Title: Whispers
Fandom:
Rave
Warning:
Gore, Death
Summary: The story of the Blue Room. Have you heard of it?
Disclaimer: Don't own Rave. Mashima-sensei still does.
A/N: Buffed up, reworked version of 'Isle Fractions', an unfinished collaboration between Umi & I.
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Whispers
Chapter 1 – The Unwitting
o0o
Lucia stared out through the car window, chin propped up on top of his fist. Beside him in the driver's seat, King hummed a soft tune, a famous one from the rock band Demon Card.
They'd been on the road almost the entire day. A few more hours and it would be invisible in the night. Hopefully, they'd arrive at their designated new home before dark. Because he sure as hell was not about to camp out in the car again, with those raccoons and things pawing at their windows in the dead of night. (No, he was not scared.) It was annoying.
Lucia scowled as the road steadily got bumpier, his father driving them steadily deeper through the woods. Lucia huffed and, for want of something to do, began to mentally go over the events that had ultimately resulted in this stupid, entirely unreasonable decision to move. His mother had died just two months ago. His father, King, had been totally devastated by it. Lucia hadn't really cared, at first. He is—was never close to his mother. She wasn't his real mother anyway. She was his stepmother, and he'd long stopped caring what sort of women his father decided to fancy. After her burial, a friend of his father's had called, offering condolences and by-and-by, have you heard about this mansion for sale…? Struggling with grief and unable to stay in the house he had shared with Emilia Heartwright, King had decided to move to a new place, a new town, wishing to start all over again.
'Yeah. And have me another new brother, probably.' He thought darkly of the blue-haired teen, before glaring back at all the forest breezing by outside his window. Deep Snow, as adopted sons tended to do, would be following them out into the middle of nowhere to live with them after he graduated. Lucia was not looking forward to it.
Their new house was actually located some two or more towns away from where they had been living, Mary Loose. They had begun traveling yesterday early in the morning, stayed at a cheap hotel for the night, and then started traveling again when the rooster crowed. Lucia hated roosters. And now, on the brink of dozing off, he decided to count the number of hectic, luggage-hefting days it would take before his father decided that moving into the wild is, indeed, a pain in the ass.
Lucia wasn't fond of moving. The last time he had checked, he'd moved from town to town nearly four times in his entire 17 years of living, this time becoming the fifth. The first time was when his father divorced his second wife, and Lucia's first stepmother. He was only around 5 years old then. The second time was when Lucia got into a fight— which was more like a huge brawl of fists and kicks with their neighbor's son. He'd won, of course. After that came the bloodiest moment of his life, he recalled. He had stayed at the hospital for an entire week, after getting beaten by five brutes ten times larger and bulkier than his 7-year old frame. The bastard that had put them up to it had leered at him over the fence, just before his father decided they were moving to a new town.
The third time was when his father picked the wrong location to set up a television antenna, and after a huge thunderstorm, their house went down in ashes. Suffice to say, they had to move again, and this time, to Mary Loose, where King met Emilia. He was already 14 when he met the sweet and gentle lady. Maybe he would have learnt to love her, if only she hadn't kept looking at him with hidden fear and worry. Worry for what? He didn't bother to know.
The car jostled once more as a tyre ran over a large rock. The jump caught Lucia off-guard, his body rigid, and turned to look at his father with angry eyes.
"The hell was that for?"
"You were thinking bad thoughts."
"Moron." He spat at him angrily, before going back to glaring out the window. He heard a low chuckle coming from the older blond, and failed to duck from an offending hand that darted up to his hair and ruffled it.
"Whatever you say, kiddo."
The rest of the ride was spent in silence, save for King's continuous humming of old 80's rock songs.
xxx
Parking the car outside an old bar, both father and son opened their respective car doors. Shoes stepping on rough dirt road, they both looked around the isolated town.
"Wow Dad, are we in Wild Wild West or what?"
"Probably. Anyways, it'll be a few more miles before we get there. Just gotta refuel and get some food."
Grunting, Lucia followed his father into the bar. Once inside, he grimaced at the sight of old and greasy men loitering around, some unconscious, either from fists or too many drinks.
"Dad, can we hurry things up?"
"Hush, boy."
He scowls at his old man, but follows anyway. He couldn't help but flinch when a drunken man with a fuzzy beard slumped right in front of him. Lucia avoided him easily, relying on years of fights in which he had to keep dodging falling bodies. Freaky falling people. If they landed on you they drooled. Calling out for his father again, Lucia hurried ahead, walking exactly an inch to the right of his father.
They reached an old woman standing behind the bar, who was idly drying glasses with a dirty cloth. King pulled out his wallet and placed a hundred Edel on the table.
