddly shaped "G". The rest was pretty much "isney" except that the "i" had an odd swirl above it. The young wizard remembered Toby's comment and concluded it must be that "Disney" he mentioned.

The gascots and similarly masked kids were all lying around playing cards, talking, playing what looked like hide-and-seek, or petting the gray cat that prowled around. Harry went to the cat first. The same albino-haired girl that dragged him in was the only one by the cat's side at that moment. He watched the cat's head loll around as she rubbed it's stomach.

Harry tentatively reached out a hand and mimicked her actions. The cat purred from the attention. Harry's hand brushed against the girl's and he jerked back at the coldness of it. She ignored his gesture, but the cat eyed him, clearly questioning why he stopped. Harry went back to petting the cat, careful to not touch the girl again. "He's from the Magic Kingdom."

He was startled by the girl's sudden voice, it echoed inside the mask, but was still very understandable. The gascot continued. "He's one of a bunch of cats that go around the park after hours to eat the mice and rats. They're very hard working."

Harry nodded and continued to pet the cat. "W-what's your name?" He ventured.

Her hand stopped for a second before resuming after the cat "mew"ed for attention. "I… can't really remember. I just go by Kida. She had white hair, too."

The cat "meow"ed again and Harry realized that he, once again, had stopped giving the cat a belly rub. He started up and mumbled, "Spoiled cat." He was surprised when a distorted giggle sounded from behind Kida's mask.

The other kids ran over to a telly set in the corner of the room and a few were whispering feverishly over a few colorful boxes. Eventually deciding on one, they took out a black VHS tape and popped it in the player underneath.

The children crowded around and sat in front of the box as a few ancient commercials and previews played before the standard anti-piracy warning flashed and the movie began. The opening scene portrayed an old English kingdom where a king died and a magical sword appeared in an anvil in the courtyard of a church proclaiming that whomever removes the sword shall be king.

Kida nudged Harry and asked if monarchs still did that in Britain. He whispered back that he doubted that strange people distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.

Eventually they got to the scenes where the boy protagonist, "Wart", fell through a thatch roof and met with an old wizard named Merlin.

The movie went on after that, detailing impressive feats of magic from Merlin to get "Wart" to learn lessons for his future.

Harry enjoyed the film, but was still unnerved every time he saw Merlin or saw magic from the old wizard. Every time he looked at the wizened old man with the pointy hat and white beard, he felt his mind drudge up a faint memory of a similar white-bearded man from something like a dream.

It was like his dreams about flying motorbikes, brightly colored bubbles from a stick held by a smiling red-haired woman, or a lady vanishing into a cat and running off. Usually, the cat woman would accompany the old man. He had no idea where these dreams came from, but they usually ended in a flash of sickly green and high pitched, maniacal laughter.

"I'm ready!"

Harry and the others turned away from the screen and towards the shout. Sally had apparently changed out of her pink glamoured dress and was wearing a yellow gown with her brown hair in an odd pony-tail-ish style. She twirled for them and turned to the entryway she just came from when three gascots dragged out a grumbling and subdued Jeff. He was in a blue suit with gold trim. "I'm Belle and Jeff's the Beast!" She declared happily.

Harry pressed his lips together and saw he was having more success at not snickering than BEN, Toby, or even Jack. Jeff's glamour was still holding up, but his hair reverted back to the long, black mess in his unglamoured form and was pulled into a crude attempt at a ponytail. He grimaced as he was dragged out. Slendy raised an eyebrow at the ecstatic 8-year-old girl. "And why did you dress up Jeff, Sally?"

"Because he's the only boy with really, really long hair." She replied truthfully.

For once, Jeff mumbled and cursed his hair, muttering empty threats to cut it despite keeping it that exact way for years. He stalked over to a mirror and glared at the reflection before his hair color changed to its mousy brown color of the glamour, while still maintaining the length and style.

Slendy looked back at Yekcim, who nodded, and clapped his hands together. "Alright, everybody, please stay together!" With that, the tall entity made sure everyone under his care (including a loudly protesting Jeff) and a few gascots, including Kida, out from Room Zero and back to the surface.

Harry was sitting on one of the park's benches as the sun set happily taking bites out of some pink and blue candy floss, he had had one of the best days of his life here. He could see why Dudley Dursley was so adamant that his parents take him to amusement parks so often. He smiled as his "distancing" method became easier and easier each time.

