Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all fine!
Without any further ado, I present you chapter 147. As always, I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you once more for keeping up with the story, by following/ favoring/ commenting/ reading. You are all awesome!
Next week I shall upload normally and will quite possibly take a break for Easter on Wednesday 27th.
Until then, be well and have fun!
The small room was filled in cobwebs, dust and stashes of dried, dusty and yellowed paper. They were so tall and so many that passing by any of them seemed like a sort of hastily-made school track field course.
The young moon wasn't bright enough to shed any light through the old gray blinders. A large table lamp, as old-fashioned and Mistralian in style as the rest of the building, shed light on the big mahogany table.
Seated on said table, trying their best to not accidentally throw down any nearby pile of old files and newspaper records, Ruby and Yang were patiently waiting for the antique-looking PC to finish searching through its archives. A pair of half-empty water bottles was left next to them.
"A few more minutes" the brunette said. Her sister nodded and took a quick look around, making sure nobody- or nothing- was listening to them. "I still can't believe the owner let us search through their files."
"Perks of being famous- and hot" the blonde tenderly smiled. "Besides, you heard him. The magazine closed years ago and he was surprised to hear we wanted to take a look at it. He even asked us for autographs."
Ruby groaned and sipped some water "well, you heard the guys at the police station. The only ones who would normally pay any attention to bedtime stories like this would be a crackpot magazine like this one."
"Crackpot, huh?" Yang ruffled Ruby's hair, her hand filling in warmth. "I am such a bad influence for you" she joked. "You are the best influence there is; except for when you aren't" the silver-eyed girl winked at her.
Yang smiled back and fought hard to maintain her façade. She forced her hand to stop trembling and keep her wits around to not aggravate her beloved sister. She had to keep her calm; for now, at least. "Yeah."
Ruby sent a side glance at her. "Why don't you get some sleep? I will wake you up if I find anything important." "We don't know how much time it will take, Rubes. Besides, I kind of want to get over with this."
The brunette nodded and shook her shoulders. "Do you believe in that guy's words?" she finally asked. Yang sipped some water too "come on, Rubes. Don't give me that shit. We were both there; you saw the house in the painting. You-" she rubbed her palm "-you heard the children."
"It's just…" Ruby sighed "…even for an Elder, this is way too weird. How can a Grimm make a moving, laughing picture? What sort of magic is it? And why did this guy get inspired so much? It makes zero sense, sis."
Yang raised her bandaged palm. "I am possessed by an evil eye that can eat magic and reacts really bad to other Grimm activity" she stretched her words to emphasize on her being sarcastic as much as she could do.
"I see dead reflections on mirrors and windows" she gulped, trying her best to not let her lilac orbs fall too much on the beheaded figure of her beloved little sister reflected on the half-opened window behind her.
That was a bit of a lie; she saw far more than that. But Yang had made her resolve already. She wouldn't even think of letting her friends get hurt more than necessary, no matter what would become of her.
She would endure this. She could endure this. If it was a test of mind, of mental fortitude, she would pull through. And then, should they come out victorious, she would joke about it till the end of her days. If not…
"Oh, it's done!" the loud beep coming out of the pc wasn't enough to stop Yang's thoughts. She didn't want to die. No person enjoying life as much as she did would ever want to die. No person should want to die.
But… she clenched her metal fist, shaking the thoughts away. If she had no other choice, if her death was predetermined the moment this evil thing had crawled inside her skin… then so be it. She would accept her fate- and take down those vile bastards with her. That was her resolve.
As if confirming her decision, a ghastly image of her face, maimed and full of bite marks, faded away as she finished the water bottle. Her heart skipped a bit. I have to find a non-transparent thermos; and soon.
Her eyes travelled back to her sister- the only source of happiness that remained in this crumbled dusty old building housing the remains of an eccentric Vacuan magazine specializing in urban legends and folklore.
"Just give me a few more minutes to find if there's anything…" lost in her own thoughts, Ruby mumbled. "All the time you need" Yang gave her a big smile of affection, hoping her sis would miss the sadness in it.
If Ruby noticed something, she didn't mention it. Narrowing her eyes at the old-school monitor, she began typing a few research themes for the PC to filter by. Yang stood up and reluctantly patted her in the back.
