--tw: mentions of blood? not a lot this chapter, just story building--

Hello and welcome to the first ever 2023 chapter of Sympathy

it's extremely unedited and raw and also kind of boring, but its necessary to the next chapters I'm gonna write so please read it! 

also

UGHHHH WHATEVER you know what? let's just forget about plot consistency and the Netflix episodes. we'll roughly follow those at the end when they have that epic battle, but nothing more. let's just keep going and writing and get these two masked goobers a proper love story with no complicated plot that i need to keep rewriting every chapter ok? no more funny business you guys, all serious stuff 💪

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~" 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺 "~

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Butcher mask felt like crap.

It was the first thought that pushed through his pounding head when he came to, and the only thing he could really muster to think as he tried to get a grasp of himself.

Finally, after a few seconds of repeated blinking and finger wiggling, sensation returned to his body. And with it, horrible muscle pain.

'I feel like crap,' He groaned.

The last thing he remembered was tossing the mysterious chip in his pocket and then his phone going hype house level haywire, but everything past that was a blur.

Despite the way his muscles stung, he still reached over and palmed the box in his backpack. Miraculously, the bag had managed to stay completely unscathed despite how loosely wrapped it was around him and the mask was still safely tucked in it. A wave of relief washed over him, but it was short lived. Confusion and concern hung heavily on his mind now.

What happened in the 12 hours he was out? And what's more, what had the updated chip downloaded into his brain?

The longer he stayed conscious, the more the questions started weighed on his mind.

Whatever it was or whatever questions he had could wait until later, when Butcher mask was back at the doc's and Haruki's mask safely delivered.

He took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts aside.

His eyes, once adjusted to the bright mid-morning light, swiftly darted across the rooftop he was on. Everything looked about the same as he expected—standard horizon-reaching expanses of sterile looking building complexes and a blue sky overhead that always seemed to stay somewhere between sparsely cloudy or artificially clear.

Nothing but a set of bloody footprints behind him indicated direction, and he noted the bloody trail as a starting point for figuring out where to start next after he assessed his sore body's condition.

The mild ache in his muscles that had somewhat eased the day before had turned into a white-hot stabbing pain and the way his arm's stitches pulled at his sore flesh whenever he made the slightest movement almost forced a groan out of him every time.

He was feeling the full effects of being awake for 12 hours and then some head on, and it honestly sucked.

'Nothing's broken, at least.' The voice in his head remarked abruptly, almost making Butcher mask jump a little at his sudden appearance. Or not appearance but you get what I mean.

'CV? How long have you been there?'

'Like, in your head or how long have I been conscious?'

'You know what I mean'

'The entire time. I just didn't wanna interrupt your little freak out at the beginning. That was some excellent finger-wiggling, might I add'

'...right' Butcher mask took another look around and huffed. 'Do you have any memory of what happened in the last 12 hours?' He looked around at the unfamiliar building around him before starting again. 'Where we are, for starters?'

CV gave him a mental shrug (it was almost scary how easy it was to tell despite not being able to see him), and stated in a flat and surprisingly non-sarcastic tone, 'I'm as lost as you are, pal. Since I'm practically integrated into your subconscious now more than the mask's code, I was shut off too when you were in autopilot.'

'So we're-'

'Completely lost? No, we just have to follow the bloody trail you so generously left behind from the killing spree you probably went on. I mean, jeez dude, look at yourself'

Butcher mask had finally looked down at himself only to find that he was covered, no scratch that, drenched in blood from head to toe. His apron had taken the brunt of it, sure, but the white button up shirt he barely had for a day didn't look any better considering it was now an uglying crimson-turning-brown. His black pants stuck to his body in ways that no article of clothing should ever stick to a person. Butcher mask shifted uncomfortably.

The thing that really threw him off though was his shoes. The right boot was completely gone; no where to be seen, just a badly beat up sock keeping his bare foot off the white titled rooftop, and his left boot had somehow been replaced with a pretty uncomfortable sketcher shoe that was a size too small.

Butcher mask had to do a double take, taking a second to look around for his shoes, but to no avail. They were gone.

