5ive here! Anyone miss me?
No I'm not dead ^^ No, I haven't been sick or anything... Internet has been bad, yeah, but I've been writing for my OWN stories that aren't with real people/characters! ... I mean with my own OCs and junk... and ideas... MY OWN STORIES, PPL!
I've got myself an account over on FictionPress under the same username and I've been really working hard on some things over there :3 But I'm still going to try and push on with my things on here once in a while!
Thanks for being so patient! Love you guys!
As time passed, Gonzales ended up carrying Felix on his back when the water was too cold. Piggeh copied him allowed Mr. Chair to hitch a ride, easily holding him there and still having a hand free. They eventually neared a staircase to the side of the hall that lead up to a closed door. Stephano thought it would be good for all of them to get out of the cold water for a big so they shuffled their way inside.
It was surprisingly roomy inside. Felix slumped down in a chair near an empty fireplace letting out a much needed sigh.
The room must have been an old writing room and had been turned into storage. Boxes lined the wall in the back and a single door leading into a dark hallway proved to lead off in a direction that they thought would be worth checking out. They might find Jennifer down there.
With everyone together it was a strange feeling. Felix did still feel bad about everything but seeing them all working together had him happy and forgetting it all. Thoughts lingered in the back of his mind, surfacing randomly but he ignored them and let himself be happy for now. It was good after repressing the sorrows that had been welling up under his skin.
"You think Jennifer would be stupid enough to come down here?" Gonzales asked.
Mr. Chair shrugged. "No telling. She always did like dark places… I don't think she'd like the sewer though."
Stephano snickered. "She always had a taste for stairways. Remember? That time Piggeh tripped on her when she was taking a nap in the main hall?" The two shared a hardy laugh only for Piggeh to knock the gold man in the head. "Come on! I see you smiling!"
The man was indeed grinning, but he let it go as they continued on down the hall.
"You guys have a lot of fond memories without me." The thought had found a way from his mind past his lips. Felix's happy moment was vaporized by the sudden looks everyone gave him. "I mean… I don't know what I mean." He scratched his head.
A reassuring hand on his shoulder let him relax. "Don't worry about it, PewDie," Stephano muttered with a smile. "Our fondest are with you. Mine is the day you knocked me into the water and thought I was gone forever. Really let me know you cared." His hand squeezed but it didn't make Felix feel any better.
"I did… I mean I do." Attempting to sort through his feelings he ruffled up his hair all crazy, puffed out his chest and said, "Let's go find Jennifer!"
Piggeh grinned at him and the team set off once more.
The hall was never ending. Doors opened up on the edges but each of them was just a simple room maybe with a desk or a bed or shelves or even just a window. One room had oil in it and they were more than a little excited about that. Another room had some stale bread that was just good enough to still eat. This time Felix forced the others to have some of it too and they took a little break to snack.
Things didn't seem to matter at the time. There were no monsters around – at least from what they had seen and heard from the distant screams that often rattled the castle. Nothing was going to hurt them… but they did need to hurry. Just because they'd found some stale bread didn't mean Felix could live on the small discoveries forever. That fact hung in the air giving just enough seriousness to the entire situation for them to stop all the joking.
A single door at the end of the hallway stirred curiosity in them all. Felix was itching to see what was on the other side of the wooden obstacle. Stephano was first to reach it, bronzed sword in his hands. His grip was fond and strict, a memory of his old weapon showing his comfort with the one belonging to his brother. Free hand on the handle it swung open showing nothing but an empty room. A disappointment to their long journey there. If it hadn't of been for the oil and stale bread then it would have been a huge waste.
"It leads nowhere," a voice drifted down from the ceiling. Skully appeared out of nowhere, legs wedging him in the small gap in the rafters above. Pale skin like a light in the darkness Skully seemed to illuminate himself like a glow stick or one of those little glow in the dark stars you stick to your ceiling. "Oh how the weary travelers have struck yet another dead end! At least it's not too dead… but if it were I'd take that hat of yours, Steph. It looks so nice and comfy and so does your shoe, Stump-leg. Wish the other one hadn't been ruined…"
Mr. Chair flinched away from the comment.
