chapter eight ; 𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓
"We're.. here." Giyuu stared at the house. It was much more stable than he had interpreted it would be. Before, he'd assume it'd all be a bunch of thin wood that looked like hay burnt on the ground, and that he'd be staring at some fucking ashes.
"Is it scary? Don't worry, I'll protect you." Sabito teased, his tone sounding calm; and waiting for Giyuu's response. "...I'd appreciate that, thank you. But I don't want your help." He walked off. Sabito stood there; flabbergasted.
"Goddamn." Nico clicked his tongue, "rough life, bud." He sighed with an exaggerated tone, patting Sabito's back gently. "Better luck next time, Eh?" He smiled, following after Giyuu.
However, Giyuu didn't mean to be that rude.
Instead, he actually meant; "I'd appreciate that, but you should look after yourself. I wouldn't want you getting hurt." But since he sucked at talking to people, since he prefers not to talk to people, and since he prefers not to talk to people, he doesn't know how. And since he doesn't know how, he absolutely and utterly messed it up. And now, left a sulking, astounded Sabito.
Yep, this story's gonna be a long one.
From behind, it looked like Giyuu was irritated with his stiff walking. But instead, his cheeks were tinted soft fruit pink from the fact Sabito cared about him. Also from the fact he probably screwed his words, which he did. He was flustered, he was really flustered.
You can ask the author to apologize here, right here.
They continued to walk until they saw a long, spiralling staircase. To make it worse, it was all rusty and looked like it was on the sweet verge of collapsing.
"...We're not actually going to go up that, are we?" Asked Nico, "Because I'm not ready to join Leo Sneix."
"That's not very manly of you, Nico." Sabito said, bending down to the boy's height.
"Wait, who is Leo Sneix?" Giyuu asked, seeming quite perplexed on who that would be. Nico brushed it off with a smirk. "Nobody you'll know. That is, until you're dead."
Tomioka didn't really focus on what the younger boy was saying. He was focused on the expression he made. No, not in the weird way. More like... the skeptical way.
He was being fake, his smirk showed the look of a phoney.
But hey, not like that's going to matter. Why should he care, anyway? Not like he'd have the courage to talk to him about it.
Creeeaaakk...
Every step they took up the staircase, there was a loud, echoing creak. All three males couldn't help but cringe at each crack.
"...Jeez, this thing's probably a thousand years old." Nico mumbled.
They kept going up the stairs, trying to be as light as they can with the steps. Causing a full-on avalanche with some old grandpa wood was the last thing they wanted.
They kept going. Up, and up, and up the staircase.
Finally, they reached the end.
However, once they set foot on the second floor, the three boys could feel a strong rumbling coming from the stairs.
"...Shi—" Everything collapsed. They burst, particles flew, and all fell down to the ground. Every single part of the stairs were just... chunks of wood.
Giyuu looked down, widening his eyes at the sight.
If they had fell down, they could've met their doom. There was a large, dark and definitely not shallow hole. All the chunks continued to fall, and nobody heard the clunks of landing from any of them.
"...That, my friend —" Nico walked over to see, giving off a small snort; hands in pockets.
"...Is the gateway to hell." Nobody could tell whether he was joking or not, but Giyuu and Sabito hoped he was.
They turned around, and stiffened up even more of what they saw.
Haru's casket was hanging. There were parts of it that had broken off and fallen down to the ground. What made it more weird, is that the casket was being hanged from where the corpse's head should be. It was drilled and shaped to form depth in that area where it was being hung.
"...Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" Nico breathed.
"...If you're seeing a casket being hung like a person would do to themselves as a form of suicide..." Giyuu quietly gulped, brows furrowed of bewilderment and astonishment. "...Yeah. We probably are."
"...Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Sabito anxiously asked.
Nico slightly relaxed.
"If-.. if you're thinking that's Haru's coffin being hung, yeah. We probably are." He spoke. Sabito winced.
All of a sudden, things went dark.
"...Holy shit." Nico looked around.
"Holy shit," Giyuu repeated. "I'm pretty sure there was a moon?"
