Note: Edit: I know it seems a little mercurial, but I've spent the last few weeks evaluating my decision on "Aiden/Aidan" vs. "Adrian". I finally got around to hearing the name and "feeling" the name. I wrote it out by hand a few times. In the end, "Aiden/Aidan" never seemed really right, but even after 100 repetitions, "Adrian" still fit.
AN: Hey, I'm sorry I sounded kind of snarky in my last AN, but in my defense, it was a really… really long week.
Some days are slow, some days are fast-
And still most days I want to kick Einstein's sorry ass for ever saying 'time is relative'. Reading for half an hour turns into a whole three hours while my hour-and-a-half lecture on thermodynamics seems to last all afternoon.
Sometimes I honestly wonder if the Physics Department managed to break the time-space continuum around campus and didn't tell anybody about it.
It does make you wonder what happened to Professor Lutece…
I don't own Harry Potter.
-Crow
P.S. Happy Anniversary to the Fic! 4/25/2016
Harry descended down the rope into the dark chasm almost a full mile beneath the earth. It was pitch black outside of a tiny beam that followed his face. His only source of light was a bright bulb on a hard hat. His blue-gray jumpsuit was caked in light reddish-brown clay and mud as he'd spent the last few hours sliding along the floor, walking through the caves, or descending on ropes like this one.
It was a little-known cave system out in Washington State. The entrance was well hidden and under a protected forest preserve. That was mostly good fortune on the Americans' part that they cordoned off this entire location for a preserve. Any major construction here would've resulted in massive casualties.
The area was populated by small, thin gremlin-like creatures that liked to live underground. Slendy said they resembled a population in Europe from the reports of survivors. These reports just started up last spring and he'd been sent on a solo-mission to examine the area and these creatures.
The ones in Europe had a habit of finding hikers, campers, or wanderers and dragging them into their lair as a welcome change in diet from cave bats and the occasional deer. Unfortunately, that posed a problem to the secrecy of the Underrealm and they needed to be negotiated with. In exchange, they'd get regular shipments of goat meat or controlled portions of human meat.
Slendy taught him the ins and outs of this. He considered himself quite the diplomat.
"SHIIIITTT!"
Harry pulled out a flare and it immediately erupted in bright red sparks. He waved it behind him at the crowd of hungry, little gremlins. The creatures' sensitive eyes were in agony over the relatively bright flare light.
They looked like emaciated, little elves with longer bones and sharp claws. They had no hair on them at all and crude loincloths barely covering themselves. Their eyes were enormous and a cloudy white without any hint of a pupil and reflected light like a mirror.
To think, he thought these things were cool!
*Flashback*
Harry entered a large chamber of the cavern. A few beautiful crystal formations stuck out at odd angles, but most of the cavern was partially flooded, leaving bare, patchy islands of muddy land. He waved his flashlight around the cavern.
*skitter*
He quickly turned around, aiming the beam with him. The bright circle of light landed on a pale creature which shrieked in surprise and pain before scuttling behind a stalagmite and shielding its eyes. Harry turned off the lamp and instead took out a small tube. He cracked the tiny glass vial inside and shook the chemicals, making it glow a faint blue.
It took some time for his eyes to adjust and in that time, the creature also cautiously poked its head from behind the shelter of the rock formation.
When it fully came out, Harry was ecstatic to see it looked almost exactly like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Right down to a creepy, phlegmmy cough on occasion.
Harry licked his lips, "Hello?" His soft voice echoed in the chamber. The creature seemed to regard him carefully. "I come in peace?" He tried again.
The creature simply stared at the young boy, tilting its head slightly. It made a gooey hacking sound and despite cringing, Harry almost distinctly heard a 'gol-lum' sound to it. He smirked, unable to resist. "It cannot be seen, cannot be felt; cannot be heard, cannot be smelt; it lies behind stars and under hills and empty holes it fills; it comes first and follows after; ends life and kills laughter."
The creature just made a few clucking sounds in the back of its throat still staring at the young human in front of it.
Suddenly, it lunged straight at him. Harry dodged and the pale figure went flying into a puddle before skittering to right itself and turn back with a displeased scowl exposing its few, but very sharp teeth. He had to dodge another swipe with its long claws.
Harry loudly proclaimed, "I'm here on behalf of the Council of the Underrealm. Please cooperate under the Treaty of- oh jeez!" He ducked as the thing found a decently-sized rock to chuck at his head. "Okay, so…"
He heard skittering from behind him and twisted just in time to jump out of the way of a second creature's attack, aiming to impale his organs from behind. The other gremlin, upset about missing, scuttled over to the first and glared him down with lamp-like eyes.
Like termites out of woodwork, five more Gollum-creatures crawled out from behind the rock formations or from hidden caves.
Harry remembered the first encounter with these beings and quickly turned on his small headlamp. The reaction was instantaneous. The second any of the creatures were hit by the beam or even near the beam, the scrambled to get away from it, covering their eyes. By then, he'd made a pretty good circle of safety around himself and was backing towards the exit.
Harry gave a soft chuckle, "You didn't even try to answer my riddle. The answer was-"
*bz*
*bz-bzt*
His lamplight flickered and began dimming. He shook it and tapped it against his palm, but it only succeeded in making it dimmer.
The creatures seemed to sense his agitation and slowly approached closer, fearing the steadily dimming light less and less.
"…darkness…"
*bzt-ch!*
The lamp died out.
He tossed another blazing flare down in their path and quickly lit another, running in the opposite direction. He reached to his side and pulled out a grappling gun. He checked around, confirming the gremlins' scuttling was still far enough away.
He aimed the three-pronged hook at the top of the ledge, for a particular stalagmite. The hook shot out of the end and managed to latch onto the rock formation. A few quick tugs confirmed that it would hold. He hazarded a glance backwards, the miniature Gollum creatures were starting to gather speed, their lamp-like eyes reflecting his flare light.
