Sabito's POV
I picked up the bell off the ground and looked at the thick wall of vines in front of us.
"A dead end" Tanjirou said, "Great!" he exclaimed angerly.
"I don't think so, the bell would've turned" around I said.
Giyuu walked over to the wall of vines and pressed his face to it, "There's an opening behind the vines, I can see light and like an opening I think" he said.
I pressed my eye to the vines and through the thickness I could see some light and what appeared to be an opening in the maze, the center of it.
"We have to get through theses vines, we can't find another way now" I said as I started pulling the vines apart
The others followed and before long wed ripped up the vines. I noticed that the vines wed ripped up had fallen to the ground and shrivelled up. I saw the other interconnecting vines also started to shrivel and die. The death of the plants quickly spread and soon the whole area was soon dying or dead. I almost felt bad for the flowers, but then there was a long string of screeches and screaming from not too far behind us.
I pushed them through the vines, there were only a few left so we were able to get through easily.
"Inosuke" I immediately yelled out.
"I'm here, I'm at a dead end and the monster is closing in!" he screamed.
Instead of the walls being grass they were some sort of white marble, same as he floor. There was a well in the center of the marble opening, the vines we had just ripped out were covering a marble arch, there were other arches in the circular clearing, as if the vines were covering up the entrances to the center. We quickly located which one Inosuke was behind and started ripping away the vines. The plants and other vines around it started to die. As the others had done.
When there was enough space we pulled Inosuke through the vines.
"Ok, now what?" Inosuke asked as the stomping of the monster got closer and closer.
Well, the only thing I can think of is to jump down the well, it might be the backdoor were looking for Giyuu said as we all walked over to the well and looked down it. There was some sort of black liquid at the bottom of it, Im not sure if it was just dark or if it was the liquid that was dark.
I saw the monster through the arch charging at us and wailing and screaming, for whatever reason. I had the gut feeling that it was over the roses that had died because we ripped up all the vines.
"Ok, well, there's no where else to go. Who knows, maybe well be transported back into the house?" I said hopefully.
Inosuke rolled his eyes at me, "Or maybe it'll kill us"
"Maybe, I volunteer to go first" Giyuu said as he climbed onto the edge of the well.
"We all should go, I'll go too I don't care I just want to get away from here!" Zenitsu screamed.
He also climbed onto the edge of the well and looked down, he took a deep breath and let himself fall into the well screaming all the way until he hit the liquid, Giyuu went seconds later and the monster was almost to us.
"No, no way Im doing that!" Inosuke protested.
I didn't care, I grabbed Inosuke and pulled him into the well, I grabbed onto Tanjirou's arm on the way down since he had already gotten onto the edge but was visibly extremely hesitant.
Inosuke cussed me out the few seconds we fell, Tanjirou just screamed. I faced the top of the well as we fell, I saw the boney creature peer down the well as we fell and screeched loudly. The last thing I saw as I plummeted into the liquid.
I was in a dark liquid, totally emerged, but I could see clearly for some reason. I saw under me that there was a light, it resembled the light outside the main doors the other times we had escaped this world. I tried to swim to it, but it seemed so far away. I was all alone, I was scared, and I felt myself start running out of air.
I swam as fast as I could, but I couldnt hold my breath any longer. I slowed down, I was tired, my lungs hurt and I accidently gasped for air but was met with only liquid filling my lungs.
I flared my arms and legs in a panic, but then everything went even darker and fuzzy. I felt a hand on my shoulder that turned me to face them. It was Giyuu, he looked really scared when he saw the last air leaving my lungs in tiny bubbles.
He placed both of his hands on my cheeks and pulled me close, he connected our lips and breathed some air into my mouth. It was a few seconds of relief, but the air was probably mostly carbon dioxide. He grabbed onto me and swam towards the light. But just as we were about to enter it, everything around me went black.
I gasped awake loudly, I leaned over the side of the bed and threw up. I coughed up a bunch of watery black fluid as well as some of last nights dinner, I gasped and panted, taking in as much air as I possibly could.
"What's going on!?" Gloria burst in with Zenitsu behind her.
