Hello everyone! Please enjoy this long chapter!
This features some of the recent changes to Harry's life along with backgrounds to several pastas.
Finally, there is a small section that establishes an important bit of headcanon.
-Crow
The black-haired boy sat in a meditative position on his bed. Slenderman had him started on small exercises to help him keep calm and organize his thoughts. His father figure told him it would help control his frea- gift.
Despite his new family's insistence that it was not a bad thing, he still flinched, winced, or ticced whenever he heard any synonym for "abnormal". He supposed he was getting better, but it was a gradual process, as Doctor Halloway assured him.
He felt the energy in him swirl around his chest like a small whirlpool. His hair ruffled around him as he felt a now-familiar breeze that tended to swirl in the same direction as the energy whenever he focused like this. He liked to imagine it was like his Naruto manga's "chakra" and he could imagine the coils flowing around his body. Though, he tried "tree-walking" earlier in the week and fell flat on his back each time, so he didn't get his hopes up about a 'Rasengan' anytime soon.
He let the breeze continue for a few minutes before he got himself out of it. When he opened his eyes, his room was still in one piece. He remembered the first time he tried this while sitting on the floor, the "breeze" was a tornado and by the time he came to, his bed was embedded in the wall and his desk was out the shattered remains of the window.
He kept apologizing to Slendy and essentially punishing himself by sleeping on the floor in the drafty window (during Winter none-the-less), but Slendy had him stay in a spare room and do his meditation practices in an empty grove nearby until he was able to get the hurricane force down to a mildly strong wind.
Somehow, Slendy knew a few others who got the room back to the way it was before the week was over.
Back in the present, he looked around his room and clicked his tongue in annoyance to find a stack of papers fell on the floor. He picked up the sheet music and started organizing it by movement and page number.
After Christmas, he'd taken up Slendy's offer of piano lessons and even asked Jeff for some guitar lessons. Laughing Jack eagerly offered accordion lessons, but Harry politely declined (which led to the clown sulking in a corner, playing a sad piece on his instrument).
He finished organizing the works and set it in a neat stack on the desk. He walked over to the bed and sat down.
"Pika-chu!"
He looked down at the small, yellow cat-like being as it jumped onto his lap. He pet his companion on the head and felt the familiar tingle of static that always seemed to generate from the little guy. He found out from Toshio, who was ecstatic when he heard that his friend had a real-live pokemon, that Pikachus generated electricity for some really cool lightning attacks.
He thought back to the first time he found BRVR outside his game.
*flashback*
BEN woke up groggily the morning of December 26th. He'd pretended to sleep when Slendy caught him the night before and as soon as he was sure the entity was also in bed, he got up and stayed up till 2 AM playing a new online game he got for Christmas earlier. Now, it was 7 AM and, naturally, he'd wake up and be unable to fall back asleep. He stumbled his way downstairs, surprised that not even Slendy was awake.
He passed the living room and backtracked when he saw the fritz of static on the screen. His brows furrowed as his sleep-addled brain put together enough to say "TV static. Loud. Bad. Button push. Off."
He shuffled his way into the room and slapped the region where he thought he remembered the button being. After several unsuccessful attempts of slapping the hard plastic around it, he finally felt a raised bump and the TV turned off. He sighed before turning around-
And blinked several times.
He must be more tired than he remembered, he was seeing things. What looked like either a real-live Pikachu or a very yellow cat was curled up on the couch, apparently asleep. He rubbed his eyes, but the image didn't go away, he cautiously stepped towards the thing on their couch.
His brain was currently an incoherent puddle of gray matter after a combination of almost non-stop gameplay and mild sleep deprivation. So, naturally, his first instinct was to poke it.
His finger barely prodded the red circle on its cheeks when the character's onyx eyes flew open, whizzing wildly around in its sockets before landing on the living virus. Immediately, it jumped backwards onto the armrest of the couch and eyed the mysterious child-that-was-not-new-brother-Harry.
"Woah, there! Easy-" The green-clad character put his hands up defensively.
"PI-" Arcs of electricity started sparking.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"-KAAAA-"
"Wait, don't you do that when- oh, shi-!"
"-CHUUUUUUUUUU!"
*still in flashback*
Harry woke up suddenly at a combination of sounds.
One was a high-pitched, prepubescent scream.
The other was the sonic boom of lightning.
The last was light bulbs all over the house flaring to life before exploding violently like popcorn.
He jumped out of bed and got to his door. He saw several others had already poked their heads out of the threshold and Slendy was already rushing down the hall still in his PJs. His new brother and sister figures were already tagging not far behind the faceless guardian.
They turned the corner and found the worst of the scorch marks in the threshold to the TV room. Inside was a stunned and slightly charred BEN twitching on the ground, a shorted-out TV and game box, and the smoldering remains of a couch.
"What on earth-!" Slendy roared, but was cut off as a bright, yellow creature hopped on the top of the charred couch, clearly threatened by the arrival of new people. Arcs of yellow electricity started sparking from its cheeks.
"PI-KAAA-!"
"BRVR!"
The electricity stopped immediately and the little cat-like creature's head snapped behind the faceless being where it centered on new-brother-Harry. The boy pushed his way past everyone and made it to the front, where the electric-type's face split into the feline grin from before. "Pika pi!"
The excited pokemon hopped off the couch and jumped in the young boy's arms, ignoring the crowd flinch to try to protect Harry. The wizard twitched a little as a small spark of static shocked his arms when he made contact with the creature, but smiled when BRVR settled against his chest.
The blood-covered creature calmed down and Harry looked behind him to see his new family staring and alternating between Harry and his apparent pet. Slendy was the first to speak. "Harry, I assume you know who this is?"
Harry nodded hesitantly. "His name is BRVR. Toshio said he's something called a "Pokemon" and is specifically a "Pikachu". It's apparently like a "dog" and a "terrier". One is generic, the other is a specific kind."
"Yes, Harry, I understand that, but what is it doing here?"
Harry frowned before turning to the pokemon in question. "I don't know. He was in my game last night."
"Game? What game?" Harry turned to the TV and pulled out the smoking remains of a video game cartridge from the equally charred remains of the GameCube. He winced and glanced at the currently unconscious form of BEN, not looking forward to explaining how his console was destroyed. He wordlessly handed it to Slendy who peered at it (from what they could tell) and read the singed paper sticker on it.
"Pokemon Channel? I see, this was the game BEN gave you yesterday morning, wasn't it?" Harry nodded. "*sigh* There were rumors of a game or two that slipped under the radar in the Council. Who would guess that out of sheer dumb luck it would end up here? Though, the question remains, how did it get from a game to here?"
Jeff spoke from behind them. "Well, I mean BEN over there is a video game character and he walks around. Isn't it just like that?"
"No, not exactly." Slenderman replied. "BEN is a computer entity, yes, but he's essentially computer code wrapped around a human soul from when he was alive. This creature- this 'BRVR', is completely digitally-based. It has consciousness and awareness, but nothing to tether it to the physical world… unless…"
He turned to Harry, who hugged the small creature closer to his chest. "Harry, do you know anything about this? Anything at all, I won't punish you for it."
Harry's eyes darted down before widening slightly with a memory. "I… I remember going to bed, after you put me in it… I remember feeling sad for BRVR and wishing I could help… I think I wished he was… real, too…" He whispered out at the end. He flinched at the contact on his shoulder, but instead of a rough grab or a slap for his "freakishness", it was comforting.
"As I said, Harry. I won't punish you for this. In fact, I find it quite amazing." Harry was so relieved, he let out a tiny chuckle. Looking back, he saw his new brothers and sisters clearly amazed as well, none of which seemed scared or angry for what he did.