He pressed a button on the gun and the retracting mechanism made a whirring noise as the slack in the rope was pulled in. He felt a jerk on his arm and was grateful for his strong grip.
"Farewell, Smeagol! Good luck catching this 'tricksy hobbitses'!" He did his best impression towards the end as his voice echoed in the expanse with his laughter as the angry little gremlins jumped around, chattering incoherently at the spot where he used to be.
Harry eventually made it to the top. The hook unlatched from the spot and spun back into the gun. He slowly caught his breath and dusted himself off.
"Well, that went-"
*clatter*
…
*skitter*
…
He pulled out another flare from his pocket.
He pulled off the white cap and ignited the stick.
Around him were fifty or so gremlins crawling on the walls like dwarven, pale, practically-naked spidermen. Their lamp-like eyes hungrily reflecting off of the red glow.
…
He finally crawled out of the hole in the ground, gasping and panting for air. His sleeve got torn, but it didn't go through. The rest of his suit was largely intact save for some scrapes and cuts. He lost the grappling gun in the abyss at one point, so Slendy wouldn't be too happy about that one.
Still, the blinding light of the afternoon September sun was welcome and he just lay in the middle of the grassy clearing concealing the entrance, just enjoying the sun after hours of being stuck underground.
He could hear the faint squeals of the creatures still echoing below, but even within 20 yards of the entrance was too painful for their eyes. They never risked a daytime adventure, they'd be blinded.
He stood up from his resting spot and trudged through the tall grass, feeling the buzzing pull of the Operator Symbol. Eventually he made it to a small stone outcrop and walked around until he found the familiar symbol etched deeply into the rock under some moss.
He pressed against it and felt the wooshing sensation of Slender-Port. Within seconds the pine woods of the Pacific Northwest were replaced with the deciduous woods of New York and the small, raised dais in the center. Harry trudged along the paths back to the manor, already missing the sun in the night time-zone shift.
Opening the back door, he called out. "I'm home!"
The raven-haired 10-year-old shrugged off his muddy pack in an alcove in the mud room. He'd clean it off and sort through the contents later. Right now, he just needed to report to Slendy, take a shower, eat something that wasn't a protein bar, and sleep until October.
He pulled off the muddy jumpsuit and boots, too, walking around in some old jeans and an old t-shirt. "Slendy?"
"I'm in the dining room."
He walked in the room and saw Slenderman sitting at the table with a new face he hadn't met before. The guy was probably around 12 or 13 and was concentrating angrily on a sugar cube placed on the table. Harry briefly contemplated just what exactly the cube of glucose could have said/done to deserve that intense stare.
"Hey, Slendy, I'm here to report." He said calmly, still glancing at the newcomer and the cube.
"Very well. Begin."
"My assignment was to investigate and possibly negotiate with the gremlins of a Washington State cave system due to a few reports of campers and hikers mysteriously disappearing in the area this past summer.
"In my investigation, I discovered that they had recently been woken up from a hibernation state in the depths of the cave due to global warming heating a mountain's ice cap and causing the hibernation chamber to flood, triggering their revival." Harry informed.
Slenderman nodded. "I see. Were they receptive to negotiations?"
"Let's just say negotiations broke down due to lack of food. And after 3000 years or so, I looked pretty tasty."
"Hmm. The European gremlins were much more civilized. I didn't realize these would be so aggressive."
"Don't worry, it was nothing I couldn't handle." Harry assured the entity. "Anyway, from what you reported, I think these are a pre-evolved or under-evolved variation of the species compared to the European version, considering they've been in hibernation so long. They didn't talk, so much as chatter or screech. They were extremely sensitive to light, though. I used a lot of flares… I, er, also lost a grappling hook gun. Sorry."
"And that will come out of your allowance." Slendy replied calmly, motioning for him to continue despite Harry's groan.
"Eventually, I managed to get out but angered a nest of what must've been at least 150 of them." Harry informed his guardian.
The faceless being mulled over the information, nodding. "I will send out some people to possibly render them unconscious. Possibly by flooding the caves with a mild tranquilizer gas. Then, we will see about moving their hibernation chamber and cooling it down or exterminating them as a threat."
Harry nodded. These things were aggressive and the preserve wasn't too far away from a couple of towns. Bad things happen when the less-conserved/concealed creatures ran amok.
"Anyway, Harry, allow me to introduce Nikolaus." The being gestured a pale hand towards the teen who had looked up from his sugar cube, eyebrows in his blonde hairline.
"Wait, you're a kid!" He exclaimed. Harry felt a tic above his eyebrow.
"I'm 10, thank you very much, and I'm perfectly capable of being on my own." Harry replied curtly.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," The other replied, "I meant, it's surprising that you're dealing with those things. They didn't seem friendly."
Harry's mouth quirked. "Well, as I said, I'm perfectly capable of being on my own."
"Sorry. Um… So, yeah, my name's Nikolaus Brahm, without a "c" and with a "u" and "k", but just call me Nick… with a "c" and "k"."
Harry blinked, putting together the name in his head before nodding. "Okay, Nick; name's Harry. Harry Potter."
"Cool. So… you're British…"
"Yes. I keep the accent. I like it." Harry answered. "I've picked up some American "slang" and habits, but overall it's still proper English."
Nick nodded, but then froze and scrutinized him up and down. "Wait a minute. Are you even human?" He asked warily. "I mean, you look like a kid, but you just took on something called a gremlin or goblin or something and, I mean, Mr. Slenderman isn't exactly human, is he?"
Harry raised an eyebrow and glanced at his guardian. "Nikolaus has been with us for a few hours, Harry, so he's still adjusting." Slendy explained. Harry nodded and confirmed to Nick that he was, in fact, human.
