Brother in Arms EXTRAS

by SteamGeek01

This is a side project to my main story 'Brother in Arms'. Here, you will find little events or scenes that I have written. They will be a mixture of my own ideas and user submitted scenarios. Not all the stories written here will happen within 'BiA' but I will have a notice if they are or are not. Creepypasta and Harry Potter crossover.

13. Chapter 13, The DBD AU

The Dead By Daylight AU.

"Word" – Speech.

'Word' – Thought.

"Word" – Slender Speech.

#Word# - Texts, messages, phone calls and on-screen words. Will have speech marks

if words are being spoken at the same time as they appear on-screen or through a speaker.

~Word~ - Written words.

$"Word"$ - Parseltongue.

Disclaimer, Harry Potter is (Unfortunately) the creative property of J.K Rowling and

the studio that produced the films.

Any CreepyPastas mentioned in this fic will have their creators stated in the end notes.

I also have no ownership of any brands, games, franchises or shows mentioned in this fic.

Any persons mentioned outside of the stories that this fic is based on, that I haven't

stated are a reference, are purely fictional. I do not condone killing unless it is

justified, i.e. hunting animals for food or as a last resort in defence. Any similarities to

any persons mentioned are purely coincidental unless it is in reference then I will have

stated where the reference was from if it is overly obscure at the end.

Locations in which the kills are chosen are selected by online generators and I zoom

in to see what's near there on Google Maps. All kill scenes that I write that did not

occur in the Harry Potter book series are not based on any real-life events.

Author's note.

If you agree with any of the Transphobic views that J.K Rowling spews, then remove my story from your follows or favourites and fuck off.

So, the most important thing I can think to say is that I'm sorry that I've not uploaded anything in so long. My life had a fair few ups and downs that wrecked me in the years since I last wrote anything.

Since then I've had at least 3 jobs, including my current one of the past 4 going on 5 years; discovered that my ex fell off the moral spectrum in some really nasty ways; lost 2 grandparents; got into an actually healthy relationship with my current boyfriend, who is cringe (overwhelmingly affectionate), of roughly 2 years who is one of the biggest reasons why my mental health is going well enough that I want to write again; grew my hair out throughout lock-down so that it was over 18 inches at its longest before donating it to The Little Princess Trust; gotten back into another hobby that I hadn't done much with in years before I started Brother in Arms; and start streaming to pass some evenings on Twitch.

All in all, there's been a lot. For those who would like to stop by and chat sometimes my Twitch username is the same as here, SteamGeek01, and my PFP is a drawing a friend did of me in my Enterprise NX01 hat. I tend to try and stream Tuesdays and Wednesdays so those'll be your best chances.

But, my somewhat inconsistent broadcasts of overwhelming Skill Issue aside, I've decided to write this to try and help get my creativity going again so that I can hopefully crank out chapter 94 before my unplanned hiatus hits its 5th year... you all will never know just how hard it hit me that it'd been almost 5 years since I'd updated Brother in Arms.

Right then, some set-up for this AU of my AU.

1, The CreepyPasta killers are, of course, the killers with The Slenderman taking the place of The Entity.

2, The Hogwarts students are the survivors.

3, This will be a no-magic AU (sort of, the killers have their abilities but the students don't have any abilities or powers)

4, Because it's been so long since I've written them... you can have another rendition of DigitalMagic, my treat to say sorry for the wait. Won't be as fluffy as other versions like in Werewolf or the main story, but you'll at least get a sped-up and more demented version of the two.

Now then... taking a game I haven't played in years and mixing in a bunch of characters I haven't written in years... this is gonna be fun,

I'm also going to say this now.

I haven't finished this chapter yet and I'm adding this to say that this is absolutely one of the more violent things I've written to date.

If that's what you're here for, then you're in luck because I think I've written a doozy of a chapter.

But if you're not so fond of graphic depictions of violence then maybe be a bit more careful reading this one.

Regardless I hope you enjoy it,

SteamGeek01.

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Harry struggled against the arms holding him, his pleas to put him down as he wriggled in his desperate attempt to break free as he was carried closer and closer to the dip where the pit of fire lay.

Tears streaked down his face as the futility of his situation settled in and he gave up trying to escape their grasp. His eyes found the silent but pitying eyes of his friend, Hermione, as she watched from the side. Doing nothing to try and help him or give him any comfort, only shaking her head softly before looking away.

The world tilted as he was thrown into the searing embers, watching as the writhing flames twisted and licked along the side of his stretched arms as he tried to soften the impact before the ground beneath the glowing embers cracked with whisps of an-unnaturally deep black smoke curling up and around him.

And then everything shifted, it was like the farthest point of the horizon rushed forward whilst everything else stretched far away as he ended up in a freefall. Unable to breathe or cry out in pain as the fire had cocooned him started shimmering blue before feeling the agonising sensation of the flames rushing up to his face and forcing their way inside of his mouth and over his eyes.

As he felt the last bastion of his will to stay awake begin to crack and slip away, darkness creeping like waves of shadow across his vision, he felt his blood run cold at what looked like some of the terrifying nightmares that had plagued him and his 'friends' staring up at him...

Then all he knew was darkness...

(X) 3 hours previously (X)

Harry twisted the fiddly wires into place, trying to coach the generator out of its spluttering state into the smooth repetitive cycles that they needed.

Ron had snuck his way past him some time ago and he had started fairly close to Draco so he was left wondering who the fourth survivor with them was.

He winced at a far-off bang signalling someone, likely Ron as that was the direction the gangly ginger had gone when he last saw him, failed to catch the generator's fault in time and focused on not making the same mistake as his heart started to beat a little faster.

Just as the generator started to smooth out heavy footsteps began echoing towards him.

"Move! Move! Move! Ron panted, one arm clutching his shoulder as a fresh blossom of blood spread out from where he had recently been hit.

The generator he had been working on sparked as Harry turned to look at him, a look of panic on his face as he wondered why Ron would bring the killer towards him when he was so close, but he didn't have time to question his friend.

Together the two of them made their way towards the decrepit and ruined shack that lay not too far from them so that they could try and lose the killer there, or at the very least buy the other two some time to get another generator complete.

A crackle of electricity surged through the air, temporarily blinding the two of them, as a mocking laugh that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and answered the question of who was hunting them this time...

The Cyber-Ghost.

Pain tore through Harry as an electrically charged chain slammed into his back, he bit the inside of his cheek as he sucked in air through his clenched teeth, the adrenaline causing him to speed up enough to catch sight of Ron slowly slink into the only locker to hide.

Vaulting over through the old window frame he caught sight of the crackling T.V. screen in the corner of the room as two hands, both with a heavy wrought iron manacle clamped tightly around the wrist, burst through as the killer pulled himself through.

A blood-streaked face sneered viciously at him as he limped at speed across the room, almost falling down the steps that made his blood freeze with the realisation of how close to the basement he and Ron were, and towards the other window in the cabin.

Leaping over it he backed away, turning around to look at the blonde-haired sadist.

Their eyes met as the two of them stared each other down. Harry held his bleeding shoulder as the ghost hunting them down floated roughly a foot off the ground, small ripples of pixel-like waves dancing across him like a magnet passed over an old CRT T.V.

After the brief second that felt like it stretched for an eternity passed, Harry could've sworn that the killer winked at him before whipping the locker door with one of the chains that hung off the killer's broken shackles.

Ron cried out as the electrical discharge stunned him, the doors bursting open as the chain wrapped around his neck and dragged him out. Harry felt his breath catch as the killer heaved a struggling Ron onto his shoulder before turning and running deeper into the fog-filled realm, trying to ignore the shouts he heard as Ron was undoubtedly taken down in the basement.

The rest of the trial seemed to pass by in a haze after that.

Zacharias had found him after he successfully hid and escaped the sights of The Cyber-Ghost and patched up the wound in his shoulder before the two of them had worked to get the third generator chugging along smoothly, not wanting to take the risk of the killer lurking around the basement to see if anyone would be brave enough to venture down to rescue Ron... though knowing him he'd have likely sped up the process trying to pull himself free again, even though it almost never worked.

Just as the pistons found their rhythm and caused the overhead lights to burst into life Draco's pained cry echoed out across the grounds, a small red glow in the corners of their vision showing the isolated hook that now held the pretentious snob.

