Hi~ Sorry about how short this chapter is, school is pretty rough right now...

A whimper escaped Alfred and he kicked his phone away. Weary of his own phone, Matthew set it on the ground and pushed it away from himself. Neither wanted anything to do with the disembodied voice.

"Jonathon? Why won't... why won't you answer me? I'm so happy... I've waited such a long..."

"Fuck! Fuck, why won't she stop? Make her stop Arthur!" Alfred gave Arthur a distressed look, begging him with his eyes to kill the voice.

Matthew started gesturing shakily. "A-Alfred... Alfred get over here. Come over here closer to us." He didn't like that Alfred was so isolated from the group, especially with Josephine's voice continuing its plea for attention. "Come to me."

Wiping at his tear stained face, Alfred forced himself towards his brother. He looked wearily at the beam above their heads, giving it a wide berth. Once he had reached Matthew he collapsed against him, fiercely hugging his neck. "Oh God Matthew, I want to go h-home!"

Matthew began to rub his back soothingly, trying to force back his own fear. "Shhh, i-it'll be okay Al, r-right Arthur?"

Kiku focused the flashlight on Arthur once more, cautiously moving towards him. "There is a way you can stop this, isn't there?"

Arthur chewed on his lower lip, looking concerned but not nearly half as frightened as the rest. "...I can see what I can do. Let me have that light so I can properly consult my book."

"Jonathon? ...Why can't I reach you Jonathon...?"

Giving the nearest cellphone a scrutinizing look, Kiku walked slowly over to Arthur, crouching by his side. "...Arthur, perhaps you would consider wearing that protective charm now?"

He merely waved a dismissive hand before snatching the flashlight. "No need, I'll figure this out in a moment, just..."

Arthur began to read and an uneasy silence overcame the room. Even Josephine's voice had ceased for the moment. There were suddenly more bumping sounds across the room, becoming increasingly agitated. The floor groaned severely beneath Alfred and Matthew and they both cried out. It stopped and the four of them froze, tense and waiting to see what would happen.

The phones came back to life with Josephine's voice, which no longer sounded dreamy so much as hostile. "Jonathon... Jonathon why are you doing this to me? Why won't you come to me now that you are home? Jonathon... Beloved... Why can't I touch you?"

Alfred hugged Matthew so tightly it hurt. "Make it stop, make it stop, just make her stop!"

"Jonathon..." A loud bang like something violently hitting the wall startled all of them. "Answer me Jonathon!" Another bang that seemed to shake the very room they sat in. "Stop keeping me away!"

As Alfred began to wail again Kiku tried to read over Arthur's shoulder as he rapidly flipped through pages. He lowered his voice and spoke to Arthur softly, "She says they are keeping her away... What do you think she means?"

Arthur licked his thumb to separate two pages that stuck together stubbornly. He could feel the mounting pressure to do something. "As much as I hate to acknowledge it, I believe your protective charms are acting as a barrier between Josephine and her perceived Jonathons."

A worried frown twitched across Kiku's lips. "...Do you think that means without them she would actually be capable of making contact with us?"

"Don't be ridiculous, there's no reason to assume that. She's a ghost. The 'bump in the night' bit is quite convincing, as was her hanging illusion, but they are not uncommon with ghosts. Actually being able to make contact with the physical realm-"

"Arthur, I know perhaps there is a cultural difference in beliefs on ghosts but I grew up with stories of yūrei, spirits not properly put to rest after death. If Josephine is anything like the onryō, which are vengeful yūrei, she could do real harm."

Frustrated by Kiku's continuous need to add in his own opinions on the matter, Arthur snapped at him, "She isn't a vengeful ghost, she just wants her husband! I have this under control, I'll figure out how to make her go away! Now would you just-"

There was another loud bang from above and Kiku's flashlight began to flicker. The sound of static from the cellphones became overly loud, intermixing with something similar to a shriek of rage. A strong force yanked the book from Arthur's hands and he gave a startled gasp. It settled in the middle of the floor, pages turning rapidly before they began to shred before their eyes. It abruptly stopped.

A couple of tense minutes passed in shocked silence. Swallowing hard, Arthur tentatively made a move towards the ruined book. Kiku reached out to stop him as Alfred and Matthew watched on with twin looks of horror. "Arthur don't-!"

As Arthur touched the book he suddenly found himself yanked violently off his feet, hitting the ground hard and staring at the ceiling in a dazed state. Kiku started to walk over. "Are you alright Ar-?"

The words were cut off as Arthur was quickly dragged across the floor. He cried out, scrambling to grab onto something. He managed to catch a hold of the door frame at the top of the staircase. He looked behind him, a chill running down his spine. A small, pale hand was clenched around his ankle, fading into nothingness. He quickly looked away, breath catching as he held on tighter.

