Chapter Four:
"Lacry grew up fast. By the time she was ten she already had many visits a day, all confessing some sort of feeling or another. But she never accepted their gifts, never brought them into her house. She sent them all away, every day.
But soon, as she grew into her older teenage years, one caught her attention. He came every day, never leaving for good like all the others. So, one day, her curiosity grew enough to where she accepted his present with a curtsy and a smile. The others who were nearby saw this, and didn't like it one bit.
The next day, Lacry waited eagerly for his arrival. But he didn't come. Nor did he come the next day. Lacry began to tire of waiting, and was becoming quite impatient, when suddenly, a week later, he showed up again. He was covered in bandages, and when she saw him limping up to her door, she ran out.
'Who did this to you!?' She demanded. He smiled weakly and held out her present.
'People get jealous, my dear, that you have accepted my present. I hope this does not mean you will stop accepting them, though. I was very elated when you accepted it that day.' He explained softly. She looked furious.
'People. I tire of those others. I do not wish for them to visit me every day and every night any more. I do not wish for their gifts and offers of love, I do not wish for them. You, I want you to be the only one who visits. The only one who brings me presents. I will accept your gifts and your confession of love if you do me one thing. If you get rid of the others. I tire of them." She said, her odd eyes boring into his. He faltered. He was a kind man at heart, a very gentle soul. He did not even fight back with the other jealous bachelors beat him!
'My love, I do not think I could go out and kill other innocent men who wish you only the best life you can have.' He said gently. This infuriated her.
'They hurt you! Do you not love me? Is your so called 'compassion' greater than your love for me!?' She screeched. He just stared at her hopelessly, so she sent him away.
The next night, he came again. She opened the door silently, waiting for him to explain his presence.
'I did it. As you have noticed, there were no other visitors today. I killed them all.' He said sadly. She gave him the slightest of smiles.
'Killed them dead?' She asked with that of a child's innocence.
'Killed them dead.' He reassured.
Years past, and soon Lacry turned 16. She suddenly told her parents that she had the wish to marry the man who had been bringing her presents every day. Her adopted parents did not like the idea, and the three got in an enormous fight. The next day, he came again. But when she opened the door, she was not smiling.
'My parents. I tire of my parents. I wish to marry you, but they do not agree. I will marry you if you do me one thing. If you dispose of my parents. I tire of them." She stated this with a calm certainty, and the only thing the poor man could do was smile at her and nod.
The next day her parents went out to town. They did not return. The man did. When he walked up to her door, she opened it and looked at him silently.
'I did it. As you have noticed, your parents have not come home today. I killed them both.' He said, eyes shadowed with pain. She smiled at him again.
'Killed them dead?'
'Killed them dead.'
After that, the two married. A year later, Lacry tired of her house. So, they moved to a beautiful meadow in London and had a mansion built. They lived happily for a few years, but suddenly something went wrong.
One day, while walking through her gardens, Lacry came upon a thought. 'I tire of my husband. He does nothing but please me all day and all night. It is boring. I want excitement. I tire of him.' But, when he was the one who killed for her, who bid to her every whim, how would she rid of her new nuisance? The only way, of course. Kill him herself. And she did. That night, while he was bathing, she snuck in and stabbed him in the heart. It was over quickly. Then, she had a small portion of her land pulled up and buried him there.
This story repeated itself. She would venture out to town, find someone who interested her, and take them as her husband. But soon she always would find something about them that bothered her. One was too tall, one didn't smell nice, one was too lazy, one had too dull of eyes, and one was too fat. She killed each the same way, never bothering to wash the blood stains from the tub. And with each one she buried, more of her beautiful land was torn up.
Soon enough, a bunch of women who had their husbands stolen from them by Lacry became annoyed. The girl was a nuisance herself, only coming to town to steal a nice man only to have them reported dead all of a month later. They all knew who the killer was, but the men refused to hear it. So, one night, they all ganged up and headed towards the meadow. Or, what was a meadow. It was now completely torn up and could be called a graveyard, that was how many men Lacry had killed. There was only one spot of grass left, on top of a hill.
