The memory had stumbled upon Nora's mind so vividly. So painful and cruel .. a bittersweet goodbye that she had so desperate tucked at the back of her mind. Everything the witch had done for the Minamoto family .. everything to keep it standing and stable after the passing of the first woman she had loved in this lifetime.
The spring tomb of the woman who blossomed so dearly like the newly awakened life after a frigid frost. Melting the heart of the witch who prayed to freeze her time.
There had been a melancholy of blues that washed over Nora, tides receding in her heart, pulling away at her emotions. "This is why .. I didn't want to come into the Red House.." Nora said softly, clutching her chest, clasping the fan Keiko left her.
"This house .. shows you what you fear most .. what you want most .. and what you wish for the most. That .. that was our combined desires. The desire to see Keiko again.." Nora waved her hands across Teru's eyes, and right before him was a clear glass coffin propped upward against the wall.
Encased was a beautiful woman who laid upon dozens of white lilies, perfecting her porcelain ivory skin. Cold to the bone, dead as one could be.
But even so, Teru didn't waver, he reached for Nora's hands and just like that, Keiko had disappeared, and the room around them spun like a cog.
Nora was what he wanted now. No one else. If anything .. the Red House showing him his mother only solidified his resolve. Keiko would give up the entirety of her humanity for the happiness of the child she saw as her first daughter.
It felt so long ago. The hands of time slowed whenever he and the witch were together. But yet as it was .. it was not slow enough to prevent the concern of Nora's curse of misfortune.
So long as he was a selfish human being retaining his human heart, Teru would not pass the opportunity to spend all of eternity with Nora, however long she has left to serve a sentence of misery, he would be by her side.
"It's time to let your guard down, Nora." he kissed the palm of her hand, only for that same hand, the only sedimentary fraction of physical touch he held with her in that moment had slipped.
Teru's eyes widened faster than his honed reflexes could react. But Nora .. she seemed to be expecting this. A smile crossed her cherry lips, and her eyes curled up to crescents as a crack opened up exactly where the witch had been standing just seconds ago.
"Take care, Teru."
It wasn't a goodbye .. just a short farewell before the crack closed itself up. Nora's fan that was in her hand fell to the ground.
"Nora—!"
After what felt like hours of swinging his knuckle and punching the floor, releasing an amass amount of his spiritual energy causing black electricity to crawl over every crevice of the maze like house .. the Red House refused to return his witch.
There was no way of getting Nora back until Teru had decided to comply with the game of the cursed house.
Just like a child's play.
Teru felt something bump against his leg. He looked down and his eyes widened, allowing his poker face to clack against the now marble flooring.
The setting was no longer the memorial home that fourteen year old Teru and Nora had cried in. But rather .. it was a grand mansion. The interior decorated flawlessly to accentuate the boldness of the lavish home. However what surprised him most of all ..
was the small child that had run past him.
Raven black hair, short stubby legs and a doll-like dress. She was no taller than four feet tall.
To see such a small child in the dead solitude of a house .. seemed so lonely. No servants, no maids, but adorned in extravagant jewelry that covered her from head to toe. A dull light that flickered in her deluded ruby orbs.
A reflection of Teru's younger self shone into the eyes of the girl.
It was before they had stumbled upon Nora .. But Nora knew this tale well. Teru living as a walking corpse his whole childhood for the purpose of becoming the next head of the Minamoto Family .. and becoming a prodigy worthy of the sacrifice his mother had taken just to give birth to him.
An immense spiritual power caused every retainer and elder to push the Minamoto boy into exorcism as soon as he could walk, and much before his muscles could even begin to develop properly.
A singular boy who held the strength of a compound of exorcists. A stoic expression and an even more solitary heart.
Over time Teru had even grown a hatred for his father. The man who prioritized his surname over the health of his wife. His father had struck him once during a conversation with Teru about his anger about being born and worsening the illness of his mother.
After that .. Teru had grown up to realize something. He was a tool .. but he was a tool everyone needed for the sake of their selfish survival. And thus, even if he were to become a slave to the people he were to protect .. he would also become the person they would need the most and couldn't risk losing under any circumstances.
Teru bargained his freedom and time with his siblings and even had done so to prevent Kou's training of becoming a nearly full time exorcist such as his elder brother.