Sabito couldn't help but awkwardly chuckle at the tense atmosphere. He could feel a cold grimace behind him. The feeling brushed the back of his body.
"...Yeah. There was a moon, a few seconds ago." He answered.
Finally, there was light again. Usually, you'd be relieved to see that the moon came back to light your way after being gone for five seconds. However, would you be relieved to see a hanging man right where a hanging coffin was before?
I'm guessing your answer is no. If it was yes, I'm genuinely concerned for you.
All three boys let out a startled yelp. Suddenly, the hanging man's eyes snapped open.
They realized he wasn't being hung by a rope, he was being hung by a thin wire.
"...His head-.." Sabito blurt out.
"...Is about to fall off, I know." Nico stated in astonishment.
Plop.
I bet you know what happened, yeah?
No? Yes? I'll tell you anyway.
His head fell. It plopped to the ground.
And rolled, and rumbled, and tumbled.
And it rolled, rumbled and tumbled in front of the three boys.
"..Oh my fucking shit." Giyuu breathed out.
"...Oh your fucking shit." Repeated Sabito.
"Quit being gay, both problems solved." Mumbled Nico.
Everything went black. The moon disappeared once again.
They heard this form of wicked cackling, and the sound of footsteps began to increase by the second.
Step, step, step...
And what they saw was probably the worst case scenario they could think of.
"I must admit, you children..." Sukima gave off a sickening smirk. The three boys couldn't help but flinch. "Are quite impressive." Suki then looked over to Nico, and her eyes flashed of irritation.
"You!...." She hissed.
"...Heya.. Grandma.." Nico awkwardly waved, glancing at Haru's head. "...Mind getting Old Grandpa Willy's head away from us?.." He pointed, and Sukima growled in response.
"Great, she's a furry." Sabito mumbled. "Probably one with a gacha heat phase." Nico added. (No hate to furries though 💀)
Giyuu nudged the younger raven, who snickered in response.
Sukima tried to resist, though through her struggling, she found herself charging towards Nico, her long, creasy black hair flowing roughly behind her.
He sighed. "Here we go again.." He said. Tomioka took a quick glance at the peach-haired man next to him, who gave him one back. They nervously averted from their gaze a second later.
Nico grabbed pepper spray, and sprayed Suki's eyes. She loudly and painfully screeched in agony, covering her eyes as she frantically ran everywhere, stopping in place and grumbling of frustration.
"...And where did you get that from?" Giyuu asked. Nico scoffed.
"From that witch's house, obviously." He spun the spray in his fingers, then caught it. "Why? Do you care about where I got it more than how I could've been knocked down and beat up?" He smirked, "Oh, woe is me!"
"Of course not, I knew you could handle it by yourself because I trust you." Giyuu crossed his arms. Nico paused, then hummed.
Atasuki growled once again as she glared at Nico with hatred and disgust, her eyes quite red and puffy as tears rolled down her cheeks.
The young boy gagged. "Yuck," he made a face, "you look tremendously more ugly than before."
"Sh-... SHUT UP!" She shrieked, "STUPID BRAT!"
She ran again, this time; her eyes closed shut. Nico knew exactly where this was going, so he couldn't help but smirk. Slowly, he walked to the side where Sabito and Giyuu were to avoid being hit, making Sukima stride face first into a wall; which caused a big hole in it. She was then knocked unconscious.
At first, Nico was giggling. Then, those giggles turned into laughter. Then, the laughter turned into hysterical cackling. The two men with him were quite concerned for his well-being.
Suki's eyes fluttered open. She blinked once, then twice, then thrice. She then saw a pair of two sapphire blue eyes, and pitch black, fluffy hair.
"Y-you...." She clenched her fists as she had fully processed who the person was in front of her.
"YOU!" She tried to get up, although she could only fall over as she saw she was tied to a chair. Her legs, her torso and arms were all tied up tightly to a sort of stable, wooden chair.
"You-... YOU BRATS!" She struggled and tugged, "I'LL GET YOU!.. I'LL GET YOU ALL FOR THIS!" She screamed, loudly grunting as she tried to escape.
