"What... Happened...?" Cherry muttered slightly, feeling lost, dazed, and confused.
"Wait a minute!" Gabe glared at George. "Where the hell do you think you're going?!"
Katie sobbed softly from fear as Celine seemed to just drop to the floor.
"Away from here. This place is cursed! If you had half a brain, you'd all do the same." George announced.
The Colonel tried to stop him. "Don't walk away from me. Where's Celine? Where's Damien? Where's Katie?" He asked.
The Chef glared. "I've spent 25 years cooking for these uppity fucks, and the only one who was nice was Misstress Katie... But I'm not about to die for 'em. I QUIT! BITCH!" He announced and walked off.
Ethan took Cherry's hand.
"Shh, shh, it's over~" Damien soothed.
Katie looked up to him with tear-filled eyes.
"There, there..." Damien comforted as he gently stroked her hair. "You poor thing, you've been through so much~"
Katie looked into his brown eyes. "They're gone." she whimpered.
"It's okay." Damien comforted.
Katie cuddled up to him. She needed the comfort. Damien soothed and comforted the lady of the house only to be widowed overnight. Katie closed her eyes and just for a second allowed herself to believe he was Mark. Damien soon stroked her hair calmly. Katie's crying soon died down into sniffling.
"Oh, my poor dear~" Damien cooed.
"What am I going to do?" Katie whispered.
"What can you do?" Damien replied softly. "It's not like you can replace him~"
Katie whimpered to that.
"You're surrounded by friends who will love and support you just the same." Damien soothed.
"Dear... God..." Cherry muttered, but gently squeezed Ethan's hand.
"I know things seem far beyond your control right now, but such that it is for all of us here," Benjamin comforted the Colonel. "I shall take my leave, and I implore you to do the same."
Ethan swallowed nervously.
"I won't let my friends die in this god forsaken house! And if you all are too much of a coward to do the same, you would best leave before I kill you myself." The Colonel glared and turned to fetch something.
"Now you hold on a second," Gabe demanded, putting his hand on The Colonel's shoulder. "I've got more questions-"
Cherry looked a little queasy and uneasy, she suddenly began to look a little limp from the overwhelming circumstances.
"Get your hands off me!" The Colonel exclaimed and walked off.
"Come on, let's go downstairs." Ethan whispered.
"What the hell's going on here?" Gabe demanded.
"I know he's in pain, and I know you might be too..." Benjamin said. "But we need to leave this place. There's only death here now."
Cherry was about to walk there, but she soon suddenly fell to the floor before making it to the staircase.
Ethan heard something, glanced over but suddenly felt very strange. He seemed dazed and picked Cherry up, laying her on a sofa before coming to the Detective's office.
"There you are! I've been meaning to ask you some questions-" the Colonel started, then noticed the room. "What is this? The detective's been keeping tabs on us? ...The detective's been keeping tabs on me. And Celine! He's the one who orchestrated all of this! He did this! Detective! DETECTIVE! Where is he? He took them from me... He took my friends from ME. He took... Celine. He took Damien. WHERE is he? WHERE IS HE?! DETECTIVE! Are you hiding from me?! He can't hide forever. GET OUT OF MY WAY. DETECTIVE!" He ranted and yelled, pushing past Ethan and puloing out his gun, and soon came across the Detective upstairs.
Cherry seemed to black out for a little while, but she would be okay once she would see again and take a minute.
"You'd better choose your next words carefully, Colonel." Gabe warned as he held out his gun.
"Only my friends get to call me by that name, and you, sir, are NO friend of mine!" The Colonel exclaimed.
Ethan looked at the two men, worried.
"Ha, you're one to talk about friends, you MURDERER!" Gabe scoffed with a thunder clap.
"I didn't kill anybody! This is MADNESS!" The Colonel exclaimed.
"Oh, you wanna talk about madness?" Gabe glared. "Madness is stealing your best friend's sister. Madness is squeezing him for cash to fund your own sick sexual exploits with that very woman-"
"SHUT UP!" The Colonel yelled.
"Madness is plotting the death of your childhood friend because you can't handle the tru-" Gabe glared.
The Colonel shot Gabe. Ethan fought with the Colonel only to be shot in the shoulder, falling off the balcony.
"It was an accident! ...I swear." The Colonel exclaimed.
Cherry seemed to shift in her black out, almost like she could sense Ethan's fatal incident.
Katie yelped at the two gunshots. "No, no more." she whimpered.
Ethan was blacked out and saw Celine and Damien. It was only Limbo though, so he wasn't quite dead.
"It's not fair, is it?" A voice asked Ethan before coming out as Damien with Celine by his side. "He took everything from us. He trapped us in here with this broken shell and no way out."
"It's true," Celine added. "This whole time I thought it was the house, but... I never thought he'd fall this far."
Ethan looked to the two.
"And we played right into his hands," Damien said. "He'd been planning this for years, and now that son-of-a-bitch is out there walking around in MY body."
"Damien, we can't do this right now," Celine told him. "Look, I know you have questions, and I can't answer everything right now. Just know that Mark took everything from us from his twisted quest of vengeance. But death does not mean the same thing here."
Ethan looked confused.
"What Celine means by that is... This doesn't have to be the end," Damien said to Ethan, seeing how confused he looked. "You're still trapped in here the same as us, but your body is still out there. Broken as it may be, it's still out there."
"Mark's not the only one who can use this place to his benefit," Celine added. "The same way I brought you here is the same way that I can send you back."
"I guess... But I shouldn't be dead, I was only hit in the shoulder and knocked out." Ethan said, somehow knowing this was true, though he probably did have a fracture somewhere.
"But you can't survive on your own," Damien replied. "You're dead, after all. My friend, the Colonel sought to that."
Ethan frowned, as obviously they hadn't listened.
"I know this all sounds crazy," Damien replied. "Honestly, I don't know what the fuck is going on. But I know that I trust Celine. And if you trust us… Just let me in. We can fix this. Together."
"I won't force this upon you," Celine said to Ethan. "You have a choice here. Just know this is the only way that you can escape."
Ethan nodded, slowly.
"Just relax." Celine advised.
"This'll work. I promise." Damien added.
Katie looked up to Damien and as the events caught up with her, her eyes filled with tears again but a tiny smile appeared, it was all too much and her mind snapped a little. "Mark?" She whispered as she looked up at him.
"Hm?" Damien glanced at her slightly at her naming.
"I thought you were dead, Mark." Katie whispered, reaching up and touching his cheek.
"Um... Well... I just wanted to surprise you." Damien lied, going along with this with a smirk.
Katie gave a teary laugh. "You always were a joker..." she said softly. She then took one of his hands to rest on her stomach. "We're going to have a baby." she told him.
"Oh, this is a pleasant surprise, I've always wanted to be a father of your child, Katie~" Damien smirked as he took a feel.
"You won't feel them yet, but soon we'll have a baby." Katie whispered, with a small smile.
"I'm quite excited." Damien smiled back.
Katie leaned in to hug him. Damien hugged Katie back.