She then walked to the window and stretched her body. Her muscles were all sore and she could feel the tension trapped inside them with every movement she made. I am in a pretty bad shape, huh. Great…
She looked outside the panel, carefully covering the abhorrent image of her dead sister with her hat. The night was surprisingly cool and a crisp, gentle breeze blew through the stone-built streets of the district.
I should get Weiss for a night walk in this place, once all is done and I'm not afraid to touch or kiss her anymore… this is such a lovely place for-
"Ha! Found it!" Ruby triumphantly cried. "You serious?" she had been quite skeptical in the chances of finding anything in this place to begin with, so their discovery was equally surprising as her sister's war cry.
"It was easier than I expected, but Mr. Mustard seems to have been a bit obsessed with urban legends" she explained with a smile that was so infectious her sister's couldn't help but follow as she sat next to her.
"Unlike the rest of the building, his archive is well-organized in various files with code names on. He even has written summaries and his own estimations on each subject!" "Talk about a huge nerd" Yang joked.
Ruby stuck her tongue out and sipped a bit more water as she pointed with her finger to the file. "Fergus Celain mansion?" the blonde asked.
For some reason, her words came out rasped. She felt a sudden chill ran up her back. Her hair stood on edge and her skin had formed a few goosebumps. She clenched her bandaged arm and cracked her palm.
Ruby sent her a few worried glances, but the blonde waved her hand in dismissal. With a highly skeptical look on her face, the reaper started reading the magazine owner's collective work and files on Mr. Celain.
"Have you ever walked the back alleys of Vacuo at night? If you do, you may have stumbled across an eerie spectacle; a magnificent mansion of Mistralian design suddenly appearing before you out of thin air."
Yang blinked. Here goes my night dating plans she joked in the inside, trying to ease the heavy knot that had formed in her stomach.
"The mansion belonged to Mr. Fergus Celain. He was a doll maker from south Mistral who had immigrated in Vacuo in search for inspiration. As local rumors and reports say, he lived a few years previous to the Great War, even though the exact date is unfortunately untraceable.
Why this person picked Vacuo as his new home, no one can be sure. He was an eccentric person- as most excellent artists tend to be- and kind of a misanthrope. He hated most adults, but was kind and benevolent towards children. Not in any wrong way, of course."
Both sisters stared at each other, secretly happy this was cleared from the get go.
"During his life, he devoted the mansion to helping abandoned orphans and to perfecting his art. His mansion was modeled after the Mistralian style and was turned to both a playground and a doll crafting facility."
"It does resemble the picture; the art was definitely Mistralian" Yang's voice cut off Ruby's reading. "Somehow, I was hoping for the opposite" the reaper replied.
In spite of his talent, however, his lack of social skills and misanthropy meant he had very few visitors. Outsiders rarely laid eyes upon his art objects and no nobles would invite him to any exhibition or festivity.
Thus, his elaborate dolls, remained pristine and untouched; placed into display in their cases around the mansion's narrow corridors and ornate staircases, their grandeur shown only to its queer master and children.
There is a record of an art critic once visiting Celain Mansion in order to try convincing the eccentric artist into attending an art fest for the King of Vacuo, only for him to give up at the very same night of his visit.
In his account, he mentioned the unearthly, human nature of life-sized dolls placed at each corner of the house. They were all dressed up and taken care of so lividly, one would think they could move on their own.
In accordance to the critic, Fergus treated them like they were alive; the few children he managed to see even talked to them as if they were real and breathing. And he could not swear they weren't able to do so."
Ruby stopped to take a breath. Yang hugged her with her metal arm and the brunette nuzzled at her nape. "I hate dolls" she whimpered. "I know" Yang kissed the top of her head "and I am here for you" she said.
After a few minutes it took for the girl to regain her composure, they went back to reading. This time, the brawler took position on the PC to let her sister's eyes rest a bit.
"Despite his apparent lack of social circle, he had no trouble retaining the house and taking care of his guests. The outer walls were always kept pristine clean. The fences were well-tended and his children were always well-fed, neatly dressed and finely mannered towards strangers.
The source of his income and the exceptionally polite mannerisms of the orphans led many people to believe he had signed a deal with the devil and sold off his soul- and his children- for inspiration and wealth."
