The Mercury Palace

Chapter 7: Feel My Wrath and Extreme Self-Doubt

Image Credits: Frosty_Latte

Magiano LaRue

-Narrator- 🫥

     The living room was fairly crowded when E.J. burst in, looking like he'd just run a marathon. He slammed the door closed behind him. "Where are the Mercurys? The duo is back from France!"

     Jeff looked up from the couch for a minute before going back to watching the TV. Silver and L.J. shot each other a look. L.J. grabbed Nilly and Silver from where the three of them had been chatting and teleported them away. Liu and Clockwork gave each other panicked glances before bolting towards the stairs. Kate, Masky, Hoodie, and Toby stood, their eyes trained on the closed door. Kagekao just gave the scene a curious look.

     Without warning the door burst open again. This time two people entered. The first was a guy that looked to be about Aiden's age, around 19 or 20. He entered like he was expecting applause. His amber eyes scanned the room, noting the lack of enthusiasm.

     "Oh come on! At least a little bit of joy would be fine," he retorted with his light French accent, raking his fingers through his raven hair and straightening his vest.

     "You should be used to this by now," the second person was obviously one of Slender's brothers.

     "I can hope, Offender, can't I?"

     "Sure, Magiano, sure. If they should be excited about anything it should be my return."

     "Hah! You wish!"

     As they were bickering, Aiden appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Hey, has anyone seen-"

     "Protect the Aiden!" Toby and Kate knocked him to the ground in a full-on secret-service-protect-the-president tackle.

     Magiano and Offender looked at each other. "New person?"

     "What the fuck you guys!" Aiden yelled as he struggled to get out from underneath Kate and Toby. "Get off of me!"

     A dark-gray dog padded out of the kitchen and sat at Magiano's feet, head cocked at the commotion.

     Nilly came bounding down the stairs amid the protests from Silver and L.J. who were following close behind.

     "Nilly!" Aiden wailed. "Help me!"

     She took one look at the situation and shook her head. "Nope. You're on your own there."

     "What did I ever do to you?!" He complained, rolling from under the two and jumping to his feet, attempting to hide behind Nilly.

     Magiano's eyes got wide. "There's two?"

-Nilly- 🥀

     "'Scuse me?" I raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

     "She talked to me!" He dramatically pretended to faint into Offender's arms. The room filled with a chorus of almost everyone facepalming in unison.

     Masky sighed and looked like he was going to say something but was cut off when Offender disappeared and reappeared in front of me.

     "Hey!" Magiano yelped as he crashed to the ground.

     "I'm Slender's brother, Offender," he said as he offered me a rose. I hesitated for a second before wearily taking it. He smiled and tipped his hat. "You must be Nilly, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."