He stood up and addressed everyone else. "Now, given the fact that we found an object that's been reported as missing, I need to inform the Council of this, I'll be right back."
"Wait!" He turned back to Harry, who retreated in on himself, shocked at his own outburst. He asked, much quieter, "What will happen to BRVR?"
Slenderman looked from the green eyes of his ward to the "pokemon" in his hands and back to the melted plastic of the game cartridge. "Well, I suppose we can't exactly send him back into this." He held up the cartridge. "And I'm willing to bet that the council won't find a suitable place for him…"
Harry looked up, with a hopeful expression. "May we keep him?" The demonic Pikachu joined the young boy's pleading eyes and matched it with a toothy grin.
Slenderman sighed.
*Flashback over*
And so, BRVR officially became his responsibility. He had a small doggy-bed in his room for the creature to sleep in (though it tended to wind up on top of the covers with him), an extra food and water bowl in the kitchen, even a litter box in the bathroom.
As it turned out, BRVR was pretty self-sustaining. They guessed because he was mostly a video-game character, he didn't really need to eat or drink much, though Harry found out his favorite snack consisted of raw ketchup, apple slices, or berries along with the occasional slab of raw meat from the chill box for carnivorous tenants. So far, Harry, and everyone, else was pleased to discover that BRVR never once seemed to need the litter box, nor did it leave "droppings" elsewhere like a the mouse it was supposedly based upon.
The first few weeks of BRVR's appearance in the house, Smile was pretty jealous of being upstaged as the pet-of-the-house. Jeff was up in arms for a week as BRVR's thundershock attacks kept "poofing" Smile's fur and leaving the demon-dog twitchy for hours afterwards and Harry was equally upset because Smile's claws caused some pretty nasty gashes to the ones that were already there. Eventually, the two pets came to a mutual understanding that both were pets of the house, but Smile was Jeff's and BRVR was Harry's. The house breathed a collective sigh of relief when the feud ended.
As his hand glided over the Pikachu's yellow fur, he saw that more of the scabs were starting to peel off. After about a month out of his game, BRVR's cuts and scabs started healing over and faded into the goldenrod fur, but the sharp teeth remained.
BRVR's long ears twitched with a sudden thought before hopping off of his lap and pointing at the clock, yammering in Pokémon. "Pika pi pi!" Harry looked up and saw it was almost 9:00 AM. He nodded and followed the excited creature down the stairs to the kitchen. Today was a generic day, so he fixed himself a bowl of cereal and milk and BRVR was content with some blackberries.
He looked outside. The constant overcast finally broke into a downpour. He guessed he should have expected it since it was currently mid-April, but it was still upsetting that everyone was either miles away from teleporting to jobs or stuck inside the manor. Slendy had already left on some business, so he fell in the latter.
The door to the basement opened and E.J. walked out, still looking over some documents with his lab coat on.
"Hello." Harry chirped. Jack looked up, suddenly aware of where he was and nodded to Harry and BRVR. He walked to the fridge and pulled out some leftover kidney before popping it in the microwave. He set the steaming organ on the table before cutting a corner with a fork, reviewing more of his notes.
Harry peered at the jumbled mess. "What are you reading?" He asked innocently, but his eyes belied his genuine interest. Since his first dissection (a frog), he'd begun to become more invested in the sciences and turned to E.J. for anatomy and medical science, Masky for chemistry, and L.J. for math and physics. Even if half of L.J.'s "assignments and experiments" were pranks in disguise.
Jack smiled at his curiosity. "I'm looking at BRVR's blood results. It's fascinating. He's got actual blood cells, plasma, tissue, etc. and it's genetically all his own even though he was just a computer program beforehand. That's the other thing. I ran a few more tests on those tissue samples he gave and his DNA is binary! It's a whole new system of genetics. I'm thinking about asking to test BEN, Funnymouth, Sonic. exe and a few others to see if they have it too or something similar."
Harry nodded excitedly. "What about those energy readings?"
Jack sighed and shook his head. "I can't. The chemical and DNA tests involve computers, but they're primarily chemical-based, so it doesn't affect it as much. All of my equipment for energy readings keeps failing from how strong the energy output is and I've got nothing that can counteract its affect."
Harry looked up thoughtfully. "But it's a wavelength, right?" E.J. nodded. "Well, Jack- the other Jack, that is- was telling me how waves can cancel out at the same frequency, but different points. He said it's a fun way to mess with people's heads. Someone walks briefly in one spot and in the next, the noise is gone. Something with Quantum Physics. He didn't explain too much, I wouldn't understand anyways."
Jack set down his papers and looked at Harry eye-to-socket. "Don't underestimate yourself, Harry. You're brighter than you let on. I mean, you understood enough that using that wavelength you could cancel or… reduce… the amplitude… I'll be right back!"
Harry watched, cereal and spoon mid-way to his mouth, as Jack grabbed his papers and ran back to the basement. Harry smiled at his foster-older-brother before picking up the plate of steaming body tissue and tossing it on a pan. A few chopped onions, leeks, and a bit of oil later and he made the re-heated organ into something more appetizing for the eyeless cannibal. BRVR wagged his lightning-bold-shaped tail and Harry tossed him a small bite, but took the rest of it downstairs.
E.J. was in front of a small, glass box with a glowing, green stone adjusting a knob while murmuring. Harry got closer and could make out what he was saying.
"Come on, come on, come on."
He stopped as he got the dial to a certain point and the devices hooked up around the green stone started whirring and beeping. The eyeless doctor excitedly leapt from one monitor to another before punching the air, "YES!"
Harry snickered. "So, it works?" E.J. turned around in surprise. "Harry! I didn't hear you come in."
"So I gathered. Here, a celebratory snack!" He lifted the plate with the steaming kidney on it. Jack sniffed it and wiped a tiny bit of black drool from the corner of his mouth. "Wow, that looks great! What did you make it with?"
The seven year old shrugged. "You left your kidney upstairs, so I just cooked it properly instead of chucking it in the microwave."
Jack smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry. I'll cook something with you later this week. I've just been so focused on my research lately I haven't had time to properly cook a meal. It's mostly been ramen, microwave meals, coffee, and take-out. It's like college finals week all over again. Except without dorm food as an option."
Harry looked up. "You went to college?"
The eyeless doctor paused midway writing down something on a clipboard before resuming. He finished his sentence and spoke. "Once upon a time, I guess. It was way back before… well, this." He gestured to his blue-black face, specifically his eyes. "It's not something I go on about. Not much I can do. Trust me, I've researched it."
The young wizard-to-be was silent as the eyeless doctor wrote down the last of what he had to, clicked the pen shut, and walked over to the meal Harry prepared. "Whoa! This is amazing." He exclaimed after trying it. "You gotta tell me the recipe for this!"
Harry smiled, glad the tension was gone. They hung around for a few minutes discussing some questions Harry had about anatomy as Jack put in some of his data into his computer. BRVR fell asleep under the warm air currents beneath one of the machine's exhaust heat vents. Harry roused the Pokémon, receiving a small shock from the grumpy-in-the-morning electric-type, and took E.J.'s plate back upstairs, leaving the scholar to keep working.
He and his companion got up the stairs and turned to the living room area. Harry did a quick double-take when he saw a pair of dirty, bare feet sticking up from behind a couch. He glanced at BRVR who met his with an equally confused glance. They both looked back and BRVR hopped over to a chair directly across from the figure. Harry followed.
Sally was currently staring at a blank wall with her feet up and her head on the ground, nightgown kept up by the Unknown Force phenomenon. She caught Harry's eyes and sighed dramatically before saying. "I'm booooorred."
Harry snickered. "Well, I just met with E.J. We were talking about the uses of the coronary artery in conjunction with-"
"Ah! No!" She put her hands over her ears. "I liked you better before you started speaking nerd all the time."
