[MASQ]

Anni was quick to lock the door, and discouraged me from sitting down. She let out a tiny sigh as she looked me up and down again.

"Alright. First order of business..."

Without so much as a blink she had me in a bone-crushing hug, and I held in tears as I hugged her back.

"It's really good to see you again, Masquerade," she muttered into my shoulder. Her voice was hoarse and weak, like she was just able to hold herself together. "I'm sorry I was acting so weird about things back there, but...you know how it is."

"I guess I do. You just always have to be the strong one, whether you like it or not, right?"

She sighed and let go. "I don't want to sound like I'm complaining or anything. It helps the family. I've gotta be that stone, y'know?"

I nodded, secretly wondering if the Elder had ever felt like that. I wondered whether leading us had been the easiest thing in the world to her, or if she was just that good of an actress. As odd as it sounds, Anni seemed a little too human to be the Elder.

A sudden thought crossed my mind, hopeful and fleeting. I was still able to catch it.

"Anni, if you're here, does that mean...did Birthday—"

I stopped at the look on her face when I said his name. She almost seemed to wince, as if I'd rubbed salt on a wound.

"No. It doesn't mean that, Masquie. I was lucky enough to be able to escape my imposter, but...that doesn't mean all of us were. Birthday got caught. Multiple times. He never hid fast enough, he thought he could fight them off, but it would always be too late."

I let all that sink in. I felt horrible for wishing he was here too, for being ungrateful of everything else that had happened today. But the family felt empty without Birthday here to joke, to be kind, to give others a shoulder to cry on. He was the warmth of our fire, not the wood that fed it. I rolled up my sleeves to the elbows and hugged both of my arms.

"I think I still remember his song. The one he made for me."

Anni nodded, though I expected her to jokingly say, "not just for you." After all, he'd written her a verse, too. But we both knew that the original was meant to make me feel better about something I wasn't particularly proud of back then. Whatever else he added was to help me feel less alone.

"That makes the both of us," she muttered. "I mean, I can barely remember five words. But sometimes that tune just gets stuck in my head."

After a couple more minutes of bittersweet nostalgia, we both decided to put it all to rest. We needed to focus on the future; specifically speaking, how Hodek would fit into everything.

"He has to stay. At least for a little bit," I said, completely sure of myself for once. Maybe this wasn't the plan I had since the beginning of my search, but I wasn't going to leave him behind now. Anni looked doubtful.

"He has to? I don't see why, if he's just your friend. Exactly how long have you known him?"

"Long enough. Besides, we..." I trailed off, weighing my options here. Hodek clearly didn't want it to be known that we were anything more than friends. But Anni knew how to keep a secret, and she was fine with the fact that I happened to like guys in that way.

No. Better to just stick with what's already been said. Besides, maybe he's lying for protection, or in case Angus hears and decides to...

I shook my head, frustrated at myself for taking this long to figure things out.

No, he definitely knows at this point. Why am I getting so worked up over this? It's only a few words, why can't I just spit them out?!

"...we can be more efficient with him around," I said eventually, my gaze never staying locked on the same place. Anniversary sighed as if she were just as disappointed in me as I was. As if she could hear each and every one of my thoughts as I arrived at that lame excuse of a reason to keep him around. Not that I was lying; if she'd seen some of the things he's done with a knife he would have his own completed file before you could say, "by the way, this is Jeff the Killer we're talking about." Either way, she nodded in that adult, I'll think about it way and reached up to brush a lock of hair out of my eyes—well, mask.

"Alright. I'd feel terrible for getting in between you two, anyway. I'm going to see if I can find a couple more vacant rooms for you, though I'm sure it won't be so difficult," she added with a small forced laugh. It must have been hard to find old recruits and gain new ones after the police had found our previous base. Again, I could see the stress and tension in her eyes, never fading. I nodded and hugged her once more.

"Thanks, Anni. I promise, you'll see soon enough how useful he can be." It felt wrong to talk about Hodek like he was some tool, and the words left a bitter taste in my mouth. Still, I was able to hide that pretty well and she opened the door to reveal that fortunately, neither Hodek nor his guard, Jade, had killed one another.

"Took you long enough," he muttered, eyes shifting around the hall. It looked like he'd kept his arms folded the entire time, as if holding himself back from violence. As we walked down to where Anni directed us, he leaned toward me and asked even quieter, "Exactly how long is this going to last, anyway? This place gives me the creeps, and this is me you're talking to."

I looked around at my old—well, new—home. It had definitely been...industrialized, to an extent. Pipes covering every inch of the ceiling would periodically hiss with steam. Electric lanterns jabbed the walls with harsh, bright light every 50 feet and seemed to flicker if you stared too long. These halls were lifeless, even the real people coming and going from their rooms could only hold up the illusion for so long. I felt like I was in an abandoned hospital.

