"Snowball!" Aya called out, clutching her pillow closer to her chest. Her tiny feet padded softly against the dark red carpet as her wide blue eyes sweeping over the grounds for the little white rabbit, and his hurt little foot. It was soon after midnight. The last notes of twelve chimes still hung quietly in the air. Soft moonlight seeped in through the windows of the grand main hallway, illuminating her tousled, silky black hair as she passed, and turning her already beautiful porcelain white skin a mysterious blue hue.
He shouldn't be out of her room while he's hurt. That's what father had said. She'd gone to ask him if he'd seen snowball since her scavenger of the house had turned up nothing. She'd hardly knocked before Maria quickly cracked the door open a tiny fragment. Just enough to peer down at her with one of her cold green eyes. The sound of electrical tools humming wafted through the cracked door, along with the scent of antiseptic and disinfectants. "I'm terribly sorry mistress, but he's very busy at the moment. Whatever it is it'll have to wait." Maria said, shutting the door just a little bit more as Aya placed her hand on handle, determined not to be deterred by her father's assistant. "Please go back to bed mistress."
"But..." And before she knew it, Maria had closed the steel laboratory door once again, and twisted the key on the other side to the left, locking it. Leaving Aya standing alone in the middle of the dimly lit hallway. Leaving her lost bunny her only chance for companionship, if she could even find him.
Aya swept her fingers along the stonewalls as she descended the stair leading to the basement. She'd gone through her nursery, looked around in the doll room and archives, and torn apart the kitchen, but saw neither hide nor hair of the white rabbit. And he couldn't be outside or else he'd have been eaten by now and she'd never see him again... just like mom. There was no place left to check in the entire house, except the basement. The moonlight got dimmer and dimmer as she went farther and farther into the depths of the mansion. The heat of the main fireplace ceased to penetrate the icy veil that had begun to creep along the stone stairs, and with no carpet or shoes, began to worm its way up into her skin through the soles of her baby soft feet. Aya let out a whimper and froze. No more light came in to brighten the underground rooms, leaving her in a pitch-black void, cut off from the rest of the world. She whimpered again. If she turned around, she might miss take the steep steps and fall backwards, and hurt herself. If she didn't leave then she'd be stuck there in the dark until morning or until father or Maria came and found her.
A new sound touched her ears in the darkness. The sound of metal slowly scraping against the hard floor as they were dragging something monstrously heavy, and couldn't quite lift it adequately enough to carry without a sound. Aya jumped a bit as a voice began to speak, breaking the glaring silence that had presidented over the room. "There's a candle and matches a little to your right." The voice was male, and scratchy, probably from long periods of disuse, but it was also soft and light all the same, and carried a certain portrayal of youth and friendliness to it that Aya had never heard before. Though, she wasn't certain how old the boy the voice belonged to be. She didn't know anyone else outside of her home, much less other children.
With her fingers as her guide, Aya inched her way along the wall, looking for what the voice had said. Maybe it was on a table, or a stand, and she'd bump into it. "Just a little bit more. Now stop." Aya stopped moving, straining her ears to pinpoint that strange, soft voice. "Now turn to the left, and walk forward a bit. It'll be right in front of you." Briefly, she wondered how he could see anything in this place. He must have been down here for a very long time. Tentatively, she took a few steps forward, keeping her arms in front of her incase she fell or walked into a wall. Her fingertips soon touched what felt like the top of a wooden table. The voice kept silent as she fumbled around with the matchbox.
The small flame emitted a soft glow that only stretched a few inches into the darkness. Illuminating only the table, and her small hands and matchbox as she lit the candle's straggly, worn wick. Aya picked up the brass holder; she stepped further into the room, examining what looked like a dungeon straight out of her one of her favorite storybooks. The stonewalls were plain, and void of anything except the occasional unlit torch. "This way. In the far corner over here." Aya turned diagonally, following the instructions she was given. The cold air of the dungeon nipped at her as she made her way even deeper. Before long the soft light touched the fabric of an old beaten blanket and pillow, and soon after the outline of the young boy they set beside. "Hello." He said pleasantly. Aya examined him closely. Long, blonde locks of hair, clear, pale skin, and golden brown eyes, one hidden away behind a tuft of those long wavy strands. He was tall as well. Even sitting down she could tell he was tall, at least, taller than her small ten year old frame.
"H-hello." She stuttered back, cursing her initial nervousness. She wasn't use to meeting strangers. "Um- who are you?" Aya asked, shifting around slightly. The cold had long since passed through the thin fabric of her nightdress, placing icy kisses up and down her spine. Noticing this, the boy scooped up the blanket and draped it over her shoulders. "Here, you're cold. I'm Dio. What's your name?" The added layer helped a bit. At least she wasn't shivering anymore. "My name's Aya. I'm looking for a little white bunny rabbit. Have you seen him?" Dio ran his finger over the worn wool, soothing out the wrinkled fabric on her shoulders. "Yeah. I was wondering what a rabbit was doing all the way down here." Dio tugged at the end of the pillow next to him, dragging it closer, and settling it in between the two of them.