Kida was sitting right next to him, somehow eating a mouse-head-shaped ice cream bar-on-a-stick through the odd cylinder under the mask without making a sloppy mess against it. Harry had long-since just accepted any anomalies as they were. He'd still ask questions if he could, but 9 times out of 10 the people who had the anomalies didn't know how they worked, themselves.

Surprisingly, it was almost as if Kida and the other gascots had built-in glamours. Everywhere they went, all of the adults didn't give her a second look. A few kids stared at her apprehensively, but were quickly shooed away by the adults to the next ride/attraction. The same was true for Yekcim. They stuck by him, but they found he was frequently requested to stand around a family or some (pretty terrified and crying/wailing) children and pose for a picture. Harry snuck a glance at one photo and it was still the same position, but Yekcim was the normal Mickey Mouse colors.

Still, this happened a few times and during a particularly full crowd of parents pressing for a picture, Yekcim just motioned for them to go on and explore and he'd catch up later. Slenderman took them to as many of the attractions as they could.

Harry, personally, found the Haunted Mansion ride fun. It was a lot like the Mansion, but, aside from Sally, had fewer ghosts. He enjoyed the Carousel of Progress and the Spinning Teacups simply because they were fun. Jeff leaned in during the Carousel presentation and whispered that someone had died from the rotating walls. The young boy shuddered, but was a lot more used to the psychopath's idea of "interesting".

Sally didn't appreciate his comment as well, claiming it "spoiled the attraction". So, in retaliation, she eventually dragged them all into the colorful castle (literally with Jeff, by dragging him by the heel). Harry thought the ride was interesting, but the song would be stuck in his head for a while. Though, he felt it was completely worth it as Jeff was steadily beating his head against the guard rail the entire ride. At one point, the ride completely stopped just before the end where they could get off and the scarred psychopath screamed, "Oh come on! What the actual f-" but was summarily silenced by Slenderman, reminding him that this was a children's ride.

Sally got her picture with "Belle", who looked a lot like the undead girl. Jeff reluctantly stood in the picture, too, next to the theme-park's costumed "Beast". Slenderman took about 4 photos to compensate for the first 3 being photo-bombed by an excited Toby.

Toby was just… Toby the entire time. He was very spontaneous and as child-like as a majority of the visitors there. Once, he tripped running at high speeds and half the park probably winced as a few rushed over to help fix his arm. He waved them off, saying it was fine and he didn't feel any pain (though he didn't tell them the extent of it), but discretely went to a less-noticeable spot to wrap spare bandages and gauze around the area where a… rather substantial amount of skin and flesh came off on his arm. E.J. promised Slendy he's take care of it later.

E.J. himself stuck around Sally most of the time, letting her "help him around". While he couldn't pretend to see something, he still rode on some rides with her and enjoyed the park's confections. Sometimes, when she'd go on a heavily visual-based attraction, he'd sit outside and read a book with letters and brail. He'd let his finger trail over the pages, pretending to read the bumps, but was just reading the actual print instead. Sure, after doing this for so often, he'd actually picked up brail, but he still preferred to read normally.

Harry stuck by Kida most of the day. She turned out to be a bit more reserved than the other gascots, but still pretty friendly. She explained to him her mask was of the icon of the park, Mickey Mouse, her dress was vintage from the 50s, and her favorite movies were the new Pixar computer ones. She explained that they had nothing like it when she was technically "alive". Other than that, they just had fun around the park. She told him some of the park's secrets to getting good food, short waits, the better rides, finding cool stuff, or "hidden Mickeys".

They went the rest of the day that way, leading up to the current moment at the park bench. Kida finished her ice cream bar as Harry was finishing his candy floss, she took his cone and tossed the popsicle stick and paper cone in a trash bin before excitedly dragging him off to another area, looking back at the castle and sunset position every few minutes.

"Almost time!" She said cryptically. Harry let himself be led to a small, hidden door in the wall of a shop. He followed her through and they came out at some stairs to a rooftop. When he got there, Slendy had removed his glamour and the others were already there with some lawn chairs and the gascots. Sally, E.J., and BEN were there sipping some sodas in a can while Slendy was sipping from a gold-ish colored can.

He sat down in one of the chairs with Kida next to him. "What's going on?"

The masked girl giggled and whispered conspiratorially. "It's a surprise. I don't want to ruin it."

Harry settled back in his chair, watching everyone below moving around and imagining what the surprise could possibly be. At one point, Jeff and Toby arrived with another gascot. Jeff grabbed a purple soda can from the cooler and eyed Slendy's drink before smirking. "I thought Disney didn't allow booze."

