This story will be told in Jennifer's view. Some parts will be ooc, heck many parts might be. Some being what I thought she would have done, a character or two might be added. I do not own any of the character's in Rule of Rose.
Based on the game: Rule of Rose
The time is 1930. The English countryside.
Dull lights flickered overhead casting an eerie glow on the row of seats, one of which was occupied by a pale, lonely girl. A young boy at the front of the bus was reading aloud to himself.
Once upon a time
There was a precious little girl.
Her friend,
The Princess of the Red Rose
Was always at her side.
Then one day,
Her mummy and daddy died suddenly,
And the poor little girl was sent away
To a strange house.
Jumping up the little boy made his way toward the pale girl in back. "Read me the story Jennifer, what happens next?" He asked bowing his head and holding the makeshift book out to her. The book itself looked like it was made by a child, the pages brown and crinkled. The title of the book was The Little Princess.
Jennifer accepted the book from the boy confusion written on her pale face. Opening it to the next part she stared at the blank page uncomprehendingly. "What, what is this?" she asked tearing her eyes away from the page to look at the young boy questioningly.
Dashing to the front he made his way downs the aisles hoping off the bus, which had pulled to a stop on a lonely dirt road flanked by lush forests. With a barely perceptible forest trail off to the right.
Jennifer looked out the dingy window as the boy ran past into the forest "please, wait" she shouted following him off the bus, the chilly air slapping her in the face. "Oh" she exclaimed as the bus pulled away leaving her stranded on the lonely dirt road.
An uneasy feeling started to grow spreading throughout her body. Nibbling her lip nervously Jennifer watched the taillights of the bus disappear around the next curve in the road. "What now?" she whispered to herself unwilling to break the eerie silence. Hearing a rustling in the bushes behind her, she whipped around and saw a ghostly white shirt bob along the forest trail off the side of the road.
Jennifer made her way over to the path barely able to make out the slim figure of the boy from the bus. Pushing aside a branch she started to follow him down the dark path, the glow from the moon her only light. The further up the path she went the colder it got, till the evidence of every breath she took was in the air before her.
Eventually Jennifer got to a fork in the road, cocking her head, brow furrowed she listened to the strangely familiar bark coming from the left path. As Jennifer stood on the path indecisively the barking grew louder, needing to know where it was coming from she took off down the left hand path. The path came to a dead end in a clearing with a small shack off to the side hidden in the shadows of the tree's.
The barking had stopped replaced by a quiet whimper. It took Jennifer a second to realize the whimper was coming from herself. She stepped away from the safety of the forest, convinced that barking had come from the shack. Running up the door she threw it open expecting to find a dog, instead she found an empty shack.
A hammock lay stretched between two support posts a rope curled beneath it. Kneeling Jennifer looked under the hammock and found a collar, brown and ragged yet a strangely familiar collar. Turning it over in her hands, she saw a word etched into the underside, squinting she barely made out the word Brown. "Brown" she said experimentally trying the word out. Her fingers tightened around the collar, knuckles turning white as a child's cruel laugh echoed through the shack.
Bolting upright Jennifer spun around looking for the source of the laughter. Finding nothing she left the shack tucking the collar into her small pack next to the handmade storybook. Her fingers slide over a small piece of paper, pulling it out Jennifer examined it by the glow from the moon. On it was written the word ticket with a child's drawing of a fish.
Back up the path she went now taking the right hand path the one the boy obviously took. The further she went the uneasier she grew, but what else could she do? At the end of this path was a mansion walking up to the gate she spotted some girls with paper bags over their heads beating something in a sack with a stick.
The sticks came down on the sack with sickening thuds, Jennifer backed away from the gate in horror, she watched as the girls dragged the sack into the house leaving a dark smear behind them, one that looked frighteningly like blood.
The gate was locked that was clear, she could just turn around and try to find help but she couldn't. As if driven by an unseen force, or maybe it was just her own need to know what was happening. Things that seemed both new and familiar even the mansion itself was familiar to her. Walking along the side of the house she heard again the evil laughter of cruel children. At the back gate there was, what looked like a child's version of a ticket acceptor. Pulling the fish ticket from her pocket she slide it through unsurprised when the gate opened with a creak.
Jennifer made her way cautiously along the side of the house reaching a second gate that opened with a loud creak. Once she got to the front the only sign that the girls had been there and not a product of Jennifer's over imagination was the smear of blood trailing up to the door. Sidestepping the blood she went up to the door, trying the handle she opened the door timidly. Stepping into the house Jennifer jumped startled as the door slammed behind her cruel laughter rippling through the air. Trying the handle again terror spreading through her as she tried and failed to get out, the door was locked.
