**Toby POV**
How long had it been since I'd first entered the mansion? When Slenderman abducted me and brought me here? He was a much different being then, he was more... Lonely yet soft.
I thought quite a bit about how much he'd changed from that sad lonely slender creature to a cold hard dictator. He used to enjoy our company, to play with us and take care of us, even joke with us surprisingly, but now...
"Hey Jeff. What's going on?" I asked him. He appeared to be rushing upstairs with many of the other Pastas.
"Slenderman wants to talk to a newcomer apparently. She's not even one of us either, she's just another stupid human," he answered.
Of course, slender wanted to be alone yet a-fucking-gain. "We should check out what's up," I said. My hand twitched in anticipation at my side as I waited for his answer.
"Are you retarded? Do you wanna die?" Jeff hissed."Hoodie is watching us all like a hawk and so is Masky and all you can say is "Let's check Slenderman's business out and ask for a personal beheading!""
"You're right. We should get Ben to join us then, the bigger the group, the easier it is to listen right?"
"Jesus Christ Toby, you've really gone stupid. The larger the group, the harder it is to hide, not to mention that Slender can read out fucking minds you nincompoop!"
"Ok, well then ask Splendor to block it for us," I answered. I twitched and allowed a large grin from underneath my mask to form, remembering all the times we'd used the Slender's ability to get into trouble.
"There's no talking you out of this is there?"
"Nope."
"Ok. Fine. Leave Ben out of this then, we'll just do this on our own. How do we take care of Masky? He's already eyeing us suspiciously..."
"Oh, I've got this for sure. Hey Masky! Masky~!"
There was a loud audible sigh from the masked pasta. "Gods, what do you want now?"
"Did ya bring offendy back? And where's _____?"
"They're supposed to be outside... And just because they're outside doesn't mean you can go out there too!"
"Well where's Sally? I thought I saw her run into the dining hall earlier..."
"Wait what?" Masky quickly ran down the stairs towards the dining hall. "She's not supposed to play down there right now!"
Jeff nudged me. "Nice."
I grinned. "Easy peasy lemon squeazy. Now, let's get Splendy. He was outside in the back of the mansion earlier."
"How the hell do you even know this? You're seriously a freak to detail, even to the point that you noticed that Offender and his girl left."
I shrugged. "Nothing to do around this homeless camp of Pastas, so I just ya know, watch."
"I can't say it isn't boring as hell around here. Anyway, let's go before Masked fuck comes back."
"Good plan."
Avoiding the gaze of Hoodie who was ushering the rest of the Pastas further upstairs, Jeff and I ran outside as quickly as possible. Offender was further off in the woods, but neither Jeff or I questioned it, even when he teleported away, we just continued on to find Splendor. It was none of our business... Was it?
"Hey! How's it going?" Splendorman called as we approached. Trenderman was with him too.
I got straight to the point before even tossing a greeting back at him. "Splendor, can you block our minds?"
"We need it to see what Slender is doing, it's mucho importante," Jeff stressed.
"Now hold up a second!" Trenderman began. It almost seemed like he was going to jump in for the defense of Splendor until he spoke up again. "Why am I not involved in this?"
"You could be!" I exclaimed, then Jeff slugged me in the arm and gave me a 'what the fuck are you doing' look.
"Fabulous! Splendor, block our minds," Trender suddenly demanded.
Outnumbered three to one and speechless, Splendorman could only look over all of us for a bit as we waited expectantly for his answer. "Do you remember what happened last time I did that?" He asked quietly. He was shockingly frowning and sad.
I remembered. Slenderman nearly tried to kill the poor soul. "I know, but this is super important. I'll get Masky to let you out into town if you do this for us," I said.
He seemed to brighten up like a kid who was offered candy. "Really?"
"Really," I said.
"He really means it," Jeff and Trender chimed in.
"Alright, I guess I'll help you."
"Yay! Thanks!" Trender, Jeff and I said in unison.
Splendor smiled and watched us leave as we attempted to sneak back into the mansion.
I almost opened the front door before Trender stopped me.
"Excuse me, but I have a wayyyy better solution than just barging in there and being caught," he said. "Grab onto me y'all."
"Ugh," Jeff groaned, then reluctantly touched Trender with one finger while I calmly grasped onto his arm.
Soon, we were teleported into the midst of a plant where we could see Slender and the newcomer whom he'd brought with him.
"You're a psychic?" He asked her.
"Y-yes. I am," she answered.
"That explains quite a bit. Did you know all along about Camille's curse?"
"I.... I did. It wasn't her fault, I swear to you. I had not the slightest clue, she was such a sweet girl and..." She looked down at the floor and shed some tears. "I found her while driving home one night, she was just standing in a field all by herself and it was pouring rain. She was crying and she said she couldn't find home so I brought her into my car and... That's when I knew what happened to her."
"What had happened to her Janis?"
"Her parents made a deal with the devil in exchange for some of their debt to be paid, but the cost was not only the poor girl's free will, but their lives as well. Camille wasn't constantly cursed though, it just happened sometimes..."
"So you took her in as your own even knowing this?"
"...Yes. I didn't think it would affect your group at all. I thought you were a bunch of cosplayers or something I don't know what I was thinking..."
"Surely you were able to read their minds."
Janis didn't answer.
Jeff and I looked at one another while Trender stared intently ahead. Who the hell was this and what was going on?! Had something happened to _____? I hadn't seen her with Offenderman when we passed him...
"Besides the point, why didn't you warn them?"
Again, Janis stayed silent.
Slenderman grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her, causing her to let out a cry. "Why the hell didn't you warn them?!"
"Hey! Don't hurt her!" Trender yelled, standing up from the plant.
Shit, there went our cover.
"Trender?! What are you doing here?! Get out immediately!" Slender yelled back, still holding Janis.
"No! Leave the poor woman alone! She told you what she knew and you're hurting her?! What kind of monster are you turning into?!"
Jeff sighed and decided it was better to joinTrenderman's rally than to be sitting around waiting for Slender to find out he was there. "Jesus Christ Slender, I'm a murderer but I don't push women around like that unless I'm gonna kill them."
I stood up too, proudly beside them both.
"Toby? Jeff? I cannot believe you all came to eavesdrop on me! This is supposed to be secret for a reason!" Slender yelled.
"Oh yeah?" Jeff asked, then flipped him off. "Fuck your secrets! We're sick of that shit!"
"We want to know all the details," Trender said.
Indeed we did. I myself was sick of being left in the dark... How long had it been since I'd seen the light of truth? How long ago had it been that Slender shared his troubles with us and sought comfort from the people who should've been his family?