Mission #9 Everything is Spookay. [Arc/Red]

[thearcguardian]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

"So how did this all end up happening?" Cid wondered to himself as he made his way around the abandoned half constructed and decomposing hallways. Alone in the dark. He thought to himself only a few short hours before hand to arriving on Strawberry Hill. He had arrived in hopes of recruiting new members to his crew. Only to hear that a horrible fate had fallen upon most of the orphans that once lived in this place many a year ago. A tale of children forced to live under the rule of a horrible guardian, only to die in a fire. The idea alone sent chills down his spine, as he never liked the idea of orphanages. They usually were not much better then living on the street, except for a decent supply of food and something to (mostly) hide from the rain. In return they worked twice as hard as they would surviving alone on the streets. This at least, was his experience with orphanages. His long look in his face quickly turned into a pseudo determination, requesting directions. Receiving them at last after the people at the local bar realized they couldn't scare him away, damn tourists.

So after a long walk, he finally arrived upon the orphanage. It was exactly what one would expect when hearing the words, "run down, decrepit, or haunted." The front of the building was a nasty mossy greenish blue. Most likely from ages of damage to the wood. The sign on the front with the words; "New Strawberry Hill Orph-". The letters cut from the sign as if it was incomplete. Clearly, the builders were long spooked away before the completion. Cid however, didn't have any reason to fear this place. It was just a sad example of when people who aren't true parents try to be caretakers. He felt his heart mourn, looking about he'd gather some flowers from a nearby small field. Forming a small bouquet, he'd return and place it upon the porch of the building. Offering a small prayer to the souls as he turned to leave.

However, a gust of wind would come from behind, opening the door behind him and with a whipser on the wind, he heard the words, "help" echo in his mind. He turned back towards the building, staring at it for a moment and much like staring into the abyss, he felt it stare back. He summoned his courage and turned back towards the building, another wave of determination washing over the young boy as he walked up onto the porch and entered, beginning his venture through the hallways before him. Fear pushed below by the drive to help whoever was in this place. Ghost or not, he knew a child's voice when he heard it and like hell he wouldn't help a child in need. So, after coming to this understanding in his own mind. He regained his focus and continued to strive forward. Certain he'd soon find something or someone to explain what exactly he needed to do.

[reddaddy]

Strawberry Hill usually bustled with activity.  One would expect on a day like today, which was sunny with a pleasant spring temperature and a mellow breeze, the bustling would continue and it of course did.  The streets along the residential and commercial districts were as occupied as they were the day before.  Berry Kane, the muscled and redheaded pirate took note of this, as he had been staying at the Pirate King Inn for 3 consecutive days trying to arduously negotiate a smuggling contract.  He would often take breaks from the negotiations and stroll the streets of the city, taking note of the wealth, street kids, and tudor style homes.  After his break with the man he was negotiating with he would always return to the inn the most long and indirect way he could so he could see more of the city.  Why the negotiations were taking so long was not very well understood.  The merchant/pirate was the only one sitting at the table from the man offering the job.  This job practically fell into his lap really, as a retired marine living in the city wished to supplement his fixed income, so he called an old buddy who was still enlisted and obtained information on the patrol routes of marine ships coming and going around the island for the next 2 weeks.  It was useful information but the old ex-marine didn't want to set sail and transport these plans to the next island himself; and that's where the humble Mr. Kane was discovered and his services requested.  The last 2 days were spent haggling over price, and Berry grew tired of it.  It was early in the morning and since this deal appeared to be a bust the redhead could hit the town with plenty of daylight left to seek other opportunities.

"Mr. Hendriks, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to decline this shipping run.  Have a good day."  Berry stood up from the table he was seated at with his prospective employer and turned to leave.

"Wait, you're leavin', seriously?"  Mr. Hendriks, the retired Marine, asked incredulously.

"Mr. Hendriks we've been haggling for 2 days.  I'm bored now.  You set a price and then I agree on it, and then you change the price again.  I'm tired of the price dropping after I've agreed to your request.  I'm not operating a charity and even if I were the newest price you offered doesn't even cover my operating costs for this voyage.  A charity wouldn't even do that, so I'm walking out."

Hendriks stood up from the table quickly and stretched out his arm, trying to prevent the businessman from walking out the door.  The look on his face was desperate.  "Comon' young man, sit back down and drink some coffee with me, I was jus' playin."

