"Fuck. Me.
Annabeth snarled, clenching her fists as she glared at the men standing in front of her. Jeff was already bad enough, and now she had to do some impossible mission of trapping the Lord of the Underworld in the company of these boys?
She wasn't looking forward to it.
"Is something the matter, child?" Slenderman intoned inside everyone's head, causing Annabeth to jump. She didn't think she would ever get used to having him speak to them on a spiritual level. It was downright creepy, at least in Annabeth's books.
"Well..." the blonde girl hesitated, brushing back a loose curl of golden hair. She didn't want to offend any of them, and least of all Slenderman, but the urge to speak her mind was slightly stronger. "It's just that...no, it bothers me that I have to travel with..." she glanced disdainfully over at her companions. "..with them."
"You have a problem?" interjected a quiet, apathetic voice, coming from the man that Annabeth now knew as Hoodie. She couldn't see his face underneath his gloomy-looking black mask, but the girl would wager that he was glaring at her, not that she particularly cared. Let them think whatever the hell they wanted. She had her own opinion of this group, too. Glaring back, she snapped, "Yes, I do."
Hoodie took a threatening step forward, but then he froze. Perplexed at his sudden hesitation, Annabeth glanced at Slenderman and saw that the faceless entity was looking at Hoodie with an aura of something close to disappointment. She frowned. Did he have that much control over these killers that he could manipulate their bodies when he wanted to?
"Do not, Hoodie." Slenderman warned. Hoodie bowed his head and stepped back to his original spot. Annabeth didn't fail to notice the look that the other man with the feminine-featured mask - Masky, was it? - shoot him a glance. Though his mask obscured his face from her view, Annabeth thought he looked almost..worried.
Did Masky actually care about Hoodie?
Whatever, the teen thought disdainfully. It's none of my business. She didn't care, really. In her eyes, they were still killers that had threatened to kill the only two people she had left, so they were assholes that she despised. Simple.
"I am sorry." Slenderman didn't sound particularly sorry at all to her, but at least he had the decency to apologize, unlike other people. "I understand that your company may be...objectable in your eyes, but they are my best fighters, and by far the most capable of protecting you."
Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "You're risking your five best soldiers to protect me on this mission? Is it that important?"
"It is, child."
Nodding reluctantly, Annabeth's gray eyes swiveled around to face the boys she would be participating in this suicide, bullshit mission with.
The man with messy, dark brown hair and a yellow jacket - Masky, apparently Slenderman's head proxy.
The man with the yellow Hoodie, frowningblack mask, and gruff disposition - Hoodie.
The man with tousled, light brown hair, goggles, a mouthguard, who was constantly snapping and twitching - Ticci Toby.
The man with the blue mask, black ooze trawling down his eyeless sockets, and sharp, predator-like teeth - Eyeless Jack.
And last but not least, the most hated sight Annabeth ever had the misfortune to behold - the man with bleached white skin, a self-inflicted Cheshire smile, and charred black hair - Jeff the Killer.
Annabeth sighed to herself, reaching inside her pocket and making sure that the glass bottle was still in her grasp. If she lost it now, shit would go down. Without it, she wouldn't be able to seal Zalgo, and then her father and Emily were fucked.
She was not letting that happen.
"Are we about to got right now?" she questioned Slenderman, to which he nodded. Listing his head to the side, Jeff, in an annoyed tone, asked, "How the fuck are we going to do that?"
Next to Hoodie, Masky tensed. "Jeff...language with the boss." he snapped, with an underlying tone of "I'll-bash-your-head-in-if-you-don't-show-the-boss-proper-respect." Jeff just sneered at the proxy in response, face twisting with scorn, before turning his attention back to Slenderman, who didn't seem too perturbed with Jeff's disrespect. That fact surprised Annabeth - for an immortal, powerful entity, Slenderman seemed rather lenient...almost fatherly. Well, except for the time he'd threatened to kill Emily and her father if she refused to partaked in the mission.
"I have discovered a breach between the dimensions." Slenderman replied to Jeff's oh-so-polite question. "Using this weakness, I've managed to open a portal that will transport you to Zalgo's world."
Annabeth frowed. "Zalgo's world...the Underworld?"
"Precisely."