Yang sighed and let a bitter smile appear on her face. "The devil; or the Mad King, whose meteor appears conveniently the same day a stranger artist dreams of drawing this manor. Coincidence?" she joked out loud.
Ruby narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow, in an almost perfect copy of Weiss' 'you are kidding me, right?' expression. She pointed at the PC for her sister to continue.
"All of the above, of course, are rumors and should be treated as such. Let's talk about the undeniable facts, instead. The following ones are all confirmed details, from Vacuo's official records after the War's end.
In year 7, the mansion was confirmed to be without a master. There is no record whether Celain participated in the War or simply passed away during that time since there are no records or registrations of his death.
Surprisingly enough, a will of his own was found during the federal cops' investigation of his house. To everyone's surprise, none of his children were to inherit the mansion- maybe that's why they had all vanished and none of them was found in the building when the search took place.
Lawyers validated the will's authenticity and, the same year, the manor passed to the state of Vacuo. It is quite important to note that the only request mentioned in the will was for the new owners to preserve all the dolls and hand-made equipment that was left inside the manor rooms."
Yang rubbed her eyes. Ruby had grown silent, her face a tad paler than her usual pinkish one. "I don't like this at all" she grabbed her elbows in an attempt to ease her discomfort. "Should I-" "No, go on" she replied.
"In 11 post war Thurmond Family bought the house from the state. They moved in and found the Mistralian manor in splendid condition, stating it seemed as if it had been abandoned for less than a month.
The eerie, life-like dolls were all in fantastic state, without any speck of dust or grime over their bodies. They were so pristine and well-kept that Ms. Thurmond is said to have mentioned they were observing her.
The few weeks after their arrival at the house, the situation took a turn for the worse. Ms. Thurmond started developing a curious case of acute paranoia. She insisted the dolls were literally following her movements.
That feeling was refuted by Mr. Thurmond, the staff and the rest of her family. Despite that, she refused to go to any place without company and spent most of the time isolated in her room, away from any others.
It is not stated whether Mr. Thurmond paid heed to his wife's warnings or not, but there are records of various doctors attending to her for a while. It's mentioned that no physical or mental ailment was diagnosed.
Despite all these, her situation continued to worsen, until the summer of year 13 when an incident occurred that resulted to the death of her first son, Klaus. The boy's lifeless body was found down the stairs with a broken neck. The autopsy results indicated he had been pushed down.
Suspicions fell on the pale, sickly form Ms. Thurmond had been turned into. The woman, in an almost delirious mental state, didn't even try to defend herself, only urging her husband to take the rest of the family away from this accursed house and its murderous, ever-vigilant dolls."
"Ho –boy; I think I need a drink now" Ruby rubbed her arms. "Same" in a couple seconds, Yang had reached out and pulled a thermos with ice tea from her bag. "Weiss' favorite flavor; apple" Ruby licked her lips.
"Do you think the woman was innocent?" Yang asked her, standing up to chill her mind. "It could always be a Geist possessing the dolls or a new Grimm we don't know of. Wouldn't be the first time" she replied.
"Let's hope it's either of this" the brawler tapped her fingers. "Yeah, I think it's a good idea" Ruby, face as white as Weiss', replied again. They spent a few minutes drinking in comfortable silence before continuing.
"Mr. Thurmond took his wife's words to heart and soon after, he and his two remaining children left the city and kingdom. Ms. Thurmond spent the rest of her days in an Asylum, her health increasing significantly after her hospitalization. The mansion was returned to the kingdom.
It goes without saying; the case fed rumors and local folk tales for years. People avoided the narrow alley passing in front of the old-looking yet pristine building.
The very few braves, who did, mentioned lights moving in the dim, dark panels and forms being reflected in the clean, thick glass windows. Eerie laughter was said to be carried from the gardens to the main street.
It took more than forty years for someone to express their interest in the manor again, mostly due to the government deciding to turn it into a guest house under low costs for faunus and homeless immigrant people.
Over the twenty years between 55 and 75, the manor became home for numerous poor people, all of them either leaving within a few days or, in some cases, disappearing without a trace.
I am displaying a few cases here, for reference.
In 56, a faunus family left the house after staying in there for three days. When asked by the police, they claimed they couldn't stand the ever-watching gaze of the realistic dolls.