Berry looked at the old man with a look of disdain on his face; the pirate took his shades off and looked at Mr. Hendriks straight in his eyes so that he could see it.

"I don't like to play Mr. Hendriks;  I quit school because it had recess."  Mr. Kane then walked out the door.

Berry walked out onto the street and didn't really know where he was going to go next.  "Maybe the commercial districts," he thought to himself, when he noticed the nearby news stand being freshly stocked with the morning paper.  The pirate payed for a copy and began to read the paper.  

The front page news was both interesting and terrible.  A young boy named Regis was killed last night.  His body was found with multiple stab wounds inside of the old and abandoned New Strawberry Hill Orphanage.  To add to the tragedy it was the 4th murder of a young child in the last 4 months.  The bodies were always discovered having egregious cutting or blunt force trauma wounds.  Another mysterious and disturbing fact was that all of the children were found dead in the orphanage and all of them were around 12 years old.  Apparently they were all once living in that orphanage before a fire burned the building almost completely to the ground 6 years ago, and the children had been living on the streets ever since.  There weren't any leads on possible suspects.

For so many facts of an investigation to make the paper like this must mean that the town doesn't have any way to solve the problem yet.  It was an informative article but it was also a cry for help.  Berry immediately bought a city map from a local vendor and found the location of the abandoned orphanage.  The pirate-merchant muttered to himself, "I'm not looking for a reward on this one.  I guess it's time for some pro bono work.  Besides, I don't want to go to the local authorities and negotiate a price for my assistance; I've had enough haggling these past 2 days to last me a week."  The muscled redhead made his way towards the murder scene on the outskirts of the residential district.

[thearcguardian]

The eeriness of the building seemed to talk to him with every step. The chills running down his spine as he stepped from place to place, no light to guide him but his own eyes. His body adjusted to dealing with darker places from living years alone, when sleeping in the woods or in a alleyway. You were often confronted with darkness that made it hard to see in front of your own face. But it wasn't just the dark in this place, no it was much worse then that. It was the lack of anything, the only sounds he could often hear are his own foot steps. The only thing he could smell was the dry rotted wooden walls that were often unfinished, the air was as cold as a late winter's night to him. The worse thing about it all, he didn't feel alone. He truly felt there was something with him wherever he went. Sometimes the feelings change, but he felt a presence wherever he went. Like there was something, many somethings in this house. All aware of his presence and watched to watch him. Every corner he turned every door he opened he felt eyes upon him though he could not see them. It was a feeling of dread like no other, and made him feel like any second his next breath would be his last.


After many of what felt like to him hours of walking, he'd finally come upon a large dining hall of sorts. To him this was the most complete room in the house, it was strangely out of place to him, to see furniture in this building. Long tables lined with chairs, at least thirty to forty he figured upon examination. Black dust lining the once great oak furniture. He'd see at the end was a single table with three chairs, the main chair the most elegant of them all. But just staring at it filled him with a sense of dread and despair he couldn't understand. The only thing he could guess is that this must of been the headmistresses chair. The supposed guardian of these lost souls. Somewhere in his mind looking at it, he'd imagine what the woman looked like. Most likely a older woman, but not so old she was incapable. Most likely had crow and tar black hair with silver strands. A pair of glasses for reading, and a set of wonderful clothing and jewelry most likely used as a symbol of power upon the kids she 'raised'. Taking the money that was meant for the betterment and put to use on the things she wants. He'd glance across the tables, imagining children in rags not much better then his own. Dirty and scared, they probably ate the smallest of items, stale bread, little water that most likely tasted as if it was from a swamp. Where he'd look back at the main table and imagine a noble's feast for the woman. She'd eat with the finest utensils made of silver and gold, and left the children with wood or more often then not no utensils at all. Probably with two children she considered to be naughty that day forced to feed her and go with out any food. The look of starvation and pain on the kids face in his mind seemed so real to him.