Snowball sat perfectly still in the center of the fluffy pillow, his nose twitching periodically. His little foot now sporting a white bandage gauze wrapped around it. "Snowball, You're okay!" A bright grin broke across her lips. Her little bunny wasn't dead! Placing the candle down next to them, Aya sat down, folding her legs under her dress before scooping up snowball and examining him further. "Oh, snowball, look at you! You can't even tell your hurt with the bandages on." Dio sat back, leaning on his arms and watched as Aya fussed over the small rabbit. That genuine smile of pure happiness and relief pulled at his heartstrings. It'd been so long since he'd last seen someone act so happy over something so simple. "Thank you for taking good care of snowball Dio. I'm grateful you found him, but what are you doing down here all alone?" The question hung in the air for a while. Dio turned his head away, not entirely willing to speak of the exact reasoning for him being there.
Aya inched forward slowly, her small, slim fingers drifting closer until she reached closer, sweeping the blonde hair out of the way of those beautiful honey eye...? Aya's hand trembled as fear raced through her veins, and the blood in her face drained away. She stared at him, and one solemn golden brown eye, and one black, hollow hole stared back. A shrill, blood-curdling scream ripped its way from her throat as she retched her hand back. Dio reached forward quickly, placing a slightly cool hand over her mouth, trying to stop the high pitched cries from waking everyone else that might be in the mansion, avoiding her wild thrashing limbs. "I'm sorry! Please don't be afraid. I used the fresh bandage they gave me to mend your rabbits leg. I didn't have anything else to put over it." Aya screamed out. The boy had no right eye! She struggled with all her might, kicking and screaming, trying to push him away from her. But, he spoke gently, as if trying to placate a spooked animal, trying to sooth her frayed nerves. She stopped struggling after a while, and her voice died down again too. Dio loosened his grip, and lifted himself away not long after, still on edge. If she ran away, and told, he was done for.
They sat there silently for a few seconds; letting the sudden jolt of adrenaline slowly work it's way out of their systems. Aya kept her head lowered, looking away from him. She throat felt scratchy, and her face hot from embarrassed. She didn't know how he lost his eye, or if he was even born with one in the first place. Leveling his head, Dio was first to break the silence. "I-I'm sorry." He hadn't meant to scare her. She was just the first person he'd seen in long time, and, truth be told, she was nice. He didn't want his first human interaction in god only knows how long to end with her fleeing the room in utter fear. Aya's head snapped up at the apology. "You don't have to sorry! I should be the one apologizing! I didn't accidentally hurt you did I?" Dio shook his head no. She scooted closer, and once again touching the side of his face. She didn't move his hair back anymore, though. Instead she simply pressed her small finger against his skin, enjoying the feel of the near perfect complexion. She trailed her fingers up, cupping the side of his face before speaking. "You didn't have to give your bandages away. I would've taking care of them once we went back to my room. Oh, wait. I know..." Dropping her hand from Dio's face, Aya picked up the forgotten candle, and moved across the room. Since her family didn't really have a purpose for this room in the house, father kept a lot of his medical supplies stored down here.
Aya scrutinized the shelves, looking them over for anything she could use. Her eyes finally landed on the half empty box covered in dust on the bottom shelf. She picked up a few of the rolls of white bandages that were stuffed inside. They were a bit old, but they'd do. "Here we go!" Turned back to Dio, presenting him with the wraps as if for his approval. "I'll rewrap your eye if you want me too." Dio sat back on his arms for a while. He needed his eye tended to before it got infected, but he didn't want the sweet little girl in front of him to become frightened of him again. She'd just wrap his eye, then run out of the room and never return, like his mother. Aya sat quietly for a moment, letting him think. There were no other injuries on his face, but that empty socket must still hurt, even if only a little. Aya moved her hands up. Placing the bandage securely over his eye as she moved the blonde hair away. She worked her way around the injury quickly, ignoring Dio's stiff posture, probably from minor pain, and tried to finish as soon as possible. Wrapping the last bit of bandage tightly over the previous layers, she tucked the end underneath the overlapping folds, and smiled a bit. Even without his eye Dio was still so nice. He wasn't cold like Maria, and didn't look at her like she didn't belong there. His one good eye portrayed more kindness in it then both of her father's assistant's ever could.
Dio relaxed as soon as Aya finished. The small smile reassuring that she wasn't frightened anymore. He let the comfortable silence stay as Aya scooted over next to him instead of staying right in front. She yawned lightly, covering her most a bit with the back of her hand, and long eyelashes fluttering over her pretty blue eyes. She rested her head on his thin shoulder before drifting off to sleep once again.
Dio quirked a smile. Aya was very cute, awake or asleep. He fixed the blanket around her more sourly, and scooped snowball into his lap before setting her head down against the pillow comfortably. "Sweet dreams, Aya." He whispered, giving her a kiss on the forehead, and blowing out the candle.
[A/N] 'Mad Father' has definitely made it into my top 10 favorite games of all time, and right now I'm obsessed. I love that, when it says there's a mystery, there's actually a mystery; even when you already know her father's crazy and that he's killing people. And it's fun to play too. Though Dio and Aya definitely need more screen time together, where Aya's not terrified of him. I tried looking up some history on all the characters, but it seems like with this game what you see is what you get.