AN: I am sooo sorry it's taken so long to get the chapters out but don't worry! I've got the next chapter for not only Agony Manor but for Crimson Teardrops (for those that are reading it) And not only that, I've got two new stories coming out. I know that's probably not a good thing but at the same time ya gotta love it ^.~
I hope everyone had a great holiday and enjoy the chapter ^_^
~*~*~*~*~chapter 5~*~*~*~*~
Minako stared around her room in awe. When Kaly said there was an endless amount of dolls she hadn't actually believed it would be *this* endless. There were porcelain dolls on the bed, dressers, chairs and even in the bathroom. Even most of the pictures decorating the walls were of dolls. How unnerving. And the dolls weren't just blank glass eyed dolls either. They all had a delicate expression made into their faces and each was in the position of doing something, frozen in time for the world to see. Minako's heart clenched. What if the story Kaly told really was true and all the dolls were really people at one time. Someone knocked on her door and she screamed.
"Mina-chan, its just me! What…wow! Would you look at all those dolls."
Her heart started beating at its normal rate and she scolded herself for letting her fears get the best of her. She was Sailor V, human dolls were just a small thing compared to the creatures she'd been forced to face before. She turned her attention over to her friend as she admired the rows upon rows of dolls decorating her room.
"Are you settled in yet, Mina-chan? I thought we could go explore, maybe find the swimming pool. We might also run into our new housemates. Plus I'm kinda hungry so we could stop by the kitchen while we explore."
Minako giggled. Usagi never did stop thinking about food. It was a wonder she managed to stay so thin. Probably all the running she does whenever she's late. "Sure. Have you already changed into you're swimsuit? Let me change into mine." She rummaged through one of her suitcases until she found her yellow sunflower string bikini. Running into the bathroom she threw it on and rushed out. "Before we go out there Usagi, what swimsuit are you wearing?"
"My pink one piece…why?"
Minako sighed exasperatedly. "There are seven *really* hot guys wandering around this house with us, you are not gonna hide your fabulous body behind that hideous thing you call a swimsuit. It's a good thing I brought an extra one just in case." She rummaged through her suitcase once more and pulled something out then grabbed Usagi by the hand and pulled her into the bathroom.
"Um, Mina-chan I really don't think there's anything wrong with my swimsuit, so why don't we just forget this and go look for the pool."
"No way."
"But…"
"No!"
Usagi sighed. There was no use arguing with that girl once she set her mind to something. She just hoped the swimsuit covered the major parts of her body. Moments later Usagi stared at herself in the mirror with mixed feelings of awe and horror. Beside her Minako smiled smugly to herself. The swimsuit now adorning Usagi's body was made of slinky silver material that barely covered her breasts and short boy cut shorts. Now her mixed feelings came from the fact that she actually looked good but she had never gone out in public wearing something so revealing. Ever.
"Well, lets start looking."
"Mina-chan, I can't wander around the manor looking like this!"
"What? Why not?"
"Minako!"
"Oh alright. We'll put on a tee shirt and some sandals but when we find the pool we take them off. Honestly, there are people who swim in far less then what we've got on. I think they're called the Polar Fish?"
"Bears. They're called the Polar Bears and they swim in frozen water but they at least have something on. You're thinking about skinny dippers."
"Whatever. The point is we're wearing a ball gown compared to some, so lets keep on trotting!"
"Trucking."
"What?"
"Truck…oh never mind. Let's just go."
They each threw on a long tee shirt and some sandals before stepping out into the hallway. "Okay, we need to go back to the main hall and figure it out from there. We'll know we're getting close when we can smell the chlorine. So lets go!"
As they made their way down the hall towards the stairs Minako spotted Omi heading towards his room and she ran to him. "Omi-kun! Get your swimsuit on and help us look for the pool!"
"What?"
"Just throw your swimsuit on and all three of us will go look for the pool. It's probably really big and gorgeous, don't you think?"
She opened his door and shoved him inside while telling him that they would wait out in the hall for him. Usagi giggled at the lost look upon his face as he followed the other blonde's orders. Moments later he came back out with three towels and handed one to Minako and her. "I noticed you didn't have one with you."