With this images he pictured in his mind filling his head, anger boiled in his mind. Staring down the woman, it was almost as if he could feel her staring back. A cross between disgust that some brat could look her in the eyes and joy that he experienced the suffering these children did. He'd begin walking towards her, and every step he could feel the room grow darker and darker. As if any chance of light was being literally sucked from the room. He could see the dusty kitchen behind the chair just barely, a void to him as it was out of the corner of his eye. But he could recognize a stove, pots and pans that were likely installed as they worked on this place. But not much else as he looked at the imaginary witch before him. With a fist full of hotheadedness, he'd punch out at her. Only to see the image disappear and him slam his fist with all his might into the chair. Shattering one of the decrepit planks behind long since tired cloth. Putting a sizable hole in it, he'd grab the chair with his now splinter covered hand and toss it at the wall. Smashing it to bits, under his breath he'd whisper,"you won't win." As if challenging the devil himself. Turning to leave, he felt eyes upon him that pierced his very soul and filled it with the up-most fear and hatred, he dared not look back in fear that whatever was looking at him would steal his soul and drag him to hell in chains. But he was certain that the felling was very real. A feeling of danger he had never experienced, even when running from angry cooks brandishing meat cleavers he had stolen from. Running from wild beasts that wished to tear him limb from limb, no danger or fear had rocked him like this one. It froze him in place, and he could swear he heard a voice speak,"I already have."

He ran, fleeing for his life he felt. Not looking back, but could feel the eyes against his neck, as if it was brushing the baby hairs upon his skin. It hated him, it hated everything about him, it wanted him dead, painfully so. However, just as he felt whatever it was. He'd run into a room and he swore it felt like it was fleeing. Looking around, the room didn't have a immediate impact on him but soon realized what it was, a baby's room. It appears that when they destroyed the original building, they didn't destroy it completely and used some of the original building to build from. As the wall paper on the walls was warped and torn, piles of ashes everywhere to mark the place of once furniture. In the center of the room was a half burnt crib, walking towards it. He felt his foot come down on something, to discover it was a baby's doll. Barely intact and extremely burnt. He'd slowly picked it up, it had a sort of calming feeling to it. He'd look around the room, and finally it caught his eye, on the far wall was a seal. A blessed restrain for demons and evil ghosts alike. Apparently at some point a priest had come in and tried to bless this place in order to remove any evil inside. He'd walk towards it and the feeling of calm washed even more over him, however he couldn't shake a sorrow that was within him. Being in this house, he could feel the pain of someone. Knowing that there was once a sleeping innocent soul in this room, he'd fall to his knees and begin to cry. It wasn't loud, but he knew he felt tears and could hear his own soft sobbing. It took him what felt like ages to pull himself together but eventually, he stood up and walked to the crib, placing the baby doll in it. He'd shakily head towards the door, the dark presence that was once there no longer effecting it. He'd open the door and step out, he was certain now there were many things in this house. But he had to find out how to stop it. Some reason, the life of this house called for his aid and he had no choice but to swallow his fear...and dive in to this ring of hell. So, paranoia abound, he began walking down the hall ways once more. In hopes to find someway to end the pain this place seemed to have sealed inside.

[reddaddy]

As Berry made his way through the residential district he could see the fancy tudor style homes and paved streets were gradually giving way to more decrepit housing and dirt roads.  This area wasn't altogether abandoned but the merchant could see the space around him was much more sparse of people than the more opulent areas of town.  In fact, the only people on the streets were local police.  They were knocking on doors and waking up people in the early hours or interrupting their breakfast in order to investigate the murder.  Being in close proximity to the orphanage meant someone might have seen something.  As the redhead looked at the police officers walking from door to door he could see moments of frustration and dejection being expressed in their faces.  It would appear answers ,so far, were not being found.  

One officer, a rather young looking man approached Berry.  He was slim, actually rather gaunt, with sunken in cheek bones, black hair that came out from under his police cap and down to his shoulders, and almost grey skin.  He wore a blue and grey uniform that was unlike the rest and had on a white cape, but the whole outfit looked almost to big for him.  Regardless of this he was clean shaven and every button on his coat was in place, so he wasn't disheveled or unkempt, but he did look...off for some reason.  Berry's eyes met his and he walked straight towards the lawman as he knew he was going to be spoken to by him anyway.

"Good day to you sir, may I speak with you for a moment," asked the thin man while he flashed a bright golden badge at Mr. Kane.  It read "NSI" on it.

"What can I do for you officer?", replied Berry, his hands in his pockets.

"My name is Officer Bert Whesker, 2nd Lieutenant of Naval Special Investigations.  The council of Strawberry Hill is asking for the World Government's help in these recent homicides.  May I ask you your name and some identification?" 

"My name is Berry Kane", the merchant than pulled his port pass from his pocket and handed it to the marine.  "I've been in town for the last 3 days on business.  I've read the paper this morning and learned of the children that have passed.  It's truly terrible what is happening in this town.  I hope you nail the S.O.B. responsible for all of this, pardon my language."