"I'll go get him," Zacharias said, crouching down and slinking off. Leaving Harry alone in the fog to try and find another generator to work on. Harry warily eyed the broken screens that flashed lines of static across their fronts, keeping an eye out for the tell-tale scarlet eyes of the killer hiding within.

Once or twice he could've sworn that the T.V. in the corner across from the next generator he had started working on would fritz slightly as though the killer were popping in, watching and waiting for when he would almost be done before bursting out and hauling him off to his own painful hooking.

He gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the booming that signified that Ron was now being carried off into the sky, the tentacles of smoke holding the shimmering form of his now dead friend drawing themselves into the air just visible above the mechanical components he was fiddling with.

Another pained cry echoed out through the air and Harry dropped the piece he was working on, wincing at the loud sparking explosion that flashed in front of him and left flashing spots in his vision.

Taking off, running towards where he had last seen the light of Draco's hook he skidded to a halt as another boom echoed across the skies as he watched those tendrils of smoke claim yet another life.

Looking around he tried to work out from where he had heard Zacharias cry out before crouching down and slowly working his way past the small stone walls that jutted at random angles in the field before stopping once more.

Zacharias was limping along, looking wildly around trying to find either him or where the killer was coming from.

Before Harry could cry out the T.V. between them that he was running towards crackled and the killer burst out before dashing forward and catching an unaware Zacharias in his path, who let out a warbling squeal as he fell to the ground.

Ducking down at one of the walls to watch where he would take Zacharias Harry froze as he could've sworn the killer turned and looked right at him as his cruel laughter filled the air again.

Harry could do little more than watch on in horror as the ghost fritzed out of sight before appearing behind his downed friend, grabbing the chains that hung at his wrist before wrapping it under Zacharias' neck and pulling up.

Arcs of wicked blue electricity crackled over his face and he screamed for all he had, the chain getting tighter and tighter around his neck as the humming from the bolts got higher and higher until his eyes burst in a spray of heated blood and his body went limp.

The killer got up, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck, before kicking some dirt onto the still-smoking body before floating over to the generator that Harry had been working on before Ron had interrupted him.

More cruel laughs reached Harry as he tried to get his rapid breathing under control before the chain whipped down and brought a shower of sparks across the ground as the generator began winding down, the progress he had made before draining away.

Harry felt tears building in his eyes as he crept away in search of either a generator that one of the others had been working on that he could complete or for the sturdy frame of the exit hatch.

He carefully pulled himself across the rough wood of a dropped pallet that now hung across the doorway to the dilapidated house that stood as a gaunt sentry in the middle of the dreary and bleak land that he was now alone in... almost alone...

"Hello..." a teasing voice called out from somewhere outside, the words crackling softly as if through a dying speaker, "You in there, Specs?"

His heart leapt into his throat as though to block any chance of breath as he flattened himself against the wall, ears straining to hear any part of the echoey whispers that seeped out from the hatch.

The rattle of chain against wood seemed to reverberate through the wall he leant on and through his spine as the killer prowled along the outside.

"Last one again..." the voice that sent shivers down his spine crowed out, "... third time this has happened with you and me hasn't it? Lucky you, lucky, lucky, lucky you..."

Carefully working across the worn floor towards the stairs Harry fought against his nerves to not bolt up the stairs and away from the telltale sounds of a pallet smashing.

Harry kept low as he walked across the aged and slightly sagged floorboards that made the ground of the upstairs.

"Your red-head friend almost gave me a headache with how much he screamed, I swear even his sister doesn't get that shrilly," the killer went on, the clinking of chains getting closer, "Then there was that other one and oh, his cries and whimpers now that's just fun to hear,"

He winced as he stepped on a creaky plank and stopped just shy at one of the openings down to the ground outside.

"Then there was that last one..." Harry turned and looked at the floating ghost staring at him from across the landing, "He's always hilarious to catch off guard, that shriek was funny enough that I thought he'd earned a special reward for that one,"

Bile rose in his throat as the blood-stained killer waved his hands and jangled the chains hanging from his wrists while laughing cruelly.

Harry's arms shot out to hold the sides of the wall as his heel found the edge of the ground before he tumbled out and turned to look out across the ground. His eyes widened at the sight of faint smoky whisps that floated up into the air.

"Now then," a Cheshire grin stretched his blood-lined cheeks, "You gonna make this fun for me, or just run around like a chicken that's lost its head?"

Steeling his nerves Harry turned and looked the Cyber-Ghost in the eyes, determination set deep in his jaw as he took a blind step backwards and dropped to the ground.

More laughter echoed around him as he wobbled slightly before taking off towards the hatch, his heart beating hard enough to block out any other sounds as he ran as hard as he could will his legs to carry him.

Just before he leapt down into the smoky void that held his salvation he turned back to see how close the killer was and...

The killer was leaning against the wall of the hole he had leapt down from and even from this distance he could see the wide smile on his face and... for the briefest moment... it looked like the killer was waving him goodbye and blowing him a kiss.

(X) The Campfire (X)

"How it is that he keeps surviving?" Draco seethed, watching as Harry sat with Hermione and Ron's sister Ginny by the steps down to the fire pit that they could throw offerings into to try and sway the outcome of their trials before the red-headed girl left to go off and catch up with the exploring party that was away from their little hub of rest.

"I don't know," Zacharias muttered, scratching his neck gingerly, "Just being lucky only gets you so far and he's had some close calls with other killers... but with The Cyber-Ghost it's like another thing entirely,"

"You can't seriously think that he's being let go, can you?" Theo asked, looking around to see who was all there.

Neville and a few of the others were out scavenging the areas around them for more totems to burn or a rare item they could occasionally find out there for the next four to take into the next trial, whenever that would be.

At the Campfire that moment, it was only Harry, Hermione, Ron, Theo, Zacharias, Draco, and Blaise.

Ron, who was sat the furthest from their little group, turned his head over to where he could just make out the words that Harry and Hermione were saying to each other.

"He just..." Ron spun on the log he was sat on slightly, "... no, there's no..."

"What are you on about, Weasley?" Draco snapped at him, "Were trying to have a conversation here,"

"Harry said that that freaky ghost thing spoke to him!" Ron said in a whisper to them.

Their small group turned and stared at the raven-haired teen, seeing how even Hermione was recoiling from him slightly.

"I told you there was something weird about that killer and him!" Zacharias hissed, pointing with an angrily shaken finger at Harry's back, "Cahoots I tell you, cahoots!"

"Well, that's not much to go on," Theo muttered, "We've heard that the killers sometimes taunt the last one, it's not something..."

"Are you defending him?" Draco spat out, "On some silly rumour, I've never heard the killers talk, how about you?"

Ron shook his head, "Nope, never,"

They weren't sure which of their stranded group had brought it up first but back then it had definitely been a joke before... but now those huddled there were talking about that stupid silly idea with the growing determination to see it done.

It had been a joke from ages ago that they could probably sacrifice someone to the fire pit to try and appease the rarely seen faceless entity that kept them trapped here into letting them or at least someone go.

Theo had been sent over as a distraction to get Hermione away from Harry as the rest of them ganged up on their lone and unsuspecting target.

"No, what are you... let me go! Please! Let me go!"

Harry's pleas fell on deaf ears as the group lifted him up, his glasses falling to the ground and breaking underfoot as they walked on, crushing them, and carried him down the steps before throwing him into the flames.

A wave of blue flames threw them back as a pillar of black smoke shot up before collapsing into the ground, their crying classmate vanishing within.

(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)

"Three outta four ain't bad," The Cyber-Ghost, or as he was actually known, Ben, snorted as he leant back on the well-weathered wooden bench, "Plus, it'd been a while since I'd killed one myself instead of letting them drain themselves on the hook,"

"Yeah," a twitching grey-skinned fellow killer sitting next to him smirked, "And that fourth one wouldn't happen to be the same one that 'slipped' away as the last two times now?"

A quiet round of low chuckles went around the assorted killers that were sat there.

"You have to admit, it's looking kinda funny at this point," the monochromatic clown waggled his finger at him, "What's Slendy gonna say if they hear?"

