Author's Note and Prologue

Haunting Ground- Revelations: Alea Iacta Est (The die has been cast/ Part I) 2006 by CoyoteLongshot

Full credit to HazardousRaptor and CrimsonPromise for inspiring me to write this... you girls rock :)

This is part I of my version of a sequel to the PS2 game Haunting Ground. This story, instead of following Fiona (although she is in it), focuses mainly on the character of Daniella, who she was, who the original Aureolus Belli was, and what happens to the Belli family. The fanfic will be written based on Ending A, "Fortes Fortuna Juvat", from Haunting Ground, and the first chapter takes place the day after Fiona's escape. Note that this fanfic gets somewhat dark later on, and will contain some strong language and adult situations. Nothing too graphic or explicit, but it will feature themes of masturbation, incest, and rape in parts of the series, and also some pretty disturbing imagery. It's also fairly long, but I've tried to make it as interesting as possible. That said, hope you all enjoy it, and let me know what you think!

"The most valuable thing in this world is the Great Truth. It is the ultimate secret of human life, the epitome of everything we do. There is no avoiding it, no ignoring it. It must be found. I, Aureolus Belli, will be the one to discover it, to harness its power, to show the rest of the world the pinnacle of the human experience. Only then will humankind truly be the supreme beings in this world. Only then will we be complete."

-Aureolus Belli, 1508-1583

"So that's it, then? They're all gone? And the last remaining Belli has escaped..."

The young man in the chair was having difficulty grasping this concept. They had been waiting for hundreds of years, it had been carefully planned... it may have been their only chance of discovering the Truth. And now it was all ruined. Why... How could this have happened?

"That's what I found, sir. I found the homunculus Riccardo dead... and Lorenzo was nowhere to be found, nor was Fiona. It was obvious that something had gone wrong."

The deep voice came from a large man in the corner of the small stone room. It was lit with a single oil lamp on a table in the center at which the young man was seated, yet he could see the man in the corner perfectly. He glowed with his own light, a faint iridescent blue that gave him the impression he was talking to a ghost. He ran his hands through his red hair, cursing. He should have seen this coming. Lorenzo had called him late a few nights ago. He'd told him that Fiona had been brought to the castle prematurely, that it was Riccardo's doing, no doubt. He'd always said Riccardo was the troublemaker... But why? What reason would Riccardo have for sneaking her into the castle? What had he wanted?

Well, that bastard got his. That was really the only consolation about this whole incident. And no doubt the whole thing would get blown wide open. By tomorrow it should be in all the newspapers, all over the television... There was just one shot left. It was a long shot, but still a shot. He had considered just going out and finding Fiona himself, bringing her here, to the mansion... But he knew that this was not a wise idea. The police would be watching her closely, they would find this place and it would all be over. If this final act of desparation didn't work, the once-great Belli family would die off, disappear into obscurity, never to be heard from again. They had been bound for greatness...

He suddenly lashed out, yelling in frustration and knocking the lamp over onto the floor. Immediately, the light died, shrouding the room in darkness. There was no reason things should have happened this way. It was all just pure, simple incompetence. He kept his fists clenched, allowed himself to calm down, and took a deep breath. He looked back in the direction of the man to whom he had been talking, the only light in the room now radiating from his body. Yes, one more chance. He had to pull it off right, and losing his temper wasn't going to help make that happen.

"What of Leana? Did you see to it that she would awaken?"

"I did as you instructed, master... but it appears that they had been using her body for something else they weren't telling us about... Either way, it should be any time now. I also found many homunculi roaming freely about the mansion outside the castle. It would appear that they were all tainted in some way and had been forgotten."

Now... what was this about? Had Lorenzo been running more operations without telling him? Just what had been going on at Belli Castle? He sighed, rubbing his eyes. It would be useless to wonder about it now. He was obviously never going to get an answer. He stood up, making his way past the small pedestal with the white statue, the room's only distinguishing feature, and toward the arched doorway where a small amount of light was streaming from down the hall. As he reached it, he stopped and turned once more to the man in the corner.

"I'm going to prepare to meet her. She will come here, there is no doubt of that. Just be ready for her when she does."

"And what makes you so sure?" The other man's voice reverberated off the walls.

"Because... she will have nowhere else to go."

She could be the missing link, the one that could finally answer the ultimate riddle. Her Azoth was pure and untainted. Dear, dear Leana...

He could hardly stand to wait to see her again.