"Oops. Guess I was in such a rush I kinda forgot. Oh well, we're all set now so come on!"
The three of them headed down the stairs into the circular room and stopped. "I think we should go back to the main hall. I think I heard running water coming from one of the other three hallways."
"Then lets go. And like you said, when we can smell chlorine we'll know we're getting close."
They made their way back through the middle hallway and into the front hall. Omi decided they should each walk a little ways into the remaining three hallways to see if they could hear or smell anything.
"Its just dark down this hallway and personally this is as far as I want to get. Anything for you two Usa-chan, Omi-kun?"
"There's not a hall here, it just goes in a little and leads to some giant doors…" Omi grunted as he pulled one of the heavy metal doors open part ways and then stuck his head inside. "I think this is the ballroom."
"Then that leaves my hall. Ooh! I hear running water!"
The trio ran down the hall until they came to two nicely carved wooden doors. The smell of chlorine filled the air as Omi and Minako pushed the doors open and the three walked in.
"Would you look at the size of that!"
"It's got a waterfall and a little island in the center, how cute. And look, there's a hot tub over there surrounded by the bamboo."
"So what are we waiting for? Lets have some fun!"
Minako flicked off her sandals and stripped out of her shirt before tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Usagi to do the same. Usagi took her time taking off her sandals and then hesitated with the hem of her shirt. Omi had already taken off his shirt and got into the pool while she was battling with herself. Minako started to look like she was about ready to rip the shirt off for her so, Usagi decided to do it all in one quick motion. She pulled off the shirt and then jumped into the pool before either of the other two occupants in the room could get a good look at her. Minako rolled her eyes at her friend's antics before getting in the pool herself.
"The waters perfect! Its not too cold like most pools"
"Hey Mina-chan!"
"Wha…?"
She turned to look at Usagi and got pelted by a wave of water. Omi laughed at the expression on her face right before he too got hit by a wave of water.
"Hey!"
And that is how the great water fight began.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nagi stepped into the darkened Library and flipped on the light. He wanted to do a bit more thorough background check on the manor and Kaly had said most things were recorded in the library so that's where he was going to start. The room was large with shelves of books going all the way up to the ceiling. The only way to reach them was to climb the ladders placed around the room. As he looked around reading the backs of the books closest to him, he stirred up a cloud of dust causing him to sneeze and back into one of the shelves. As he did so a book placed a few feet above his head fell and landed on the floor with a loud thud. He knelt down and examined the aged black leather binding but found nothing unusual on the outside, no writing of any kind, so he opened it. Inside, written in nice flourishing handwriting was the name,
Janice DeLaWitt
1842---
'Its her journal.' Nagi picked it up and opened it to the first page. Sitting down in one of the overstuffed leather chairs he began to read.
I've only been married three months now and therefore it has only been three months since I told my sweet Alex that I long to live away from France and its bustling city, and go to a more quite and natural place, like Japan. You see, when I was just a girl my father traveled over to that heavenly island on what he had called a business trip. When he returned he brought back with him wonderful items and story's of magic, demons and princesses. Ever since then I've longed to see it for myself.
So as I said its only been three months since I told my dear husband of my long time longing and today he told my of my late wedding present. I'm so exhilarated I can almost not write straight for you see he has told me that we are moving to Japan within two weeks time! That is why I'm writing in this journal. I've decided to write of my adventures in my soon to be new land so that when I'm old I may look back on those wonderful days and smile. I'm so positive my dear Alex and I shall be blissful and happy all throughout our lives as long as we two are near. He is such a marvelous man to make my dreams come true…
She continued to write on about how happy they would be together and how thrilled she was that her dream of living in Japan was coming true, so he skipped along until the next entry.
I'm so excited! Only three days left until our sail to that wonderful island. But the strangest thing happened as Alex and I left the theater tonight. An old street urchin blocked us from making our way to our carriage. The stench of filth and decay was so heavy on her I felt faint and my dear Alex had to hold me upright. As he was about to call for the officers she warned us in a raspy and horrid voice not to make our move to Japan. She said terrible things would befall us should we ever leave our homeland of France. She said, and I remember this clearly, 'You've built your new home on the land of the devil. The devil will rape you young lass, if you enter his land.' Why the whole thing was so absurd I laughed at the old witch, despite my unsteadiness, and ordered her to move from our way. The devils land. I laugh still at the silliness of it all. The old coot must have had too much rum or some rancid meat, devils land indeed. No one shall be raping me, you can be sure of that my journal. And now I must sleep for I wish these last three days to come as quickly as they can.
