The Manse
Chapter One
A Man, Standing in the Rain
===O0O===
The coach wound through empty mountain roads as rain hammered down against the windows, the wind whistling past in a high pitched manner. The gloomy surroundings were contrasted by the contents of the bus, with warm lights and red seating. Not to mention the cheery students occupying themselves from the dreary travel.
Gray reached over to shove an ailing Natsu, demanding cheekily that he perk up. Natsu made a half hearted retort before succumbing to his extreme motion sickness again and slumping back into his seat. Juvia sat directly behind Gray, occasionally peering over the seat to make sure that he was still there, to sit back down red-faced. Lucy giggled at the sight across the aisle and elbowed Levy who looked up briefly from her book to smile.
A stereo blared out music as Vijiter danced in the aisle, several others laughing and clapping as they sometimes joined in, Elfman and Cana in particular. Droy never stopped snacking for an instant. Jet looked like he was twitchy from being cooped up for so long.
At the back, Gajeel lounged by himself, headphones blaring loud death metal into his head to cut himself off from the rest of the world. Wendy and Romeo chatted amiably, the only two there from the younger grades.
At the front, there were three prefects, Erza, Mira and Laxus, chosen from the older children. Ahead of them were Macao, Wakaba and Gildartz, the three teachers accompanying the little expedition. Headmaster Makarov drove the bus, modified for his small form.
Bored, Lucy finally plucked the book from Levy's hands, forcing her into conversation. "I'm so looking forward to this!" 'This' was a weekend away in the mountains, a once a year trip to a huge mansion that belonged to the Dreyar family. It sat silent for most of the year, only blazing into life for two days as the youngsters rushed around it.
"It's really coming down though," Levy replied, pushing her face up to window to try and look into the sky. The clouds were grey and thick, with no sign of thinning. "I don't like it when it's like this."
"Really? You seem the sort to curl up inside with a book; the rain doesn't affect that."
"Yes, but someone just stole my book!" Levy said drolly. She reached for it, but Lucy held it just out of her grasp as they fought over it. The joviality on the bus ended in an instant as one of the bus' tyres slipped on a sheet of water and the back end slipped outwards. For a moment there was a terrifying feeling of weightlessness, but then the wheels gripped again and they were on their way.
"Sorry about that!" Makarov called back down the vehicle's interior. "Everyone alright?"
"I almost shit my pants," Gray swore.
"I wouldn't – they're the only thing you're wearing," Lucy said with a long suffering sigh. As Gray floundered around for his clothes, Juvia leapt forward with an emergency clothes bundle that she always had prepared. Levy regained her book and the little incident was forgotten as the children returned to their playing.
It would not be the last time that something tried to kill them.
===O0O===
They pulled up outside the mansion, known colloquially as 'the Manse' by the students. The building was all by itself, far away from any nearby civilization, sheltered by the pine trees and sheer slopes of the mountain. It was a huge building, three stories tall plus a lofty attic and a basement. Easily enough room to fit the thirty or so children.
Still, the rain was pounding down and it was a miserable experience as they all began to unload their luggage from the bay under the coach. Levy huffed and puffed as she tried to lift her heavy bag at an awkward angle through the mad rush of students. She found herself rudely pushed to one side.
"Out of the way, Shortstuff!" Gajeel snarled, clearly impatient. "It's raining and I wanna fucking dry off!"
Levy's angry retort was lost in the driving rain, but she saw him take her bag as well as his own and shrugged off his truculent manner to hurry after him for the dry interior. The students were shaking themselves off like wet dogs inside, Natsu practically kissing the blessed unmoving ground.
"Oi!" Erza barked. "I know you are all miserable and wet, but let's show some decorum! Mr Gildartz will take the boys to their dorm and the girls can all follow me. Please try not to drip water on anything!"
The boy's and girl's rooms were on opposite ends of the second floor, vast rows of guest rooms that had five beds or so each. Many a student was planning an exodus between the dorms over the course of the weekend. They just had to avoid the suicide of alerting Erza or Gildartz.
As they traipsed up through the house, they took in the Manse with wonder. The place was fairly old, but well appointed and maintained. The corridors were lined with paintings and ornamentation, and were gloomy from a lack of good lighting, built for a different age. It was the sort of place that set you on edge from having too many shapes in the corner of your eye, half seen in the poor light.
Still, the girls were excited and amiable as they advanced upstairs, gabbling amongst themselves. Erza began dividing them between rooms, apparently having plotted some grand master plan. Lucy found herself in a room with Levy, Juvia, Wendy and Cana.
"It's late," she warned them. "You're all turning in for the night, if I find anyone outside their room, there'll be a big punishment to pay." And she looked not only like she meant it, but that she'd enjoy it too. Lucy examined the room. There were five beds arranged against the walls. In one corner was a door that led to a small but decently sized bathroom. There was an enormous gothic window showing little more than darkness at this moment. A branch rattled against it constantly.
"How typical of this sort of place," Levy noted gleefully, thinking of all the spooky mansions in her novels.
"I-I don't like it!" Wendy wailed, clearly distressed by the noise.