"Wow, three new people in just a week. That's different." Harry commented. Seeing Nick's silent question, he explained. "I was the last person brought to the mansion and that was… almost three years ago now."
"Wow, so you really don't get a lot of new people, do you?" Harry shook his head. "Who are the others?"
"Well, there's Shiloh who arrived about five or six days ago. She's staying in her room for the time being, getting up to speed with the world. She's been isolated her entire existence. The other is Adrian who arrived just yesterday, actually. The last, of course, is yourself." Slender counted off.
Harry glanced at the boy and grinned, "So, how many people have you met thus far?"
Nick shrugged. "Just Slenderman and you so far. Why?"
"Well, just brace yourself. There are a lot of other people who aren't exactly human… anymore." He said, sending a silent prayer to the Creator for somebody- anybody- to walk in right now.
"Hello, Slendy."
He sent up a tiny 'thank you' as Sally walked in, bear in hand and blood smeared on her face. Nick yelped and scrambled in his seat, resulting in him toppling the chair over and groaning on the floor. He blinked away the confusion and stared worriedly at Sally.
"Is she alright?!" Sally just tilted her head quizzically. "I mean, she's dripping blood and, oh my God, her head's caved in!"
Harry snickered quietly at Sally's indignant pout. "Don't be angry, Sally, he literally just got here. It's alright, Sally's dead. She's a ghost… kind of. The blood's normal."
"Oh… I take it she's an example of the less-than-human ones?" Sally's eyes glowed green as she glared angrily. He had the decency to look embarrassed. "Sorry about that. Er… um… I can relate. I guess I'm dead too."
Sally's eyes stopped glowing and widened. Nick nodded. "It's true. One minute, I'm living life normally, the next I wake up in my coffin and crawl to the surface with no pulse. But… I'm still in my body… so, I guess I'm a zombie?"
Harry snickered. "No, you're not. At least I don't think you are. Believe me, when we deal with zombies, there's a lot that you don't have; unless you've acquired a recent craving for human flesh?"
"Not that I know of…" He trailed off uncertainly, running his hand over the back of his head. His other hand twitched back from a small colony of ants scuttling across the table.
"Ah, excellent, now we can continue." Slenderman spoke. "Now, please concentrate on the ants."
Harry and Sally pulled up a chair, watching the young teen staring at the ants. Harry thought he looked rather constipated, causing him to barely suppress a sudden snort of laughter. Though, they both were stunned as the ants began moving in perfectly coordinated motions.
About five or so surrounded the sugar cube while the other ten formed markers for a path for them going up to a small cup of tea. Slowly, the ants lifted the cube as one and began walking in the direction of the "road". Nick grimaced as a few centimeters in, the ants veered off course and "smashed through the wall" between two ants. He twitched, trying to get the ants back on track, but only succeeded in making the rest confused and scattering randomly across the table.
With a huff, he sat back in his chair, the ants scurrying back into a more natural formation. "It's hopeless." He muttered angrily.
"Don't despair. You did well with the cockroaches. I believe it may be too many minds to focus on at once." Slender replied. "It's all about control. Requesting the ants to do something and letting them work around towards making it happen. After that, it's just fine-tuning and shaping their coordination towards the final result."
Nick nodded, staring up at the ceiling, gathering his thoughts.
"So, Slendy, he said he was dead, is he? He seems really alive." Harry commented.
The entity hummed in thought, drawing the attention of Nick as well. "Well, I suppose he's neither. Or rather both. He puts the cat to shame as I believe he is both dead and alive."
"Suck it Schrodinger." Harry murmured.
"Though, yes, he is not "alive" by medical terminology. In fact, by all standpoints he's very, very dead. However, he is still "alive" in that his essence or soul is still stuck in there and his body is still "functioning" on some degree."
Nick frowned. "Wait, what do you mean, my body is still functioning?"
"Well, your heart is stopped. Your digestive system is probably dysfunctional was well. E.J. confirmed you don't have traditional neurological activity. However, you do have your original soul inhabiting your body and your body still shows signs of metabolism, albeit weak, so it doesn't look like your body is going to putrefy any time soon."
"So… I'm a ghost puppeteering my own body? I'm just controlling my old meat bag body, hoping it doesn't rot on me?"
"Crudely put, but yes, in essence that is what you are. However, I don't believe you need to worry about rot. Yes, perhaps some anti-fungal cream and maybe an antibiotic or two will help, but from the tests we can say that your body will sustain itself well enough."
Nick leaned further back in his chair, his eyes vacant as he took all of this in. Harry took the cue to leave. "Hey, Slendy, I'm going to go upstairs. Come on, Sally." He gestured for the ghostly eight-year-old who nodded and scampered upstairs to her room.
Harry headed down the hallways towards his room. Over the years, it hadn't changed all that much. His furniture was the same as everyone else's, though he had a large bookcase in the corner filled with texts from E.J. as well as fiction books of any genre and sheet music ranging from Adagio to Zauberflote, Bach to Webern, Symphony to Sonata. Slender had allowed him to cultivate a passion for piano in his spare time, though it wasn't as exciting with the limited duet options he had around him.
Laughing Jack was brilliant at the accordion and Jeff was a master with en electric guitar, but Jack's corny tunes and Jeff's heavy metal style didn't accompany classical piano too well.
Against a wall opposite his bed was a region filled with numerous pockmarks around a darboard. It was currently sporting several standard darts, a sharpened pencil, a couple throwing knives, and even one of his dissection scalpels to try to imitate Eyeless Jack's technique.
"Pika Pi!"