It was one of the many reasons why Teru and Nora hadn't gotten along in the first place. Nora was well aware of how manipulating Teru was .. and the fact that he had successfully manipulated her had bothered the witch.
Her eyes used to be filled with so much caution ..
Just like the rosy irises that now narrowed down on his figure, craning her neck to stare up at him, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Guards are supposed to be in the barracks right now and butlers are supposed to be in the quarters. But you're wearing neither of the uniforms."
The young lady possessed a high pitched voice, child-like, but low of warning. Her finger twitched and her eyes glowered in suspicion. "You aren't dressed like papa either."
Nora had once told Teru, as she was a witch, her mind was more advanced than normal human children, allowing her to retain and understand knowledge at a broader extent.
The only issue was .. out of every life Nora had ever told Teru about .. her first, was the least spoken of .. and every instinct in the exorcist's body etched that this .. this had to be Nora's first life .. otherwise there would be no talk about her father and no large lavish mansion.
He had a short moments notice to think of an excuse that he'd be able to lie with easily. After all, it'd be no chore in lying to a child. He'd done it with both of his siblings since the moment they were born.
"I'm .. your new knight, reporting for duty, Lady Nora!" The affectionate name of familiarity had slipped through without a second thought. Teru had realized his mistake in an instant.
"What's a Nora?"
He froze with a dumbfounded smile on his face.
The small girl drew a bellow of wind into the mansion, causing the tips of his golden blonde hair to flutter. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The primitive instinct of danger waned.
Maybe lying to a child was not as easy as he had thought.
"Nyx doesn't like liars." There was almost like a low growl at the end of her voice. Her eyes almost shifted to gold.
Teru only sighed. His very short act had been slid into the garbage disposal as he crouched down, patting the young witch's head. She closed her eyes for just a second and found herself smiling a tad bit, melting into the touch that she hadn't felt in a long time.
"My name is Teru .. and I'm looking for a certain someone .. wouldn't you be so kind as to help me ..?"
The child was not charmed. In fact, she continued to walk down the embroidered carpet, snapping her fingers as the large double doors had swung open. "You'd better hide. Mom doesn't like seeing outsiders .. especially men."
The young little girl, with whatever magic, pulled a black curtain from the window and enchanted it, dusting it in some powder before it draped upon Teru's shoulders.
Teru minimized his steps to match the pace of the young little Nora. Or at least he believed it was Nora.
However in this life .. the name she was born with ..
Nyx, the goddess of the night, she who rode the chariot of dusk and it's midnight blanket. So even in this life, theirs name contrasted. She was the dark and he was the light that shone.
Perhaps it was due to the oblivion darkness of her tresses.
Nora, Nyx, whomever and whatever identity she goes by .. Teru knew deep in the very alive pulsing heart that pumped blood through his chest, that Nora could not resent her mother. Her mother who had been through so much pain and merely wished to leave the world after her nine fulfilled lives.
But her mother, Yvonne had fallen in love.
And from there, she was abandoned and spiraled out of control.
"Mom, mom, I've brought chamomile tea to help soothe you."
Nyx tugged onto the exorcist's sleeve, signaling him to open the door in her stead as she slipped in the moment it cracked open.
Teru knew all too well of the tale. On the very day Nora had contracted her services to the Minamoto family, she told a story.
Her mother had put the entirety of Hokkaido into a coma slumber as a result of activating her trump card. A term exorcist and witches used to define the lifeline magic ability that linked Nora's specific ancestry of witches to their nine lives.
Activating that trump card would take up however much lifespan a witch had left in their lifetimes and amass them into a curse.
Teru stood there. A spectator under a cloak of invisibility. It felt so surreal. The fact that he was now two hundred years or more in the past. Nora herself had existed for this long .. however the catch of her nine lives is that her reincarnation process doesn't happen instantaneously. Or to be exact, it depends on the mentality of the witch.
Nora who had grown as tired of the cycle of living and dying as her mother, died, and laid in an empty time space continuum until they had picked themself up piece by piece, accepting the fact that her existence would be erased if she chose not to reincarnate.
That would be the reasoning behind the little to no knowledge behind her ancestors. Many of them decided to erase their existence permanently by falling slumber in a point of time in which time did not go forward or backward, yet it did move. It simply moved backward and forward at the same time, creating a rift where not even present could exist.