Harry grinned. "That isn't "nerd-speak", as you put it, this is:" He cleared his throat before making the most monotone, British narration voice he could. "'The Complete Encyclopedia of Knowledge. Chapter 1: The Atom-'"
"Augh!" She flopped back down in mock defeat. "E.J. has corrupted you! Don't infect me!"
Harry wiggled his fingers in her face, tongue lolling out and moaning, pretending to be a zombie. She waved her arms uselessly at him to try and ward him off, but both were laughing the entire time. Harry had opened up in the few months he'd been there, especially after Christmas. Everyone agreed that he was essentially like a surrogate little brother and he happily filled the roll when it seemed appropriate.
Sometimes, he'd revert back to his timid and unsure self, but for the most part, he was getting better.
A few minutes of playing "Zombie Contamination" later, Sally had enough and was back to lying upside-down on the couch with Harry following suit on one of the chairs. The undead girl looked longingly out the window. "Rain, rain, go away…"
Harry finished. "Come again when we're away."
"Oh, that's good, I'll have to remember that. We just have 'Come again another day', but yours is specific." Sally commented, still upside down. She gave another hearty sigh. "Whaddaya wanna do?"
Harry thought for a second. "Well, do you want to draw?"
"Nah."
"Play in the mud?"
"Slendy'd kill us."
"Play with BRVR?"
"Nah."
"Pika!"
"Sorry, but I'm just not in the mood."
"Pi."
"Play hide and seek?"
Sally's head snapped up. "Um. No… no… I, well-"
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to or not?"
Sally stopped, looking torn before deciding. "Yeah, sure!"
"You're it!" Harry cried running away from Sally's protests. He stuck around and heard her start counting before he really started running off with BRVR hot on his heels.
They hadn't decided on boundaries, so he went upstairs, careful not to let his footsteps be too loud. He started peeking around for rooms on the upstairs. He thought about the upstairs bathroom, but thought it'd be awkward if someone else stuck in the house went in there, too. He mentally checked off the doorways he knew were people's rooms or spare rooms.
Room. Room. Room. Spare Room, keep in mind. Bathroom. Slendy's room… Hm?
He stopped in front of a single wooden door at the very end of a hallway. Just after Slendy's door, the hall turned a sharp right and continued, but there were no doors in it. There were three windows letting in faded sunlight, but otherwise, it was an empty hallway to a lone door.
"Ready or not, here I come!"
Sally's voice echoed up the stairs and Harry decided to risk it. He approached the door and found it unlocked. The doorway led to an old, wooden stairwell leading upwards. With a quick glance behind him, he quietly made his way up the creaky staircase to a dusty attic space.
He took in the room in an instant. There were many chests, but he'd heard about the Hide-and-Seek Bride story and wasn't keen to suffocate in one. The armoire looked promising, but it seemed a bit obvious.
He saw a small table-like object covered with a white dust tarp and from the legs, he saw that it was empty underneath. He quietly sprinted over and lifted the tarp, confirming that it was an old sewing machine table with a cast-iron foot pedal underneath. He brushed aside the cobwebs and ducked into the small space, returning the dust tarp to cover his hiding spot.
He looked around his enclosure. The other side of the sewing machine was also empty and covered with a dust tarp as well, so he'd have to watch that side as well.
He peeked out and saw BRVR scramble into a small hatbox before maneuvering the lid on top, followed by some quiet shuffling inside the box as the cat-like entity made itself comfortable.
He sat there for a good five or ten minutes before he heard the door at the bottom creak open and slow, determined footsteps started up the creaky stairs. He stifled an excited giggle and settled to a barely, held grin.
It was exciting playing this game. It was honestly thrilling to think that she could find him at any-
"Where aaaare youuuuu."
Harry's excited grin slipped into icy dread. Sally's voice was different. It was eerily sing-song and had a slight echo to it. He huddled quietly under the machine and leveled out his breathing.
"I know you're iiiiin heeeere."
He gulped. The room's ambient temperature dropped to where he saw a few gusts of breath. He clamped his lips between his teeth and slowly breathed the frigid air through his nostrils. From his vantage point, he could see her bare feet padding across the dusty wood.
"I'll find you."
He started sweating. He saw her feet move underneath an armoire and he shifted to keep an eye on her-
*creak!*
He froze. The small movement adjusted the old-fashioned pedal of the sewing machine, causing the metal to grate just briefly.
The pale feet paused, but continued on their way until they went behind a pile of trunks and crates. He peered over, careful about the pedal this time, but she was gone.
He hazarded a shaky breath before lowering his head to angle beneath the armoir. Nothing.
He perked his ears for the soft padding of Sally's bare feet. Nothing.
He could feel the air chill even further, the cast-iron supports for the machine grew a small film of frost and a mirror in the corner had intricate swirls edging inward towards the center-
Wait!
Just before the frost closed over the entire pane of glass, he managed to catch a glimpse of a flash of pink go past. Given the angle of the mirror, he tried to guess where she could-
"FOUND YOU!"
"AAUUUUGH!"
He scrambled backwards from under the space, looking back at the girl's playful eyes peering back at him. "Haha! 'Kay, now you need to look for me!" She proclaimed.
"PIKA PI!" The small, electric pokemon burst out of the hatbox at the sound of Harry's cry. Small arcs of yellow energy were already buzzing around its cheeks, but it calmed down when it saw Sally.
Sally gave it an awkward smile. "Hehe, thanks for not frying me, BRVR."
"Pika-chu."
She turned back to Harry. "So, Harry, are you ready to search for me yet?"
Harry chuckled weakly. "Y-yeah, sure thing, Sally. J-just let me catch my breath. Ha-haha."
"Yay! 'Cause that was fun!" She excitedly bounced around, arms in the air-
*crash!*
"Oops!" She pulled her arms against her chest and stared apologetically at the old, wooden box she'd tipped over. The cover came off the top and its contents were scattered on the floor around them. Harry bent over and quickly began picking up what he could with Sally not far behind.
"Ooh! Look at this!" He sat up from his crouch and crawled over to where the undead girl was, currently holding up a small bit of paper. "It's Slendy!"
He took the paper from her hand. It was some rough, yellowed paper with a clear, scratchy image of Slenderman. It had a sketchy-like quality to it, but It was still very accurately drawn. Around the faceless figure were words in a messier hand saying things like "NONONONONO" "HELPME" and "NO EYES". Harry sighed; it looked like someone got on Slendy's bad side.
"Look at this one!" She had another sketch. This one was much more defined and had a thin, almost skeletal, creature with some razor-like nails on its hands and two orb-like eyes. It was definitely an artistic depiction of The Rake.
Sally continued looking through the numerous artwork and written documents. Harry kept picking up a few bits of things. A mother-of-pearl comb, a small shard of mirror, a flower pressed into a piece of paper. All pretty random things to have in a box. BRVR was mostly content with the dried up, dead mouse inside, but he was decent enough to go behind some boxes to enjoy his late meal.
Curiosity got the better of Harry and he found himself eyeing a small trunk underneath more boxes. Sally looked up from the sketches and drawings to see his eyes wandering around the multitude of boxes around them.
She grinned slyly. "You wanna look through them?"
Harry started and waved his arms randomly. "Nonono. Slendy probably has a rule against it or something. I don't want to be caught or get you in trouble. But, I- sorry, um. I'm not sure, but-"
Sally rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" She happily grabbed a chest from the top of the stack and plopped it down next to him. The young Brit eyed it warily.
"We really shouldn't-"
"Oh, stop it! You want to know what's in them as much as I do!" She pushed it further towards him and gestured towards the latch. "Well, go on. Aren't you curious too? Or do I have to open it?"