His attention was brought up to a cat perch assembly in the corner of the room where BRVR was currently hopping out of his spinning, larger-than-normal hamster-wheel. They were still confused what species he really classified as. His overall appearance was pretty feline as was his tendency to purr and hiss (outside of stating bits of his own name), however he would still munch on things with his forepaws, enjoyed running on a free-spinning wheel for exercise, and Toshio confirmed that the creator of Pokemon specifically classified him as "the electric mouse".
Plus, his diet varied between peaches, fruits, and seeds to bloody, raw meats and organs.
"Hello, BRVR." He said cheerfully, gathering some fresh clothes for the shower. The small electric-type nuzzled against his leg before hopping back on the tiers of the cat perch.
After he'd cleaned off the grime from the cave with a proper shower, the young ward wandered back into his room, pulled on his glasses, and lay on the bed as the small companion trotted over and leapt from the floor to sit down by his head.
He scratched the creature's long, mouse-like ears affectionately. "Sorry, boy, but I couldn't take you along this time. It was muddy, underground, wet-"
BRVR hissed at the mention of water. Another point towards "feline".
"-and it wasn't exactly a job where I expected much of a fight when I initially agreed. I could've used you for the lamp when the batteries wore out, though." He added thoughtfully. BRVR made a small noise of discontent, still bristled at the thought of water and dampness. "Yeah, I thought you'd say that, too.
"So, how was everyone?" He asked conversationally. BRVR made multiple "pika" noises with an occasional "chu" interspersed between and Harry nodded as though anything was actually said. Sometimes he wished the dialogue box was still around at times like these.
"Did you meet that new guy? Er… Adrian? Adam? I just missed seeing him when I left." Harry explained. BRVR shook his head in a rare form of true communication.
Harry had been assigned to the Washington State project and as he was leaving, geared up and ready, Slenderman brought him in through the front door. He looked about 14 or 15 with pale skin and black hair like his own, but with dark, almost black, eyes.
Slenderman didn't say much about him other than a bare introduction that he was likely joining the household. Pretty soon after they arrived, the faceless guardian took the new face towards the basement for E.J.'s standard medical exams. As he passed by, Harry caught a glint of metal under the long sleeves of his hoodie. The new recruit noticed and glared at him before tugging the sleeve further down as he passed by.
After that, he'd been shipped off to Washington for the job. That took almost a full day, so Adam?... Aiden?... Archibald?... had some time to settle in.
He sat up from his bed, suddenly considering it. Harry slipped out of his room as quietly as three years of stealth training could give with BRVR padding along behind. He mentally noted any new rooms and found one that was previously always empty suddenly closed with a small, flickering light coming from underneath the door itself.
He shared a glance with his Pikachu before knocking quietly on the door. The light underneath flared slightly, but no one made any noises towards the door. After a few more seconds, he knocked again. The light flared, but this time with a slight groan. He knocked a third time and was rewarded with angry stomping towards the door before it was wrenched open, revealing a stony-faced teen glaring at him.
The newcomer seemed to realize his emotional state and let in a deep breath before opening his eyes and looking much more neutral and calm. "… Can I help you?" He asked a bit steely.
"Hello, there, I wanted to welcome you!" Harry said cheerily.
"Well, I feel welcomed, now please go away." He curtly replied, slowly closing the door.
"Wait!"
*thunk!*
The new ward opened the door with a raised eyebrow at Harry's shoe blocking the door. Harry took a breath and smiled again, "I wanted to introduce myself to you. You're the first real person that's come here in a while!"
The older boy's eyebrow quirked again, "Didn't Slenderman say someone else arrived here before me?"
Harry nodded hesitantly.
"Shiloh, this is Harry-"
"Human!"
"Huh?"
"Shiloh! No! Put that down!"
"Die, tiny human!"
"Waaaaahhhh! Slendy!"
"I will end your reign of despair and wars of terror, horrible human!"
"Shiloh!"
"Help me! She's mental!"
"Let's just say, we didn't exactly get along when we first met." He absently rubbed the spot where her shears almost sliced through his arm. "She's kind-of been grounded to her room, I suppose."
"That would explain why I haven't seen her. Are most of the Mansion's occupants "grounded" at the moment? I haven't met many people aside from Slenderman and that blind doctor."
"Oh, Jack's not blind, just eyeless." Harry explained. The teen's eyebrows furrowed, trying to make sense of that sentence before blinking and ignoring it. "And most of the tenants are just out on jobs or in their rooms."
Adrian didn't press what "jobs" meant.
"My name's Harry, by the way, Harry Potter." The younger boy held out his hand.
The other stared at it with thinly veiled paranoia and distrust before (somewhat slower than most would consider proper) he grasped it and shook. Harry repressed a shiver at how unnatural and hot his hand felt, like baked clay still just below searing hot from the kiln. "Adrian Thresher. The Harvester."
Harry tilted his head, "Why 'the Harvester', though. I thought 'the Reaper' would be better."
"Reaper is overused." Adrian replied nonchalantly. Harry thought about it and conceded that it did seem like a pretty common theme. He felt a nudge and a tiny spark of electricity on his leg and saw BRVR looking up expectantly. "Oh! I almost forgot," He picked up the mouse pokemon in his arms, "This is BRVR."
The cat-like-mouse gave a feral, wide-mouthed grin at the Harvester-not-Reaper and chirping, "Pika-chu!"
Adrian grunted neutrally at the strange mix of adorable and terrifying currently in the younger boy's arms. Harry set it down and swung back and forth on his heels, looking expectantly at the figure blocking the doorway.
"Soooo, what'cha doin'?" Harry emphasized in his best American accent.
The figure impassively replied, "Meditations."
"Oh! Me too! I do them too!" Harry exclaimed, poking his head around to try to see the inside of the room. Adrian adeptly moved with him to block the younger boy's line of sight beyond the door frame. "Do you use crystals or just a mat? I met this one guy on a job that used a really big bouncy ball he'd sit on, but it looked ridiculous. It looked rather like he'd swallowed a lot of gum and then- Oh! Is that a scythe!?"