In 58, a young couple from Atlas chose the manor as an ideal place to host a banquet. They vanished the night of the fest, with no guest remembering when they were last seen alive.
One of the worst cases happened in 61. An elderly man living in the manor attacked a couple passing by and hacked them into pieces. Apparently, he-
Yang stopped and stared at Ruby "he fed them to the dolls. How he managed to stuff the pieces into their bellies without opening them is as mysterious as to how the decrepit-looking man was able to take down two physically adept younger people. Smears of blood and a few pieces of meat were found on the dolls' lips and faces as well." Ruby didn't comment and the tall girl was more than eager to move on.
In 64, the faunus family living inside the manor was arrested for harassing the local police. They had complained more than sixty-two times about untraceable noises in the cellar and attic.
In 65, a single mother fled to Shade Academy asking for help with a Grimm case. She claimed that a shadow figure had pounced on a passerby in front of her and dragged him into the manor. The case was never closed, but a thorough investigation yielded no results.
Between 66 and 75, more than seventeen cases of eerie spectacles and wild assaults related to the house were mentioned. The reports were all stashed away in cold case files; possibly due to the low status of the witnesses and the outrageously impossible tales they were exclaiming.
Regardless, it was such a person who put the finishing touch in Celain's morbid manor story. In December 76, a young faunus called Mike Tar was arrested under the charge of vandalism and premeditated arson.
His victim was none else than the house he was currently living in; the accursed mansion of madness, habited by the humanlike dolls of Fergus Celain. His work was so thorough; the entire building was razed to the very ground, leaving a few smoldering piles of ash and rubble behind it.
According to his testimony, he had been suffering from strange dreams of gray vistas and grand monoliths standing in the desert. He would often wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of light footsteps.
He claimed that in an attempt to stop the accursed dreams and sound, he unsealed a secret part in the attic that he had seen in his dreams. It led him to a strange worshipping room with an altar of dark stone and pale white, glittering gold. The sigil of a Grimm mask was carved on it."
Yang licked her lips and finished her tea. It was starting to get warm, but anything to take her mind off of the implications of what they were reading would do. Even if half of it was true, it was still way too much.
"He refused no matter what the police tried on him, to speak of the dark and unnamable things he witnessed up there. He only mentioned that he did what he had to do and razed that accursed place to the ground."
"So, the building was destroyed ten years ago" Ruby said. "Looks like it, yes. There is one last paragraph the editor has written about it" Yang answered and proceeded with finishing the article.
"From then on, no more cases have been mentioned of the once proud and mysterious manor. There is one curious detail I managed to fish out however, from a friend in the Vacuan city archives.
In 79, despite having been burnt to the ground and remodeled to a new shopping center, there has been a notice of a woman buying the Celain Manor from the state, for a significant amount of lien. Her name-"
"Fuck" Yang swore. Ruby eyed her sister curiously, her silver eyes fixed on her sister's lilac orbs. She was surprised to see flickers of red burst out of the corner of the blonde's irises. Yang was mad; like, really mad.
"What happened?" she moved in closer. Without replying, the tall girl finished reading the article, not even trying to hide the disdain from her angry voice. "Her name was Safira Blue- registered in no official paper."
"The maiden?" Ruby's voice heightened a bit, disbelief and surprise in her expression. "It can't be a coincidence, can it?" she asked. "I don't think so, Rubes" Yang stood up. "We have to go there" she announced.
"True" Ruby fought down all the knots forming in her stomach thinking about all that creepy dolls with the cold faces lurking in the dark corner of corridors and staircases. "Let me call Rumpole first" she requested.
Yang nodded and Ruby picked up her scroll. She opened- and lowered it at once. "It's dead; no signal at all" she sent her sister a knowing gaze.
Wordlessly, the brawler raised her own one. "Dead" she turned around, kicked the chair away and ran to the window. Not caring about stealth any longer, she raised the blinders- and gulped in a raising heartbeat.
In the middle of a narrow alley, far away from the light of the main district, an old-looking Mistralian Manor had appeared like a ghost having crawled out of its domain in response to the sound of its name.
In the deep, eerily silent night, a fading childish laughter echoed under the pale gaze of a deceptive golden moon.