Harry's conscious was torn. On one hand, there was probably nothing in them that was that bad. On the other hand, Slendy might be upset. Though, if Slendy really didn't want anyone just walking in, he'd have put a lock on the door…
After all, what harm is a bunch of old stuff?
Famous last words. A tiny cynical Harry muttered inside his head. I mean, there's the 'Goonies' for starters, and then 90% of the entire Horror movie franchise has a character finding old stuff in an attic, laboratory, basement, school, etc. Plus, you live with people and things straight from those Horror movies. You really want to bet those odds?
Oh, shut up. If he wants to explore, let him.
Oi, sod off, you! No one was talking to you!
Both of you stop it, now! This is getting us nowhere and you're terrifying Harry.
Harry briefly (and nervously) wondered if schizophrenia could be acquired from exposure to others who probably had it, but shook it off as a one-time thing… he hoped.
He lifted the latch to the small trunk Sally gave him and lifted the lid. He was surprised to see a vast array of scalpels, bottles, knives, and an ornate, glass syringe. He took it out and looked closer at the old shot.
It wasn't too old. He saw one from E.J.'s personal collection of medical stuff that was metal with a needle the width of a small twig. This one was glass with a long, thin needle about an inch and a half long, two small, chrome circles at the top for fingers and one more chrome loop on the end of the plunger. The vial itself was completely empty and remarkably clean. The tip was protected with a small cork on its end. He popped it off and fiddled with the plunger going up and down.
"Woah, cool." Sally exclaimed leaning over to look in. "It's like an old-timey first aid kit." She pulled out a bottle. "What's 'Lau-dau-da-num'?"
Harry pieced it together and plucked it from her hands. "It's called Laudanum. It's a weak solution of opium, a drug that's really bad for your body… well…"
Sally giggled. "No body, yeah." He smiled in return and set the bottle of narcotics in its original slot.
"They used to do completely mental stuff back then, did you know? Like that Laudanum was used everywhere, for coughing, for sneezing, for calming down kids. Can you believe it? They'd give opium to three-year-olds to stop them from crying! E.J. told me about it once."
Sally looked thoughtful. "Well, I died back in the early 90s, so I didn't go through all that weird stuff you talked about. Maybe Kida did?"
Harry nodded. "Probably. But even when you were alive, there were tons of crazy toys on the market. I remember Jack telling me about a radioactivity kit for kids that had a real uranium sample in it! And pretty much everything had lead paint back then, too."
Sally shuddered. "Great, now I'm worried about the Tickle-Me-Elmo I had when I was alive."
Harry nodded and went back to the doctor's kit. For fun, he looked through the various bottles of fluids. There were a couple more bottles of Laudanum with morphine and several he couldn't name.
"Ooh."
He looked over to Sally, who had opened a large, train trunk and pulled out a few ornate hats with flowers and veils attached. Among the mess of cloth, hats, and dresses were a few odd ends. A string of pearls that looked real, a hand mirror with a large crack down the middle, and a bunch of eerie, blank masks like Tim's, but without eyebrows or the painted lips.
Sally tried on a few of the more flowery and pink hats along with the pearls and looked at herself in the (thawed and defrosted) full-body mirror in the corner.
They continued searching for the next hour or so, listening to the rain steadily beating against the rooftop right above them. Under a dust tarp was an ornate, red velvet chair with a simple, walnut wood box on the seat. Inside they found a set of seven or so shiny straight razors, all with the initials S.T. carved into each.
Right beside the chair was a small, feminine trunk with a bouquet of ancient, dried flowers and a book. The flower withered to dust when Harry tried touching one, but the books remained intact. Inside was a curious recipe for meat pies. Harry knew meat pies would be delicious with these ingredients, but the recipe just said "20 oz. of meat" and never specified what kind of meat the author/cook, Nellie Luvett, had in mind. He memorized the recipe, though, to try it out later (which he would find out later BRVR was exceptionally grateful for, upon discovering a new favorite treat: Beef, Veggie, and Random-Meat-Slab-of-Questionable-Origin pie).
An ornate, bamboo box held a long, shiny katana. Sally kept calling it a "sword" despite Harry correcting her each time. Harry took it out carefully, still with the tip in the sheath and they examined it cautiously, Sally "ooh"ing as it caught the light and reflected like a mirror.
They kept looking through a few more objects hidden under dust covers. A tall wardrobe cabinet with an image of a lion, an apple tree, and a tall woman in a crown. They didn't go in, but Sally kept insisting she felt a cold breeze from inside. A thin object in a tarp turned out to be a portrait of a beautiful woman in her bridal outfit next to a man in a strict-looking suit, but with his head missing from the painting. Harry brushed off the rusty axe lying up against the portrait as probably irrelevant.
Eventually, they stopped, their curiosity satisfied, and put the dust tarps back over their respective objects and shut any boxes or chests left. Harry kept the doctor's supplies box and he even found a nifty Victorian, black, leather bag for it all as well. He ran off to drop them off in his room.
When he got back up there, Sally was sitting on an old table, swinging her legs back and forth underneath the tabletop. She grinned at Harry. "That was fun! Do you want to do anything else?"
Harry shrugged before sitting on an old crate. Sally "hmm"ed in thought before snapping her fingers with an idea. "The exploring was pretty fun. Do you wanna keep going?" Harry raised an eyebrow to cue her to elaborate. "I mean, do you want to explore some more of the house?"
"But we've already seen everything. This attic was the only thing I found that I hadn't seen before."
Sally sighed before smiling mischievously, "Well, everyone else is somewhere else today…"
Harry frowned as she trailed off. "Yeah."
"And the house is mostly empty, save for Jack who's in his basement…"
"Go on."
"And their rooms are empty…"
Harry's eyes widened as he caught on. "Oh, no. No no no, absolutely, positively not. The attic is one thing, but going through everyone else's rooms is an entirely different matter."
She rolled her eyes. "Come on, we're not going to get caught, and even then, we're not going to break anything or steal anything, we're just looking. It'll be fun! Like a g-game." Harry noticed the slight twitch at the end, but pointedly looked away as though he didn't.
"W-well…" Harry began. Unsure exactly where to go with this. It seemed like an invasion of privacy, but at the same time, he was essentially like their little brother. Didn't brothers usually go into their siblings' rooms? He'd never had anyone like it and Dudley would have a fit if he went in his room, so he didn't really have an idea what was okay and what was too far.
He looked back at Sally, who was staring at him with expectant eyes. He swore they got bigger and more pleading as he stared into them. Naturally, BRVR had immaculate timing and popped up from behind a box with the same questioning look in his eyes.
Harry sighed.
"Harry, hurry!" Sally whispered.
Harry grimly glanced through the archway into Eyeless Jack's lab. The young doctor was busy reading through a list of readouts on a screen and adjusting knobs to certain conditions before going back to a microscope or computer monitor. He had ear buds in connected to a small iPod, so he didn't notice the whispering behind him.
He quietly rushed past to the undead girl's position. She had gotten excited and decided that they should try the room of the person still home. Harry protested, but she convinced him it would be alright. After all, E.J. was pretty okay with a lot of things.
Though Harry still didn't want to get on his bad side-
"In here!" His train of thought was broken by Sally's excited whisper. She'd stopped in front of a plain, wooden door in the hallway. She already opened it partially and was motioning with her hands for him to hurry in. He quietly scampered across the hall and into the room. They fumbled on the wall nearby until Harry felt and flipped the light switch.
Harry was pretty surprised. He thought E.J. would need more space like the rest of them, but his room was actually relatively small. It had a bed with a blue and black diamond pattern comforter, a generic wood dresser and a plain desk with an old desktop computer on it and some shelves above. The shelves were mostly empty save for a few jars of organs floating in green solution.