I could almost feel the water dripping down my face and my hair sticking to sides of my head, as if I had just gotten out of the shower. Gloria rushed over to my side and started asking if I was ok and pressing her hand onto my forehead. But I wasn't listening to anything she was saying, my eyes went to Tanjirou and Inosuke's beds. And they were ok, they were awake and breathing.
Gloria said something to other three boys and they all left the room, she left too and came back with the well-known medicine bucket and some cleaning supplies. She first mopped up the floor before giving me some medicine, I would've asked what it was but I felt weak. I could only manage a weak groan at the gross tasting medicine.
After Gloria left the other three rushed into the room.
"Sabito, are you ok?" Zenitsu asked.
"Yeah, I'm ok" I groaned.
"What happened?" Tanjirou asked as he looked over me.
"I think I almost drowned" I explained.
"Hey Sabito" Inosuke asked.
"Yeah, what is it Inosuke?" I asked as I turned to look at him.
"Fuck you" he said plainly.
"Wow, what did I even do to you?" I said in a pissed off voice.
"You pulled me into the well after I very specifically said I wasnt going!" he snapped.
"Oh so you're mad at me for saving your life?" I asked as I rolled my eyes.
"Exactly" he said smugly.
"Ok, whatever, let's move on from that, we're all alive, that's what matters" Tanjirou said.
"Do you think Giyuu made it out alive, I swam straight to the light but he just kinda swam around" Zenitsu said.
"Yeah, he's fine I said, I saw him go into the light"
Then after all that calmed down the reality of everything I had said the day before sunk into them, Tanjirou and Inosuke took it better than I had expected, it was Zenitsu that had the major breakdown. But at least they believed me now.
"Sabito, Gloria has been killing our friends for years?" Tanjirou started as he looked out the window down at the small children paying in the front yard.
"Yeah" I said.
"Sabito, she has to die" Inosuke said, I looked up at his bunk were he was sitting with his feet dangling over the edge, "Sabito, we have to kill Gloria"
"If you kill Gloria, Inosuke, then the amount of murderers in the world will stay the same. But if we all help in killing her, then the amount of murderers in the world will go up" Zenitsu said.
"Then we kill the entire cult, then the amount of murderers in the world will go down" Inosuke said, "It the only way"
"We dont have to kill them, we can report them to the police" Tanjirou said.
"They actually have people on the inside in the police, so thats a no go" I said.
Giyuus POV
So yeah, Im still alive. I woke up coughing and gasping for air, but Im ok now. Im pretty anxious to go see Sabito, but then again Im a bit nervous. I did kiss him after all, but it was more a life-or-death situation kind of thing, rather than a passionate confession followed by a kiss.
I spent the rest of my time organizing everything in the basement. I had a lot more space down here, which was nice, but I decided not to get attached since I was probably going to leave soon anyways.
"Giyuu!" Addison rushed into the basement, "Come upstairs quick!"
I rushed upstairs all the way to the second floor into my old room, I didnt know what exactly I was looking at.
"Tada! Its the twins room!" she announced, "I was a bit worried I wouldnt get it done in time but the paint dried way faster than I thought it would"
I just stood there, in the doorway, gapping at the scene of pinks and purples and whites with my eyes wide.
"What do you think?" she asked.
The room had white walls, two twin beds were pushed against the wall. One bed had lavender sheets with a lavender comforter that had butterflies on it. The other bed had baby pink sheets and a baby pink comforter with flowers on it. Above the beds were canopies attached to the walls and draping down around the beds in their corresponding colours. There was a window on the wall perpendicular to the beds, there were sheer white curtains on it and on either side of the windows were black stickers. One of the decorative stickers was of the Big Ben with butterflies all around it, and on the other side of the window was a sticker of the Eiffel Tower with flowers decorating it. Above the Big Ben was the name London in bold blackletter font and above the Eiffel Tower was the name Paris in pretty, delicate handwriting. Both names were spelt in black stickers.
Under the window there were two white dressers and in front of the dressers was a little white table with four chairs and a delicate looking tea set on the table. Under the table was a fluffy white carpet, beside the dressers was a tall white vintage looking standing mirror. On the other side of the dressers was a white chest, probably full of toys.
Overall the room looked like any little girls dream, or like one of those rooms on Pinterest.
