I do not own Blazblue.
Took a very long time to finish because of the immense boredom that overcame me writing the second part of this story. The NOL girls plus Celica are just no fun to write, unless of course they're being brutalized. Nevertheless, I'm trying to be more consistent and faster with updates, and I'll try harder next time. Hope you all enjoy.
Large feet clad in boots of leather and steel trudged through the thick forest floor, the quiet snapping of leaves, twigs, and debris that he crushed under his foot and the axe he dragged across the ground the only sounds audible in the still, silent and ever peaceful evergreen garden that was his home. He could never imagine a more perfect place to spend the rest of his life in. Could not even entertain the thought of leaving the peace and quiet that his humble little abode so graciously offered to him. It was almost as if he would be leaving himself behind—himself and all the memories he had here. Perhaps in a different life, if things were a little more easier and he had nothing to hold him back, maybe he would consider living in a more suburban area, but he always doubted he would. He has only taken trips in and out of the forest a handful times to stack up on supplies and food, but each time he did, the wonders of city life was never anything he found special. The loud, angry yells of civilians, speeding cars, and the general presence of people was an annoyance to him. He would rather much stay here, where no one could find him nor see him. To spend the rest of his days in the presence of shady trees and the warm smiles of his family.
The large man adjusted the tattered trench coat draped over his shoulders and swung the axe he had in his hand to hold it over his shoulder. His brother and sister always wanted to see what it was like, life in the city world, but he never allowed it. He never wanted them leaving without his permission or their mother's. Outside of the forest was a danger to them and it would be for himself if he wasn't as capable as he was. His mother never liked how protective he was over them and the house they all lived in since he would need to get over that older brother instinct that he had, as she like to put it, so those two can finally grow up, but he couldn't help it. People were dangerous, the outside was dangerous, any and all things he didn't inspect and trust were considered dangerous, and there is not a thing in the world that will tell him otherwise.
He grumbled something indistinct under his breath and started walking faster, his heart and mind already missing the cozy and amiable atmosphere of his cabin and the voices of his family. They must all be so hungry now, with him taking so long sweeping the forest and all. He was gonna be late making dinner for them, and that's certainly not something his mother would like, let alone his siblings. Mom couldn't cook and his brother and sister couldn't lift a spoon without breaking a finger, so he needed to hurry back if he wanted to make it in time to feed them. It was so irresponsible of him to do, just to leave them there without food, but being a little late for dinner was better than allowing anyone to enter the forest. It's been awhile since he had to dispose of nerdowells who came out too deep in these parts, but he can never be too careful. Nothing is safe if he isn't around, and it was a view he shall always stand by until the day he dies. Most would say he was overprotective, but you could never be too cautious about safety.
He walked briskly down the dimly lit path the moon up above had graciously offered him and wasted no time heading back home. He'll make something simple—probably a stew of sorts, like beef or chicken. He didn't have much in mind in terms of a meal, but as long as it tasted good, it's not like they would care. They never did anyway.
In just a few minutes of hopping over rocks and crossing streams that separated him from his home, the man had finally made it to his cabin in what felt like seconds but not before taking in the humble sights of the blackened cottage that now stood before him. The charred logs that made up its exterior and the subtle smell of stale embers it gave off was both nostalgic yet somehow melancholy whenever he gazed upon it which he always found strange, much like the soot and ash that it was covered in. Nevertheless, it still made him feel at home, where he wanted to be, deserved to be. Even if it wasn't perfect or the most ideal place to live in, it still warmed his heart to even come inside and greet the happy, calm faces of the only family he had.
"I'm home." He called out as soon as his hand pushed through the door that led inside before closing it behind him. He then shrugged off his jacket and placed the dirtied axe in his hand against the wall as he slowly trotted his way through the living room while admiring the interior of his home with glazed over eyes. The walls, floors, and furniture was just the same as the outside, if not a little worse for wear, but he didn't pay it any mind nor did he bother questioning it. He wasn't one for appealing decor. As long as it was comfortable to sit and eat on, it didn't matter to him. His mother wouldn't like it if he threw out all the furniture she worked so hard to carve and build anyway.
In his head, he could hear all three members of his family greeting him with varying degrees of ebullience—his little sister would be running up to him trying to hug his leg while his mom would take his jacket off his shoulders. His brother would be somewhere, calling out some form of "hello" from a different room somewhere, only barely acknowledging his existence, but still holding that brotherly cadence that the man was so use to. He smiled at that and murmured hushed whispers as he made his way to the kitchen, his hands moving against the air as if hugging and patting the backs of his mother and sister. They both felt so warm against his skin, a familiar heat that he could never forget when it came to those two. He would hold onto them both longer if it weren't for the growls he was hearing erupting from their stomachs, so he instead let them go as gently and as subtly as he could and quickly got to work. Preparing dinner hadn't taken very long, save for the amount of time it took to braise the meat in the ages old wood burning stove he had stuffed in the far corner of the room.
