Slenderverse One-shots

Something's Different ⊗ MH

Jay comes out of a coma post-fight against Alex and finds himself in a new location. While looking for Tim, he stumbles across something much different.

Extra note: the entity is my OC, Rook. They just didn't give Jay their name 

Jay hadn't been out of his comatose state long. His head was still foggy as he'd made his way out of some... house? "Where am I? Last thing I remember..."

He'd died right? In Tim's arms... yeah. That was right. He was dead, bleeding out in that college after Alex shot him. Tim had stopped the man too late. But he remembered something after that. A spike of energy had returned to him but the cold hadn't dissipated.

"It isn't cold here... Where's Tim? Or anyone?" The sunlight felt real enough. He was certain he wouldn't dream about waking up on a couch with an IV attached to a near-empty blood packet in his arm.

The trees surrounding him didn't hold the same feeling as Rosswood but something about them seemed strange. Too peaceful, he decided. Without his camera, Jay was in the dark about the events leading up to this. Without Tim he couldn't ask either. His eyes drifted back to the strange house that had been built up and around a tree like a large, functional tree house. It might have answers—maybe Tim was somewhere in there in another room—but something moving in the trees caught his eye.

"Tim?"

After one last look around, he hurried to follow. It didn't take long for exhaustion to set in. Jay didn't know how long he'd been comatose but his endurance had suffered for it. Still, he continued on his path, using trees to lean his weight against.

...That was how he found the corpse. A scream scratched his neglected vocal chords and he fell backward. The body didn't look bloodied or overly decayed but the skin held a sickly tone to it that said the person it had belonged to was gone. A burned and melted mask was trapped on their face by black tendrils that poked through the eye holes and around the edges while tattered clothes suggested a rough life. Black feathers adorned their hair, though he couldn't tell if they were decoration or somehow growing through the scalp.

"Is Alex here?" His mind went to the last person he'd known that might do this as he sat up. "I thought Tim killed him."

And if that hadn't been Tim he saw... then who was it?

So engrossed in the body leaning all too peacefully against the trunk, as if it were just resting, Jay didn't notice the large beast leaving its sunning position to blend into the shadows and stalk closer. His eyes only darted to the creature when it was standing over him, white glowing eyes staring down with... friendliness?

"You're awake." The voice brushed his conscious mind with caution, almost like this creature was afraid of hurting him.

"I..." Jay's instinct to run was overridden by the shaking in his limbs. Even if he had the energy to, his whole body was shaking like it had been turned into jello.

The beast laid down, lowering their head to be closer to eye level. Despite the attempt to minimize the intimidating stance, they were still large and Jay's eyes shifted down to the claws hidden beneath the tail that now curled around the entity's body.

"Does Timothy know? Your aura is weak. You should be back at the nest."

"You know Tim?" His shock went unhidden. Jay couldn't ever see Tim seeing something like this and getting to know it. "It isn't like the thing in the suit... Or, I don't feel sick. And it's so close to me!"

Awe and curiosity began to take over.

"He asked for my aid... I was feeling nice and agreed. The other entities aren't friends of mine." Their head shifted to look at the body propped against the tree as they seemingly read his mind. "Your boyfriend only knows me in my vessel. You're the only human to see me in my real form."

"Tim would freak..." He was freaking out!

Everything was feeling like it was too much. Waking up here, running through strange woods, finding this. He felt lightheaded. Jay swayed, registering soft black fur and feathers under his back as the entity cushioned his fall with a swish of their tail.

"It's time to go back. Humans are... fragile and you are weak enough already."

His heart clenched as the creature rose, stretching like a cat and revealing sharp teeth as they bent their head down toward him. Jay inhaled sharply and began an attempt to flee before feeling his body leave the ground and the entity picked him up by the back of his jacket like it was the scruff of his neck. His heart hammered in his chest as he was still half-convinced he was about to be eaten until he was nestled into—nearly smothered by—the feathery mane.

Jay laid there for a moment, stunned and feeling as though he was on the verge of a heart attack. "This can't be real. Nope... Not possible. What's going on? Where am I!? I have to be dead... Or maybe I'm still in that coma."

He could feel the beast's muscles moving fluidly beneath him as they ran through the trees. Despite the quick movements, his ride was smooth. Almost as if the entity was gliding just over the surface. Jay trembled as he shifted and sat upright so he could see over the feathers; they were already nearing the tree line around the house.

They slowed and laid back down in the shadows before turning their head to face him. "I can't get closer. He may see me and I do not want him to... 'freak' as you put it."

Jay understood that was his cue to get off. Doing so however was another challenge and he half fell, half climbed down. If his legs hadn't felt like gelatin before, they certainly did now. He leaned against a tree, recovering his strength so he could walk the rest of the way.

"I will return shortly in my vessel."

They rose again and ran off with Jay staring after them. Questions were overflowing his mind. Conflicting thoughts warred with each other over getting the hell out of here and away from what was probably a dangerous creature, while the others urged him to study them and learn more about the entity that helped Tim, and subsequently him, out.

"They said the others weren't friends... Maybe they can keep it at bay." He tried to sort and sift through the chaos as he stumbled back up to the house, gradually making it inside.

His relieved boyfriend nearly crushed him upon his entrance, arms tight around his scrawny body before jerking back and trying to hide the left side of his face as he apologized. But Jay had caught a glimpse. The large scar and eye patch told him enough to know there was a lot he needed to catch up on.