"Slender already knows," Ben sighed, "He knows I'm messing with that one in particular and, as long as I still get the work done, he doesn't care if I toy with him. If there's an easier nab I can go for, like that redhead that thinks the lockers are soundproof, then he can run around some more,"

"As long as you're careful with it," the normally masked killer sitting across from him said, blowing out a steady stream of smoke into the air above them as they flicked away the built-up ashes from the end of their cigarette.

"I dunno why that's the one that you're going for," Jeff asked, spinning a knife between the tips of his fingers, "He's all quiet... now that sandy-haired one, the rugby player not that Irish one, he'll keep trying to charge you down like it's got a hope in Hell of working. That is fun to mess with," he finished with a cackle.

"I don't think I've ever heard him cry out either," The Artist, Helen, hummed as he looked pensively in the air, "A hiss of air when he gets hit... but other than that, nothing,"

"Exactly," Ben gestured to the inky-haired artist, "How can someone stay that quiet with every we've done to him? It's fascinating is all. I know he can speak; I've seen him mutter to that bushy-haired one a few times, but I don't think any of us has gotten him to scream,"

"You call it fascinating; I call it boring as fuck," Jeff muttered, "Give me a match with four screamers and let me make some music,"

Helen hummed out of curiosity as he leaned forward, looking at the man sitting next to him before looking into the dark clouds that had started to swirl overhead.

"Another trial so soon?" Tim wondered as he took out his mask and flicked away the cigarette butt, knowing that it would vanish completely before hitting the ground and his packet would refill momentarily, "Slender's not typically that rapid fire with..."

The now masked man stood up as instead of a stream of black shadow coming out from the fire pit to select one of them to hunt and maim the survivors a whirl of blue fire spiralled down towards them. As it fell closer, they were able to make out the shapes of arms and legs flapping against the wind.

"A new killer?" Jeff looked out towards the unconscious form that now lay in a heap on the other side of the benches that sat around the altar of black flames that let them burn offerings to hamper the survivors' time in their arenas of pain.

"Seems like it," Toby drummed his legs in excitement, "What d'you reckon they'll be like?"

"One way to find out," The Clown said, stepping over to where their crumpled newcomer had landed, "I'm hoping for someone with a sense of humour, cause you lot are starting to... oh... oh..."

As the others started to gather around the figure struggled to his feet, clutching their head with a burnt hand before wincing at the feeling of the twisted metal that had once been his glasses now melted into the side of his head.

"Well... that's new," Tim said, his voice rumbling from behind his mask, and startled the figure into opening their eyes.

Harry leapt backwards, his back hitting a tree as the party of murderers advanced towards him. None of them saying anything to break the rising tension as his eyes darted across the various monsters that had hunted him and his... friends...

"BOO!"

With that, Harry burst off to the side. Running deeper into the gnarled and twisted forest that surrounded the clearing he had landed in.

The killers watched as one of their old pieces of prey disappeared into the swirling mists that covered the grounds. Silence hanging heavy in the air now that the frantic footsteps had left them.

That was until Tim hit Toby on the back of his head hard enough to knock the twitching killer prone on the dirt floor.

"Why did you do that?" he groaned, knowing that he'd likely be the one Slender would send out to find their wayward newcomer.

"Cause it was funny, that's why," Toby snickered as he dusted himself off, "Kid was gonna bolt, I just skipped the awkward silence,"

"Well you can help me find him then," Tim grumbled, stowing his mask back in his pocket and lighting a freshly re-appeared cigarette.

As the group split off, with Tim taking Toby and Helen to help him search, Ben took a moment to look at the spot where the raven-haired teen's hand had been pressed against the tree before crouching down to where his hands had been.

A smile slowly tugged across his face as he traced along the scorch marks that hadn't been there before had singed the bark in streak-like marks from where his hands had brushed against the rough wood.

'Seems like you just can't stop being interesting, can you?' he thought to himself.

(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)

Harry was sure that if this hadn't been some sort of demented nightmare realm that his lungs would be screaming out for him to pause and take a breath as he kept running deeper into the never-ending labyrinth of trees. His throat still burning from falling face-first into the altar pit and breathing in the fire.

No matter which way he turned the horizon seemed to stretch out further and further so that he never got closer to finding some edge to the forest.

He didn't know how long he had been running for when tendrils of black smoke started rising from the ground before striking out towards him.

Ducking down and rolling, Harry managed to dodge the first volley as more and more kept coming his way. Just as he leapt over a fallen tree, he felt something wrap tight around his neck and pull him up into the air.

A pained cry echoed slightly against the trees as he struggled against the tightening tendril that held him there, clawing at the unyielding but seemingly viscous substance that had ensnared him.

"Be still," a voice commanded, though he couldn't place where it was coming from and seemed like the words had echoed in his head, "The longer you try and run the worse it will get,"

His eyes went wide as the smoky appendage lifted him to face a tall being with skin whiter than the purest bone was standing in the middle of the forest, the tendril of rippling smoke coming from a space on its back. A suit as black as coal seemed to pulse in time with the smoke, the fabric almost shifting like a web of muscles that had been weaved to fit the creature's form.

As the entity pulled him closer Harry strained his neck as hard as he could, trying to break free from the vice-like grip he was ensnared in, as he was turned slightly in the air to give The Slenderman a good look at him.

"I've had survivors try to sacrifice themselves before, but this is a first," the entity mused, "They've never tried sacrificing one of their fellows... and never with such hatred in their hearts,"

Harry hated the pang of emotion that flitted through his chest at the mention of his... friends...

'Why did they do it?' he thought, trying to understand what he could have done to make them want to be rid of him.

They had all heard of the rumours that there were groups of survivors and killers before them, if the scraps of old journals they'd sometimes find in the woods were anything to go by, and every one of them had caught a glimpse of the tall figure that watched the trials at least once in their times here.

"W-what did I do?" Harry choked out, his voice was normally rough from the lack of use but the smoke and flames that had seared their way inside him did nothing to help that.

Never in his life would he have asked questions like that, his aunt and uncle had made it clear what would happen if he asked questions out of turn... but this was likely the end for him, so what did it matter?

"W-why did they do it?" he asked, coughing from the still-fresh pain in his throat, "I- I did what I could, I..."

"Those are answers I cannot provide," the entity said in the same monotonous voice, "But I can tell you that it was done with hatred... anger... and fear,"

Tears started to prick the edges of Harry's eyes as the emotions running within him turned from guilt and sorrow to anger and loathing.

"I... I never asked them for anything, never looked for them when I was hurt," he choked out, the taste of iron fresh in his mouth, "I kept m-my head d-down, fix-fixed my generators and..."

Slenderman slowly lowered him down, his well-worn to the point of almost needing replaced sneakers slipping and he ended up dropping him to his knees as he shook in rage.

"... I went out of my way to try and help them when I could..."

Sparks of blue fire circled around his forearms, tongues of azure flame fluttering out into the air around him in bursts of increasing intensity.

"... after ev-everything I-I've done... n-no m-matter how hard I t-try... WHAT MORE DO I HAVE TO DO!" Harry cried out as the fire that surrounded him burst out across the small clearing, rolling across the trees and around the unaffected Slenderman who reached down with a bony hand to his latest killer's shoulder.

"What you could have done, does not matter. You are the first survivor to have been sacrificed to me... and now you shall kill for me,"

Harry looked up at the blank canvas where a face should have been, unshed tears of the anger and rage that burned inside him held back by will alone.

"They would throw me aside... I want them to pay!" he slowly choked out each word, spitting out the last like it was bile in his throat.

"And they will..." Slenderman turned to the trio that had converged at their location, "Train him. Teach him to wield his anger to strike down any survivor in his path,"

Tim, Toby, and Helen nodded at the command given to them before The Slenderman disappeared and left the four of them alone.

Toby was the first to approach the kneeling figure, coming to a stop in front of him and lowering down a hand.

"Well kid, can't say it wasn't fun for us 'cause it absolutely was... but welcome to the family," he grinned as Harry hesitated before taking his hand and letting himself be pulled to his feet.

"Now... can't say it's gonna be easy to move past stuff, so how about one free hit before we get started?" Toby crouched down so their eyes were level.

Tim and Helen shared a quick look with one another as Toby and the newcomer stared each other down for a tense moment... before watching as Toby was knocked backwards with a crack of blue flame rippling out of the fist that hit him square in the face before stumbling over an exposed root and falling flat on his back.