He followed through with his plan of making a simple beef stew for them all to enjoy, and was diligent in piling on plate after plate with his cooking for each of them as soon as he was done. He then walked out to the dining room with food in hand to place each dish on the black and brittle wooden table that stood weakly in the middle of the floor before seating himself at the very end of it to eat his share. It was nothing but bitter cold, eerie silence that shrouded the room to the common ear, but for the large man, who picked and ate at his plate with hurried yet mechanical motions of his hand, it was as lively as he remembered it being years ago.
The plates of food on the table were still full and unmoving, but to him they were empty and licked clean by his family.
Rachel could not be any more annoyed with her current predicament right now. It was almost as if she was being punished for whatever sins she has done against God with each passing second she stayed in this damned vehicle.
The teenager watched from the window of the van she was currently trapped in the antics of the insufferable girls who had forced her to tag along with them on their exhibition as she lazily turned the pages in a book she brought with her. All five of them scurried clumsily out of the backdoor of the school they all attended, laughing the day away in excitement as they tried making it to the unlocked van she was tasked with guarding as quick as they could without being caught by any teachers or faculty members that might be around. A part of her wished that they would get caught considering how loud and obnoxious they all were, but then again, what good has she done this week to warrant such a blissful end to this idiotic trip.
One by one they all hustled across the grass in order from, in her opinion, absurdly obnoxious to only mildly annoying, each girl somehow more irksome than the last. At the front of the thankfully small herd was the loud and self appointed "leader" of her group of friends, a young junior who never seemed to do anything besides run her sordid mouth, named Makoto. Athletic, buxom, and a terrible busy-body, she had the hearsay as to what she and her lackies did, even if it ranged from sneaking out at night to skipping classes like they were all doing now. It baffled her as to why they all liked her so much, but then again, she hated most people anyway when it came down to it.
The next two that tailed behind her were a set of sophomores—a spindly blonde named Noel and an equally spindly brunette name Celica. Rachel was not so sure who she hated more between the both of them considering they were each their own brand of ignorant. Noel was meek and sensitive while Celica was daft and vapid—two sides of the same grossly polite coin. It was beyond her how such naivety has not led either girl to their untimely demise by the hands of nature, but she supposed that they were probably here to aid in her grief than for any other reason.
The last and perhaps the most tolerable of the group of friends, was a senior named Tsubaki, who tagged along hesitantly behind Celica and Noel. Her mouth was pulled into a frown as if deciphering whether or not making the trip with her trouble making friends was really worth it or not. Tsubaki wasn't really all that much of a nuisance—in fact, Rachel hardly noticed her—but her ostentatiously virtuous behavior, holier than thou attitude, and obsession with some boy she knew since childhood was what made her hard to be around. Poor her she wasn't one of the few whom she didn't wish death upon.
And then there was her, the poor girl forced to come with them on the grounds that her father find someone her age to hang around with instead of keep to herself all the time. He meant well, he always did, but he should know better than anyone that Rachel hated dealing with people who wasted her time. However, if not for his sake, she tried and hung around the first set of girls she spotted, and as expected, it was the biggest mistake she could have ever made in her life.
Rachel sighed and tried focusing on the book in her hands when she saw how close they now were. She hoped that this trip was at least worth the trouble of seeing them get scared of their own shadows. And if not that then the possibility of this van stalling on them or even losing a few tires. If only fate was on her side today...
She buried her face deeper into her novel at a desperate attempt to not be seen when she heard the car door open on the driver's side and Makoto's shrill voice call out for her companions to board the vehicle.
"C'mon, slowpokes, we don't wanna be caught!" She exclaimed while scrambling inside.
The two doors in the back of the van were the next set to swing open and allow the rest of the group to rush inside, Celica seeming giddy as usual as she scooted towards the middle while Tsubaki and Noel seated themselves at either of her sides, looking a tad nervous.
"It's a little hard to skip classes and get past security, Makoto!" Noel admonished as she looked out the window to see if any faculty members spotted her.
"I cannot believe you managed to convince me to do this with you..." Tsubaki grimaced as she slammed the car door besides her shut before buckling her seat belt. "What am I going to tell my parents when they find out I wasn't in class..."
"Special field trip is what you say!" Celica chimed in. "I know you're not one to lie, but maybe a little white one will do this time, Tsubaki."
Rachel added nothing to the conversation and only idly turned a page in her book.
Makoto pouted at the older girl once she settled in her seat. "Aren't you excited at least a little bit, Rachel?" She asked.
Rachel stayed silent for a little while longer until she finally decided to open her mouth.
"I am brimming with such exuberance for this dear event, I nearly forgot how to speak." She said dryly. "So much so in fact that I had not even realized when the lot of you came into this vehicle and began your insipid squawking."
Noel and Tsubaki laughed nervously at Rachel's sarcasm while Celica and Makoto beamed at her deadpan response. Noel and Tsubaki were always keen to know that Rachel wasn't a force to reckon with when she was annoyed, but Makoto and Celica always seemed to never mind. In fact they rather enjoyed her snappy remarks. Perhaps they thought she was merely fooling around with them despite how in reality she wouldn't mind tossing one of them down a cliff if she had the chance.
