Eyeless Jack x Reader

Chapter 23

*your POV*

Everyone woke up early and went straight to the multiple kitchens. Even the nocturnal pastas had forced themselves to sleep at night to train in the mornings. The hallways were bustling with every pasta, big and small. The wood floors creaked and squeak with the weight of the hungry inhabitants. I opened my door and looked around, desperately trying to find someone I knew. Mari? Sally? Slender?? Jack..?
"If you keep spacing out, there won't be any food left. Everyone is going all at once and the food is bound to run out." Jack patted my shoulder as a greet. I looked at him and smiled faintly.
"Oh... sorry! I wasn't sure how to get through the crowds.." I tried to make sense of everything, but at least I had someone to walk with now. "Where's Mari?" I asked trying to start up a conversation as we made our down the hallway. There was some stray pastas who either looked confused about all the ruckus or pastas who didn't want to be trampled.
"She went really early and brought me... breakfast.." Jack didn't seem like he didn't want to mention the kidneys, so he went on. "After we ate breakfast, she went straight to her practice room. I went back to my room to wait for everyone. I was kind of waiting for you since I knew the crowd was going to either scare you or I don't know..." He kept on walking down the hall and suddenly took a right. I followed since I still haven't gotten used to the mansion and its maze like hallways.
     "How is everyone going to fit in the kitchen?" I asked. There seemed to be many occupants in the mansion. The thought of only one kitchen in this giant building seemed odd. It would have to be a magical fridge to hold food for everyone.
     "There are a lot of kitchens. There's like probably 3 per floor..." Jack answered. "It's a lot of food, too. Anyone who looks presentable to the humans must go out to get food." We started to go down some stairs and found a crowd of pastas. There must probably be a kitchen nearby. I started to walk closer to Jack, hoping that I wouldn't lose him in the crowd. Some of the pastas turned their heads and noticed me. Some moved out of the way to make a path for me to walk through and some scooted and bumped into me trying to block me from going ahead.
Jack told me to wait out of the line. I backed off and waited while he went through everyone. After what seemed forever, he came back with something in his hands.
"I hope you like (f/sandwich meat) sandwiches and (f/fruit) juice." He handed you a empty glass and a plate with the sandwiches. "Some people are gonna freak when they see I took the whole bottle." He chuckled and poured me some juice.
"T-thank you!" I stammered.
"No problem.. If we waited in line, we would be here all day. You can't train on a empty stomach." He leaned against the wall and waited. I tried to eat as fast as I could, but Jack told me to slow down or my stomach would be upset.
I finished eating and asked where to put the plate and the cup. He told me to just place it on a counter. We started down another hallway. It wasn't as crowded and everyone seemed to settle down to eat.
"So where's Mari's practice room?" I asked. Jack kept walking, he looked both ways and turned left.
"Mmm.. it's somewhere in the mansion. I don't know if we should go to her room when she's there... especially when she doesn't know. She trains really hard and it would be very dangerous to get in the way."
"I see.." I mumbled and kept following him. "Where are we going to go then?" I asked. We took another turn and Jack stopped at a door.
"Right here." He opened the door, peered inside then closed it. He turned a switch near the door and waited. Before I could ask anything, he opened the door again, this time walking inside. I followed.
"Where's the lights?" I asked, nearly tripping. I waved my arms around blindly. It was pitch black. Not even the light from the hallway reached into the room.
"We're not going to turn on the lights." Jack said. "You need to learn to familiarize yourself with the dark. You never know where we will go and you need to be ready for every possible situation.."
"But why??" I asked. I was starting to feel a bit uneasy.
"Say we find Zalgo. We don't exactly know what his lair or realm is like. What if it was dark.. so dark that you couldn't even see anything within an inch of your face. If you don't train for this, you will stumble blindly and be killed immediately..." Jack breathed in. "We need to be ready for that. You need to learn to train your other senses."
I stood motionless. He's right. We don't know about anything. We don't know what we are getting ourselves into....
"How do we start then..?" I whispered. I heard steps.. somewhere...
"Do you know what direction I walked into?" Jack asked. I widened my eyes in astonishment.
"How am I suppose to know??" I almost yelled. I heard footsteps again, then I felt a small flick on the neck.
     "Now you're dead.." Jack whispered. I tried to swing my hear toward his voice, but only nearly fell down. I balanced myself and tried to listen closely. I couldn't even hear his breathing. I only heard the pounding of my heart and my own breaths coming more rapidly.
     "Try to concentrate on any sound. Find a noise and concentrate." Jack instructed.
     "I CAN'T ALL I HEAR IS MY OWN THOUGHTS AND NOISES!" I yelled. I was frustrated. How am I supposed to do this?
     "Calm down.." I felt a hand rest on my shoulder and lightly squeeze it. "I know you're probably feeling angry and hopeless.. it's okay. We've all been there. It just takes practice. Right now I want you to just focus on calming yourself down. If you become frantic, you won't be able to concentrate on your surroundings..."
     I took a breath in and shut my eyes.
     "Widen your stance... Keep your head up... hands out, but not too far out..." Jack whispered. I heard steps. They seemed to... to get quieter.. but not from in front.
     "You're... walking away.." I mumbled. The steps kept going.
     "Yes... but which direction am I going?" Jack asked. "Move your head, slowly though.. Listen." He kept walking. I slowly turn my head to the right. It doesn't seem right though... I turned it to the left and...
     "You're going.. behind me, but to my left..." The steps stopped and I heard a sliding. I widened my stance and faced the way the sliding came from. I brought my arms up and used them to block anything coming my way.
     "Correct." Jack said as something hit my arms. I nearly fell back, but my wide stance helped me stay up.
     "I bl-" I was interrupted and pushed to the ground. I was pinned down with arm being held against my back.
     "You didn't do anything after the block." Jack shook his head. "In real combat, no one will stop after one hit. You left an opening and got brought down. If I wasn't your friend... you would be dead... again." He let go of me. I sat up and rubbed at my chin. I scraped it and it burned.
     "I think we will stop on this training for today..." Jack turned on the lights, blinding me for a second. I looked around and the room was filled with trees and foliage. What kind of room is this? "We will do other training later, but this kind is meant to be done for a bit everyday." Jack checked his watch. "It's already 2pm.."
     "What? That was super quick!" I got up and swept the dirt off.
     "Yeah. Sometimes you forget about time..." Jack explained. He headed to the door and left. I followed and saw him stop at a wall. He placed his hand on it and I heard a small beep. The wall outlined a door in light and opened. Jack walked in and told me to follow.
     "An elevator??" It was lit up with a huge LED light and was filled with light elevator music.
     "Yep." He clicked on a button with a small doodle of Mari. The doors closed and the elevator shook. Shocked, I grabbed onto the walls and looked around frantically. Jack chuckled and leaned against the wall. A flash of light went out and the shaking stopped. The door opened and we walked out. It was at Mari's door.
     She walked out of her room, covered in sweat and scratches. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were slightly torn.  She smirked and crossed her arms "Ready to train some more?"

This is like one of my longest chapters. About half of it was going to the kitchen lol. I think it's getting to the interesting parts and I hope you enjoy it. We're nearly to 8k, so thank you (:

-Mari