"Huh... y'know what, I like him already," Tim nodded as he watched Toby pick themselves off the ground for the second time that hour.

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The Clown and Smiler had tried to give him a pretty violent welcome on their return and Ticci had stood by his side, even throwing Smiler around a bit before Masky had broken it up, because of this Ticci had been the first he had willingly spoken to when it was just them.

"Well, this'll be where you stay," Ticci had said, opening a creaky door to a shoddy room in the well-worn lodge that made up the killer's residence, "No room service, no wake-up calls, and the continental breakfast is discontinued since none of us need to eat anymore... damn I miss waffles..."

"Why did you protect me?" Ticci almost jumped at the strained voice asking him the question.

"Slenderman said to train you, can't really do that if you're constantly being knocked around by those two," Ticci shrugged, fishing something out of his pockets, "Plus... Pyro's of a feather gonna burn shit together," he said, flicking open a battered lighter and staring into the flame, "Now try and get some rest, if I know Tim then it's gonna be a rough start for you,"

"Tim?" Harry asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"Yeah, Tim. White mask, bushy sideburns?" Ticci said, wriggling his fingers along the sides of his face.

"Oh, Masky, right..."

Ticci wheeled around and walked back into the room.

"Wait, you bunch called him 'Masky'?" he asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "What'd you call me?"

"T-Ticci," Harry cautiously said, leaning back as the other threw their head back in silent laughter.

"Ticci? Eh, that's not too bad, I'm fairly certain I've heard some of them talk about a 'Smiley' before, take it that's what you'd call Jeff?" Ticci closed the door before pulling over a rickety chair and sitting down.

"Smiler... really pale, cheeks cut in a big grin," Harry sat on the bed, curiosity mixing with the fear of being stuck in a room with a killer that he distinctively associated with the rough and cleaving edge of an axe.

"Definitely Jeff. Figures that you'd probably not know of us... Toby, by the way," he clicked his tongue as he pointed at himself, "So, what else did your soon to be hunted ex-friends come up with?"

It felt like he had been talking late into the night about how his old group had come up with the names for all of them when Masky had dragged Toby out so that he could finally rest before training began.

Masky and The Artist, or Tim and Helen as he'd discovered their real names to be, had taken the primary role of training him for the trials and through them he had learnt faster than he thought he would have. The two of them had taught him how to track a survivor hiding in the arena; how to close the gap between him and his target in a chase; and how to time his strikes right so that the survivors had little chance of escaping the blow.

Toby seemed to have taken the order to heart and then some.

He had shown Harry how to properly smash up a generator so that it would stall faster or be more likely to backfire when a survivor tried to repair it; had taught him how to blend in with the darker areas to ambush anyone passing by; and what had stumped Harry the most about him was that he went out of his way to make sure that none of the others messed with him but he supposed that was him just being happy there was someone else there that enjoyed burning things for the sake of seeing them burn.

It was through him that he'd learnt what the various offerings this side of the fire pit could do, from thickening or lessening the fog; to changing the distance between hooks or generators; and which offering corresponded with what trial map and who they were connected to.

Another little tidbit that he had learnt was the house rule for getting to know their stories. In order to learn them he had to beat them in a fight, Toby had counted knocking him down with the offered punch as winning so he had told Harry his story on his second... night he supposed, since there seemed to be a communal agreement of when they would wind things down even if they didn't all retire to their rooms.

While he was distracted from taking in what Toby had told him, Toby had thrown him over his shoulder, spun around until he was giddy, and then pinned him beneath his back until Harry relented by telling him his story.

He had only intended to tell him about how his friends had thrown him into the fire pit after his last trial with The Cyber-Ghost... or Ben as he had found out on that first night, but at his ex-tormentor's insistence, he told him about his life before being stranded in this realm.

The last time he had told anyone about his home life had been Hermione and he had regretted it whenever since then every time she looked at him it had been with pity... but Toby just shrugged with acceptance.

It hadn't been a happy life with his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. They had reluctantly taken him in after his parents had died in a car crash and later he had figured it was only so they could try and get some of the money his parents had left him in their wills. He told Toby about how his first bedroom had been the cupboard under the stairs before the social worker visits to ensure his well-being had started.

After that he had been given his cousin's spare bedroom which housed all the various broken or ruined toys and gifts that he had been given that would never be thrown out because how dare someone else have something that was his even if it hadn't been touched or used in years.

Toby was a surprisingly good listener when he chose to be, sitting there patiently listening to him talk about how his Aunt spread lies about him being a disturbed and troubled boy, how they had paid off a doddering psychologist who looked old enough to remember when the first telescopes were invented to pretend that they were getting him professional help.

It had been how he had learnt to be as quiet as he was, sneaking around to get whatever food he could scrounge from the rare leftovers or to enjoy the reprieve that the quiet of night would bring from his spoilt Cousin's endless bemoaning of whatever he had deemed to be unfair to him that day.

His sole reprieve from that Hell had been the boarding school his parents had enrolled him in before their deaths. And how it had been on a school trip to some exhibit or event, he honestly couldn't remember anymore, that they had been taken to this realm.

"Well, here's to fucked up lives in a fucked-up world," Toby raised an invisible wine glass, his pinky finger raised in mock sophistication, as Harry finished speaking.

Harry smirked as he mirrored the gesture.

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It had been a couple of... days...weeks? None of them had ever figured out an accurate way to track the passage of time in this realm so Harry had no idea how long it had been since the day his supposed 'friends' had thrown him into the fire and he had ended up on the other side of the cat and mouse game that he'd grown accustomed to.

Never in his life had he ever thought that he'd have been able to picture himself willingly sitting down in the company of the deranged killers that had hunted him but slowly he was starting to find familiarity in the madness that ruled these lands.

Since then he had learnt the stories of Helen and Jack, or 'The Cannibal' as he had once called him though to avoid confusion with the other Jack there he would often be referred to as E.J, through the sparring sessions that the other killers had started giving him to test how better he was getting at fighting and hunting. He had been knocked down by the others more than he could count, but he had only told them about how his so-called 'friends' had thrown him in the fire pit.

He considered it his small act of defiance against the killers that had once hunted him since his past really didn't have that much importance to how he had gotten here.

A small shadow of a smirk flitted across his face as he listened to Jonathan, formerly known to him as The Puppeteer, talk about his latest hunt in which none of the survivors had escaped.

"Doesn't bother you?" Laughing Jack, The Clown, teased him, "Old friends, strung up like a marionette and carted off to their never-ending doom?"

The first times the various killers had come back and talked about their trials it had caused a pang of guilt within him, but remembering how he had been thrown aside like a napkin from a roadside burger van had turned the guilt into a roiling flame of hatred.

Now he looked forward to hearing how those he had once thought to be his 'friends' had been caught, hooked, or outright killed. Toby could always get him to laugh along with him when he retold his hunts.

Harry only shrugged as he smiled before turning back to listen to the ongoing story, glancing at The Cyber-Ghost sitting across from him.

Ben, as Toby had told him that first night, leant back as Harry felt a small flicker that his second little act of defiance earned him. Toby had told him that Ben had been deliberately toying with him in their past trials, and how he had been drawn to the endless silence he had perfected for the trials.

Well, if it was his silence that had made him so curious to begin with it then silence would be all the cybernetic entity would get from him.

He pretended not to notice the flash of annoyance on Ben's face as he examined his hand once more. His hands were longer than they had been, his fingers and nails had lengthened to end in sharp claws amidst the burnt flesh.

His control over the fire he could produce had certainly improved and it no longer burned anything around him... unless he wanted it to, that was, and he was starting to look forward to the time that it would be his turn to hunt in a trial. They had tried getting him used to some of the weapons they had, knives, axes, or even a piece of wood with various nails and screws protruding in all directions. But they all felt too unnatural to him, so they had stuck teaching him how to attack unarmed.

That was actually how he had gotten properly introduced to Eyeless Jack, as the cannibalistic demon much preferred hunting that way himself. It had taken a few tries before he had been able to slice into the makeshift practice dummies without getting his claws stuck in the wooden boards before he had managed to get the hang of it.

Then there was the other trick he had up his sleeves, though that tired him out too much to use it consistently.

Jonathan trailed off from his story as a thin tendril of black smoke formed from the fire pit and began circling the gathered killers.

