Slenderverse One-shots

Silence Killed the Jay ⊗ MH

From my Into the ARK comic stemming from the interactive choice of having Masky ask a stranger (Rook, oc) for help or to stay silent. Majority voted to ask for help but I decided to write out what would've happened if the other option had won because Masky gets to go crazy and sees ghosts now

He didn't know how long they'd been stuck in this world of gray landscapes and tall dark trees. The thick fog had caused him to get turned around more than once and there was little way to know if he wasn't just constantly going in a large circle. No matter how far he walked there didn't seem to be an ending to the ARK—well he could only assume it was the ARK Hoody had taunted them about given how horrible the place was.

Masky glanced over at Jay with his remaining good eye. His boyfriend needed a hospital. They both needed a hospital. Jay's bullet wound had been fatal, he'd watched the life bleed out of him, as he tried in vain to slow the bleeding. After attacking the Operator and having it claw his eye out they'd been dumped here. Likely left to die and rot forgotten about.

But while he likely should've died... he hadn't. The exhaustion and constant ache caused by the infection in his wound told him that. And while Jay had died, he'd somehow come back to him after a strange wave of energy swept through the forest. Masky wasn't going to lose him again after that miracle. Just seeing the taller man lying comatose caused his guts to knot in worry.

He'd been resting again when an attack finally happened. The snap of a branch had woken him and he'd gotten to his feet, determined to fight to his last breath if needed. One moment a hatchet had been flying through the air directly toward his head and the next he was tossed effortlessly through the air and landing on the ground.

Masky watched as another stranger attacked the man before noticing one of the hatchets lying on the ground. Anger surged through him. That guy with the orange goggles had tried to kill them. Of course he'd have to return the favor! Grabbing the weapon, he threw it at the man, barely missing the second figure in a tattered black jacket—how had someone so scrawny thrown him out of the way so easily?

His frustration grew as the hatchet landed on the ground, stopping short of the target. Masky hated to admit how poor his depth perception was with one eye. The proxy's taunt only worsened his anger, though the fight was over before he could go for another attack. The other figure had taken the second hatchet and decapitated the proxy like it was nothing. Once again, it seemed they were stronger than they appeared... It made him suspicious.

The figure crouched down by the body momentarily before rising and turning to face them. "You must be a Source, huh?"

That's what Alex had called him. Masky braced himself for a fight but they merely made a tsking sound. "You're not worth killing—those wounds, you'll be dead like your partner there or worse soon enough."

They walked off without further comment and Masky didn't bother stopping them; good riddance. How dare they say his boyfriend was dead. The very idea he couldn't save Jay burned at him. He'd find a way to get both of them out of this place.

Masky once more picked Jay up and began walking in the opposite direction the figure had gone. He'd find the way out, no matter how long it took... And it took a long time.

First he'd managed to stumble across that shack they'd once woken up at, though its location was all wrong—aside from the fact they clearly weren't in Rosswood. But he'd kept going, hoping this was a sign the exit was near. Several times he swore something was following them, a flash of faded yellow-tan or Alex's broken gargled screeches swearing revenge. At one point he'd snapped out of a particularly bad hallucination to find he'd lost sight of where he'd left Jay.

Another time he'd swore he'd been about to kill Alex for a second time only to blink and find himself nearly bashing Jay's face in with a rock—he'd managed to draw back a hair's width away. Shaken, Masky had pushed himself harder to get out of the ARK. The hairs on the back of his neck were constantly standing on end now, feeling as though he were surrounded by ghosts waiting to steal Jay away the first chance they'd get.

Finally he found the tunnel. It was out of place much like the shed but at least it was something. A little more than just another familiar location as it turned out. Masky had entered in hopes of using it as a shelter for the night... He wound up standing in Rosswood, dawn light trickling through the leaves. The reality that he'd made it out was almost unbelievable. Everything was different from the ARK. The very air felt calmer and more alive. Birds were starting to sing as they woke up. For the first time in a long while he felt warm and hopeful that things really would turn out okay.

"Hang in there a little longer..." Masky tore off the remains of his mask and left it in the dirt, not wanting to attract more attention than the pair would likely already draw.

Jay convulsed on his back. A sputtering cough choking out as the man seemed to gasp for air. Alarmed, he quickly laid his boyfriend on his side and watched as Jay's eyes snapped open to focus on him amidst the fit. Fresh blood spread across the jacket and shirt as the movement once more tore open the bullet hole that had refused to heal. At first he wasn't too concerned, it had bled before due to all the shifting while Masky carried him, but then he realized it was growing much too large.

"Jay!" His hoarse voice rasped out the name, followed by a short fit of coughing from how it irritated his throat.

He locked eyes with his boyfriend as he attempted to slow the bleeding. Masky didn't notice when the spark of life left them. He refused to acknowledge the cold feeling that started spreading once Jay stopped breathing. For hours he simply tried to continue getting Jay to respond and trying to carry the dead weight with the hopes of getting to a hospital in time.

Jay watched, trailing behind with a saddened expression. A lot of the pieces to the puzzle were missing. For most of the time in the ARK he'd been completely comatose, though had stirred enough to understand Masky had been trying to help save them both. It hurt to know they'd both been so close to escaping. It pained him worse to see the denial his boyfriend was burying himself in.

"You couldn't have known..." Jay watched the flames of the campfire Masky had managed to start as night settled in.

He watched the man's muscles tense. His back was to Jay, still obsessively trying to care for the corpse despite the rigor mortis that had set into it, but his single eyes stared directly at him as his head whipped around. Horror settled into his face.

"Wait..." Jay perked up, reaching closer. "You can hear me? Can... can you see me?"

Hatred like he'd never witnessed before warped Masky's face. "No, no, no, I won't fall for this! You're not Jay!"

Jay's wary grin faltered and fell as he shied back towards the trees. He didn't think he could be hurt physically anymore but didn't want to scare him more than he probably already was. "Masks..."

The pet name only seemed to make things worse. "Shut up! You're not real... This isn't real... it's another trick..."

A glint of light glowed momentarily in the socket of Masky's missing eye. The infection had spread too deep now. The visions he'd seen in the ARK would only worsen as his old college friends continued to haunt him—made visible by the azoth that had originally contaminated the cut. However much they tried, they would be unable to prevent the madness that would inevitably consume him.