Makoto laughed it off and waved the other girl off. "Oh stop being such a debbie downer, Rach!" She grinned. "You should be excited for what I have planned for all of you!"
"Do tell..." Rachel muttered.
"I have some semblance of an idea what it is..." Tsubaki added. "But it's such a ridiculous excuse for us to skip school just to see it, Makoto."
"Ahh, you're just scared, Tsubaki!" The brunette teased. "If you're gonna be so chicken about it, you can always run back to the school... If you dare~"
Tsubaki made a face and crossed her arms as she slumped into her seat. It was too late for them to retreat to the school now unless they risked detention anyway.
"Me and Celica wanna know, too!" Noel peeped out. "You only told us we were gonna go to the park, Makoto!"
"Well...It's kinda like that..." She trailed off a tad. "We're not really going to park, but...something else. We're headed to the woods."
"The woods?" They all replied in unison, minus Rachel who only seemed marginally interested.
"That's right! The woods! But not just any old woods! We're heading for Lilac Creek!"
Noel was quick to yell at her friend when she even blurted out her response. "L-Lilac Creek!?"
Celica visibly shivered once the name was mentioned. "You don't mean THE Lilac Creek... Do you!? Like...The Butcher's Cabin, Lilac Creek!?"
"Why of course!" The older girl smirked proudly at the response she got from them and continued, "It's only obligatory we go see it since it's almost Halloween!"
"I don't wanna spend my Halloween in that creepy place!" Noel whined. "Why don't we just go to my house and watch some horror movies instead?"
"Like you know how to handle a horror movie, Noel!" Makoto laughed.
Noel couldn't help but stammer a little before rambling on, "Well, it'd be way better than stalking around there for hours on end!"
Celica was able to switch from her initial shock of the discovery of what they were all doing to mild intriguement of what Makoto had in store for them, and comforted Noel.
"Aw, it's probably not a big deal, Noelly. It would be kinda fun to see what kind of myth is behind it. Evil butchers and maniacs sounds like any old scary flick on paper."
"Not you, too, Celica..."
"It is just a myth..." Tsubaki interjected. "But a myth always has some sort of truth behind it... Are you sure about this, Makoto?"
"Positive!" The brunette cheered and looked over at Rachel who was still engrossed in her book. "How about you, Rach? You're not scared of anything, so this has to be a cinch for you."
The oldest girl gave Makoto a curt glance from the corner of her eye before turning a page.
"If throwing myself at a serial killer makes the trip just a little bit more entertaining, than I suppose I'm willing."
"Then it's set!" Yelled Makoto. "Let's kick start the end of the season with a blast!"
All except Rachel let out a hesitant "yay" that went unnoticed by Makoto. Lilac Creek, also known as the Butcher's Cabin, was a detritus-littered, dirt covered forest that was generally feared by very few of the older residents in their town, but acted as a source of immense morbid curiosity for the many teenagers who lived here. It was an ominous and infamous urban legend about the presumed residence of a reclusive serial killer who attacked all who entered his territory. Rachel was never sure when the first instance of the legend came to be, but from her limited knowledge, it stemmed from the disappearance of a group of friends who had went camping in Lilac some years ago. No one knew where they had gone to and a thorough police investigation was never able to figure what had happened to them either.
As fake as the urban legend was, and as dark as the thought in her head was, the idea of an elusive killer able to wipe any evidence they had clean and get away with their crime would be rather impressive.
Rachel remained silent as she usually did when she was around her "friends" and continued to read her book, only listening to the sound of Makoto grabbing the keys to the van from her pocket and the rumbling of the engine once she started it. The regal girl huffed through her nose once the vehicle started moving and couldn't help but bury her face deeper into her book when Makoto tried to hype everyone up by blasting the radio at an attempt to drive them out of their hesitancy. If sitting here, trapped by possibly the most insufferable women in the world singing along to the "Top 40" was really going to be how she was going to spend the next thirty minutes, Rachel was honestly better off being butchered alive by a fictional serial killer than sitting here any longer.
It was going to be a long and arduous ride, for sure, Rachel grumbled to herself.
And, as expected, the half-hour long car ride to the more rural part of town had felt like a half a day to the girl.
She had since closed the book in her hands and had instead leaned against the door panel to stare at the moving scenery from outside through the glass window. They were now driving on the main road that led straight into the forest that the alleged killer lived in and already she could hear Noel begin to whine at the very notion of a maniac living this deep in the countryside. Honestly, she thought, as soon as they all left the van, she had half a mind to take Makoto's keys and head straight home for a much needed nap.
"Damn, it's getting a little bit bumpy the further we drive in here..." Makoto grimaced as she tried keeping a steady hand on the wheel. "Place is already pretty good at setting a tone though..." She said while acknowledging the leafless trees and blackened dirt that the van drove over.
"A bit late to turn back now." Tsubaki replied. "At least stick to your games before backing out of them, Makoto."
"Hey, I didn't say I was gonna chicken out or nothin'!"