What the hell happened while he was out?

'Not again.' Butcher mask unsuccessfully tried to rub some blood off the shirt the doc lent him, already imagining the earful he was in for when he got back.

No good—he ended up matting it farther into the shirt and onto his skin.

That mentioned, the feeling of blood-plastered clothes on his body was something he was starting to become very familiar and that revelation wasn't something he was particularly happy about. He stopped trying to pry the wet shirt off and accepted defeat with a sigh.

'Doc's gonna kill us. Especially for losing the boots. How did you even manage that?' CV remarked in an almost impressed sort of tone, before going quiet again when the masked man didn't reply.

The voice started again. 'One good thing came out of this, though. And that is-'

Butcher mask turned to look at the footprints. 'Socks are a lot better at leaving footprints than combat boots.'

'Correct! Now let's retrace our steps and go home.'

With that, Butcher mask started the journey back by hobbling his way to the stairwell entrance.

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The walk back to the doc's building was one that was extremely slow and bloody. At first, when Butcher mask and CV had headed down that first flight of stairs off the roof and walked around the corner, they expected the scene to be mild considering Butcher's blood-caked clothes, but what they found around that corner neither of them could have ever anticipated.

It was a massacre; 4 masks at least, practically tenderized into nice meat patties all over the floor and walls.

Butcher mask and CV were both left stunned, taking in the scene before them in silence.

Butcher mask was shocked. Could he have really done this?

Sure, he had done his fair share of mask mincing with his cleavers and had seen a few things while on his patrols, but never anything like this.

This was bad; almost so graphically grotesque and borderline inhumane that Butcher mask felt bile start to ride on the back of his throat, but he pushed it down and continued to trudge through. I mean, the rest couldn't possibly be worse than this, right?

He was wrong. Every hall beyond that point only seemed to get progressively worse and whatever had possessed Butcher mask in those 12 hours had even gotten a little creative in its methods.

Body parts and organs strung up on ceilings or rearranged in various ways, organs where they did not belong, you get the gist.

The two were almost completely speechless as they traversed the halls, with CV only managing to squeeze out a few crappy and low-key inappropriately timed jokes every once in a while.

One particular arrangement was too bad to even describe in writing so I'm not gonna

'Jesus, dude. Were you possessed by Hannibal Lector?'

Butcher mask had to admit, he would have been impressed by the level of twisted craftsmanship if he didn't have to walk barefoot through every bloody scene and risk stomping on squishy pieces of mystery meat every step (there's only so much a wet sock can protect you from).

By the time they had finally gotten back into familiar territory, 6 long and excruciating hours of nonstop walking/limping had passed and Butcher mask was just about ready to collapse. He managed to get back to the building where he blacked out, and apparently that was good enough for his body, because before he could even stop himself, Butcher mask was slumped against the nearest wall and out cold.

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In a daze, Butcher mask had somehow managed to get back to the doctor's.

He didn't even think he was capable of moving after the 6 hour walk and was still pretty confused about how he got there, but he wasn't about to question his amazing luck.

It was well into the night when he finally regained his full consciousness and he found himself in a hospital bed.

After a stern talking to from the doctor (something about irresponsibility, disregard for Butcher's own life and how he had managed to ruin his clothes for what felt like the "quarillionth time" since they met), he was finally allowed to slip out of the stuffy room and get properly cleaned up. Much to the doc's relief, Butcher mask sustained little to no major injuries this time, and only required a new change of bandages and disinfectant on a few light cuts.

Butcher mask had convinced the doctor to lend him some more clothes despite his obvious distrust in the mask, and Butcher mask was back to rocking a simple shirt and sweatpants (the doc insisted that the apron had to be washed, much to his disappointment).

Now he was roaming the halls with emotionless mask in hand, trying to hunt down his kid.

(A/n: you guys wouldn't mind if I started sorta skipping the unnecessary stuff and just started building up to the sniper mask scenes right?)

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A full day had passed since Haruki had put on the mask. He was pretty tuckered out after the thing broke off his face and begged Butcher mask to stay with him while he napped.

