The Secrets of the Alchemist Chapter 1: Fiona's memories, a haunting ground fanfic

Disclaimer:I do NOT in any way own Haunting Ground or its characters. This story is merely fan made.

Haunting Ground 2: The Secrets of the Alchemist

By Piklink

The wind, the flapping of bat wings, and her friend's paw steps were the only sounds that pressed Fiona Belli's ears as she walked through the dark forest. She knew that on the other side of this forest was normal society. She was determined to reach it, she had to. She was getting hungry and tired, and it was still as black as pitch. Feeling that it would be easier for them, she decided to find a place to rest. As she walked off the path, her feet hurt like hell. She wished that she still had her boots, but they were lost when Riccardo took her to the Water Tower. Not only that, but the wind kept blowing her hair in her face, since she didn't have it in a pony tail anymore. Fortunately, just when she was getting desperate, she found a clean-looking river flowing along a bank of rocks. Sighing with slight relief, she knelt down, and took a drink. Her white friend also stopped to lap up the water with his long tongue.

After quenching her thirst, Fiona sat down in the grass to rest and her friend laid down right next to her. She turned her head to look at the white German Shepard she had bonded with over the past couple nights. His name was Hewie. She scratched his ears and Hewie wagged his tail in affection. Fiona had found him tied to a tree by a piece of wire. She freed him and told him to get out of the castle, but he arrived just in time to save her from danger. Since then, the two looked after one another and formed a tight bond. She didn't know exactly where he came from, but she was going to make sure she gave him a good home and take good care of him.

For some reason, this thought brought her mind back to the adventure she and Hewie had in the castle. She had woken up in the castle, not knowing how she got there, and soon discovered that her parents were dead from a car crash. She also learned that the castle belonged to her family and that she was a sole surviving heir. After seeing the castle, however, she had no intention of keeping it. In fact, once she got back to a normal life, she will have the place cleared out of its creepy experiments and sell it to someone who wouldn't use it for such evil purposes. Well, perhaps not…

She thought about Debilitas, the only surviving of her four stalkers. He was a giant of a man with enormous strength and endurance. However, he had the mind of a child and therefore, he liked to play with dolls and whatnot. Apparently, he also thought Fiona was a doll and chased her because he wanted to play with her. He never really meant any harm, but he didn't think about her human feelings, so he treated her like a doll. Only when Fiona caused a chandelier to fall on him did he realize that Fiona was a human being and had to be respected. With that, he never bothered her again. The last time Fiona saw him was when she was escaping from the castle. He came out of the castle with a pair of hedge clippers, and after staring at eachother in an awkward silence, he bowed to her, to show that he didn't mean harm anymore. With that, Fiona and Hewie escaped the castle, leaving Debilitas to tend to the castle's gardens by himself. Fiona was worried that people might want to experiment on Debilitas or bother him, so maybe she shouldn't sell the place. She'd have to think about it.

Her thoughts then turned to Daniella, the maid of the castle. She was the one who gave Fiona her medieval gothic cloths. Fiona eventually found out that Daniella was a humonculus; a man-made human, like Debilitas. However, unlike Debilitas, she was emotionless, beautiful, and "perfect". Daniella also had the inability to taste, experience pleasure, or feel pain. After defeating Debilitas, Daniella served Fiona some soup, which was delicious, but Daniella's speaking to Fiona made her uncomfortable and so she abandoned the meal. However, Daniella apparently put sleeping drugs in her soup, because Fiona suddenly felt extremely weak and rested in bed. After shattering a window and grabbing a large glass shard, Daniella began to chase Fiona. Daniella apparently wanted her "Azoth", which she said would make her whole and "complete." Fiona and Hewie ended up leaving the castle and entered Belli Mansion, a mansion connected to the castle. Eventually, Daniella cornered the two in a room with a large glass dome. After a tense fight, Fiona caused a mirror to appear beneath Daniella, who screamed at an extreme pitch at the sight of her reflection. The scream caused the glass dome to shatter and a giant shard pierced Daniella through the chest, thus killing her. Fiona couldn't help noticing Daniella smiling when she died. She felt sorry for both Debilitas and Daniella, especially Daniella, because she didn't deserve the life she had gotten: to be a lifeless mannequin, a walking, talking doll.

Fiona felt no sympathy whatsoever for her other two pursuers, however. Riccardo was a hooded man who had kept his face hidden most of the time. He carried a handgun, and claimed to be a great alchemist. He also wanted Fiona for her Azoth. Though she didn't completely understand what it was, Azoth was apparently an alchemic term for the essence of life, and her fourth pursuer claimed that alchemists had to ability to convert it into power. Riccardo probably frightened Fiona most of all, because, to her horror, he wanted to impregnate her so that he can be reborn with her Azoth, making him immortal. In the forest, Hewie tried to go after him, but Riccardo shot him in the leg. Fiona managed to find him and heal him somewhat. However, Riccardo showed up and revealed himself to be a clone of her father, Ugo. Fiona fainted and he brought her to a huge water tower. Hewie, however, managed to recover and rescued her. At the top of the tower, the two engaged in a fight with Riccardo and ultimately, knocked him off the tower to his doom.

Lorenzo was their final stalker. His full name was Aureolus Lorenzo Belli. He, too, was a great alchemist, more so than Riccardo. In fact, he created both Riccardo and Ugo. He was an extremely old man who had helped Fiona throughout the adventure to lure her closer to him. He finally got his chance, so therefore he rid himself if his wheelchair and chased her by crawling on the ground. Eventually, Fiona caused him to get crushed by a crushing machine. However, he returned as a much younger man, showing the power alchemy gave him. In addition to being younger, he also gained a few spells, such as creating fire and teleportation. Fiona and Hewie managed to knock him into a pit of lava. However, he returned one final time as a flaming skeleton and chased the two one last time. He eventually burned to death for good.

As Fiona ran all of this through her mind, she realized that although her parents were gone, she was still lucky. Not many 18-year-old girls could survive an experience like that. Still, she wouldn't have survived if not for Hewie. Everybody needs help from animals sometimes. However, all the bad memories made Fiona wish very much that it didn't have to cost the lives of her parents. It would take a while to get over this… But at least she's still not alone. She leaned over and gave Hewie a hug. Then she laid down on the ground and soon fell fast asleep.

I figured I'd start the game with a summary of the game's plot. I hope you liked it. Next, I'm gonna tell Hewie's story of his PoV.