"I'm afraid you'll have to dine by yourself Nora .. I'm so close to finding your father .. after I find him we can be a happy family together .." Her mother shone a weak smile. Almost dazed. The woman was pretty— on par with his mother, he'd admit. Their features were nearly exactly identical.
"That's okay mom. Just mom being here is enough to make me happy! You and I can be a family ourselves!"
Nyx jumped in joy.
But Yvonne did not.
"No! We need your father!" The woman slammed her hand onto the table and all the candles blew out. She let out a scream of frustration. "Go dine by yourself Nyx. Mom needs to concentrate!"
Nyx only laughed when she closed the door shut.
Teru peered down in curiosity. "What's so funny?"
Nyx who had wavered for just a moment had quivered before it stopped. A smile graced her delightful features. "My dad died a while ago. The black death took him when he was in the front lines. She's been saying those same exact words with the same exact spell for years now."
"It's almost like my life is a scripted play for god to mock."
God mocked them all. Teru was well aware .. God was the one that had given the Seventh Wonder, Hanako a chance .. a chance to harm others with his abuse of power as a non-living being. A chance and mercy that was wasted on a being that could not be salvaged.
"I do miss dad. He didn't mean to leave .. the government forced him .. and he made us promise to not harm humans anymore. He promised that he'd come back. Humans are so fragile .. cursed with such short lifespans .. Mom's promise of not harming humans had long passed the moment dad came home in a body bag."
"She knows he's gone .. but we're witches. We are cursed and gifted with supernatural powers .. and mom is willing to sacrifice it all to find him in the far shore. Even if it means going there herself."
"So Mister Teru .. can you promise .. for a short while .. that you'll be my friend? Then i'll help you with anything you want..!" Nyx exclaimed. Her sharp little canine took stuck out when she grinned.
Teru held a burning flame of love for the same soul no matter what lifetime and what body.
"Then if Nyx is so eager, who am I to say no?~"
The small witch hummed a requiem as her feet kicked back and forth, happy to finally dine with someone at the table. All the servants in the house lived like mice, quiet and quickly scurrying away after presenting the food.
Teru's stomach indeed missed Kou's food. It had dawned on him .. how long has he been inside the Red House? Did time flow differently ..? Was Nora watching him?
But the food was too delicious for a starving exorcist that he ate without complaint. "Aren't you curious? Curious as to why I was so open to helping you? And why the servants all are afraid?"
Teru did think about it. But he wasn't one too nosy to dig into that type of business, seeing as how Nyx had told him quite a bit already. But it seemed as though .. it had been years since Nyx had last had true company. "Why?" Teru had a grin daunting his face as he placed his chin onto his palm.
"Every single person who lives within the premises of our property .. are all my mother's guinea pigs. She's practicing necromancy to bring my dad back to life! It's a taboo to do so .. however apparitions and exorcists alike don't wish to trifle with a witch. Especially one as powerful as my mom .. or what they don't know is that she used to be powerful. Until she had lost her mind."
"It's so quiet because .. mother killed hundreds, if not then thousands. And out of them .. she was only able to successfully resurrect the amount that we currently have. They all are set to turn back into a corpse the moment they step out of our property."
"We're monsters. So everyone fears us as such. Killing people isn't as hard as you think. Humans are scum, no remorse should be shown." They were the very beings who took her father away to the end of death's scythe.
"This is love. The power .. the anguish .. all of it. So Mister Teru .. before I grow attachment to you .. I must ask, what is it you want from dear little Nyx?"
And although there seemed to be no ulterior motive behind releasing that information— there without a doubt was. The snaring conniving conviction of her tone that condemned a ultimatum.
One wrong move upon the checkerboard they all stood upon .. and it would be check and mate. Countless times of watching Nora brutally best Akane in chess .. Teru would have to be careful, or he wouldn't be leaving the Red House alive.
There had no affirmation that what happened in the Red House could also follow up into the present time.
If Teru didn't fulfill his end of the bargain of being the young child's playmate .. he would certainly become a subject to necromancy instead.
It had completely left his mind that Nora herself was once a very cruel sadist. Her pouty faces and innocent eyes were just acts.
The blonde smiled.
"I was searching for something.. but it seems as though i've already found it." He lightly pinched Nyx's cheek as she chewed.
Teru wasn't sure of how to get out. But if he could find the source of the problem in this tale, set in stone for the pathway of misfortune .. then maybe. Just maybe he could find a way to lift Nora's curse in the process.