Chapter 11: The Club Camp-Out
When Elizabeta took Feliciano to go see Monika, the other three locked the doors again, making sure the lock was secure, then put the desk barrier back in front of them. They returned their weapons to the classroom they kept them in, and with their supplies in their backpacks they went back to the club room. Feliciano was already telling Monika about the ghosts and how he had gotten scared, but it was fun because getting scared was a part of the test of courage! Monika listened to him with a small smile on her face, laughing softly a bit at times. "Sounds like it was fun. Sorry I had to miss it though..."
"Oh, don't feel bad Moni! In fact I have a surprise for you!"
Lovino chuckled as he saw Feliciano slip off his Rilakkuma backpack and started rummaging through it, hearing the tell-tale sounds of various plastic-wrapped and plastic-packaged treats and snacks. "Before you forget though, what was the idea for an activity we can all do now that the test of courage is over?"
"Oh, that's right!" Feliciano said, taking his hands from his backpack and smiled triumphantly. "As part of my plan, I got some things that we'd need for this idea! So what's a great way to end a day after a test of courage?"
"Dunno. What is it?" Lovino asked.
"A-aw, no one wants to guess?..." Feliciano pouted.
"Why don't you tell us first?" Elizabeta asked.
"Well... okay." Feliciano said with a smile. "Tests of courage are usually a part of a school field trip, so let's act like we're on a field trip! Let's camp in a tent tonight!"
Lovino stared for a moment, silent, his face dead-panned. "... Where did you get an idea like that?"
"Aw, it isn't a good idea?" Feliciano asked with a pout. "I thought it would be fun! Like how telling campfire stories is a fun way to get scared, like during a test of courage! We can sleep in sleeping bags and tents, and pretend we're camping out in the forest!"
"Actually, it sounds kind of fun." Kiku said after a moment and smiled. "Although we might not be able to camp outside... it looks like it might rain overnight." he said, looking out the window and saw the clouds in the sky against the moon and stars.
"Oh..." Feliciano deflated a little.
After a moment, Elizabeta smiled softly. "Well, why don't we camp in the club room tonight?" she suggested. "We have a few tents and sleeping bags in the storage closet, and we can camp on the roof when the weather clears up."
"Really?" Feliciano asked excitedly. "That sounds great! Oh! And I can show you guys my surprise for camping out soon too!" he said, bouncing excitedly on his feet.
"Alright then, I guess that's settled." Antonio said with a soft chuckle. "Feli why don't you and Monika get the things we need from the lounge, then we can put the table and chairs against the wall and set up the tents."
"Okay then!" Feliciano said with a nod.
"Toni, will you come with me to get the tents and sleeping bags?" Elizabeta asked.
"Sure thing, Lizzy."Antonio replied.
"Lovi and I will start clearing the room." Kiku said.
"Alright everyone, let's hop to!" Antonio said a bit enthusiastically, clapping his hands a bit to his words.
Not long later, once everything was set up, they divided themselves into tents and changed into pajamas. Feliciano, Monika and Elizabeta were in one tent and Antonio, Lovino and Kiku were in the other tent, also pretending that Roderich was in the tent with them so he wouldn't bother Feli all night. Hopefully.
After they were all set up and "unpacked" for their camping trip, Feliciano came out from his tent with his backpack and plush Rilakkuma, grinned and opened his bag to reveal all of the snacks and treats he bought at the school store, in particular holding up everything they needed to make s'mores. Antonio brought over the hot plate for them to use to heat them up with so they wouldn't need to turn on the stove, everyone happily laughing and chatting as they made the s'mores and ate them and some of the other snacks.
A little while later, when they were done with making s'mores, Antonio unplugged the hot plate and put it back on the counter and Lovino went to the light switch, flicking it off and turned on their electric lantern. With a smirk and a chuckle he went back to the group and sat down, putting the lantern down in the middle of their circle. "I think it's time for this camp-out to move on to the next phase... campfire stories~" he said in a spooky voice.
Feliciano visibly started shaking with fright and held his Rilakkuma tightly in his arms, Monika wrapping one of her arms around him to help him stay a little calmer. "S-s-si, that sounds like f-fun!" he said with a half-smile.
