Chapter 18
Slendy and Offendy took off to Slender woods in a rush worriedly. Who knows what kind of trouble Nobu can get herself into, in her current state of mind?
They raced through the forest towards Nobu as fast as they could. Finally arriving in front of a massive oak tree, they stopped and looked up at the higher branches.
She was curled up in a ball, against the bark of the tree, hugging her legs and sobbing into her knees.
Offendy looked at Slendy as he nodded back at him and took a step forward.
"Nobuki." Slendy called out, trying to get her attention, worry laced in his words.
But instead, he managed to startle her, making her loose balance on the branch and fall towards the ground.
She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, awaiting impact, but instead she felt two strong arms catch her and hug her tightly. As she looked up, she found Offendy holding her to his chest protectively as Slendy runs to them worried.
"Why?" Nobu quietly cried into Offendy's chest as her body shook with sobs. A lot of emotions running through her all at once, from pain, betrayal to disbelief, sorrow and anger. They all swirl together, creating a big confused fuzz in her brain.
"Nobuki. Everything's going to be fine. We're here now." Slendy said softly as he hugged the two in front of him, sandwiching Nobu between her two uncles. Surprisingly she feels a lot safer with them like that.
"Why?" she asked again but this time looked at Slendy at where his eyes should be, sorrow in her now exposed eyes.
Failing to come up with a good enough answer, the two brothers just hugged her tighter, making sure she knows that they will always be there for her and will protect her no matter what.
"Let's go home." Offendy said softly as Slendy stepped back, letting him move.
They took her back to Slender Mansion and straight up to her room.
Offendy helped her change into her pjs, while Slendy went into the kitchen to make them some hot chocolate. Just the way Nobu loves it; hot milk with actual chocolate put in it, so it's thick and creamy.
As he entered her room with the three mugs of hot chocolate, he found Offendy sitting against the wall, in the middle of Nobu's bed, with said hound in his lap, hugging her knees and a fluffy blanket wrapped around her body, as Offendy hugged her from behind.
Slendy walked up to them handing each a mug and sat down beside his brother.
"Do you want to talk about what happened today?" He asked as she took a tentative sip of the hot beverage.
"You don't have to if you don't want to, but we're here for you, always." Offendy said smiling down at her reassuringly.
"I know. I only have you guys now." Nobu mumbled as she stopped crying now and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.
"You have Zalgo as well. And despite what you believe of him, he always wanted what's best for you and tried to keep you safe. He still does." Slendy explained taking a sip of his hot chocolate. The skin, where his mouth should be tearing open with a ripping sound and revealing rows of sharp fangs and a long inky black tongue.
"But he lied to me and so did dad." She frowned into her mug.
"They had to. Puppy please don't hate him, he means no harm to you. Always loved you since you were born." Offendy said with a sad face.
"I remember when you were born. Zalgo was in ecstatic's. The Zalgo family isn't too big, so he only had his younger brother, and with the two families joined, he gained a sister in law. But what did it for him was your birth. He even tried to kidnap you once and raise you as his own." Offendy laughed remembering the happy memories.
"Yes, that didn't go down to well with your parents." Slendy smiled alongside his brother as they found a ghost of a smile on Nobu's lips.
"I don't remember." She whispered.
"You were only 1. Oh and there was a time when he wanted to destroy and entire town because the kids discriminated you in kindergarten. We had to lock him in for a month, until he calmed down and then you were eventually home-schooled." Slendy smiled softly.
"You shouldn't worry too much about him. I'm sure he will keep his distance from you, now that you yelled all that stuff at him." Offendy smiled taking a big swing of his hot chocolate and burning his tongue in the process. "Gyee." He frowned, tongue sticking out of his mouth and Nobu looked up at him trying not to laugh as she felt his glare.
"Just give him another chance." Slendy smiled drinking his own drink.
"I'll try. But I can't make any promises." Nobu said in thought.
"Haha, he's probably moping about, and crying to Mr Creeps, like a little girl." Offendy laughed, amused at the tough, as Nobu joined in and Slendy mentally rolled his eyes.
"But, there was something very odd about the painting, now that I think about it." She frowned.
"Really? What was it?" Slendy asked curious.
"I dint even see it." Offendy whined, making Nobu laugh. "What's what I wanna see. Don't ever cry again, puppy." He grinned hugging her.
"My appearance. It was similar to when I snapped at mom." Nobu explained, looking at Slendy and ignoring Offendy's words.
"That's not possible. Your powers were sealed." Offendy said in alarm.
"I'm sure I saw tendrils coming from my back and I had horns. It might not be the full extent of my powers, but it was there." She explained.
