The sixth instalment (wherein some digging is done)

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Remembrance

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"Good morning. Today is December 25th, and boy, have I been looking forward to this."

The camera shifts towards the house. There is snow on the ground, not a lot, but enough of it. Tyki angles the camera back towards his face.

"I could have done without the snow though. It makes sneaking in a wee bit trickier. Not that it's really a problem or anything, since it's mostly just deer around here. Anyways, it's bloody cold out here so let's get inside."

He walks for a bit, snow crunching underneath his feet, and he directs the camera back towards the house.

"Mind you, this really isn't my first time exploring this place, but my phone ran out of battery the last time around, so here goes. I'll talk more once we get inside."

-.-.-.-

Appetite momentarily sated, Allen remained in the kitchen, eyes on the video that was playing on the screen. "December 25th…"

A good date and a bad one, as far as Allen himself was concerned. That said though− "Do all urban explorers narrate so goddamned much or is it just you?"

Tyki chuckled, just as the face of the Tyki in the video reappeared. The latter was smiling, gesturing over his shoulder where he stood, surrounded by darkness. "This here is a secret passage; I stumbled upon it quite literally last time I was here." The smile broadened just a fraction. "It's a bit of a funny story actually; I was moving stealthily through the woods and bam, I got my foot stuck. I mean, I initially thought it might've been a rabbit hole or something, but upon closer inspection, it turned out that it was actually a pretty rotten hatch. And so, here we are. It's pretty damn dark down here, don't you think? Well, fortunately, there are methods to deal with that."

Said methods consisted of a headlamp, apparently.

"Now, there's not a whole lot to see down here, let's be honest, but I thought it would still be nice to show it to you guys. What can I say? It adds to the atmosphere, I guess. Well, anyways, here's what I've learned so far: This place used to belong to some sort of noble family. Counts, barons, dukes, that kind of thing. I know the name and I've done some research on it, but I haven't really come up with anything conclusive for now. Well, barring the fact that the family seems to have been a bunch of oddballs, that is. This place's previous owner in particular, but we'll talk more about this later."

Down below, Lavi muttered something about people blatantly bragging about multiple instances of trespassing, of breaking and entering and all that. That said, Allen figured the guy could not be all that unappreciative, seeing that the crimes were obviously fairly well documented and all. "Hey!" Speaking of whom. "Do you mind? I can't really see anything from down here."

Yeah, and Allen really failed to see the problem. "You can watch once I'm finished."

"And only if you ask nicely," Tyki added, more playfully than anything, all while the images on the screen brightened again to reveal a frost-tinted window.

"It's pretty cold, but not as cold as one would expect," video-Tyki mused, angling the camera to show as he put his hand on the kitchen radiator. "As I thought, it's a little warm. And as you can see−" He flicked the light switch. "There's electricity."

Allen didn't really get what was so damned interesting about watching this kind of thing. Even so, he found himself doing just that, all while video-Tyki opened and closed the kitchen tap, noting the lack of running water. "No water, but I think it's only for the winter months, because when I was here last time around, there was running water. I think it's turned off now because frozen waterpipes suck. So, somebody's obviously taking care of the property. Nobody lives here though, not for long periods at any rate… Anyways, let me show you around…"

On one hand, Allen questioned the need for the video, seeing that they were in the building. Therefore, it would have been just as easy (no, easier) to just give a guided tour. On the other hand, Allen found that he could appreciate it, because the headache and wooziness of getting tranquilised again wasn't doing him any favours right now and he might just trip down a staircase if he wasn't careful. Speaking of which− "Look at this place! And it's not even trashed, barring those chairs back there. No graffiti, no broken windows, no nothing. Also, there's this. The front entrance. Someone really didn't want company. That said though, the kitchen entrance isn't nearly as heavily fortified. I'd say you'd get in even with a lockpick. Anyways, let's head upstairs…"

The video showed a hand dragging along the railing, gathering dust. "This place could really use a spring cleaning though. Or a few. I don't think there's any asbestos in here though, or any black mould from what I've seen, so kudos to that. Anyways, we're heading upstairs. And upstairs we find this."

The covered grandfather clock came into view, and as the camera was brought closer to it, its distinct ticking could be heard and quite clearly at that. "Weird, isn't it? Anyways, let's keep going. And here's a bedroom, and another, and another, and yet another. It makes you wonder just how many people used to live here at some point, or if the latest oddball had the habit of switching beds every night. There are at least seven bedrooms in here, so that'd probably work. It'd mean seven times as many bedsheets to wash though, I guess."

It felt good to have someone else acknowledge the weirdness of it all. Still− "Isn't it weird to go on narrating like this? Does anyone even watch these things?"

