Her eyes bore into yours, like a deer in headlights. You would've found that ironic, if you'd been in your right mind; was it not you that thought she had been killed? What had you even more mystified was the fact that she hadn't cowered away from Masky, nor had she spoken to him with harsh words. On the contrary, they seemed... well acquainted.
The last time you'd seen Cass, she'd sacrificed herself so you could run. You had no fucking clue why brutal, unforgiving Masky would let her live. You would have been glad, if she (just like you) hadn't ended up in this godforsaken warehouse. It couldn't bode well, for either of you.
When you broke eye contact to check over your shoulder, Brian and Masky had already disappeared. No point in following, as anxious as you were to speak to Brian. And you didn't want to be anywhere near Masky, lest he decide to punish you for escaping the guest bedroom from Hell.
When you looked back, Cass was walking away from you at an abnormally quickened pace. You frowned - did she really not have anything to say to you? No explanation, not even a 'hello'? Your heart ached as you watched her retreat - she was an old source of comfort, she'd seen you through your darkest days after you killed Harry. So, without thinking too much about it, your feet began to follow after her.
You weren't sure where else to go. You felt stupidly safer with the knowledge that Brian was somewhere in the building, though he and Masky had walked off together - you weren't sure what they were doing, and you didn't really care. As long as you didn't run into Jeff, you'd be content with stalking behind Cass, boring into the back of her head and praying that she'd just slow down.
Twists and turns gave way to more concrete hallways. You'd probably circled back by now to the same halls you'd wandered after being kicked out of the infirmary, but they all looked the same in their filth. Cass didn't relent, ten feet ahead at any given moment. You called out a couple times for her to wait up, but she very clearly didn't want to speak to you.
Then, after twenty minutes of fruitless, tiresome pursuit, she whipped around to face you with an exasperated "What, (y/n)?"
You'd never heard such venom from the usually-gentle woman. You were taken aback, only able to splutter out a, "I thought you were dead."
From here, you could get a good look at her face. A fortnight since you'd seen her, maybe a bit more, you didn't know. She looked wildly different. Greasy, tousled hair, a cut lip that seemed to be only just healing. A light scattering of bruises along her collarbones and neck. Her button-up shirt was torn at the bottom. What had happened to her? Was this your fate, too?
Cass looked at you with glazed-over eyes. "I'm not." No thanks to you. You were hit with a pang of guilt. You were a terrible fucking friend. Not as bad as Lily, but still shitty. You left the poor woman, the kind soul, the friend who'd taken you in at your lowest, to die.
"Anything else you want to get off your chest?" Cass' tone wasn't venomous, nor was it friendly. She just sounded... dead.
She was probably asking after an apology, but the sight of her tattered up appearance had you opening your mouth with something else. Quietly, you asked, with your eyes on her dark bruises, "Masky, Cass?" Was he the one who'd beat her up?
She regarded you for another moment, before wordlessly pivoting on her heel and continuing her power-walk away from you.
You'd hit a sore spot, clearly, but you needed to talk to her, following close behind. "Cass! Tell me what the fuck is going on with you!"
She whipped around again, hands flying to her hair as if the sound of your voice alone was causing her pain. "I'm sick, (y/n)! Just like you!" Her voice cracked, before she hastily hushed her own tone, glancing around the empty hall. "Now, leave me be, it's not safe."
Cass began to scurry towards a metal door, with you hot on her heels. Just as it was about to slam shut behind her, you broke into a sprint and jammed your shoe into the crack. It hurt like a bitch, yet the door stayed open even as Cass rushed back across what looked like a bedroom to try and tug it closed. Only inches away from you now, you could smell her - blood and cigarette smoke. Since when was Cass a smoker?
Cass stared at you through the doorway with wide eyes, ceasing her attempt to pull the door shut and crush your poor screaming foot. Then, she finally spoke again in barely a whisper. "Yes, okay, I'm with Tim. In love with him, even. It's... complicated."
Well, that was a revelation. But you weren't asking if she was dating Masky, you were asking if he fucking hit her. She'd misunderstood... or had she? Your heart sank with pity as your eyes flicked from one of hers, to the other.
Love? Stockholm syndrome, more like. You couldn't believe it, body filling with disgust and rage for the masked fucker. He was manipulating her, taking advantage of her Sickness. Making her think she was in love with him, though no healthy adult falls in love that fast, and certainly not level-headed Cass. All while he fucking abused her. Not to mention, you were fairly certain he'd done the exact same thing to Lily. You were almost certain they'd been fucking.
You wanted to make her see reason, but she was clearly out of her mind, even further gone than you were. You had to be tactful. "The last time I saw you, in your apartment, I thought for sure he was going to kill you."
"Yeah, and then I got sick." She didn't even make eye contact, staring off into space like the world's most forlorn zombie.
You sighed. "Lily was sick, Cass." And Masky fucking killed her. "Do you know what happened to her?" Or, at least, you assumed he did. Either that, or she was somewhere in these walls. You doubted it, but you shuddered to think of the crazy bitch.
Cass swallowed, still not meeting your gaze. "I don't know. I think she's dead."
No kidding. Surely Cass could put two and two together, see that whatever Masky did to Lily, he'd probably do to her as well - not to mention poor Jade, her best fucking friend. Your entire college friend group had fallen victim to his wrath, for fucks sake!