The lieutenant took hold of the paperwork from the merchant and skimmed over it and then handed it back to him.  "Thank you for your enthusiasm Mr. Kane.  The feeling of the local police around here is rather depressing so any words of encouragement are appreciated."  This sounded funny coming from a man who looked like a zombie.

"I would expect to meet someone like yourself in the commercial districts or the port, what are you doing here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's a fair enough question.  I thought I would look into this matter of these murders myself.  I'm no professional investigator but the way the article was written in the paper this morning...it really got to me.  I want to help, so I thought I'd ask some questions around town and visit the orphanage myself."

A frown was on the face of the lieutenant after hearing this from Berry, but it wasn't an angry one; it was more like one that just didn't agree with the merchant's plan.  "Mr. Kane I can't tell you not to ask questions.  That's fine, and if by some miracle you can get some information that myself or the local police haven't been able to get yet, that would be wonderful.  But I'm sorry to say you can't go to the orphanage.  It's still a crime scene and we don't want any evidence tainted.  We haven't even had time to block the place off yet, as I was permitted access first before any local officers as part of my own investigation and the police have only just started to tape the place off."

"Oh, I understand officer.  Is there any chance I can just look around outside of it then?"

"Sure, but I don't know what you'd learn from tha-"

Suddenly an older woman dressed as a nun ran to the 2 men as they talked, yelling for Officer Whesker.  She seemed rather distressed.

"Officer Whesker, you must come quickly!  I had just learned that a young boy wondered into the orphanage after you left it last night!  He might still be in there!"

Officer Whesker had an alarmed expression and said back to her,"My goodness, thanks for letting me know, I'm on my way now!"  He then ran towards the orphanage, and Berry decided to follow.  They had only ran a block when they turned the corner and the orphanage came into view.  What the redhead saw next made him stop dead in his tracks and the Lieutenant stopped as well when he looked back and saw the look on the merchant's face.

Berry was looking right at the orphanage, but he didn't see a run down and somewhat spooky building like everyone else was seeing.  To him the building looked blurred, and the whole structure was moving like a wave; ebbing and leaning to one side and then sliding to the other.  Atop the orphanage it looked like an energy that was red and black in color was leaking from it, like a faucet would leak only gravity was operating in reverse and the energy was "dripping" up towards the sky.  The sight of it all made the redhead back up a few steps and break out into a sweat, his eyes wide opened and his mouth agape.  Whesker walked up to Berry and grabbed him by the shoulders and was saying words to him, but the merchant couldn't hear them at first.  It took Whesker shaking him a few times before Berry could finally hear him.

"Mr. Kane what's wrong?!  What do you see!  MR KANE!!"

"I...I see...the orphanage.  It looks wrong!  It looks like an evil energy has breathed life into the place itself!  Like a demon has taken hold of it!  What the hell is going on?!"

Whesker shook Berry a few more times and yelled in his face, "Snap out of it!  I've ran into this one other time in my 5 years of being an investigator.  You must have had something truly traumatic happen to you in your past; something VERY life altering.  Sometimes living through something like that can alter your perception a bit; makes you see what the rest of us can't."  He then took a deep breath and even giggled a bit, "But this confirms my suspicions!  If you can see the haunted building then it would seem my services are needed after all and now I can-"

"There's a kid in there, isn't there?"

"Yes, there might be."

Berry used his hand and politely brushed the officer out of his way.  He then began walking towards the orphanage, his legs shaking as he stared at it.  It appeared to get larger; grow in size with every step, but that was because the merchant was getting closer to it.

"Mr. Kane where are you going?!  You can't go in there!"

"There's...there's a child in there...God help me."

Berry then broke out into a full sprint as he forced himself to run to the building.  Sweat was pouring out of him every way it could.  His adrenaline telling him he was in a "fight or flight" situation provided him with tunnel vision which he used to block out the terrifying appearance of the building and to narrow in on the front door.  Berry ran inside the orphanage and forced himself to yell as he did it; if he didn't yell he probably would of held his breath out of fear and fainted.  The redhead was now in the building.

