tw: mentions of suicide, gore, violence, and foul language.

bold: writing

'single quotation': thoughts

slanted/italics: memories.

underlined: underlined sentences are basically commands and thoughts of those who's thoughts are still completely controlled by the mask.

single quotation dialogue is basically belongs to a person who isn't a mask or has gained a bit of freedom from the command and can retain their own thoughts.

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~" 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺 "~

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3rd pov:

Butcher mask made his usual rounds through the sky high buildings. Everything was quiet, with an occasional run in and extermination of a few humans here and there. He had only encountered a handful of masks so far, but they kept their distance. Well, most of them did. A few days ago, while he was monitoring a hallway for movement, he spotted a girl peaking at him from a corner. She didn't seem like a threat, but something about her was familiar. Naturally, he ignored her, but subconsciously noted her, as he did for all individuals that caught his interest.

He was sure that the girl was somewhere nearby from the skittering he would hear sometimes when he would turn a corner or looked over his shoulder.

Now entering a spacious room, he quickly spotted a man, who had his back turned and was fumbling with the zipper of a book bag. Inching closer, he managed to get behind the unsuspecting man, before swiftly ramming his cleaver into the man's neck. With a clean cut, the head fell to the ground with a thud and blood erupted from the corpse's neck.

He paused to wipe the blood off his mask and stepped back. 'He shouldn't have suffered from a clean cut.' The thought that had bubbled to the surface of his mind disappeared as quickly as it came.

Moving to find a drape for the body, he suddenly moved as a knife skimmed the surface of his mask.

As he turned sharply, his eyes met with another flying blade that was directed at his head again. At the distance he was, he had no choice but to grab the blade with his gloved hand, stopping it abruptly and drawing his own cleavers.

"YOU BASTARD!" A young woman glared at him, tearfully, as she snarled her words. "I'LL KILL YOU!" She shrieked as she dashed at him from the other side of the room with a different knife.

'It seems like this woman knew him.' Butcher mask prepared for the incoming attack.

'Not that it matters.' A cold voice replied bluntly.

The woman seemed to be acting on emotion, causing her movements to be erratic and blind. She moved closer, a pained look plastered on her face. That was the last image Butcher mask had of her face, a face that would remain imprinted in his brain for a long time.

'But not right now. Put her to rest.'

Shifting his feet lightly, he leapt forward and dug his cleavers through her neck in a smooth motion.

'Rest easy.' He dragged her remains to the man before lying her down next to him. When he covered the bodies with a curtain, he remained there, gazing at the bodies, until his command instructed him to find other humans.

Bloody and injured, he emerged from the room to hear the familiar sound of screams and chainsaw revving as it filled the hallway where Butcher mask stood, and paused momentarily. Not before long, a figure popped out from the corner. It was the girl.

"Ah, you found me." She said in a shocked tone. "I'm sure you've noticed me following you around, but I wasn't really prepared to meet you so soon..." She laughed awkwardly as she moved to face Butcher mask.

She was fairly short, about the size of a high school student, and carried a chainsaw in one hand. Her shoulder-length brown hair complimented the white apron, now stained crimson, and one pink oven mitt on the hand that held the chainsaw. She wore a puffy wine red dress underneath.

They stood tensely in the now dense atmosphere as she seemingly waited for a comment from the other.

"...Are you able to speak?"

Butcher mask stood rigidly, unable to do anything on his own will but observe.

"Aw man, I was kinda hoping to ask you a few questions about this place. This blows..." She said with a sigh, before looking down at his ripped rubber glove.

"Oh, you've got a cut." She placed down her chainsaw and moved closer to the stiff figure in front of her, then lifted his right hand to examine. She took a bandage from out of her apron's pocket and wrapped it around his palm.

"There. All better! Though, you should disinfect it when you get the chance." She said childishly, before letting it go and stepping back.

Something inside of Butcher mask's head clicked as he brought a hand to rest on her head appreciatively. He was starting to remember something before it fogged over and left his brain dazed once again.

On the other hand, the masked girl had back away and hissed as she held her throbbing head.

'What the hell is this?'

"You should really be more careful with knifes." Fretted a feminine voice.

'Is that my voice?'

"maa, you worry too much,

"and besides, you'll always be here to patch me up."

She steadied her breathing from her crouched position and turned to look up at Butcher mask, who was frozen and looking down at her with his hand still raised.

'A memory? Who was that other voice?'

"Did you see that just now?"

He shook his head 'no' slowly in response.

'ah, well on the bright side, he seems to be responding to me now.'

She stood up.

'It seems that I am or was connected to this person when I was human. I should try to formulate a plan to get through to him.'

Turning away, she said bluntly, "Alright, well I'm gonna get going. Hopefully, I'll see more of-"

Before she could finish, a hand gripped her shoulder. Butcher mask shook his head again.

"Huh, you wanna stick together?" She asked hopefully.

He nodded his head and gave a thumbs up.

"Sweet! Aw, man, it's been so depressing, wandering these halls all by my lonesome. You can call me..., Baker mask. And your name is...?"

Once again, a dense atmosphere ensued as Butcher mask stared dumbly at her.

"Er, sorry, I forgot."

"well, let me think. You have cleavers and gloves, not to mention that chef uniform...and I already ran into someone named Chef mask...How about 'Butcher mask'?"

He continued to stare at her, unmoving.

"...alright, it's decided. We should get moving. Let's stop by my room to get cleaned up and maybe figure some things out (like communication, for starters.)"

Before he could stare her down again, she started moving forward.

He stood in place before following.

'An ally'

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hello. thank you for reading this far.

I know it can be a bit annoying to have to read about a non canon character, but baker mask is needed to help as a backbone for our main character and the story.

that said, the next chapter will probably be a continuation of this background plot, but after that, I should be getting more into the beginning of the series (anime).

thank you for bearing with me!