"Alright then... who's first?" Lovino asked, looking around the room at the others. Antonio looked like he was thinking and Kiku was scratching his cheek in thought. "I'll go first, then." he said with a spooky smirk. "Once, there was a beautiful young woman who was very in love with her fiancé. Her name was Cynthia Snell, and she eagerly awaited the day that she could marry him. It was all she dreamed about, and when their wedding day finally arrived, she waited in the church at the alter for him to arrive. Hours and hours passed, and when night fell she realized that she had been left at the alter. The next morning, she found out that he didn't show up because he fell in love with her sister. That very day, the day after he was supposed to marry Cynthia, he married Cynthia's sister, further breaking her heart. When night fell, Cynthia went to her closet and took out her wedding dress. She changed into the dress her ex-fiancé broke her heart in, and went to her basement where she found a big, sharp ax. Carrying it in her hands, she went to her sister's house, finding that her sister and new husband were asleep beside one another upstairs in the bedroom. Cynthia stared at them, her eyes filled with disdain, finding that their clothes were littered about the room. A wedding dress, veil and garter belonging to her sister, as well as lingerie, and the groom's tuxedo scattered around on the floor too. Her anger and hate soon boiled to the surface, and she lifted her ax up above her head. A moment later she swung it downwards, landing a blow on her former fiancé. A sharp, blunt sound of cracking bones and hacking into flesh sounded out, blood spurting from his chest, his wife awakened to the sight of Cynthia bringing the ax down a second time, decapitating him and covering her and her sister in blood, effectively killing the man who broke her heart. Her sister let out a glass-shattering scream, a scream so loud it woke the surrounding neighbors around them, each of them scrambling to alert the police. Cynthia blocked her sister from leaving the room, standing in front of the door to the bedroom, with eyes as cold as ice, lifting the ax once more and swung. Her sister fell to her knees before toppling over onto the floor, dead, bleeding from her neck and chest."
Lovino paused for a moment, looking around at the others, seeing Kiku looked a bit scared and Feliciano was shaking with wide eyes, looking like a frightened child clinging to his teddy bear.
"When the police arrived twenty minutes later, they broke down the door and stormed into the house up to the bedroom, where they found the grizzly display. In the corner of the room, sitting in a rocking chair beside the window, sat Cynthia covered in blood, clutching the dead man's head in her arms. Her eyes were full of fire and hate, but there was a small, unidentifiable smile on her face, hauntingly humming the wedding march. The policemen were frozen at the sight of her, a small woman dressed in white, almost too shocked to believe that she had committed such a barbaric act of murder. When she rose to her feet, they rushed to get to her, but it was too late. She threw the man's severed head at them and turned around, jumping at the window and the glass gave way, shattering from the impact and she fell from the window, down, down to the ground and then... a loud thud sounded when her body impacted down to the ground. Moments later, as she died, her humming quieted down as well, the wedding march fading away, echoing in the midnight breeze..." Lovino smirked a little more now before he continued. "The following day, all three of them were buried. A year later, on the anniversary of their deaths, at midnight in the cemetary in which they wer buried, a guard swore he could hear the sound of Cynthia's voice; humming, humming away... year after year, someone always claimed to hear her voice from beyond the grave, humming the wedding march on the anniversary of the day she died."
There was a moment of tense silence, but then everyone jumped when suddenly, they heard humming of the wedding march. Even Lovino jumped, Feliciano scrambling and shrieked a little as well. Then, Antonio chuckled and scratched his cheek a bit. "Ah, I'm sorry... Feli are you alright?"
Feliciano sighed shakily in relief, but held his Rilakkuma in a tight grip as if his life depended on it. "S-s-si, I'm'a alright, Toni... grazie..."
Lovino started laughing, leaning back on his hands a little now. "Ah man, you should have seen the look on your face Fratello - you're such a scaredy cat!"
Feliciano pouted a little more again. "Fratellone, you're such a meanie-head..."
"As fun as scary stories can be, we might want to keep them a bit tamer now Lovi, ja?" Elizabeta instructed. "We shouldn't make too much noise or scare each other too bad or else we might not sleep well now."
"Si, sorry Miss Lizzy." Lovino said softly, scratching his cheek slightly. "Well who'd like to go next then?"
Looking around a little at the others now, Kiku then rose his hand. "I've got one."
"Is there blood and stuff in this one?..." Feliciano asked.
"No, it's more so just supernatural then horror." Kiku responded. Glancing his eyes towards the window, seeing the vague shape of the skyline in the inky darkness of the night time. "It's about a girl, who lived all alone in a world that had ended."
Feliciano blinked in intrigue, listening intently for Kiku to begin his story.