"Do you know why you're here, (y/n)?" You blinked as she finally made eye contact, pupils searing into yours.
You shook your head warily. "No. Do you?"
"I'm here because Tim wants me to be. Because he lives here, so he can do his job." And use you like a toy. "More than you could say for Brian."
You frowned at her. What did Brian's living situation have to do with this?
You spoke cautiously, "Brian just doesn't want me to get killed, I guess." That probably wasn't the reason why Brian lived away from this hellhole, but you were trying to make a point. Brian wanted to protect you. Unlike Masky, whom you didn't doubt would rip Cass' throat out the second she pissed him off too bad.
"No, Brian doesn't live here because he's a coward." What? "I'm in no danger here, and you wouldn't be, either, (y/n)."
Yes, you fucking would be. She'd been so brainwashed, it was distressing. Your voice broke as you cried out, "You're delusional!"
"No. I can't be touched." Her face fell back to an expression of disdain, a dull certainty.
You shook you head at her. "Why not?"
"It has full control of its proxies." Was that what they called themselves? Brian never gave himself a label.
Cass continued before you could ask, "That's what the buzzing is, everyone here feels it. Nobody's allowed to kill me unless it wants them to. And it wants me alive, you know?" There was a shaky conviction behind her words, voice wavering. "I think I'm... special. Tim says so, anyway."
You fought the urge to roll your eyes - you'd rather drink bleach than believe a word that came out of Masky's mouth. "Cass. It's a demon, not God. It's killing people for no reason."
Cass shook her head with far more vigour than was normal, like you were tormenting her with your words. "Maybe it does have a reason, though! It's not of this world, it's a cryptid. Maybe killing is like... its food. Or, maybe it hates humans - I don't know!"
You couldn't tell if she was deflecting or if she genuinely thought that those possibilities could justify it's actions. You didn't see why the fuck it mattered. "Cass, you're too comfortable here." As you saw it, she had three options; die, run, or, if she really was special, become a killer. "Even if you become one of them, what happens when you fuck up?"
"No, It isn't human like that, (y/n). It doesn't care about proper justice, all it knows is that if someone fucks up, someone also has to be punished." Tears were gathering in the tormented woman's eyes now, you were really getting to her. "It doesn't care who. It's like, it views all of us as the same person. I don't think it understands individuality-"
"That's even worse!" If the demon had no concept of who was who, on top of it's already apparent disregard for human life, either one of you could be a goner any day now. You were both without the regenerative powers of its... proxies.
There had been a spark there, for a split second, of the old, smart, Cass. The one who studied relentlessly for her psych exams, and beat you every time. It was gone, now, like she was battling two versions of herself. "You know, Brian doesn't stay away because he wants to protect you, or himself."
The way she kept changing the subject was jarring, her eyes glancing around skittishly as she continued to talk in a whisper, "It's because he's full of spite. And he makes things so much worse for Tim, because he's never around to do his job, but Tim shows up because he actually gives a shit - and someone gets punished for it every time."
Why was she telling you this? Was she trying to make you feel sympathy for Masky? Resentment for Brian? Or was she simply rambling in her spaced out state? Generally, you were pretty good at reading situations like this. Right now, you had no clue.
A beat of silence. There was only one thing you could think to say; "Don't call him that."
"What?"
"Don't call him Tim." The use of his real name sent shivers down your spine, a reminder of your own stupidity for not being able to figure the sadistic fucker out sooner.
Cass fixed you with a half hearted glare. Ouch. "Oh, please, like you call Brian by his fake name all the time."
So, she knew about you and Brian, then. Or at least, she knew you'd been living with him and jumped to conclusions. You supposed Masky must have figured out where you were one way or another, how else would he have tracked you down in the warehouse district?
"Masky nearly killed me, so excuse me if I don't want to hear his fucking name, Cass." Your relationship with Brian wasn't comparable with what Masky was clearly doing to the other woman, and the way she spoke about Brian ticked you off just a bit.
A beat of silence. Cass seemed to debate harshly with herself, before she finally opened her bloodied mouth again. "Brian stalked me, too, you know. It wasn't just you."
That certainly shut you up.
Your breath hitched. You blinked at her dumbly, "What?"
"He stalked me too. It started as soon as you moved in with me."
Oh.
Tears were streaming down the woman's face now. "I never should've fucking let you move in, but I felt so bad for you, and Lily kept saying it was a good idea. And then, when I realised Brian was stalking me, he started blackmailing me so I couldn't get rid of you! He made sure you got me and Lily Sick, and he kept on taunting me about it."
Did he really, or was this more of Masky's brainwashing? With your eyes, you begged her to be lying. She seemed completely convinced of what she was saying, though.
"Brian was so good to you and Harry, (y/n)! He barely touched you, looked out for you, even. He wasn't like that with me." Her hand reached out to grab your sleeve, frantically, "He's more dangerous than you think he is."
You wanted to call her a hypocrite, tell her that Masky was worse, point out the bruises that littered her upper body. But that wouldn't be fair of you, and you were left with one horrifying thought; what exactly had Brian done to her?
You spoke at last with a shuddering breath, stepping back and away from her outstretched hand. "Yes, well. Let's not compare trauma, Cass."
And with that, you strode away from the madwoman, your heart heavy.