(Y/N) was sleeping peacefully, off in dreamland when she was abruptly shaken back to consciousness. The girl let out a groggy groan as she stirred, eyes opening slightly and looking around in dazed confusion. Toby was sitting hunched over her, a frantic look in his eyes. He was ticking hysterically, continuously looking out the window as he shook her awake.

The girl noticed he had put his mask and goggles on, his belt of hatchets hanging over the blue jeans. He pulled (Y/N) to sit up.

"C-C-Come on (Y/N)..." He said, "W-We need tooo go."

"Toby...?" The girl rubbed her eyes with a yawn, "Hold up... What's going on?"

The boy huffed to himself, his breathing jagged as his head twitched to the side repeatedly, "C-C-Can't exxxplain... N-Not enough... Tiiime... Slender c-coming."

(Y/N) perked up at this, instantly on high alert. Slenderman? Was coming here? That didn't mean anything good considering he hadn't come here for anything else before. Why was he on his way here? The girl frowned and nodded, climbing to her feet,

"I'll get changed and then we'll go." She said, "Unless he teleports right outside my room."

"N-No." Toby shook his head, "Th-Thi-is is a c-at and mousse chase to-o him."

"Oh wonderful." (Y/N) sighed, before quickly getting changed. She saw Toby turn away, admiring his respect for her, before grabbing his arm, "If we get out of this alive, we'll come back for your clothes."

He nodded in agreement, and she pulled him to her window. There was no point in running through the house and waking the other's, that would just cause more problems. Especially if the girl's mother woke up and found her sneaking out with a strange man. No, the window was the best option, and she crawled out with ease, helping Toby in case he fell.

"How's your ankle? Will you be alright?" She asked, frowning at his leg.

"C-Can't feel... Sh-Should be fine..."

"But you fell over last time."

"I-I'll make it work..." He said, pulling the window closed behind him.

As the latch locked, Harry jumped up to the sill, his ears lowered as he looked out towards the two humans. The golden retriever whined and gave a low gruff, causing (Y/N) to lean forward with a finger to her lips,

"We'll be back Harry, don't worry." She said, "You be a good boy and stay here, don't tell anyone okay?"

The dog's tail wagged and he gave a happy yap, before returning to hiding under the girl's bed. She then turned to Toby, wrapping her arm under his shoulders,

"Where should we go?" She asked, eyes scanning the forestry horizon for any tall monsters lurking in the darkness.

"D-D-Definitely not... The forest..." Toby said, "That'sss... Slenderm-man's domain."

"Right, forest bad. Obviously." The girl said, "Who the hell would run into a forest when being chased by a monster?"

"A-Ask... Laughi-" The boy groaned and leant over, dry heaving into the night air, "H-He's... Clossse..."

The girl cursed to herself, looking around for anywhere to go. Stupid cul-de-sacs and their limited locations. A glow then became visible to her over the horizon, towards the city. City lights, people. She got an idea, helping keep Toby on his feet, she started walking as quickly as she could towards the bright lights.

"We'll lose him in the city." She said, "It would be harder for Slenderman to hide, he wouldn't want to be see."

"Y-Yeah..." The boy pulled his mask down to get a breath of fresh air, stumbling as his ankle gave way once again. Dammit, why couldn't he just heal? They were in this mess because he didn't want to heal, and now it was slowing them down.

(Y/N) grunts and fixes her grip on him, throwing his arm over her shoulders and wrapping her arm around his waist. She instructed him only to step with his good leg, and to time it with hers. The twitching boy nodded and followed her orders, he could hear Slenderman growl in his mind at his obedience to her.

He doubles over now as he starts dry heaving again. (Y/N) slowed down, making sure he was okay. It was apparent with his uncontrollable shaking and wild look in his eyes, the frantic twitching of his body, that he was far from okay. But they couldn't stop now. The girl knew that Slender coming for them was bad. She cupped Toby's cheek, catching his attention,

"Ignore him." She said, "Push him out of your mind. Let your instinct to survive trump his manipulation."

The boy stared at her, taking in the shining stars in the girl's (e/c) eyes, and he blinked, "I-It's... N-Not possible..."

"You have to try Toby, we're not going to get anywhere if he keeps controlling you like this." She said, before making them walk again, "Try to fight it, whether you fight the feeling, or the magic itself. Please Toby..."

The boy nodded, limping with her as they hurried down the street. Static filled both their ears and they ran harder. Toby found himself wondering how she knew about his manipulation. His brain was scrambled, he couldn't remember if he told her, or if she knew from research. But he was grateful she understood what was happening, even if she didn't fully understand.

