Super Mario Continuance (REITERATED)

Chapter 18: Cold Chills

Riba made his way to the kitchen. It was just how he had left it. Food that had long since decomposed into mere remains of what it once was. Every last rolling pin, cutting board, and bloodbag had been left strewn out across the floor.

"Why are we here?" Marie asked. "Everything here is too decomposed to eat."

Riba didn't answer. He remembered when Alice told him that she lured Rae Aduraice into the freezer in this very kitchen, promising a sweet frozen treat. Instead, she threw her in and shut the door. She described to him in great detail her cries and screams, the pounding on the door, the pleading for Alice to let her out. She had just left her to freeze.

Rae's spirit had been trapped in there ever since. And it was time for Rae to come out. Riba reached into his seemingly endless knapsack and brought out a scarf and a warm jacket. He put them on. "Riba, you surely can't be thinking of going inside!" Marie shouted.

"I have to," Riba replied, turning back to face her. "I said I was going to save everyone. I'm going to live up to that."

Riba opened the doors, and walked inside. "I want you to keep the door open for me," Riba instructed Marie. "Do you think you can do that?"

"I think so, yeah," Marie answered.

Riba walked in, after ensuring that Marie was holding the door. There was no handle or anything on the other side of the door. Meaning once it shut, you could only be let out by someone from the other side.

Riba explored the freezer. It was surprisingly large. He didn't remember it being this large last time he had to go in here. He chalked it up to the house rearranging itself to make him confused. Every time he took a breath, it came out shivery and visible to the eye. It was freezing in here, even with his already warm clothes along with the extra padding he had on. Freezing may have been an exaggeration, but it was still chilling him to the bone.

"Hm..." Riba sighed to himself after searching for Rae for a few minutes. "Looks like a dead end. I'll just turn back and---" Riba felt the floor under him come loose. He then fell, into deeper darkness.

Riba came to, in a strange area. It was even colder here than in the freezer. By the way... where was he? He definitely hadn't fallen into the basement or the sewer under the house. He held his head, as he got up and looked around. It looked like he was in an ice cavern of some kind. Had this always been under the house?

Riba looked up. The hole was rather deep, and he wasn't athletic enough to wall jump like Mario could. "I guess there's no way to go but forward," Riba stated. "I need to find a way out of here before I freeze."

Riba continued forward, with nothing to guide him through the caverns. He didn't have any way to tell where he was going. This place was like a maze. He figured he'd eventually find a way out, if he didn't die trying. It was dark down there, and very easy to get lost. He found himself trekking through the same parts of the caverns that he had already went through.

He was almost at his rope's end, after many hours in the cave. He figured Marie probably left him behind. There was no way she'd stay there holding that door for this long, especially not for Riba. He was going to die down there. He had his arms huddled up together, and he shivered from fear, sorrow, and the burning cold. He was hesitant to accept that he would never make it out of here. But at this point, did he really have a choice whether or not to accept it? It's not like he had much to go back to anyways. He may as well just die.

That's when he realized. Len's cloak had saved her from the Ice Age, because it had a magical spell on it to make whoever wore it very warm. And Riba had it. He wasn't sure if it would fit very well. Would it even work if it didn't cover his whole body? Regardless, he reached into his knapsack. And pulled out the cloak.