"I'm not explaining that to the others." Jason said violently and winced when that caught Slendermans full attention.
That is alright child. I believe if I am offering my assistance I should meet the rest of your associates. Nico, will you lead the way.
"Of course I will, but first I want to establish something okay?" Slenderman inclined his head in acknowledgment. "The other members of this quest don't know that I'm gay and I would like to keep it that way. It doesn't matter to me what most of them think but my Roman half sister Hazel is among them. She's from the same time period as me, roughly, and you know what the general opinion of homosexuality was then. I don't want her to know." Nico gave Toby an apologetic look and he nodded understandingly.
That is alright Nico, there are plenty of reasons why it makes sense for Toby to accompany you besides your romantic entanglement. He nodded gravely and Nico smiled gratefully before turning to glare at Jason.
"That goes for you Grace, don't tell them! If she knew-"
"She would care about you just as much, Nico." Jason interrupted holding up his hands. "You're her only family too, she won't leave you because of something like that." Nico refrained from pointing out that the most damage had always been done to him by those who cared about him. Or at least, that he cared about. Instead he glared fiercely at Jason. "But I won't tell her if you don't want me to." Jason added hastily.
"Good, then are you coming with me through shadow travel or teleportating along with Slenderman." Nico asked briskly. Jason just grimaced.
"Can't I just fly us back." He asked hopefully.
"Oh no, I have had enough flying for a lifetime this time. We're going my way." Nico snapped back. The proxies were following this with bemused curiosity. Nico almost laughed when he realized that they wouldn't even question whether Jason could fly, but were probably just wondering how when he didn't have any wings.
"Alright." Jason sighed. "Then I'm going with you. Slenderman, I suggest you wait a few minutes to follow us. Otherwise they'll probably assume you're one of our monsters, and try to kill you."
They would not be able to harm me if they tried, but there would be little point in alarming them. Very well, we will wait, one of my proxies must go with you though so I can follow.
"I'll go." Masky volunteered before Toby could. "I'm less impulsive than Toby, and besides I look a bit more normal under my mask." Easily he slipped off his mask and handed it to Hoody who shoved it in his shoulder bag.
Good idea Masky. Toby don't sulk we will be going along with them in short order and you'll be the one staying.
"It'll only be for about five minutes, Toby, honestly." Nico said mildly exasperated as Toby proceeded to ignore Slenderman and pout at full force, giving Nico the puppy-dog eyes he always had trouble saying no to. "We'll go now so you can come sooner." Nico half snapped grabbing hold of Jason and Maskys wrists, pulling them back through the shadows with him.
Masky knew better than to keep his eyes open through the trip, but Jason didn't. When their feet hit the deck of the Argo II again he fell over immediately. Nico looked down at him in amusement. Masky opened his eyes and started laughing, but not everyone was as amused.
"Jason." Piper yelped running over to him.
"He's fine." Nico quickly assured when she glared up at him. "I just forgot to warn him to close his eyes when we shadow travelled. It can be a little disorientating."
"A little is a bit of a understatement, don't you think." Jason grumbled, pushing himself up into a sitting position and glaring at his hand which was shaking slightly.
"Ya well, now you know how it feels to be suddenly grabbed and dragged into an element that isn't yours!" Nico snapped.
"So that was revenge for flying with you, huh?" Jason sighed standing up slowly. "Are we even now?"
"Yep." Nico said trying not to sound too pleased with himself.
"Who are you?" Piper asked Masky suspiciously. By now most of the rest of the crew had assembled, including Leo, who seemed to have summoned by the thump, barreling up the stairs yelling.
"Nothing better have broken this time I just finished fixing!... Who's that, where'd you guys come from, did you get the scepter of death thingy?"
"Yeesh I feel old." Masky said surveying the demigods. "Ghost, you didn't tell us the people saving the world were all about your age."
"Not many Demigods live to be adults, I explained that already, Masky." Nico pointed out impatiently.
"Wait, he knows about the Demigods?" Frank asked puzzled, not that that was unusual for him.
"Yes I know about demigods, though I only knew about the Greek ones until today." Masky said surveying the group as if trying to pick out which ones were Roman. "Nico's been living with us for almost a year when he wasn't going to tartarus to help you people." It was hard to miss the accusation in Masky's voice, but he didn't give anyone time to object. "But I'm here because it's about time you knew about us since we've known about you for months.
