Being Friends With The Slenderman

VI

Slender had just arrived outside his home when he heard the shouting. He teleported inside the small cabin, his apendages already emerging from his back as he prepared to defend himself, or decapitate anything that dare step foot on his territory.

The tall man was looking around, relying on his senses to tell him where the intruder was when a weight latched onto his legs. "Slender!" Slender tensed up and looked down at the small child clinging onto his left leg who was showing pearly white teeth to him in a wide grin. "You're back!" 

Slender patted the childs back in confusion as he crouched down to reach eye level with Erica. "Of course I'm back, Little One, where is Splendor?" The little girl giggled and pointed behind him where Splendor stood, looking like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, his arms were extended and were poised on either side of Slenders waist, where he would more likely be 'ticklish'. "Splendor, what do you think you're doing?" The tall man with a wide grin dropped his hands and walked around to the child.

"We were playing, Slender!" Slender cocked his head in bewilderment, 

"Playing?" his tone was dubious, "What is... playing?" The older brother straightened his spotted bowtie and crouched to pick the child up, 

"Honestly Slender, if you'd have joined in with me and Trender when we were young ourselves, you would know. We were entertaining ourselves." The Slenderman raised his brow at his older sibling as he straightened out of his crouch, looking down at the joyful Splendor. 

"Well I do wish you wouldn't act so childish, Splendor. Honestly, you're milennia's old, how much longer must I have to treat you like an infant?" Splendor stood at his full height and dropped his grin, holding the girl in his arms behind himself in hopes of keeping her safe if Slender got pushed too far. The two blocked off their conversation from the mind of the child as their conversation became more intense.

"Do not patronize me Slender, we have both been through difficult times, do not act like you are in a unique situation. If you must know I'm trying to keep the child distracted, it's only a matter of time before she realizes something is wrong. We don't eat normally, we don't sleep - we're clearly not human, how long do you think it will take a child with a brain like hers to figure it out?" The older one inclined his head slightly, challenging the younger brother to contradict him. 

"Do not dare challenge me, Splendor. I have inflicted pain upon many more than just you, do not make yourself a target." He walked closer to the once cheerful man, "If you think your company would be more beneficial to the child, take her with you, I'm sure she would not protest." 

Slender was beside himself with fury. This was the reason he had not arranged to meet Splendor in the past hundred or so years, he managed to infuriate Slender within minutes of walking into his own home. How dare he challenge Slender in his own territory, they may be brothers, but if Slender is threatened, he had a tendency to act before thinking. 

"Slender, do not be irrational. Think. This child is homeless because of you. Now how would she feel if she found you were the cause of her parents deaths?" 

"You can hardly call where she came from a home, Splendor. I was raised better myself. We were raised better." Splendor inwardly smiled to himself, his words had punctured through Slenders exterior, scraping the remains of what would be his heart. He wouldn't allow Splendor to take the child now, he was too attached, whether he wanted it or not. "I will keep the child. But she will be needing nourishment. I have no human food." 

"Leave it to me, brother. I'll return shortly."  Slender nodded once and accepted the child from Splendor as he watched him dissapear from view.

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Moments later, Splendor returned to his brothers home and slid soundlessly through the door. He'd  managed to... borrow a few things from a human food store on the outskirts of the forest. He wandered into the "lounge" area of the shack and found the child with her legs hanging over the back of the seat and her head hanging off of the seat. "Child... what on earth are you doing?" 

Ericas eyes flicked over to Splendor then resumed staring at a shadowed corner of the room. Splendor furrowed his brow as his smile drooped slightly. "Slender hasn't moved in a while." Ah, so that's what she was preoccupied with.

"He's resting, child. It takes it out on him, restraining himself." The child righted herself and turned to face Splendor fully, tilting her head to the side. 

"Restraining himself?" Splendor hid his surprise at her being able to understand him and seated himself beside her, awkwardly folding his long legs beneath him. "What from?"

Here Splendor hesitated. He didn't want the child to live in fear of Slender, especially seeing how protective Slender had gotten over her. "From... harming people. People he cares about." The girl nodded and dropped the topic.

Splendor regained his smile and handed the girl the items he'd taken. She looked up to him with a confused look on her face. "...For me? B-but... why?" Splendor grinned wider at Erica and opened up one of the boxes that held packaged sandwiches and packets of dried fruit. It wasn't the best thing for a child, but it would sustain her. He placed a packet in her hand as she mumbled a "Thank you."

Splendor watched the child smile shyly at him as she opened the sandwich he handed her before taking the box and placing it on the cabinet behind them. "So, Erica, tell me a little bit about yourself." 

Erica looked at him, seemingly slightly alarmed that he wanted to talk. "What do you want to know?"

"Did you have any friends at home?" Erica thought for a little while before slowly nodding her head,

"I think I did, Mommy used to take me to her friends houses and they had a little girl like me but she was bigger than me and her Mommy treated her like Mommy treated me." So she was friends with another child like herself.

"What about school? Did you make friends there?" She shook her head and smiled sadly up at Splendors face,

"Mommy said I wasn't good enough for school... She said they would make fun of me for not being smart enough." Splendor felt his fists tighten at the mention of this. No wonder the child was being so withdrawn and quiet; her mother taught her she wasn't smart enough to be around other people. The nerve of the woman, for the first time in Splendors life, he was glad Slender had murdered this woman. He could only hope he made her suffer.

Splendor began to reassure the child that she was in fact far too smart to be in school when a long fingered hand was placed upon the childs shoulder, "You are far better than what your mother said, she didn't deserve to be blessed with someone as good as you, Erica." The small girl looked up at Slender and her eyes watered slightly

"You...you mean it?" Slender picked up the child and settled her on his hip, holding her close despite the fact he was trying to ignore the instinct telling him where her weakspots were to strike. He stroked her hair in a calming manner and lowered his head to her ear.

"I mean it, Little One."