So I got a review on Chapter 1 saying my author's notes were too long, roughly four-hundred words I think? Well, for one, where else should I put author's notes for my stories? There really aren't any other places to put them. So for now they will remain here. Also, the chapters by themselves range from two thousand to four thousand words...so really, four-hundred words for two author's notes isn't really that bad. But because I'm such a nice person (cough cough okay self cough) I took it into consideration and will try to make them shorter.

Take what you get, my lovelies. Because if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Yeah, I just went there. Snap.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Asch, Luke, or The Witch's House. Damn. Because if I did, holy snap hat dragon attack it would be the best thing ever. Yeah.

WARNING: Contains some violence/gore, not extremely graphic, but it's there. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

House of the Sacred Flame

Chapter 2

Three's A Crowd

The two redheads stood in the middle of the room, gazing from one hallway to the other. "…Which way should we go…?" Luke asked finally, gazing at his original. Asch looked between their choices again, trying to ration out some kind of reasonable explanation, but all he drew were blanks. This was going to be a lucky guess, a game of chance; there was no right or wrong. Just do or don't.

"I don't know," he said finally, and Luke's hand tightened in his.

"Well…when nothing goes right…go left?" the younger boy offered, and Asch raised his eyebrow.

"You want to base this decision off a dumb quote you heard?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Left it is, then." The twins walked over to the hallway on the left, Asch leading the way and tugging Luke behind him. The passage broke out into a room with dark tiled floors and the same dull-colored brick walls. It was mostly empty, save for a metal table in one corner, a wooden dresser in another, and a door on the West wall. The darker redhead examined the room from his spot near the entrance. There didn't seem to be anything particularly-

"Asch?" He looked over as he heard his name. "On that table over there, something's on it." Asch turned his attention to the mentioned table. Sure enough, resting in the corner of it, was a small, dark object.

"Stay close," Asch ordered, and his replica obediently nodded. Stepping carefully, they made their way over to the table. Thankfully, there were no more tricks on the floor, at least none they encountered on the short trek across the room. The ground looked like it was made of stainless steel. It reflected the little light that illuminated the room, and their shoes made soft little clinking sounds as they walked. Upon reaching the table, Asch carefully leaned forward and examined the dark object.

"They're scissors."

"Scissors?" Luke repeated. "Maybe we can use them to cut those roses once we get back outside." The original nodded slowly.

"It's worth a shot," he agreed, picking the cutting tool up in his hand. "Come on, we still need to find a way out of here." Luke nodded, and the two started back the way they'd come. But they'd barely taken two steps before Asch's arm suddenly jerked back, his fingers coming loose of Luke's. The replica felt fear shoot through him, instantly thinking the worst and whirling around, ready to jump to his isofon's aid. He let out a sigh of relief when all he found was a winded Asch on the ground, eyes wide in surprise.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked, crouching beside the toppled redhead. The latter nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" he mumbled. 'But what the hell made me fall…?'

Luke rested a hand on the other's shoulder, rubbing it gently as he collected himself while searching around on the floor. There were no cracks or bumps; the floor was smooth and glassy. So why had Asch fallen? He'd been fine when they walked towards the table… His eyes landed on said table, seeing something black hanging over the edge of it. Curiously, he reached for it and ran his fingers along it slowly. It was cold to the touch, felt rusty and old, leaving behind flecks of black residue on his fingers. He gave it an experimental tug, and heard a clinking sound.

"Watch it!" Asch suddenly snapped, and Luke started, turning his head to stare at his original.

"What?"

"These things are open; you almost cut me!" Luke's eyes fell to the scissors, then went back up to the chain and followed it downwards. Sure enough, his gaze came to a stop at the object in the older's hand.

"So that's what happened…" he mused, and Asch looked up at him.

"Huh?"

"The scissors. They're chained to the table. That's why you fell; the chain resisted." Asch turned his head, seeing the chain too and understanding Luke's reasoning. He got to his feet and set the scissors back on the table.

"I guess those are useless to us, then," he said, and the younger nodded.

"Looks like it. But there's another door over here, lets check it out." They turned their attention to the door, making their way towards it. Asch grabbed the knob and turned it, but the door didn't budge.

"It's locked."

"This one too?" Luke murmured. "Are all the other doors locked? What if there's no way out?"

"Hey, calm down," Asch said, taking his replica's hand again. "There's a whole other hallway we can still check out, so let's not jump to conclusions, okay?" Luke nodded slowly, allowing Asch to lead him back into the main room and down the other hallway.

