He waited for her at sunrise and sunset for weeks; summer flew by in a blink. At this point he was convinced she was never coming back. He had been too brash with her. Echo most likely would've been fine if he hadn't nearly attacked her on the couch. As time went on, the smell of her ripe fear had nearly driven him over the edge. She was too far gone. She was too human. Even from the start. When she was born she was too human.
The sun was setting on this day; it was just barely peaking over the edge of the ocean. It's tired light turning the sky so many different colors. Purples and pinks, vibrant oranges turned the ocean into a mess of colors. He sat down watching the sun set. Today was the last day he would wait for her at sunset. He would wait for her in the morning. But if Echo didn't come, she was never going to. Slender hung his head, listening to the crash of the waves.
He had tried to stay true to his word. That he wouldn't go near her again. But he failed. She was his intended and no matter how hard he tried he was unable to stay away from her. He watched from a distance. He saw her speak with several people. Males were all over her nearly constantly. Echo had once kicked a man in the groin for basically hunting her. His mark had never left her hand. She scratched it absently when she was deep in thought. When people asked she would explain it was a tattoo. Echo was given strange looks.
He couldn't commit to another, but Echo could. Slender didn't hate her for it either. She dated a boy in the apartment complex for a little while. It got serious before she broke it off. She didn't think she was good enough for him. Echo was worthy of a god. She deserved whatever she desired.
"Hi, Slen." He jumped up impossibly fast at the soft spoken greeting of his little fledgling. She took a step back. A small bit of fear made his mouth water.
"Don't fear me, Echo." He told her calmly. She looked to the ground.
"Sorry it took so long. I've really been trying to piece this all together, and how I feel about it." Echo told him, looking back to fix her gaze on his face. Her eyes were intense enough to send chills down even his spine.
"Have you?" He asked. She shook her head.
"Then why did you come?" He asked, realizing that may have sounded a little rude. Echo only shrugged.
"You're my best friend." She told him. Slender felt a pang of self-anger. How he had so completely deceived her.
"My kind is capable of experiencing love, Echo." He told her bluntly. Echo fixed her eyes on him with soft curiosity.
"I understand that." She replied. He gave a surprised grunt.
"Then why did you react the way you did?" He asked, not realizing that it may have made her angry.
"Because, it feels like now that you've told me that I'm obliged to end my life as I know it and… and…" She stuttered.
"What? Be with me?" He asked boldly. Echo's face went flat and she stared at him.
"You say you're over four hundred years old, but you're acting like a pubescent teenage boy!" She spat at him aggressively.
"And I've also told you that to my people I'm young! So perhaps I am the 'teenager' of my kind!" Slender barked at her. He was angry but it wasn't a dangerous anger.
"Well you sure are proving that theory!" Echo replied tears welled in her eyes. He could tell she was too far gone. There was no doubt. She couldn't even say the words. She didn't want him. She didn't need him. Echo was too far gone. His throat constricted. He hissed in anger and turned away from her.
"I'm sorry I did this to you. I should've known you were too far gone to even consider. You can't comprehend being my partner. Why did you come back if you don't know how you feel?" He asked, sitting back down.
"Because what I'm confused about is how I feel about you." Echo told him. Slender looked up abruptly, he looked at her.
"What do you mean?" He asked in reply. He tried to keep his hopes from rising too high. He just should've gone to the council and explained everything. They would have seeded a new fledgling for him. It would've been the least dramatic thing to do. Echo's attraction to him would've gone and she would've moved on and had a life with a human husband that adored her and she wouldn't have to choke on the term of being with him.
"I do want to be with you but I don't and it's some stupid teetering balance that isn't determined for one side or the other. One day I can see myself being your 'partner' and others I shiver at the thought of it and I don't like this feeling at all and I just want it to go away." Echo was on the brink of tears now. Her voice was tight and she was blinking excessively, her hands gripped her head in what seemed to be pain. Slender returned to her side in a flash and took her wrists in his hands. She was still too far gone. There was no hope for Echo. He reached out and tried to touch her face, allowing one of her hands to be free. She shied away from his hand.
"If there isn't a clear desire that you want to be my mate then I can't take you as my mate. It's the rules of my people, Echo." He told her. Echo blinked back tears, or at least tried to, they fell.
"I don't want to feel like this anymore. I hate it!" She yelled. She wasn't yelling at him, he could tell that much. She was just so frustrated.
"I can make it go away Echo." He told her. She looked up at him as though he was God.
"Oh please do, Slen I can't go on like this anymore. I-I." She just fell to her knees and curled in on herself. She let out a ragged sob. She was broken. The conundrum was tearing her to shreds. He went down to his knees and touched her arm, she shrugged him off aggressively. Slender gave a hard sigh. He shook his head. He loved her. That was it, he loved her. It took her going to the brink of insanity, but he loved her. He wished he could take it all away from her and she still be his intended, but he couldn't.