"But how could you have cracked the seal? Unless someone. . ." Offendy frowned in thought as Slendy gave him a warning look that Nobu missed completely.
"I have no clue. But what I do know, is that if it happens again, I wanna be able to control it, and I mean my full power." She said looking Slendy dead in (where his eyes should be), with determination burning in her miss matched eyes.
"Yeah? And how do you plan to break the seal?" Offendy glared sceptically down at her.
"I have no clue." Nobu frowned defeated.
"It's too dangerous to unlock it. That much pent up power to be released so suddenly would surely kill you." Slendy frowned glaring at the wall opposite them.
"I'll figure something out later. I'm tired now." Nobu said and laid back, against Offendy's chest, instantly falling asleep.
Slendy finished his hot chocolate and stood up, taking the two mugs from Offendy.
"The kids will be home soon. You stay here and make sure she won't get a nightmare. I'll make dinner." Slendy said his mouth disappearing again as Offendy nodded happily.
Nobu shifted into her full Hell Hound form in her sleep and nearly crushed Offendy if he didn't press a point behind her ear making her shrink down to her puppy form, so Offendy laid down with puppy Nobu sleeping soundly on his chest, the blanket still covering her.
As morning rolled around and the sun shined through Nobu's curtains, she slowly opened her eyes and sat up sleepily.
Looking around she found Offendy curled up beside her, hugging her small hound form.
She licked his face, waking him up.
"Puppy!" he yelled happily and hugged her.
Not appreciating being squeezed to death she changed into her full form and sat on his stomach crushing him again.
"I give." He squeaked out as she nearly stepped on his crotch by accident.
She flopped on the space beside him with a content expression as she catapulted him up a few inches off the bed.
As she shifted back to her human form, Offendy didn't waste any time, sitting on her legs, he started to tickle her.
"Ahh . . . no . . . stop!" she yelled laughing and trying to push him off, but he just grabbed her wrists with one of his tendrils and pinned it above her head.
Its breakfast now downstairs so Slendy asked Clockwork to go and get Nobu, completely forgetting about his brother's presence.
Walking up the stairs and towards Nobu's room, Clock heard screaming coming from it, so she ran to the door and swung it open.
"Nobu. Are you-" she started to say but cut herself off when she saw Offendy on top of her friend.
He stopped tickling Nobu and stared at Clockwork. She stared back dumbfounded at the situation, until he licked his lips with his freakishly long tongue, making Clock freak out and she ran downstairs.
"What was that about?" Nobu asked confused but only got tickled again in response.
"Slender!" Clock shouted in panic as she got to the bottom of the stairs and ran into the dining room, where she got everyone's attention, some worried and some confused.
"Offender-" Clock didn't even manage to finish her sentence as Slendy teleported away, looking beyond pissed.
"What do you think, you're doing?!" Slendy shouted at the pair angrily, his tendrils swirling around his back in rage.
"Just playing." Offendy said as he sat beside Nobu and pulled her into his lap.
Out of curiosity and worry in some of their cases, the others came upstairs to check out what's happening. They all stood in the doorway, both shocked and terrified of the situation between the three.
"Let go of her!" Slendy yelled.
"But I don't wanna." Offendy whined, hugging an amused Nobu closer.
Slendy had enough at this point, so he grabbed one of Offendy's ankles with a tendril and swung him across the room, crashing him into the opposite wall. Luckily Nobu jumped off before he was thrown and she doesn't have anything on that wall, other than posters.
"Ouch. What'd you have to do that for? I dint do anything." Offendy complained as he stood up and Nobu ran to hide behind Slendy.
"You tried to rape Nobuki!" Slendy yelled, wrapping a tendril around Nobu protectively.
"No, I didn't. I wouldn't do something like that to puppy. Tell him." Offendy pleaded to Nobu, but she just turned back to a puppy and jumped in Slendy's arms.
Offendy stepped back as he could feel the intense static vibes from Slendy and some glares the others were giving him as well.
"But I only tickled her." He said defeated and sulking like a child.
"Leave, now! This mansion has seen enough of you for at least a month. And here I thought you were getting better, and treated Nobuki like family instead of one of your human play toys." Slendy said disappointed and turned to leave the room with puppy Nobu still in his arms.
Nobu climbed up to his shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Offendy.
"Why you little . . ." Offendy whispered annoyed, but amused that she managed to get him into trouble in the state of mind that's she's in. His banishment didn't matter to him either, cause when does he ever listen to anyone, especially his brothers.
After breakfast, everyone left for school, Nobu on her bike.
Leaving form time, they headed down to the gym for CT.