"I am one of the few members of another set of mythological characters. Specifically urban legends and modern horror stories. I'm here to warn you that my keeper, a being known as Slenderman, will be arriving soon to speak with you. He is one of the oldest and most powerful beings among us and is therefore the leader. He has the power to help you and he wants to help you but you need to be careful. He looks like one of your monsters and you must not attack him even though your instincts might say you should. Do you understand?"
Masky finished but no one seemed to be able to answer. They were all gawking at him with mouths open. Masky and Nico groaned, now was not the time for demigods sharp reflexes to fail.
"He's telling the truth guys." Jason chimed in and they all looked at him in shock.
"But Jason, why would we want help from a horror story monster?" Piper asked softly, her eyes flashing.
Because it is strategically wise. There was a burst of static that had everyone but Nico and Masky covering their ears and then Hoody, Toby, and Slenderman were on the deck with them. I understand it may be against your protocol to cooperate with beings who feed on humans, I believe that is why Nico wished to keep us separated but under circumstances such as the ones you are under do you not need all the help you can get?
Leo burst into flames almost instantly, swearing in Spanish as he patted out the fire in his hair and on his clothes. Frank edged away from Leo, but Pipers attention stayed on Slenderman her multicolored eyes calculating.
"You're Slenderman? I believe I have heard of you." She said, her voice soothing.
You very well might have child. There are many legends about me. Slenderman conceded bowing his head slightly. He helped Toby down from where he had been perched on his shoulders. I am almost as old as your gods after all. No matter how quiet I am and how much I keep to the shadows some will notice me, or those who belong to me. Masky crossed over to Hoody who was half hiding behind Slenderman's legs and wrapped his arm comfortingly around Hoody's waist.
"You say you want to help us though. If you're against humanity why would you help us save them?" Piper said her voice layered with charm speak as ever.
You misunderstand me child. I am in no way against humans, it is simply that humans are my food source, I could not exist without humanity. There are few of us who could so we have just as much investment in their continued existence as you.
"You want to save them so you can eat them?" Leo asked raising his eyebrows. "That's like, super messed dude." Toby snickered and Masky glared at him.
Humans farm cattle do they not? Slenderman pointed out No that is not the right analogy, the correct one is rabbits. Many humans adore rabbits, keep them as pets, breed them, etcetera. But there are still many other humans who eat rabbits, farm them for food, occasionally choosing a few who they like too much to consume and decide to keep. He gestured absently at the three proxies with one of his tentacles. Yet they continue to farm and consume other rabbits because they are the main food source available to them.
"Still pretty messed up." Leo mumbled and Piper shot him a glare.
"We can't approve of your reasons but you're right, we do need all the help we can get. What sort of help can you offer?" Piper asked. Doing the talking for them as she always did, she was the best talker after all.
I would like to send one of my proxies with you. As they are vessels of my will and the majority of our kind follow me. Having them with you should ensure you the help of any so called 'creeps' you may come across.
"Well that is a very generous offer." Piper agreed. "But we haven't come across any …Creeps? So far so."
"Yes you have." Nico cut her off leaning against the railing of the ship and crossing his arms as everyone stared at him. "In Venice as we were leaving the reason I stayed a bit behind was to talk down one of them. Kagekao was planning on trying to kill Hazel and Frank for killing the monsters he referred to as "poisons puppies." The only reason he stopped was because he recognized me as one of the creeps, even if I'm only an honorary member.
"Sense that was still before I was sure the gods thought it was the right time to bring the worlds together, I was able to convince him that Hazel was a human I wanted to keep and he respected that. Not all Creeps will be that understanding or that easily fooled and as most of them are immortal it could cause no end of problems and delays."
"Oh." Was all Piper seemed to be able to say but Hazel was staring at Nico hard.
"Nico you trust them?" She asked suddenly.
"I do." Nico said without missing a beat. "If you accept their help it will be Toby who will be accompanying you." Toby waved. "Toby and I have worked together a few times. I have had many opportunities to trust Toby with my life and every time he's come through. If I didn't trust him completely I wouldn't be letting him anywhere near you. You're the only family I have left." Nico assured Hazel, she nodded.
