Hey guys! So, this is the fic I've been working on for the Russiamerica LJ community's Fantasy event. :)

This was written for the Dark Fantasy weeks, and borrows heavily from the Slenderman mythos, and is inspired by GeminiStar01's fic "Slender."

There are a lot of warnings for this fic, including: noncon, tentacles, intense gore, and eventual character death. For this chapter, there's a bit of noncon, creepiness, and some tentacles, but nothing too extreme.

With that said, read on!

Ch 1: Alfred

It starts innocuously enough.

Alfred thinks it a prank, some stupid prank pulled by his floormates. Ever since last semester's Halloween party, his entire dorm building knew and liked to exploit his fear of ghosts and other supernatural creatures. From red dye painted on the mirrors to his so called "friends" hiding in his room with monster masks the pranks never seemed to let up.

So the first time he hears scratching on his window he just hides his head under his pillow, trying to stuff toilet paper in his ears, convinced it just some stupid prank that Gilbert or something other douchebag is trying to play to get a rise out of him. Probably eager to add to their collection of "Pussy Alfred" pictures on Facebook. He dismisses the initial creepy feeling as simply his own paranoia, something he would have to get over in order to eventually laugh in all his tormentor's faces, and maybe someday scare the shit out of the as well.

But soon enough Alfred starts to feel like he's being watched—when he walks home from class, when he eats by the window in the dining hall, even when he's sitting doing homework in his room with the curtains drawn. And he can't shake it, the growing feeling of dread that accompanies him everyday and keeps his head tucked into his pillow at night, refusing to look at his room and distort every odd shadow into something with claws and teeth and arms and eyes.

Soon, after a few days of feeling constantly on edge, Alfred begins to see things out of the corner of his eyes. Something that just barely slips out from behind a tree, something that perches on the roofs of the lecture halls, something that follows him.

One day, he catches sight of it. He's walking on the pathway to his English literature class, hands shoved lazily in his pockets, music playing loudly over the headphones plugged into his ears.

By chance, he glances up, eyes roving absentmindedly over the walkway ahead of him, when something on the wayside, amidst the trees lining the sidewalk, catches his eye.

It's the shadow—the shadow again, but this time it lingers a little longer in Alfred's eye of sight, just enough beyond a sliver behind one of the beech trees to be completely visible.

Alfred stopped in his tracks, eyes frozen on what was certainly a humanoid figure looking—or was it looking, Alfred couldn't see any eyes—directly at him.

He swallowed hard, unable to look away at what it was.

A suit, a blank face, shocks of silver-white hair falling over it.

And then it was gone, vanished right before Alfred's eyes as if it had melted into the surrounding beech trees.

Alfred lets out an embarrassing squeak as someone bumps into him from behind. Tears prick at his eyes as he whirls around, only to see Gilbert's tiger-like grin. He laughs at Alfred's panicked expression and the beginning wetness in his eyes, thumping him again on the back as Alfred casts down his eyes in embarrassment. But even as Gilbert slings an arm over his shoulders and distracts him from the brief bit of terror with colorful stories, Alfred can't kick the dread that looms up in him and makes him to afraid to cast a glance behind him to see again just what might be watching him.

The next few days drain Alfred both physically and mentally. He finds that he can't sleep most nights, and when he does, his rest is fitful and marred by specters that float out of the dark of dreams, their terrible blank faces haunting him until he wakes up with a terrified whimper and a cold sweat all over his body.

The worst part is that monster—if that was what it really was, a monster and not just a figment of his imagination—seems to grow with Alfred's own paranoia and fear. The more terrified Alfred becomes the more the monster appears, until every time Alfred whirls around to look behind him he's sees it in a glimpse before it dodges out of his view.

In the corner of his eyes it grows from a slip of shadows to a specter grown so tall that it rivals the trees, seemingly conscious of its own actions, of the way it follows Alfred, stalks him.

Alfred hates how he feels trapped, like an animal caught in a cage while its terrible faceless master pokes and prods and watches him.

But still, Alfred hopes, prays that this is all that the creature can do. That perhaps it's only the lack of sleep thats amped his paranoia and caused him to hallucinate such terrible things. Alfred can only hope that once the stress of freshman year dies down he will be able to sleep and rest his brain and eventually the terrible illusions will slow and stop.

Then, one night, Alfred's whispered hope is completely shattered.