A new trial was to begin.

Before any of them could wonder who it would be, the encircling ring of smoke descended and wrapped itself around Harry's wrists.

"Well, well, well," Toby grinned, "Looks like it's finally time to raise a bit of Hell kiddo,"

Toby fished out a vial of a thick inky miasma from his pocket and offered it to him.

"Wanna darken things up a bit for them?" he asked, leaning in to whisper, "Nervous?

Harry took the glass vial with slightly shaky fingers, "A bit," he admitted in a quiet voice so that only Toby, and incidentally L.J who was sat on his other side, could hear.

"Hook them up or burn 'em down, don't matter as long as you get at least two," Toby patted his shoulder, reminding him about the forfeit they had agreed on in his training for when his first trial arrived.

Said forfeit being letting Jeff take over his training, the bleached and scarred killer had promised to be as much of a sadist in getting his skills up to snuff as he had been in the trials.

Looking into the flickering flames as thicker rolls of the black smoke seeped out from the base of the fire pit to pool around his feet, he watched as the vial he tossed in floated in the air for a brief moment before vanishing as though it had been made of a magician's flash paper.

The smoke around his feet washed upwards.

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Hermione watched as four of their group slowly became enveloped in the ink-black smoke, knowing that it was their turn for a new trial.

Ignoring the huffing at a new trial so soon, she turned to look into the flames of the fire pit that sat ominously before them.

Her hands closed around the pair of broken glasses that had once belonged to her friend.

Since Harry had gone missing, the five that had schemed against him saying that he had needed some more time after his last trial and wanted to be left alone to try and hide the guilt of what they had done, she had held onto them in the hope that she could one day return them.

But... as time had gone on that hope seemed to die more and more.

There were some of the others that had been gone that day that had started to doubt what Zacharias and Draco insisted on, but without either one of them confessing or finding Harry it was a pointless endeavour to try and get the truth out.

Running a thumb over the cracked lens, she closed her eyes for a quiet moment of grief before gently throwing them into the fire pit.

Her eyes widened in shock as instead of immediately vanishing, like anything they threw in that wasn't an offering to The Entity that they sometimes caught glimpses of beyond the borders of the trial, they hung in the flames for a brief moment before dissolving in a whirl of embers.

The Entity had accepted them as an offering...

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When the shadows released their grasp on him Harry let out a small gasp as he found himself standing next to a hedge that he knew well from his summer childhood as he had often been forcefully volunteered to keep it trimmed and even.

The last he had seen of Privet Drive it had been a vibrantly boring standard suburban dwelling, rows of pristine lawns and precisely clipped hedges. But now the grass was unkept, the hedges wild and thorny, and the houses in various states of disrepair and entropy.

Hearing a branch snap in the distance, he let a feral grin take over his face as he crouched down and stalked off in search of his first target.

To say that Susan was surprised to find herself in a rather modern British home, although mouldy, rotten, and stained with copious layers of filth in every which direction, would be downplaying the situation. She knew that some maps changed every so often, the carnival of The Clown seemed to change the most frequently in her opinion, but this didn't feel like the normal suburban street that Smiler often prowled or the decrepit student housing blocks of The Cannibal.

There was something about the living room she found herself in that felt vaguely of home, her eyes lingered on the old ratty mattress that had been stuffed into a cupboard under the stairs surrounded by flaked and disintegrating crayon drawings that could barely be recognised as once having been child drawn pictures.

Finding a generator on the second floor, a destroyed window available should she need to escape, she set to work repairing the stuttering machine.

Evenly paced footsteps creaked from the hall behind her and she paused, listening intently to see if it was one of her friends or if she had been found.

Her moment of hesitation with the machine let a wire sway the wrong way and a cloud of sparks erupted as the machine backfired. Before she could set to fixing the fault, the footsteps sped up towards her direction.

Stumbling to her feet, she made a dash towards the window. She had barely gotten a foot up on the frame as she braced for the fall when a vice-like grip that burned her neck on contact grabbed the collar of her blazer and pulled her back into the room.

Susan's eyes went wide and her breath hitched, as she took in the immolated form of the killer that stood over her, before she was lifted into the air and carried over his shoulder down the stairs and out to the front lawn.

She barely had time to struggle against the rough hand holding her steady before she was raised into the air and impaled on the rusty meat hook that stood ready for her.

Her scream of pain tore through the air as she watched through eyes blurred by tears at the form of someone she once knew, unable to believe that she once worked alongside the one that had offered her up as a sacrifice, as he stalked away to let her struggle.

Nearby, Katie looked up towards the flare of red light that showed where her friend had been captured and hooked. The generator she was working on was almost finished, so she opted to complete her task before going to rescue Susan.

The floodlights above burst to life as she carefully made her way past rows of rusted cars that littered the street. She could just make out the sacrificial hook that was her destination when a figure crept across her path, and she couldn't help the gasp that escaped her.

Manic eyes snapped to her, bloodshot and rabid like some sort of wild animal, and she broke out in a run through the backyards to try and escape the pursuing killer.

Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the killer round the corner of the rotten and destroyed patio she had been running alongside in her aim to reach the opening in the hedge.

She just managed to jump through as sharp, razor-like, claws sliced across her back, cutting deep as she cried out in pain before running deeper into the thick fog and hiding behind a collapsed children's jungle gym.

Hearing the heavy footsteps pass her by she held her breath, not daring to release it until she heard the shout of a familiar voice.

"Come on then freaky, have a go if you think you're hard enough!" Cormac shouted at the killer, as he charged towards the smaller figure and drawing its attention away from Katie.

'Shorter than the others, might finally get to knock these bastards down a peg or two...' his train of thought broke off as he caught sight of the new killer's face.

Charred skin marred the right of his head, the melted frames of glasses he knew stuck out like a painful growth from behind which a striking pair of bloodshot emerald eyes stared out with such a manic energy he half expected to see rabies induced foam running down his chin.

It was too late for Cormac to change his direction as he watched the killer bring down a hand coated in a blur of blue flames upon him, drawing out a painful shout as he carried on through the overgrown gardens to put some distance between the two of them.

Katie couldn't help but shake with fear as she watched the killer, she couldn't believe she had to call him that now, chase after McLaggen before slowly making her way over to the hook where Susan was struggling against the claw that was trying to pierce her chest.

"Cheers for that," Susan muttered as the two of them slunk away around the back of a house to heal one another.

"Don't mention it..." Katie trailed off, "H... have you seen the new killer?"

Susan nodded, her hands shaking as she worked on the burnt slash across Katie's back.

"It... it can't be... can it? It can't be Ha..."

She didn't have a chance to finish as a bolt of swirling blue flames flew through a broken window and smashed into Susan, sending her to the ground with a surprised shriek.

Whipping her head around, Katie felt her heart speed up as she watched the killer standing in the middle of the partially demolished kitchen lower their outstretched arm before grasping the window frame and leaping over.

She didn't have time to apologise before she started running again, leaving Susan behind in the wild tangles of the overgrown grass to be picked up and re-hooked.

The flare of red flashed across the map as Susan was hung up once again, a thundering boom following seconds later as her now shadowy form was carried into the air.

"About time," the stuffy voice of Zacharias whispered from behind an almost complete generator, "I was thinking I was the only one doing any work this trial, help me finish this then I'll patch you up,"

Katie gritted her teeth as she crouched down and worked on the stuttering machine, a few moments later a second flare of red crossed the map as McLaggen was hooked in the basement.

"Zach," she hissed out, rolling her eyes at how he huffed with the shortening of his name, "You said that Harry had run off to go deal with some stuff on his own, right?"

Zacharias scoffed, though his cheeks paled slightly and his ears turned a faint red.

"Y-yes, so what?" he said quickly, "Can we just get through this trial!"

Shortly after he finished the generator roared to life, causing her to wince as the bright lights above them flared.

"One down four to go," Zacharias muttered as he stood up, "Of course, those two had to go early and leave more work for..."

Before Katie could snap at the nuisance she had been left with Zacharias burst off in a sprint away, leaving her there with only the bright lights and steady thrum of the generator for company.

She could feel her heart skip a beat as she carefully peeked around the side, only to nearly have her head taken off as something burst past practically running down on all fours.

