The Host is mad... (Hostiplier X Reader)

Chapter 9 - New names

Y/N POV

After getting Nate to agree to come and sit with us, I head back over to our original table, weaving through others and making sure not to get involved in anything unnecessary. The walk was quiet, apart from the fact that I thought I heard Nate mutter something about lies and months, I disregard it as gibberish, but he seems very angry about it. When we finally arrive back at the disk-shaped table, Jack and Anti are waiting patiently with a smile on their face, ready to greet the newcomer that I have brought into our small group.

"Hi, nice to meet you, we're Jack and Anti!" (I presume) Jack says, every ounce of the sentence dripping with kindness. I understand, you have to try and have as many friends as possible when you're trapped in a place like this, especially when you don't know how long you'll be here. With slightly less enthusiasm, Nate introduces himself to Jack and Anti as well. I do hope that they can get along, I'd love to have another person introduced into the group.

As they are all getting their formalities out of the way, I take the time to study Nate's features a bit more thoroughly, as I haven't had much time to do it otherwise. The most prominent feature of Nate's face, is the two thick, purple lines that cascade down his face from his eyes to his jaw (almost like dried up tears). I decide to ask him how he got them as they very much intrigued me: "Hey Nate?" Nate hummed in response, "How did you get those purple marks on your face?" He looks at me knowingly, almost as if he could've predicted that I would've asked this question.

He rests his face in his palms: "You know that other doctor over there?" He points, uninterested, towards the doctor that I saw standing with Doctor Iplier, "He decided one day that I was his new play thing and started injecting some weird chemical into my face, it stung at first and made this purple rash appear on my face, but he's been injecting it in me almost weekly now, so I've just learnt to get used to it." I gasp in a mixture of shock and horror because what Nate has had to go through sounds like a terrible punishment, for a minute I consider asking if Nate had done anything to anger the doctor, but I reconsider seeing as how none of these doctors seem to have reasons for anything they do.

I looked over to Jack and Anti, they had the same expression on their face as I had on mine. I ask Nate what this other doctor is called, as I hadn't had the displeasure to learn it yet; Doctor Schneeplestein he said was his name, and from that I made the assumption that he was German, Nate also told us about how he's even crazier than Doctor Iplier and that, if you think the shouting and punishments from Doctor Iplier are bad, you've got another thing coming with him. Deciding that I no longer wanted to hear anything more about these mad doctors, I decided to change the topic, so I asked Nate if he had heard of Host before. Nate seemed shocked and intrigued when I mentioned Host, he seemed to know of Host, but not really much about him so I took the liberty of explaining all that I knew about him (leaving out the parts where I thought necessary, such as him pushing me off of the bed); he had the biggest smile plastered on his face as I talked about Host, it almost rivalled mine, but before I could finish my talk, the wardens are shouting at us that it's time to go back to the cells or to the common room (which I had just learnt from Jack and Anti, was a room with a few miscellaneous items and seats scattered about that some patients could entertain themselves with).

As me, Jack and Anti were heading back in the direction of the cells, Nate headed off in a different direction and when I asked him where he was going, he replied with: "Don't worry about me, I'll meet you in the common room or something later, I've just gotta go and do something first." He waved dismissively at me and chuckled as he carried on going, I thought it was a bit peculiar, but I didn't push any further into the matter.

I head back to my cell and decide to try and sleep as I will be visiting Host again tonight.

When night finally falls and the guards have tried to ensure that everybody's doors are securely locked, I sneak out into the long corridor and find myself instinctively walking my way to Host's door. As I walk past the room that I thought I had originally seen Nate crying in a couple of nights previously, I notice that he's not in there and the room is eerily quiet. I must have remembered it wrong and looked in through the wrong window. I do find myself wondering again what it was that Nate had to take care of after lunch.

As I finally reach Host's door I can hear lots of noise and loud muttering, it put me on edge and I knew that I had to be very careful when I opened the door in case I were to hit something. My eyes widened in shock at the scene I saw behind the door, Host's room was in tatters: chairs thrown across the room; bandages strewn out of their places; dents in the walls where they had been attacked, either by a fist or something else; and, most worryingly, blood trails along the floor. I look further around the room and spot Host, pacing wildly, pulling at his hair and loudly mumbling to himself. His bandage is missing from around his eyes, so blood is pooling on his clothes and the floor, and some had dried on his cheeks.

I step into the room, my footstep must've been loud enough to alert Host to my presence as he whips around and starts shouting: "Who is there? Host demands to know who is there!" I realise that Host must be so frustrated and upset that he cannot concentrate long enough to use his echolocation properly. "It's only me Host, it's Y/N..." I say gently, not wanting to scare Host or make him think that he is in any danger. As soon as the words leave my now dry lips, Host removes his hands from his hair and hastily paces over towards me and wraps his arms around my midsection and buries his head into the space between my neck and shoulder.

"Host thought he had scared you away. Host thought that you were never coming back..." He says in a tone that was akin to that of a whisper. I wrap my arms around him in return and whisper into his ear, reassuring him that I'm here and that I won't be leaving him alone like that ever again. "I'm sorry," I voice to Host, "I was being a selfish brat and I shouldn't have left you alone for that long, I'm so, so sorry Host."

After a few more minutes of silent hugging, I ask Host if he would like me to put him another bandage on, he nods and I head over to the remnants of the boxes that held them, and pick out a fresh, clean one.

Today has been a good day, but there's an unusually heavy feeling sitting in my stomach...

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A/N

Hey guys!

I am SO unbelievably sorry about the extra long wait between chapters this time, but I have just been through a stressful exam period and didn't really have any time for writing, but we should be back up to one chapter a month or hopefully more frequently (but I'm not making any promises)!

How did you enjoy this chapter after the mini hiatus?

What do you think of Schneeplestein and Nate?

What could this heavy feeling be? And did you catch the little Easter egg?

I apologise again for the wait

I'll see you in the next instalment

~A