Jane and the others tried to maintain their normal lives and ignore the longing for your voice or laugh in the house. They tried to continue killing without feeling a sense of regret for their victims. They all tried so hard to not worry about you. How could they? You were in Jack's lab, you were in the safest hands ever. He would fix you and everything would be okay again.
That's what they told themselves for the first week and the second week and the third week. It's been almost a month now and you're still comatose. E.J. had explained that blood loss needed a lot of time to heal from and, so the Creeps gave him the time and space they needed. But they were getting restless; they wanted their friend back and they wanted him now.
After a month or so, E.J. had officially stated that you were stable enough to have other Creeps visit you even in your comatose state. Surprisingly, most of them didn't go down, although some of them couldn't. Since you were out of commission, Ben and L.J. had to take your role as big brothers again for Sally and it was hard for them. It was hard to put on a smile for the girl and tell her that you were fine. Because they didn't know.
Clockwork refused to go there and see your face. She blamed herself for driving out Jane and she couldn't even speak to her best friend for a week. Toby stayed upstairs with Clocky and that left Masky, Hoodie, and Jane. The three of them trudged down the dark stairwell and down the hallway until they made it to you. Jane entered first and immediately broke down in tears at the sight of you.
There on the bed, you were attached to all types of machines. Heart moniter, I.V.'s, and an oxygen tank was going through you. She could see the tubes in your throat where air travelled through. She saw the stitches on on your neck and the bloody bandages on your shoulder. She saw your bare chest rise and fall weakly as if it was a struggle to stay alive. Which it probably was.
Masky and Hoodie did their best to calm her sobs and even Jeff came over and gave her a hug. She gratefully hugged back and cried into his hoodie after taking off her mask. The thing she hated doing most was taking off her mask, especially in front of Jeff, but she did and he didn't laugh or tease. He calmly held the girl in a very brotherly embrace whispering reassuring words of comfort.
"Hey, hey, hey," Jeff petted her hair. "He's alright, Jane, I f*cking swear my life on it. Y/N's okay, he just needs time to heal. We just need to give him more time." She nodded and continued to cry into his chest.
"How bad is it, Jack?" Masky whispered to the doctor of the house. Hoodie followed him occasionally glancing over at the other two killers.
"It's fine... he's fine," he said looking down at you, "it's just like Jeff said. We need to give him time. That's all we can do at this point. I'm just worried about..."
"About what?" Jeff asked. Jane looked up a little bit but kept her face hidden in his hoodie.
"His throat. The cuts went deep almost to his vocal cords. One of them actually managed to scrape a few," Jack said.
"What are you trying to say?" Masky stepped back a bit.
He sighed. "I can't guarantee that when Y/N wakes up, he'll be able to speak."
***
"You are sad, Sally," Mr. Oglaz said. "What is wrong?"
"One of the Pastas are hurt badly," she pouted. "Everyone is really worried about him, but they won't tell me what's wrong."
"Oh? Which one?" He sipped the water in the plastic cup.
"His name is Prince of Madness," she answered.
He spit the water out. Sally squealed and scooted back from him. "W-what?"
"Ewww!" She gagged.
"What did you say his name was?" He got closer to the girl getting in her face.
She scooted back, panicking a little. "P-p-p-p-"
"Spit it out, kid! What. Was. His. Name!" Oglaz shook her shoulders violently, screaming in her face.
Sally broke down in tears, screaming and crying for anyone to come up and save her. Footsteps thundered closer to her room and he knew that if they saw him, he would get killed by the Pastas. Taking his cloak, the man jumped out of the window and escaped into the forest. Clockwork, L.J., and Ben flung open her door to find Sally in tears.
"Sally, what's wrong?" Clockwork knelt next to her and searched her eyes.
"Hey, kiddo, no more tears," L.J. smiled, wiping away her tears.
"M-M-Mr. Oglaz was mean to me!" She wailed.
