AN: Thanks if you faved this! You have no idea how much comments and things like than mean to me! So now we are in another chapter yay~!
It has been almost ten years since I had escaped the incident that took my parents. I was fluent in several languages (which I picked up on my vacations) and I was in a mythology class. My guardians were kind and were never mean, and I had pretty much everything I wanted. Except friends. It did not matter how hard I tried, I could not make a single friend. I was always the girl who had her nose in a book, or was always studying. I could tell you the individual countries and point them out on a map, I could recite stories and poems, speak in most languages fairly fluently, and I could write and draw like an expert. But friends, or even a boyfriend? Not one. I was the school outcast, the loaner, the shut in. In mythology class we were discussing a legend on a being called Slender Man. This had stirred quite a thrill among the students.
"Have you played the game yet? It is sooooo scary!" Exclaimed one of the more annoying girls in my class.
"No, but have you heard the legend that he can sprout tentacles and grab people with them?!" Another girl cried out.
"Oh, please everyone knows he impales people with them. Just when you think you are safe… AH! He gets you! And you will never be seen again." One of the jocks said scaring the girls. I rolled my eyes.
"The Slender Man was originally recorded in a German poem about a father and son returning home on horseback. The son exclaims that he can see the Elk King and that he wants to kill him. The father replies that it is just his imagination and that he should not turn around. The son continues to do so and cries that he is being killed. The father rushed the horse home to find that his son is dead, that he has been impaled by an unseen force to the father. It was originally made to discourage people to wander about at night for fear of demons and devils waiting to drag a soul into hell. Now supposedly Slender Man only hunts those that are between 5 and 16. He hunts them, stalks them, causes misfortune, and eventually kills them. Some deaths in the late 1800's early 1900's were claimed Slender Man deaths, with the corpse being staked to pine trees, now there are no bodies being found." I said not even looking up from my book. They all stalked over to me.
"So you are saying that you don't believe?" The jock asked me. I placed my book mark, closed and laid down the book before looking him in the eyes,
"No I don't. It is all a lie told by parsons and parents to discourage late night wandering in the woods." I said stiffly. I could see their anger rising.
"Is that why you won't talk about your entire family's death? Was it the Slender Man?" One of the girls asked. I shot a glance at her and she fell silent.
"If Slender Man was real, I would have seen him by now. Those being stalked by him believe that they see him everywhere that nowhere is safe. It can take anywhere from minutes to decades for him to finally kill them or take them." I said staring the group down. They backed away a bit, but not enough to give me back my comfort zone.
"So, maybe he doesn't want you to know he is watching you. Do you think it was him that killed your family? Or was it you?" Hissed the jock in my ear. Now, for the record he is 250 pounds of muscle that could easily pick me up and throw me out a window. I stood up and moved closer to him.
"I don't suggest that you do that again." I said looking up at him.
"And why would that be? Did you do it? You killed your family didn't you!?" He yelled in the class room. Everyone's attention snapped to me. I could feel my face burn from the blood rushing to my face.
"She totally did it! Look at her face! That is the face of a guilty person!" The group was yelling. I looked up at the jock through the fringe of bangs. He was glaring down at me and he had a look of pure hatred. I clenched my fist. He began to laugh. I could not stop myself I lunged and landed a hard punch to the jaw. I think it broke, but I was too busy going after the rest of the group.
It took three teachers and the coach of the football team to hold me down so they could get the students that I had gone after out of the room. I was slouched in the office waiting for at least one of my guardians to pick me up. At most all of them would come. I was in there for about twenty minutes before one of my guardians walked in to get me.
"Thea, let's go." He said motioning me to the door. I stood up and grabbed my things. We were just outside the door.
"Why did you attack you class mates?" He asked me looking at me out of the corner of his eye. I looked down it was embarrassing.
"They kept yelling that I killed my family. But I didn't. I couldn't have. You do believe me right?" I asked. Looking up at him with huge tears in my eyes. He didn't answer. We got to the car and the rest of my guardians were there. The asked me the same question and I told them what had happened.
"And you were the one suspended… do they not have appropriate rules at that school?" Tino asked. I shrugged and looked out of the window. Something that should be stated is that I have five male guardians. The five Nordic countries. There is Mathias Køhler who is Denmark, Tino Väinämöinen who is Finland, Emil Steilsson who is Iceland, Lukas Bondevik who is Norway, and Berwald Oxenstierna who is Sweden. Sweden as it turns out was the one who picked me up from school originally.
"So Tea, you will be accompanying us to the World Summit. Seeing as we cannot leave you here alone now that you have been suspended for the semester." Denmark said snickering behind his magazine. I rolled my eyes. At least I could work on my school work online. That would be my days. I looked out of the window, vaguely listening to Norway and Denmark arguing with each other. I was watching the pine forest scroll by me. I could have sworn I saw something tall and black move amongst the trees, but that was just my imagination right? I shook my head, all the talk of Slender Man was getting to my head. I was just being silly.
"What's wrong Tea?" Iceland asked, looking at me with piercing eyes.
"Nothing Emil. Just watching the trees." I said calling him by his human name. Something that is not allowed unless you had a bond with the country.
We arrived at the airport about 30 minutes later. We got on the plane that was owned by the Nordics.
It was going to be a 12 hour flight. I was not looking forward to it but I just shut my lip and pulled out my laptop and my sketch book. If i got bored with one I could switch to the other. I was online at first, I was looking at my Facebook page. Tino had sent me a picture of a garden in his country that was in bloom. It was beautiful, if only these things lasted. It made me glad that Sve had a flower shop that I could stop by at any time. Other than that there were the typical posts from the various pages that I followed. I got bored after an hour or so and decided to let the pages post some more and I would check back in a few hours.
I opened my sketch book and looked around for an idea for a drawing. I looked at all of the countries around me. Emil was staring at me with an icy glare, Mathias was drinking beer, Lukas was reading a book, and Tino was a sleep on Sve who was also asleep. The more I looked at them the more I wanted to draw them. I was conflicted if they found out, well Finland would think it was cute, but Sweden… he might not be so kind. I decided to risk it. I started to draw, Sweden first, then Finland. They looked really cute, any my shading was excellent. I noticed that Emil had come over and sat next to me. He had been watching as I drew.
"That is very good." He said looking at the paper dully.
"Thanks. Sve is going to kill me though." I said looking at him then to the sleeping nation.
"He isn't as scary as he comes off as. He is actually a nice guy." Emil said looking up at Sve as well. I closed my eyes my dad was like that as well. I could feel the sting of tears threaten my composure over the matter. I took a slow deep breath and looked up at Emil. He was watching my every move, like an eagle looks at prey.
"Why do you try to see into me?" I asked him. He looked away from me and stood up. I asked again and he refused to answer. I sighed and closed the book. The clock on my phone said 12:00. It was midnight already. I yawned it was going to be another three to five hours before we landed. I decided to go to sleep, I knew I was safe as long as I had my guardians, but I wish I could understand them sometimes.
AN: Again, thank you all for any faves or comments! I don't own Hetalia or Slender Man!