𝐂𝐡 𝟏𝟕

          By some miracle, you find yourself waking up again. You coughed violently and began retching onto the ground, droves of water being quickly eliminated from your body.

          Afraid of what was happening to you, you began to cry once the retching was over, your chest burning and your vision blurry. In the midst of your crying you feel hands grab your arms beginning to pull you upwards and you recoiled, desperate to get away from the touch.

          "Leave me alone! Leave me alone!!!"

          "Stop fucking screaming you little rat—I'm trying to help you! Godamn—"

          The grip on your arms became tighter to the point fighting back was useless, and you find yourself being abruptly sat up from the ground, now facing a big black figure that was sitting in front of you. You began sniffling and stammering uncontrollably; you were scared, cold, wet, in pain, and if you saw one more eyeless creature trying to confront you you didn't think you could take it anymore.

          "Good god—how the hell did you end up in there anyways?" The familiar voice of the figure questioned; you felt as their hands began to gently rub your shoulders, "hey now. Quit hyperventilating like that, you're gonna hurt yourself kid. It's alright now, you're safe."

          "Jack....?" You uttered out, recognizing the voice. "That's right. It's me Jack, so next time you think about treating me like a monster, go ahead and remember this moment. I saved your life, you little termite."

          You tensed up for a second knowing that the blue masked man was present, but you were quickly able to calm down and allowed the soothing caressing of your shoulders to relax you. Your vision was beginning to clear up a bit, although your eyes still felt heavy from having been filled with water. You glare at Jack with an uneasy gaze, as the strange man seemed to 'stare' you down. Eventually he shifted around a bit and appeared to case his masked 'gaze' elsewhere.

          "[Y/N]. Can you tell ...Mr. Snickerdoodles what happened?"

          You hesitated before slightly nodding and murmured, "This boy named Ben ...he said he wanted to play with me and made me go outside to the water. And then he pushed me in..."

          Jack slowly turned back to you, "A boy named Ben, huh? What'd this Ben look like?"

          "He has a green shirt and yellow hair and his eyes look like yours...and he has..."
You trailed off as you were to demonstrate to Jack what BEN had attached to his wrists, but as you held up your hands, you noticed that there were still cuffs situated around your small wrists; the same one's BEN had caused to appear. "...These..." You finished, admiring the chains with dismay before glancing back to Jack, "can you take them off?"

          "Take what off?" Jack nudged, grappling your hand and turning it around in confusion. "These things! Handcuffs!" You beckon to the cuffs and then pointed to the trail of chains that extended from the bottom of the cuffs and flowed out across the grass. Jack released your hands and sighed, "You may be hallucinating. There's nothing on your hands [Y/N]."

          Frustration surged in you as you began shaking the handcuffs, trying to show off the troublesome accessory to Jack, but you stopped when the distant sound of laughing could heard and a whispery voice echoed into your ears,

"𝚂𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚢...𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚏. 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎'𝚛𝚎 f̸r̸i̸e̸n̸d̸s̸, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚋𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚓𝚘𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗. 𝙷𝚎𝚑𝚎~!"

You began whimpering and launched yourself into Jack, clinging to him tightly as your eyes darted around in fear of seeing BEN. Jack, thrown off by your frantic behavior grew aggravated and attempted to remove you from off of him, but you fought tooth and nail to remain latched to him. The man eventually sighed and gave up trying to pull you back to your senses.

Third p.o.v — Jack

Jack was already stepping far out of his comfort zone, bothering to save and assist the child but now it seemed to be getting a bit too comfortable. His mind raced, wondering what kind of fucked up thing the child saw for it to be acting so terrorized.

As [Y/N] grappled their arms around him while shrieking in terror, Jack could not identify anything out of the ordinary in the area. After pulling [Y/N] from underneath the lake, he detected no signs of life around the premise, nor did he smell anything of life that might have come in contact with the child.

At best, Jack guessed that the child might have been sleepwalking. Sternly, he grabbed the child by their arms and held them tightly to stop them from panicking. "You need to Calm. Down. What are you getting so upset about?"

          "Ben's back, Ben's back Jack, please don't let throw me in water again!" [Y/N] cried, "make him go away!"

          Jack grumbled and carefully reached underneath the child's arms, pulling them up with him and holding them up in his own. He figured they may feel less scared if he held them, and sure enough [Y/N] gripped to him tightly, their panic reducing to labored breathing.

          He wondered if [Y/N] was starting to hallucinate or if worse—their mind was being attacked by The Syndicate. Their behavior was oddly out of character, as they didn't seem to be so easily afraid before, and now to find the small child plunging to the bottom of the lake in the middle of the night...there was no doubt it had something to do with The Syndicate.

          In that case, Jack determined that they might be in danger, dwelling there in the open of the woods. The cannibal adjusted the child into a more comfortable position on his chest before beginning to stalk off through the trees, heading in direction to Richardson's home. Strangely enough, as he walked, Jack heard what sounded faintly like metal chains dragging through the grass, but of course when he sniffed the air and concentrated on the ground for vibrations around himself, nothing was there. The sound continued to persist, so he quickened his pace back to the Evader woman's house.