Butcher mask got some much needed rest too. The soreness and exhaustion he had been experiencing the past few days were really starting to put a strain on his mobility, especially after the whole chip and autopilot thing.

Speaking of which, he had yet to actually see the improvements he had supposedly received, but at this point he and CV were too tired to care (the voice in his head was uncharacteristically silent since they had arrived too). All he could really do now was look after his kid, save lives, and make himself as useful as possible to Mayuko and Yuri.

Later on that day, Butcher mask tried to leave and do his usual patrols but was stopped by an angry doctor who shooed him back to a room that looked like some sort of lounge area, where he was strictly forbidden from leaving until he was healed. With not much of a choice, Butcher mask agreed and entered the room.

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Healing was a slow and boring process, and Butcher mask was quick to realize that fact now that he was actually being forced to stop and let his body rest. It would have been extremely lonely too, if it wasn't for Haruki (who occasionally came in to talk to him about his day or just hang around and doodle) and CV (who had regained his ability to be annoying).

Butcher mask was currently sitting on the same couch he had been for the past 3 hours. It doesn't sound like very long, but to someone whose brain and body have been specially reprogrammed to inflict swift and calculated blows to the human body in a way that's effective and fatal, it was practically like putting him in a straitjacket.

Haruki had wondered off with Ein to probably bug Dr. Aohara, so he was left alone with CV.

At the moment, he was telling a pretty bad joke about a guy in a bar and a pickle that Butcher mask definitely did not want to hear about, but since CV was permanently downloaded into his brain, there was no way to ignore him.

After another 10 minutes passed and the joke had yet to end, Butcher mask finally had enough. 'Enough of your pickle joke. Let's talk about the chip that got us into this situation in the first place.'

Being trapped, alone, in the lounge room with CV and his awful jokes had finally triggered his interest in the chip. He was curious to know what he could do now, as well as the aforementioned memory wipe that happened the first time he put a HAPP chip in his mask.

'Ugh fine. These new updates are rewarded to you over time for good deeds and include but are not limit: location blocking, location sharing, tracking, and, get this, drumroll please...MICROPHONE ACCESS! YAY'

'So that means I could-'

'Start somewhat talking again in a way that is practical and doesn't involve looking into to anyone's eyes longingly? Yes, absolutely.'

'Unfortunately though, you are only allowed to have one at the moment.' CV continued.

'Which one do I have?'

'Location blocking.' The voice stated plainly. Butcher mask furrowed his eyebrows as disappointment quickly replaced his excitement.

'...that's it?'

'Yep. Let me explain.'

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PLEASE READ!!!

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hi guys its me, the author, and I am here to give you a rundown of the ability I am giving butcher mask for plot convenience. I hate trying to make our mc special with all these really random powers, but unfortunately it wasn't until very later on in this fic that I wrote an actual story outline and these powers are what make stuff I'm planning possible.

I tried making dialogue to explain the power-ups/updates but it got really confusing so I'm just gonna type it out instead.

In short, basically Butcher mask can't be tracked anymore. Location blocking "hides his location", which disorients anyone following him intending to cause harm and makes them wander around until he can get away. They won't remember where they are and neither will the people around them.

Also prevents people from telling others where their location is since they're disoriented , if that makes sense.

Remember how butcher mask had been jumped by that group of masks a few chapter ago? Basically, they had tracked him down and then followed him to fight.

Ofc, despite not being able to be followed, Butcher mask can still bump into enemies and have to fight them. There's also a certain distance he has to be from someone in order for the anti-tracking to work (like hypothetically, if he ran into someone and he didn't wanna fight, he would have to run away far enough for the tracking block to work).

There's loopholes too, like following someone close to Butcher mask and getting an idea of where butcher mask could be so probability of running into him increases.

It's a lot, I know, but I would have never been able to have CV explain this all in dialogue.

In short; I suck really bad at writing and keeping a consistent plot. Let's move on (;.;)

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'Wow, that was a lot.'

'Still not impressed?'

Butcher mask rubbed his bandages, taking all the information in. It was nice to have, but he also wished he was given something more useful like microphone access.

There was no use in moping over it now, he concluded. At least he got something.