Matthew and Alfred had finally jumped to their feet. "What the hell is going on?"

Kiku was already on his way over to Arthur. "We have to grab him!"

Matthew timidly started forward and seemed to gather a small burst of courage as he moved to help. Alfred stared, wide eyed and frozen to the spot. Arthur winced as the pressure increased, the bones in his arms feeling like they might pull from their sockets. The abandoned cellphones began to shriek with Josephine's frustration.

Kiku fell heavily to his knees and reached out to grab Arthur once he got closer. Arthur released the wooden frame long enough to grasp at the offered hand when there was an abrupt tug and his grip was lost. He gasped loudly, using his arms to try and protect himself as he was roughly dragged down the stairs, sharp corners banging into his body. This was bad, really bad, and panic was setting in.

Arthur clawed at the ground as he was dragged down the hallway towards a small stretch of banister before the main stairway began. Josephine headed right towards it with alarming speed. The wooden beams cracked and they quickly gave as Arthur's weight was thrown against them. Crying out, Arthur scrambled to grab onto one, lucky enough to get one that held. The split wood dug into the skin of his palm as he held on for dear life, the grip around his ankle not letting up.

"P-please, oh god, please Josephine," he began to mutter in a panic, "M-my name is K-Kirkland. Arthur Kirkland!"

There was a pause and then the grip on his ankle was released. He gasped, trying to strengthen his grip as his own dead weight desperately attempted to pull him down. Trying to keep calm he managed to grab another half-broken pole from the banister, distributing his weight more evenly. Gritting his teeth, he tried to pull himself up but it hurt too much from the strain that had already been put on his arms earlier. All he could do was hold on and pray as he dangled precariously above the first floor.

Just as his strength was about to give out completely he felt hands on him and the next thing he knew he was being hauled up by a very shaken Alfred and Matthew. He let out a relieved sigh as he took a few shaky breathes, just glad to still be alive.

When he looked up he was met with Kiku's deadpan stare. "She seems rather hostile to me."

Arthur didn't even bother retorting. It seemed he had been wrong and it was proving to be a potentially fatal error in judgment. He stood, not sure for a moment if his knees were going to buckle beneath him. His ankle hurt and he couldn't put too much weight on it.

Alfred suddenly lurched to his feet and grabbed Arthur's collar, his hands shaking violently. "Wh-what the hell? What the hell, this isn't...this isn't at all like you said it was going to be! What the hell!"

Off to the side there was suddenly a very loud bang. They all jumped, Alfred letting out a small scream. It had been the door across from them. All eyes were on the doorknob as it began to rattle sporadically before stopping. The banging came again, harder that time, and then came in frequent intervals. As if something were ramming against it. Kiku and Matthew took a few steps away.

"Al, come on move," Matthew hissed at his brother.

But Alfred was frozen to the spot. Arthur tried to rip himself from the other's grip. "Don't stand there like a bloody idiot! Move!"

The door suddenly opened and something large was hurtling towards them. Alfred released Arthur and put his hands out defensively even as he closed his eyes and cried out. His arms struck against something solid and an unpleasant chill went through him. Oh god, the ghost, Josephine could somehow touch him!

As he began to pummel at the phantom he was grabbed violently by the wrists. Alfred began to struggle frantically but couldn't get away. Oh god he was going to die, he was going to- "Cut it out!"

Alfred opened his eyes in surprise and looked up. It was Ludwig! A bit hard to make out in the dark but definitely him. "Wh-wha?"

Gilbert leaned against the door frame as the others looked on in equal shock. Kiku was the first to recover. "I thought you were not coming. What are you doing here?"

Ludwig grumbled angrily as he released Alfred and shot a glare at Gilbert. "This idiot thought it would be funny to scare you and forced me to come."

Gilbert grinned. "That's right. My awesome, brilliant mind concocted a brilliant prank! I called earlier to confirm you were still going through with your lame plan, then I convinced Ludwig he had to come with me. Never underestimate the power of good blackmail material! We came here before you arrived and were waiting in that room to make our move. We were just about to make you all look like total fools when weird shit started happening."

The grin disappeared from Gilbert's face, replaced by a frown. "All of the doors started slamming open and shut. We could hear it happening all down the hallway, too. All of a sudden the door closed completely and we couldn't get it open. And then there were some weird sounds from upstairs. Like banging and what sounded like a woman screaming."

A few eyes strayed towards Alfred and his cheeks flushed. "Sh-shut up, it was scary! And...And some of it was a woman!"

Kiku ignored him for that moment. "Go on."