This time, the hallway opened up into a much narrower space, branching off in two directions. One lead forward, presumably into another room, while the other path was a new hallway leading to a different section of the house. Peeking down it revealed a large grandfather clock resting against the wall at the end, but any other doorways or paths from that point on, they couldn't see.

Asch looked over to Luke, letting him decide again. The younger chewed his lip thoughtfully, gazing down the path in front of them. "…This way," he said finally, pointing ahead of them. Asch nodded, and they hurried forward.

As expected, the hall opened up into a new room, this one devoid of doors, not counting the one they'd entered from. It was nothing special, really; even blander than the one with the scissors. The walls were a bright, spotless white, the carpet on the floor replaced with light brown wooden planks. In the center of the room was a woven basket, and sitting inside it…

"Is that a teddy bear…?" Asch asked incredulously, and Luke nodded, a small smile on his lips.

"I wouldn't picture a teddy bear being a part of this creepy house…" he said lightly, moving forward to examine it. It was a medium-sized bear, with light brown fur and a black cloth nose, two black marbles for eyes. It looked pretty adorable!

While Luke busied himself with fawning over the teddy bear, Asch looked around the room, spying the note on the wall. Heading over to it, he found it was another short message, just like the last one.

BEARS IN THE BASKET

'Bears in the basket…? What could that mean…?' Asch thought, reaching up to peel the note off the wall, but the call of his name halted his fingers.

"Asch?" He looked at his replica over his shoulder. "I think we should go check that other hallway. There's nothing else here." He nodded, his hand dropping back to his side as he pivoted and headed back to his look-alike, the note forgotten.

They left the bear room, walking back out into the narrowed space and turning down the new hall. Luke had taken Asch's hand again as they strode along, stopping in front of the grandfather clock. "It's ticking," Asch observed. "Time's still marching on. That means we aren't stuck here."

"How does it mean that?"

"If time still moves forward, that means this is still reality. Which means we can get out of here, whether we find a door or break a window." The older redhead tugged on the other's arm. "Come on, let's go."

There was a door to the right of the clock, and Asch checked the knob, finding it unlocked. Pushing it open, they stepped inside, gazing around the room. Unlike the rest of the house they'd seen so far, this room was darker in color, clad in reds and pinks. A plush, crimson carpet was spread across the floor, the walls a dusty salmon pink. There was a large desk off to one side, a vase of bright, blooming flowers and an unlit desk lamp atop it, along with a single book, opened up and revealing its white pages. In the corner was a small cupboard, decorated with pale pink ribbons, and in the corner opposite was a large pile of various packages, the wrapping covering them ripped. Propped up on the very top of the pile was another teddy bear.

"What's up with these teddy bears?" Asch wondered aloud as he followed the smaller redhead over to the stacks of boxes, consisting of emptied, torn presents and empty cookie tins. The latter picked up the stuffed bear. It looked similar to the one in the previous room, save for it being a little smaller and darker in color. "I never would've imagined stuffed animals in a creepy place like this."

"Well, someone does live here, remember?" Luke pointed out. "Or at least, someone used to. Otherwise who would've made that sign and planted all those roses?"

"I don't think those roses were all planted in a giant cluster. If that was the case, they wouldn't have grown as much as they did."

"What are you suggesting then; magic?" Asch rolled his eyes, swatting lightly at his replica.

"Don't be ridiculous." He turned to investigate more of the room, then paused. "…Hey," he called over his shoulder. "Bring that bear with you."

"Huh?" Luke said in confusion, pausing in his action of setting the bear back down. "Why?"

"Because I said so," was the only answer Asch gave before heading further into the room. Luke shrugged, but picked the fluffy bear back up in his arms and turned to follow. Suddenly, there was a crashing sound from behind him, and the redhead jumped, quickly darting towards the other occupant of the room. Asch in turn started when Luke suddenly jumped at him, whirling around. The younger boy ducked behind him, peering over his shoulder.

One of the cookie tins had tumbled off the pile, causing the stack to collapse in on itself, the crashing noise a result of the metal containers coming into contact with each other.

"You just knocked it over," Asch explained, reaching behind him to wrap an arm around the boy using him as a shield, said boy shaking like a leaf. "It's alright, see? Nothing happened." Luke nodded, still clinging to his original tightly, the teddy bear smushed between the two. He felt the arm around him tighten, and a hand pat his back soothingly. "I just want to check this room out a bit more and then we can get out of here, okay?" Luke nodded, keeping his arms tight around Asch's torso. The older sighed, but made no move to push him off, and awkwardly made his way over to the cupboard.

He gripped the handle and tried to tug it open, but, surprise surprise, it didn't budge. Asch sighed; why the hell was everything locked in this damn house? His emerald eyes examined the cabinet, seeing something carved into the wood.