Butcher mask settled back down on the couch.

'I guess it's ok for now.' He kicked his feet up but despite the tossing and turning, he couldn't get comfortable.

He was getting sick of peaceful quietness and surprising coziness of the hospital's lounge room, but he just had to hold out until the doctor let him go.

He was excited this time too, now that he could take Haruki out without worrying about masks attacking him immediately.

'Just a few more days...'

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flashback

"Kuon, you're practically dragging him."

"I'm trying my best, Mr. Mask, but he's just too heavy!"

Kuon's arms ached as she tried her best to keep a firm grip on Butcher mask's calves while simultaneously trying to keep the blood on his pant legs from touching her.

They had decided to camp out in the same spot that night as they did the night before. When they arrived to lookout for possible threats and enemies in the building, they found Butcher mask, bloody but breathing, knocked out cold against the wall. Again.

Sniper mask was starting to feel immensely irritated at the masked man's clear irresponsibility for his own well being, but something in him didn't let him stay mad for too long. He couldn't deny that he was worried, especially after Butcher mask took off without a word the night before.

After he had closely inspected the man (pretty much just poking him in various places and snapping in his face a few times), Sniper mask caved in and suggested they carry him to the building with the doctor.

Kuon was skeptical at first, but after some heavy coaxing ("I'll only do it of you say please" Kuon insisted), they grabbed the unconscious guy and started the excruciatingly slow journey to the building.

And that's where they are right now, carrying a guy they kind of knew across a rooftop.

"May we please take a break?"

"No, we're almost there. Just hush don't drop him."

Kuon whined in protest, but didn't say much else besides sending an occasionally angry pout Sniper mask's way.

Finally, after 10 minutes, they made it. Kuon set Butcher mask's legs down and took a much needed break while Sniper mask dragged the man closer to the building. However, a shadowy figure appeared before he could take another step forward.

Some time ago, Sniper mask had found Butcher mask exactly as he was now; beat up and bloody. He remembered taking the note tightly grasped in the masked man's gloved hand and then carrying the stranger to the building. He also remembered facing this exact same girl when he arrived.

She seemed to remember him too as her defensive stance faltered.

Sniper mask shifted his hand placement under Butcher mask's arms to a more comfortable position and spoke.

"I need to see the man who lives here." He said in a canid tone, directing his eyes down to the man he was barely holding up. The girl's eyes seemed to follow as well because when she realized who he was holding, she sprung up, cautiously eyed Sniper mask and then ran off into the darkness.

Sniper mask dragged Butcher mask over to the entrance and not even a second later the steal door was flung open.

The doctor stood there, strangely out of breath, like he has ran across the entire building just to get to the door.

He had an anxious look about him, but it was quickly replaced with worry and then agitation when he looked down at the unconscious Butcher mask Sniper mask was gripping onto firmly.

He mumbled something like "not again" before facing Sniper mask, who had been standing silently at the door.

Dr. Aohara shifted uncomfortably under his intimidating stare. "Uh, sorry that you keep having to bring him back like this. This is, what, the second time? We oughta put a leash on him or something. You know, can't have him wandering around hahaha"

Nothing. Sniper mask continued to stand there. The silence was almost unbearable for the doc as he continued to laugh.

"Uh..." Sniper mask said finally.

It was painfully silent. Dr. Aohara's nervous laughter had died down by now, but it had already done the damage and made the mood almost unbearably awkward.

"Here. This is yours" Sniper mask held up Butcher mask to the doctor and then sat him down on the ground. Without even sparing the doctor another glance, Sniper mask walked away.

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yay new chapter guys woohoo

sorry for the, like, 3 month hiatus

I have no excuses except for laziness

BUT, omg, a new chapter? unfortunately nothing big this time, just setting up the basis for my outline so we can get to the juicy parts.

also isn't it weird that butcher mask and snipey have spent more time together when ones unconscious than when they're both awake? but fear not though, readers, for next chapter and the chapters after that entail platonic (?) relationship building sniper mask on butcher mask interactions as they start to get crushes (I'm kicking my feet just thinking about it)