It's darker than usual on the particular night, as Alfred walks out of an especially late evening class, yawning and stretching his limbs. His heavy bookbag sags on his shoulder as he begins to walk out into the brisk, windy air. And although he keeps his eyes trained onto the barely lit walkway out of fear of looking over his shoulder, Alfred can't deny the warm, happy feeling in his chest.

This is the night of the week were Alfred goes to stay with his twin brother, Matthew, who lives in an off-campus apartment close by to Alfred's late night class. Alfred couldn't help the little spring in his step as he thought of spending time with his brother—given that they didn't see each other much during the day due to their different schedules.

Even though Matthew was his twin, he was a year ahead of him in school. While Matthew had gone to college right after school, Alfred had decided to stay home and try to kick off his photography career. But as much as Alfred had wanted to deny that he was fine, he had missed his older twin. So Alfred had applied to the same school as Matthew the next year and, thankfully, had got in. Matthew had been excited as well, although he had insisted that Alfred live in one of the first year dorms instead of the small apartment, to keep both of them relatively sane.

The wind whistles a bit louder, starting Alfred out of thoughts of the midnight pancakes his brother would make and the comfort that came with being with his twin. Alfred shivered, pulling his jacket closer around himself. His eyes remain downcast, even as the distinct and familiar feeling of being watched from afar begins to overtake him again.

It's okay, Alfred, just—just ignore it, it's not real, not real, just keep walking, just ignore it's not real it's not—

Suddenly he feels something cold curls over his shoulder, brushing up against his bare neck, and he starts, eyes fixed on the floor. He hates the trembling in his hands as the frigid feeling grips like a hand, pricking up the sensitive hairs on the back of his neck. He gasps at the sudden pressure, and, heart thumping, whirls around.

He freezes.

The specter has come out of the shadows.

For the first time Alfred can see the thing for what it really is, exposed in all it's horrifying, real glory.

And he screams.

As he screams there's a change in the monster's face. The white fabric tears across like there's a black ballon expanding underneath except the spectre's face just split into some semblance of a tattered grin, leering at Alfred from across the pathway.

Alfred's entire body is trembling but at the same time he can't move, rooted to the spot, feet cemented into the sidewalk as he stares at the looming monster that can't be real, can't be real oh God this has to be a joke please—

The specter jerks, unnaturally twitching its limbs, and Alfred starts, hand coming up in front of his chest in reflex. He opens and closes his mouth uselessly as the creature's body looks to flicker and morph and change.

It's like the creature's arms are—extending, pulling in shadows across the sidewalk towards him.

It's too nightmarish to be real, too impossible to be standing before him. Alfred hopes he will wake up, that he will wake up in only a few minutes—or maybe Gilbert or Matthias will jump out from behind the trees and mock him and give him shit for being such a pussy—

He's only brought out of his locked position when something rushes past his cheek and cuts him.

Alfred claps a hand to the side of his face as the sharp pain stabs him, the realization coming in quick and hard that the thing was real, not a hallucination, and it was physical and could hurt him.

Kill him.

Alfred wishes he could scream again, but the blind terror of the creature's appearance and the reality of the painful wound on his face makes his throat close around a terrified whine.

The pain, though, manages to break him out of the trance and he turns away from the creature to run, making it a few steps before something grabs onto his ankle, twisting it and tripping him. Alfred cries out as he falls and smacks the ground ground chin cracking against the cement. His bag lands with a heavy thump and his textbooks slide out over the ground.

Alfred claws at the sidewalk, trying to pull himself back up on his feet even as he feels the monster drag him back, his shirt riding up and his skin scraping roughly against the ground.

He squirms and rolls over on his back—and his voice catches in horror in his throat.

The monster's face hovers right above him, scraggly bits of pale hair drooping over the blank face marred with the tear of a mouth, the rips dangling like jagged teeth and looking ready to bite and tear and kill. Against the darkness of the starry sky Alfred can see a swarm of shadowy appendages hovering over the monster, poised and—in Alfred's mind—ready to tear him to bits.

He feels something snake up his pant leg and he trembles against it, trying to kick out his legs to get it away, but its hopeless as he feels a slick appendage crawl under the fabric of his boxers.

He cringes and screams as the creature touches him between the legs, slipping in between the crack of his ass.

Alfred feels like he's about to vomit, clenching himself tight against the intrusion.

