#lovelizards

(AU in which Iska and Meres do not kill the slender man before escaping, just knocking him out instead. This will prove to be a very big mistake. Also perhaps taking some creative liberties with the magic system but shhhhhh)

Iska and Meres trudged barefoot along the dirt path leading away from the slender man’s manor, feet stinging and legs aching. Despite their fatigue from hours of walking, they didn’t stop for even a moment. Iska wasn’t sure that the man really died when she hit him with that bottle, and she sure wasn’t going to risk taking it slow in case he sent soldiers after them. If only she stayed back for a few minutes to make sure…

But it was too late now. They had to press on.

“Ngh…”

Iska frowned, looking back over her shoulder at her companion. “Meres? Are you alright?”

Meres had stopped moving. He was clutching at his head like it might blow apart if he let go, fingers buried in his pale hair, eyes squeezed shut. “N-no… I won’t…”

Iska ran up to him, putting a hand on his cheek. His skin was clammy, and blood was starting to seep from his nose. “Meres, what’s wrong?!”

He jerked, back arching, before letting out an ear-piercing howl of a scream up towards the sky, so loud it vibrated through Iska’s very bones. Meres fell to his knees, leaning forward and slamming his head into the dirt.

“NO! N-NO! PLEASE!”

Iska’s hands shook. Her stomach dropped. There was only one explanation for this.

The enchantment magic; it still had a hold. The slender man was still alive, and he wanted his property back.

She rushed to Meres’ side, holding him. “Fight it, Meres! You already did it once! You don’t belong to him, or to anyone! Don’t let him take you again!”

Meres twitched, his body convulsing as the fight for control overloaded his nerves. Iska wasn’t sure how long he could keep this up. She couldn’t do this without him. She… She needed him.

All of a sudden, it all stopped. The twitching, the pained grunting, the whines; all replaced by the rise and fall of heavy breaths. It was over.

But… who won?

“I… I’m so sorry, Iska. I’m too weak.”

Iska froze.

No…

Meres lifted his head. Iska looked into his eyes, welling up with tears.

The slender man won.

His hand darted out before she could even consider running, wrapping around her wrist in a vice grip.

“No!” she shouted, thrashing futilely against him, trying to wrench his fingers off. “Meres, stop! Y-you’re hurting me!”

Iska kicked and punched and bit and scratched, fighting like a wild animal, but nothing could get Meres to ease his bruising hold on her. Tears and blood trailed down his face, dripping onto her as he pulled her closer, and for a moment she paused, realising just how much pain he must have been in. Was she really just going to abandon him to it?

Did she have another choice?

All of a sudden, Meres threw her, pulling her suddenly enough that she tripped up and landed face-first in the dirt. Hope lit up in her chest. Had he broken free again?

That hope was quickly shattered as Meres stomped on her knee with all his weight. Iska screamed, pain radiating up her leg as he twisted his foot, grinding her kneecap into the rough ground. She heard more than saw him kneel down, and felt his foot move a little lower down her leg, to her upper calf. Two massive hands closed around her ankle and Meres started wrenching upwards. Iska shrieked.

“MERES! MERES, STOP! STOP, IT HURTS!”

Her shin felt like it was about to split in two. The creaking of her bone reverberated all the way up her leg. She grabbed a fistful of dirt and squeezed her eyes shut, realising there was no escaping the oncoming pain.

Snap!

Pain didn’t even begin to describe it. The agony was overwhelming. Darkness flickered across Iska’s vision as a high-pitched scream rang through her ears. She sobbed, hiding her face against the dirt as Meres let her go; the man in his head surely knowing there was no way she could flee anymore.

“C-come on, Iska… We have to go home now.” 

His voice was shaky and mournful. A mixture of grief and rage swirled in Iska’s belly. Why couldn’t he be strong enough?! Now neither of them had any chance of escape. She was going to spend the rest of her life in the slender man’s basement, slowly losing herself until she became nothing more than another puppet for him to order around. There was no fight left in her. She was done.

Meres scooped her up off the ground and bundled her against his chest. She cried out as her injured leg was aggravated and put up a token struggle, but there was no point.

It was over.

—

Iska groaned, spitting loose teeth and blood out of her mouth and onto the cold floor of the slender man’s dungeon. Her arms were chained to a post behind her; the metal of the shackles biting into her wrists. Meres was there. Somewhere. Iska wasn’t too compelled to search for him, knowing that opening her eyes meant accepting the reality that she was right back where she started. He was probably listlessly staring at the floor, too cowardly to look at her and witness the consequences of his actions made manifest.

At least the beating she was receiving distracted from the pain of her broken leg. If one could call that a consolation.

“Oh, those were your teeth, weren’t they?” the slender man’s slimy voice echoed through the space and into her head.

A cold hand closed around her chin and tugged her head up. Iska cracked her bruise-swollen eyelids open to look the man in the eye. His forehead was covered in stitches from the bottle she’d smashed across his face, and there was a distinct cloudy quality to his eyes – no doubt from a concussion. Clearly, it hadn’t hampered him enough to dull the force of his strikes.

His thumb traced along her jawline, a soft and gentle juxtaposition to the pain he’d been inflicting upon her. “Poor, poor Iska. Your beautiful smile is all broken now.” He hummed, squeezing her cheeks and putting pressure on her ruined gums. She cried out, tears burning down her face. “It’s no less than you deserve, for what you did to me, but it’s far from the last punishment you’ll receive. You will understand that there is no escape from your life’s purpose. You will understand that you are worth nothing, and your only solace will be knowing that your place is to be owned by me. Get used to it.”

“F-fuck you!” she rasped.

He let go of her face and stepped back, only to send a lashing kick straight at her nose. Her head snapped backwards as pain blossomed through her sinuses, filling her eyes with blinding tears. All she could do was sink to the ground and do her best to remember to breathe through her mouth as blood spilled from her nostrils.

“We’ll see how that attitude holds after a week in the experimentation room. Meres, come. It’s your turn.”

With that, he turned and strolled out of the room, Meres following at his heel like the dog he was.

It was all his fault. It was his weakness that trapped them here again. Iska would have to go back to that horrible room again, and it was all because of him.

No…

It was her own damn fault. Her impatience. Her need to flee. If only she’d made sure the man was dead.

As the sound of Meres’ screams began to echo throughout the dungeon, Iska closed her eyes and cried.

—

Iska was sleeping. That, or she’d succumbed to her injuries on the cold, hard floor. Meres couldn’t decide which one was worse. At least if she passed, she wouldn’t have to still be here, suffering because of him.

He winced at a particularly scathing throb of one of the lacerations on his back; the slender man’s brutal handiwork. Just another reminder of his own weakness, and what he’d subjected both himself and Iska to for the foreseeable future. Iska would be going into the experimentation room again tomorrow. Would there be another chance now? Would he be able to break free again, before it was too late and Iska lost herself too? It was hard to know.

He slowly stumbled over to her limp form, kneeling down and brushing some hair out of her bruised face.

“I… I- I’m so, so sorry, Iska. I failed you.”

Her eyes cracked open, staring up at him glassily. She reached out, weakly wrapping her delicate fingers around his thumb. 

“M- Meres… p-please, stay.”

Her eyes rolled back, and she passed out again.

Meres grit his teeth, holding back tears. “Don’t worry, Iska. I won’t leave you.”

He settled down on the ground next to her, still keeping hold of her hand.

“No matter what, I’ll stay with you.”

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