The entity shrugged. "I just popped into Club 33. Literally, I teleported in. After a few days in parks like these, most parents would kill for a drink." He took another sip.

Jeff scoffed. "And he's our ride home. Does that mean I get to be designated driver?" He grinned maniacally and eyed the car parking lot in the distance as though already planning which car to hijack for a road trip back up to New York. Toby jumped up and cried "Shotgun!"

Slendy gave them a "look", "For one, driving and teleporting are hardly the same. For another, I don't get drunk. I biologically don't have blood or a liver. And lastly, I will wear Splendy's ridiculous outfit before you get anywhere behind a wheel, Jeffery."

"I am 15. I can have a learner's permit, you know. And I could easily pass for 16. Or even 20!" He closed his eyes to concentrate and adjusted his glamour and took on an older version of his glamoured self, but with some facial hair, scruffy clothes, and about 5 or 6 inches taller.

"Jeff, stop that." The murderer's form returned to normal and Slendy continued. "Just wait, alright? It should be starting any-"

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeee-BANG!

Harry jolted and looked back at the castle. A bright red firework flowered around it, followed quickly by some blue, white, green, and purple ones. Harry watched, entranced, as the fireworks became more intricate. The usual flower-like patterns became more complex. A few smiley faces, some chrysanthemums, some weeping willows, and even a Mickey Mouse shaped one.

"YEAHHH! WOOOO! ALRIGHT!" Toby cheered. Harry laughed at the pyromaniacs excitement. Slendy, meanwhile, shook his head and muttered how it would be a cold day in Hell before he'd let Toby Rogers handle a firework.

The fireworks display came to a close with a bunch of roman candles sending up flare-like sparks on either side of the castle. Kida hopped up and down. "Oh! This is my favorite part!"

Harry watched her point to the very tip of the castle where a small woman in yellow and green lights was at the very edge of the castle ledge. Harry gasped as she jumped, but watched as she just glided down at an angle, waving around a blue wand-like light. After the woman vanished behind the horizon, Kida explained her excitement. "There's a zipline up there. A few of us get to go on it every night after hours. It's so much fun!"

Harry nodded. He imagined it felt like actually flying and he personally thought that must feel amazing.

The display was over and an announcement informed everyone that the park would be closing soon. People slowly filed out of the park, exhausted parents dragging kids who looked like they'd pass out on their feet, and his family stayed at the top of the store's roof. Yekcim appeared in a flurry of rust-colored mickey-mouse glitter and black swirls to see them off.

They said goodbye to everyone, Harry promising to keep in contact with Kida, and held hands as Slenderman teleported them back home.

"Dangit."

BEN wandered around the random neighborhood he wound up in. It wasn't terribly far from the Mansion, but he'd used the internet to find a connection a few towns over. He went glamoured (naturally) and aside from freaking out the family dog from the house with the computer he came through, no one saw him.

The air was getting cold and the trees were all bare, leaving leaves to rattle around the pavement like maracas. A sure sign that the holidays were just around the corner-

Well, that, and around 7/8ths of the entire neighborhood he was in had plastic Santas, plastic nativities, icicle lights, wreathes, reindeer, candy canes, and strand upon strand of lights all displayed proudly outside their home. BEN shook his head at all the hullaballoo the holiday caused. He stopped and nodded appreciatively at the 1/8 th of the neighborhood that were more sensible, like one house with just a wreath on the door and electric candles in the windows and another that was completely the same except for a small menorah in the window and a blue and white Star of David decoration hanging in another window.

He was pretty sure if when he was human, he celebrated Christmas, but he remembered a lot less in terms of prep work.

Either way, now he was here, wandering around this random neighborhood on his way back to the computer terminal after an unsuccessful day of shopping. He got Sally a gift a long time ago. Slendy would be fine with a tie or a mug. Jeff would get a card that said "f**k you" with a $10 card to Applebee's (literally, he had that one saved up for months as retaliation to a particular prank the scarred killer pulled). L.J. would be good with some chattering teeth or a jokebook.

No, the problem was Harry.

He felt he wanted to get the kid something at least, but since he'd only been there for a little under a month he had no idea what the new kid liked.

He thought back and ransacked his memory. He was always drew with Sally, but he got her a gift for that, so he couldn't repeat it. He said he liked cooking, but he had no clue what cookbooks E.J. didn't have and just printing something off allrecipes .com or someplace would be a cheap move.

