Soejammy and the CPUs walk down the hall to meet up with everyone in the room at the other side.
Vert: Noire are you alright?
Noire: yeah....still feel uneasy but I'll be alright.
Neptune: uh..N-Noire?
Noire:y-yeah?
Neptune: D-do you think what we saw was all in our heads?
Noire: I dont know..
Soejammy: hmm its possible.
Vert: yeah, you guys are probably halucinating.
Soejammy: Let's just meet up with everyone, that'll get you guys to calm down fully and relax.
The four continue to leave the halls.
Neptune: uh..Jammy?
Soejammy:Yes?
Neptune: isn't this the end of the hall?
Soejammy: yeah? Why?
Neptune stands not moving at all.
Neptune: h-how are we supposed to cross that?!
Vert:cross what? What do you mean?
Neptune: you can't see it?
Noire: see what? We're just a good distance from the room to meet up with everyone.
Neptune moves back, quite terrified and shaking.
Soejammy for a moment didn't quite get what Neptune meant. Vert tried to approach Neptune to try and calm her but as Neptune looked at her she screams and goes back, eyes widened and full of fear.
Neptune: Stay away from me!!
Noire was puzzled.
Noire: Nep?
Neptune runs back to the halls.
Soejammy: Nep!
The 3 chase Neptune as she seems to run faster quite scared.
Noire: Why's she running from us?
Vert: I have no idea.
The 3 continue chasing her as she runs.
Soejammy: Nep! Come back!
Neptune runs faster
Soejammy sprints as he manages to catch up and pin her down.
Neptune screams as she struggles to free herself.
Noire: What's wrong with her?!
Soejammy: She's seeing things
Neptune continues struggling as if her life's in danger.
Neptune: Let me go !let me go! let me go!!
Soejammy: Nep! snap out of it!!
Soejammy tried bringing her back to normal. He then remembered something as he reach out to his pocket.
A necklace with a blue crystal was on it as he tried putting it on Neptune who moved her head away. Soejammy tried putting it on again but she dodged as she struggled.
Soejammy: put this on dammit!
Soejammy placed it over her head around her neck as she gradually calmed down. Her heavy breaching subsided as she stared at the ceiling. She looked tired as her eyes became heavy as she passed out.
Soejammy: That should calm her down..
Having no choice Soejammy carries Neptune giving her a piggyback ride.
Soejammy: Alright let's go.
At the room....
Noire opens the door for Soejammy as he takes Neptune to the couch as everyone is alarmed.
Krillin: What happened?
Soejammy: I'm not very sure, I think she saw something and it's only her who can see it. She was probably hallucinating but it was serious.
Vert: yeah, it was like we looked like monsters to her.
Gohan: that's serious.
Soejammy gently lies her down the couch.
Corvus goes to her as he checks her.
Corvus: hmm she'll be fine she just needs some rest.
Soejammy sighs in relief.
Shiro: thank goodness
Corvus: I apologize, if I hadn't thought of sending any one us there this wouldn't of happened.
Soejammy: no it's ok..I should've made everyone leave sooner.
Gohan: Did you guys encounter any monsters?
Soejammy: no..but
Soejammy looks at Noire who didn't look like she was interested in talking about what happened earlier as she looked elsewhere.
Krillin tapped Gohan's shoulders letting him know now's probably not a good time to talk about it as he nodded.
Vert from time to time watched Neptune as she was asleep. She looked at the blue crystal necklace around her neck that soejammy put there.
Vert: um Soejammy?
Soejammy:Yes Vert?
Vert: What kind of necklace did you put around Neptune, judging by how it instantly calmed down Neptune it's no ordinary necklace.
Soejammy: Its a special necklace I got from my parents. It's a smokey Quartz necklace. It came with a card which gave info about it. Said to neutralize negative vibrations, disperses fear,depression and any other negative emotion as it promotes calmness.
Vert: oh
Vert said understanding about its features.
Noire overheard Soejammy's explanation.
Noire: So that explains why she calmed down.
Soejammy: yeah, good thing I had it with me otherwise I would've feared the worse.
Noire: yeah....
Soejammy:I don't get what's going on.
Vert:hm?
Soejammy: I mean the hall, there's something strange going on there that caused Noire and Neptune to see things and convinced them they're real.