[thearcguardian]

As his drive into the mansion pushed him further and further inside. The more twisted the world seemed at times, often he'd find himself walking down a hallway and it would feel as if he was turning within it. Sometimes he'd reach for a door and realize that it was much further down the hall. Sometimes it felt as if the floor was breathing as he walked down it. Like as if the further he made it into this hell hole the more alive the orphanage became. It was all making him a tad dizzy as he tried to keep his balance in this void. He had to stop for a moment and breath, sliding down against a hall way. He'd slowly try and begin to think, how he could do something to stop the evil in this place. It was all head-achingly difficult, and every time he thought of her. He felt a shiver run down his spine and his bladder temporarily shrink. However he refused to give into the fear's icy fingers tickling at his heart. As he knew that no matter how scared he was, the souls in this place were much more afraid of that demon.


"Are you here to help us?" rung out in his head like a bell. He looked around, and while he could see nothing. He could feel something, something close to him. But did not feel like the feeling he had before, this feeling was much nicer, warm if not for the sadness it held. He'd slowly nod and reply "y-yes...I will help you." he spoke out loud. It probably would of been able to hear his thoughts but he couldn't help but speak it out loud. To hear a voice from his ears and not his mind. It helped lighten the insanity of what was going on at the moment. "You must get out of this place, you do not have the power to fight her here, in her domain she controls the very walls. If she catches you, you'll be trapped here with us." This couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening. It was insanity to believe he was talking to a ghost, the ghost of a dead child. With a shiver filled breath, he collected his thoughts and gave a small nod."OK , I'll get out and find a way to defeat her from outside. But which way is back?" If he could see the child's face he swore it'd be frowning before he heard the voice again, "The front door will not open again. The only way out is through the basement. But be careful, every step you take leads you closer and closer to her strength, once you reach the center of the building. Her power will be great enough that she will make your worst nightmares come to life. But you must keep going-" The voices seemed to pause, "More people have come, and worse...she's coming. You must run. Now!


Any trace of goodness seemed to disappear as he felt that ominous feeling coming up from behind him. Running back as fast as he could, the spirit close behind him. But he knew if he could just make his way back to that baby room. He'd be safe, knowing it wouldn't dare follow him there. But every step seemed to be two steps for the spirit. That teasing feeling against his neck hairs made him only pick up the pace, but much to his misfortune and fortune at the same time. The floor he stepped down onto collapsed. Sending him flying through to the floor below. Good news was, it seemed to stop the spirit. Bad news, he was most likely going to get really really hurt. With a loud scream he'd drop what felt like a story, and as he fell he'd come right down most likely onto his 'rescuer' Berry Kane.

[reddaddy]

Berry entered the house through the front door, the voice of Whesker still shouting at him as he took his first steps into the orphanage.  Upon entering the structure it would appear he was in an entryway that branched out into a large reception or living room.  It was more likely a reception room, which made sense, as this was a public funded institution.  What didn't make sense was that the whole room seemed to be encompassed in a kind of red and black aura; like a fog that rolled over every surface; from the broken and rotting chairs, to the front counter/office area, onto the end tables, and even on the merchant's skin.  

Berry could still hear the screams of the concerned officer outside, but they were barely audible, as the sound of the merchant's beating heart muffled out much of it.  Having second thoughts Berry turned towards the entry door to leave when it suddenly slammed shut.  The redhead tried desperately to twist the door handle, which didn't work and then proceeded to kick the door while yelling "DAMMIT OPEN UP!"  However, this method wasn't successful either.

Suddenly Berry could feel heat coming off of his back and smelled smoke.  Turning around slowly, as he feared what may be behind him, the panicked man saw the reception room and hallway that extended from it all looked like new and the aura of malevolent fog was gone.  Now the only problem was everything was on fire, as smoke billowed from down the hallway into the reception area and quickly rose towards the ceiling.  

The redhead turned towards the door again, determined to make another attempt at opening the door, when suddenly he heard the voices of screaming children.  Spinning around once again he could tell they were coming from down the hall.  A fire appeared to be raging at the end of this hallway, sending more smoke into the reception room.  Berry swallowed a big gulp in an attempt to swallow his own fear as he slowly began to walk down the hallway.  His level of fear was excessive, but what pushed him to continue was the thought of fleeing and leaving children to burn to death.  The screams became closer as the merchant continued down the corridor and the feeling of heat grew worse as he got closer to the flames.  Berry passed several doors before he was just a few feet from the fire.

The sound of a door opening behind him made the sweaty redhead turn around again as he saw 2 small children, a girl and a boy dressed in pajamas, bolt out of a room he had just passed by.  They ran for the entry door when suddenly the girl grabbed the boys hand, making him stop.  She then spoke,

"Regis we have to stop!  What about Lucy?!  We have to go back for Lucy!"

