Chapter Text
Liu had been waiting for this moment for the last few years. Dreaming about it for the last few months. Savoring it for the last two weeks. And finally, after so many deaths, so many searches, so much shit to endure, today he would see Jeff.
Today would be the perfect opportunity to kill him once and for all, avenging his parents and stopping the ongoing massacre of that son of a bitch who once was his brother.
Knowing he shared blood with someone like Jeff made him sick. Maybe that’s why they ended up the way they did. Like two broken killers, two bastards abandoned to their luck in a world that wanted to devour them alive.
Only it wasn’t that. Jeff had always been a maniac and a weird idiot. Burning himself alive only brought out his worst pathologies, but there was no way something as dark and sinister as the forest stretching before him hadn’t been brewing inside Jeff long before.
Speaking of forests, Liu stopped in the middle of the path for a moment. There were several fallen leaves on the ground at the foot of a tree, and when he looked up, he found an arrow drawn on a sheet of paper.
The stroke was messy and rushed, as if someone had made it in desperation before pinning it to a tree in the middle of the woods.
Without thinking too much, he continued his walk down that path. Nothing could surprise him anymore in this forest.
No. Better said, nothing could surprise him anymore after that demon, Zalgo, had appeared before him to offer that deal.
It seemed like a fair deal.
Kill people in exchange for finding Jeff. He hadn’t even thought it over much. He would’ve given anything to kill Jeff. His life had been shit long before his fiancée’s death. Jeff had taken away everything that once gave him enough joy to keep living.
It sickened him to think that Jeff had once been part of the small group of people who brought him joy to live. So Liu shoved those memories deep down in his mind and focused instead on that cabin—more like a mansion—settled in a clearing in the middle of the forest.
Liu felt his heart begin to pound hard inside his chest. Heat and excitement buzzed through his body. He could almost feel Jeff’s warm, sticky, thick blood on his hands. The idea thrilled him—he could almost taste it.
But it wasn’t time yet. Too many things could go wrong if he let himself be carried away by anger. He hadn’t even reached the house yet, much less located Jeff. So he forced himself to calm down and look straight ahead.
He almost stepped back at the sight of the figures standing in front of the house. A tall, faceless man in a black suit. A guy in a black ski mask with a sad expression, a dark yellow hoodie and blue jeans. Another guy—who couldn’t be much older than Liu—wearing black pants, a mostly dark jacket with ash-colored line details, a lower half mask like a firefighter’s, and most striking of all, an axe strapped to his back.
Liu didn’t let himself be intimidated (though seeing the faceless white man had rattled him), and he walked until he was standing before them, finally stepping onto the mansion’s grounds.
“Homicidal Liu,” began the tall man. His voice was distorted and strange—Liu almost grimaced at the sound of it. His name spoken by that thing sounded confusing and wrong. “It’s a pleasure to have you here. I am Slenderman,” he continued calmly.
Liu nodded slowly, analyzing the name. “Well, you already know mine,” he said dryly.
To his right, the young man (who Liu noticed was making small odd movements out of nowhere) looked strangely cheerful while whispering something to the guy in the orange hoodie. Liu didn’t give them more attention and turned his gaze back to Slenderman.
“If you follow me, we’ll show you the house and the others who live here,” assured the creature as it turned to enter. Liu followed him inside, the other two trailing after.
The house looked old, but elegant. A bit messy, but nothing outrageous—just enough to show people actually lived there. In fact, it was much more than he expected, considering it was a house full of killers and psychopaths.
“You already know Tobby and Hoodie,” said Slenderman as they entered what seemed to be a living room, judging by the sofa in the center, where another guy was sitting. Liu glanced again at the other two. “The kid with the axe is Ticci Tobby. The other is Hoodie,” he added simply. Liu mentally thanked him for clarifying.
When he looked back to the front, he focused on the man on the sofa. He was a creature like Slenderman—or at least looked like one, with a blue mask from which thick, black tears dripped. He was dressed entirely in black, and his masked face turned toward them as they entered.
“This one here is Jack. Eyeless Jack,” said Slenderman calmly.
Jack stood up energetically, quickly approaching the group.
“Is this the new one, Slendy?” he asked happily, which was surprising given his appearance.
“Yeah,” said Tobby cheerfully, speaking before Slenderman could answer. “It’s him. Should I call the others?” he asked, stepping in front of Liu to stop next to Jack, tilting his head at Slenderman (and twitching slightly as he moved, which Liu completely ignored).
“Yes, tell them to come to the living room,” Slenderman said simply. Hoodie and Tobby both left calmly, climbing the creaking stairs.
Left alone again with Jack and Slenderman, Liu glanced around with his hands in his pockets, just to make sure his knife was still there. He squeezed it lightly when he found it, holding its cold length to calm his anxiety.
“I’ll give you the tour after the introductions, uh…” Jack said, trying to start some conversation, but stopped when he realized he didn’t know the newcomer’s name.
“Liu,” he said quickly, stepping forward with an extended hand for a more formal introduction, which Jack accepted immediately. “Homicidal Liu,” he finished, giving his new name—fair enough, since Jack had done the same.
Jack froze for a moment, holding his hand longer than expected, staring at Liu as if he’d just told him he killed his dog.
“Liu? You wouldn’t happen to be—” Before Jack could continue, a new figure appeared in the room, thrown to the floor by Hoodie.
“Hey!” yelled the blond teenager crying blood, holding a video game console in his hands.
Liu tensed for a moment until he realized the kid wasn’t injured or anything like that—he was just… permanently bleeding, or something.
“That’s Ben,” said Slenderman in a tone that reminded Liu of his father after scolding him and Jeff one afternoon when they’d been particularly annoying during a move.