"How many times is this woman going to say 'you'?" Sabito mumbled to himself, then proceeded in listening to what was going on.
"Mhm, sure." He scoffed, then looked over to Giyuu. Giyuu, who was holding a knife looking slightly reluctant and guilty.
"Well..?" He started, staring at the older raven as he waited for something to happen.
He didn't answer. He was hesitant, because he had this small thought that held him back. The babies were innocent, weren't they? It was just the woman bearing them that was wicked, and the father too.
No, what was this? It was stupid to feel sympathy for them. They're the spawn of Satan, the children of Lucifer. Those fetus were the inverted of the story of Baby Jesus.
Why should he feel bad?
Still, he couldn't do it.
Nico groaned tiredly.
"Here, I'll do it." He snatched it from his grasp impatiently, "Give me that."
He then, turned around and spun the knife in his fingers, giving Suki a small smile.
"Don't worry, you'll see those little shits in hell with you. Isn't that a mother's dream? To love and stay..." He trailed off, then shook his head. "Whatever, I'm talking too much. I'll give you a chance to say goodbye to them." He crossed his arms, lending Sukima a moment to bid farewell.
Instead, she widened her eyes and looked down to her womb as tears formed in her eyes. She hissed.
"NO!" She cried, "NOT MY BABIES, NOT MY CHILDREN!" She shrieked and sobbed, her body frantically moving everywhere.
"Mm." He shrugged. "Stage one is denial for a reason."
He shot his hands up, the knife closed in tightly between his palms, the woman screamed in agony and shock.
Stab.
He stabbed her once, then twice, then thrice. And before he knew it, he was repeatedly stabbing her, and he couldn't stop. He was unable to tell why, which completely astonished the two young men watching him.
Blood gushed out and onto him, his cheeks soaked in the blood and white tissue spilling from her stomach just once in every slight while, Giyuu and Sabito could feel their spines being replaced with cold, freezing ice.
With every increasing stab, the raven's grip on the peach-haired boy's arm had tightened. He shuddered, watching his fourteen year old, distant cousin brutally murder a pregnant mother.
Sabito lightly hugged him from behind, trying to comfort him while feeling a bit sick watching the scene.
Suddenly, Nico dropped the knife. He was drenched in the thick red that covered him. He let out a shaky exhale.
"...She's dead." He softly murmured.
There was blood mixed of water, a soft whoosh of air tickling his soaked hands and face that were being washed of the red. He cleared his throat, then dried his hands through his pants. Nico was kneeling right in front of a nearby creek.
It wasn't that full of water, so he knew salmon wouldn't be going anywhere near it. They'd probably be waiting for the soaking rain to come in so they could go do their salmon-birthing thing. He chuckled lightly at the thought.
He stared at his reflection in the water. He was a mess, and it was clear to him.
Crack.
Suddenly, he heard a twig snap.
He turned around, stomping on the tip of a large stick as it launched up in the air. He caught it, then looked at his left hand; where he had been holding it.
"Oh." He spoke, quite surprised he was able to pull that off.
Then, he heard the bushes rustling and the sound of soft footprints approaching him slowly.
Reluctantly, he launched the stick to where the noises came from, which caused a sudden shout.
He took a moment to process, then softly gasped. "Shit."
He ran over, and saw Giyuu on the ground while covering his eye. He looked up at the younger raven, then sighed.
"Was that you?.." He asked.
"Bullseye, I guess." The other mumbled to himself, "Yeah, sorry. I thought you were Haru." He scratched the back of his head, then looked around.
"Why are you here?" He brought his hand to the older raven, who took it and stood up.
"I-... We think Sukima had... triplets."
Nico's eyes widened, and he couldn't tell whether to laugh or cry. He felt a strange feeling of excitement rise within him. He couldn't decipher whether it was negative or positive.
"...Triplets?"
Nico examined the dead children, or fetus.
"Well she should be happy I killed her. She would probably already be dead as she pushes those kids out her va-jay-jay!" He commented, staring at the dead body of Sukima as if it were a monstrous beast. Which, it probably was.