"Alright, Echo. I'll make it go away." He told her. He stood but her hand reached out for his.
"I won't lose you will I? I don't want you to go away. I just can't Slen. I just… I just can't. I'm too weak. I don't want to lose my best friend." She told him. Slender stared at her, he sat back down and he attempted to nuzzle her hair. She allowed him to, she seemed to relax.
"No. You just won't feel like this anymore." He told her. Echo nodded, her eyes shut and she let out a ragged, horribly shaky sigh.
"No, don't make it go away." She said, her voice finding a new strength. He shook his head.
"Echo." He said simply as she sat up.
"All my life this has been the only challenge I've really had to face. I have to overcome it." She told him, her hand finally gripping his. He shook his head.
"No. I won't let you. This is going to drive you insane because there are two different species of human in your genes and they are at war with one another. The human in you is too strong, and so is the Slenderfolk. If I take your burden from you, you'll be able to experience sexual desire. You'll be able to be drawn to someone else. You'll be normal. I'm sorry Echo, but this is not a choice for you to make." He told her. Echo gave an outraged scream as he left her plane of existence and entered his.
Slender was greeted immediately by his own mother. She was a tall woman (for a human) at six foot three she fit the fledgling criteria for height. She had stellar grey eyes and a pleasantly long face. Her long brown hair was in a loose bun, she had crow's feet at the corners of her eyes as she smiled gently at him.
"I see you've come home, my son." She told him. They were in the library. It was the room of departure and arrival from the human plane of existence to the Slenderbeing plane of existence in his family's home.
"Be that as it may it is for something I regret." He replied. His mother frowned.
"You're letting your fledgling go?" She asked. He nodded.
"She can't handle it. She's too human. She would never be able to fulfill her duties without going completely insane. I… I can't have that for her." He told his mother. She nodded understandingly.
"Yet she still wants you with her?" She asked. Slender nodded.
"We bonded very much when she was a child. All of this is my own fault. If I had taken her as a young girl as recommended I wouldn't be having this conundrum." He replied, taking a seat in the arm chair next to his mother.
"What you did was right however. I am pleased that you let her be." She told him. This made Slender feel better.
"There is a problem however." She continued. This caught Slender by surprise.
"What would that be?" He asked.
"She's not finished with the fight. It's only until that she had truly decided what she wants to do that you can come and request a new fledgling. You fell in love too fast, my son. You have no choice but to let her suffer." She told him regrettably. His youngest sibling ran into the room, a small faceless child. Slender just couldn't see Echo raising children like this. She deserved to have children with her beautiful eyes.
The youngest Slenderbeing climbed into the lap of her older brother. She was a rare female. She was a prized female. She hugged him around his neck.
"Hello brother." She told him.
"Hello small one." He replied, patting her on the back.
Echo stumbled back into her apartment. The noise was so loud. She could hear everything that happened in the apartment. She squeezed her eyes shut and she tangled her hands in her hair and she fell to her knees with a pathetic cry. She wasn't even concerned with the situation with Slender anymore. This madness in her head was really the only thing she could focus on. She wept.
Echo crawled to her bedroom and curled up in her bed. She put the pillow over her head but it wasn't enough. She had a need for Slen to be there yet the idea of his touch was enough to make her stomach churn. She whimpered.
"You said you would make it stop, Slen." She spoke aloud to him, even though he wasn't there. But he was.
"I can't." His voice told her softly. The most horrible moan escaped Echo's throat.
"Why not; you said you would." She whined.
"Your fight it isn't over. You have to decide whether you want to be my mate or not before I can request a new fledgling. Don't get mad at me and say I'm trying to replace you. It's the only way to take away your problem." Slen told her.
"No; that won't be solving my problem. That would be solving your problem if I choose not to be your mate. My problem will already have been solved and I will have suffered for who knows how fucking long." She replied bitterly, turning her back to him.
He felt her pain. It was horrible. It seared through his abdomen and pulsed angrily in the back of his head. If it was bad for him it was unimaginable for Echo. Her mind was literally at war with itself. Instincts against a learned behavior that had dominated and lead Echo her whole life. Slender soon worried that her body would start to attack itself. He had been told stories about fledglings that had died because of the very same strife that plagued Echo now. Slender stepped back and leaned against the wall. He knew Echo's situation would come to this, and that was his greatest fear. Echo would soon be torn to shreds just because of him and there was nothing he could do about it.
So she suffered. All night. He stayed by her side though. Sometimes she would cry out for him to stay with her and others she would scream nearly at the top of her lungs for him to leave her. Either way he was miserable, hating himself for bringing this upon his sweet little fledgling.
A/N: I was looking earlier and I noticed I already had 30 followers and 17 favorites! It blew me away! Thank you all so much! That means a lot to me. It really does, because this is something I've been really nervous writing for and it's amazing how much of a hit this is compared to some of my other stories, so thanks so much readers!