ʚMy Strange Friendɞ

22○𓂅Shadows.

☁︎☁︎

"Hey, What's that?" Clockwork called out catching the attention of the other three.
Eyeless Jack stepped forward while inclining his head to spot what she had seen. "What?" He questioned before speaking more sternly but had a faint gentleness to it. "If this is a joke then cut it out."
Clockwork rolled her eyes and forcefully grabbed his head to turn it in the right direction and shoved a finger into a hollow cave that was beneath the trees in the distance.

Jack stared intently at the cave before his eyes widen, "I see it." He spoke meekly and his breath grew shaky.
"Right! What is it?" She wailed, and both of them seemed to hold the same expression.

Toby and Brian gave each other a glance before stepping forward and checking out the cave. It didn't take long for them to see the white eyes that watched them with evil intent.

"I don't remember who- but someone did mention something about... Shadow things?" Toby muttered though you could tell by his voice that he wasn't quite confident in what he was saying. "Yeah, nurse Ann." Clockwork filled in.
Brian raised an eyebrow, "Shadows?"
He placed to arms behind his back. "Shouldn't we report this to the operator?"
Jack grunted in agreement and turned on his heel in the direction of the mansion as the other slowly did the same, picking up their speed. "It could mean there will be an attack from Zalgo." He informed them, "So we should keep a lookout."
Toby admired Jack. He admired how he could be messing about and all of a sudden then be deadly serious, Though, this was a serious matter. Being serious is something Toby lacked, he couldn't take anything seriously.

He tried thinking of anything other than the situation yet his thoughts kept finding their way back to the figure; what was it? Who was it? Did Zalgo control it or did it have a mind of its own?

It utterly bewildered him that he could be living his life in such ways, he didn't even know this stuff existed and now it's something he is going to have to adjust to.

Jack knocked on the door with his right hand and waited for the two doors to open in sync. As usual, the room was cold and quiet but this time something was different, long black tentacles reached and twitched with fury, They hung out of walls and the ground and some were even entangled into one another.
"What on earth," Jack whispered.
The four walked further into the room. The desk in the back centre of the room had a few books that were left laying open, Jack picked one up and the others watched as his eyes trailed through the pages. "This is in a language I have only seen the operator use in books," he spoke more to himself than to the others, he looked deep in thought as if thinking of all the disturbing things the books could hold.

"What even are these?" Brian grimaced as he poked a slim tentacle and quickly moved his hand away in disgust. "Ew."
He opened and closed in thumb and finger as a black tar-like substance stretched, he gave it a final glare before wiping it away on his hoodie.

"What are you doing in my office! " the operator cried out, it was the first time the others had heard a different tone to his voice.
the tentacles closest to the desk on the wall slowly made their way to the book and trailed past Jack leaving a trail of a thin layer of tarr before shutting it. Jack cringed and shook his head, "Yuck." he turned his head back to the book. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Zalgo has returned, we must prepare for his attack. Please keep this to yourself and do not share this with the others."
The four slowly nodded, what was going to happen now that he was back?

Toby and Clockwork settled down on the ground as they watched as their mentor taught them about stealth and how to sneak up on victims without being caught, typical training. Though, they hadn't been focusing and been messing around, which had earned them a few rows of Bloody Painter.

Clockwork turned to face Toby, a smug smile on her face as she nudged him playfully.
"Hey, Toby.." She smirked, catching Toby's attention. "You think I can climb that tree."
She turned her head to a pretty large tree not far from them. Toby let out a giggle, "No! Don't." He rasped through a rage of laughter, "B.p will get mad!" he added.
"What's he gonna do, Ground me?"
They let out another wail of laughter but were interrupted by Bloody painter clearing his throat. "You two done?" he asked, crossing his arms. Toby and Clockwork glanced at each other before breaking into another fit of laughter. "Sorry, Sorry!" Toby cried as he wiped his tears. "We'll listen." He sat criss-cross and smiled.
"Thank you." their mentor spoke, sarcastically.

Though the two were having fun they couldn't get their minds off what was to come, they had not brought it up to each other after their discovery and quite frankly, they didn't want to, they just wanted to enjoy the time they had until it all broke into a war zone.

It was now late, training just finished and Toby decided to pay a visit to Tim, Well, he was heading that way anyway as he shared a room with him and the rest of the apprentices. As he entered, he walked to Tim's bed and sat beside it, Tim was on his phone playing some crappy mobile game, he looked up from his phone to greet his friend. "Hey, You okay." He asked, ruffling Toby's hair.
"Yeah, I'm good." He lied, he was afraid that if this Zalgo situation was as serious as the scenarios he had imagined then what will happen to Tim? What if he lost him?

Tim patted the space beside him to signal Toby to sit beside him.
He settled beside him and smiled as Tim wrapped an arm around him, switching his phone off and putting youtube on the large TV that hung on the wall. the two enjoyed watching a series until they decided that it would be best to sleep. Tim turned around to face Toby. "So, you wanna stay here tonight?" He muttered, hiding his face in slight embarrassment. A warm feeling crept into Toby, his face burning. "Sure."

How was he supposed to sleep when you would be right beside him?

Tim wrapped his arms around Toby's waist and rested his head on his shoulder, it all seemed casual for Tim but Toby felt like he was on fire, he struggled to sleep as his heart was racing. He mustered out a quick "Goodnight." and Tim returned the favour.

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