"Hark. Is that hesitance I hear?" She teased.
"You're so mean to me today, Tsubaki..." Makoto pouted.
Noel turned up her lip as she anxiously looked out of the window on her side to stare at the forest herself.
"This place is giving me the shivers..." She groaned. "If this is another one of your's prank, I am never talking to you again, Makoto..."
"How come I'm the bad guy all of a sudden today?" The brunette retorted. "Every year we do the same boring stuff—trick or treating, ghost stories, horror movies, and the occasional theme park! We might as well do something super cool, don't ya think? Hell, maybe even find out what happened to those campers years ago!"
"I agree with Makoto!" Celica chimed out loudly. "If a killer didn't get them, then maybe a ghost, or a vampire, or even a wendigo did! We'll never know until we check!"
"See? Celica gets what's goin' on!"
"Besides," The second-year began. "Even if we do find remains, it's not like it'll be gory or anything! They'll be skeletons at best since it's been a little while since they were gone!"
"Celica!" Noel and Tsubaki admonished.
Celica quickly put both hands over her mouth and giggled nervously. "Whoopsie, did I say, too much...?"
Rachel muttered something under her breath that consisted only of spite, she quick to tune everyone out once more when they got louder than she was comfortable with. They always spat out such inane, useless dribble like the vapid cows they were. Not an ounce of intelligible conversation ever came out of their mouths, even when she had at least tried to grace them with a response on whatever they were talking about. They were such a waste of her time, and she is definitely going to rid them from her life once and for all once this trip is over with.
The girls minus the bitter senior who accompanied them continued on with their airy banter until Makoto finally drove far enough into the forest to find a spacious area to settle the van in. She maneuvered the van slowly into a large ditch, careful not to hit any adjacent trees and sticks before finally turning off the engine and parking the car in a flat patch of yellow grass and dried leaves.
The scenery though large and expansive for a woodland, gave off a melancholy atmosphere. Unlike the rich tones of amber and hickory that seemed to accentuate their quaint little town back at home with its autumn hues, the trees here were significantly more...petrified. Everything from the ground to the trees were nothing but shades of ebony accentuated by dark grey shadows. It was as if life itself was stripped away from the forest and replaced with nothing but the ominous presence of the grim reaper himself. It was more than enough to scare Makoto, Noel, and the rest to stay in the van for a moment to regain their bearings, but for Rachel she couldn't help but be a tad curious. Maybe even a little intrigued. Forests do not magically become so barren and lifeless in such a short amount of time. Usually a good few decades of no rain or moisture could do this lasting of an effect to a forest unless something more had happened here that many do not know about.
Perhaps this trip could relieve her boredom just a little.
"Ugh! It's like everything is straight out of a scary movie!" Noel suddenly screamed. "Makoto, seriously, let's just go back!"
Makoto cleared her throat as she unbuckled her seatbelt, trying to put up another facade of valor to impress and calm her friends down. "It's alright, Noel! This place looks just like a Scooby-doo episode! See?" She placed a slightly shaky hand on the door handle to let herself out and stepped outside, the brunette looking around briefly before placing her hands on her hips and smelling the cold air.
"Ahh! Nothing like some fresh air to get the heebie-jeebies outta ya! C'mon, guys, we can't do anything just sitting around!"
Rachel silently let herself out from the passenger side while Tsubaki, Celica and Noel took a moment to gather their things and give one another a pep talk about bravery before scooting out of the backseat. Tsubaki stood poised next to the younger blonde who cowered behind Celica, near ready to wet her knickers while the peppy girl cheerfully tried to get her friend to calm down.
"We'll just look for a little bit and go back if it's too scary, okay, Noellie?" She reassured. "I know you can do it. You just have to believe!"
"I...I guess..." She shyly whispered. "I wish I was as brave as Miss Rachel..."
Tsubaki nodded and regarded Rachel who was busy admiring the sights around them. "It truly is quite telling how well composed she is. I'm beginning to calm down by just looking at her."
"Maybe reading all those scary books made her impervious to fear... Not to mention you can't scare someone who's already scary to begin with..." Celica blurted out.
Rachel felt her brow twitch at that and shot all three girls a glare, her schoolmates huddling close to one another out of fear they had said something to tip her off.
"I suggest you keep your idle chatter to yourselves lest this "scary girl" does something that shall truly terrify you."
Beads of sweat comically rolled down their foreheads as they nodded simultaneously at her threat.
"O-Of course Miss Rachel..." Tsubaki stuttered.
"We'll be super quiet!" Celica laughed.
"Please don't hurt me..." Noel shuddered.
Rachel grimaced at their cowardice and glowered at them for a minute longer before turning to Makoto who was watching the entire exchange.
"Oh, uh...Something up, Rach?" She asked.
"Lead the way." Rachel stated. "You have a map, do you not?"
"Right, right, right, right!" Makoto dug into her messenger bag for a map of Lilac Creek she had printed out before driving here and pulled it out for all to see. "Come one, come all! This is gonna be our key to finding the cabin!"