"BOO!" The two blunettes squealed in fright and threw themselves together. A moment passed were they could hear Cana's hyena laugh behind them, proclaiming her obvious amusement at her little prank.
"T-that wasn't funny!" Levy shouted back, since Wendy appeared to be speechless.
"Oh, lighten up!" Cana declared. "There's nothing scary about this place; it's just old and creaky! Now, since we're all roommates and you're mad at me, let me share with you my little secret!"
"You brought booze?" Lucy guessed in a flat voice.
"I brought… wait, how did you know?" Cana asked.
"You always bring booze," Lucy replied patiently, stressing the words.
"Not always," the tall girl replied, annoyed at being seen as so predictable.
"Juvia cannot remember a time when you didn't," the self-titled girl admitted. Levy giggled and went to draw the curtains to placate Wendy. As she did so, she peered outside at the front courtyard, just visible if she pressed up close to the glass. The bus lay out there now, completely abandoned by everyone now in the relative warm and dry. For a moment, she thought she saw a figure in the tree line, but then it was gone. She pulled the curtains to, passing it off as a trick of the light.
"I'm not getting any reception out here," Lucy noted discontentedly, studying her phone. No signal, no service at all. "We really are out in the middle of nowhere."
"It could be the storm," Levy objected, "but come on Lu-chan! You didn't come all the way out here just to play on your phone, did you?"
Cana produced a large bottle of some powerful looking alcohol from her bag. "Yes, there are some more fun things we could be playing. How about we start with truth or dare?"
===O0O===
"You're both idiots," Gajeel said lazily, lounging on his bed. "You'll be caught and old man Gildartz ain't gonna be happy with you rushing to the girl's dorm. You know, the place where his daughter is."
"Come on Gajeel," Natsu urged, clearly worked up. "Isn't there any girl waiting for you there?"
"Aren't you interested in Levy?"
"No, I'm not!" Gajeel snapped, sitting upright on the bed. "Where'd you get a stupid fucking idea like that?"
"Psh, if you two were manga characters, you'd always be in the same panel," Natsu mocked.
"In fact, didn't he push her aside and grab her bag on the way in?" Gray asked overdramatically. "That's quality character interaction and shipping fodder."
"N-no, that was…"
"He's such a gentleman!"
"But so tsundere!" Both boys fled the room laughing as Gajeel rose, face like thunder. He ground his teeth, wondering if he should go after them and administer a beating, but suddenly felt a tingle run down his spine. He whirled around, but of course only his bed and the wall were behind him. He scoffed at his skittish attitude. At least no one had seen him do-
"What are you doing?" Elfman asked, exiting their shared bathroom while towelling his damp hair. Gajeel floundered around briefly, but ultimately scowled and reached for his earphones to lie on the bed. "Hey, who's that?"
Frowning, Gajeel stood to go to the window Elfman was looking out of. Why would anyone be outside in the beating rain? He scanned the trees outside, but couldn't see anyone.
"Where?"
"There, by the little tree over there."
"I don't see anything."
"Huh. I could have sworn… no it must just be the darkness. As a man, I am ashamed." Confusion tinted Elfman's voice, but Gajeel paid it no mind and span around to fling himself onto his bed and shove his earphones in. A little Metallica should stave off the boredom. Nothing was going to happen tonight, that was for sure.
===O0O===
The bottle spun around and around until it finally pointed at Levy.
"Truth or dare?" Juvia asked. Levy looked profoundly nervous at the prospect. A dare likely meant a trip to the boy's dorm, so she had to declare truth. "Juvia wants to know if there are any boys that Levy likes!"
"N-no!" Levy squealed loudly.
"Ah? It has to be Jet or Droy, right?" Cana asked.
"No, no, no," Lucy said smugly, hanging an arm around Levy's shoulders. "You see, our little cutie has a taste for the dark and dangerous sort!"
"Lu-chan, please shut up!"
"Gajeel-kun?" Juvia assumed with shock. "Juvia knew that he was fond of Levy-san, but Juvia had no idea that Levy liked him back!"
"He… wait, what!?" Levy practically screamed the question, flushing a deep crimson. Desperately trying to change the topic, she spun the bottle, which ended up pointing at Lucy. "Truth or dare!?"
"Dare!" Lucy declared.
"Okay, I dare you to sneak over to the boy's side and kiss Natsu!" Levy stated triumphantly. Lucy glared back at her friend, cheeks going slightly peachy. To Levy's surprise, she stood, tugging on the bookworm's arm.
"Okay, I'll go! But you never told the truth so you gotta come too!"
"L-Lu-chan!"
"You're going to where Gray-sama is!?" Juvia stood; face clearly warring between the anger of perceived romantic competition and the joy of the prospect of seeing Gray in a state of undress. "Juvia cannot let you be with him alone, she cannot trust you."
"I'll stay with the booze, thanks!" Cana declared gleefully. Wendy shrank away, just hoping to avoid being dragged into this game.
===O0O===
The quiet mansion was mostly empty space. About twenty boys slept in rooms attached to one long corridor and twenty girls on the opposite side had a similar set up. The prefects had their own rooms nearby and the teachers each had a single room, as are the perks of authority.