"It just takes a little getting used to. That's all," I settled with, squinting my eyes as I tried to decipher Anni's handwriting on the slip of paper she gave me.

"C011...and C014." Looking up, I saw that we'd arrived at my room first. After a moment, I turned to Jade, who had followed us here in complete silence. "I think that's all we need. You can go and continue anything you were doing before, if you want."

He stared blankly at me for a couple seconds before closing his eyes and walking away with a soft "Yes, sir." Hodek raised an eyebrow, not taking his gaze off the door.

"So it's 'sir' for you too now, eh?"

"I suppose. What is this tag even made of?" I turned my attention to the label next to my room's doorway, reaching out to feel it. "It looks like a hammered out piece of metal—oh, no."

At the slightest touch, one of its corners came loose from the wall and it hung by a thread. Or, well, a bolt. My hand flinched away, while Hodek let out something of a chuckle.

"Wow. They really held it together without you, didn't they...?"

He faltered at my glare. "Uh. Sorry."

I sighed and hooked the label's detached end back onto whatever tiny nail was sticking out of the wall, waiting a few seconds to make sure it stayed. I pushed the door open to reveal a room that was almost completely empty, besides the basics: a bed, nightstand, and one shelf to the side to place your belongings. I thought for a moment I could spot two holes in the wall next to me, where maybe a picture frame used to hang. But not anymore.

What felt like a minute passed, where everything was still and silent. I took a breath and untied my twine and pliers from my belt line, placing them on the table by my new bed.

"Home," I said without any clear reason. There was no need to expand upon it. Hodek nodded after a few seconds, like he understood entirely. The memory of when he first offered to help me, after we had been forced to abandon the trapdoor, began playing on repeat in my head.

"Just don't thank me until we actually get there."

I looked at him thoughtfully, and when our eyes met he gestured towards the doorway with a cautious but amused look on his face.

"Are we done here, or...?"

"You want me to go to your room with you." I had meant that to come out as a question, but giving him the option of admitting it seemed a little cruel, somehow. He scoffed and folded his arms again.

"Look, if I open that door and somebody tries to jump out and kill me, you're my witness. Maybe then you'd believe that—" he cut himself off and looked to the side, before turning around with a sigh. "Actually, I'm gonna keep that last part to myself. Let's go. You...you are coming with me, right?"

"Sure."

[JEFF]

Of course, now that this was my new living space we were standing in, I was going to pay attention a little more. The one thing that stuck out the most was that this room was more stable and probably more sanitary than anything I'd lived in for years. It was definitely a nice change, albeit an unsettling one. As I set the single knife I'd brought with me on a shelf identical to Max's, I couldn't help but find this whole thing way too convenient.

"Home sweet home," I said dryly, running my fingertips over the wall's chipping paint and laughing. "Y'know what, I take back what I said about this place being creepy. I feel like I'm in a hotel." I looked around the room, impressed this "family" had been able to hold up for as long as it did.

"So, I guess I'm gonna hold off on kicking your ass for almost breaking both of our legs with that fall, huh?"

When I got no response, I turned around, faltering. "Max? You okay?"

He stared at me for...an uncomfortably long time, to be honest. I couldn't tell for the life of me what he was thinking, but if I had to guess at the moment, it wasn't anything good. My worries were short-lived, though, because after an agonizing fifteen seconds he pulled me into a tight hug, burying his face in my shoulder like he was about to cry.

Oh. He's just in one of these moods.

I heard a muffled "Thank you, Hodek" in the silence, and without much thought I started hugging him back. "What do you mean...?"

"You helped me. You helped me find my family." His voice was practically a croak, and I felt a pang of sympathy. I was suddenly ready to forgive almost everything he'd put me through to get here. After all, didn't he have to endure those things, too?

I didn't enjoy the silence of embracing all that much, but there wasn't a lot to say. So I kept my mouth shut and looked off to the side, trying my best to recreate the sensation of closing my eyes. No dice. Before the moment could have become any more awkward, he sighed and let go of me but held onto one of my hands. A strange warmth crept into my face, and I instinctively jerked my arm back. Max cocked his head.

"Oh."

Honestly, I didn't even know why I did that. It was probably years of fighting reflexes kicking in, and right now I wished they weren't there to begin with. His face, again, didn't show any emotion behind the mask, making it even more difficult to tell what I should do next.

Goddammit. Why does he have to wear that thing all the time? Why can't I just see what he's feeling for once?

"No, I didn't..." I stumbled over my words, and after a moment just took his hand again.

"This is fine. You're fine, I just—"

"Are you sure?" Instead of hurt, Max simply sounded worried. I nodded and clenched my jaw, though I couldn't place why I felt so anxious about all this.

"Yeah. I'm not exactly used to being...friends with someone. But it's a nice change. Like you said; we just need something nice."

He seemed to buy that. And for a short while, I did too.