This one was really fun to write. I hope you enjoy!

Aya and the others had finished setting up the barricade. She sat down on the small space on the white couch uncovered by furniture and wiped her brow. She tugged at her ribbon absent-mindedly as she tried to plan their next course of action, or rather her next course of action, as the soldiers would soon need to rest. As she was lost in thought, it occurred to her that she'd gone to bed in her dress and hair ribbon. She chuckled to herself. She HAD been very tired from the previous day.

Her thoughts were interrupted when something in her pocket caught her eye. Next to Snowball and near the four gems was the key she had gotten from her father's room. Archives, she thought to herself. Come to think of it, the door to the left they'd ignored previously lead to the Archives. It could be worth checking out.

"Hay, um, how are you two doing on energy?" Aya wondered whether they would have time to accompany her.

"We've got about twenty minutes each." Reggie responded.

Aya thought for a moment. "Reginald, your stand is pretty far from here, so it may be best if you headed back now, encase this takes a while."

"As you order, mum. Might I ask what you're planning?"

"I think I can unlock that door over there. I want to check out the archives, see if there's anything useful there."

"'K, since I got time, I can go with." Jonny responded.

"Right, good luck you two. Be careful." And with that, the Corporal took his leave.

Aya placed the silver key into the lock. She turned it until it clicked, and opened the door. She nodded at Jonny, who drew his rifle and entered the room. The room was dark and dusty. Old papers lay scattered across the floor, along with an old scroll, for some reason. The walls were lined with old, dusty tombs. In the center was a writing desk with a typewriter and a telephone. Several documents lay on the table, unfinished. Next to the desk was another crow, like the one in the hallway.

"'Ow do those birds keep gettin' in 'ere, you reckon?" Jonny eyed the bird curiously.

Aya shrugged at the question. The room had no visible entryway it could have came from.

Aya and Jonny inspected the tombs for anything that could yield any useful information. Sadly, most were completely irrelevant. Mainly medical texts and the like. Aya suddenly came across a book she recognized. The Flame Egg.

"Aah, I remember this book…"

"Anything useful?" Jonny perked up.

Aya Shook her head. "No, sorry. It's just a story I read once."

"Ah, shame. What's it about?" Jonny was curious now.

Aya recalled the basic plot. "Well, there's a girl who has the mysterious power to control fire. And she goes on a journey to find the family she's been separated from." The premise seemed intriguing so far. "Proclaiming "Burn all those in my way!" she did exactly that to all her foes." Suddenly, Aya took a more melancholy tone "But I think in the end her power got out of control and destroyed the world. So, she never found her family in the end. She was all alone. A poor girl all alone…"

"Damn, that's depressing. I never understood the appeal of stories like that. Who wants to read something that leaves them feeling depressed?"

Aya shrugged. "I dunno. I hated that ending. I actually wrote a new one for a writing project for school."

"She finds her family in that one?"

"Yup! She manages to control her powers in the end and reunite with her parents and her siblings!" Aya smiled fondly at the memory.

"I think I'd like to read that sometime." Jonny said.

Aya beamed. "Really!? That'd be great! I never got to show it to anyone besides my teacher. None of my friends knew the book, so they wouldn't really understand the characters. I… guess you'd have to read the original to get it."

"I'll give it a go when I'm at my stand." Jonny said, grabbing the book from the shelf.

"Okay! I'll look around for my project. I think it's in my room somewhere." Aya was really excited now. Jonny smiled. It was good to take her mind off of things.

Burn all those in my way. The words repeated in Aya's mind "Yeah, I can burn it!"

"What 'at?" Jonny was a bit concerned.

"I think there was a part in The Flame Egg about making a torch to start a fire. I'll check the book again." Jonny still didn't understand what was happening, and was slightly concerned, but handed Aya the book anyway. Aya turned the pages until she found the passage she was looking for.

The girl cut her tattered dress with a knife, made a rag, and wrapped it around firewood. Finally, she tied the rag on with wire to create a torch.

Got it! Aya handed the book back to Jonny.

"How fascinating" a familiar voice sounded from the other side of the room. Jonny swung around and readied his rifle. "Who would have thought a conversation about literature would lead to such a breakthrough? Humans certainly do have the strangest of thought processes." Suddenly, Mr. Ogre emerged from the shadows.

"M-mister Ogre!" Aya exclaimed in surprise.

"Hold on, I know that name. This the bloke what told you 'bout the curse?"

Aya nodded. She turned to the demonic salesman "How'd you get in here? The door was locked."

Mr. Ogre chuckled. "Trade secret my dear." He turned to Jonny. "Now now, no need for that, my good man. I mean neither you nor your charge any harm."

"What do you want?" Jonny insisted.

"I am merely an observer, my friend. I have been watching this house for quite some time."

"Y-you have!?" Aya exclaimed. The idea of this man spying on her was creepy enough to put the horrors she'd seen earlier to shame.

Mr. Ogre nodded. You see my dear, I encounter many individuals interesting in my travels. Out of all the people I have dealt with, the Drevis Household had been by far the most fascinating to study. I do look forward to seeing how you respond to these… unique circumstances."

"But what's happening!?" Jonny demanded again, his patience wearing thin. "What caused this curse? Why this house? There are plenty of monsters out there, all over the world, and they don't get cursed! Why here?"

"That, my good man, will become apparent in due time. You just need to be patient is all." Mr. Ogre sauntered over to several shelves, selecting four books from around the Archive. "But, if you're both in a learning mood, this is the place to do it. I think these volumes will prove quite helpful." He placed the dusty books on the desk.

Two of the books were large books titled Data on Live Experimentation, one was a rather large tome with odd symbols and runes on the leather cover. The last was an old leather-bound Diary. Aya opened the tome first.

Humans are beautiful. But that beauty soon fades. That is the law of this world. But I have overturned it. After years of research, I have found "eternal beauty."

A body that will never fade even in death. A body as fresh as it was in life. They have eternal beauty within their grasp.

As we loose believers year by year, our group stands on the brink of extinction.

My body too, is nearing its limit. I must find a successor as soon as possible…

Aya shuddered at the text. So, this is where Father got this horrible idea from. She put the book down and flipped open the journal. It had seen better days. Only small fragments of text were legible, and even the date was smudged beyond recovery. Aya noticed that it was in her father's handwriting.

Xuary Xth

This is a nightmare…

How could this have happened….

…Killed a bird…

Just like…

The rest of the pages were unreadable.

Aya knew what the pages were about. Tears began to stream down her face as she recalled the incident. Another of her failed surgeries. A bird had injured its wing, far beyond repair, the Doctor had said. Aya had tried to help anyway. She grabbed some surgical equipment from the Lab and got to work. She did her best to set the bones back in place, but there were so many fractures, and the bird had kept struggling against her. She didn't know how to make it go to sleep. In the end, it died on the operating table, of blood loss.

"Hey, you all right love?" Jonny put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, sorry. It's just… this is my father's. It… it brought back some old memories."

Jonny nodded in understanding. "If you need a minute, I understand."

"N-no, that's okay. Let's- let's just get out of here." Aya placed the diary on the writing desk. She grabbed the two books of data and headed through the door. She would look over them later.

Jonny turned back to Ogre, ready to give him a piece of his mind, but the man was gone, vanished without a trace. Jonny sighed. Why can't anything in this house be normal for once?

As Aya departed the room, she eyed the crow. It looked familiar somehow. It gave her a knowing glance. No, it couldn't be…

I wasn't even planning on getting meta for this chapter, until came up with the title and then saw the depressing ending.