Vert: yeah..
Corvus: it could be part of the curse I learnt was placed in this mansion.
Soejammy: curse?
Corvus explains it to Soejammy as he did Noire and Neptune a while back.
Soejammy nods as he gets it.
Soejammy: ok I get it. So what happened was probably an effect of a curse.
Vert: But how come Soejammy and I weren't affected?
Corvus points at the smokey Quartz necklace as the two look at Neptune wearing it while asleep.
Corvus:You said that necklace disperses negative emotions and fear right?
Soejammy: yeah...
He replied quite surprised Corvus somehow overheard him too.
Corvus: where was it before giving it to Neptune?
Soejammy: It was in my pocket.
Corvus: Then if Vert was by your side then it'd make sense. I think the effects of the necklace don't only affect its wearer but those around too.
Vert:Yeah you're right.
Noire: but how come Neptune was still affected then? she was around Soejammy and Vert as we were leaving.
Corvus: Only thing that comes to mind is the range, the necklace's effects is probably only concentrated to its wearer and dosen't cover a wide range.
Think of it like an area with bad phone service.
Soejammy: that kinda explains it. Plus Neptune wasn't right beside me.
Noire: So to put it plain the effects of the necklace has a weak range.
Corvus: Exactly.
Soejammy:hmm...
Vert glanced at Soejammy as he was in thought.
Soejammy: Corvus is there a way to increase the effects?
Corvus: oh you want to amplify the effects. Hmm I think can do something but that'll take time. First I'll have to study the crystal itself before.
Soejammy: oh alright, I think we can do that later then, unless we're going to be in this room even longer?
Corvus: Well since Neptune's still recovering we'll have to wait for her to wake up. In the meantime..I'll be checking on something.
Corvus got up as he seemed to head out.
Soejammy: you going to the halls that we went earlier?
Corvus: no, there hidden cameras I want to install around here and near the stairs leading downstairs. I want to check the movements of monsters incase we encounter any.
Soejammy: alright.
Vert: speaking of monsters, we haven't
seen anything expect what Noire and Neptune witnessed.
Corvus: Alright I'm going to install more cameras, I'll be right back. Until Neptune wakes up then we'll decide what do to.
Corvus leaves and closes the door.
Krillin: he's always on the move huh
Kiken: yeah.
Me: So Soe, you came up with increasing the crystal's effects right?
Soejammy: yeah, figured since it has a weak range expanding it will be a good thing so that we'll be protected from influence of the mansion's curse.
A device rang from Corvus' toolbox as kiken takes it as he picks out a walkie talkie.
He tries listening to what's being said.
Kiken: boss?
Corvus: he**...
Kiken: what?
Corvus:*...............
Kiken:...
Soejammy: Something's wrong isn't it?
Kiken: could be just bad signal, after all the signals don't work well around this place.
Crashing can be heard from downstairs.
Me:uh oh
Kiken: boss probably missed a target.
More strange sounds could be heard from downstairs as an object drops making a lot of noise
Noire:Now are you convinced something's wrong?
Gohan rushes and opens the door as krillin follows after. Kiken goes too.
Kiken: we'll be right back.
The 3 leave the room while Soejammy, Shiro, the CPUs and I remained watching over Neptune who was still asleep.
Vert: Nep looks really cute and peaceful when she's asleep. Don't you agree Noire?
Noire looks elsewhere
Noire: maybe...
Me: Just admit it Noire~
Noire: Alright fine she does look peaceful when asleep.
Me:..........
Soejammy:...
Noire: what?
Me: did you just admit something?-
Soejammy: without your tsundereness taking over?
Noire: what are you talking about!
Me: calm down, there's a first for everything 😅
Noire: Its not like I was admitting because of you guys!
Soejammy: And there she goes back to tsundere mode.
Soejammy and I laugh as Noire gets irritated.
She grabs both of us by the ear pulling it hard.
Soejammy & me:*in unision*ow!ow! it hurts!!
Vert and Shiro chuckle at our predicament.
Noire: Now would you two stop teasing me?
Me: Alright! alright just let go!my ears gonna rip apart!
Soejammy: ow! You can let go now!
Noire: quit teasing alright, am I clear on that?
Soe & me: Yes princess..
Noire pulls tighter
Soe & me: ow! yes Ma'am!