Harry knew that Katie was an easy kill as he sprinted past the generator she was crouched beside... but the chance to hurt one of the ones that had stabbed him in the back and burnt him... the chance to hurt even one of them back was a high that he didn't think he could ever see himself tiring of.

A feral grin pulled at his face as he watched Zacharias frantically pull at a pallet in front of an empty doorway before stopping to stare back at him, his face now the off-white of soured milk.

"H-Harry?" he breathed out, fear and shock lacing his words, "That... it can't be you..."

He watched as the burnt figure before him paused, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"It... it can't be you... can it?"

Zacharias flinched as the killer raised a hand, looking between him and the burnt appendage as he took a slow step back.

"Y-you remember us? You remember your friends, right?" Zacharias' hands trembled as he brought them up in a pair of shaky thumbs up.

Harry's eyes snapped to him as he let out a snarl before rolling his arm and flicking his wrist at Zachariah. A bolt of harsh blue flames spun out and speared Zachariah through the chest, burning the tattered blazer he wore, and knocking him further into the hallway.

A cracking sound made him look up to see Ha... no, the killer bring a flaming clawed hand down to the pallet buying him a few precious seconds of time to escape. Time he sorely needed as he willed himself to run faster through the withered hallway and out the back door.

The towering, unkept, hedges held no exit points he could leap through to an adjacent garden, a whimper escaped him as the sounds of shattering wood echoed around him as he limped his way around the side of the house.

'Just gotta escape him, then he can go for Katie, and then I can get out the hatch,' Zacharias' thoughts came fast and frantic as he looked wildly around to catch sight of the scorched killer.

His head whipped to look behind him as another bolt of blue flame shot over his shoulder, narrowly missing him as the killer rounded the house behind him.

Zacharias' eyes searched in vain for any sight of where Katie was hiding as he limped as fast as he could down the street, praying for any sign of her so he could try getting the killer to switch its target, as another bolt flew past him and fizzled out against the door of a rusted beyond use car.

Just as he thought he saw something move further down the street his back exploded in agonising heat, as the final bolt of fire finally found it's mark and sent him spiralling into a heap in the middle of the road.

'It's ok! It's ok! It's ok! It's ok!' his panic palpable as he lay on the road running through the middle of the wasteland around him, 'Katie'll get me down from the hook! It's my first time! I'll have plenty of time!'

Raspy gasps of air filled the air and Harry felt himself practically buzzing with anticipation as he stalked towards his crumpled prey, his back arched enough so that the tips of his fingers occasionally scraped along the ground.

The anticipation only grew as Zacharias' whimpers grew louder as he kicked his downed prey in the side to roll them onto their back.

"P-p-please,"

Fire flickered in sporadic pulses from his hands as he glared deep into Zacharias' eyes. Fury fuelled his snarl as he sunk razor-sharp talons into the boy's chest and dragged them down, pushing deeper in as he reached the base of his sternum before twisting his hand around and tearing it out.

The discarded bone clattered next to Zacharias' head as he let out a scream of pure... unfiltered... agony and pain...

It was music to his ears as Harry plunged his claws into the eviscerated chest once again, taking the rapidly beating heart before him into a flame-filled grasp before ripping that out.

Zacharias' eyes widened as his suffering cries died down. The last thing he saw of the trial was his own still beating heart being burnt to whisps and embers in the clutch of a feral killer... a killer he had taken a hand in creating...

Harry took in deep breaths as he closed his eyes, revelling in the way the air around him was far crisper than it had ever been in his times as a survivor.

A stuttered gasp of breath from somewhere behind him took him out of savouring the moment, his eyes flying open and his head snapping in the direction of where he could see Katie crouched down next to the ruins of another car.

Her eyes were wide in terror as she tore her sight from the flayed corpse of her fellow survivor and the killer that had ripped him open in glee.

His chest rippled with huffs of manic laughter as he watched her tear off down the pavement away from him...

Laughter that was soon replaced with a snarl as he saw the tell-tale whisps of black smoke rising from the corner of a familiar sight on the ground before he took off after her.

Katie was just a few metres from the edge of the hatch when another bolt of blue fire shot past her head, harmlessly dissipating against a hedge.

The second shot found its mark and Katie watched as the world around her rolled over itself as she spun to the ground, collapsing in a heap just shy of the frame of the hatch.

Pulling herself onto her front she looked back down the street to see the killer practically clawing gouges out of the pavement as he ran towards her on all fours, a murderous gaze fixed on her as he let out an animalistic roar.

Her hand found the edge of the hatch and, using the last of her waning strength, she pulled herself up and over into the free fall of wispy darkness.

Harry swiped at the hatch lid as it slammed shut in front of him, growling as spittle flew from his mouth as he threw his head back and let out his frustration with a howl that turned into a roar.

His heavy breathing soon slowed to a calm as the now familiar black smoke swirled around his feet, slowly cocooning him as he was taken from the trial.

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"Well, well, well... and what time do you call this?" he sarcastically glared at Harry as he reappeared, tapping his foot like a disapproving teacher, "You'd better have a good answer for your actions, young man!"

"Does three outta four sound good enough?" Harry smirked, throwing his hands up in mock innocence.

Toby let out a cackling laugh as he swooped down on Harry, picking him up and spinning him around before trapping his head under his arm and rubbing his knuckles into his scalp.

"That's what I'm talking about," Toby cheered, pointing at Tim and Helen, "Can we train them, or can we train them?"

"Eh, I suppose he did alright," Tim shrugged, but the twitching at the corners of his mouth betrayed the nonchalant guise.

"Three's not too bad," Jeff muttered, a heavy pat on the back following shortly after, "Let me know if you're wanting to learn how to get a clean sweep, then you'll get to party with the big boys,"

"I almost did, the last one went down right next to the hatch before I could get her!"

Harry seethed a little, "I was so close but..."

He broke with a shrug and a yawn as he watched a familiar head of blonde hair approach the fire pit to see what the commotion was.

"So, what was the score?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow at Harry who simply held up three fingers in response.

Laughing Jack and Toby shared a quick wink with one another, the two of them well aware of Harry's insistence on not speaking around Ben just to annoy him.

"Well, your first trial went well and you look dead tired," L.J. said, a long claw-like finger poking gently at the side of his head.

"Yeah, three kills is good enough for an early night," Toby nodded, pushing him off towards the house, "Go rest, you can tell us more later,"

Harry gave him a mock salute before trudging off to go and take his earned rest.

It was as he finished climbing the stairs to the landing that he realised it was more than just his own footsteps ascending the stairs, and he didn't need to look back to know who it was.

A mischievous grin pulled at his lips as he made a show of yawning before slowly closing the door, giving his blonde shadow a chance to wedge a foot between the door and the frame.

Something that he had been rather thankful about in his early 'days' was that if you shut the door to whatever room you were assigned then it wouldn't open again unless it was by your hand.

That little tidbit had spared him the rather... unpleasant wake-up calls of Jeff and both the Jacks, though they had found ways to surprise him for their own amusement later on when he was out of his room anyway.

The door wobbled back open as it bounced off of the sneaker Ben had managed to squeeze in there before it had closed properly.

"Didn't get a chance to say down there," Ben said, pushing the door open so he could look in.

Harry only raised an eyebrow as he walked calmly over, a small hint of satisfaction rising within him as he watched Ben shuffle slightly where he stood.

"Well done on your first trial, three on your first go ain't too shabby,"

Ben's face twinged as Harry nodded slightly, smiling sweetly enough that he felt a shiver run along his spine.

Feeling emboldened by his success, Harry cocked his head to the side as he leaned in close to Ben, looking him up and down. Raising a finger to scratch his chin, Harry pretended to take a moment to think, before flicking Ben on the nose with a small twirl of blue flame before shutting the door.

He let out a small huff of laughter at the startled noise from the other side of the door as he fished around the inside of the tattered, singed, and flimsy jacket he wore.

Retrieving the target of his search, Harry raised a small white object to his mouth and crunched with satisfaction as he laid down on his bed before slowly drifting off in a well-earned rest.

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The ground seemed to sway slightly as she reappeared in their campgrounds, a few of the others coming over to help her to her feet.

Waving them aside she stormed over to where a pale-faced Zacharias was talking in a strained whisper to a rapidly paling Draco and Blaise.

