Please, Kill Me (Jeff the Killer x Reader)

Chapter 23 ✓

How many hours had I been sitting in that hollowed-out stump of a chair? The wood was damp, the air in Jane's sanctuary smelling of earth and old copper. She had told me to stay put while she retrieved "something," but the silence was beginning to scream.

I buried my face in my palms, staring into the oppressive blackness of the underground room. Jeff wanted me dead tonight. He had abandoned his promise to kill me by the end of the month, driven by voices I couldn't hear. Why was I running? Was it my mother's voice in my head, or some primal instinct to survive the very end I had prayed for?

I opened my eyes, but the world didn't sharpen. My vision was a blur of gray and shadow. I blinked, rubbing my eyes until they stung, but the haze remained.

"I shouldn't have stared into the black for so long," I whispered, my voice sounding thin and hollow. I tried to stand, reaching for a cup of water, but the floor seemed to tilt. My balance vanished, and I felt myself pitching forward into the gloom. "Crap..."

Before I could hit the dirt, a long, spindly hand caught my arm with terrifying precision.

"Who-?" I gasped, the fog in my eyes finally beginning to lift as a monochrome face materialized from the shadows. "LJ?"

"The one and only," the clown chirped, his grin stretching impossibly wide across his face.

"What are you doing here? Where's Jane?"

"That woman in the black dress? She's... occupied," LJ explained, his voice smooth and oily, like honey poured over a blade. "Slender knows every heartbeat in his forest, especially the ones Jane tries to hide. With Smile Dog's nose to lead the way, you were as easy to find as a drop of blood in the snow."

He gestured into the darkness behind him. A German Shepherd stood there, but its maw was pulled back in a horrific, permanent human leer. I think I heard that name before---Smile Dog.

"Hey, LJ. Move it," a voice called from above---Masky with his usual expressionless mask still intact in his face, who is with them right now. He looked down into the sanctuary where we were, his posture tense.

"Let's go. I'll fill you in while we run," LJ said. Before I could protest, he grabbed my hand. The world warped, the air pressure spiking in my ears as we "popped" out of the cellar and onto the forest floor in front of Masky.

"Let's go. I'll fill you in while we run," LJ said. Before I could process the invitation, he gripped my hand. The air pressure spiked, my ears popped, and in a blink, we were standing on the forest floor, the damp night air hitting my face like a cold slap.

"What's going on?" I panted as they began to sprint, forcing me to leap over rotting logs and thorns. "Why are we in a rush Please tell me.. what's really---?"

"Jane is fighting Jeff right now," LJ said, his usual manic laughter replaced by a sharp, focused intensity. "And Jeff's gone completely off the rails, again. Even for a lunatic like him."

"Jane said it was because of Zalgo," I managed to say between gasps. "Who is he?"

"The Demon Prince," LJ said, a flicker of genuine distaste crossing his face. "He wants the world. Slender is content with his woods and his privacy, but Zalgo... he wants everything to bleed."

"Then why don't you stop him?" I asked. "Are you just going to let innocent people die?"

Masky slowed for a split second, his masked head turning toward me. His tone was acid. "You think we're heroes? Humanity only cares about what we do wrong. They don't want our help, and we don't owe them our lives. They see us as villains-so why shouldn't we be?" The bitterness in their voices was a wall I couldn't climb. They weren't just monsters; they were outcasts who had stopped caring. I also felt that.. Feeling that the world is always against you and no one cares about your existence, no matter how hard you try to pleas them, because in the end.. nothing will change. Only you who will change As you try to pleas them desperately. It was one of the things I regreted so much.

"Here we are," LJ whispered, snapping me from zoning out.

We skidded to a halt at the edge of a wide, moonlit clearing. The scene was a blood-soaked ballet. Jane and Rogue were locked in a desperate struggle with Jeff. He moved like a whirlwind of white and crimson, his movements were sharp and unnatural. But he wasn't alone. Standing at the edge of the clearing was a man who looked like a jagged mirror image of the boy in Jeff's photo.

"Homicidal Liu," Masky muttered. "Or a damn good replicate."

"Y/N?! Why are you here?!" Rogue yelled, parrying a savage strike from Jeff that sent sparks flying from her blades.

"LJ and Masky brought me-" I started, but I stopped when I saw the horror on Rogue's face.

"Who?" Rogue demanded while she is occupied. "LJ and Masky are at the Mansion with Slender! They haven't left his side!"

I spun around, my blood turning to ice. The "LJ" and "Masky" who had led me here were standing perfectly still. Their features began to melt like hot wax, their bodies dripping and stretching into featureless, shadowy husks that wore nothing but a predatory, hollow smile. I could snap myself right now to think this isn't just a nightmare, because that transformation by how they are melted like a candle is terrifying and nightmare fuel for me.

"Zalgo's proxies," Jane hissed, spitting blood onto the leaves. "They used you as bait."

"Why me?" I whispered, my heart plummeting.

"Why?" I whispered, looking at the bloodthirsty being that used to be Jeff. I have seen him kill, I have seen him become mad before, yet, this is the only time I feel fear of facing a different person.. or maybe it is the real him?

"Because you're making him human again!" Jane yelled, ducking a strike. That made me stunned. Jeff is becoming human again? "Day by day, he was starting to care. Zalgo can't have a weapon with a heart. He needs a beast. To bring the beast back, Jeff has to kill the one thing that connects him to the light. He has to kill you."

Jeff starting to care? Is that why he suddenly hugs me back in my parents house? Is that why he followed me in the Dark Forest despite the consequences is we might not be able to get out alive? Is that why.. he delays his plan to kill me? Does this mean,, the things I assume.. the things I feel.. are real?

The fake Liu stepped forward, his voice a distorted echo of a brother's love. "Kill her, Jeffery! Prove you aren't weak! Put her to sleep!"

Jeff clutched his head, his body arching in a silent scream of agony as the voices tore through his mind. Then, his eyes locked onto mine. The "Jeff" I thought I knew was gone. Only a red, howling void remained. I feel fear.. to die in his hands while he is in that state..

"GO TO SLEEP! HAHAHAHA!"

Jane stepped between us, her black blade raised. "What will you do, Jane?" I asked, my voice trembling.

She didn't look back. "I'm going to do what I should have done years ago. I'm going to kill him. No hesitation."