Open when the house returns to normal.

The redhead blinked. What could that possibly mean? He shook his head; he'd worry about that later. For now, he had to get Luke out of this room.

But not before he took a peek at that book.

With Luke still holding onto him, Asch made his way over to the desk. Sure enough, scribbled in dried ink across the white parchment was what appeared to be a diary entry.

They thought I was different,

So no one played with me.

My father and mother didn't love me.

"That's so sad…" Luke murmured, as he too read the diary. "It must hurt, feeling like your parents don't love you." He froze as soon as the words left his mouth, peering up at the boy he was clutching onto. Asch's face was blank, his emerald eyes dull as he stared at the pages. "…Asch, I didn't-"

"Don't," Asch said quietly, shaking his head. "Just…don't. It's fine, I know what you meant."

"But-"

"There's nothing else to check in here," the original cut in again. "Let's get out of here." He turned on his heel, Luke moving with him, and they walked out the door.

– X –

Asch didn't speak on the way back to the bear room. Luke felt horribly guilty; he should've known better than to make such a comment. Surely it had reminded his original of the day he went back to Baticul, only to find his friends and family all fawning over the replica Luke. The last thing he wanted was Asch to be upset him. They were trapped in here together, and if he didn't have Asch to turn to… That thought scared him. He clutched tighter onto his original's tabard, and felt a rush of relief when he tightened the arm around him in return.

Once they'd walked back into the room, Luke finally spoke up. "Why are we here? Why did you want me to keep the teddy bear?" He held up the stuffed animal still in his arms. Asch pointed to the note still taped to the wall.

"Go read that." Raising an eyebrow in confusion, the younger redhead complied, strolling across the room to the piece of paper.

"It says 'bears in the basket'."

"Exactly." Asch came up behind him. "I think these notes are supposed to be like instructions. They're meant to help us figure out what to do. 'Bears in the basket' might mean we have to find all these stuffed bears and put them in that basket, just like it says."

"Do you really think that's it?"

"I have no idea," he admitted, frowning. What kind of twisted bastard sat around planning these kinds of things? "But we've got nothing else to try. Worst comes to worst, nothing happens."

So Luke went back over to the woven basket with the bear already stuffed inside. He took the one in his arms and tried to set it inside. He shoved and pushed and squeezed, but it was no use. "It won't fit inside." Asch came over and tried as well, getting the same results.

"It's the limbs," the darker redhead observed. "They're too big to fit into the space, and the other bear won't budge. It's like that one's sewed in."

"Well, if the arms and legs make it too big, then what if we just got rid of them?" Asch hummed thoughtfully. That was a perfectly logical idea, only…

"How would we do that? The fabric and stuffing is too thick to just rip them off." Now it was Luke's turn to be thoughtful. His face lit up as he came to a realization.

"The scissors!" he concluded. "The one's chained to the table in the other room! Maybe we can just cut the arms and legs off. That still counts as putting the bear in the basket, right?" Asch thought it over, then slowly nodded.

"That just might work. Let's try it." He ruffled his replica's hair fondly. "Good thinking, Luke." Said redhead beamed proudly, glad to have Asch back and talking to him.

Maybe there would be hope after all.

– X –

"Alright, hold it for me."

"Okay." Luke held the bear by its torso, keeping it over the table so it would be easier for Asch to cut with the chained scissors. The latter gripped one of the stuffed animal's arms, pulling it taut as he positioned the blades of the cutting tool into place. Carefully, he squeezed his fingers together, snipping off the limb with little hassle. They both stood still, as if waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. So, slowly and steadily, Asch cut off the rest of the bear's appendages. "Hmm. Easy enough."

"It was just cutting apart a stuffed bear, Luke," Asch said lightly, leaving the severed limbs on the table. They wouldn't need them anymore. He started back to the hall, the younger redhead at his heels.

"Well yeah, but this house is so creepy I-… Agh!" The darker redhead whipped around again, seeing Luke a few steps behind him, hands clasped to his chest and his eyes wide with fear.

"What?" he demanded. "What is it?" In response, Luke pointed a shaky finger down to the floor. Bringing his gaze downward revealed the teddy bear torso the replica had previously been carrying, but the fabric was stained red where the limbs used to be.

"I-I…touched it…" Luke whispered. "It touched my finger; it was wet, and sticky… Asch, that's blood… The bear is bleeding…"

"Calm down, Luke," Asch murmured, stepping over the bleeding bag of stuffing to rest his hands on the younger boy's shoulder. "Remember what we've seen so far? Whoever lives here is just trying to screw with us. It's going to be okay; we're going to get out of here just fine, understand?" Slowly, Luke nodded. "Come on, say it."

