"Ellaina! Ellaina, you have to wake up! Do you hear me?! Wake up!" Anne was screaming at her friend, shaking her shoulders. Anne had brought Ellaina back to the family room and after turning the couch back over had placed her onto it. Ellaina had seemed to be alright, outside of the pain she was having from the wooden stake. But once the sounds of screams came from the other room, the wooden stake had somehow removed itself from Ellaina's neck. Anne had tried to stop the blood that came from her friend, but there had been so much of it. Now Anne was desperate to wake up her friend. The taller woman was not dead, but her pulse was becoming slower and slower.

Anne looked away from her friend when she heard something approaching her. She found it to be the Slenderman coming into the room, covered in blood and carrying the masked man in his arms. It looked as if the one in the mask had passed out. Anne couldn't blame the man after what he had suffered through. But, now was not the time for her thoughts to be focused on the man. Sure, he had been kind to her, but she had known Ellaina for longer. She was going to care more about her friend than the man in the mask.

"Slendy, there's something wrong. Ellaina-she won't wake up. The stake somehow removed itself from her neck. I don't know how. She lost a lot of blood," the short woman stated while coming towards him. She followed his movements as he carefully placed Totheark into an armchair. It seemed that he hadn't been listening to her. "Did you hear me? I said-"

Anne, for once, can you please stop speaking? Slenderman stated, pushing past her to come next to Ellaina, kneeling beside her. Looking over her he saw just how fragile she was. Humans could be harmed so much more easily than him-but what was he? He had once been human, so didn't it mean that he was once like this? He never should have become involved with her. She would be safe and out of harm's way if he had never come into her life. Nothing would have harmed her. Lightly, he traced the scars across her face that he had caused. That was a memory he didn't care to remember. Never, never should he have grown close to her. When he thought her dead, he should have just kept it that way and not have gone out searching for her, but he had. He had been selfish. He should have taken her life when they first met and been done with it, but the past couldn't be reversed. He would not want to reverse it, anyway. She brought out what little amount of humanity he had left.

Slowly, he leaned into her to try to heal her wounds. He knew that she would be able to survive what had happened to her. Ellaina always survived. He could sense her injuries mend themselves, could sense broken tissue restore itself. It had been so interesting to him when he had first discovered how to heal others, but now it was commonplace to him. It had been on accident that he had discovered this ability. Young Totheark had had fallen and scraped up his knee. The boy had been sobbing and begging for "daddy" to kiss it and make it feel better. As a way to make the child feel better, he had done what the child asked, only to discover that the wound healed itself. Neither knew how it happened, but it had proved useful in their lives.

Ellaina suddenly came back to full awareness. She pulled away from Slendy for a moment to look at him. He was covered in blood and looked worn out, to say the least. She threw her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly. It was all over. They were finally safe. Over his shoulder and behind them she could make out Anne talking to the masked man, who seemed to have quite an interest in what the woman had to say. Ellaina had to wonder when those two had hit it off. The signs were all there with how Anne was acting. Anne liked the masked man. She laughed softly.

What are you laughing about, my Little One? You almost died…again. Slenderman stated as he slowly pushed her away to look into her eyes. He couldn't help but feel guilty over this fact. If she had never gotten involved in his life-

"Before you start beating yourself up over it, just stop. It is not your fault that the woman tried to kill me," Ellaina stated. She could partially remember the masked man-Totheark, she reminded herself-saying who the woman was, but she could not quite remember. Her mind had been too focused on her own pain to listen to what he had had to say.

Slenderman looked away from her and back to Totheark, who was having quite the conversation with Anne, despite the pain that he was in. The boy never ceased to amaze him. He looked back at Ellaina. The woman was my mother. She had been controlling my father. He never meant to harm me.

Ellaina sighed. "You have really bad luck. That, or Fate just likes to troll you."

What does that mean? Again, he didn't know these modern terms. At the very least, they were falling back into their old ways of conversing. Perhaps things finally could get back to the way they once were, before all of the pain and the suffering. He could only hope that it could stay this way. He didn't ever want to fear losing her again. She meant far too much to him. He loved her and wished he could spend the rest of his life with her. Maybe there was a way that he could. Wasn't there some sort of human ceremony that was used to bind two people together for life? Was that what his parents had gone through? If he was going to try something like that, he would only get one chance to do it and to do it right. That certainly made him nervous. He would need to plan this out.