Tsubaki peered over Makoto's shoulder and stared incredulously at the map. "I don't see a cabin anywhere on here, Makoto."
"Well, duh! Legend has it it was built kinda recently so it ain't gonna show on an old fuddy-duddy map like this! This thing was made in like the 80s!"
"You couldn't find a more recent map?" Asked Noel.
"Not a one." Replied Makoto. "Even after those campers disappeared and cops were all over the place, no one thought to draw one up."
Rachel quietly looked at the map herself and analyzed the directions and the crudely drawn "x" shaped mark that Makoto had drawn, perhaps to indicate where the alleged cabin was located.
"Is that where the cabin is?" Rachel inquired.
"Yup! We just need to take a scenic route and—"
"Interesting." The blonde did not wait for Makoto to continue prattling on and went on her way once she had a good idea where to go.
"Hey, R-Rachel!" Makoto called out. "Where are you—"
"The scenic path, if you look closely enough, has a dead end that will waste more of our time if we follow it." She explained while walking a good deal ahead of them. "The main route will be the fastest. Now are you coming or not?"
The group gawked at Rachel's sudden superior sense of direction before shrugging it off and tagging along behind her, the girls paired up with a respective friend while Rachel stared dead on at the path before her. The spine-tingling air, the smell of wet dirt and wood, and the harrowing atmosphere was the farthest thing from disturbing in her eyes—in fact she kind of enjoyed it. She had a fascination with the macabre and all things equally morbid, especially when the very forest she was walking in right now appeared as though it had a story to tell. She believed not in a school yard urban legend of killers and maniacs, but at least the tale surrounding Lilac could provide her clues as to what happened here.
Too busy leading the way to notice the activities of the other girls, Rachel stayed focused at trying to navigate through the dead evergreen while Makoto, Noel, Tsubaki, and Celica chatted amongst themselves.
Makoto shuffled alongside her redheaded friend dejectedly, slightly disappointed that her spot as both tour guide and leader was temporarily usurped by the queen of mean. She liked Rachel a lot, and she never minded it when she was a little blunt about what she did or didn't like, but having her role taken from her so easily was certainly unexpected.
"Is something the matter, Makoto?" Asked Tsubaki. "You seem a little pale."
"I wanted to lead the way..." Makoto mumbled.
Tsubaki stifled a laugh. "Is that why you look so blue? Just because you couldn't read a map?"
"I too can read a map!" Makoto pouted. "I confused the routes together is all!"
"And we would have wasted more time than we should have." The younger senior reasoned. "Getting lost in the woods just so you can avoid having your pride damaged isn't something to get upset over, Makoto."
"Hey, worse case scenario, even if we did get lost, which I'm pretty sure we wouldn't," Makoto added. "But we could just use the GPS in our phones to find our way no problem!"
Tsubaki sighed at her friend's obstinate behavior. "As stubborn as a bull as always... When will you ever grow out of being so hard-head—Oop!" Tsubaki abruptly stopped in her tracks when she felt herself walk into Rachel's back. "Oh, my apologies, Miss Rachel."
"Watch where you are going before you send both of us into the water." Rachel suddenly said, her eyes fixated on what laid a little ways in front of her feet.
"What is it, Rach?" Makoto inquired.
"This." She pointed at what was there.
It was a sizeable yet shallow creek with fresh running water and large stones that sat in its wake, the only distinguishing feature of the forest that gave Lilac Creek its name, Rachel guessed.
"A creek." The senior explained, she quick to hop onto a rock before leaping for another one. "Unless you want to get wet, watch your step crossing it."
"Aye, aye, captain." Makoto saluted.
"You might wanna let go of me for this one, Noel..." Celica giggled. "It's just a little bit of water."
"I know, I know..." Noel muttered, opting to hold Celica's hand instead of her shoulders to balance herself. "I don't wanna fall in though."
"You're such a scaredy-cat when you're freaked out enough, Noellers!" Makoto laughed.
"Am not! I just don't want to get my feet wet!"
"Sure, sure!"
"Makoto!"
Rachel continued walking as soon as she crossed the creek and had not even bothered waiting for the others, the senior opting to ignore their heavy pants and complaints for her to slow down when they finally caught up with her. The group continued to trek through the wilderness nonetheless, the sky growing darker and the air growing more frigid the longer they traversed through the open forest until they finally arrived at their destination.
What stood before them was in worse shape than what any of them could imagine.
It was the aforementioned log cabin in all its glory, but dilapidated and rotted beyond repair. The wood was scorched black while the ground surrounding it was dry and barren. Any and all windows present were either broken or missing, and the wooden door that led inside was battered and hanging by a single hinge. Rachel couldn't imagine anyone taking residence in such squalor unless they were as insane as the killer who lived inside of it, but nevertheless, she was getting ominous vibes the longer she stared at it.
She was unsure if she wanted to go inside.
"Woah~!" Chimed Makoto.
"How...quaint..." Tsubaki remarked.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh...! What am I even doing here...!?" Whined Noel.