Berry yelled at them, "Don't stop running!  Get out of here now!"  The children didn't react at all to his shouts.

"Mary, Lucy is gone!  We can't help her, we have to get out of here!"  Regis then grabbed the girl and pulled her out of the building through the entryway which was suddenly open.

Berry bolted for the entryway door himself but another sound unfortunately caught his ear and made him stop.  From the room the children came from to enter the hallway the redhead could hear the sound of a child coughing.  The smoke level was increasing and this made Berry cough too, and the visibility and heat were getting increasingly worse.  The merchant ran into the room and could see it was not a room but another hallway.  Smoke was coming from the walls and the paint started to bubble on the surface indicating the rooms connected to this hallway must be engulfed in flames.  Nonetheless  the coughing sounds persisted, eliminating any excuse Berry could give himself from just turning around and running out of the building.

The child's coughing fit appeared to be coming from a room at the end of this hall.  Mustering courage the redhead ran down the hall as quickly as he could and intended to kick in the door, which was a move he did because he started to lose his grip on his rational mind so he felt the need to physically plow through his fears.  However, instead of making contact with the door the merchant passed right through it, and ended up in the room.

"What the hell just happened?", the redhead said aloud to himself, when he suddenly noticed a little boy on the other side of the room lying on the ground face down.  He was coughing horribly as the room was being enveloped in smoke.  Large shelves from the wall had appeared to have fallen  and pinned him under them, making him unable to move.  Berry covered his own face with his arm to try and prevent smoke inhalation and ran towards the child.

The rescuer bent down and told this little redheaded boy, who must of only been 2 years old at most, "everything is going to be okay!  I'll get you outta here!"  The boy didn't answer; he just covered his mouth with his hands and stared straight forward; his blue eyes streaming out tears, the look of terror on his face so intense it was palatable.  Berry reached with the arm that he wasn't using to cover his face and grabbed at the shelves in an attempt to pick them up off the child.  His hands passed right through them, as if the shelves weren't there.  

Berry couldn't believe what he was seeing and what had just happened.  He looked down at his own hand with a look of dejection and confusion.  The merchant then took both of his hands and tried to grab the shelves with the same result as his first attempt; he passed right through them.  The child yelled and cried, screaming "hep!" and continued to cough violently.  Berry grabbed at him in an attempt to pull him out from under the shelves, but his hands passed right through him as it did the shelves.  Now Berry tried  desperately to keep grabbing at the child, each attempt ending in failure.  The merchant began coughing and tears were streaming down his face due to the numerous attempts ending without success.  "COM'ON DAMMIT!!! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!!  AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"  the muscled redhead was screaming as he kept grabbing and grabbing when he noticed the child wasn't making any more noise.

"NOOOOOO!! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!! SOMEBODY HELP!! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!"  Berry continued to grab at the now expired toddler, streams of tears falling down his face, snot pouring from his nose.  Suddenly a creaking noise came from above.  The redhead slowly turned his head up and saw the ceiling violently give way, and a child and planks of wood fell through it, landing on his shoulders and sending him face first into the ground.  

Berry quickly scrambled to try to stand up and when doing so, noticed the flames, smoke, and heat were gone.  Even the toddler he just failed to rescue was gone.  Laying at his feet was a another boy.  He had dirty blonde hair and raggedy clothes and appeared pretty skinny.  The merchant wiped away his tears and attempted to regain his composure, but he couldn't.  Continuing to sob, he attempted to touch the boy on the arm but was convinced it would end in failure.  When it didn't and the skin of the boy could actually be felt when Berry pressed his finger on it, his tears finally stopped.

"Ar...are you ok?", Berry asked the child.

[thearcguardian]

It took a solid couple of seconds for him to regain his composure. As soon as his eyes fluttered open and spotted the male above him. He immediately moved away and stood up, a look of trauma in his eyes but it seemed to be leaving along with the mild hyperventilation. As if his mind was telling him to calm down before he has a heart attack. Looking at the male as he grasped his heart, his first check was for that horrible feeling. Luckily, that was gone. The evil spirit must of given up the chase after his collapse to the floor below, probably assuming he would of died. Granted the boy was a little injured, but nothing major. A few cuts and bruises here and there. But all and all he was in decent shape.