"You're imaginary friend?" Clockwork asked.
"H-he's real! He hurt m-m-me," she sniffled.
Ben looked at her at her shoulders and gasped. There on her little arms were two purple bruises in the shape of large hands. "Ben, go take her to Jack if he's not busy with Y/N. If he is busy, get the first aid kit in the kitchen," Clockwork ordered.
Ben nodded and picked up the little one taking her downstairs. "C'mon, Sals, let's go get those bruises patched up, yeah?" He let her rest her head on his shoulder and wrap her arms around his neck.
L.J. waited until they were out of earshot before he turned to look at Clockwork. "Those bruises could only mean..."
"Sally's imaginary friend isn't as imaginary as we thought," Clockwork finished. "We have to tell Slenderman."
***
"What do you mean he might not be able to speak? His injuries have to eventually heal, right? All of ours do," Jane sniffed, letting go of Jeff.
"Not all of our wounds heal. If that were true, Jeff wouldn't have his smile. Me, Ben, and Sally wouldn't have goo and blood dripping down our bodies for the rest of our lives. Your burns would've healed by now," Jack said. "A wound that significant and threatening could impact someone's life forever. Just like our's did."
"B-but, we're not like him. We all started out normal people! Y/N was born a demon-"
"-more or less-" E.J. interrupted.
"-and will always be a demon! His... wait, what do you mean 'more or less'?" She finished.
"Most of the Creepypastas think that Y/N is Zalgo's son. A purebred demon in the blood and flesh," Jack said.
"And you're right," Masky reassured.
"To an extent," E.J. added. "Ever wonder why his blood and wings are purple when a demon's blood should be black?"
Now that she thought about it, that always did stand out on your qualities. Demon blood was always black or a dark crimson red. Their wings - if they obtained any - were black or brown or red. Yours were purple along with your blood. None of them ever wondered why you were like that, they just assumed they were supposed to be like that. But if there was something wrong with you, Jane was prepared to do anything to bring you back.
"What's wrong with him? Is there anything we can do to fix it?" She started asking frantically.
E.J. chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with him, it's just his genetics. His father - like most - had the dominant gene and so, he in return, looks like Zalgo for the most part. The wings and blood, however, are from what we assume are his mother's characteristics and genetics mixing with his demonic genes from his father."
"What type of creature is his mom?" She asked.
"He won't say," Masky sighed.
"I assume he still keeps it apart of his old life," Jack sat down in the chair next to your bed. "It's best not to pry him to much about his past. Lord knows we all have our emotional baggage around here, we better just leave him with his."
Jane suddenly felt very guilty. If it weren't for her prying, you wouldn't have snapped, she wouldn't have striked, and maybe you would've been more prepared for the Rake's blow. Maybe if you both would've kept walking, he wouldn't have even came around. This was all her fault.
As if he read her mind, Masky placed a hand on her shoulder. "None of this is your fault, Jane."
"Yes, it is," she wiped the flow of tears from her eyes. "This is all of my f*cking fault."
"Even if it is, you still managed to bring him home and get him to E.J.," Jeff smiled sincerly behind his carved smile. "You even wanted to make sure he was okay before you were taken care of."
"You were... very... brave," Hoodie murmured.
"Hey, E.J.! Can you come and patch up the kid! She got some nasty bruises on her arms that need attention!" Ben called from the hallway.
"Coming!" He replied. "We'll leave you hear alone with him."
The others nodded and followed E.J. back to the living room, closing the door. Jane sighed and looked back at your resting face. It wasn't a resting bitch face like hers tended to be. It was a very calm and peaceful look. Almost as if you were dead. She shook that thought out of her head violently and cursed herself mentally.
"He's gonna be okay, he's gonna be okay," she whispered repeatedly, "he's gotta be okay. You're gonna be okay, Madness. You're going to be just fine..." she broke down in tears again, holding your limp hand 'til she cried herself to sleep.