"W-We're… We're going to get out of here," he repeated shakily. "And we're going to be just fine."

"Good. Now believe that, okay?" Asch gave his shoulders a soft squeeze before stepping back, turning and bending down to pick up the discarded bear, careful to avoid the red liquid leaking from where the stuffing should be. "Let's just get back to that room and test out my theory. And if that doesn't work we can burn this thing and break our way out." Again Luke nodded, and following his original's lead, and they exited the room, only leaving a puddle of drying blood behind.

– X –

"Okay," Asch mused, standing in front of the woven basket once more. "Let's try this again." Still ever aware of the sticky liquid seeping from its 'wounds', the redhead stuffed the torso into the basket. It still involved some squeezing and shoving, but it went in, the limbless teddy bear looking rather cozy beside the other.

"So…that's it?" Luke called from the doorway, and Asch shrugged.

"I guess. I mean, it went in."

"But what hap-" His sentence cut off when they both suddenly heard a clicking sound, like that of a door being unlocked. "…What was that?"

"I have no idea." The original strode forward, walking back out into the hallway. "Let's go find out." They headed back to the first room they'd entered, everything looking the same as the last time they'd walked through.

"Maybe it was the front door unlocking?" Luke suggested hopefully. The other redhead shrugged; a good a guess as any. He started for the front door, when suddenly, one of the vases resting on the tables fell to the ground and shattered. The sound practically echoed in the otherwise dead silent room, and both boys jumped.

"It's okay," Asch called over his shoulder. "The vase just fell over…"

"But…how? We aren't anywhere near it…" The older one just shook his head, not wanting to worry about that for now. He just wanted to find out which of these damned doors had unlocked, and hoped it lead back outside. Cautiously, he slid his foot forward again. Nothing. Releasing a soft breath, Asch started walking forward again.

And then, from the hall across the room, an object that Asch could only describe as a giant teddy bear – yes, a giant teddy bear – burst free of the space and was suddenly stomping towards them. Behind him, Luke let out a frightened yelp of surprise, and Asch let loose a curse before whirling around and taking off. He grabbed his replica by the arm and ran back down the way they'd come, skidding around the corner and back up the way leading to the diary room. He slammed the door once they got in, collapsing against it. Luke fell into a sitting position beside him, shaking like a leaf from the sudden adrenaline spike in his system.

"Wh-what the hell was that…?!" Asch just shook his head.

"No clue… But from what I saw… It looked like a huge teddy bear…"

"I-It attacked us…"

"…I know."

"Asch… What's wrong with this place…?"

To that, Asch had no answer.

– X –

WRONG END 1:2

Cautiously, he slid his foot forward again. Nothing. Releasing a soft breath, Asch started walking forward again.

And then, from the hall across the room, an object that Asch could only describe as a giant teddy bear – yes, a giant teddy bear – burst free of the space and was suddenly stomping towards them. Behind him, Luke let out a frightened yelp of surprise, and Asch let loose a curse before whirling around. He was just a second too late, and suddenly the bear was upon him. The remaining redhead could only watch as his original was crushed beneath the giant, then turned so fast he stumbled over his feet, racing for the hallway they'd just exited. He skidded around the corner and back up the way leading to the diary room. Slamming the door and collapsing against it once he got in, Luke fell into a sitting position, shaking like a leaf from the sudden adrenaline spike in his system.

Then he wondered to himself why he'd bothered to escape, because now he had to figure out what to do next all by himself.

What Just Happened? 1:2

When attempting to get to the door and check to see if it was unlocked, Asch is ambushed by a giant teddy bear. He doesn't escape fast enough, and is crushed to death by the bear. Luke flees back down the hall and manages to survive the attack, but now wishes he'd stay put because he realizes he now must face the house alone.

If the player chooses to re-read the note on the wall in the bear room after placing the limbless bear in the basket, the writing is replaced with dots. This can mean that the house is shocked at what lengths the player is willing to go to. Based on this, it is said that the giant teddy bear that attacks at this point in the game is a third bear getting revenge on the player for cutting off the limbs of the second bear. In order to escape this Game Over, all you must do is leave the room alive. When you re-enter the main room, the bear is gone. It does not attack twice.

This chapter took a longer amount of time, I know... But I lost inspiration to write for a while, but then I got it back! Though I did kinda just rush through th ending, because I wanted to get this done. So here you go! And hey, look - no graphic gore this time! So calm down guys, I listened for once!

Thanks for reading, and as always, please review, favorite, and follow! See you guys next time!

Peace!

Valerie(SonicGirl2002)