He'd pull a large splinter out of his arm with a twinge of pain. Rubbing the wound he'd look at the male and say something finally,"Y-yea...I'm alright. Sort of." Shaking his head he looked the male up and down, guy looked like some kinda business man. Was a bit on the taller side and seemed like he had seen a few things himself. He'd cough a bit as he finally relaxed a bit,"guess you got unlucky and somehow wound up in this place. Name's Cid. You work for the marines or something?" From the immediate personality of the kid, he had seemingly had to grow up really fast. His mannerisms and attitude were closer to that of a sixteen or eighteen year old. Even though he clearly was not. While talking to the male, he'd begin looking around. Trying to figure out exactly where he was and see if he could retrace his steps. Being constantly on edge he had little time to pay attention to where he was going. Except that he had to keep moving. Little problems like that.

He'd finally once he had a idea of where to go next await the guy's response. Clearly this man was probably as lost as he was, and it'd be nice to traverse this hell hole with a living being. Walking with no sound but your own can get to a person and he rather not continue dealing with it when he had a option to work with somebody that was of this world. Plus, catching this guy up on what was going on, he might know a thing or two and be able to help out with this problem. Especially if he was a marine, marines seem to be pretty good at knowing stuff.

[reddaddy]

"Guess you got unlucky and somehow wound up in this place. Name's Cid. You work for the marines or something?", asked the young man to the redhead.  The merchant sat on the floor, still breathing rapidly and trying to get his fear under control.  Berry finally spoke when he was certain he was past the point of hyperventilating.  Clutching his chest tightly as if he were afraid of having a heart attack he responded,

"Cid...nice to m- meet you Cid.  My name is Berry."  Having to stop talking momentarily to catch his breath, the redhead talked again, "No, I'm not a marine.  I'm just a concerned t-traveler.  I heard a child came in here.  It must have been you.  Now that I've found you let us get out of this place."

Berry noticed at that moment a change in his surroundings.  There was no longer a veil, or aura to this place.  Rotting wood, darkness, holes in the wall, cobwebs, broken light fixtures, the smell of dust and decay; things finally looked like they were normal around him and it was a huge relief.  The merchant let out a deep breath and his shaking stopped.  Still, his tears wouldn't stop as the sight he had just seen before Cid's arrival left a mark on him.  Berry would constantly rub his eyes while talking for a little while.

"Cid, you have to listen to me very carefully, ok?  We have to leave here.  We have to leave here right now.  You are not supposed to be in here.  Neither am I in fact, but I just came in long enough to get you out, ok?  There is a Marine Officer waiting for us outside, or maybe he already came into the building after I did...I don't know, but let's go to him now alright?  It's dangerous in here."

Suddenly a loud, shrill voice of a woman that seemed to shake the entire house screamed out "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!  YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!!!  YOU CAN'T TAKE MY CHILDREN FROM ME!!!"  The black and red veil returned, funneling quickly into the room from the door Berry literally passed through.  The merchant hit the ground from the shaking and put his arms up in a defensive position to cover his body and face as he stared through the gaps in between his fingers and peered past the door and into the hallway he was just in.  

A thicker, and more blackened smoke was at the end of the hall.  A sound came from it that sounded like the moans of many suffering people coming from an air shaft.  The smoke pooled and coalesced together and steadily grew larger.  Abruptly it burst forward and started heading for Berry and Cid.  The redhead scrambled to his feet and saw another nearby door that was the only way out.

"Cid, we have to go!!  We have to go NOW!!"  Berry grabbed Cid by the arm and opened the door in a hurry, then ran through it.  This room was classroom as there were tables and chairs lined up to face a blackboard on the wall.  It was a long and narrow room, with another door at the end straight across from the merchant and one at the far left corner of the room that probably lead out into a hallway.  The merchant while still pulling Cid along ran for the door that he hoped would lead to a hall; Berry didn't want to run into any dead ends with this cloud chasing him.  

As they passed through the room and ran around desks the smoke entered and blew through the room, knocking aside desks, chairs, and tables.  Berry made it to the door and once he opened it he saw it did indeed lead to a hallway.  The redhead ran with Cid in tow, the smoke following only about 10 feet behind, its moans growing louder and more angered.  The merchant looked over his shoulder and started screaming in terror.  (Out of character:  for a feeling of the smoke's sound and perspective as it gave chase for Berry and Cid, here is a video www.youtube.com/watch?v=nThdlnHmFEo

[thearcguardian]

Cid gave a mild sigh as he listened to the man speak to him. Poor guy, he had no idea what he was getting into when he entered this place. He couldn't find himself angry for talking to him as he was indeed, a child (even if more often the not he forgets it himself.) The guy was just looking to save some kid, and ended up trapped in this place. Maybe now was a good time to mention to him the situation. He crossed his arms casually and simply said,"I understand you were just looking out for me. But you don't realize-." Cut off from the sudden scream of the banshee matron. He would turn to respond to it only to be grabbed up by the male in a mad dash sprint, he could feel that ominous feeling again as he began running fast enough to keep up pace with Berry.