No, no no no this was sick, it was touching him there—

He shoves a hand into the creature's face in a desperate motion and is surprised to find something tangible—cold, frighteningly cold, but still there, capable of being damaged—

But the brief hope is crushed as the monster's mouth rips wider under Alfred's fingers and something long and thick rolls out of it through his hands, accompanied by a drool of dark liquid that drips onto Alfred's skin.

It's black and slick like a tongue as runs out over Alfred's face, and the boy shivers and sobs and chokes as it pushes past his lips and invades his mouth. He gags as the monster forces the appendage down into Alfred's throat, invasive and squirming and so so cold.

It's a mockery of a kiss and it suffocates Alfred, black goo pooling in his mouth and dribbling past his teeth as he struggles to breath through his nose. He feels the cold appendage throb in his throat as it penetrates deeper, just as he feels the tip of what could only be another extremity probing at his—he shuts his eyes tightly at the thought of the creature sticking inside his—

No, no no no no no he has to get away before the creature can defile him even more, before it does something worse-hurt him, rape him, kill him—

He does the only thing that he can think of doing and bites down, hard.

Something that sounds like a distorted scream over a crackled background of white noise, like a high pitched shriek pierces through Alfred's eardrums. The monster pulls back away from him and he gasps and chokes in pain as the thick tongue draws abruptly out of his throat. The grip on his ankle loosens and he gathers himself together enough to pull himself to his feet, untangling himself from his empty book bag. And before he can see if the monster has broken out of the shock of having its tongue bitten he is off running, ragged breath tearing in sobs from his lungs.

He recognizes some of the buildings around him through his blind terror and knows that he's close to his brother's apartment so he runs at a frenzied speed, hearing the rustling of the creature behind him still chasing after him.

The distant sight of Matthew's apartment building is a godsend, and Alfred pounds his feet on the cement as he races up the small flight of stairs to where the small door of his brother's apartment is. Alfred pounds desperately upon it, shrieking out his brother's name, too terrified to even look behind him to see how close the monster is. He jiggles the door handle, rattling the door against his frame, crying his eyes out and begging to be let into safety.

Finally he hears that gratifying click and the door swings open to reveal his brother, crumpled and disheveled, obviously just roused from either sleep or intense studying.

"Al—?"

He falls sobbing and screaming into his brother, clutching at him and shouting to close the door fuck Mattie close the fucking door and Matthew even through his shock knows something is wrong and quickly slams and locks the door behind his brother.

Alfred's quaking legs finally give out and he collapses to the floor, dragging his brother down with him. Matthew keeps a tight hold on him and he gently tries to lay them both down, both arms around his terrified brother, trying to pull him down from his hysteria. Alfred looks up at him, eyes bulging and tear-filled and Matthew's voice is caught because he's never seen his brother so outright terrified.

"M-Matt, Matt, I—I—he—s-something, something's—" Alfred's voice is ragged between sobs and heavy breaths and hiccups, barely able to string a coherent sentence together. Matthew draws his hands from around his quaking brother, cupping his chin with one with the other gently touches his head.

"It's okay, Alfred, Alfred, it's okay. What's happening? Is somebody—"

But then there's that tapping on the window and Alfred screams and hides his head in his brother's sweatshirt. When Matthew moves to get up to look at the window Alfred shrieks again and clings to him tighter, holding him down onto the floor.

"Al, what the hell-?"

"M-Mattie, don't, don't look-"

"Al," He winces at his brother's tight grip, patting at Alfred's side, "What is going on? S-should I call the police—?"

"No—"

Matthew seems to only noticed then and there the daub of red on Alfred's cheek. He touches his brother's face softly.

"A-Al, you're bleeding—"

Alfred bats away his brother's hand, cupping his own cheek and looking down away from Matthew's eyes. His other hand grips tighter at the sweatshirt around his brother's waist.

"It's not—it's not that—" but the stinging on his cheek only serves as a definite reminder of the way the creature had hurt him, the way it still can hurt him. His eyes begin to burn again, and he whines and buries his head back into his brother's chest. Matthew sighs, rubbing his brother's back, still worrying over what had possibly caused his twin to feel like this. Matthew wanted to call the police, or at least somebody, but he had no justification as long as he couldn't coax an answer out of Alfred.

After Alfred seems to calm down into his brother's hold, Matthew pulled away, hands on Alfred's shoulders as he tried to pull him up off the floor.

