Disclaimer: Spoilers! This story follows the main plot of Haunting Ground and reveals scenes that are vital to the plot. Please know that I don't own Haunting Ground or any character/plot associated with it. That would be amazing, but it's not going to happen. So this is as close as I'll get.

Author's Note: I started writing this a while ago, so I decided that it would be best to post it. If you don't like the idea of Riccardo and Fiona being an item, then please don't read. Yes, I know he's psycho, but no one's perfect ;D . Besides, I love writing about relationships that shouldn't be. Anyway, please enjoy and feel free to review.

"I won't let him touch her!" the man announced to no one in particular. His body was covered in a sack-like cloth, dirty with filth and grime. It was old. He had worn it ever since he was created. Cloned, was more the appropriate word for it. This man's presence demanded respect, even as he beat down Daniella, the maid of the castle that he was doomed to live in.

This man's name was Riccardo.

Every waking moment Riccardo searched for something. His clone father had mentioned it once to him. It was the Azoth. He soon found that to possess it would allow immense power. If it had allowed his clone father to live for years, why must its capabilities stop there? Riccardo searched for answers over the Azoth. He poured over old notes that he could snatch, and he questioned as much as possible. What was it? Who had it? Where was it now? Many times the thought of Azoth controlled Riccardo's thoughts and dreams.

One day, those questions were answered when the precious princess of the castle arrived. Fiona Belli was the owner of the Belli Castle in which he was destined to live in for the remainder of his life. Of course, he had been the one to hunt her down. Her father, to be exact, who had had the Azoth last. Turned out the thieving man had passed it on to the only other Belli survivor. She had all the answers to Riccardo's questions and didn't even know it.

Daniella remained adamant and didn't respond to the abuse that Riccardo was dealing her. She had no azoth and, therefore, had no emotions. She could feel nothing. She didn't understand love or pain, she couldn't taste or feel. She was a robot that cleaned the aging and disgusting castle. Even now as Riccardo slapped her continuously, she didn't cry out for mercy. Riccardo found her disgusting, a tool in the old man's contraption for power. She was useless, and refused to tell him the whereabouts of the princess.

"Where is she?" he beat her furiously, feeling a sort of relief from doing so.

She remained silent and Riccardo angrily stepped away, trying to regain his clarity. With every second, the Azoth was getting closer to that foul old man and further from himself. He needed to find Fiona and Daniella knew where to start. But her eyes were blank sheets as she stared forward at the door. What she saw in that door, Riccardo didn't know, but her lips curled up into a emotionless smile. This small action re-fired the hatred that he had for all the beings that resided in the castle and sent him into another surge of rage. Riccardo beat her harder to tear the damn smile from her lips, but she didn't stop smiling.

Little did he know that his precious Azoth had been on the other side of that ancient door, watching the abuse and rage that went on in the room. Poor Fiona had fallen in fear and turned down the hall to get away, away from the castle with all its mysterious and dark stories. Fiona Belli had been only a few feet from Riccardo, and he hadn't noticed over the sound of his hand striking Daniella's face.

But Daniella knew, and she chuckled mirthlessly at the irony of the situation. He was indirectly educating her on the Azoth! Why else was he so desperate to get the girl? The woman must have the Azoth. The Azoth! Oh, beautiful Azoth… Daniella craved it as much as Riccardo. She would be able to love Riccardo with the Azoth and he would love her because she had it. It was magical, and yet Daniella could only laugh emptily about it. Every day she wondered: why must her days be as empty as her voice? Why was she incomplete? She needed the Azoth to become more. To become a woman; a woman that Riccardo could love.

"Damn you!" Riccardo cursed. She wouldn't tell him anything. She could only laugh in his face, as though she knew something he didn't. As though there was a big, secret joke imprinted on his forehead. Unable to control his anger, he disappeared from sight, barging out of the room with such a fury that the door slammed against the wall. Its force punctured the wall easily. The stone wall. Riccardo had chipped off a chunk of the castle in his fit of rage, leaving the maid to clean up his mess. Again.

Even as he ran down the corridor, he could her Daniella's laugh echoing through the house, like a broken music box. He hated her as much as he hated the old man, and he would stop at nothing to get to Fiona. To get to his Azoth. Why should they take what was rightfully his? He was an alchemist and deserved to live forever!

He would get it. He knew he would. The only question was… how?