Felix glared up at him. "Would you stop picking on us? Can't you just tell us the way out?"
"I would, but you wouldn't like it." He grinned ear to ear, eyes glowing softly in the shadows under his hair. "I don't think you'd make it anyway. Also Jennifer is in one of the locked doors back there." He waved a hand down the hall before tossing something down with a solid TING. "Take my skeleton key. It's the most I could do for ya, buddy." And then Skully awkwardly slipped himself into a hole in the ceiling that seemed to vanish into the murky shadows. Piggeh shined the lantern up there but it was a solid wall.
Felix grabbed up the rusty key turning it over in his hand. It had many strange markings on it and twisting the handle of it had small bits spring up along the length of it. "What the hell kind of key is this?"
The bronze man took it looking the thing over in his hand. "Skully use to let us borrow this a lot. When Jennifer, Sven, and I use to hang out with him." He turned it a few times and the shaft of the key was a solid bar with no jutting pieces. "As you turn it in the keyhole these little pins stick up to line up with the gears in the lock. It's like a lock pick but a lot easier."
Felix stared at it. "Is that how all master keys work…?"
"No idea. Skully made this himself cause he didn't like being locked out of rooms." Gonzales tossed the key up and caught it in his palm, sliding it into the pocket within his shirt. "I'll hold onto it. If that's okay."
As if to make a show of it, Felix shoved his hands into his pockets and flipped them inside out. "I've got holes so be my guest."
The man rolled his eyes and they were back to following Piggeh back down the hall and to check all the locked doors that remained closed. In another one of them they found more oil – Mr. Chair offered to carry it – and a storage room full of rotting foods. There was an apple in there good enough to eat so Stephano pocketed that as well as a can of water that Felix flipped out over because it was a CAN of WATER.
Further and further they walked and finally arrived at a door that they'd wanted to open earlier because of the sound of machinery behind it. The key worked yet again and the door opened with a deafening creak. The first lights they'd seen since coming so low into the castle flooded the hall blinding them all.
A squeak from inside caught their attention and a blur of black rushing to a corner of the room had Felix jump away from the door. He expected a monster of some kind, something hiding within the room and waiting for some poor soul to find it…
"Jennifer?" Stephano's voice had Felix poked back around the group to peer back into the way too bright room.
He didn't see anyone. No people… His instincts turned back to Amnesia gameplays and instantly he spotted the rock in the corner of the room. A large, gray bolder sitting in the corner looking very out of place. "Wait is she actually a rock? She's not human?"
The gold man scoffed. "Of course she's human. Jennifer, it's me, Stephano."
The rock shifted and fell in on itself suddenly looking more fabric than stone. A head appeared from within and a girl with dark skin and frizzy hair appeared form what now was a dark gray dress all puffed out at the bottom like an old fashion caged skirt. Of all things Felix hadn't expected her to be black but actually seeing her it really did fit. She was very thin with an average sized chest, round face, and big eyes. A vision of beauty. What the hell… As her dress deflated more he noted how large her waist was in comparison to her torso but also realized that it was very complimenting in the dress she wore.
"Whoa… Jennifer." Felix had to clear his throat and try not to look at her. All those times he'd called her fat and only to see that she was actually very beautiful and any part of her that could be considered 'fat' only fit her more and made her lovelier. It was a weird to even think that so he tried to turn his mind to Marzia and forget about the black girl standing there with round eyes.
"Wait… PewDie?" Her voice was still higher pitched like when Felix would voice her. She sounded like a child. "Is that really…?"
Felix gave a halfhearted wave. "Hey Jennifer."
Her face lit up and she came rushing over, hands holding up her skirt so she wouldn't fall over it. "It's been so long! Last time you spoke with me was when I tried to be a water jug." She was much happier than the others, bubbly and smiling. It was a nice change from the darkness and depression clouding the others from time to time. "But how'd you get here? You don't play Amnesia anymore."
"Because I'm not playing. I fell down here from up above." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder to point at the others with him. "They're trying to help me out of here. If I can get out then you guys can too. You won't be trapped down here anymore." Quick explanation. He's already repeated it so many times that he didn't want to go into details.