"At first we kinda talked about what we should do. When we heard voices we decided to just bust out and Ludwig threw his weight right into it." Gilbert walked over and patted his brother's arm. "Honestly we should have done it to begin with but we were sort of freaked out. Shoulda seen Luddy, all terrified, poor baby."

"I was not any worse than you!" Ludwig snapped impatiently.

"Whatever you say. There's not much more to it than that. So can any of you tell me what the hell is going on exactly?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow at them.

Despite being brushed off earlier, Alfred was quick to answer. "It's a ghost! Josephine man! It was so fucking scary! Arthur set up some kind of devil ritual and brought Josephine's spirit back from the dead! Like, her dead body was hanging from one of the beams for a second and I thought I was going to die from fear right then!"

Arthur glared at him. "I did no such thing! First of all, it was not a 'devil ritual'. Secondly, Josephine's spirit was invoked, she wasn't brought back from the dead. Thirdly, if you want to get into details it was you and your brother who summoned Josephine, not me."

"Because you told us to!" Alfred practically shrieked, close to hysterics.

"Enough!" Ludwig snapped. "You cannot expect us to buy this garbage! Ghosts do not exist! They are not summoned or evoked because they do not exist!"

The door suddenly slammed loudly behind them and they all jumped. Alfred looked grimly victorious. "Y-you see th-that? That's her! She doesn't like being trash talked. She nearly killed Arthur just a moment ago because of something he said! Dragged him all the way down from the attic and almost threw him to his death there!"

The German siblings spared a long glance at the broken banister and then Arthur who looked back coolly. Even Ludwig had a hard time thinking of something to say to that.

Kiku had a concerned expression on his face and finally broke in. "I am afraid we have run into a serious problem. The charms seem to work against deflecting Josephine but there are only four of them and now there are six of us. Obviously as Alfred and Matthew are Josephine's targets they should remain wearing them. As I made them I am afraid I will choose to be selfish and keep one for myself. I humbly apologize. Only one other remains. I am going to go retrieve it from the attic. You should decide who will get it by the time I return."

Alfred gave him an incredulous look. "You're seriously going back up there yourself?"

Kiku pushed the flashlight into Alfred's hand, knowing his spectrophobic friend would need it as a comfort more than he would to see. "I do not see why not. As I'm protected nothing will happen to me."

Matthew spoke up again timidly. "A-are you sure you don't want one of us to go with you?"

"Yes. I do not think either you or Alfred should return there. It gives me a bad feeling. No one else has a charm and is thus not safe. It should not take me long."

Without further room for protest Kiku walked off, melting into the shadows. The creak of the attic stairs was the only audible sound of his presence. An eerie silence settled over them then was shattered by Arthur. "One of you may have the charm, I don't think I'll be needing it."

Alfred gaped at him, clutching the flashlight close. "How can you say that when she almost killed you?"

Arthur looked down at his palm and started pulling slivers out in the dim light. "Trust me, I think I'll be fine. I just have to be careful with what I say. Something I'd advise all of you to do."

Ludwig glanced at everyone in the group. "I can't believe you're still acting like this nonsense could possibly be-"

"I dibs it!" Gilbert interjected loudly. "Nonsense or not, I'm not getting fucked up by a poltergeist. Sucks for you two!"

Ludwig stuttered, in a state of disbelief at how quickly his brother swallowed the story. "Honestly Gil-!"

Alfred suddenly grabbed onto Matthew's arm. "P-poltergeist? Aren't those like, worst than ghosts?"

"Oh definitely," Gilbert said with a smirk. "Gonna start shrieking like a girl again?"

Alfred glared at him but a small whimper still escaped. "Why did we do this Mattie? We're going to die!"

Matthew couldn't help but be slightly annoyed by Alfred. "It was you who decided you had to do this, I didn't want to at all!"

"Would you stop your bickering? It's a little late to play the 'I didn't want to do this' game. It's pretty well decided, isn't it?" Arthur gave them hard looks then returned to picking slivers from his hands.

All four of them were privately tempted to tell him that it was in fact his idea to begin with but didn't bother. Instead they waited uneasily for Kiku to return, trying to ignore the occasional creak and the feeling of being watched.

Types of Specters:

Ghosts: The visible disembodied soul of a dead person.

Yūrei: From Japanese lore. Spirits not properly put to rest after death and that have died abruptly or in a horrible manner (i.e. murder or suicide), or that are influenced by powerful emotions after death (i.e. jealousy, hatred, sorrow).

Onryō: From Japanese folklore. Spirits that return to the physical world in order to seek vengeance.

Poltergeist: A ghost that manifests itself by noises, rapping on the walls/ceiling/floor, and the creation of disorder (i.e. throwing objects). A word from German influence.