Cuz they're all present and accounted for (sorta): Pairings! AnsemxSephiroth, AxelxZexion, MarluxiaxVexen, SoraxRiku, CloudxAerith. The last two are implied. Read between the lines for the SoraxRiku, and the CloudxAerith is a little more obvious.
Day six: …Which may or may not be expensive…
After breakfast, everyone pretty much sat around wondering what the hell to do with themselves.
"I want to see that new movie," Namine said.
"Which one? In case you haven't noticed, there are really quite a lot," Larxene said, somewhat sarcastically.
Namine glared at her, and replied, "The Wallace and Gromit movie."
"Oh, that one."
It was pretty much decided, that, for want of anything else, they would see the Wallace and Gromit movie, although Vexen, Marluxia, Axel, and Zexion turned that down in favour of "Flight Plan." Ansem and Sephiroth, though, stopped at the bookstore.
"See anything?" Ansem muttered to Sephiroth. They were both poking around in the paranormal section, looking for books by a certain author.
"Not yet…" Sephiroth replied, craning his neck to peer at the top shelves. Ansem was examining the lower shelves. "Oh!" Sephiroth reached up and pulled down a few books. He and Ansem paid for them, then drove home, Sephiroth having opted to drive his truck rather than get crammed into Leon's microbus with the rest of them.
"'True Ghost Stories by Hans Holzer,' 'More True Ghost Stories,' and 'The Ghost Hunter's Favourite Cases,' also by Hans Holzer," Ansem said, reading aloud the titles and sitting on the couch. "We must be nuts."
"Who cares? Everyone's crazy in their own way," Sephiroth replied, taking "True Ghost Stories." Ansem thought for a moment, and shrugged. He picked up "More True Ghost Stories" and began to read. Occasionally they would read aloud cases of interest, but none of them even began to parallel what they'd experienced. In a little while, the others returned from the movies, and Ansem and Sephiroth relocated upstairs.
Sephiroth let out a cry of frustration. "This is not helping!" he cried, tossing the book aside. Ansem ignored him, as he was sort of enjoying the books. Sephiroth sighed, seeing as he'd gotten no response, and stared around the room. He glanced at one corner, and frowned. The shadows were moving. That's weird, he thought. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. No, those shadows were definitely moving.
Before his eyes, the shadows coalesced into a solid-looking form, looking something like a head. It had short hair, cruel-looking eyes, and a thin, stern-looking mouth. It was completely gray, and surrounded and permeated with a whitish fog. Sephiroth's eyes widened as it turned to face him; then it hovered over Ansem, staring down at him.
"Ansem, whatever you do, don't sit up," Sephiroth hissed. Ansem glanced at him, and looked up.
"Holy shit!" he cried, sitting up. The head backed out of the way, and turned to follow Ansem as he raced over to Sephiroth, who had stood up. "What the hell is that?"
"I don't know! It just now appeared!" Sephiroth explained, never taking his eyes off the head. It grinned, revealing strangely pointed eyeteeth, and vanished. Ansem grabbed Sephiroth's hand, and held it tightly.
"We should probably go through those newspapers again," Ansem said after a while. Sephiroth was about to reply, but a slam from downstairs interrupted him. Another slam followed, and another, over and over again. Ansem and Sephiroth raced downstairs, to find all the windows opening and falling back down without breaking. The others were starting to panic, and things worsened when the doors began slamming wildly.
To add to their horror, a faint growling started up in the kitchen, at first soft, then growing louder as though it was drawing nearer. Namine screamed, and Larxene hugged her tightly. Sora and Riku were clinging to each other, Aerith had buried her face in Cloud's shirt, Yuffie had her fingers in her ears and was humming the theme to the Wallace and Gromit movie, and the others sat as if stunned.
A loud thud echoed from the attic, and Ansem and Sephiroth looked at each other and nodded. They ran upstairs, followed by Vexen, Axel, and Leon. The moment the five of them reached the attic stairs, the attic door closed. As if someone who didn't want to be disturbed had simply shut the door. Axel and Leon slammed their shoulders into the door, but it remained closed. To further annoy them, there came a loud mocking laugh from the other side of the door, and the lock clicked.
"Dammit!" Axel swore.
"Move!" Ansem yelled. He backed up, got a running start, and slammed into the door. It opened almost immediately, and he stumbled slightly. The five looked around. Everything was untouched. By now the noises from downstairs had ceased entirely.
"What the hell was that?" Leon said exasperatedly.
No one answered.