"What did you do?" she thundered at them, ignoring the calls of the others around them as she watched as Susan and Cormac walked out of the forest behind them.

"New killer," Cormac's voice was strained, an unreadable expression on his face, "It's Harry..."

Whispers and mutters broke out amongst everyone there, Ron and Theo on the other side sharing a quick glance at the other three before slowly walking backwards to try and escape the oncoming wrath of their fellow survivors.

"It's true," Susan said, her quiet voice shaking almost as much as she was, "It wasn't one of the others, and... and... it was... Harry!"

Katie turned and caught Zacharias' arm as he tried to run, Alicia and Michael grabbing Draco and Blaise as they made to copy the futile attempt at escape.

"Geroff me!" Ron yelped as Ginny grabbed him and Theo with a vice-like grip on their arms.

"Last we saw Harry, he was with you lot," Cormac glared down at the trio before him and Katie, "We thought that you'd said he was wanting to be alone and now he's some... feral monster that shoots fucking blue fire from his hands!"

"They threw him in the fire pit," everyone went quiet and turned to Hermione, who squeaked in surprise that they had heard her.

Ron and Theo were shoved into the middle with the other three, more mutterings about what they had done breaking out amongst the gathered survivors as stares of shock and rage caused any arguments they tried to stammer out to catch in their throats.

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In the time since his first trial, Harry had been enjoying the hectic life that he happily called his own. The freedom to do what he wanted, without having to worry about what the others thought had been startling to him.

When he had first told Toby about it, the twitching pyromaniac had immediately stood up and thrown a rock at Jeff as he called him a bitch.

"See, nothing," Toby said, sitting back down as Jeff did nothing more than call him a fuck-head and go back to whatever it had been doing, "He'll probably hit me with something later, but I can take that,

As long as it's something you want to do, why shouldn't you?"

For years he had envied everyone who had been able to go outside, running around playing games, climbing trees, and coming home with skinned knees and muddy cuffs on their trousers. But life with the Dursleys had meant that if there was so much as a speck of dirt tracked into the house because of him it'd be another week of long chores and small meals.

But here...

Toby raised an eyebrow as Harry got up without a word and walked over to one of the trees that stood tall at the edge of the clearing. A small huff escaped him as he watched Harry jump up and scramble for a proper hold on one of the branches that hung just low enough for him to grab before dropping as his fingers lost their grip.

"Up you get," Toby grunted as he grabbed Harry's legs before he could drop again at his second attempt, giving him a solid surface to push against as he hauled himself up and over the branch.

Taking a few steps back, Toby watched as Harry started ascending higher up until he was roughly the height of a second-floor window.

"Toby... how high can I go without hurting myself?" Harry called down, peering out at the endless horizon of crooked and twisted trees.

"You can go as high as you want, that'll not hurt," Toby laughed, "Getting down... well that's another thing entirely,"

"You mean it'll hurt if I jump?"

"I think that's something you'll get to find out, you gonna go higher up?"

"Should I?"

"Up to you,"

Harry looked down at Toby, just able to see him through the branches that swayed gently in the non-existent breeze before gazing skyward at the branches that stuck out like a scattered and tantalizing ladder begging to be climbed.

Down on the ground, Toby let out another small chuckle as he watched Harry disappear higher and higher into the tree.

"Whatcha looking at?" L.J. asked, walking over and peering into the sky around them.

"Oh, not much, just thinking really," Toby sniffed, nodding towards another tree further along from them, "That one'd make a lovely pillar of fire, wouldn't it?"

L.J. snorted as he shook his head, "You're still determined to burn this forest down, I thought you'd gotten over that after failed attempt the hundred and third?"

"Oh, not all of the forest," Toby shook his head, "Just that one in particular, think it'd make a pretty flame,"

"Well, considering that it's probably as un-burnable as every other tree here, you're welcome to try but I wouldn't get y-OOF!"

Toby bit back a laugh as something short and burnt landed on top of the black and white clown from where it had reached the peak of its climb and had leapt off to become a subject in the kingdom of gravity.

"Huh, it's no worse than if I'd dropped down in a map?" Harry looked up at Toby in surprise.

"Invigorating discovery," the very muffled voice of Laughing Jack mumbled into the dirt as Harry shifted to let him get up, a perfectly conical-shaped hole remaining in the ground from where his nose had been squashed down.

"Why was he up a tree?" L.J. asked, looking between the pair as he dusted the dirt off his front.

"Cause I wanted to climb it," Harry shrugged, flicking a twig that had become tangled in his hair, "Never climbed one before, wanted to see what it was like,"

"I see," L.J said icily, his tone dropping to a hushed whisper, as he leant down so their eyes were level, "Play along, Ben's sneaking up over there,"

Harry followed the quick glance to their side and, sure enough, there was Ben idly leaning against a tree a few yards away from them acting like he hadn't been spying on them.

L.J. had found Harry's continued silence towards Ben hilarious, who was in turn steadily growing more annoyed at not having gotten to hear him speak when even Jeff had been seen willingly chatting with him.

Ben watched as L.J. guided Harry along with a vice-like grip, staring down at him with a dark look on his face, their voices too low for them to...

He was thrown from his thoughts by a pair of arms wrapping around the tree and grabbing him by his shoulders.

"GO! GO! GO!" Toby cackled as he held Ben in place, having slunk away while the attention wasn't on him, watching as Harry took off in a sprint.

"Traitor! Lemme go, you git!" Ben squirmed, dropping down to break his grip, "Why are you like this?"

"Cause it's funny, that's why!" Toby howled after Ben as he ran after Harry.

Toby and L.J. laughed as they watched Ben chase Harry around the fire pit, a wide smile on Harry's face as the two of them dodged and weaved around the benches before dashing towards the house.

"You've got an offering that removes chests from the next trial, right?" Toby asked the tall clown.

"Yeah, what you wagering?" came the intrigued response.

"Bet you that against two that up the difficulty of fixing generators this ends with them snogging," Toby smirked, watching Harry duck under Ben's outstretched arm and start running loops around the small digital ghost.

"Ooh, that's a good one... I'll say Ben's getting scorched again and you've got a deal," L.J. decided after scratching his chin with a long, sharp, talon.

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Harry let out a low cackle as he looked over his shoulder at Ben chasing him up the stairs.

Bursting into his room, he crouched down next to the closing door and waited for Ben to catch up.

Once the pursuing blonde crossed the threshold he pounced up onto his back, causing the two of them to stumble around the room for a moment before one of Ben's knees gave out and the two of them fell to the floor in a tangled heap.

Just as he managed to prop himself up by his elbows, Ben found the air knocked out of his lungs and his back flattened to the floor; a chain from his wrist trapped somewhat painfully beneath him as Harry pinned him down. An indignant blush flashed across his cheeks as Harry's chin dug into his chest as he felt a hand tousle his hair into wild and messy strands.

Huffing as he twisted around, Ben somehow managed to throw Harry off who sat crouched down in front of him. The two stared the other down for a brief moment before Ben launched himself at Harry, sending the two of them sprawling on the floor again.

This time with Ben trapping Harry as the two of them struggled on the floor, Ben carefully keeping a hold on Harry's wrists in case he tried burning his way out of his grip.

"Ha!" Ben cackled as he panted, smirking at Harry as he paused for breath, "Pinned... you!"

His victory was short-lived as Harry spun them around, pinning Ben to the floor once more with a firm hand on his chest. Harry bit his tongue as he held a squirming Ben in place for a few more moments, idly drawing a circle in the air above his face with a small blue flame before he finally yielded.

"Ok fine, fine!" Ben dodged a small bolt of fire as he shuffled backwards, resting his back against the door, "You're the better grappler between the two of us...

But I still pinned you, Hotstuff..." he broke off with a victorious smirk as he waggled his finger towards Harry, "... which means that you have to tell me your story,"

Harry sighed, patting the floor next to him as he settled down into a comfy position.

Cautiously, Ben scooted over and sat next to him. Watching Harry warily in case he went to fire off another bolt of fire at him. He had been wary of the fire, he hadn't expected the charades.

"Ok, you aren't as good as Brian at the whole 'not talking' thing, I have no..." Ben broke off with a laugh, "Ok... myself, me? I? I get that part, what's the..."

He broke off as Harry sighed, igniting a finger and dragging it across the wall.

