The castle was grand. There was no denying that. But despite that, Toby expected very little variety in the different rooms, especially considering how identical each hallway was to the other.

He was more than a little shocked when Clockwork informed him that the Operator did, in fact, allow for a gaming room. As in, a room completely designed for video games.

Naturally, he had to see it in action.

"I am going to stab you in the trachea."

Jeff clutched onto his controller with sweaty hands like a sharpened knife. He glared ahead, towards the giant screen, which clearly displayed his defeat.

Sally giggled, hugging Charlie in victory. Everybody else, Toby included, was laughing hysterically at a certain serial killers expense.

"Jeff," Eyeless spoke between snickers. "You have officially been beaten by Princess Peach, Falco, Lucas, Olimar, Donkey Kong, Ganondorf, King Dedede, Kirby, Link, Squirtle, Princess Zelda, and now six times by Jigglypuff. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I say the blind person shouldn't be able to keep track if he can't write all that down," Jeff grumbled. "And I'm going to stab you in the trachea."

Toby felt his laugh falter as he noticed Jeff's hand linger to his pocket. He wondered how many times he had gone through with the threat in that very room.

But he supposed he had no reason to fear Jeff or Eyeless anymore. After all, he knew about the Rake, who mysteriously hadn't returned from hunting days prior. Until he gained similar respect to Masky, he would need to look elsewhere to maintain the hierarchy.

"Hey, Toby?" Clockwork chimed, "You wanna kill Jeff a bit?" she wiggled her Gamecube controller temptingly. Said killer growled something profane.

Toby shook his head. "I don't really have any hand coordination. I'd probably need to train for years just to hold the controller right."

Eyeless held his chin in his hand. "Maybe we can convince Ben to train you. He'd probably have you holding that controller in mere months."

Jeff snorted. "Yeah, if you're willing to put up with the weirdo. Honestly, I'd just stick with sucking."

"Ah," Eyeless groaned, "You're probably right. On second thought, Toby, do yourself a favour and never interact with him. Ever."

Toby stayed silent. He understood very well their distaste for Ben. The words they had exchanged nights ago still haunted him. He touched the cut on his arm, bandage now discarded.

Clockwork tilted her head at him. "Oh, I think it's too late for that. The two of them have already met." Toby looked away from the group, eyes on the wall.

No longer smiling in victory, Sally shot him an empathetic look. "I'm sorry, Toby." To his surprise, Eyeless and Jeff nodded. Toby said nothing.

Jeff twisted around in his seat to see Toby better. "So how'd it go down? You're being pretty quiet about it."

Toby twitched. He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. When he opened them again, he saw four people waiting eagerly for him to speak. Four killers.

He sighed. "He said that Masky hates me."

Nobody said a word. People glanced at one another, waiting for someone else to speak. Finally, Jeff replied, "Masky hates everybody."

"No he doesn't," Sally argued. "Don't you remember? He used to come down here sometimes and play." She gestured to the oversized screen, which still idled on her success.

Clockwork frowned. "That wasn't Masky, Sal. But M did come here once in a while. He was just too much of a shut-in to actually play."

"And he isn't now?" Jeff scoffed.

At this point, Toby tuned the others out. Not because he wasn't interested, but because of the many thoughts swimming in his mind. Thoughts about what Ben had told him, and what he had figured out on his own, and what was being kept from him.

People act like Masky changed. As if, even though he was never bright and happy, he was somehow now worse than before. But was that Toby's fault? Or was it someone else, someone hidden in secrecy?

What could be so horrible to scar an experienced Proxy? Or rather, who?

He had to know.

"What happened to the other Proxy?"

Everybody froze.

Nobody said a word. Toby twitched.

Finally, Clockwork whispered, "Who told you?"

Feeling the eyes boring into him, Toby shrugged. "I guess I just figured it out. Didn't know anyone was trying to hide it." He twitched again.

The room never felt so quiet. Jeff glanced at Eyeless, whose head remained tilted to the floor. Sally suddenly found great interest in wiggling her two analog sticks back and forth. Clockwork tugged at the sleeve of her hoodie until she realized that, by speaking, she had accidentally volunteered to carry out the conversation. She whispered a silent curse to herself.

"Look," she sighed, "I'm not gonna pretend that nothing's going on. I'm sorry you found out about it at all. But the thing is, it's not really... safe to talk about."

Toby thought about it for a moment. "But there was another Proxy." A statement, not a question. Clockwork nodded. "And... what? He died?" Clockwork hesitated for a moment, glanced around, and only then gave a small nod.

Toby blinked, and twitched. "Do... do people not usually die around here? I mean, I thought a castle full of killers would be used to it."

Jeff, Eyeless, and Sally stared longingly at the door, clearly looking for an excuse to walk through it. "People die all the time. We kill each other more often than we're friendly. But this is different."

"Why?" Toby pressed on. He could see how uncomfortable Clockwork looked. It made part of him ache, but he had to know.

Clockwork breathed in deeply. "Because... because Masky, and Slenderman, um, they..." she trailed off. Eventually she closed her mouth and hugged her body tightly, her face a bright red. She glanced away from him.

Toby looked towards the other three, who all found respective parts of the wall to hold their interest. Even Eyeless, despite his obvious handicap, feigned his disinterest.

Accepting his defeat, Toby sighed audibly, stood up, and plodded towards the door. When his gloved hand clenched the brass doorknob, it was Sally that spoke up. "Hey, where are you going?"

Toby froze for only a moment. "Just going for a walk," he brushed off, and left the room before another word could be said. If he had any luck, they would assume he had just gotten uncomfortable. Which was not false.

But really, what he was doing was much more vaulting, and much more stupid. But it had to be done. He was a Proxy. If there was something going on in that castle, it was not his right but his duty to know about it.

And if he had to, he would ask the only person willing to tell him.