Celica stared blankly at the cabin for a moment before yelling out, "Is anyone home~!"
Rachel took a step back and felt a chill ride up her spine. She suddenly felt nervous. Her gut feeling was to stay outside and not come any closer to the house, but she wasn't sure why. The cabin was abandoned, and too far beyond repair for anyone to live in, so why was her fascination about this entire thing being replaced by dread? Was she just paranoid? Was this a misfiring of her brain that was telling her to leave? She had not the faintest idea on what to do until she felt Makoto bump into her left shoulder as she rushed towards the entrance.
"Wow!" The brunette exclaimed as she peeked through a gnarled hole of the door. "Kinda looks like the cabin from The Evil Dead, dontcha think?"
"Of course you'd make such a gory comparison." Tsubaki admonished. "But even that cabin looked significantly more refined than whatever...this is."
"It's kinda like a haunted house in a way..." Celica remarked.
Noel slinked behind Celica's back once more and clutched her shoulders. "I don't think I wanna get any closer!"
"You can always go back to the van if you want, Noel." Makoto said. "I know you can't handle stuff like this."
"But I don't wanna get lost! Or lose track of you guys!" She continued. "Ugh, whatever! Let's just stay close to each other, okay...?"
"Let's march then! Make sure to grab a buddy to tag along with!" Makoto cheered as she opened the flimsy door. "Rachel, you can stand by me and scare anything that comes after us, 'kay~?"
Rachel did not move for a few seconds to watch the girls walk by her and enter the cabin before trudging behind them herself, still unable to shake off the paranoia in her breast. She was convinced it was nothing, and was set to just look inside a bit to ease her curiosity before coming back outside or even walking back to the van to the wait for them, but her guts were still gnarled and twisted in worry. She herself wasn't scared, but the tone the house was giving off was anxiety inducing. She however managed to maintain her composure and ventured inside along with the others.
All five girls silently crept inside the house, Makoto being the first to enter followed by Tsubaki, Celica, Noel, and finally Rachel who all reacted differently to what lurked inside. It was all too dark to see minus a few streaks of orange light peeking through the windows thanks to the setting sun, but from their vantage point they could make out the shape of a few objects that were scattered about the room. Simple pieces of furniture, some hanging pictures, and a couple of random items that stayed perched on the floor. Minus the creaking floorboards and the holes that littered the walls, the cabin itself seemed pretty innocuous.
Or that's what Rachel wanted to think anyway.
"Okay, okay, we saw what's inside...!" She heard Noel complain once more. "Let's go back now!"
"We barely even stepped a foot inside!" Makoto replied happily as she ran out into the living room and down a hall. "C'mon, we got some investigating to do!"
"M-Makoto!" Tsubaki yelled out and ran after her friend so she wouldn't get lost. "Be careful! We don't know our way around in here!"
"Oh relaaax, Tsubaki! I'll be fine!"
"Don't leave us here!" Celica held onto Noel's hand much to the other's chagrin and followed them as well. "I'm gonna get spooked out, too if you do!"
Rachel remained behind and instead looked around some more, she taking out her cell phone to turn on its flashlight and get a better view of what was around her. She then proceeded to walk in the direction of where the others went and waved her phone over various parts of the house that piqued her interest, the girl growing more suspicious the deeper she ventured inside.
Besides the sight of rotten wood, holes, and torn wallpaper, the interior of the cabin was significantly blacker inside than it was outside. The furniture from earlier was charred beyond recognition along with a few lamps while the wood floors themselves seemed as though they would crack and cave in any minute from how weak the boards were.
If she had to guess right, some point in the past or perhaps even less than a decade ago, this cabin and possibly the forest surrounding it had caught on fire.
"Makoto, you're gonna break it!"
"It's already broken to begin with! It's just a stupid vase!"
The sound of the girls clamoring around the deepest part of the cabin, knocking over what sounded like pots and pans and a few glass ornaments, brought Rachel out of her musings and made her catch up with them down the hall that opened up into a sizable kitchen. She watched Tsubaki and Noel scold Makoto for her reckless behavior and Celica poke at the other items that were on the ground. Rachel sighed in agitation at their inability to stay quiet and was about to walk into a different area of the room until she spotted something peculiar from the corner of her eye. The senior turned around and shined her phone across the object in question, her suspicions coming back to haunt her when she saw what it was.
It was a small mahogany coffee table that sat innocuously near the entrance of the kitchen, the table itself just as filthy as the furniture out in the living room.
As for the contents on the surface however, it was a different story.
It was three simple little picture frames surrounding a dusty vase holding a bouquet of dead flowers, the pictures themselves clean dirt free while its neighbor continued to passively suffer from the effects of time. All three photos featured a family of four—a single white haired mother and her three blonde children—smiling and laughing the day away on a bright, sunny afternoon. It was all a stark contrast from the dark, morbid atmosphere the cabin was giving off, but yet equally as unsettling. It wasn't a coincidence that these specific items were dusted and polished off with such care and yet the rest of the house wasn't. Someone with their own two hands had done this. Someone lived here in undisturbed silence, uncaring of what happened on the outside, perfectly comfortable living in absolute solitude.