The light came from a single, dangling naked bulb on the ceiling. The walls were a deep blue and had a few anatomical diagrams or posters of atoms or biological processes like digestion or DNA replication.
Sally ran over to the computer and started it up. "Oh, I never knew E.J. had a computer before. BEN doesn't share his a lot, I guess that makes sense since it's kinda like his bed, but- you know- the games are fun. I wonder what Jack does here."
Before Harry could protest, she pushed a button and the computer opened to a plain desktop with a loud "ping". Sally let the mouse laze around, clicking the file titles. "Wow! I never knew E.J. was such a gamer, too! Look, Amnesia, Cry of Fear, Silent House- Oh, I remember Silent House, I played it with my older cousins when I was alive!"
She booted up the game and the room was filled with the old, static-filled music as the survival horror game opened the main menu. Soon, Sally was engrossed in the game and Harry stopped watching to keep looking around. BRVR hopped on E.J.'s bed and began exploring the soft spots of the mattress and comforter. He let his eyes wander, before he saw something interesting.
There was one shelf above the bed that stood out.
He carefully stood on top of the bed, avoiding BRVR, to better see it.
On the wall directly above the shelf was a triangular flag with some school colors and initials, though Harry didn't recognize the American colleges, so he couldn't say which it was. His focus was drawn to the shelf itself. On it was a plain, blue mask that looked like the one E.J. used currently, but this one still had the tear-like black stains running down from the eye sockets whereas E.J.'s current masks seemed to absorb the black fluid as it just disappeared whenever he'd take it off only for it to reappear on his face, instead.
The shelf also bore a small picture in a frame. It was crinkled on the edges, but the glass protection kept any more damage from coming to light. Harry reached over and took it off to get a better look in the light. It was a casual shot focusing on two figures in the foreground on a manicured lawn in front of an old, masonry building. A sign in the background informed him that it was a lecture hall or class hall.
The two figures were stark contrasts of each other. One was a rambunctious black-haired guy with a goofy grin in a flannel shirt with a beer bottle in one hand and the other arm around another pale figure, who calmly smiled at the camera with his hands in his hoodie pockets.
Harry's eyes widened in surprise. The calm, pale figure had a familiar poof of messy, brown hair and black hoodie. The main things that his eyes gravitated to were the clear, cobalt-blue eyes staring back.
Though, Harry's attention was drawn to a girl in the background who was eyeing Jack with a clear expression of interest. It probably could've been interpreted as she had a crush on him, if there wasn't an air of hunger and… reverence to it. Either way, her face was distorted in the picture by multiple scratches marring the image underneath the glass.
Finally, the main object of curiosity was a small jar of cloudy, white preservative fluids. It stood innocently in the corner, collecting dust, but obviously treated well.
He carefully set the photo back in its rightful place and pulled down the glass vessel. The liquid was too cloudy to make out anything, but he could see something in it. He held it up to the light and could confirm there was something solid inside, but the blur kept it from being seen correctly.
He angled the jar and watched as the shapes slowly floated upwards through the old preservative. The milky preservative cleared away to reveal-
A flash of blue.
"Harry!"
He quickly put the jar back exactly as he found it and rushed over to Sally, still obliviously playing her game. Harry saw her blast through a few Hellhounds and zombies before getting to the main boss at the end. "I'm almost at the end!" She cried.
She changed out her guns for some new ones and got to the plant-like final boss of the level. Harry watched her blast the glowing targets, but was killed by a surprising acid attack from a flower in its center.
Sally slumped in defeat in front of the red 'Game Over' sign. "No! I always forget that it does that attack when it has 1/3 health." She stared sadly at the image before exiting the window entirely. "Well, let's move on." She sighed.
Harry followed after.
As they walked out, neither noticed the cobalt-blue iris swiveling in its solution and focusing on them before the milky suspension covered it over once more.
"Okay, follow me and don't touch anything!" Sally whispered. She pushed open the optical illusion door and walked into the colorful explosion of Laughing Jack's room.
It hadn't changed much since Harry visited his first day in the Mansion. The room's walls were still their usual black and white striped chaos, but they had splatters of paint all over from an experiment that went awry with his chemistry set. The black-and-white zig-zag bedspread was almost hidden under a pile of rubber chickens, whoopee cushions, and laxative pills… suddenly, he got the feeling that Jeff's "Week of Misery" wasn't from E.J.'s chicken being undercooked.
Sally started rummaging through the closet. "Hey, Harry, I'm going in! It's really deep in here, but I'll stay close! Woah! Never mind, I'll use the monorail!"
Harry blinked confusedly at the echoey voice from the closet and heard the "woosh" of a said transportation system emanating shortly afterwards. He guessed being an inter-dimensional entity had its perks in terms of managing storage space.
He walked around the room awkwardly. The monochrome clown's chemistry workspace was pretty empty today. The beakers and tubes were cleaned and drying on their racks, but the papers were still littered about. Each had detailed molecular diagrams of stink bombs, paints, goo, and other inventions along with their formulas and how to make them.
His eyes wandered over the spare black, feather circlets and balloon animals to the kaleidoscope of black and white patterns on L.J.'s walls, comforters, posters, even the dresser was an obnoxious barrage of black and white individual panels. BRVR was staring at a particularly complicated black-and-white optical illusion and fell backwards in a daze. Harry guessed if he was still in his game, he'd have had comical swirls for eyes by now.
His own eyes came to rest on the one, single thing in the room that was, by all definitions, "normal".
A single, wooden shelf high up that wasn't a bizarre monochrome pattern but a typical oak brown. On it sat a once-colorful jack-in-the-box toy.
Checking around, he stepped on top of the dresser and carefully pulled the box down before returning to the ground. Looking the children's toy over, it was a simple wooden box with simple swirl carvings on the edges of each face. It was clearly painted in vibrant colors at one point, but time and wear caused the paint to chip and fade almost to a depressing shade of gray.
Each side had a different image from a circus theme. A red and white Big-Top. A tiger in a cage. A trapeze act. A merry-go-round. On the lid, in faded paint, were the words in big, red, carnival font:
"Laughing Jack in the Box".
He cautiously shook the box, hearing something odd inside. He turned the crank, listening to the metallic, twang of the music box playing the standard, though slightly off-tune, "Pop Goes The Weasel". Just before the famous last five notes, the latch popped and the lid opened. Harry was mildly disappointed when the lid merely popped open partially without a spring-loaded clown doll on the end.
He looked inside the small box and saw, instead, several odd objects. A blue marble; a few small, red candies in their red, transparent wrappers; and a few bundles of paper.
He pulled out the yellowed, crinkly papers and carefully opened each. One was a scratchy treasure map of an imaginary island. Another was a crude charcoal and paint image of a blonde boy holding hands with what was obviously Laughing Jack… after his chemistry paint set exploded on him.
The clown depicted had the exact same striped sleeves, conical nose, and messy hair as he did now. Even down to the weird feather-boa-thing he wore around his neck. But, the stripes were a rainbow of vibrant colors, as were the feathers and his nose looked like a colorful candy stuck to his face. Even his hair was a cheerful, cherry red. Not a hint of black or a smidge of white on the guy.
What was more, he was clearly smiling.
Not his malicious "L.J. Smile" (Patent Pending), but an honest smile that suggested good humor and fun.
He flipped to another paper. The same, colorful clown was next to a boy banging on a pot with a spoon while the colorful Laughing Jack played what looked like a green, yellow, and pink accordion. Another had the two obviously wearing pirate hats and standing on top of a chest full of gold coins and jewels. Even more had the two as lion tamers, jungle explorers, sailors, soldiers, even one with the boy dressed as a clown himself with the older entertainer juggling colorful balls.