However, between those two encampments were several parties all trying to make their way in childish games. Lucy, Levy and Juvia were moving by a very direct route, but Natsu and Gray had gotten lost and somehow descended to the ground floor. Jet and Droy were also sneaking along together, the floorboards creaking under Droy's girth.
On the first floor, Alzack and Bisca had managed to find a small supplies closet to slip into. Their bodies pressed together as the lovestruck teens kissed each other hungrily. As Bisca pressed into Alzack's bare chest, he slipped his hands around to unhook her bra.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The pair arrested their actions as they heard the heavy footsteps clunking down the corridor. Oh god, had they been ratted out or spotted? Gildartz would have their heads!
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The footsteps were incredibly heavy and slow. Who in their group walked like that? Even the bulky Gildartz and Laxus weren't so heavy footed!
Thump. Thump.
The footsteps stopped outside the closet. The pair shivered in fear. Alzack's eyes stared at the handle in abject panic, expecting to see it rattle at any moment. A moment passed, and then another.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The footsteps continued on up the corridor. Slowly, they faded in volume and the pair let out a sigh of relief. Deciding that the passion of the moment had gone, they put their clothes back on and quietly opened the door, peeking out slowly, but the dark hall was empty.
"The carpet's wet." They were barefoot for added quiet and Alzack looked down at Bisca's declaration. She was right. Huge drips of water had splashed all down the corridor and large bootprints were visible in the moisture they'd left behind.
"He must have come from outside," Alzack noted. "Why did anyone go outside in this weather?"
===O0O===
"Juvia wishes for her companions to hurry up, for she wishes to see Gray-sama soon!" Walking behind the eager blunette Lucy was beginning to regret this whole venture. On the spur of the moment, it had sounded like fun, but now she was getting flustered thinking about Natsu. Not to mention how creepy the old house was late at night. It was creaky and scary, the rain and wind providing permanent background noise.
But if she was having problems, it was nothing compared to Levy. Levy loathed the dark with a passion, ever since she was a little girl. She certainly had read more than few horror novels in her time, but she could not watch scary movies for the life of her, and nor did she want to experience fear like this first hand. She kept trying to tell herself how stupid she was being; she was a rational and scientific person – there was no such thing as ghosts!
Suddenly, lightning flashed and Levy screamed, her whole body jumping violently in fear.
"Levy-chan, come on, it's not that bad!" Lucy chastised, trying to still her own beating heart.
"There was a person!" Levy shrieked. She gestured at the large window at the end of the corridor. "When the lightning flashed, there was a person standing there, I swear!"
"Juvia didn't see anything except the shapes of the tree branches outside."
"We were all looking forwards, Levy-chan. You're just let your imagination get away from you." Lucy was speaking in her most reassuring tone of voice, trying to calm her down. Levy tried to still her beating heart, trying to agree that she was sensitive to this sort of thing. Then they all jumped as they heard a door bang open and a flashlight lit up. An angry voice floated down the corridor, familiar to the trio.
"Hey! Who was that?"
"Oh shit, Erza heard you scream!" Lucy hissed. "Run for your lives!"
As they hurried down the corridor, they passed the place where Levy had seen the shadowy man. She couldn't help but notice a soft squelch from the carpet. Water? Had the window been leaking at all?
===O0O===
Natsu and Gray shimmied along walls like children playing ninja. With exaggerated stealth they prowled down the corridors. Then they rounded a corner and screamed like little girls as they bumped into Droy.
"Damn it Fatass, you scared me!" Gray said angrily but quietly. Natsu looked a bit like he was about to choke out his own lungs.
"Sorry, but I'm lost. Jet got away from me. He's too fast for me to keep up!" Droy's jowls wobbled in sympathy for his plight, the overweight man clearly overexerted and tired.
"You mean you're too slow! Waddle, waddle, waddle!" Gray taunted.
"I am not fat! I'm just big boned!"
"Why are you and Jet sneaking around anyway? Not still perving on the little mouse are you?"
"Don't refer to Levy like that! And I don't want to be called a pervert by a man in his underwear!" Droy sniped back. Gray floundered around at the sudden realisation, looking desperately for his discarded clothes. Natsu had finally recovered from the fright and weighed in on the topic.
"I think Gajeel's interested in her, so you might wanna move quicker."
"Gajeel!? When we were kids, that asshole beat us up, took our lunch money and dunked our heads in the toilet!"
"Well, he's an asshole and you three are nerds, so… " Natsu stopped, pondering. "If he took your lunch money, wouldn't he be rich now?"
"Screw you two!" Droy huffed, striding away from the pair of giggling boys. He was truly lost though and finally found himself on the ground floor, heading into the main entrance. It was an enormously tall room, spanning all three floors of the building. A huge window took up the two stories above the door. Two staircases ran up to the first floor on either side.
Lightning flashed and Droy's eyes widened as it silhouetted a form against the huge window,
The form of Jet's hanging body, a rope wrapped around his neck.
As Droy stood there, paralyzed by horror, there was the slow march of footsteps approaching him from behind.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.