The five of them returned downstairs, to find that nothing was amiss. The others were talking loudly, obviously trying to figure out what had happened. Ansem and Sephiroth exchanged looks.
"I think it's time to bring Sakkaku back," Sephiroth said. Ansem nodded.
-(A brief pause while the story moves ahead slightly)-
"Roight. So then wot?"
Sakkaku and Tobias had arrived two hours after Sephiroth called, and they were up in the attic with Sephiroth, Ansem, Axel, and Marluxia. The others, expressing clear desires to get out of the house, had gone for lunch. Axel had just gotten through telling her about the occurrences.
"Whoi couldn't any o' this 'appen whoile Oi was 'ere?" Sakkaku grumbled, pulling a tape recorder out of her bag. She turned it on and set it on the floor by the door. They went downstairs, and explored the entire house, except the basement. However, Tobias didn't pick up anything.
"Try the basement?" Marluxia suggested when they wondered what to do. Ansem, Axel, and Sephiroth exchanged looks. No one had really wanted to go down into the basement willingly after what had happened to Larxene. Sakkaku shrugged.
"Worf a sho', Oi guess," she said. So, despite extreme reluctance from most, the six of them headed down to the basement. Sakkaku looked around, peering under furniture, while Tobias simply stood there. Axel glanced at a certain spot on the floor and frowned slightly.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing. Ansem followed his gaze, and cocked his head.
"Huh. Never noticed that before," he said, going over to examine it. He and Axel moved over to look at it. It was a small, rusty-brown coloured circle, like a drop of dried blood. Ansem brushed his fingers over it, and immediately felt as though he'd received an electric shock. "Whatever it is, don't touch it."
Axel, being Axel, decided to touch it anyway, and yanked his hand away with a yelp.
"Axel, what are you doing?" Sephiroth asked, holding the shelves away from the wall so Sakkaku could peer behind them.
"Come check this out," Axel said, motioning the other four over.
"It looks like a drop of blood," Marluxia mused.
"It is."
All eyes turned to Tobias. His eyes were glazed over, and he was speaking as though he was a great distance away.
"It is a drop of blood from Blade Harper. He broke through the window, true enough. But he did not murder Ian Harland. Ian Harland murdered Blade Harper. This was one of Blade Harper's homes. His other was in Sussex, where I now live. The torso is Blade Harper," he said. "Ian Harland killed Blade, cut up his body, and then injured himself to make it look like Blade had killed him. But his plan backfired. He cut himself too badly, and died of blood loss before he could get back to his own home. He haunts this house as well, as he died in the woods at the back of the property.
"Ian was a liar. He wanted Blade's house, not the other way around, but…"
Tobias' eyes closed, then reopened, this time perfectly clear.
"Did I miss something?" he asked.
"No' really," Sakkaku said, holding up a digital tape recorder she'd kept on in her pocket. "Been on since Oi got 'ere."
"I just wish he'd kept talking," Axel said irritably.
"What did I say?" Tobias asked.
Marluxia filled him in, and he looked puzzled.
"Huh. I've had many a conversation with Great-grandfather Blade, and he never mentioned this," he said. "But does that mean Ian Harland was lying?"
The others, seeing as how they had no answer, decided to head back up to the attic. Sakkaku picked up her tape recorder and rewound it. She pressed "Play." A horrible jumble of sounds issued from the speaker, completely unintelligible. It sort of sounded like a bunch of cats fighting on a fence, falling off, and continuing the fight; while a croaking frog trapped under a burning stone and swinging a rusty gate back and forth provided background music. Sakkaku wrinkled her nose.
"Well, tha's obnoxious as 'ell," she said.
-
Okie-dokie! I think the plot's moving along nicely! But I'm not sure, cuz I haven't decided how long to make this. Anyway! Muahahaha… lies, deceit, murder, mystery, and increase in spiritual activity! What lies in store for our friends at 724 Elm?
Hmm… there haven't been many yaoi moments since chapter three, have there? Anyone out there suffering because of this? I'll have to do something about that. I'll make it all up to you, that I will! (Rubs hands together eagerly)
A little poll thingy: How many of you reader chaps kind of like Tobias so far? I'm just curious.
A teaser thing cuz I feel like it: In chapters to come, there's a lot more yaoi moments, possession, Sakkaku and Tobias get in way over their heads looking for ol' Ian's body, and the mystery of that damn monk thing gets solved! I keep forgetting about it. But not all in one chapter tho'. The cat's out of the bag and it's out of the frying pan and into the fire for the residents of 724 Elm! The genre might change too. In other words, humour will be replaced by horror! Maybe.