"I can't tell whether I should laugh at that or not." Said Sabito, crossing his arms and slightly squinting his eyes at the smaller ravenette.
"...Probably not." answered Giyuu.
"...So then, four more lives were taken. That would mean Haru's been revived by now. Where is he?" Sabito looked off, searching for the undead man.
"I don't really know, but hopefully he is. Otherwise, that spirit of his is going to despise us for life, since we killed his wife and three babies." Tomioka crossed his arms.
"So we'll just... kill him with that knife, then?" The salmon-headed young man pointed at the bloody knife on the ground. Nico rolled his eyes.
"Obviously." He said. Suddenly, the three heard a faint, swooshing sound coming from behind them. It sent strong chills down their backs, and they didn't know why.
Giyuu felt something tap his shoulder, he flinched as he quickly turned to looked at what was behind him.
All three boys let out a shocked, silent gasp.
They found a familiar figure. They had the same exact attire as Haru did, although it was no longer burned. He looked like a regular human being, but still gave off a creepy, unsettling vibe. His hair was a bit clean on the sides, although was quite messy and untidy at the top. His eyes were slightly slanted, and he looked more in his.... Late 40's, early 50's. Something like that.
"Huh." Nico stared. "He's a bit more uglier than I'd imagin—" He immediately stopped as Haru quickly, but menacingly smiled and dissolved into black, misty dust. Loud, piercing bells rang in everyone's ears, the atmosphere getting more and more intense as the group looked around, the wind aggressively swishing and swooshing past them. It felt as if they were all being repeatedly slapped from side to side by the wind.
"Boo." A deep, raspy although playful voice breathed against Sabito's ear, his cold as ice breath blowing against him. He shivered.
He turned around, and before he was able to properly react, Haru kicked him down to the ground roughly, then disappeared once again. He then appeared on the roof of the unstable, ancient house.
He loudly cackled, and Giyuu quietly gasped as he ran towards Sabito. Nico glared at the old man on the roof.
"So, you still have those abilities even though you're no longer dead?" He asked, knowing that it was a very small chance of him not replying.
Haru didn't answer, like Nico predicted. He just continued to laugh, swaying his legs back and forth in a merrily manner.
"Bastard..." Nico rolled his eyes impatiently.
All three quickly rushed up the stairs, footprints flashing to the wooden steps until they made their way to the top of the staircase. They bolted to the room in the far end, which had statues and paintings all covered in dusty, soiled white cloths. Although; some were exposed, and weren't covered. Sabito instantly pushed Nico and Giyuu under a statue, as they were being masked of the fabric covering it.
"Both of you, stay here. I'll do something to distract him... somehow." He nervously shook his head, looking to the side. It was quite clear, he had no idea on what he'd be doing. Nico groaned of exhaustion to this situation.
Giyuu agitatedly grabbed Sabito's arm, a shocked look written through his eyes. "...No, no! What if... what if something happens to you?!.." He whispered, his voice sounding frantic. He was genuinely worried for Sabito as always, but this was one of the few times he really showed it. Sabito chuckled softly, then held his index finger in front of his lips, hushing the ravenette.
"I'll be okay, I promise."
Slowly, Giyuu' s hand dropped. He couldn't dare face Sabito, so he lowered his head; his teeth being grit.
Sabito softly smiled, then stood up. Slowly, he turned and gingerly began to walk out; shutting the door behind him and immediately grabbing a shovel to use as self-defence.
The sound of Tatsei's loud, wicked cackles filled and echoed within the the entire building, and an eerie noise had grown louder and louder. It was a mix of ruined, broken footsteps and unnerving creaks.
Giyuu covered Nico's mouth almost instantly, while Nico looked at him with a slightly disgusted expression; cringing as he was at it.
'You better come back in one piece, Sabito.' He'd thought to himself, letting out a shaky exhale.
🃟 ❧Author's Note❧ 🂶
🜲 ⭢ OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD I FINALLY FINISHED THIS AND ITS LITERALLY 3102 WORDS LETS GOOOOOOO
anyways. I HOPE. U ENJOYED THIS. 😁.
sincerely, killian.