"It's" I was totally speechless, "It's really good, theyre gonna love it"
She sighed happily, "I'm so glad, Anthony went to go get them some last-minute presents"
"What do you mean last-minute?" I asked.
"We're going to go pick them up later today" Addison said, "Did you get them anything?"
"I - what? I have some candy that I got the other day in the city, wait I didnt know we were bringing them home today?" I said.
"Oh, I must have forgotten to tell you she smiled Oh and, we talked to the priest, and he said you could come with us tonight when we meet up"
Oh yeah, I forgot that I asked to join the cult I thought.
"That's great, Im excited to go I said with a smile, I there anything that I can do, to like prepare or anything? I asked.
"No not really, just dress nice" she said.
Sabito's POV
"Ok, everyone listen up. I have an announcement to make, this is kind of a sudden announcement, with everything that's been going on I thought it would be best to keep this quiet until today" she started with London and Paris standing next to them in front of everyone in the cafeteria. "Paris and London are being adopted!" she said excitedly, "They're leaving a little later today"
Everyone gasped.
"So this is how they do it, they say and announce the adoption but its not real. This is just an excuse to take them away?" Tanjirou put a hand on my arm and whispered while Gloria kept talking.
"Oh, actually-" I started but then got cut off.
"We have to save them, we should kill Gloria to buy time" Inosuke whispered.
"But how? We cant get caught" Zenitsu added.
So while they were plotting Glorias murder, Gloria dismissed us to spend some time with London and Paris before they go.
The four of us walked back to our room while everyone was outside playing games with Paris and London.
"Let's just do what Sabito did with Makomo until we can figure out what to do about Gloria" Tanjirou said, "He was able to fool us all into believing she was missing and then even sneak her out of the house"
"Yeah, but then she died anyway" Inosuke scoffed.
"We don't know if she's dead or not" Zenitsu defended.
"Oh no, she's absolutely dead" I said casually.
"Oh" Zenitsu said, sounding defeated.
"Ok, yeah, but now Sabito knows what he did wrong so this time around the mortality rate will be lower" Tanjirou said.
"Actually I have no idea how they figured out where Makomo was, I really dont know where we went wrong" I said.
"Wait did you just say we?" Tanjirou asked as he closed the door behind us as we got into our room.
"Yeah, I didnt do it alone. Giyuu was the one that hid her and took her to the town in the middle of the night" I said.
"So its his fault that Makomo got kidnapped?" Inosuke asked.
"We've moved past the assigning blame part" I said, "But the twins arent being killed, they're actually being adopted"
"So we plotted Glorias murder for nothing?" Inosuke asked.
"Just put a pin in it and well get back to it" I said.
"How do you know they're not being taken away to be killed?" Zenitsu asked.
"Because, Giyuu's family is actually adopting them, it was a surprise to all of us really" I explained.
"Why?" Inosuke asked.
"Well, we had the idea that some adoptions had to be real so that the orphanage wouldnt be so suspicious" I said.
"So they're actually going away to be adopted?" Tanjirou said.
"Yeah, they are" I said almost solemnly.
"What are you guys talking about?"
We all jumped when we heard the foreign voice at the door, which had somehow been opened without any of us noticing.
"Gloria" I said, faking enthusiasm.
"Hello guys, I just wanted to discuss this whole Makomo escaping ordeal. As the four oldest, you know how the suspicion automatically falls on you four" she said sweetly, "If any of you want to confess, it'll be better, well be able to get closure and put this matter to bed. Whoever it was must feel really guilty that Makomo ended up dying the day before she was supposed to go off with her new family"
"It wasn't any of us" Tanjirou said.
"Maybe Makomo got one of the younger kids to help her, but she was the one that thought out the plan" Inosuke said.
"I doubt it" Gloria said almost smugly.
I wanted to punch her, as hard as I could. But I knew that then I really would have to kill her. And then the police and cult members would get involved, and since were the only ones in the house right now and the fact that shed died in our room would further push the suspicion on us. And I couldnt help anyone from jail.
"We don't know how she got out" Zenitsu said.
"Don't you trust us?" Tanjirou said with slight accusation in his tone.
The tension hung heavy in the air, the four of us against Gloria. She had her eyes on me, as if she already knew that I was the one that did it.
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I'm back, and so are the updates, thanks for being patient!
-Author~chan💗