He thought about what he could do that would give the kid something fun, something unique.

The last of the November leaves rattled along the pavement and BEN's eyes tracked them listlessly. They fluttered over the curb and across the city-owned lawn and into-

-a lake.

He stared as the brown leaves made ripples in the surface of the water. The lake was one of those retention lakes for excess storm water or a lake that just propped up during the land development as a feature for the neighborhood. This one was a mix of both, as it had a storm drain on the other end, but was large enough to support a nature path around it, some untrimmed, dead grass growing around it in a small marsh, a few willows around the bank and benches strategically placed around it. The edges had small, thin sheets of ice just beginning to form from the winter chill.

There was even a small, wooden dock extending a few feet into the structure.

It was peaceful.

BEN looked at the scene with unfocused eyes, repeating the thought in his mind. Peaceful. Look at the bench. The willow. The lake. The cattails. The lake. The gravel path. The lake. The ripples. The waves. The water.

He found his eyes had diverted and focused directly on the nearest lake bank. The icy, cold water laped against the edge of the dock posts. He followed the water away from the shallow, sandy bank and further towards the center of the lake.

The lake water became a murky, dark abyss of frigid cerulean and indigo, belying something underneath. Invisible, cold hands seemed to reach out from the water, grasping just under the surface of the waves. He swore he saw a large figure smoothly gliding as a shadow in the depths.

He felt eyes to the invisible hands watching his every movement, hearing every beat of his incorporeal heart, watching his movements like gremlins from fairy tales.

The echoed laughter of the Happy Mask Salesman skimmed around the water.

Bubbles clouded over his vision.

The world became an icy, dark blue.

Hands clawed at the shimmering sunlight above him indicating surface.

His blonde hair scraggled around as the surface drifted further and further away.

And he drifted further and further down.

Down.

Down.

Drown.

*GASP!*

He blinked rapidly, his eyes wirring around uncomprehendingly. The lake was there and he hadn't moved from his position on the sidewalk. His breathing was short and he had to slow down as his vision dimmed at the edges.

He put a hand to his chest and felt nothing. He was dead. Of course he had no heartbeat.

But the area the organ would be still clenched painfully and still felt like it should be beating a mile a minute.

He tilted his arm and glanced at his watch. An entire hour had vanished. He angrily cursed the panic attack. Slendy would probably lecture him about coming home late before giving him some more of Halloway's "tricks" for dealing with them.

He had his games. That was all he needed.

Even games like BioShock were fine despite being entirely underwater. He could still make it through them pretty alright, just a little on-edge. The worst it would get would be like Jak and Daxter with the piranha monster suddenly attacking in the ocean areas. That sent BEN under his bed for a solid two days and he didn't live it down for even longer.

He slowly set his hand to his side and stared at a few blades of grass in front of him. He found his limbs were unresponsive to his brain and he had to put in more effort before they would move from the spot. The entire time, he kept looking down, up, sideways.

At trees, leaves, dirt, pebbles in the sidewalk concrete, even his own shoes.

Anywhere but the water.

Stupid water.

Eventually, he made it past the lakeview and was back to monotonous house after house decorated gaudily for the holiday season. He tucked his hands in his hoodie pockets. They were really just some pockets in his tunic glamoured into hoodie pockets, but they served the same purpose of just giving him somewhere to put his hands to stop them from shaking every now and then.

He saw in the distance the familiar stone façade to the house with the computer link he came through. He headed towards it with a quicker pace to make it before the family gets back. It was easier getting to and from the Mansion on the same line he got out from.

He was about to head to the backyard to inconspicuously phase through a window when he saw a house a few doors down. Specifically, he saw a large array of old furniture, paintings, junk, and miscellaneous scattered around the driveway on some cheap fold-out tables.

He grinned. A yard sale! That would be the perfect place to get a gift! Maybe the trip wasn't so useless in the end, after all.

He casually walked up to the displays, mingling with the five or six people already there and browsed around the area casually. This weirdo had everything; lamps, desks, couches, paintings, cups, spoons, Nintendo cartridges-

Nintendo cartridges?

He paused and leafed through them. He nodded, impressed with the collection. A few Kirby games, Mario, Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus, Earthbound. He guessed the guy was either an avid gamer at some point in life or he had a kid who moved out.

He picked out a beaten up Pokemon box. It was for a Gamecube, which he had no-problem, and the game was called "Pokemon Channel". Reading some of the summary text and features he nodded approvingly.