Another showed the two with the clown making a surprised "O" with his mouth and reaching out for a blue dot the boy looked to be giving him. An arrow drawn to the blue spot said "Lukee Marbel" in childish, blocky letters.
The next two were unnerving. One had an image of the boy crying in front of a large, angry man who was clearly shouting at him and the clown was frowning behind a door that was likely a closet or cupboard. The last one was one with the boy crying again, but the man was walking away with the colorful jack-in-the-box and Laughing Jack was nowhere to be seen.
"*ping-pong* Now arriving at: Main Entrance."
Harry started at the cool, female voice from the closet doors and quickly folded the papers back as he found them while putting the box back. He stepped down as he heard the whoosh and screech of a monorail stopping.
"*ping* Please exit the monorail safely and watch your step. Thank you."
Sally soon popped out of the closet and rushed over to Harry. "Harry! Harryharryharry! You'll never guess what! L.J. has an entire carnival dedicated to shoes! Did you find anything, too?"
"No, nothing." Harry lied.
"Well, let's go on, then!" She exclaimed excited at the possibilities of exploration.
Harry felt himself being dragged again out of the room and ran to keep up with a newly-revived BRVR trailing along behind them. They nudged the door closed on the way out.
None of them heard the toy on the shelf mournfully plinking the last five notes to its song.
Pop. Goes. The. Wea-sel.
Harry and Sally walked carefully into the plain room. They took off their shoes and Sally ran to her room to put on proper socks so her dirt-covered footprints wouldn't mess into the carpet.
"Okay, we are in enemy territory. Mistakes here cost lives." Sally whispered. "Namely, ours." Harry nodded in understanding before walking around the most dreaded location in the mansion.
Slenderman's room.
The bed was immaculately tucked and the carpet was perfectly aligned with the room as well as stainless, dirtless, pretty-much-anything-less-since-it-was-bought/made. The walls were a plain, cream color with a simple, framed drawing of a simple flower and a single window on the opposite wall.
BRVR didn't dare hop on the bed for fear of leaving an indent, so he was content to just keep around Harry's ankles as they walked around.
They treaded carefully on the carpet, making sure not to leave footprints or indentations as they crept around. Sally opened the closet and saw row upon row of black suits with matching black ties and white undershirts.
She grimaced. "We need to have Trendy talk to Slendy about this. One suit is nice, but this many and all the same is just kinda boring."
Harry shrugged. "Well, I guess if he likes it-"
"Yeah, yeah." Sally waved him off. "But what's the point of getting dressed if you can't wear something different from time to time?"
They crept around the room, peeking in a few drawers if they dared. Nothing but socks, cufflinks, and ties.
"Harry, look!" Sally was transfixed looking in one of the dresser drawers. She reached in and almost reverently pulled out-
A red bowtie.
"Slendy has a bowtie! What a nerd!" She exclaimed.
"Oi, what's wrong with bowties? Bowties are cool." Harry proclaimed.
She gave him a deadpan stare. "Really? Bowties, the epitome of nerd-dome, is 'cool'?"
Harry stuck out his chest and proclaimed. "I predict that one day, millions of people and fellow British citizens ("you're not in the UK anymore, Harry") will agree that bowties are cool!"
The undead girl sighed. "What else is cool, that weird red hat they wear in secret societies?" She walked out, leaving a grumbling Harry behind.
"It's called a fez and it could totally happen." He muttered.
The next room Harry was almost tempted to run off and grab his gasmask for.
Jeff's room hadn't improved in the months he'd been here. Apparently, the day he first stepped in his room was a "good" day, where he'd cleaned the day before! That messy in less than 24 hours!
Either way, the room hadn't gotten better. The pizza boxes had been left to mold and an enormous pile of black undershirts, jeans, socks, and underwear had been erected in the corner of his room. Smile's winter coat was starting to shed, so it mingled with the smell of dog hair.
Harry could've sworn he saw a mutated, pizza-shaped… thing with weird, hairy insect legs scuttle under a pile of smelly garbage.
He looked over to Sally and saw she was equally green-tinged. "Slendy can smell, you know." She mentioned, half-gagging. "But I think he can turn it on and off. Lucky him."
Harry shuddered. "How can Jeff even stand the place?"
"He got the perk of having his sense of smell burnt away in the accident, remember? He can't smell anything anymore… I think. That, or boys are naturally nose-dead." Harry pulled a face, but couldn't refute. He just really, really, really wished the smell was gone.
*swoosh*
Their hair was ruffled by a small breeze and Harry felt the tiny stirring of energy from meditation again. He cautiously put his hands down and took the tiniest sniff, like a chemist when testing for particularly volatile/nauseating/toxic chemical fumes.
"I-it's clean." He said, amazed.
Sally kept her hands clamped on her nose. "What are you talking about, it's still a dump."
"The room! It doesn't smell anymore- well," He paused and sniffed again. The smell was slowly, but steadily growing back. "it doesn't smell as bad, but we can breathe!"
Sally cautiously repeated Harry's sniff-test before turning to him and hugging him. "Have I ever mentioned how much I love that weird stuff you do?"
Harry faltered. "W-weird?"
"In the good way." Sally assured him. Harry relaxed and returned the hug before they set out exploring.
They weren't as thorough as the others' rooms. Primarily because to do so, they had to touch things… moreover, they had to touch Jeff's things. Neither Sally nor Harry were willing to undergo a chemical bath after this, so they refrained from opening drawers and settled for peeking around. BRVR didn't have the same restrictions and happily gave chase to a tiny mouse by diving into a large pile of dirty laundry.
Harry grimaced and made a mental note to give BRVR a deep cleaning bath… and flea bath… and injections… probably some HAZMAT clearance stuff from E.J., too…
He wandered around in thought as Sally continued looking around, examining drawers and shuddering at the new variety of fungi being cultivated in his closet and beneath his bed.
Harry, himself, was drawn to one spot though. The single dresser top that didn't have a single slice of pizza dangling off of it, or dog hair, or even a leftover sock.
It was completely devoid of anything save for a small, framed picture and a settled layer of dust.
The glass on the frame was obscured by the film, so Harry carefully blew on it, causing a large dust cloud to billow off the surface in front of him. He made a fist and wiped the heel of his hand across the rest of the image to remove more dust.
Underneath was a simple family portrait.
A brown-haired woman in a blue dress smiled happily at the camera, her blue eyes prominent against her pale face. A man with blond hair was smiling confidently in a flannel shirt. There were two figures in front.
One was a kid around 11 or 12 with light brown hair and his father's green eyes. He was smiling widely at the camera with an arm around his brother.
The brother was around 13 or 14. He looked almost exactly like his brother in terms of facial structure, but his hair color was a darker brown, more like his mother's, and his eyes were also her shade of crystal blue.
Harry started. The blue eyes, the mousy brown hair, the white hoodie. This was obviously-
"Jeff!"
Harry whirled around, with the picture still in his arms, at Sally's exclamation. Jeff was in the entryway, scowling despite his perpetual grin.
"Sally." He growled. His bloodshot eyes turned to the other kid in the room.
"Har-"
He stopped mid-sentence and fixated upon the picture frame in the small boy's hands.
"We're sorry, Jeff." Sally pled, upset. "We didn't upset anything, we were just bored. Even then, I was the one who made him go."
"…You…"
Harry sweated bullets as he realized Jeff hadn't moved an inch, hadn't given any indication he heard Sally-
And hadn't looked away from him.
"You."
Harry backed away slowly until he bumped right against the dresser. The picture in his hands was shaking… no, that was him.
"YOU!"
Harry ducked at the glint of metal and barely dodged a knife blade that had been centimeters from his shoulder. Sally screamed and rushed over, but Jeff ignored her and focused on Harry.