It was then that alarms started to go off in Rachel's head.
She looked around the kitchen, living room and hallways for anymore pictures, and was shocked to see that the ones hanging on the walls and sitting atop the other tables were just as pristine as the photos she had seen only a second ago. Someone definitely lived here. She didn't know who, but someone who had a deep, near obsessive connection with the past lived here alone, secluded, and they wanted it to stay that way.
Rachel's frantic movements did not go unnoticed by one of the girls, and Noel, who was just as anxious as her though for the wrong reasons, was the first to ask what was wrong with her older friend.
"Um... Miss Rachel? Is something wrong?"
Rachel was quick to reply. "We need to leave..." She said aloud. "This cabin is not safe."
"W-What...!?" Noel turned almost as white as a ghost in panic and reflexively hid a little ways behind Celica in response. "What do you mean, Rachel...!?"
"Noel..." Celica sighed. "What's the matter this time?"
"Don't go scaring her again, Rachel." Makoto grumbled. "She's already close to peeing herself as is."
"I am serious!" The senior turned the flashlight off on her phone and whipped herself around to face the others. "Someone lives here and we have to—"
She choked on her own words when, through the ever growing darkness that was beginning to swallow the inside of the cabin whole, she saw an apparition hiding within the shadows. It was a tall and dark masculine figure, towering over the girls with a presence ever so harrowing that Rachel herself couldn't help but take a apprehensive step back despite its lack of movement. He watched the actions of the young women below him as if they were roaches skittering across his feet, the last remains of the setting Sun's rays shining just enough through the holes of the cabin to reveal the mismatched, manic eyes of a poor man's devastated face.
Rachel could only motion for them all to get back, she too scared to make any sudden movements that would alert the man behind them.
"Get to my side NOW." She hissed through gritted teeth, her voice barely above a whisper.
She wasn't sure if they were honest to God too confused to figure out what she was doing or truly too stupid for their own good to realize what was lurking behind them, but Rachel reflexively wanted to hurl imprecations at each and every one of them when she watched Makoto make light of the situation via doing perhaps the least intelligent thing she's seen her do all day.
"Man, you're a real joker today, Rach." Makoto grinned as she rested her hands behind her head. "I like it and all since it ain't like you, but we can calm it down at least for Noel's sake, don't you think?"
"I think it's less so pulling a prank and something more serious, Makoto." Tsubaki shook her head. "Did you see something that frightened you, Miss Rachel?"
Rachel could not help but gawk at their daftness and tried shifting her gaze between them and the terror that continued to stand behind them, she even tempted enough get over there and drag them all by their wrists to spare them from the impending doom looming over her. But it was too late.
Makoto had made a careless mistake.
"She's all white in the face..." The brunette examined as she turned on her heel and tried making her way out of the kitchen. "Whiter than usual anyway, heh! If you wanna stay there and keep Noellers company for a bit, you can—Oof!"
Though Rachel couldn't make any part of him out now given how the cabin was now completely dark save for the light of the rising moon, the older girl could easily see her younger acquaintance foolishly walk right into their potential assailant's chest.
What Rachel saw next made her stomach churn.
"What the...?" Makoto blinked owlishly at the feeling of warm, slightly stale smelling cloth colliding with her body and furrowed her brows in confusion. She then proceeded to run her hands over the thing she had walked into, confused when she felt rigid muscle reflexively throb beneath her fingers until realization had finally hit her like a speeding train, her stance tense as she looked up to see not what but who was in front of her.
Suffice to say, her tough as nails demeanor had cracked just slightly when she saw his face.
The face that had nothing but hate and malice etched onto his features.
"AH!" The brunette jumped back in shock along with the rest of the girls who only stared doltishly at their startled friend.
"W-What's the matter, Makoto...?" Celica asked.
Makoto said nothing and brought one arm out to signal to the rest of the girls to get behind her.
"R-Rachel wasn't kidding..." She breathed. "Someone is here, and I need all of you to get back!"
"W-What!?" Tsubaki questioned.
"Are you serious!?" Celica yelled.
Noel reacted as though the reaper was right before her eyes. "W-W-Wait...! Are you...!?"
As if on cue, all three friends looked up at what it was Makoto was talking about and jolted when they saw him, causing Noel to reflexively dive behind Celica and Tsubaki and pull both girls by the tails of their shirts to huddle over to Rachel.
"Oh GOD!" Screamed Noel. "Come on, Makoto, we need to leave!"
Makoto stared despondently at the man in front of her and huffed, attempting to put up an air of defiance before him to hide her fear and point an accusing finger his way.
The man, who already looked rather upset, scowled even harder.
"Makoto, stop messing around!" Tsubaki yelled. "Get over here now!"
"How do I know this isn't some joker trying to scare us girls into thinking the killer lives here?" She angrily questioned. "He probably thought it would be funny to pull a prank on us!"
