Ch 8

Hours passed by unnoticed.

You kept huddled against the wall in your little corner as the strange clown creature, Laughing Jack consistently prodded you with questions and comments about you and your appearance.

"Who's this Jeffy fella again?"

"I told you that's my dad."

"Why's yer skin (S/c)?"

"Because my mom and dad had (S/c) skin..."

"Do you believe in a god?"

"...What's that."

"Why do you have a sailor's mouth at such a young age?"

"I don't fucking know!"

Eventually, Laughing Jack had figured his constant barrage of questions was starting to make you miserable, so the clown began telling you things you didn't understand, but you could slightly piece together somewhat.

He explained to you how you were in a place called "Sængurlegu" a confinement of sorts, but you only understood when he dumbed it down and told you straight up that you were in jail. You had been captured by a strange and dangerous group of people that Laughing Jack only knew as "The Syndicate", and the acting members of this group were out to do deeds in the name of an unknown figure that Laughing Jack refused to talk about.

You weren't sure what The Syndicate wanted with Jeff and why they'd taken you away from him, but you hoped with your small mind that Jeff had just taken an item that they wanted and that all Jeff needed to do was give it back so that you could go back to him and the two of you could go home and everything would be fine again.

This is what you rambled to Laughing Jack; a whole plan of how Jeff would give The Syndicate back their belongings and everything would return to normal.

"And then, and then we'll go home! And maybe you can come too, Laughing Jack. You can be like my big clown brother, okay? And Jeff is our dad by the way. When we get home, I'm gonna show you anime and my Lego city and we can play with it. You can be my favorite character I named Tommy."

Laughing Jack chuckled at your excited jabbering as he sat beside you on the cold floor of the little cell; the clown hadn't ever felt as intrigued by a victimized cellmate as he did at this very moment. (Y/n) was something special, he thought, especially considering the fact that he hadn't yet hung them from the ceiling with their own small intestine.

"You're quite the little visionary, aren't you Guttersnipe?" Laughing Jack exclaimed, gently patting your head as you tried to calm yourself down from your eager babbling. "For your sake, I do hope you manage to escape somehow...though unfortunately, the chances of that are slimmest that slim could be, heh..."

"Oh don't worry Jack, Jeff will come for us. Jeff said he'll stab the shit out of anyone that hurts me so that means Toby and Cody are gonna get it," You reply confidently. Laughing Jack seemed to frown just slightly at this and mumble, "Ticking Toby and X-Virus may be some of the lesser dangers of The Syndicate, but they are not ones to be taken lightly. You'd best hope this Jeffy never makes contact with any them, otherwise he may end up like us, or worse..."

You glance at Laughing Jack worriedly when he mentioned 'worse'. "Will they...take Jeff away like my parents were taken...?" You mutter quietly.

Laughing Jack didn't respond; instead he turned away from you and casted his white gaze to the dingy walls that kept both you and him miserably confined. The silence made you uncomfortable, and you lower your head as you began to think of Jeff and where he could possibly be at the moment.

Did he miss you? Was he looking for you at this very moment? Did he not care? Did that blue goggled man, Cody, do something to him? Your mind swirled with constant questions revolving the man that had so abruptly become your caretaker a few weeks before. It gave you a headache, and you soon found yourself slouching against Laughing Jack instead of the wall.

The clown glanced down at you in your pathetic form laying against him and gently brought a hand to the top of your head. "Don't you fret now, Guttersnipe. Mayhaps your Jeffy will come for us? Who knows? Heheh, don't let my pessimism damper your confidence! We could truly use all the hope we could gain! Heh hah hah!"

"I hope he does," You sigh, nudging your head against his side. "I don't like this place, and I don't like The Sydneyplate...I want to go home and I want Jeff."

"Heh, but just imagine...if you'd never came here, you'd have never met me! Heheheh! We've become fast friends, wouldn't ye say?"

You look at Laughing Jack for a quick second and smile very slightly, nodding your head. "Yeah you're my friend now Jack. When I leave you're going to come with me cause you're my friend right?"

"...Of course, little guttersnipe~"

The two of you spent more time, silently lazing against the wall, as that was the only thing you could really do, considering you were both chained in an enclosed space.

After a span of a few more hours had passed—you'd by this time passed out against Laughing Jack—the sound of keys fiddling and tampering with the door to the cell could be heard, causing you to jolt awake.

       Your instant response was to grab Laughing Jack and cling onto him for dear life, as he was your newest trust figure.

       The door of the cell eventually screeched as it swung open slowly, and you could see the silhouette of a person standing at the entrance, the light source coming from behind it illuminating its figure and making you squint your eyes from the brightness. Footsteps shuffled into the room, and you saw the figure approaching you as you huddled by the clown.

       "Laughing Jack..." You whimpered as the hands of the figure reached for you and grabbed you off of the ground. You looked up at the figure; their face was masked with a grotesque looking, horrific black mouthed expression that scared you when you saw it. Black messy hair fell from underneath the hood that covered their head, and the gloves that seized your small arms felt rough and sticky.

      "Be easy with Guttersnipe, would ye? What are your plans for the child?" Laughing Jack growled at the strange individual as they began to fiddle with the chains around your arms and ankles, unlocking them and freeing you from captivity.

       "Quiet clown. Syndicate affairs are none of your concerns."

      "Yet you lot always throw prisoners in here with me so that I may conveniently 'do away' with them or torture them. Why leave the task to me?"

       "And as we've monitored you, all you've done these past couple of hours was befriend the child, unlike what is expected of you. You've been useless."

       You frown and try to yank your arm away from the strange voiced assailant, "Laughing Jack is not useless, he's my friend!"

       The masked assailant scoffed and easily lifted you off the ground, wringing an arm around your mouth and the other around your torso, carrying you out of the cell as you began to thrash wildly. "Laughing Jack do something!" You cry out to the clown.

       The clown snickered and reached with one of his long arms for the ankle of the stranger that had you in their grasp. "Heheheh, come on now Chaser, that's no way to talk to an old friend~. Why don't you stay here a little longer with me and (Y/n), hm?"

       Laughing Jack began to pull at this 'Chaser' that caused them to nearly stumble forwards with you. They turned their head slightly and growled lowly, "Insubordinate clown. Unhand me before you face punishment."

"How curious..."
The clown's grasp on Chaser tightened, and you hear what sounds like a low internal growl coming from Chaser's chest. It sounded unsettling and inhumane to you, and for a moment you questioned what was really behind the Chaser's mask...if it really even was a mask...

"You continue to provoke me?" Chaser snapped, suddenly releasing you from their hold and rapidly turning on the clown, violently lashing out at him and raking him across his chest with their unusual clawed gloves. You cried out Jack's name, but he only appeared to laugh despite the newly inflicted wound. "You've dealt worse, Chaser! Hehah! Have you grown soft? Why're you holding back on me, eh?"

       "Because I'm not here to tarry with you, clown. Worse punishments await you, soon enough. Mark my words."

       You feel Chaser snatch you yet again and begin dragging you out of the room. You watch helplessly as Laughing Jack bursts again into howling laughter while clutching his open, bleeding chest. Meanwhile, you were taken further and further away from the small room you'd been kept captive in.

       You feared that that would be the last time you'd ever see your short-time friend.