•••

Jack entered the house as quietly as he possibly could after tweaking the lock and carefully shut the door behind him. Almost instantly as the door shut, [Y/N] wriggled out and of his grasp and raced towards Jane and Mary's bedroom.

Jack sighed loudly, already knowing once the two were awoken he would appear the suspicious looking one in their "child's" delusional story. However, before he could decide to just turn and leave, he heard footsteps (along with the faint sound of chains...) come pounding back behind him and arms suddenly wring around his legs. He looked down, feeling the presence of [Y/N] hugging him, their face just about smushed against his behind thanks to his height compared to theirs.

"I love you Mr. Snickerdoodles. Thanks for helping me," [Y/N] murmured before glancing up at him. The child's eyes were bloodshot and tear stains were slightly visible on their face, as well as snot smudge plastered around their running nose. Jack wasn't sure how to react toward this unexpected act of affection towards him. It made him a bit uncomfortable, but he couldn't help but feel sympathy for the child and their words shook him quite a bit.

After a moment of awkward silence, he reached down and placed a hand on [Y/N]'s head, gently patting them, "Not so scary anymore, now am I?"

          [Y/N] smiled a bit and giggled, "No, you're an adorable super puppy!"

          Jack already knew he didn't have a reputation considering he was a demonic murderer, but he felt like whatever standing he had left anywhere had completely collapsed after being referred to as "an adorable super puppy." Jack's shoulders slumped, fighting himself to not regret his act of heroism.

         "[Y/N], are you out there? [Y/N]!" Jane's sudden shout from across the house startled Jack and the man quickly tore away from the child, rushing to reach the door and run out. As soon as he'd swung the door open though—

          "JACK."

          The cannibal groaned at the harsh calling of his name. [Y/N] began snickering and the child ran across the room to where the patch skinned woman now stood outside her room, her arms folded and a deep scowl on her face.

          "I was just leaving," Jack groaned aloud, attempting to remove himself from the situation again. "And now you're not. Get your ass over here," Jane demanded, heaving [Y/N] up into her arms and staring daggers into the back of Jack's head. Jack slowly turned around and stood like a pissed child as he faced Jane's direction. Jane crooked her head and snapped again, "Come here, JackASS!"

          Jack snarled and waltzed up to Jane in growing irritation. He came to a stop directly  before her, attempting to use his height as intimidation but Jane wasn't phased any differently as she looked up at him. "What are you doing in my house at this hour? And why is [Y/N] drenched from head to toe—what the fuck did you do!?"

          He opened his mouth to respond but he suddenly decided that he was too tired to defend himself. Jane shouting at him already peeved him off, so he wasn't going to bother to smooth things over. All that mattered was that the stupid child was safe and back where it belonged. He didn't owe an explanation to anyone.

          Jane looked like she was about to snap at him more for being unresponsive, but to his surprise [Y/N] softly placed their palm over Jane's mouth and shook their head, "Jane no...! Mr. Snickerdoodles saved me, please don't be mad at him. He did the best job ever, he's the greatest puppy ever, I promise."

          Jack's ears twitched a bit in displeasure at the godamned name he couldn't stand but despite this, he was stunned the child came to his defense. "Is that true [Y/N]? You sure he didn't hurt you?" Jane prodded, her voice clinging with suspicion. "It was Ben, this creepy boy Ben tried to drowned me!" [Y/N] fussed, "see the handcuffs he put on me?"

          Jack flinched at the scraping of metal on the wooden floorboards of the house; the sound always seemed to come from [Y/N], but there was nothing visibly there creating the sound. [Y/N]'s arms bore nothing as they tried to explain to Jane what happened to them. Jane seemed to be trying her best to understand the child, but she couldn't wrap her head around the issue either. Her eyes slowly trailed back to Jack. Of course he got the message; she wanted to talk. The best he could offer though was his suspicion that The Syndicate might have a grasp on the child.

          As for this "BEN"... Jack assumed it might've been a Syndicate member sent to try and kidnap or kill [Y/N]. Which in turn probably meant that the whereabouts of Jane's hideout might be known. Now, Jack could care less whatever happened to Jane and her wife, but they did have a standing agreement in which he took seriously as it contributed to his own survival. Jane getting snuffed out would mean one less ally to rely on —if ally could even be used to describe their relationship.

          "Come on [Y/N], let's get you dried up and back to bed. We don't want you to catch a cold now do we?"
Jane's soft remark to the child as she stroked their cheek and held them close to her inspired a yawn and a nod from them. Jane glanced at Jack quickly and remarked nonchalantly, "we'll talk about this in the morning. Make sure you're here or I'll come and find you."

          With that, Jane turned and carried [Y/N] off back to the room. "Bye bye Mr Snickerdoodles," [Y/N] waved their hand at him and smiled tiredly till they disappeared with Jane. For some reason, Jack felt slightly upset that the child was gone. He never expected to be moved in the slightest by the words of some raggedy kid, but here he was feeling empty without them.