"Once upon a time, there lived a lone girl. The world she once knew had ended, and she was left to wander on her own for some time. The only companion she had left was a teddy bear bestowed upon her by her parents when she was a child. Every day she went walking around the same places she usually did, hoping to find another sign of life. Sometimes she did, in the form of birds and other wild animals, but rarely did she find hope that her life would restore to the way it was. She lived her life carefree in a way, but was lonlier then she had ever been before. She would go to stores, pretending to browse or buy things, go to bookstores to find new things to read, and continued to study as if she still attended school. On days where not a cloud was to be seen in the sky, her eyes raked through it desperately to find any signs of others." Kiku's voice was a bit soft, almost melancholy as he spoke, though his tone enthralled the others. Feliciano's eyes looked like they were shining softly with forming tears, but he listened with rapt attention. "Three years had passed before finally, one day when she was tending to her vegetable garden a long-forgotten but familiar sound hit her ears. It was the sound of a car coming up the road, and hurriedly she ran from behind her house and waved her arms at it. When it stopped, a boy not much older then her came out. They were both quiet for some time, neither of them having spoken to another human being for years, before they began to speak. Giving each other their names, and upon being introduced to one another, smiled. They cried and laughed, elated to have finally crossed paths."
Feliciano sniffled softly but he was smiling all the same as he listened. Kiku could tell the most wonderful stories at times, and he loved to hear them.
"Days passed, then weeks and soon months. They spent their time together, talking, building a life together in the girl's house she had taken care of over the years. At times their heads butted, but every disagreement was smoothed over. Soon, their friendship evolved into something even more special. Love. Years later, to their surprise they had a child together. Another little blessing in the life they had only to spend with each other. Even though they never found another living soul... they were happy. Together, they had two beautiful children; Megumi and Mirai, two little girls whose names mean blessing and future. Against all odds, in a world that had ended around them, they developed their own happiness and family, as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden..."
Kiku didn't exactly have an ending in mind for his story, so his voice merely trailed off as his mind did as well. But after a few moments of silence the sound of clapping met his ears. Blinking, he picked his head up and saw Feliciano smiling and crying a little at him. "Kii-kun, that was such a sweet story! It was really sad too though, but it was really, really good! It sounds like something that could be a hit manga!"
The Japanese boy blushed a little and scratched his cheek now. "E-eh, well... in truth, it's an idea for a manga I've had for quite some time now. I'm still working on it though so it's probably not the greatest..."
"Of course it is! Besides, if you keep writing it then one day you might get it published! - No, I know you can get it published!" Feliciano said with a grin. "You're very talented, Kii-kun."
Kiku blushed a little more, but he managed a soft smile as well. "T-that's very sweet of you, Feliciano..."
"It was a nice story, Kiku-chan." Lovino said with a smile. He then looked around at the others now. "Alright, who wants to go next?"
Elizabeta volunteered to tell a story this time, though she told a cute story instead. About two puppies and a kitten who became friends with each other and tried to find their way back to their owner. Feliciano tried to tell a story as well but his didn't turn out that well, didn't even end up making much sense either. But after everyone had tried their hand at telling a story they soon decided it was time to turn in for the night. Elizabeta set an alarm for them, designating herself as the one to wake everyone up in the morning.
Feliciano had the bright idea of zipping his sleeping bag up to Monika's, so there was room in it for them both and could snuggle up if they wanted. Which they did. Monika was careful to keep her growing abdomen from touching him, having Feliciano's Rilakkuma plush between them to help just in case. Once everyone was all settled down, Elizabeta turned the lantern down so it was dim now. Just in case they needed to get up in the middle of the night there were flashlights on the counter as well. Good nights were exchanged from the tents, before everyone settled in to sleep for the night.
Pookie cuddled herself up beside Elizabeta for the night, not finding a free space between Feliciano and Monika for herself. The Hungarian woman smiled though, gently draping an arm over the cat as she purred and drifted to sleep.
"Hm..." Feliciano hummed sleepily with his eyes closed as he and Monika cuddled up, Rilakkuma keeping her stomach from touching his. "This is nice, isn't it Moni?... Maybe some other night we can camp out and watch the stars before we go to bed..."
Monika kept her eyes closed as well, but gently nuzzled her face closer to his, their foreheads touching now. "That sounds gut... I'd love to, Feli..." she whispered.
"Wunderbar..." Feliciano smiled, proud of himself for using a German word like he had learned from Monika. One of his hands gently gripped Monika's above his teddy bear, her fingers holding onto him in return as well. "Good night, mio amore~"
Monika breathed softly, smiling. "Guten nacht, mein liebling..."
So for the scary stories, the one Lovino told was inspired by the Ghost Bride story from Hey Arnold! And Kiku's was inspired by a mixture of Clannad and Shelter.