Still confused from processing the rapid amount of words that came from the young ward's mouth, the Harvester didn't have time to react as Harry shifted past him and was currently staring in awe at the rusty old scythe held up on the wall with some decorative plate holders.
"Hey! Quit it!" Adrian exclaimed with the first show of emotion so far; anger. Harry absently noticed a candle's flame in the back of the room flaring. The older boy took a breath and resumed talking in a normal tone. "I'd appreciate it if you'd leave, Harry."
"Aww, can't you talk for a little while? You're the newest face that hasn't tried to kill me and the other one's still getting settled and I already saw him." Harry said despondently. Adrian deliberately ignored the 'tried to kill me' bit.
"Ugh. Fine. Okay? I'll answer a question. One question if you promise to leave afterwards." He replied.
Harry nodded. "Yay! Okay, how… about… where are you from?"
Adrian faltered, "A-America? I think."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"I can't really remember."
Harry thought and glanced at BRVR, still at his side, before grinning, "Then that question didn't count!" Adrian scoffed, but conceded it was a bit of a cop out. "What was your family like?"
"… I don't know."
"… Hold old are you?"
"I don't know."
"… Did you have any hobbies?"
"I don't know."
…
"What's your favorite color?"
"…"
"Honestly?" Harry said, exasperated. "You don't even know your own favorite color?"
"Well, maybe if I had some quiet I could remember my favorite color! Or perhaps decide on a new one!" Adrian argued. The candle flared again and, once more, the older teen took a deep breath and the candle flame reduced.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed in slowly. "I… I apologize. I didn't mean to snap. How about one question that doesn't relate to my personal opinions or past life?"
"… can you remember anything?"
"... heh." Adrian chuckled after a lengthy pause. "I can't fault you for that one. It's a valid question. No. I can't remember anything past a month ago. Even then, I just woke up in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere. No idea how I got there, no idea who I was, either. I just… was."
BRVR's ears tucked downwards, sensing the negative emotions. Harry spoke, "So… I suppose you got this scythe when you woke up?"
"No. I found that in a barn." The older boy chuckled again. "Though it would've been a better story to say I woke up with it. I thought I was in purgatory after a few days there. I mean, I wake up in a field; no memories, no ID, no indications where I am, nothing.
"I found some old farmhouse and camped out there for a while. Eventually, Slender found me and brought me here." Adrian personally felt a bit awkward going further into his admittedly short life story recollections than he'd intended.
"Slender's a good… person? Entity? I'm not entirely sure what he is, but he's a good guy." Harry commented.
Adrian thought a second, "I suppose he could be related to the concept of 'demons', but he seems more like a cosmic entity to be honest. Possibly inter-dimensional from his teleportation and telepathic abilities. Logically, I suppose we could call him a person either way because of his autonomous, self-aware existence."
Harry stared; eyes widened slightly, "Wow. Do you do that a lot?"
The older teen hesitantly nodded, "I… remember things… sort of-" he enunciated, seeing Harry's objection forming, "-I know facts. Like trivia facts in those game shows; random tidbits or full subject matters. I like using that knowledge to problem solve things logically. It feels like I've got a connection to the past. Plus, I don't like emotion much."
"Why? Are you one of those Trekkies trying to become the next Mr. Spock?" Harry enquired.
Adrian vaguely wondered why he actually knew what a 'Trekkie' was… and why he'd keep that useless tidbit, too, "No. I just don't like emotions. They aren't too prominent… well, except for-"
"Anger?" Harry guessed.
"Correct. Now, I've answered your question, actually I've graciously answered multiple, so…" Adrian gestured to the open door wordlessly.
Harry slowly walked towards the door, still glancing around. Overall, there wasn't anything save for the scythe and the candle still flickering. "Why do you have a candle?"
"I answered your one question, already. Kindly go." Adrian replied walking over and pushing on the younger boy's back.
Harry leaned backwards and dug his heels in the wood, skidding as he was slowly, but firmly pushed towards the door. "Still, Slendy doesn't like open flames in our rooms." It was true, L.J. had to use hot plates instead of Bunsen burners in his chemistry set and Masky had to keep his smokes outside on the porch or a ways away from the manor itself.
"I confirmed with Slender and it's fine. It's for meditation purposes." Adrian explained, succeeding in getting Harry past the threshold.
"Why meditate with a candle?" Harry asked.
"I like fire."
*click!*
He shut the door firmly in the stunned ten-year-old's face.
…
…
*click*
"Pi!"
*click*
The door briefly opened and a confused BRVR was lightly tossed out between the opening before closing once again. Harry "hmphed" and stared at the door crossly.
He was about to turn away when he caught sight of the candlelight under the crevice glowing and dimming again rhythmically.
He turned to BRVR and held up a finger in the universal "shush" sign. The entity flattened his ears against his head and started prowling close to the hallway carpet. Harry approached the door and focused on the lock. He carefully willed the mechanisms inside to slowly twist and turn-
*click*
He froze, watching and listening for anything that may be a telltale that the click was heard. The light kept dimming and growing at an even pace without break, so he slowly pushed the door soundlessly open.
He peeked his head behind the door and saw Adrian sitting cross-legged in front of the flame with his eyes closed. The flame light flickered steadily, but the intensity grew and diminished with Adrian's breathing.
In. Flare.
Out. Fade.
In. Flare.
Out. Fade.
Harry watched curiously at the almost hypnotic display, but still something felt familiar with each pulse.
He focused on the odd feeling in his chest, still keeping an eye on Adrian's unperturbed face. With each flicker of the candle came an ebb and flow of the feeling.
It felt like-
The young ward's eyes widened.