The next entry told of how the trip over the ocean went and how much she loved her new house.
The gardens that surround this manor our so radiant that God himself must have planted them. Flowers of every kind bloom here but my favorite are the roses. Such a deep red are they it looks like a goddess spilt her blood to make them herself. The house itself is so lovely I cried upon entering it. The whole second floor is made of guestrooms so that we might throw parties every night. And Alex is so thoughtful that he has built already built into the house a nursery and playroom for our future children. To get to them and our bedroom you only need to take a left upon entering the manor…
The next five entries were just about the same. They described the rooms in the house and which ones she loved the most. It even told of the cross-room except that the room was empty and had no meaning at the time. After flipping through pages he came across one that interested him.
It's almost been two weeks since we've been here and truly I've loved every minute of it. And today, journal, I have joyful news. Its been discovered that I am pregnant! Isn't that just the finest news? Now our family will be completed with this creation of our love. But when I heard the news I couldn't help but recall a dream I had several nights past. Since we've been here my dreams have been sweet and promising of a wonderful future. But this dream was of a disturbing nature. I was walking barefoot in my nightgown outside in the gardens. The night air was hot and humid, making my gown stick to me in a sweaty cling. I felt as if someone was breathing hotly down my neck and the fine hairs at the nape of it stood on end. Then I saw my Alex up ahead of me, calling out for me to come to him. But as I walked he seemed to get farther away, so I began a frantic run. Suddenly out of nowhere I was falling. Everything around me was so black I could barely breathe. Just as suddenly as I started falling, I stopped. I seemed to be laying on something soft and above me I saw Alex's face. He began to make love to me and everything was slow and sweet as I moaned for him to continue. But then I suddenly couldn't move and I felt as if something heavy was holding me down. The face above me wasn't Alex's anymore and I screamed as the strange man pounded into me so hard I felt I would rip apart. And just as the pain became unbearable, I woke up. The pain was gone but the memory of all I had dreamt was still there. Beside me Alex slept in a peaceful slumber but the words that street urchin had uttered to me those final days in France resurfaced and repeated themselves over and over again in my mind. But now I am sure the dream was nothing. I do believe I've had stranger before so I shan't let myself worry over it. The joyful news of my pregnancy will defiantly keep myself and the rest of the manors occupants busy with preparations and balls. There shall be one ball in a week's time as celebration of the news. We want time for all those coming over from France to get here and of course there will be our new acquaintances from here in Japan. My soul is overflowing with happiness dear journal and I can think of nothing else.
Three weeks have passes since the wonderful news and I fear that something horrible is happening to this manor. My bath maid Yui has gone missing, along with some kitchen staff and one of the butlers. They've been missing for seven days now and at first we suspected them of having run away. But last night I was awaken by the most horrible screaming. It was as if someone was being ripped apart and tortured. Alex heard it too, as did most of the staff. We searched the entire manor from top to bottom but never found a single thing. It was as if the screaming was coming from inside the walls. I over heard one of the nursery staff saying something about it being the missing staff members and I scolded her for thinking such a thing. The screaming continues on to this very moment and I fear that some of our staff might leave us. I've decided to put use to that room beneath the stairs. It shall become a sanctuary for I have neglected our lord God for some time now. I shall neglect him no longer. Furthermore, the child inside me is causing me great pains. I feel as if there is more then one. At the moment though I cannot tell if this is a blessing or a curse.
Nagi closed the book and stood up. He would take it back to his room and read it. Perhaps the stories that Kaly had told them were indeed true. He did think it strange how the book just seemed to fall into his hands. Oh well, it would be interesting to learn what had happened to the manor so long ago. Turning off the light and heading out the door he failed to notice the body of a nicely dressed man hanging several feet above the air by a rope tied around the hook in the ceiling.