"YOU TOUCHED MY PICTURE!" He roared. Harry ducked as another sharpened knife grazed his ear.
"Jeff! No, please stop!" Sally shouted, flailing her arms uselessly against his back. He didn't even wince and kept steadily stalking towards Harry with his infamous kitchen knife in his hand.
Jeff's breathing was heavy and ragged. His eyes were bloodshot to the point of being completely red. They didn't have the same sullenness that Jeff usually skulked around with, but were raging and animalistic.
He opened his mouth and it split along the perpetual smile, making his entire face seem split down the middle. Saliva and blood dribbled from between the severed flaps of skin. He let loose an incoherent cry before steadily walking closer.
He doesn't recognize me! Harry realized in terror.
BRVR popped out of a pile of clothes and saw his master in severe danger by someone-not-brother-Harry. He prepped himself. "PI-KAAA-CHUUUUUU!"
He sent electricity arcing across the room, straight through the white-faced threat, who was distracted for just one second. Harry took that distraction and he ducked between the teen's legs and scrambled to get up before running down the hallway.
Jeff growled angrily at the escaping vandal and when BRVR tried to tackle the larger opponent, Jeff met him mid-air and swatted him to the side, unfortunately causing the pokemon's head to make contact with a desk and having it to slump to the floor, unconscious.
Jeff continued to storm outside into the Hallway, but had eyes only on Harry. Sally frantically shouted after him.
"Jeff! Stop!" Sally cried desperately. She turned around towards the stairwell before calling back. "I'll be back with help, Harry! Be careful!"
Harry stumbled away from Jeff, who barreled down the hall in a fit. Hanging picture frames crashed to the ground as he slammed into the wall. Harry kept running down the hallway away from his enraged foster-brother.
"Jeff, don't please! It's me, Harry! I'm sorry! I'll never touch the picture again! I'm sorry!" He wailed behind him. It fell on deaf ears because Jeff just kept coming towards him. Harry turned a corner in the corridor and-
Dead end.
Harry's heart leapt to his throat. He really hated how they called it that. He slowly turned around to see Jeff, panting at the corner. His blade glinted against the sconces.
This is it. Harry thought.
In his time here in the Mansion, he'd never felt afraid. Yeah, sometimes he'd be creeped out by the tenants like Rake or Widemouth, but he knew they wouldn't hurt him. He felt safe. Even when he'd run into Seedeater while getting a drink of water in the middle of the night, he wasn't afraid.
Now, he was afraid.
Jeff walked closer and closer before lunging forward and pinning Harry's shoulder against a wall with his left hand and holding the knife in his right.
"J-Jeff." Harry sobbed. "P-p-please."
The psychopath's rugged breathing managed to force out something.
"GO-"
Harry cowered as he slowly raised the knife.
"TO-"
The knife shone maliciously.
"SLEE- urk!"
Harry looked and saw a small, red feather appear on Jeff's neck. Through his terror-induced mind, he thought 'Jeff's turning into a cardinal?" Before realizing the small, metallic glint at the end belonged to the dart embedded in his vein.
Jeff's hand reached up and grabbed the dart, examining it carefully. His head started bobbing and Harry was sure if he had eyelids they'd be getting heavier. The knife-wielding maniac looked back at Harry and Harry saw the familiar sheen of "Jeff Woods" staring back sadly before they rolled upwards and he collapsed to the side.
Harry looked back and saw Eyeless Jack, still in his lab coat, with an air rifle at his side. Cowering behind him was Sally. Harry breathed out in relief before slumping in a boneless heap.
E.J. rushed over and confirmed Harry was awake and unhurt before helping him up and carrying Jeff's unconscious body army-style over his shoulder. They made their way to the living room where Harry and Sally sat down in the armchairs as Jack put Jeff down on a couch. Harry saw him walking towards the foyer and seem to speak to someone before he returned and sat down, waiting.
Not long after, the front door opened and a familiar, faceless entity walked in. He looked at Harry, then Jeff, and sighed sadly.
"Harry, I believe we need another talk."
He felt himself being pulled from the inky oblivion into-
Another inky oblivion.
He winced as pain coursed through his head and groaned softly.
"Jeff?"
He winced more at the noise. The voice seemed to accommodate and spoke softer. "Jeff?"
Jeff slowly reached up and felt around his eyes, coming into contact with the familiar cloth of a nightmask. He pulled it off and his unblinking eyes were blinded by the sudden light and unfocused shapes.
He put his arm over them to shield it and slowly removed it as the light became tolerable and things started coming back into focus.
The first thing he saw was the blury, blackish-blue figure of Eyeless Jack reading a book next to him. He saw he was on one of the beds in the Infirmary by E.J.'s labs. A couple more beds were around along with some medications and a few chairs, one of which the eyeless doctor occupied.
The empty sockets tilted towards him and E.J. shut the book and walked over.
"Hey, Jeff." He half-whispered. "How do you feel?"
Jeff groaned and sat up, swaying slightly. "Ugh. Like I was hit by a truck. Did I get drunk again?"
E.J. chuckled at the memory of Jeff adjusting his glamour and scoring some beer and the resulting antics along with the memory of his blazing hangover the next morning. "No, but that tranq stuff is pretty strong, I'll give you that. But I don't recommend taking a hair of the dog. You just woke up."
Jeff put up a hand, holding the other to his nose to stave off a brewing headache. "Wait, wait, wait… just… wait… so, you hit me with a tranq? Why the f*ck would you do that? Last I remember-"
He paused and his lidless eyes widened. "Oh no."
"Oh, yeah." Jack supplied.
Jeff fell back into the bed with his face buried in his hands, muttering. "Oh, no no no no no. Shit Shit Shit! F*ck!" He sat up suddenly. "Did I- you know?" He mimicked a stabbing motion to his chest.
Jack shook his head. "Thankfully, no, he didn't get a scratch on him. BRVR got knocked out, but he's alright. Still, Harry's pretty shaken up about it. Slendy's explaining it to him now."
Jeff flopped back on the bed. "Ugh. God, I feel awful."
E.J. hummed. "Funny, I thought clinical psychopaths didn't feel remorse."
The self-proclaimed psychopath sent back a glare that said, clearly, 'Not the time.' The eyeless doctor shrugged and pulled out a chart, stethoscope, and some other bits of equipment. "Well, he was bound to see a Rage at some point in time or another. Might as well have been now, and with you, imagine if he saw Rake or Seedeater Rage. I'm not sure we could get there on time, even then, I doubt one dart would bring them down. Now, lie still and roll up your sleeve."
He started taking blood pressure and his usual "breathe-in-breathe-out" with the cold stethoscope check-ups while Jeff sighed angrily with himself.
He turned to E.J. mid-way through testing reflexes. "Does he hate me?"
E.J. paused in the scratching of his pen before replying. "I can't say for certain, but Harry's not one to hold a grudge. Plus," He grinned. "He'd understand, I'm sure."
"I don't understand!" Harry wailed.
He paced the room anxiously as Slenderman calmly walked over to sit on Harry's bed. "I know Sally and I went into his room. I admit we shouldn't have done that, but why did he want to kill me?"
He stopped pacing and turned around at Slendy, his voice cracking on the verge of tears. "D-does he hate me?"
Slendy sighed and motioned for Harry to sit down on the bed next to him. Harry complied and let his feet dangle and thump against the mattress in thought.
"Harry, I guarantee Jeff does not hate you-"
"But he was so angry and you weren't there-"
"On the contrary, I was there for the first time he was in such a state." Harry was silenced and slowly took the spot Slendy offered. After a moment, the entity continued (AN: Brace self for more headcanon). "Jeff was once human, just like many others here. However, he had previously undiagnosed psychological symptoms which were aggravated after the incident that marred his appearance. After all, one doesn't just 'snap' most of the time. There's usually an underlying cause for the event.