When they arrived, Lacry was bathing herself. She had just killed her most recent husband that very night, and she was cleaning off the blood stains. The women snuck in the room without her noticing, and before she could react, a knife was in her heart- killing her instantly. They buried her on the hill with the grass, then left. The graveyard became deserted.
Two years later, whenever travelers were staying in town, they always heard stories of what happened in the graveyard. Any traveler who was a male instantly gained the desire to go there, and most of them did. When someone approaches the mansion, the lights would flicker on. You could hear faint ballroom music and voices and laughter. Then, you would hear a voice. The voice of a young girl.
'Oh, how I am so lonely. I wish someone would come in and dance with me. Will you? I tire of the rest of the company.'
No traveler has ever been able to resist that voice. They all entered. And none came out. It is said that if you make it upstairs and into the master bathroom, the tub will be running blood stained water..." Arthur trailed off, grinning slightly at the pale faces of the rest.
"…You… tuned the story down… quite a bit…" Francis finally spoke up, looking half relieved and half scared.
"T-Tuned it down!? It was worse than that!?" Alfred stared, wide eyed and pale, at Arthur. Arthur just shrugged.
"You all were acting all scared, so I left out some events and a lot of detail. If it doesn't satisfy you, I could tell the original version…" He trailed off, fighting to hide his smirk.
"W…Where was this mansion, exactly?" Roderich asked. His voice was calm and he looked fairly collected, but even he was slightly pale.
"Would you like to see?" Arthur asked patiently.
"Whoa, wait! It's here!? Seriously?" Gilbert asked, looking excited. Alfred looked terrified, and Feliciano was whining to Ludwig.
"Mm. I was thinking that we could go check it out. I haven't been there since the story took place."
"I-Iggy, that's not funny! W-Why did you bring us to a place that was h-haunted!?" Alfred whimpered. Arthur tilted his head.
"I didn't know you even believed in the supernatural, let alone be afraid of it."
"I-I'm not!"
"Guys… are we really going to go there..?" Matthew spoke up. He was shivering slightly, though from the cold or from the story remained to be seen. Gilbert perked up again.
"Yes! We should camp inside it! That would be so much cooler than out here!" He exclaimed. Roderich looked thoughtful.
"It would probably be a bit warmer in there…" He mused quietly.
"…It's kind of foolish, but whatever… I'll go if you're going." Matthew sighed. Ivan clapped his hands again.
"That was a good story, da~? I say we go!" He exclaimed happily, turning to Yao, "Yao agrees with me, da?"
"I don't really care either way, aru. I just say you're all being silly, aru. It's just a story, aru." He shrugged.
"L-Ludwig, it's scary! I don't want to go!" Feliciano complained. Next to him, Ludwig looked faintly annoyed. Not that you could really tell, looking at his stern features.
"I will accompany you as well." Kiku told Arthur, then glanced at Feliciano and Ludwig, "You two should come, too. It's better than being left alone, right?" Ludwig opened his mouth to speak, but Feliciano interrupted.
"No! I don't want to be alone! Don't leave me!" He whined. Soon enough, everyone was talked into going, so they packed up camp and set off. Arthur was leading the way, seeing this was somewhere in London, after all.
When they approached the mansion, the chatter stopped. They all paused in front of the porch, examining it. The mansion was old, the walls were rotting and the ceiling had holes. Some windows were broken, and the whole house looked like it would fall over any minute.
"A-Are you sure it would be safe to camp inside..?" Alfred tried. The entire time he had been attempting to find good enough excuses to turn them all back, but failed.
"Of course. This building has been up for hundreds of years, it'll last hundreds more." Arthur said confidently. They all fell silent again, staring up at the building and just waiting for something to happen. After a while of silence, Gilbert spoke up.
"Hah. See? There's no music or lights or voices. Nice try, Art-" He broke off when they all gasped. Falling silent again, there was the faintest trace of music. Music that would be played at a ball.
"…T-That's a n-nice touch, Iggy…" Alfred tried to sound cheery, but his voice and entire body were shaking. Then, all of the sudden, a single light in the upper room flickered on. They all screamed.