They must of been getting deeper and deeper into her territory Cid thought to himself, as her power was growing to the point of her taking on a form. But then again, she could all along considering never once before did he try to look at her. He glanced back and just saw the amalgamation of smoke and....evil. Chasing after them, only now did he realize the power of the demon matron that chased them down. However, a sign he realized allowed him to figure out where they were. Thankfully, they were close enough to a soft salvation of sorts. It did leave a soft sickening afterthought though, because it made him realize how far back he had fallen because of this event. But never the less the must press on he felt as his heart pounded out of his chest,"This way! There is a room that's blessed!" Slamming into nearby door and splintering it. Though due to it's age that wasn't all that impressive. He began pulling Berry towards the direction of the room. His heavy breathing loud enough to be heard just under Berry's screams. Just as he felt that the Matron was going to grasp them. He pushed open the door to the Baby's room and rolled inside with Berry. The Matron's screams heard as she rushed away to get far from this holy area.

Cid would sigh as he slowly got to his feet once they were in this place, and would place his hands on his head and pull at his hair. A soft pace back and forth as he began thinking long and hard on what to do next. He had lost a lot of ground, and now there were two other people in this Damned orphanage. He had to think of a plan on what to do next, as he began mumbling to himself ideas on what to do. He knew nothing about spirits, but he had to fight this thing off somehow while he tried to escape. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he looked at Berry and said,"Alright, we're safe, for now. We need to come up with a plan so....what do you know so far? If we exchange information on anything we've learned about this place. We might be able to come up with a strategy to get out of here faster. You tell me what you know first and then I'll go over what I've learned."

[reddaddy]

Berry could only nod his head to acknowledge to the young man that he heard him asking questions, as he was panting hard to try to catch his breath from all the running and screaming that just took place.  "What the hell was that cloud?  Why was there a fire and that child...and then suddenly the fire was gone and then that cloud...":  These were the redhead's racing thoughts he had as he tried to catch his breath.  Once he was able to breath normally again, he answered Cid's questions.

"Well, Mr. Cid, what I know is this place is haunted.  In the last 4 months 4 children have died here.  I know for certain they all had a history with this place.  They were the survivors of a terrible fire some years back.  Something brought them back here and killed them...it must have been that woman.  She haunts this place, of that I'm VERY certain."  Berry stopped talking for a moment to catch his breath again and then continued,

"There is an investigator here from the World Government.  He's looking into the deaths and knew that I came in here.  He shouldn't be far behind.  He seemed to be used to dealing with...things like this.  Maybe if we can meet up with him we can ask him how to get out of here safely.  Or maybe he will need our protection too, I can't be too sure if he can help us or not."

Berry then looked around the room and noticed the crib, the doll, and the seal.  These things offered the merchant no comfort, as he glanced back at the door, waiting for evil to burst through it and claim them.  Turning and looking back at the dirty and tattered blonde child behind him reminded him of youth and helplessness.  His mind turned to the toddler he couldn't save.  Despondency overtook Berry for a moment, but he shook his head in an attempt to cast away such thoughts; if he tried to share his experience with Cid in an attempt to better inform him it would probably cause Berry to break down again, and he'd had enough of that for one morning.

"The missing children were always discovered in this orphanage and in the morning, which probably means they were taken at night.  If we can get outside to sunlight, maybe that's some form of safety."

Berry took another deep breath before saying these next words and his voice was in a whisper, because they were all about frightening things,

  "Also...I can see the evil in this place.  This aura, or maybe a mist, or some kind of film; it covers this place.  It climbs the walls and flows down the halls.  Sometimes it comes, and sometimes it goes.  I think from the experience we just had it seems to come on stronger when something...unnatural approaches.  I'm assuming you can't see it, because if you could have I promise you you NEVER would have come into this place."

The redhead then sat on the floor quietly cross legged.  Looking at the young man across from him, he asked again in a whisper, as if not wanting to be heard so he wouldn't have to listen to an answer,

"Okay, what do you know?"