Darkness Falls - Chapter 14: Descent Into Darkness

"I don't get it. What did she mean by 'we should have been watching'?"

Surprised, Mafuyu glanced back at Caroline, a look of approval on his face. "So you caught that, eh?" She nodded. He sighed.

"All ghosts have an ability to sense… sense things that happened in their surroundings. Iris and I have been here, watching over the gate along with Ki-… just, we've been watching over it." Damnit… he had nearly given away the fact that she was still there. He couldn't do that, not just yet. "Malice appeared out from under our noses, as the saying goes. If we had been more alert, we would have been able to prevent this but-"

Caroline interrupted him. "You can't be expected to always be paying attention. I mean, you're dead. You're supposed to be able to rest or some rot like that."

Mafuyu laughed and cast a look in Tanya's direction. The little girl seemed even more morose than before, and it sent an almost ominous chill up his spine. She didn't look back at him, completely ignorant of the world around her.

He sighed. This isn't going to be easy, now will it?

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"Where are they?" Zero snapped, threatening to hit Malice. The girl cringed, though in actuality he couldn't have harmed it unless it let him.

"They'll be here soon, like I said," it snapped back, glaring at him. "Learn to be patient. Trust me, it'll pay off later."

Spitting on the floor, he whirled around, crossing his arms. "You better be telling the truth, or you're going to pay for this later."

Like you could do anything to me, you bastard.

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"Down there."

Caroline stared down into the darkness, slightly afraid to continue. With no light, she could just barely make out the ladder, and it was not on the top of her list, to be climbing down a ladder in the dark into a 'Hell Hole'.

"Do I have to go down there?" She asked, not meaning to whine. Unfortunately, it came out as such, and she ducked her head, blushing. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Mafuyu put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a half-hearted smile. "It's not exactly an appealing place. But Iris said that she'd meet us down there with the camera. C'mon."

Sighing, Caroline lowered herself down, grabbing hold of the sides of the ladder. It creaked under her, and she carefully tested each rung before putting her full weight on it. One's going to break under me, and I'm going to fall, and then I'm going to break my neck, and no one will find me.

She got down the first ladder without anything too exciting happening to her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she realized that Tanya and Mafuyu were already down there. Cringing, she lowered herself down the second ladder.

And then it happened.

Something cut the rung out from under Caroline's. Biting back a scream, she struggled to hold herself up, but her arms soon gave out, sending her tumbling to the ground below.

"Ow…" she groaned, rubbing her head. "What happened?"

"I happened."