The two keep hobbling strangely down the streets, feeling Slenderman's presence grow the further they run. (Y/N) grunted and made a joke about not even collecting his pages, and how he shouldn't be this hard to start off with. Toby was confused, and she shook her head, mumbling something about a video game.

Finally, they somehow made it to the city, the lights bright on the street. But there was hardly anyone, if no one out at all. (Y/N) looked around, seeing the sky start to lighten in the distance. It must be nearly 4am. Dammit, not enough people to scare Slenderman off, although his presence behind them had died, it was as if they lost him.

And she knew that wasn't possible.

"Toby? We're in the city." She said, looking at him, "How are you feeling?"

The man let out a groan, holding his head in his hand, "H-He... Left..."

"He left?" (Y/N) tilted her head, "I doubt that, he wouldn't just chase us and then leave."

"I-I can't... He's not i-i-n my mind..." Toby said, looking at her, "He-He's planning someth-thing..."

"Alright." The girl nodded, before pulling him over to a building and leaning him against a wall, "Well if we stay out here, we should be fine. He wouldn't dare make himself known with the risk of people coming out to see what the ruckus is."

"R-Ruckus...?"

"I'd scream or something, everyone responds to a scream." (Y/N) said, kneeling next to Toby and checking his ankle, "Only psychopaths don't react to a scream."

"I-I... I don't react... To screaming." Toby said slowly, and the girl flinched slightly. She then checked his injured ankle, frowning to herself,

"Swollen, this isn't good for you at all." She said, looking around, "Toby, I know you don't like hospitals, but we really should head to one now. Slenderman wouldn't dare follow us into one, and we can find out how your ankle is really doing."

"B-But... Anonymous..."

The girl let out a sigh. She knew he didn't want to go to a hospital, it's why she didn't bother taking him in the first place, but now was probably the best time for them to go. She stood, taking his hands in hers and looked him in the eyes. He looked back, his eyes tinted orange with his goggles.

"I don't know what Slenderman wants." The girl said, "But he's after us, and that's never a good thing. Our safest bet would be the hospital. Please Toby, I won't let them find out who you are... You can be anonymous for a simple check-up, we'll just run away before we get the bill."

He was silent for a moment, his only response the ticking as his shoulder cracked, or his head twitched to the side. He seemed deep in thought, he really did not like hospitals.

"F-F-Fine..." Toby said, "We'll go... B-But what af-after?"

"I don't know, we go to some sort of loud busy place?" The girl sighed, "But I want to know how your ankle is doing. So let's go."

She let go of one hand and clutched onto the other, pulling him off the wall and behind her. Toby limped after the girl, not happy with the plan, but also willing to do anything to keep (Y/N) safe. She was only trying to look out for him anyway, the hospital her first option since he was injured. It... Actually made Toby feel warm.

Until he didn't.

As they walked past an alleyway, he got a cold shiver up his spine. Withing seconds, the boy had jumped in front of the girl, swinging a hatchet at one of the many black tendrils that flew at them. The boy growled, the tip of the tendril falling to the ground, withering as it slowly dried up into a shrivelled piece of flesh, blending in as if a blade of dead grass.

A shriek came from the alley and Toby pushed (Y/N) back, jumping out of the way as more tendrils came flying at them. He cut more down, continuously moving back, keeping the girl safe and behind him. Eventually they ended up on the road, yet Slenderman still didn't emerge from the darkness.

Toby was glaring at the darkened alley, grabbing onto his other hatchet and standing in a defensive position. He wasn't going to let Slenderman get any closer to (Y/N), he would fight to the death to keep her safe. He could sense Slenderman lurch at the thought, rear his head back in disgust, as if an image in the boy's head.

And they were attacked again. Toby continued to jump and step out of the way, hacking into his boss' tentacles. They continuously fell to the ground, shrivelled and died, but the tendrils healed instantly and attacked again.

It wasn't until they were halfway across the road when Slenderman stopped. Toby was panting heavily, his hair stuck to his face, to the back of his neck, sweat dripped down from under his mask; and still his eyes hadn't left the alley. (Y/N) was still behind him, eyes wide as she watched the dismembered limbs disappear on the road.

And then a light lit them up, blinding both humans for a second.

"Toby!" A sound of a shrieking horn blasted through the night air, and Toby was shoved to the ground. He hit the ground with a grunt, rolling out of the way of a car. The sound of metal hitting something non-metal echoed in the night, a thud, silence.