Vert and Shiro laugh.
Noire finally lets go as we sweatdrop rubbing our ears to subdue the pain.
Soejammy: ok you being able to pull our ears like that shows you've gotten over what happened earlier.
Noire: Yeah
Noire smiled.
Me: How can you be smiling after putting us in pain!
Noire chuckled.
Noire: Your fault for making fun of me.
Shiro: guys look.
Shiro pointed as we all looked at Neptune. The smokey Quartz necklace glowed radiantly as it dimmed.
Vert: Nep's waking up!
Neptune's eyes slowly opened. Her eyes fluttered as she looked around.
Neptune: what happened?
Vert: You were unconscious for a while.
Neptune:oh
Soejammy:There's something I'd like to talk to you about but that can wait for now since you've just woken up.
Shiro:What happened actually?
Vert: Well she seemed to be hallucinating. Serious enough to put her in a state of shock and fear almost trading her sanity.
Noire: But thanks to Soejammy's necklace she calmed down.
Neptune rubbed her eyes as she sat upright leaning on the couch.
Me: How are you feeling?
Neptune: I feel ok, really relaxed too.
Noire: That's because of the necklace you're wearing.
Neptune: hm?
Neptune looks around her neck and lift the crystal to her face to see it. The smokey Quartz crystal radiant baby blue glow shines on her face.
Shiro and I watch as she seems to be fascinated by it. She appears she wants to say something. Everybody anticipated on what she was going to say after just waking up from what happened earlier. Perhaps she might tell us about what she saw or if there's anything else she noticed or..
Neptune: Is there pudding in the fridge?
Everybody : 😑
Me: I'll go get it.
I get up as I walk to the fridge and give Neptune pudding as she happily eats it.
While eating Vert tries to speak to Neptune about what happened.
Vert: soo...Nep..
Neptune takes a last spoon of pudding as she opens another container with pudding.
Neptune: yeah?
Soejammy: Do you remember what happened after you passed out.
Neptune looks down.
Neptune: yeah.. Besides seeing that eggplant monster,as we were leaving I absolutely thought I saw hordes of zombies on the stairs and by the time I looked you guys seriously looked like zombies to me.
Me:well that's some curse.
Neptune seems to be concentrating on something as she remembers something.
Neptune: that's right...I saw something...
Me: saw what?
Neptune: Before running due to fear I thought I saw a cloaked figure somewhere...
All of us became surprised.
Noire: Do you remember where?
Neptune shook her head.
Me: hm, can you give us a hint? Even if you don't recall exactly.
Neptune: hmm...think somewhere around the hall leading to that other place Corvus was talking about.
Me: oh that room he said it was some kind of attic.
Soejammy: Could be another floor.
Shiro: I'm guessing this means were going to continue our search right?
Me:yup.
Vert: Shouldn't we wait for Corvus and the others to get back?
Soejammy: Of course we're going to wait for them. It's been about 30 minutes though.
Me: I'll go and check.
Walking out of the room. I close the door as I go down the stairs.
Me:Gohan!......krillin?
I walk down further as I saw a figure there.
Me:Krillin?
Immediately seeing whatever that was ,I quickly ran upstairs into the halls and closed the door behind me afte rushing inside the room. Everyone looked alarmed and stared at me.
Noire:What's wrong ?
Me: saw something on the stairs..
Soejammy: Alright I'm coming with you.
Me: Let's wait for a while.
Soejammy moves passed me as he opens the door. He loads the gun Corvus gave him.
Soejammy:let's see how this baby works
Soejammy walks down the hall with me following him.
Vert and Noire were peeking from the entrance of the room.
Noire: Soejammy sure is excited trying that gun out.
Vert: yeah.
Soejammy walks down the stairs as I peer down but don't see anything.
Me: Its gone..
Soejammy: hmm
Soejammy turns on the flashlight on the weapon as he moves around scanning everywhere. He moves downstairs as I follow him. After getting down he turns left as we move around to look for Krillin and the others.
Me: Where are Corvus and the others? it's too quiet here.
Soejammy: You're right.
Soejammy moves the lights around to observe if there's anything out of place.
Me: uh...Jammy?
Soejammy: hm..
He turns to my direction as I point at the hall behind us...
A trail of drops of blood decorated the floor as it trailed to the right.