Ellaina sat up slowly and stretched her arms high above her head, completely unaware of Slendy's thoughts or of how closely he was watching her. Upon hearing her back pop, she relaxed into the couch once again with a long sigh. It was so odd that she could come so close to Death so often and then simply cheat him. Not a moment ago, she had nearly been dead on this couch. Now she was sitting here trying to explain what "trolling" meant to the Slenderman. Her life certainly had become interesting since Christmas time.

As she finished with her explanation, the Slenderman came to sit beside her. She still had yet to explain why she had been laughing earlier, but she was once again doing so while she was watching Anne and Totheark interact. He could not understand why this would make her laugh, though.

"Aren't they cute?" she asked. Upon looking at Slendy and getting the distinct impression that he was utterly confused, Ellaina shook her head. He really was just like any other man-unable to see what was right in front of him. How annoying. Still, she couldn't stay annoyed with him. She went on to explain, "Look how they are acting with one another. He's showing her where he's been hurt and she's acting all concerned, acting like she could possibly help. He's putting on a brave face, acting like he isn't in any pain and is some kind of tough guy. God, it didn't take those two long to hit it off." Again, she was met with another confused look. Ellaina laughed, shaking her head. "Why do I put up with you?"

Because you love me? Slender questioned.

"Yeah, that must be it," Ellaina replied, still watching her friend and the masked man. When she felt tendrils wrapping around her waist and pulling her close to him, she looked up at him, smiling. The woman still did not understand how she had fallen for him. She knew that any logical person would have gone running from him, screaming. But she had seen kindness under his hard exterior, and it was that which drove her to wish to stay with him. "You don't need to question it, Slendy. I do love you, quite a bit actually. Anyways, as to what I said earlier, it appears that your Totheark and my Anne like one another. They certainly met in an odd way."

Well, so did we, but-wait…what?! I do not approve of this, Slendy replied, getting up from the couch to break up whatever it was that was going on between the two. He didn't like Anne, so she was therefore not good enough for Totheark. Yes, he was being over-protective like the boy hated, but so be it. The child deserved better. He would put an end to this before anything was able to start.

Ellaina came to stand in front of him, holding up her hands in an attempt to get him to stop. "I think they will work very nicely with one another. Yeah, you don't like Anne, but it looks like Totheark does. You could at least see where this goes for them."

Slendy stared between the two, seeing the truth in Ellaina's words. He may not know much about relationships, but he could clearly see that Totheark liked Anne, though he could not understand why. Still, he had a way to interrupt them. I still have to heal him.

"Well, that'll be a bit awkward," Ellaina replied, scratching at the back of her head.

Slendy laughed. Oh, I do not heal him in the way I heal you. Don't be silly, my Little One. I believe humans use the phrase 'kiss it to make it feel better'. Well, that is the concept of how his healing works. Hmm, the same could be done for you.

"Then why don't you just do that?" Ellaina questioned.

He looked over his shoulder, walking toward Totheark. Simple, my Little One. I like kissing you. He paused briefly, thinking. You remember when the monster attacked you, don't you? I healed you using Totheark's concept. You had been willing to trust anyone who said they could heal you. Well, the next time I was the one injured and you needed to heal me. That could only work through your human compassion and trust.

"But what about all the other times…like now? You know I trust you with my life." Ellaina replied, somewhat confused with his explanation.

As I have already told you, I enjoy kissing you, my Ellaina, and the process works for you. Why should I stop something as…enjoyable and effective as that now? Slendy replied. He wanted nothing more than to simply capture her lips once again and forget about everything that had happened recently, but that was not an option. He needed to help out Totheark. Perhaps if his plan could work, they would be able to share more time together. It would all depend on how she would answer him-in the positive or the negative.

A/N- So, do you reviewers understand now what I was talking about in asking for positive or negative? If not, reread. There is a pretty obvious hint as to what Mr. Slenderman is planning. Oh, and the positives have the win by the way. xD