"I had about fifteen thousand subscribers last time I checked, but I haven't logged on in a while. So yeah, a few," Tyki commented.

Lavi sputtered something, but Allen paid it no heed.

"Oh? Uh-oh…" the cell phone was angled towards the nearby window. The image blurred slightly as the camera struggled to find a good focus point. "Someone's coming. Shoot. I was not expecting this. Doesn't look like a security guard though. Maybe a thief, or an explorer like myself. But are they are really going to be so bold as to enter through the door? Well, I better go hide somewhere until I figure out what we're dealing with…"

The quality of the footage was too low and the distance too great to distinguish finer details. That said though, there was something about the general outline of the man that bothered him, because if Allen was not completely mistaken, that was indeed a–

Allen drew a sharp breath as a spike of pain penetrated his skull. He pressed a hand against his forehead, momentarily overcome with a bout of light-headedness. Then along came a sudden wave of nausea, and Allen had to screw his eyes shut and employ a great amount of self-control not to puke, ears ringing.

Gradually, he became aware of voices, but the ringing in his ears prevented him from making much sense of them. Then, just as suddenly, the ringing began to fade, and Allen opened his eyes to find Tyki looking down at him. Lavi was also there, and they both looked a bit−

"Allen," Tyki said, and Allen looked at him, wondering why he seemed so familiar. Also, why he was upside-down. "Do you know where you are?"

Well, going by the angle− "The floor." And partially on Tyki's lap.

"Do you know why?"

Allen didn't know, per se, but he could certainly guess. "I passed out?"

"Yep," Tyki affirmed, leaning down. "Does it happen often?"

He answered without really thinking. "Sometimes, when I remember things."

Someone drew a sharp breath and Allen shifted his gaze towards Lavi. He had this strange look on his face; it was very distracting. But really, so were the fingers brushing lightly against the side of his face.

Allen looked up at Tyki, whose expression carried a strange kind of fondness. "Fucking sucks, doesn't it?" Tyki commented. "Remembering."

Allen couldn't agree more, honestly. Still− "I'm really confused right now."

Tyki's expression brightened even further. "Welcome to the club!" he said.

Wordlessly, Allen rolled unto his side and sat up, cradling his head. "There's something," he muttered, mostly to himself. "Something hidden underneath the tree…"

"Hoh?" Tyki hummed, sounding vaguely intrigued.

-.-.-.-

Lavi rubbed his sore wrists, one part annoyed, one part intrigued and a fairly large part concerned.

"We're gonna need a shovel."

Lavi did not like this, like at all. But, since they had finally decided to unlock the handcuffs, he decided to be helpful and to point them towards the garden shed. While tempted to go looking for his phone in the meantime, Lavi was not about to let the pair out of his sight if he could help it.

Because this Tyki guy was shady as Hell, much too eager to go along with the whims of a person he had supposedly known for mere hours. Normally, Lavi would have put the guy down as just another opportunist, lured in by the prospects of wealth. However, if so, then it would have made a whole lot more sense if he had just taken off the moment he had been discovered instead of actively seeking them out.

And then, of course, there was Allen, and oh boy, where should Lavi even get started on that. The thing supposedly hidden underneath the tree – well, what remained of it – seemed like a decent starting point. After all, Allen's very first action upon arriving at the property had been to head for that exact place, hadn't it?

"The tree's gone."

Back then, Lavi had thought of it as curious, yes, but at the time, concern had stopped him from delving farther into it. After all, Allen had only seemed partially aware of his own actions, which while interesting on one hand was definitely alarming on the other.

And then there was that Tyki guy again, and Allen's curious and no less alarming 180 in regards to him. Granted, Allen's first encounter had been with an unshaven and scruffy version of him, but Lavi really couldn't say that the current one was any more trust-inspiring than the former. Still, as Lavi had previously taken note, there was something about the guy that was undeniably familiar, somehow, though Lavi could say with absolute certainty that he had never met him before in person. Still−

"Fucking sucks, doesn't it? Remembering."

Furthermore, the guy had been eerily calm back when Allen had lapsed into that episode of his, like he had dealt with similar cases before. Shameful as it might have been to admit it, even to himself, Lavi had panicked a bit. Even so, after the events, he could recall with definite clarity how the man had sat down on the floor next to the kitchen sink, Allen's head and body resting against his side while he had his fingers lightly against the teen's throat, first measuring his pulse and then−

The sound of metal hitting metal tore him from his thoughts.

Tyki, who was doing the digging, tapped lightly on the thing with the shovel.

It sounded metallic and hollow.

Lavi looked at Allen. Allen did not seem to notice, staring down at the thing down in the hole as if it held a dead body. Judging by the size and proportions of the box down there, it was not entirely unlikely.

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