"Hey," He says quietly when Alfred tightens his grip on him, "Al, lets move you to the couch, okay? I'll make you something to drink, and you can just try to calm down."

Alfred stares at him for moment, almost as if he's wary of what his brother is saying, but finally nods and allows himself to be helped to his feet and guided over to the couch, where he sits curled up, squeezing his brother's hand before Matthew leaves for the kitchen.

Alfred huddles on the couch, grateful for once that the tapping has seemed to stop. He wont't risk looking out the window, though. He never wants to see its face again, not as long as he lives.

Soon, Matthew comes back with a mug of instant hot chocolate swimming with marshmallows, sitting next to his twin on the couch and gently handing the trembling boy the cup. Alfred sips the liquid, feeling the warmth that slides down his throat and banishes the freezing feeling that had found its way there from the creature's—

Alfred shudders, holding the mug to his chest and bowing his head. He gulps, the fear slowing coming back. He feels something soft on his back as his brother began to gently stroke him.

After a few moments of sitting in the dimly lit living room, rubbing his brother's back and watching him slowly sip at the cocoa, Matthew finally swallows the lump in his throat and spoke up.

"Al," He spoke quietly, continuing the soothing motion of his hand to keep his twin calm, "I know that you're scared. It's okay to be scared. But-I need to know what happened to you. I-If someone hurt you, then we need to tell someone."

Alfred freezes, his eyes once again going bright and wide. He sets down the mug on his brother's coffee table, shaking his head.

"N-no."

"Alfred, you have to tell me."

"I-I don't want to talk about it—"

"But Al—"

"No!"

He throws his hands over his knees and pulls his legs to his chest, hiding his face, his sobs coming back again. He just wants to feel safe, he doesn't want to think about the thing that had caused his pain and his terror. He just wants to be with his brother and be comforted and pretend that everything is going to be okay.

Matthew seems to understand, or at least relents under his brother's abject fear. He moved his hand to Alfred head, stroking his hair even as he let out a loud yawn. Even through his tears, it registered to Alfred that it was rather late, and that they would be having to go to sleep soon.

Normally, Alfred would sleep on the couch whenever he was at his brother's place, but after his ordeal he couldn't imagine being the slightest bit apart from his twin's comfort.

He pulls his head from his knees and stares up at his brother, face puffy read and pitifully stained with tears.

"P-Please, can't I just sleep with you?" His voice was very small, so much unlike his usual tone, "I just—I need to sleep."

Matthew ruffles his hand through his brother's hair, giving the shaken twin a small, sweet smile.

"Okay."

He helps Alfred to the small room attached to the living room, letting his twin sit on the bed as he rifles through his closet, as he had noticed that Alfred hadn't brought his bag

"Y'wanna borrow some pajamas, Al?"

His brother nods, and even gives him a little smile and a quiet thanks when Matthew passes him a overlarge T-shirt and a pair of blue pajama bottoms before looking back to search for his own clothing.

Alfred takes off his jeans, trying not to notice the black stains on his pants that were undoubtedly all over his boxers as well. He bites his lip, pulling on the pajama pants before Matthew could turn around and see. Dropping his old clothes to the floor, Alfred pulls up the comforter on Matthew's bed and crawls beneath it, pulling the blankets up to his chin and tightly shutting his eyes once Matthew clicks off the bedroom light.

The moment Matthew hits the bed Alfred moves over to his side, instantly wrapping his arms around his twin and pulling his head into Matthew's chest. The little muffled whine his normally boisterous brother sounds makes Matthew's heart sink into his stomach. He puts his hands on his brother's back, gently rubbing, trying to get Alfred to fall asleep and forget, for at least a few hours, whatever terrible incident he had been through.

"You're okay," He whispers, giving his brother a reassuring squeeze, "You're okay, Alfred. Don't be scared, everything is going to be okay."

Matthew hates the awful tremors in Alfred's body, wanting to know what exactly had hurt and terrified his brother so. But Alfred seems more fragile than usual, and Matthew is afraid that any pushing right now could break him.

He hears the window tapping again out in the living room, and makes a move to investigate, thinking his twin asleep, but Alfred instinctually tightens his grip and let out a whimper. Matthew relents, melting back into his brother's embrace and closing his own eyes as he continues to whisper.

Everything's going to be fine.

I hope you enjoyed it, despite the creepiness! :D