At Slenderman's confirmation, the gray-eyed girl gulped, not fancying the idea that, less than an hour from now, she'd be stepping into Hell itself. Literally. And what kind of company did she have? Five batshit insane killers who probably would rather see her neck snapped than protect her.
"Children..."
All five of the men looked over at the faceless entity at that word, as if snapping stright to attention. Annabeth narrowed her eyes - they'd all moved in perfect unison, like one mind had been controlling them. How did that work? Did they not have control over their own bodies, or was it simply a coincidence?
"Make sure you keep Annabeth safe." Slenderman ordered, a deadly tone hidden behind his calm words. "She is the key to stopping Zalgo. If you do no, I will see to it that you are all appropriately punished for failure."
They all nodded, seeming cowed, even Jeff, who appeared to be the most defiant out of her new caretakers. Obviously, whatever power Slenderman wielded over these killers, it was not to be messed with. He had these dangerous, mentally unstable lunatics completely subservient to him, and that was enough to tell Annabeth what a volatile and mighty being he was.
"Should she be trained as well?" Masky questioned in a meek voice. At his words, the teen snapped to attention. 'Trained'? What was that supposed to mean? Were these sick bastards going to recruit her as one of them? Hell no.
"Ah, yes. That would indeed be useful."
"Hold on a minute." Annabeth interjected, getting tired of being referred to like some animal or object that could be owned. She was no one's possession. "What do you mean, train me? If you're thinking of turning me into one of you, forget it. There's no way in hell I'll ever do that."
Masky, as per usual, looked furious with Annabeth's blatant disrespect, but Slenderman waved him off. "Do not worry, child." he reassured. "I merely meant that you will be at least partially trained in combat so you are better able to take care of yourself."
Against Zalgo or these monsters? Annabeth wondered sullenly in her head, though, she supposed, that Slenderman could hear her thought anyway. If he did, the faceless entity paid no mind. "I shall now open the portal that will transport you to the Underworld."
No sooner had he said that, there was a giant sound akin to a colossal vacuum cleaner, and in front of Annabeth, Masky, Hoodie, Toby, E.J., and Jeff, a thing resembling a portal of some kind opened up, powerful winds howling in an attempt to suck them into its dark depths. Resisting wasn't too terribly difficult, though, much to Annabeth's surprise.
She hesitated. "Do we...do we just...step in?"
"Yes, child."
Before Annabeth could respond, Masky swung into action. In a single, fluid move, the young man saluted to Slenderman and then, bunching his muscles, leaped into the portal and was swallowed into the black hole. With the same show of respect, Hoodie stepped in, also being sucked in. His action was mirrored by Toby. E.J. didn't salute, but he did nod deeply before making his way in.
Now it was only Annabeth and Jeff. The girl hesitated, unwilling to walk straight into the portal, but unwilling to let Jeff go first. Who knew what sort of bullshit he'd have planned for her on the other side? Gazing behind her, she caught a glimpse of the rising sun through the moldy, battered window in the room - maybe the last sunlight she would ever see.
Noticing her stare, Jeff snorted. "Aw, hurry the fuck up, doll." he ordered.
She didn't move.
Rolling his cerulean eyes, the perpetually grinning killer's hand reached out, and Annabeth instinctively flinched, recalling that he'd done the same thing when he'd raped her. However, this time, the only thing Jeff did was almost - almost - sweet.
He grabbed her hand.
The gentle touch was so unexpected, Annabeth's body jolted in surprise. Was this what Jeffrey Woods had been like, before his downward spiral into madness?
"One more thing, child." Slenderman called, his mental voice cutting through the girl's thoughts. She glanced at him, her gaze questioning, and the faceless entity inclined his head ever-so-slightly. "Make sure you do not allow your desire to be loved render you vulnerable to Zalgo's traps. Deception is his favorite way to kill.
Annabeth opened her mouth to respond, but at that moment, Jeff jumped, yanking her into the portal with him via their joined hands. A scream clawed its way to Annabeth's throat, but the rush of air all around her seemed to suck all the oxygen out of her lungs until she didn't have enough to whisper, let alone shriek.
Her body was weightless, and she fell.
sings dramatically FINALLY THE MOMENT HAS ARRIVED!~ (Yes, that was a reference)
I know this update is pretty late, and I apologize. Being the last few weeks of school, my teachers are firing guns at us by this point, it almost seems like they're trying to make us fail. T^T
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys soon! Gretel, out.