"Anyway, shortly after the incident, Jeffery's mind entered a state of confusion and irrational behavior. It was in this state that he removed his eyelids and… well, carved out his smile." Harry grimaced. "His mother unfortunately walked in on him during this state and his confusion turned to anger which quickly dissolved into what we classify as a Rage state."
"For us, there is something we call 'Rage' with a capital 'R'. During this period of time, all notions of humanity or pain or rationality give way to an immense, uncontrollable anger that results in damage and death of innocents.
"Tobias actually entered a Rage partially by my doing, but certain events acted as the catalyst to his own episode during which he murdered his father and set a nearby forest preserve and a good portion of his neighborhood on fire. I was lucky to catch him early on."
Harry looked troubled. "But what about Jeff?"
"Jeffery… well… upon being discovered by his mother, he took the kitchen knife he'd used to mutilate himself and… he killed both his parents. Shortly thereafter, he murdered his younger brother."
Harry gasped, imagining the family in the picture bloody and stabbed.
"During a Rage, they are not aware of any connections they have with people. He may have recognized them vaguely or he may not, but either way, his mind interpreted them as the immediate source of distress and he took action.
"Jeff actually escaped and it took almost 4 months before we found him. During that time, he'd killed over 65 random civilians. It took a couple months in rehabilitation and near-isolation before he'd calmed down from the initial episode and even longer before he'd stop spontaneously returning to his Rage state."
He put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "He's gotten to the point where Rages are few and far-between, but in moments of extreme anger, extreme adrenaline, or a trigger to the past, or likely a combination will cause him to revert… actually, something like that may cause any of us to revert."
"Us?" Harry asked suddenly.
"All of the tenants have a Rage state, we're not sure why some humans, such as Jeffery, Tobias, or even Tim and Brian, have one while others do not, but generally all non-human tenants will have a Rage state. Most, if not all, have it under control except with extreme provocation. "
"Prov-ocat-ion?" Harry asked.
"It means to force someone to react to something they're doing. Usually with the result of them becoming annoyed or angered. It can also be something that 'sets them off' so to speak."
Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "Earlier today… I was playing with Sally. Hide and Seek." Slenderman shifted to attention. "She started acting… weird. Scary. Was that Rage?"
"Yes. Her Rage is just as dangerous as Jeff's, but slower and more persistent. Hide and Seek was a popular game she'd play with her victims before we managed to find her. Playing it for a while tends to bring her back to that state, though she has more control and it is far less potent than her hate-fueled Rage."
"So, prov-o-cation can be anything, really. Like when I picked up Jeff's picture."
Slenderman sighed. "Yes, that would do it. He is very protective of that. He managed to steal it from his old house once he'd calmed down. It's likely the link to his past coupled with anger at finding you in his personal space triggered the Rage."
Harry was silent for a while before tentatively asking, "You said… all of the tenants have this Rage state."
"That's right."
"D-do you have one?"
Slenderman nodded solemnly. "I have it well under control and hope you never need to see it."
"… Do I have one?"
If he had eyes, Slenderman would've blinked in surprised. He'd honestly never considered it with their new ward. "I can't say for certain. Statistically, you're most likely not. A Rage happens to very few normal humans… but I suppose time will tell."
Harry was comforted by that. Most likely he didn't have to worry, but he still shuddered at the thought of being in that kind of state of mind. Not remembering anyone or anything. Being unable to control yourself. Then, when you finally get out of it, seeing everyone you knew and loved or even complete strangers dead in front of you.
It terrified him.
"… Is Jeff awake?" Harry asked.
"I believe so, yes. Usually the tranquilizer wears off by now." Harry nodded and jumped off the bed. Slenderman watched Harry walk directly to the basement and followed behind.
Harry opened the door to the infirmary, where Jeff was in the bed with E.J. shining a light at his eyes. They both looked back at the door's "click" when it opened. E.J. set down his pen and clipboard on the desk and stood back.
The black-haired ward walked to the black-haired-ward-in-bed and looked him straight in the eyes. After a few seconds, Harry asked. "Do you hate me?"
Jeff started in surprise before shaking his head. Harry nodded at the answer before rushing up to him and hugging the psychopath, surprising both the recipient of the hug and the two observers. Harry's voice was muffled by the hoodie. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I promise I won't go back to your room or touch that photo again. I promise!"
Jeff awkwardly patted the kid on the head like he vaguely remembered doing to his brother during moments where he'd be sobbing in his shoulder. "Uh, okay. Fine."
"No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that! It was your picture and your privacy, I shouldn't go through it."
"Don't sweat it or get all sappy on me, kid. Okay? You know, the whole 'I was in the wrong', 'I shouldn't have hurt you', etc., etc. Now, let's just forget about it okay? You're getting my hoodie all snotty."
Harry backed away and wiped his nose mumbling "sorry". Jeff sighed. "Look, we all have regrets, so just don't worry."
Harry nodded and walked back to Slenderman standing in the doorframe when he heard the psychopath clear his throat.
"And for what it's worth… I guess… I'm sorry, too."
Harry nodded happily and walked off with Slender.
Jack cast an eyeless side-glance at Jeff. "Wow, I think that's the first time I've ever heard you apologize for anything and not be snarky or sarcastic."
The scarred teen scoffed. "Well, he's just a kid. Whaddaya expect? Plus, he didn't mean anything and it was sorta my fault for going off the deep end."
The doctor hmmed with a smirk. "Well, I guess the others won't mind me saying that you actually have a soft side."
"Tell BEN and I swear I'm gonna shove that stethoscope where the sun don't shine!"
"Why Jeffery, this is so sudden and we haven't even had a first date." Jack put his hands to his cheeks as though he were blushing.
"Screw. You."
AN: No! Back, yaoi fangirls! Back! *cracks whip and points a lion-tamer chair at a horde of zombie-like teens* Back, I say!
I initially intended to split this so the chapters were different between the exploration and the actual Rage (though the exploration did have a purpose besides character backstories), however I agree with a lot of you and I want to get through all the "Introductory" stuff, but I really, really, really want Harry to get around to Hogw- er, a non-specific location… possibly magical… possibly in Scotland.
(Come on, who writes a Harry Potter fanfic without Hogwarts?! That's like Percy Jackson without the Greek Gods, or fruity, tropical drinks without the mini-umbrellas! There's no point!)
I don't own Goonies, Amnesia, Cry of Fear, or the Tickle-Me-Elmo (well, I did, technically, own one when I was a kid, but we sold it in a garage sale years ago).
I also don't own these hinted references. Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd (the chair, razors, and Mrs. Luvett's cookbook). Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (tall wardrobe with carvings). Constance Hatchaway (Disney Haunted Mansion creation) (The portrait with the missing heads).
Dr. Who (P.S. Fezzes are cool. Bowties are cool. Cowboy hats are admittedly not as cool, but River took care of that one for us) [For anyone outside of the fandom that sentence must have sounded absolutely crazy].
The image of Jeff's face splitting open was directly inspired by "Cry (Jeff the Killer)" by deviantart username "Zlata666". She's a really good Creepypasta artist (not endorsing in any monetary fashion, just an opinion).
The original L.J. origin was too unsettling for me, so I took some liberties in my own back story for him (Sorry, Snuffbomb).
I hope you enjoyed the update! Until next time!
Sincerely,
-Crow
E.J. Origins: "Origin of Eyeless Jack" by Kiki-Hyuuga [deviantart-based]
Laughing Jack origin story… I think it was by Snuffbomb? Either way, I don't own it. Also, it's a very disturbing piece. I honestly do not recommend it. For those who are now wondering/tempted, it's essentially very graphic torture for the latter half of the creepypasta.