He quietly closed the door on the unsuspecting teen and slipped back into his room. BRVR tagged along, still completely confused as his new-brother sat on his bed and closed his eyes for a solid five minutes.
Harry slowly let everything fade out of view except for his breathing. Then, he slowly shifted his internal gaze upward towards the amorphous mass of energy in his chest. The energy pulsed slowly, flickering and drifting aimlessly.
He could already say it felt the same, though very different.
His energy felt more like melted chocolate or warm clay. Soft, warm, kneaded, and moldable.
The energy he felt from Adrian had a similar "feel" fundamentally, but his felt like water from a sink left on the hot tap too long. More aggressive, a bit more burning, but still able to flow and change its shape to accommodate things. Even then, when he was meditating, a different analogy came to mind.
It felt like a small campfire flaring and then calming to embers before being fed new oxygen and flaring again. The embers felt cooler, still warm with the underlying threat of fire, but still calmer compared to the roaring flame.
He could still feel the pulse of Adrian from a few bedrooms down, leaking through the walls in the steady, rhythmic flare and fade.
He opened his eyes, meeting BRVR's concerned black ones. He gave the Pokemon a comforting rub against his ears before sitting up. He could still "feel" the faint pulses from there.
Another person with his Ability.
Flare.
Fade.
Flare.
Fade.
Awesome!
'Curses.' Slender mentally grumbled. Another bad hand dealt.
It was late at night. The others were either in bed or off for the night, except for the few currently at the kitchen table around him.
The yellow hanging lamp above them put the lamp in a relative island of light. Slenderman was sitting at one end while Toby, Jeff, Brian, Tim, and Eyeless Jack were seated evenly around, jealously hiding their cards from any reflective objects.
The pot was just barely started. About a dollar each as an "ante", so it was just $5 so far. As each of them were technically above legal age (though they definitely didn't show it), he didn't have any reservations over betting with real money. Plus, Nikolaus and Adrian had finally settled in and he could use a break.
Slenderman cautiously observed the ones around him.
Jeff, Tim, Brian, and E.J. were all excellent at poker. Only very subtle hints gave them away; Jeff's throwing finger twitching on a good hand. Tim's shoulders slouching just a tad for a bad hand. Only Brian was really difficult to analyze. He couldn't really get a read on the practically-mute Proxy on a good day, let alone when he was actively working to shield any emotions or reactions.
Plus, he agreed not to "scan" surface emotions. Either way, Proxies knew when he did.
*Twitch*
"I fold."
"I fold."
"Ditto."
"I fold."
Toby slouched down angrily grumbling as he raked in the meager winnings and Jeff reshuffled the deck to deal again.
As they began another round, Slender's mind wandered, barely noting his wards' and colleagues' reactions and hands.
Harry had come to him earlier that day with rather interesting news.
*Flashback*
"Slender!" Harry said, bounding into the room that morning. No one else had decided to get up just yet, so Slender sat at the table with the morning paper and some tea.
He set down his mug and turned to his ward, "Yes, Harry?"
"I found someone with my Ability!" Harry exclaimed excitedly.
Slenderman's ichor-like blood ran cold at the thought that he'd encountered another witch or wizard during one of the boy's jobs. Images of men and women barging through the wards filled his mind along with his beloved forest and manor burning.
"A-and where did you meet them?" He enquired.
"Here at the mansion."
His mind panicked. By the Balance, they've already breached the wards!
Harry continued. "I mean, I'm rather certain. I watched him meditate upstairs and 'felt' the same energy from him. We got him recently, didn't we?"
The entity's mind had the distinct impression of the sound of rubber tires screeching to a halt. "Er… Harry, could you explain just whom you're referring to?"
"Adrian."
If not for the complete lack of facial features, Slender might've actually shown some aspect of surprise or relief or confusion. Thankfully, he mentally composed himself and responded calmly. "I see. It's very possible. I'll look into it, but I suppose time will tell."
Harry nodded and walked away, leaving Slender something new to contemplate over his rapidly cooling cup of Earl Gray.
*Flashback over*
Considering Nikolaus' "blue energy" as he'd referred to it once, that meant that there were two potential wizards he'd found over the course of just one week. What were the odds?
Adrian's amnesia meant that if he had any formal Wizarding training, he'd likely forgotten it. Still, Nikolaus was 13 or so upon death and reanimation, so it was a mystery why he wouldn't have been accepted by the magical community at 11 as he'd expected Harry to be. Something to ponder at a later date, he supposed.
He was brought back to the game. Jeff had won the last round, earning almost $50 in the process.
The deck was shuffled once more and distributed around. He glanced over at Toby who had just raised his cards to view them.
*Twitch*
His tell-tale neck twitched noticeably to the right. A good hand.
"I fold."
"Fold."
"I fold."
"Ditto."
"I'm out, too."
"Oh, come on!" Toby all but shouted as he scraped up enough money to barely buy a candy bar at the gas station. "Every single time! How come you guys are so good?"
The masked proxy and masked doctor glanced at each other through their respective eyeholes. The pale-faced, teenaged killer made a coughing sound that could have been a snicker, but his permanent smile and lidless gray, eyes didn't give any clues. The hooded proxy silently sat with his frowny-face cover hiding anything else.
"Years of practice," the faceless entity replied evenly.
Eyeless Jack walked back to the basement labs about $25 poorer. He grumbled about bad luck and went into his lab, keen on checking some experiments and readings he'd left going.
He walked in the door to the biology lab and flipped on the light. He pulled off his mask and casual, black hoodie and pulled his normal, white lab coat over his shoulders. He stifled a yawn and walked over to a small bed of mold in a glass enclosure.
