A/N- I am sorry for not posting this chapter right away. Here it is, though. ;D

He woke to a new sort of world. He tried to focus on the place around him and found that he was in a place that no mortal should be ever be able to reach. He was standing before a golden gate to a city in the clouds. This gate looked to be the passageway to another area of this place. Something was different, he noticed, as he looked upon this place. It seemed to be…well, out of focus to say the least. Everything seemed to be fuzzy, not the normal sharp images he was able to pick up on. His normal vision allowed him to pick up in the minutest details. Slender brought his hands to his face, thinking that perhaps the blood and chemical could somehow be hindering his sight. What he was met with, what he found, made him freeze entirely. What he found certainly did explain why his vision was less focused.

Eyes. He had eyes. How this had happened was far beyond his understanding. Still, this was not something he was about to complain about. How long had it been since he had had human vision, since he had something on his face? Slowly, he brought his hands to the other areas of his face where normal features should have been. They were there. Everything was there-a nose, a mouth, lips. It was completely overwhelming. Tears fell from eyes, tears of pain from years of suffering and of joy for having the ability to do so. A sob came from him, a physically audible sound. What a wonderful thing that was. The tears caused him a slightly runny nose. He laughed at this. He could not remember the last time this had happened. A laugh, he could laugh and someone other than him could hear it. Humanity, he had his humanity back. Why was it now, in this city in the clouds, that he was able to be human once again after so many years? And, what exactly was this place? It most certainly could not be Heaven, for his soul was not fit for such a place. Perhaps this was a place for lost souls. But, he had never heard of such a place. Was this all just a dream?

You are at the Gates, a voice stated.

Slender jumped slightly at the sound. No one had ever been able to speak into his mind. That was something he had always done, but now…there was no longer a need to do so. There was also the fact that he no longer knew how to do so. That was a fact he did not like, but if that was the price he needed to pay in order to have his humanity back, he would most certainly pay it. Things were as they should have been. He could speak to this voice. Still, years of being more or less a predator had heightened his senses. He looked in the direction of a slight sound, finding a figure that was shrouded in a cloak of mists. There was no way to tell if this was a male or female. He slowly made his way toward the figure, not entirely trusting the being. "What are the Gates?" he asked. His voice came out somewhat harsh from lack of use. It certainly was not the voice he was accustomed to hearing. His voice was normally much stronger than this.

You are at the Gates to His World, but it was not yet your time to make the journey to this place, the figure replied, not sounding masculine or feminine but rather both. It made no move toward or away from the being in front of it. The figure merely stayed where it was, in front of the Gates. The job it had been given was to give this one the options. No identity could be revealed.

"How very cryptic," Slendy replied, looking up at the Golden Gates that barred his way to the place that sat behind them. There was a feeling of utter peace and perfection coming from the place. It seemed to be more than welcoming. He felt the pull to go into this place, but there was something at the back of his mind that said to wait before he just went to this place. He turned his attention back onto the shrouded figure. "Are you going to explain what you mean?" It was still odd to him to be able to have a voice once again.

A sense of amusement seemed to wash off of the figure, though it gave no physical indication of mirth. The figure gestured to the Gates. You are granted access to His world if you so choose it. You have one more option, though.

His world? What exactly was meant by that? What was the antecedent to the "he" in the sentence? This should not be such a difficult thing for him. Knowledge and understanding was never something he had had difficulty with before. The chemical had granted him knowledge and it seemed that even though he had lost the chemical, the knowledge he had gained was not lost along with it. Then it came to him. Slenderman took a closer look at the figure and then to the Gates. This place, this city… "I'm in Heaven?" Slender questioned, not believing it. This could not be possible. He had killed people. Murderers did not get to go to this place.

You are at the Gates at the moment, the figure answered. Is this the place you choose to stay in? Know that you have a second option.

That confused him. What did this figure mean by a second option? There was only one Heaven, or so he had heard. "And, what is the second option? Is it to…send me to Hell?" Slenderman did not even want to put the idea into the figure's mind. There was no telling, no way of knowing, if he could be sent from this place of Paradise to the world of Suffering. While he did not fear Death, the idea of eternal suffering was not something that he wanted to face any time soon. He really hoped that he had not just cursed himself to that place.

We do not send White Souls to the World of the Damned, the voice answered. It took a few steps away from the Gates and outstretched a hand. The clouds before the figure parted, showing a scene before the two as if looking down into some sort of a television screen. The scene was of the backyard of Ellaina's home. Everyone was still in the backyard. Ellaina was crying over a dead body, his own Slender came to realize. Anne was beside her friend, trying to perhaps offer some sort of comfort. And Totheark had his back to the others, pain written on his face as tears rolled down from his eyes.

"Why are you showing me their pain?" Slendy asked, feeling pain himself. They should not be this upset over his passing. He was not worth it. Again, he never should have become involved in their lives. At the very least, if he had never known Ellaina or Anne, it would have only been his adoptive son that would have felt the pain of loss. He had no right to make the women feel that, especially not the one he called wife. How selfish he had been where she was concerned. He had known that he was going to die and still he had wed her and taken her innocence. How he had ever been granted access to this world of Angels was utterly beyond him.

The figured turned its attentions to the other. Your other option is to return to the world of the Mortals to be with them once again. Know that if you choose this path, you will not return as a Human. You will be in that form. The form gestured to the body Ellaina was sobbing for.

He should have known not to expect an answer about their pain, but to be offered the chance to return to them…it did not seem like it was possible. There had to be some catch to it. There had to be some sort of payment for this. Living as that nonhuman form was something he could do very easily. How many years had he lived like that? While it did bother him to have humans look on him with terror, it did not bother him to live that way.

You do not have much time to make the choice. The body will soon be beyond saving.

"I will go back to them, but…there is something that I want to know," he replied while looking down on the scene once again. Anne was trying to get Ellaina to return to the house, but there was another figure approaching them. There was something familiar about the person, but he could not make out who it could be. That was odd. He could only hope that whoever it was turned out to be a friend and not a foe.

Ask your question, the voice interrupted his thoughts.

Slender put his attention onto the mist shrouded figure. "Why was I made into…that form? I may not know much about Christianity, but is God not supposed to love all of His Children?"

All face trials in their lives, some far worse than others. Being able to survive these trials shows that Humanity may still yet have a chance in its survival. I can personally assure you that the one responsible for making you that way is most regretful for his actions, answered the figure, knowing that it was dangerous to give away this information. He could not break the Rules.

"You…know my father?" Slender asked, not believing it. His father had been granted access to this place as well. That certainly made him smile, an actual smile-one that the form in front of him was able to see. How odd that was. He cast his eyes downward, images coming to his mind of how the man had met his end. "I…killed him," he stated softly.

And he thanks you for it. Do you know of how he was being controlled? The voice seemed to be tending more toward the masculine side of things.

"Yes, I was told. If you see him…ask his forgiveness for my actions against him, would you?"

Done. The figure reached out a hand, an almost ghost like hand, to the one before it. As the Heavenly flesh touched that of the being before it, the choice that had been made was enacted. The being returned to the world of the living. The figured sighed, looking down on the scene with a sense of sadness, as it allowed the cloak of the mist to drop from its being. There was a man left to stand and look down on the living world as a life force came back to a body. A body…that he had created in a lab because control had been exercised over him. As he turned his attention back to the Gates and closed the clouds to the scene, he quietly sent to the soul which had returned to the realm of living, Forgive me, my son. I love you.

A/N- Which one of you reviewers will find the Star Wars reference, I wonder? Hmm… Your hint is that the reference comes from Episode 5.