(Sorry for the long wait for a chapter. I have been going through some personal things and haven't had time to write. Sadly my beloved service dog passed away and I have been struggling with the loss of her. I am working hard to get all of my active stories new chapters out. But it is still slow going at the moment. /~\ I apologize to everyone for the long wait. )
(I do not own any of the characters or storyline from RE8 used in this story. I only own my OC's and the story idea for this fanfiction. )
(Please review if you like ; w ; )
Chapter 3
My trip through the forest in Donna's territory seems never ending. But that could just be because I no longer have the stamina I did as an adult. That and the fact my body is tiny as hell now. I look like a damn living doll with how small I am. More than once I could feel eyes watching me from the trees. Sometimes I hear someone giggling, but when I turn to look no one is there. After the 3rd time I stopped bothering to look. By the time I reach the end of the second path my legs feel like jelly. A quick look around reveals that I have somehow ended up in the small circular graveyard at the beginning of Donna's territory. The stupid child mode of my brain kicks in again when I see all the dolls scattered around the area. But one doll in particular catches my eye. This doll has long blond hair, brown eyes, and is wearing a pink dress. It has a porcelain face that is cracked over the left cheek. One of its arms is missing and the dress is ripped in places.
"Dolly hurt." Carefully I pick up the doll and cradle it in my arms. Looking around I notice a lot of the dolls here are broken or damaged. My expression becomes sad as I walk over to another doll that is on the ground.. This one has had its face smashed in and is beyond repair now. " Why someone hurt dollies?" I sniffle, not even having noticed I had started to cry a little. "I fix. Make dollies all better." Turning I walked over to the largest gravestone and set down the doll I picked up. Once my new friend is settled I carefully walk around to try and find her missing arm. Sadly I don't find the missing arm, but I do find three more dolls I can fix up. Any doll I found that was beyond my abilities to fix, was carefully put in a group off to the side.
"Now I fix dolly's dress. " Plopping down in front of the grave I picked the blond doll up again. Having placed my cloak on the ground to act as a blanket. My free hand reaching into my pocket to grab the needle and thread I kept in there. "Sorry no have pink thread dolly." Smiling apologetically down at the doll in my lap I begin mending the doll's dress as best I can. And that is how I spent the next few hours. Sitting on the wet ground next to a gravestone repairing dolls. It isn't until the sun starts to set that I snap out of my hyperfocus on my work. The air has become ice cold causing my breath to come out in white puffs. "Dark now. Bad…" A soft whimper escapes me as the sudden realization of my situation hits me. Slowly I get to my feet and gather the dolls I had fixed. My small arms struggled to hold the 4 dolls nearly the same size as me. 'Curse this small body!'
"You're still here huh~" The voice makes me jump in fear as Angie suddenly appears in front of me. Her creepy face is mere inches away from mine. Letting out a startled scream I end up tripping over my own feet and falling on my butt. A crazed cackle comes from the floating doll at my reaction. My bottom lip quivers as tears form in my eyes. 'This doll is about to get a full on crying fit for that one.' And that is just what I do. Clutching my dolls to my chest I begin to cry loudly. "Urk! Why are you crying!? " Angie waves her arms around frantically, the action only making me cry even more and try to get away from her. "Come on kid I wasn't trying to scare you!" She floats over to me but I scoot backwards as quickly as I can. She actually scares the hell out of me to be honest. The fact she can move without Donna here makes it even worse.
"D-Dolly mean!" My voice comes out as a whimper as I hide my face in the hair of the dolls in my arms. I sit there on the snow dusted ground refusing to look back at Angie. She keeps trying to get my attention but I ignore her. My small body starts to shake from the cold as fresh snow starts to fall.
"Finally!"
"What did you do…." Slowly looking up when the new voice appears I let out another whimper. I'm not really scared now but need to act the part. And what 5 year old wouldn't be scared of a strange woman dressed all in black. Especially a child raised in some hidden romanian village run by a crazy bird woman. Donna's head turns towards me and I tense up in slight fear. She isn't being threatening at all but she is still a bit creepy.
"Donna, she has been fixing our dolls!"
"Dollies hurt. So I fix." Sniffling cutely I stand up again, nearly dropping one of the dolls in my arms. "Arm bye bye. Sad."
"Arm?"
"One of the dolls is missing it's arm. Kid did her best to try and find it." Angie explains as she floats over to her owner. Donna reaches up and pats Angie on the head before walking over to me. To my confused surprise she picks me up and holds me like she holds Angie. The sudden movement makes me drop all the dolls I was holding.
"Dollies!" My small hands reach out in a vain attempt to catch them.
"Calm down kid, I'll get them." Angie quickly scoops up the other dolls to give back to me. "Wow! Look at this stitchwork Donna!" A pout forms on my lips when Angie holds up the pink dressed doll. She is purposefully holding it just out of my reach as she shows it to Donna.
'How the hell is she even holding anything? I can't remember her having movable fingers.'
"..." Leaning my head back I stare up at Donna's covered face. She looks between me and the dolls I fixed, seeming to be debating over a minute she seems to come to a decision. Her thin arms tighten their hold on me. "Mine."
"Ooooo~ Are we gonna keep her?"