"I'm with Nico on this then. I don't want to be up against any more crazy immortal beings then we already are." Hazel said looking around. Leo and Frank both shrugged, obviously unwilling to argue with her.
You will owe us nothing after this war. Nico has helped my proxies immensely. It is time they repaid him. Slenderman assured. Piper looked at Jason who shrugged.
"Thank you Slenderman." Piper said putting on one of her smiles Nico was only just starting to recognize as fake. "We will gladly accept your help."
Excellent then I will leave Toby with you to get acquainted. He can contact me mentally whenever he needs to so if you have any more questions direct them to him and he can direct them to me. Hoody slipped out from behind Slenderman and handed Toby a backpack they must have picked up in the five minutes after Nico left and before they arrived. He stared at Toby for a long time with a worried expression, opened his mouth to try to talk then closed it again when nothing came out.
"Don't worry, Hoody I'll be fine." Toby said and Hoody grimaced skeptically.
"I'll look after him, Hoody. I have before." Nico assured and Hoody gave him a grateful smiled. Reaching out he put a hand on Nico's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, of thanks or reassurance Nico couldn't tell. Then he jogged back to Slenderman and in another burst of static Masky, Hoody, and Slenderman were gone. In his absence everyone's eyes turned to Toby who fidgeted and twitched nervously.
"Hi." Toby said nervously moving a little closer to Nico's side.
"So your names Toby?" Piper said soothingly.
"Yep, Ticci-Toby because of my tourettes." Toby agreed. "Ignore the twitches they're normal, just annoying."
"Okay well this has been enough weird and crazy for me." Leo said throwing up his hands, one of which was on fire again. "I'm gonna go talk to my nice normal dragon head until things make sense again. You all have fun being nuts."
"He bursts into flames randomly and talks to dragon heads, and I'm the crazy one." Toby asked raising one eyebrow.
"Hey Festus is great at conversationalist, it's not my fault no one else on this boat speaks machine." Leo shouted over his shoulder as he marched off.
"He'd get along well with BEN." Toby commented pointing after Leo. "BEN speaks machine. He doesn't burst into flames though. Not unless someone dumps water on him and he short circuits."
"BEN can be short circuited?" Nico asked in surprise. "I'll have to try that next time he messes with one of my video games." Toby laughed and Nico half smiled at him. It would be really nice to have Toby here with him, Nico had been getting sick of being so alone.
"Okay so who is BEN?" Jason asked finally fully recovered from the trip through the shadows. "How many of your group are there?"
"BEN is a sentient, demonic computer virus." Nico explained easily. "He originated in a copy of Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask when it became haunted by the ghost of a young boy named Ben, who drowned. Since then BEN has escaped onto the internet and has been since been helping edit and delete documents to make the creeps seem fictional."
"That sums BEN up." Toby agreed. "I don't know how many creeps there are in total though. Maybe BEN has kept a list and has the numbers but generally I just know the ones I've met. I can give you a rundown of them if you want but that will take ages." Toby continued for Nico.
"I think we have time." Jason said firmly. "Frank, do you mind staying up here on watch with Leo? The rest of us should head below deck to talk. Maybe the mess hall since it's become our meeting area as well. Thank the gods coach Hedge seems to be taking a nap." Frank nodded and the rest of the demigods headed below deck, Toby following.
"Who's coach Hedge?" He asked sounding really confused. Most of the creeps names were very literal. Nico tried not to imagine what Toby would think someone named coach Hedge would look like.
"He's a satyr who was sent to chaperone us." Piper explained. "But honestly he's the one who needs chaperoning. He attacks everything and causes nothing but trouble most of the time."
"Oh I know a few people like that for sure." Toby laughed happily. Nico marveled at how quickly Toby blended in.
"So Slenderman called you his rabbit or something? What was with that?" Jason asked as they entered the mess hall. All found places to sit. Toby and Hazel sat on either side of Nico, Jason and Piper across from them.
"I'm Slendermans proxy." Toby corrected. "Habit is the one who calls his human rabbits, and I definitely do not want to belong to Habit."
"So you belong to Slenderman somehow?" Piper asked sounding confused.