That tired, resigned tone of his father had always irritated Liu while also making him feel guilty. But in this moment, it only gave him chills and fueled his hatred toward Jeff even more.
“He’s a lover of video games.” A female voice called his attention, pulling him back to reality.
This time, he truly took a step back at the sight of the girl in front of him. Memories of that night swirled in his mind at the sight of her slit smile, pale skin, and clearly burned black hair. She looked like Jeff—only in a red skirt and purple sweater.
Without realizing it, his hand was in his pocket again, clutching his knife like a hidden savior.
The girl looked at him and somehow smiled wider. “A pleasure, Liu,” she said lazily as she dropped onto the couch. “I’m Nina.”
Ben plopped down beside her, still huffing as he tried to play on his console. Hoodie sighed and sat on the arm of the sofa.
Noise came from the doorway, where Tobby entered with a little girl perched on his shoulders.
The girl looked at him happily, as if he’d just given her a new toy or offered her ice cream.
“Hi! I’m Sally and we’re going to eat pancakes! Do you want some?” she asked brightly. But Liu didn’t get a chance to answer as Tobby kept walking into what Liu assumed was the kitchen. The girl’s laughter mixed with Tobby’s filled the room for a few seconds, then faded into echoes, leaving Liu more unsettled than he expected.
Zalgo had said there were people of all kinds and ages. But he’d never believed there’d literally be a child here.
He really thought the teenagers were young enough. He hadn’t expected someone younger than that. Honestly, it left a bad taste in his mouth.
What had they done to that girl to end up like this? Worse, what had they done to all of them to end up like this?
“Where are the others?” asked Slenderman, snapping Liu out of his thoughts. Was there really more people here?
“Jane and Masky left last night after the fight,” said Hoodie in a deep, calm voice. Liu distractedly noted it was the first time he’d heard him speak. “No idea where Laughing is. And Jeff said he was on his way.”
Everything else disappeared instantly at the mention of that name. Jeff was here. Zalgo hadn’t lied. He would definitely kill anyone Zalgo asked him to.
Footsteps echoed on the stairs, followed by groans and curses from a voice Liu recognized instantly.
His hand slid to his knife. His body moved almost ethereally toward the living room entrance. His mind flew back to that moment years ago, his own gut-wrenching screams echoing in his ears.
“What’s with all the noise?” Jeff complained as he stood before Liu.
He recognized him. Of course he did. Liu saw it in the way Jeff’s eyes scanned him up and down until they settled on the carved smile on his face.
“Oh, you’re already here, Liu,” Jeff said simply and… and that was enough. That was all Liu needed to surge forward, knife raised, and plunge it into the neck of the boy who once had been his brother.
Blood spurted in bursts, staining the walls and floor as Jeff fell. Liu climbed over him, ignoring the screams and protests around him, stabbing again and again into the bastard’s cold body beneath him.
Slowly, Liu stilled. His arm lowered softly, dropping the knife to his side. Hot blood stained his face and hands, sticking disgustingly to his skin.
But none of that mattered. Not when Jeff’s lifeless body lay beneath him. Not when his parents could finally rest in peace. Not when, finally—finally—the boy who had once been his brother could rest too, knowing that the monster who’d stolen his body was dead.
Now he could live in peace. He could just run out into the forest and put a bullet in his head. He could go to some forgotten town where no one knew him, start a new life. Now he could—
His thoughts shattered when a knife brutally stabbed into his neck.
His eyes widened, his hands instinctively clutching his throat, trying to stop the blood.
His gaze locked on the body beneath him—the one that had been dead a moment ago—and his eyes widened further. Jeff was the one driving the knife into his neck, grinning with that familiar smile, eyes gleaming with a bloodthirst that begged for more. The angle of the light even made them look blood red as Jeff lunged forward, ripping the knife free from his neck, letting Liu bleed out.
Nothing had worked. Nothing had been worth it. Nothing could stop that beast that was Jeff the Killer.
His parents wouldn’t be avenged now that Liu would surely die. Liu himself wouldn’t be avenged. The old Jeff would never be avenged.
Liu closed his eyes, resigned to fully embrace death, longing to be reunited with his beloved fiancée and parents.
Maybe even with the ghost of little Jeff Woods.
Only… that moment never came. Instead, Liu suddenly sat back on the blood-soaked floor, gasping deeply, trembling like hell.
A mad, unhinged laugh tore through the room, catching his attention. His eyes locked with Jeff’s, who sat on the floor before him, grinning like a maniac.
The wounds on Jeff’s chest and neck were closing right before Liu’s eyes. It was both hypnotic and disgusting to watch the flesh knit itself back together until it was almost intact again, only faint pink marks left on his porcelain-white skin.
Liu felt like he was going to vomit right there.
A deep sigh filled the room. Liu didn’t even have the strength to look at Slenderman, but he focused on his words—they were the most “normal” thing here, which was saying a lot.
“Rule number one: members of the house are strictly forbidden from attacking one another. If they do, they will be brought back to life by their contract with Zalgo,” Slenderman said heavily, moving to help Jeff to his feet. “When will the day come that someone doesn’t try to kill you the first time they arrive?”
He grumbled as he looked at the holes in Jeff’s torn clothes.
“Sorry, Slendy. I should’ve introduced him first,” said Jeff, wiping his face with the remnants of his shredded shirt. “This is Liu Woods,” he added cheerfully, turning to Liu as if it were the funniest thing in the world. “My big brother.”
A collective gasp filled the room in an instant.
And Liu… Liu finally understood that Zalgo had never said he could kill Jeff. No. That demon had only spoken of finding him.
Shit. So this is what being scammed feels like?