He pulled out a clipboard and began his measurements. "Okay… fungal growth, none. Approximate increase in mold colony size… hmm.. I'll call that 4 centimeters radius. Color variations, none…"
He went on for a few more minutes, checking off boxes and adding details for anything else. He finished that up and spent a few more minutes checking on several other (unchanged) experiments. Finally, he sat back at his desk chair and sighed, ready for bed.
He pulled off the lab coat and muttered in annoyance finding a stain from the mold experiment on his shirt. He quickly pulled it off before pulling on a spare he kept in a locker in the corner. He walked over and put on his black hoodie-
"Oh, is that it?"
He flailed with the hoodie still half-on and finally managed to get his head through the hole to see Shiloh sitting upright at the examination table half-hidden in the dark.
"Shiloh!" His voice cracked slightly, still frantically pulling his arms through the sleeves of his hoodie. "What- How- Why- Augh!"
The patchwork girl tilted her head slightly, "I believe none of those were coherent questions. I don't believe that last one even qualified as a word."
"N-no it's just- why are you here?"
She straightened. "You requested me to come here 'tomorrow at 2'. So I arrived here at 2."
Jack hazarded a glance at the glowing digital clock in the corner and groaned. "2 PM, not 2 AM."
"I see. That would explain why the examination was so short." She nodded.
"Wait- wha-? What examination?" He paused, suddenly flushing a dark purple to his blue-gray/black complexion. "And how long were you here, exactly?"
"I arrived here exactly 34 minutes before you arrived. I kept watch on the clock. You proceeded to remove your hoodie and perform experiments in your lab coat. After the experiments, you removed both your coat and your shirt and-"
Jack blushed harder. "Okay! Okay. Thank you, Shiloh. Next time, please announce your presence or something."
"I see… Shall I return for the examination in 12 hours?" She asked innocently.
The eyeless doctor sighed, "No, no, it's fine. Just let me put back on my coat." He quickly pulled off his hoodie (careful to keep his shirt from riding up) and pulled on his lab coat before turning on the overhead operating lights to the examination table.
Shiloh lay down at the cold metal, but either didn't really feel the frigid bite or didn't comment. Jack cleared his throat and adopted his clinical attitude. He started by pulling out a clipboard and asked a few questions.
"So, Shiloh, how have you been?"
"Fine, doctor."
He chuckled, "You don't really have to be that formal. Just call me Jack. It's fine."
"Very well, Doctor Jack, I've been fine."
The questions continued. Mostly questions on personal adjustment to the house, any interactions with the others in the house, etc.
Shiloh had reacted negatively to any humans she saw. She tried attacking Harry and almost succeeded in slashing Masky's throat with her scissors before they were taken away by Slender. She was remarkably comfortable around Slender, the Rake, and Seedeater even though the latter two repeatedly joked about eating her and her probably tasting like a couch cushion.
She became wary of Laughing Jack because he was relatively human-esque in appearance despite the conical nose and claws. Similarly, she was conflicted with Sally because while her appearance was obviously human, the dent and blood seemed to contradict her idea of humanity.
Eyeless Jack was the only humanoid being she felt most comfortable around. He looked human, yes, but his skin color, sharpened teeth, and black eye sockets were enough to help her overcome the conflicting appearance.
"…well, that wraps up the basic questions." Jack said, flipping over the last page on the clipboard. "Now, I was wondering if I could analyze some of your basic functions. Is that okay?"
"Affirmative."
"Alright, I'd like to examine your eye." He said as he turned around to pick up the small, handheld observation light. He paused as he heard a 'rip' from behind him.
He looked back to her and saw her sitting impassively holding one crystal blue, glass eye in one hand, threads of material still clinging to where she ripped it out of the socket.
"Not like that!" He exclaimed. He panicked and looked between the eye and the socket, deliberating how to fix this. She seemed to catch on to his distress and simply popped it back in her head.
"It's alright, Doctor Jack. See?" She waited a moment for the strings to reattach and began moving the eyeball around. She covered one eye and followed Jack's hand movement to prove she'd regained her functions.
Jack let out a relieved breath. "Doesn't that hurt you?"
"No. It doesn't." She replied neutrally. "I don't really feel 'pain'. I understand it's a negative response to body damage, but I've never actually felt pain to anything damaging my body."
"Well, what's actually damaged your body?" Jack asked.
Shiloh looked up in thought. "Scalpels, drills, saws, shears, needles, knives, bullets, and sharp corners of furniture." She ticked them off as she went on her fingers.
"…that's… a lot…" the doctor replied, slightly perturbed at the list's contents.
She let him continue with the exams. It mostly involved just using the small light on a stick to shine in her eyes and see them operate. He also looked in her ears, mouth, and nose, making notes on the clipboard. She was a lot more comfortable now than during her Creator's experiments and tests. She didn't have any part of her removed, she wouldn't have to sew her skin back together afterwards, she didn't even have to take her clothes off.
Eventually, the doctor let her leave and head back to her room. In the upstairs hall, she narrowed her eyes at a pale-faced teenage human with a slashed smile groggily making his way to the bathroom, but didn't attack. They had been adamant that she not attack humans on sight. Even then, Mr. Slenderman had taken her shears from her.
She finally reached her room and sat down at the desk with her latest project. Mr. Slenderman had given her some crafting materials to keep her occupied. She'd already knitted several scarves and sewn together three quilts from various scraps of fabric.
At the moment, she had a simple painting in front of her. It was a half-finished image of a blue butterfly.
A month or two rolled by.
Slender stepped out of the mansion to the covered wrap-around porch. It was a brisk Halloween evening. Sally had taken it upon herself to pick up pumpkins from the local farms and carve out several Jack o' lanterns. She'd even gotten candy to put in a bowl (though, given the impossibility of Trick or Treaters visiting, she'd most likely get to keep the treats at the end of the night).
He caught the scent of cigarette smoke and walked around the corner, finding Tim leaning against the railings. "Hello, Timothy."