"I do." Toby nodded. "Humans have almost no place among the creeps unless they belong to someone else. Slendermans most known for that. Me, Masky and Hoody aren't the only humans who belong to him. There's Kate too, and then a whole bunch of ones who didn't survive the process of becoming a proxy but there are others. The puppeteer keeps a few humans, so does The Rake, Seed Eater, and Jason the Toy Maker."
"What can you tell us about the people you just listed?' Hazel asked leaning forward to look across Nico at Toby curiously.
"Well The Puppeteer helps suicidal people kill themselves and then makes them into puppets. I have no idea where he came from or why he does that. Besides that he says he's lonely and they're his friends? The Rake was a experiment in combining human and dog DNA meant to create a perfect attack dog, but they made it too smart and he escaped. Seed Eater lures adults in and convinces them that they want to bring it children so that it can consume their life force and live forever. Actually it sounds a lot like you sometimes." Toby said looking at Piper curiously. Piper looked a bit sick.
"Who else is there?" Jason asked.
"Well the ones that will probably be the most useful to you are Lui and Hobo Heart and his girlfriend." Toby pointed out. "They're the ones in the area, I think Mister Widemouth might be, but he's in hibernation again I think. Lui is Jeff the Killers brother. He survived when Jeff snapped and tried to kill their family but his sanity didn't. Last I heard from them he was killing bad humans because it was the last wish of a woman he loved." Toby tapped on the table thoughtfully for a moment.
"He'd be happy to help you once he found out you're definitely the good guys. He went through a phase of killing happy people because if his girlfriend didn't deserve to be happy no one did, but I think he's over that now. Hobo will definitely help if you need, he just wants friends really. Especially if Nico goes, he'll like Nico even though they haven't met yet."
"How many of them have you met Nico?" Jason asked curiously.
"Oh Jeez." Nico sighed leaning back in his chair. "Well obviously Kagekao just recently. I've been living in the same house as Jeff, BEN, Eyeless Jack, Sally, Smile Dog, Laughing Jack, and the proxies. Slenderman's three brothers have come to visit, and so has Jane so I've met them. We stayed with Clockwork and Bloody painter briefly while we were fighting the Operator, they were nice. Ummm am I forgetting anyone?"
"I don't think so." Toby said still tapping the table absently.
"And why have you been staying with them?" Hazel asked suddenly sounding a little grumpy.
"I know, I'm sorry Hazel." Nico agreed quickly knowing she was upset he hadn't stayed at camp Jupiter with her. "But I omit a feeling of death constantly without meaning to. You haven't noticed because you've already died once, so you're used to it. But other demigods notice and it makes them uncomfortable and afraid to be around me. The creeps on the other hand, often like me better because of it so it's just easier to stay with them. I know I don't scare them by accident."
"We're not scared of you." Jason objected and Nico scoffed.
"Nice try, Grace. I know the only one here who hasn't been afraid of me is Hazel, and maybe Piper, I don't know I have a hard time reading her." Nico shrugged. "Sorry." He apologized to Piper, he wasn't sure if he should but he always did his best to be polite so better safe then sorry.
"Wait, who on earth is scared of you?" Toby asked suddenly staring at Nico in confusion. "You play hide in seek with Sally and summon skeleton kitties for Hoody when he's sad. Who the hell is scared of you?" Nico couldn't help but chuckle.
"Most people who're afraid of death Toby, you just haven't noticed because you like it." Nico said smiling fondly at Toby who laughed.
"That's true." Toby said shrugging happily. Piper looked back and forth between them curiously but didn't say anything. Nico should have known better than to think he could keep his relationship from a daughter of Aphrodite, but he was grateful for her silence. They would have to talk later.
A/N a few house keeping items here.
1. this is a reminder for anyone new that I've been writing a series of requested one shots so if there's anything you want to see happen you can go request it there. (Besides first time meetings, all first time meetings are potential spoilers so please don't.)
2. I've had a couple of people want me to restart an old Rise of the Guardians fic of mine Jacky Black, I stopped writing it because there was no interest but if anyone wants to go check it out and let me know if you think it's worth continuing that would be great.
3. it's good to see so many familiar usernames commenting and thank you all for your continued support. I think I've responded to most of you privately but Bunny it's great to see you back, I wish you had an account so I could respond to your comments more easily.