Chapter 6: Cry of The Lost Ones

The infirmary was dark, moist with the blood of the past. It was incredibly humid with no AC or anything to keep it cool, so it simply lacked in comfort. In more ways than one. Xavier found it hard why anyone would want to be here at night, which furthers his intrigue in the matter.

Despite its horrible living conditions, he felt almost safe within the infirmary. Whomever or whatever resided here wasn't out for blood, rather a cry for help, perhaps? Though, Mariam and Serena had warned him of demons who could sound like children or crying, so he remained careful.

One creak. Xavier whipped his head around to see nothing but air. Simply air in all of its forms; no coldspot or unexplainable happenings. He huffed but journeyed in further. He wasn't going to give up that easily-

"Xavier!"

Or maybe he was.

With one last look, he walked out to meet Serena. "We are heading out. I'd suggest you wrap up whatever you were doing in here and move out. Head out to the main hall when you're done," She said. Xavier nodded in finality and moved away from the infirmary, casting a hesitant glare.

Once the team was settled in the main hall again, resting on the benches. It was serene now: no ghostly cries for help, no airy hi-fives; silent. Too silent for Serena's liking. Serena had grabbed the cameras from their designated spots, with help from Xavier and Mariam, and plugged them into the computer. Headphones lay sporadically around them, one for each person.

"Are we ready?" Serena asked, her finger lazily hovering over the space bar. With a nod from each, she clicked play. There, the dark guildhall was shown, with silence eerily loud. It stayed like this for a while, before the computer lit up with a whole bunch of squares near the S-Class wing. Exactly where Serena was. Another legion of squares followed human Serena around as she explored. The first pair of squares followed her closely, randomly fizzing out at times, but still wholly there. And as exactly Serena experienced, came close but then dissipated. Gone. At the end though, a little ball of light -an anomaly; the correct scientific term- surged from where the squares were and made its way towards the camera, but only dissolving in the middle of its journey.

The hallways had little flickers of lights at points, with some anomalies as well, but mostly bare. The ghosts can't use as much energy to travel, they must flicker in and out to travel. Duly noted, Serena thought.

The basement was the lost place, where Mako had felt the ghostly hands wrap around her wrist. With energy like that, you'd expect something to show itself but yet, it was clear. There were some creaks here and there but they all stayed near the barrels, most likely hiding. Scared or scoping, Serena couldn't tell. But she didn't like the feeling she felt. Noted for later, Serena thought as she wrote.

"So, y'all, what's our next step? Where do we wanna go from here?" She said, absentmindedly thumbing through her notebook. Mariam immediately spoke after. "I say we go another night, maybe try different things? Like, if we're kinda certain one ghost is a child, set out a picture book and crayons or toys. It would help entice them." Xavier nodded. "I say we go set up cameras in the spots that we felt something in, like the infirmary. That way we can better track down the ghosts and get them out of here," Xavier said.

The only sound left in the guild was Serena's humming, as she read over her logs in the notebook, carefully pulling along her finger, serving as her bookmark. "Uh, Serena? Anyone in there?" Mariam knocked on Serena's head, effectively pulling her out of the trance. She realized and immediately apologized. "Oh, kami, I'm sorry! I just... blacked out, I guess," Serena admitted, closing the notebook. Her female teammate raised an eyebrow but went along with it, nodding.

"I think we go with both of your plans, I wouldn't mind either of them," She shrugged. Mariam's mouth hung open like fish, before closing again. Xavier was the only one to speak. "But Serena, I think we should hear yours. I mean, considering all of this information now brought to us, I'd believe that we should all work it out, ya know?" The ravenette bit her lip. "I don't know... I-"

Serena put up one finger, signaling her friend to be quiet. She heard something, to the far left. Where the stairs to the basement were. Was the thing(s?) coming up? Creaaaakkk, step, step, bang. It sounded like it was dragging something. Perhaps, chains?

And that's when it hit her again. The feeling of looking into the dark, drab basement. Except, now it was here. Nonexistent bile started to grow larger, her skin broke out into a cold sweat; as if someone stabbed her, a pain in her chest sliced through her. The feeling was ambiguous; if it was trying to tell her something, or it was trying to scare her. It was like the energy she felt at the Team Salamander morgue, controlled yet chaotic.

The girl felt movement against her, rustling, realizing it was Mariam trying to do an EMP session. Immediately she brought her hand down, shaking her head. 'No, I wouldn't' she whispered.

Eyes, perhaps two pairs of eyes, had virtually revealed themselves. They blinked away though, and relief flooded their systems.

"W-What the absolute fuck was that?" Mariam stuttered. "I don't... know...," Serena said, "but let's go."

Haha, how was that? And guess who those two or one were? I kinda gave it away but still, it's ambiguous. You don't know if I'm lying. *insert Kokichi's laugh*

First off, sorry to leave you all hanging for two weeks. I have preoccupied was something else and it kinda took away all my determination to write.

Secondly, the story's also now on AO3! It's under the same pen name, Liatria, and the same title as well. If you'd like to read this story in there, that's fine.

Thirdly, now we're getting into the juicy stuff here! After this, it's all plot. No more waiting around until we get into it! We're jumping right in!

With that being said, stay safe, healthy, and positive! Have a nice day/night and I'll see you later! Bye~!