"Me... First?" Ben's brow furrowed in confusion, "What do you mean me..."

Harry smirked as Ben's jaw dropped, their scuffle replaying in his head and realising that Harry had indeed pinned him first, before staring him down with an indignant glare.

"Oh, come off it, I still pinned you!" Ben seethed, jumping to his feet, "You gotta tell me!"

The two of them locked eyes, neither willing to back down, until Harry closed the gap and knocked Ben backwards onto the bed. Ben threw his head back in frustration as Harry pinned him down for a third time.

Leaning in and stroking a searing finger down his cheek Harry smiled while tracing swirling patterns across his head as Ben struggled to get free.

"Alright fine," Ben relented, "You want to hear my story first, you'll get it,"

With a sigh, he began telling his tale and as he went on, he found that the grip holding him down lessened; though the constant poking of his face didn't let up as Harry kept up his inkless art session.

Even though he probably could've thrown Harry off, he found himself oddly enjoying the warm weight on his chest accompanying the soft clinks of metal as Harry played with a chain attached to his wrist.

"... and so, I drowned," he finished, "Felt myself drifting away, and then I was trapped in the... I dunno, digital realm? I never really learnt how it happened before I got dragged here"

Harry made a soft hum, settling down on Ben's chest and playing with his hair.

"Y'know... you're the second person I've ever told all that to..." Ben said softly, "Toby was the first, surprised me while we were having a few races through the forest one day. Normally I go 'oooh, spooky ghost' and phase through them..."

"So..."

Ben jumped as Harry finally spoke, lifting his head to look at the raven-haired weight on his chest.

"... what was that bit about me being hot?"

"Oh, well, that was... I mean it's cause you can fire set your... I mean set your fires on finger..." Ben stammered, a deep crimson blush spreading like a wildfire across his face under Harry's resumed tracing of his cheeks.

"Liar," Harry hissed in his ear, revelling in how Ben shivered under him and remembering the confidence that he had seen from the ghost in his final trial before being cast to the killer's realm, wondering where that bravado had gone.

"Ok fine, so I thought you were cute," Ben huffed, "Running around trying to escape me when we had a trial together, so what if that was why I'd save you until last?

There you go, my little secret, now get off..."

Harry laid down fully, playing with a lock of Ben's hair before fishing something out from his inner coat pocket and placing it into Ben's free hand.

Ben looked at the slightly discoloured small white object held between his fingers, his eyes widening slightly as he slowly rolled the mint sweet between his fingers before hesitantly bringing it to his mouth.

"Secret for a secret," Harry whispered to him, his voice sending another shiver down Ben's spine before he let Ben get to his feet, "Didn't know the bag had burst when I was on the trip that brought me here, thought I'd run out but three had fallen into the pocket,"

"Gotta say..." Ben broke off, crunching the mint and enjoying the sweet sensation that filled his mouth as he leant on the wall by the door, "... if a fight with you gets a sweet, I'd hate to see what would happen if I did something you liked,"

Harry leaned close to his face, their lips ghosting off one another's before he nipped Ben's upper lip hard enough to draw blood.

"Get a clean sweep next trial you get..." Harry purred, licking the beads of blood that had gathered away, "... and you'll get to find out,"

With that he closed the gap between them, Ben leaned into a deep kiss as the taste of his fresh blood mixed with the lingering sweetness of the mint.

Before Ben had a moment to gather his thoughts he had been gently pushed out of the room and now stood before the closed door.

A smile split across his face as he tapped his foot on the decayed carpet that spanned the hall, licking his lips to get one last taste of the feral killer and remove the slowly growing drop of blood from the cut.

"Alright then, game on Specs," he cackled, making his way to his own room to see what offerings he had saved here and there to make his next trial more interesting.

It was only as the door closed behind him that Ben froze.

"You little shit," he chuckled to himself, realising that he still hadn't heard Harry's story.

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Hermione's breath was frantic as she ran between the overgrown trees of the trial grounds.

Draco had been the first to get hooked, she had been nearby finishing a generator when the red flare signalling which hook he was strung up on had flared across the map.

She had just been about to pull him off the rusted protrusion when a bolt of blue flames had whirled through a dilapidated window and past her head.

It was the first time she had seen Harry in a trial, looking at the burnt and manic figure leering across the mist-coated grounds at her. The sight of him almost made her forget about the trial until Harry began racing towards her, small flickers of blue flames in his wake.

Just as she rounded a destroyed cobble wall another bolt of blue flame shot out towards her, catching her shoulder and sending her stumbling into the decrepit stonework.

As she found her way to the feet again ragged breaths got louder and louder. She turned around just in time to see a burning claw of a hand raise up.

The missed strike cleaved gouges from the wall and the distinct scent of burnt hair lingered in the air as Hermione took off again, scraping her arms against the rough wall as she scrambled to get away.

A rending strike cut across her back just as she cleared the edge of the crumbling ruin, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Brushing her tangled hair out of her face, she looked up and met the feral killer's gaze...

It was soft, the scowl that had been glaring across at her in their initial encounter had vanished and the reputed feral gleam was missing.

Her hope that he would maybe leave her there for someone to come and help her was dashed when he crouched down and hauled her over his shoulder, however it wasn't with the usual roughness that other killers had.

"H-Harry?" she hesitantly started, not sure why she was even trying to talk to him,

"I... I know that it's... I just..."

She broke off as Harry carried her into the dilapidated husk of a roundhouse in the middle of the trial and down the set of foreboding stairs leading to the basement.

"I-I... I wanted to say that... I'm sorry," she stammered out as they descended into the pit of death, "I sh-should have tried to stop them, I could have done... more..."

The sight of the rusted, blood-encrusted, hooks that loomed from the shadow seemed to collapse her lungs as Harry stopped in front of them.

"P-please... don't do this..." she begged, the futility of resistance weighing on her mind, "W... we were friends, once, doesn't that..."

"I know," Harry's hoarse voice tore through her, "But I can't just let you go..."

Hermione's guttural screams echoed up and through the trial ground as the hook speared through her back, her blood dripping onto the floor slowly being absorbed into the cracked flagstones.

"Besides..." he spoke slowly, meeting her bloodshot eyes, "... I wouldn't trade these hunts for anything..."

Harry's feral gleam returned to his eyes before he walked away, enjoying the roughness of the stairs clashing against his knuckles as he dashed to the surface. Eager to find his next piece of prey.

He didn't have to search for long as he caught sight of Theo crouched down working on a generator, oblivious to the venomous glare that was trained on his back.

A sadistic smile split across his face as blue flames sparked around his wrists before setting off towards his next victim on all fours, scorched earth flying into the air in his wake.

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End notes.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this.

The number of times I almost put 'Isaac' instead of Harry out of instinct probably kept me up a fair bit longer than I should've been.

But, with a bag of Mint Imperials by my side and a glass of Irn Bru (like the good old days when I was writing the early chapters of Brother in Arms) I think I've gotten my groove back.

I doubt I'll have chapter 94 up before it reaches 5 years since I've updated Brother in Arms, but know that I am working on that chapter properly now and I have a fully completed framework for what I want to have happen, I just need to expand it from short sentences into proper paragraphs.

But that is all I have to say for this chapter of Extras aside from an apology once again for my silence with my story and writings.

Oh, and that in 30 minutes from uploading this I'll be live on Twitch so if you want to come say hi; or shout at me for not updating sooner, then feel free to pop on over.

Like I said, my Profile picture is a drawing of me wearing my NX01 Enterprise hat and the channel name is still SteamGeek01.

If Fanfiction let me post proper links I'd do that, but the below should get you there if you switch out the breaks.

(3w) dot twitch dot tv/steamgeek01

Anyways, thank you all for reading,

I hope you've enjoyed this,

And I hope to see you again,

SteamGeek01.

Creepypastas in this fic.

Ticci Toby – Kastoway.

Masky / Hoodie / The Operator – Marble Hornets.

Eyeless Jack – Kiki H.

Laughing Jack – Snuffbomb.

Jeff the Killer – BanninK.

Ben Drowned – Jadusable.

Slenderman – Victor Surge.

Puppeteer – BleedingHeartworks.

Bloody Painter – Delucat.

Feel free to leave a suggestion for stories to read, I've enjoyed the ones that have been

sent in already, and I'm dying for more!