          "I only had them for several minutes, Get the Fuck over it Nyras!" He hissed at himself, shuffling back to the door and quickly exiting the house. He decided he wasn't going to show up tomorrow just for Jane to hound him about what the kid experienced. It had nothing to do with him—she should be lucky he even bothered to save them.

          Jack was so enveloped in his own conflicting thoughts that he didn't pick up the sound of chains and footsteps dragging behind him as he walked through the woods. Once Jack finally realized he was being followed, it was too late.

          A sharp stabbing pain suddenly erupted in his abdomen, and he lurched over in distress, forcing out an agonized scream of agony. Jack turned around, lashing out with his claw-like nails in attempt to strike whatever had attacked him. Jack sensed an unnatural, ghastly presence before him, one that seemed to be filled with rage. He could hear the sound of his own blood dripping into the dirt from his new wound and the sound of blood trickling down the hands of the assailant. Whoever it was, they'd quite literally punched a hole right through his stomach.

          As Jack fought to keep himself standing, an echoey, glitched voice rang in his ears, accompanied by mocking laughter.

"𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚢. [𝚈/𝙽] 𝚒𝚜 m̶̜̍̄ī̶̧͙͖̲̘n̸͉̠̘̲̼̼̩͗͒̕͝͝è̷̛̗̳͚̙͇̘͍͕̊̑̿͘͜."

"𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗y̶𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚙𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 c̶o̶n̶s̶e̶q̶u̶e̶n̶c̶e̶.̶.̶.̶"

The laughing only continued to grow louder and louder, enveloping Jack's head as the cannibal erupted into a helpless scream.

•••

Your p.o.v

          Several days had passed of you living with Jane and Mary. Luckily, there hadn't been any more incidents with that strange boy you had encountered some nights before. Unfortunately, the chains were still clasped to your hands, sitting there almost like a transparent accessory you couldn't touch nor take off. You came to realize that neither Jane nor Mary could see the cuffs, so you stopped begging for them to remove them and complaining about the noise they made when you walked around. Not only that, but every now and then you could hear the faint sound of BEN's laughter echoing in your head, and you found that whenever you were alone for long periods of time, he would appear standing a few feet away from you, as if w a i t i n g . . .

          Jack also hadn't shown up ever since the night he'd saved your life. Jane was expecting him to show up the next day, but he never showed face, and Jane bothered to go as far as searching for him a day after, but came back with no luck. You were beginning to miss Mr. Snickerdoodles, and you felt bad for having been afraid of him when despite his looks he seemed to be so nice.

          You sat at the dining table one evening with your head laid lazily against tabletop as you colored with some brand new crayons and paper Jane had brought for you. Mary was relaxing on the couch reading while Jane was in the kitchen cooking dinner. You were bored and wanted nothing more at the moment than for Jack to show up, but he never did and each day that passed without him you grew discouraged.

          Mary eventually came over after a while and gandered at your drawing with a curious eye, "Whatcha drawing there [Y/N]?"

          "Eyeless Jack and me," You replied, not looking up from the paper, "this is me and him being best friends forever."

          "You must really miss Mr. Snickerdoodles, huh?" Mary sighed sympathetically, rubbing your back. You nodded, slowly ceasing to color and feeling your eyes beginning to water. "...Does he not come back because I acted afraid of him...?"

          "No sweetie, of course not," Mary replied, "I doubt that's why he's been gone. Jack has his own things to take care of sometimes—he can't stick around all the time."

          "But he didn't even come around when you made the dog food for him..."

          Mary didn't respond to this, but only continued to caress your back, trying to give you a sense of ease. "Mary! Come taste this for me please!" Jane suddenly called out from the kitchen, grabbing Mary's attention. "Be back," Mary assured you before stepping away from your side and hurrying to Jane's aid. You sighed and returned to drawing for a while till it finally discouraged you.

          You knew that if you remained alone for too long, BEN might show up, so you made a move to hurry into the kitchen with Jane and Mary until sudden knocking could be heard coming from the front door. You heart immediately sprung with joy, instantly assuming the arrival of your missing friend.

          "Jack is here, Jack is here!!" You shouted, racing over to the door and bouncing up and down excitedly. "Hold on [Y/N]!" Mary yelled from the kitchen, hurrying to open the door, but you'd already tampered with the locks yourself and pulled the door open, excited to see the face of Jack again.

          Sure enough, you're met with the stature of the eyeless cannibal looking down on you with a concealed expression hidden behind his mask. "Jack Jack!" You scream, dashing at him and wrapping your arms tightly around his legs. The man hesitated before slightly reaching and petting your head, "[Y/N]...."

          Mary came up behind you and smiled at Jack...but she quickly noticed that Jack didn't seem to be alone. When she noticed who he was with, her smile quickly faded and she began to back away. "No...you........"

          "Mary. I'm ... sorry," Jack uttered, although his voice remained stagnant, as if he were rather indifferent to his deeds. You pulled away from Jack and looked up at him in confusion, then glared past him, not having noticed that there were two others standing behind him, quietly awaiting their turn to be noticed. Your eyes widened and you arms dropped from around Jack's legs as you gawked at the one you very well recognized.

          "Jeff Dad....?"