"No…" Donna's reply is short but her tone makes Angie cackle madly. A slight uneasy feeling settling in my stomach as I am carried off to god knows where. A quick glance around shows me that we are heading towards where the chalice was. I send a silent prayer to whatever gods are here that the Duke please not be there. He always creeped me out in the game. 'Ugh. Those damn noises he makes when talking about food.' Just the memory of it sends disgusted shivers through me. 'The most worrying thing is how he managed to not be affected by anything. Not even when you go to confront Miranda for the last time.' A silent sigh of relief escapes me at the glorious sight of the empty cart spot. Donna passes by it without a care while I do my best not to look at it anymore. Pretty soon the soft crunching of snow is replaced by the sound of the dirt paths in the village. It amazes me how Donna's heels somehow haven't sunk into the wet ground.
"Uhh….Donna I think we left her cloak back there."
" Hm?"
"The brat is turning blue."
'What?' I send a confused look at Angie before raising my hands to look at them. 'Shit she's right.' My hands are starting to look a little frostbitten.
"I'll go back to get it. " I can't help but snicker when Angie flies off at the speed of light. The sound of tree branches breaking following the doll's path.
"Dolly noisey." Tilting my head back against Donna's chest as I speak. Hesitating a moment before reaching up with one hand towards the silk veil hiding the silent woman's face. A pout forming on my lips when she pushes my small hand away. "Why lady hide?"
"..."
'Yeah, I should have expected that.' My momentary sadness is quickly replaced with nervousness as the sound of the market reaches my ears. Oana and Anton are gonna be so pissed at me for vanishing like that. That and possibly have heart attacks from seeing who brought me back. 'The bigger worry is what the other villagers will do after seeing this. Donna is one of their leaders, even if not a very powerful one, she still is feared by most of them. And I am being carried around by the silent woman like I am one of her dolls.' Just before we reach the wide clearing the market is in, Angie comes back with my cloak. She helps Donna put my cloak on me before settling in next to me in Donna's arms. Playing the child card like a champ, I giggle and gently grab Angie's hand in my own. "Tank you dolly." I whisper to her so as to not attract the attention of the villagers. When I look up again my face goes blank. Everyone is rushing to move away from us as we pass. Nearly all of them bow their heads while mumbling prayers I can't understand. Some of the female villagers send pitying looks my way.
"Psst, brat where do you live?" Angie's head lolls to the side to rest against me as she whispers. A faint dusty smell floating on the cold breeze.
"I lives with ganma and gandpa. We came to sell stuffs at the market."
"When was that?"
"Um….after we eated lunch…." I look around worriedly as I notice a lot of the vendors have closed for the day. Oana and Anton wouldn't just leave me right? Fear starts to settle in the pit of my stomach again. The thought of being alone in this village nearly sent me into a panic attack. " T-They here right?"
"Relax kid."
"..." Donna shifts me and Angie in her arms so that our heads are on either side of hers. A giggle fills the awkward quiet when I feel Donna nuzzle my cheek.
'I can't help but relax around this woman. Maybe that is part of her powers too? '
"Just tell us if you see them."
"Otay."
For the next hour Donna carries me around searching for my grandparents. When I tried to tell her to take a break she just shushed me. I mean she literally shushed me. One of her pale fingers pressing against my lips to make me stop talking. Angie thankfully was able to convince her to have a 'tea party', which actually meant 'lets stop and feed the kid'. Apparently my stomach had been growling the whole time we had been searching the market. The looks on the villagers faces as Donna sits down at one of the food stalls was hilarious. Each villager is stuck between fear, shock, and awe at the fact one of the 4 lords is before them. It is hard to keep my expression neutral as the owner of the food stall comes over to take our order. This village is more advanced than the game leads you to believe. There is no modern plumbing as far as I know, maybe at one of the lord's homes but I can't know that for sure. The buildings in the main areas of the village have basic electricity. No more than enough to power the ancient looking light bulbs I catch glimpses of through curtains. And the marketplace has a few tall lamp posts scattered around it. 'All of the lords have access to electricity in some way. Damn game had an elevator system for each of the lords' areas.'
Sneaking a glance at Donna I began to wonder if I should do something. 'If I befriend her it could end in one of 2 obvious things. The first being that I am offered to or taken by Miranda as a possible vessel for Eva. And the second being I gain a powerful, well somewhat powerful, ally if I play my cards right. Maybe even….' A scowl forms on my face at the stupid thought that almost formed in my head. ' Don't be stupid Narcisa.' .
"Kid you still alive?" Angie's high pitched voice is like nails on a chalkboard when she is this close to me. Unfortunately I couldn't stop the look of discomfort that crossed my features. "Hehe~ Don't I have a lovely voice.~"
"Dolly loud." Rubbing my ears helps lessen the pain and warms them up again. "What dolly want?" Instead of a reply a muffin is suddenly pressed against my lips. On pure instinct I open my mouth and take a small bite. My mouth is filled with the wonderful taste of blueberries. Without any fuss I reach up with both hands to grab onto the muffin. Donna allows me to take the muffin from her but I notice she starts to reach up whenever it looks like I might drop it. This makes me smile a bit at how attentive she is trying to be.
"Lady want some too?" Donna shakes her head no as I hold up the muffin towards her. My head tilted back with a bright innocent smile covering my face. "Ok-!" A sound on the breeze makes me stop talking instantly. My head turned frantically to try and find the source of the sound. The sound turns into a voice that I know well.
"Narcisa!"
"Narcisa!" A second voice joins the first. This one being male and having a graveling sound. Like when you have been talking too long and begin to lose your voice.
"Ganpa?"
"Narcisa please answer us dear!"
"..." Donna tightens her hold on me as the voices get closer. A dark aura begins to come from the dollmaker that makes everyone around us flee.
'W-What in the hell is happening?'