"Hey, boss." He said, taking another drag. He pulled out a small bottle from his jacket and twisted off the safety cap. Two red and purple capsules along with a white potassium iodide pill fell into his palm. He tossed them in the back and swallowed.
Slender looked out at the forests, barely visible from the denser-than-usual fog. Time had changed things from the day Harry arrived, even more-so now that a host of new information had come into play. A decade ago, he'd never consider these Wizards and Witches would have any impact on their job. Now, he felt like he was on the threshold of walking out of the sheltered calm of a building and into the barrage of a hurricane. Less than a year from now, whether he liked it or not, that world would intrude upon his own.
What's more, he had three new tenants/wards to watch over. Shiloh, Nikolaus, and Adrian had all decided to stay with the Manor.
Shiloh had taken strides in becoming less hostile towards people, but still distrusted anyone too "human". She managed polite conversation with Toby at this point, mostly because of the ghastly slash across his mouth. It was a step closer, though she still practically refused to converse with either Harry, Brian, Timothy, or similar visitors.
They found the cloth homunculus was an ingenious design. From tests carried out by Jack and Jeanette [as the plague doctor mandated that an adult female be examined by an adult female outside of a male's presence. It was a bit old fashioned, but Jack agreed through the embarrassed stuttering], the "stuffing" was a remarkable substance acting like millions of neurons controlling the fabric she was made of on a molecular level.
Her eyes were a specially-designed glass creation that was directly incorporated with the nanofiber structure. Slender had arranged for her designs to "disappear" from the archives they'd ended up in should they ever be needed to repair her.
In her time at the mansion, she'd developed a fascination with television. Mostly Oprah, talk shows, reality shows, and their ilk. Slender, personally, didn't really care for those sorts of channels. She considered it an "interesting observation about the human condition", though he seriously doubted the socio-psychological accuracy of "The Real Husbands of New Jersey".
Though, her interest did produce memorable moments. Once, she had discovered a Japanese cartoon, "anime" as BEN referred to it, wherein a character was half-cat (of all things). She then sewed realistic felt cat ears to the top of her head under the misinterpretation that there were actual humans who looked like that. It took almost an entire hour to explain the concept of a fictional being to her and convincing her to eventually take them off. Eyeless Jack was blushing a remarkable shade of purple-gray throughout the event and Jeff and BEN noticed.
Nikolaus was a bit unnerving to the other guests. Most of them didn't share his particular fascination with insects. Even more-so when they discovered a month ago that he could host various species throughout his body. At the moment, he was eagerly designing a plan for a system of colonies within himself to create a sustainable, symbiotic ecosystem of insects.
Whether from the October chill or the concept, Slender shuddered.
Having a beetle latched onto your heart was one thing, but designing a working wasp hive in your left lung or several decomposer species in your digestive tract was just cringe-worthy.
It was not uncommon for him to ask odd questions to Eyeless Jack or be found literally operating on himself down in the basement dissection tables to determine the best location for species.
Other than that, he preferred exploring the forests or playing video games from time to time, still yet to create any real connections between tenants.
Adrian was similar, though he seemed to actively avoid social interactions. He'd taken up Slender's suggestion for meditation to try to remember his past or at the very least quell some of the near-constant anger he felt. Thus, he could usually be found in his room with a candle burning or sharpening the scythe he brought with him. Rarely would he go out and usually only to get another candle or borrow a new book from the library.
Outside of that was basic training. He'd heard about the Balance's cause and agreed to assist, but he needed control over his abilities. The barbed wires fused into his body were largely subconsciously controlled and still had difficulty matching the finesse and effectiveness while aware of the control.
They also discovered his particular affinity with fire. Any control of it was limited down to the candle flaring during meditations, though Slender suspected that Magic could very well be a part of it and produce significant effects if trained.
"Sooooo… the new guys, yeah?"
Timothy's voice cut through his thoughts. The being turned to the Proxy, "Yes. I was just thinking about them. Shiloh's still… unstable? No, perhaps unsuitable to go on a "job" with us despite her being the only one to willfully and deliberately murder another human being. However, Nikolaus and Adrian both have potential at this point, though, perhaps not for something needing as much finesse as murder."
The masked proxy smirked, "If you want, I've got just thing. This came in this morning."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small manila envelope before handing it to his boss. "It wasn't a rush job so I was just going to give it over to Rake or Seed Eater tomorrow, y'know?"
The faceless being read over the notes detailing the job. "Yes… yes, I believe this is perfect."
With that, he went back inside, leaving the Proxy to his smoke.
AN: The ants and sugarcube scene was directly inspired by Antman (great movie, not endorsing. Don't own anything outside of a DVD copy.)
If any of you ever take Quantum Mechanics or Advanced Physical Chemistry, you will learn about Schrodinger's Equation and Schrodinger's Cat… and I guarantee you will hate every second of it.
I've been planning that Poker game scene almost since I started the fic.
I hope you enjoyed!
Sincerely,
-Crow
...
Note: this chapter is largely un-betaed to make it in time for the anniversary.
Harry's weapons results are finally in! And just in time for the action scenes!
Thank you to everyone for following the story and voting in the polls!
…
Poll Results:
***Wires/jump cables in tandem with BRVR: 12
Knives: 9
Monstrous Assembly of Death: 9
Hallucinogenic Cloud: 7
Hatchet: 3
…
Wires/Jumper Cables takes the lead with 30%! It has been decided!
Thank you to The Communist Banana for first suggesting the wires/jumper cables idea!
...
Edit Note: I'm sorry for mis-crediting, my notes got mixed up again (in my defense, I've got, like, 7 years worth of notes here, so things are hard to organize sometimes). Thank you to PenguinBandit523 for correcting that mix-up.