"50 for some food, if you please, and the rest for gas."
The woman gazed at King scornfully before snatching the money with dirty hands and walking away. Maybe to call someone else in to do the work. Just before she entered the back room, she looked over her shoulder and raked the young blonde's figure with her eyes. Lucia shuddered. He seriously couldn't stay in this place anymore. The smell of alcohol was overwhelming, and the weirdos... . The moment the woman left, he quickly turned around and left the bar, the car being his targeted destination.
Wrapping his jacket tighter around himself, Lucia wondered why the town's air, actually warm, judging by the car's thermometer, chilled him to the bone. Pulling the car door open, he settled himself inside and waited for his father to come back with the supplies.
xxx
"And I was crying out loud… like you'll never know…"
"Dad, stop singing."
"Because you walked away, walked away, Caroline"
"Dad!"
"Oh, but baby!
If you'd only take me back..
I looked into her eyes, as they shimmered...
Then she said— The hell?!"
"You were asking for it," Lucia bluntly stated, fingers not leaving the radio's switch to make sure his father wouldn't try to switch it on again. King glared. "Anyways, I'll go mad if you keep on singing and kill something. Think of it as a life-saving action."
King snorted at this and went back to the steering wheel, but not after swatting at the hand on the radio's switch and ruffling his son's blond hair.
"Someday, you're gonna learn to respect your father's good taste in music."
"Nothing is worth respecting in this world" Lucia answered softly, before going back to looking out the window. King continued to hum his favorite 80's rock music, fingers tapping on the steering wheel.
The ride continued on for another half an hour, until the car came to a screeching halt outside a black, rusty wrought-iron gate. Eyes wide, Lucia stared at the place while his hands, operating on habit, removed his seatbelt.
"Dad… are you sure we're in the right place?"
"No doubt about it, kiddo." King muttered softly, also staring at the mansion. Lucia noticed a man standing somewhere inside the gate, waving at them. "I think that's the dude, dad," he whispered, in reference to the care-taker that was supposed to hand the keys over to them. King looked at where his son was pointing. "Yep, that's him," King said, nodding to his son to follow him. "Come on."
Car doors opening simultaneously, father and son approached the gate. King reached for the latch. Just then, a wind blew, and the two jumped a bit when the rusted gate suddenly opened. King and Lucia exchanged uneasy glances. The man didn't seem to mind their jumpiness, or the wind.
Smiling widely at them, Genma continued waving his hand at the two approaching figures. "Well, howdy, guys. Glad ya can make it all the way here! Thought maybe yeh'd got caught up in bad traffic. Dehyahyahyahya!" Lucia scowled. What traffic? The mansion was situated a small distance from the nearest village, and while the surrounding forest made for beautiful scenery, it also meant almost complete isolation. "Neways, gotta make 'it quick. Hafta leave, y'know? Stuff ta do."
Nodding slightly, King listened to the man talk while Lucia looked around the mansion, examining its windows and walls with disdain.
"Anyways, the Artreichts wanna get rid of this ol' house, y'know? Guess no one alive from that family wants it nemore, so instead of burnin' down hundred o' years o' family ownership, they thought o' sellin' the place. It's sorta sad, y'know? It's a great place, spacious, roomy… but, heh. Can't blame 'em. Somethin's bad here, something went wrong."
Ignoring the still talking man as he droned on at his father, Lucia continued his inspection of the house. He gazed up, gauging the height of the walls. The place looked to be about only two stories tall on average, but it was large, so that more than made up for it. He scanned the sky, noting the that there were more floors in some parts of the mansion than the rest of the place, forming sort of 'towers'.
It was then that the sight of fluttering curtains caught his attention. Stepping a little closer, he squinted his eyes to inspect one of the second floor windows. There it was again. The sudden appearance of something. A strange glint of silver. Blinking, the blond rubbed his eyes and looked back at the window. Its curtain was not fluttering anymore.
"What the…?"
The jangle of heavy brass keys caught his attention, and Lucia tore his gaze from the window to catch the last snippet of the conversation he had previously been ignoring.
"And that's all there is to know, sir. The previous owner said ta watch out for noises. Oh, an she ain't been back here in years. She used to keep a close eye on the place... got cranky at times, when unregistered guests entered the house."
Smiling politely, King side-stepped the man as ma headed for the gate and approached his son.
"Dad, what does he mean by… watch out for noises…?"
His father pocketed the heavy, worn-looking keys.
"Oh ignore him, kiddo. You know how some people are."
King smiled reassuringly at his child and turned around, heading back to their car to get their luggage. Lucia sighed softly, and after sparing one last look at his new home, paying close attention to a certain window in the second floor's west wing, trudged on ahead.
xxx
TBC