The virus peeked inside the box, confirming that it actually had a game inside before heading over to the owner.

The guy running the place was an old geezer who was looking around the driveway grumpily with his one good eye. His left one. The right eye had the same fogged-over look that E.J. got when he was glamoured, but BEN noticed that that when the left eye looked around, the right one would sluggishly move that same way or just lazily stare in one direction regardless. He was in an old lawn chair with a beer right next to him. He glared at each of the possible customers as if contemplating between letting them peruse versus suddenly whipping out a shotgun or pitbull and shouting at them to get off of his lawn.

The old man wore a heavy coat and scarf to fight the chill as well as a thermos of coffee beside him to counteract the effects of the cold beer. Why this guy had to have an outdoor yard sale in December was beyond BEN, but this close to the holidays, he couldn't look a gift horse (or in this case, gift opportunity) in the mouth.

The prepubescent virus took a breath and started towards the man with the box in his hand. The old-timer's eye swiveled to meet his and the milky white one also came along this time. His eyelids barely widened, but still gave the briefest moment of shock before steeling back to their usual crankiness.

But still with a gleam of… wariness? Fear? Familiarity?

"What do ya want, kid?" His foggy eye seemed to pierce through the gross film right at the boy.

Okay, serious creep factor. Ben thought. He cleared his throat. "Uh, I was hoping to buy this game. So, how much is it? There weren't any labels around the games section."

The man looked over the box and nodded. "That's an old one. My brother's grandson loved those games over there. The boy's aunt, my niece, convinced me to sell them for her sister. I got a lot of them from her just collecting dust in my garage. This one was actually from some other kid, I think. Real whack-job, too. Practically gave it away to me. Last one I sold, though, was to this one other kid a few years ago."

He looked up from the box and back at BEN. "No idea why I sold it to the kid… not sure why I'd sell it to you…" The fogged over eye seemed to look through him as BEN edged away gradually. "… but you seem like a good kid. You remind me of my grand-nephew, actually… tell you what, you can just take the old thing."

Ben started. "Really?"

"Really. Now shove off before I change my mind."

Ben thanked the man and started down the driveway, he turned around and saw the old guy half-wave. Despite the murmur of the crowd and the distance, he could still make out what the old man said.

He walked back to the computer console, taking a small detour to avoid the old guy still watching him walk down the street. He got back to his room and slumped in the chair in front of his workbench. He pulled out the Nintendo 64 cartridge and looked at it, the old man's voice still echoing in his head. Eerie enough as it was alone, but it was oddly familiar:

"Goodbye, Ben."

I do NOT own Mickey Mouse or Disney in any way, shape or form. *A Disney lawyer swoops in and changes from his/her bat form*

Crow: Back! Back, I say! *holds up a piece of paper* The power of disclaimer compels you! The power of disclaimer compels you!

Lawyer: Hisssssssssssssss! Our main weakness! Noooo- *shrivels to ash*

*brushes stray ash off of clothing* Well, now that that's out of the way-

Disclaimer: I don't own any Pastas, Harry Potter, or Disney-related products. Sorry, not too many references this time.

Oh, by the way, that odd snippet with Slendy and the poptart was inspired by Sam Green and his video "Death of Nyan Cat 4".

I know Trenderman is kind of a gay stereotype and I know that it is completely untrue. I mean, I know a gay guy in my school who's an engineer major, doesn't give a damn about the latest fashion trends, doesn't speak with a lisp or sass, and thinks West Side Story is boring. He told me he couldn't stomach five minutes of it. Literally, the DVD was five minutes in and he popped it out and prepped it to go back to the library.

And to give more detail into this, he put in Silence of the Lambs afterwards. He's a great guy, hates flashy or tight clothing, and is a minor horror buff. And still, he's gay. Goes to show you can't pin an individual just from stereotypes.

For those of you confused with L.J.'s backstory; In advanced mathematics and physics, you'll find yourself dealing with things that equal the square root of -1. A negative square root doesn't physically exist in this dimension, but in theoretical work it's abbreviated "i" which literally stands for "imaginary number" because it doesn't really exist as an observable value.

So, I thought it made sense that Laughing Jack, the "imaginary friend" would come from an "imaginary world" where "imaginary numbers" exist.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Sincerely,

-Crow

-Gascots: "Room Zero" by Slimebeast

-Yekcim (inverted Mickey): "Abandoned by Disney" by Slimebeast

-BEN: "BEN DROWNED" by Jadusable

-Trenderman: Tumblr and Deviantart creations