She accepted it all the same giving him a hug. "I'm so glad to see you again! I love you, PewDie!"
He felt his face tingling. "Y-yeah, I know…" He gave her an awkward hug back.
"Hey, Jennifer," Stephano cut into the small reunion. "Where's Sven? Gonzales said he'd be with you."
"Sven? I saw him yesterday. I think that kid went to look for something? I don't speak Swedish." She shrugged after stepping back from Felix. "Did you guys come look for me before you could leave?"
Piggeh nodded and then pointed to Felix.
"It wasn't really my idea… Everyone thought we should come find you and Sven."
The black haired girl peeked around the group, standing on her tip toes. "What about Skully?"
"He doesn't want to come with us." Stephano backed up into the hall again as if expecting something to come running at them. "He's been acting weird lately. I don't trust him."
"Just like the old, Stephano. Never trusting a single thing." Jennifer giggled before joining him in the hall. "Well then! Let's go find Sven. I might know where he went. He likes to run around the dungeon. If he's not there then…" she took a deep breath, "I don't know where he might be."
Felix felt a twist in his stomach. Dungeons were the last place he wanted to go in any horror game let alone a real life one.
Stephano must not have liked that idea either because he said, "PewDie and Mr. Chair can stay with Piggeh while we go look."
The blonde man shook his head. "Whoa now! I already told you I'm not letting you guys do all this dangerous shit alone!"
The older looking man turned on his, gaze steady and hard and serious enough to look scary. "The creatures down there are unlike anything you've seen in Amnesia. I'm not letting you go down there, Felix." That hard stare turned to Piggeh. "You protect PewDie with your life. Like you would Mr. Chair."
A mutter and nod were his only answer.
"You'll be okay down there, right?" The shorter brunette beside him shivered as he held onto the pink haired man's arm.
Stephano flashed the bronze sword. "With my brother down there," and he gave the bronzed man a kind smile, "We'll be fine." Turning to Jennifer he added a soft, "Lead the way."
Still looking happy as ever the black girl spun around puffing up her dress. "It'll be like old times! Right this way." She started down the hall with all the rest of them following. Once they reached the sewers once more she pointed onward where they hadn't gone. "The door leading up to the dungeon is down this way." The girl jumped down into the water, dress puffing up once more as she sunk down almost knee deep. Water seeped up into the fabric weighing it down and straightening it out. The rest of them followed.
Just as she'd said there was another staircase that ended in a door and beyond that a small flattened area with a door that showed into an old office and another door in the back showing a short hall and more stairs leading up into darkness.
"It's just up these stairs. You guys can all wait here." Jennifer turned to them, rocking on her heels. "You guys ready?" she asked the bronze and gold men.
Both looked at each other giving a confident smile. "I think so," Gonzales answered.
Felix had a sinking feeling clutch at his insides watching his old friend leave past the door and begin climbing the stairs. He wanted to run after them but the idiocy of doing it at risk of not catching up and getting lost in the dark – since they'd taken the lantern and all they had now was a small, lit fireplace – had his stomach doing flips and fear crawling up his limbs inching its way to his heart.
"Please be safe…" he muttered to himself. "Please come back…" the Swed dropped into a chair opposite the door feeling defeated. They could be there for hours just waiting for the small team to return. And who knew what they'd bring back? Wounds? A dead body? Bad news? Sven? No one? What if they never came back? How long would they wait before they went in search of them? Would they even…? Jennifer had taken the lantern at Piggeh's unvoiced request. It was their only source of light beyond the single fire the pink haired man had lit. They could make a torch with some rolled up fabric soaked in the lantern oil Mr. Chair still had and a broken chair leg – he winced at that the order he'd thought that in – but that wouldn't last too long before they'd burn all their oil and probably run out of fabrics to use.
A hand on his shoulder had Felix jump and he spotted Piggeh a little closer than normal to him. He knelt down beside the chair sitting closely like a friend would, comfortably close. When the blonde met his eyes the pig smiled kindly and it seemed to make the entire situation not so bad.
"Yeah, you're right. They'll come back." Felix turned his eyes back to the door just as Mr. Chair closed it. "And they'll bring Sven with them."
