Reborn: A Creepypasta X Reader

18 - Fear is my Strength

After Slenderman finishes his announcement and praises each of the trainees, everyone's eyes avert towards Y/n. She looks up from the piece of crunchy bacon she's munching on, in disbelief that Slenderman would say something like that out loud. The fact that he's aware of everything and everyone at all times is unnerving enough.

Masky and her share glances. She can't tell for sure whether he's anxious because the mask is covering his expression, but she notices his shoulders appear to be more tense, and he's stopped eating.

"That doesn't mean shit!" Jeff suddenly blurts out, breaking the silence in the room. He looks at Y/n fiercely, his lidless eyes completely bloodshot, and then glances at Slenderman. "What's the point in even saying something like that? There's so much fixation on Y/n. Y/n this, Y/n that. I'm sick of hearing her shit. It won't even matter today when Joseph fucking wins, okay?"

Nobody says anything in response---not even Slenderman. 'Not surprised he's trying to discredit me..,' she thinks as she looks over at Joseph who appears to be the most visibly and mentally affected by his training. His cheeks are more sunken in, he has droopy eyes, more prominent eye bags, and he's more lean now than he was when he first arrived. Noticing that Y/n is looking at him, he glances her way and gives her a sharp glare.

After a few more seconds of tense silence, she clears her throat and says, "It's not a big deal... Masky dealt with most of them, and I just helped him with one that was already basically on it's last legs. This is what we're trained to do, isn't it?" she asks as she looks at Slenderman.

For once, Jeff agrees with her and says, "Basically my fucking point! That's what all of them are being trained to do. With six days left until the final fight, they all better know how to take down night stalkers. Otherwise, they're fucked!"

"U-um, I still think that's pretty impressive. Dummies are not the same as the real thing. I'm sure no amount of training is comparable to being out there at night with them," Ethan mutters as he adjusts his glasses.

"Yeah, I k-k-kinda agree with Ethan. Also, why is J-Jeff always able to get away with c-cursing across the f-f-fucking table?" he asks as he glances towards Slenderman.

A subtle, but jarring amount of static fills the room. The trainees all appear a little agitated by it, but definitely not as shocked as they were the first couple times Slender has been angry or annoyed. After a few seconds, the static stops, and Slenderman speaks up.

"I appreciate our breakfasts when they're silent. I do not appreciate being questioned, Toby," he says as some of his tentacles poke out from behind him menacingly. He continues with, "I expect everyone to finish eating in the next five minutes, and then we'll all gather in the gym for Y/n and Joseph's fight. I appreciate everyone's patience and time." As soon as he finishes speaking, he vanishes, and everyone else is left to finish eating.

With a mouthful of food, Ethan glances over at Y/n and asks across the table, "So, how exactly did you do it?" The trainees look at her with a genuine gleam of curiosity, including Joseph, and wait for her response.

Y/n, feeling incredibly put on the spot, gives Masky a look of 'I-don't-wan't-to-tell-them-I-tried-to-run-away', and hopes that he'll come up with something vague but satisfying enough to say.

Masky adjusts his mask onto his face properly after finishing his dish and says, "It's my fault. I went against the rules and intensified our training by bringing her outside at night to get her used to being around real night stalkers before the fight to the death. Unfortunately, we were swarmed in seconds, but Y/n managed to help me kill the last one off."

"Oh, cool!" Ethan says while nodding. The rest of the trainees all seem to be convinced enough by Masky's story, and don't ask anymore questions, but the killers and proxies look at him with suspicion---especially Jeff.