She could feel many pairs of eyes on her though she could see no one. A flash of white caught her eye and she looked up seeing the boy from the bus standing at the top of the stairs. As she started up the stairs eyes trained on the boy, he ran up the hall disappearing into another room. Trailing after him she could feel the stares sending chills up her spine, the room the boy had literally disappeared in, looked like a little girls room. Tied to the post in the center of the room was a doll, a creepy skeletal doll. Dragging her eyes away from the doll Jennifer noticed a photograph sitting on a nightstand. Studying the picture the faces both new and familiar, if that was possible. It was a group of girls standing in front of the mansion one of the girls was Jennifer herself.
The door behind her creaked open glad to leave the room and creepy doll she added the picture to the new collection in her pack. Another door opened down the hall beckoning her on, another staircase just off to the side. Again the boy was at the top of the stairs framed by the light from the window, she had questions and she had a feeling this boy had the answers. As she climbed the steps questions formed. Who is he? Why am I here? Why is everything so familiar yet so new? Where are those girls? Who are those girls? What does that story mean? And most importantly how do I get out of here?
Jennifer had reached the attic, the boy had ran down the hall again into yet another room. She felt almost like Alice in Wonderland a dark version where the white rabbit was a boy and the rabbit hole a strange mansion. There was a desk with a lite lamp casting a glow onto gloves and surgical tools all coated in dried blood. Backing away from the table she bumped into the door falling backwards into a room lite only by candles.
"There you are aren't you a slow poke like always, now finish the story" said the boy, her white rabbit finally found.
Pulling The Little Princess from her pack she was struck with a feeling of foreboding. Opening it she began the story her timid voice the only sound to be heard.
Once upon a time
There was a precious little girl.
Her friend,
The Princess of the Red Rose
Was always at her side.
Then one day,
Her mummy and daddy died suddenly,
And the poor little girl was sent away
To a strange house.
At her new home,
The Aristocrat Club lived by the Rule of Rose.
But the girl found herself very much alone.
"It is now time for the funeral all attending please gather around at this time" a voice boomed from a loud speaker over her head. The candles blew out in a puff of smoke and she knew even without the candles being relight by invisible hands, that her white rabbit was gone.
"Come on Jennifer you wouldn't want to miss this, it's a funeral for your dear friend" a disembodied voice called out mockingly.
Overcome with a feeling of panic, she ran from the room, down the stairs and out to a small dirt courtyard with a freshly dug grave in the center. Rushing to the grave she picked up the shovel stuck very conveniently in the ground beside the grave. Sensing that something very dear to her was buried in that grave Jennifer began to dig feverishly. The deeper she dug the larger the feeling became. She heard a thud as her shovel hit something hard, throwing the shovel aside she got down and started to dig with her hands uncovering the coffin bit by bit.
Jennifer didn't hear the girls dipping various cups and pitchers into the water barrel behind her. All she was focused on was prying the lid off the coffin, inside was nothing but a bag the same bloody bag she remembered the girls beating at the gate. The same bag she remembered the girls dragging inside. Sitting back on her heels Jennifer tried to catch her breath.
"Just look at you" a cold voice said from behind her.
Jennifer looks up and is met with the girl from the gate a fish head drawn on the paper bag covering her face.
"You are filthy" fish head girl continues coldly pouring her container of water upon Jennifer.
It was then that Jennifer realized she was surrounded by a group of young girls as they all joined in pouring water on her all wearing paper bags on their head a goat head, a bird, a pig head, and the leader the fish head.
The loud speaker went off again "Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us on our flight. Attention all passengers. We will be taking off in a short while. Please take all large luggage to Section 8 of Freight Storage Compartment. Thank you."
Strong hands pushed Jennifer into the coffin closing the lid over her head.
"No no please" she called out in horror.
"Ashes to ashes dust to dust, ashes to ashes dust to dust" the girls chanted in harmony lifting the coffin with poor Jennifer inside. "Ashes to ashes dust to dust" they repeated endlessly. Jennifer could see the moon and tree's through a small hole in the coffin. Where were they going? Who were these girls? Where were their parents? All her unasked questions flooded her mind.
"Welcome to the Red Crayon Aristocrats" an icy voice called out softly the chant never stopping. It was the last thing she heard before darkness claimed her.
Author's note: okay this was my first fanfiction so read, rate, leave comments. There might be a chapter two depending on if people want it. So here's hoping I had fun writing this.