Rachel couldn't help but look dumbfounded at Makoto's sudden idiocy and was compelled to drag her over here to safety. The mess of the cabin, the pristine conditions of the pictures, and the blatant rage on the man's face should be more than enough to sound some kind of alarm in Makoto's head.
But instead of keeping her mouth shut and doing what Rachel explicitly yelled at her to do, she was only managing to tick the man off even more.
"I'm not scared of you!" She continued. "So unless you wanna tussle, I suggest you leave us alone!"
The man blinked once at her threat and proceeded to take one step forward, his eyes piercing through Makoto's brown ones as if he was peering right at her soul. The young woman shivered a little at that but kept her ground, trying her very best not to be intimidated by his size or his presence.
"Hey, buddy, I'm warning ya, I'm not to be taken lightly!"
Noel wiped the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes and grimaced. "She...She isn't going to actually fight him, r-right...?"
Tsubaki swallowed a lump in her throat and shook her head in disbelief. "I don't doubt her abilities since Makoto is more than capable of taking down men bigger than her..." She began. "But this...this feels different than some common thug..."
"Makotoooo!" Celica whined. "Joke or not, we shouldn't mess with him still!"
Another step and the man was no more than an inch or so away from Makoto, his back straight and his stare unrelenting as he watched the girl move back and take a stance in response.
"I'm telling you, man, I'm warning you!" She readied her right fist and bared her teeth. "I don't hold back, especially dealing with creeps like you!"
The man suddenly stopped glaring daggers at her once she uttered her threat and instead gave her an unreadable, blank stare, his head cocking to the side as if he were urging her to try and lay a finger on him.
It was subtle and unrecognizable to the untrained eye, but Rachel could see he was mocking her.
And Makoto had foolishly fallen for it.
"Why you..." She growled. "Making fun of me or not, I ain't gonna let you hurt me or my friends!"
She winded up her punch, her fist clenched tight and arm flexed for combat, as she aimed for the man's open white cheek to knock the daylights out of him in a single blow. Everyone had their eyes closed to brace themselves for impact minus Makoto, her adversary, and Rachel, the other girls expecting the man to fall down, stagger, or even flinch at the attack launched at his face, but when the adrenaline died down and the sound of skin hitting skin had stopped reverberating through the air, there was no sound of the man falling flat on his back. No sound of him groaning in pain and cursing the day away. No sound of Makoto kicking him while he was down and defending her companions even more.
The girls dared to open their eyes again.
Instead the man still stood there, Makoto's fist mashed into his face and cheek wrinkling around her fingers as he continued to glare at her, his expression back from being unreadable to the irate frustration they all saw before.
"W-Wha...?"
Makoto was at a lost for words.
She was in so much shock she barely reacted to what he did next.
Arm shooting from his side, the man brought a large, gloved hand to the teenager's body and wrapped his thick fingers around her neck, the sight alone causing all of the girls to scream bloody murder
"M-MAKOTO!" They yelled.
Makoto gasped and quickly tried to loosen his grip by tugging at his wrist at a desperate attempt to get away, but was only met with a harsh squeeze that left her coughing for air. She stared up at him with wide, fearful eyes, her auburn depths clouded with fright and worry as he peered into her soul once more and clenched tighter. The other girls, paralyzed by the situation, dared not to move their feet to save their captured friend, for they all knew that this...monster was for too strong for all four of them to handle. They could only look on in horror as the man switched between looking at her and the lot of them apathetically, silently threatening them to come closer if they dared interrupted him, and further accentuated his point by lifting Makoto above his height and suffocating her even more.
At this point the teenager was coughing and wheezing at both the weight on her neck and the hand that was crushing her trachea, Makoto clawing and scratching at the man's hand to get him to stop, but was only met with a strong squeeze that made a choked, guttural wheeze leave her mouth. The twisted man watched through the gaps of his bangs at the sight of it all, hatred coursing through his veins as he sadistically watched the young girls eyes grow red from the tears rolling down her cheeks as pressure welled up in her head. To him this was just another job, just another intruder who had dared to step inside and pollute his home with their filthy feet and dirty presence. Another intruder who wanted to ruin the sanctity of the only place he felt safe and secure—happy and not as gloomy. During his rumination, his hand had grown unbearably tight around Makoto's neck, the teenager drooling and choking on her own spit as her hands and face turned a clammy blue and her grip on his wrist weakening until he completely closed his fist around her neck.
None of the girls could bare to watch.
A crunching noise muffled by the man's glove and Makoto's tender skin made everyone besides Rachel scream in agony. It just wouldn't stop—he never let go of her neck and just kept crushing it under his hand, rendering Makoto a gurgling mess of shrieks and pleas until it all finally stopped.
The man growled at the mess on his hands and at the lifeless stare of the girl he had killed before unceremoniously dropping her body onto the wood floors and kicking it to the side, his steps slow, large, and holding such malicious intent that anyone unfortunate to be under his boot would have no choice but to kiss the ground for dear life.
One intruder was down, and there were only four left to go.
Sorry for the cliffhanger ending, but 13 to 14k words wouldn't be suitable for one chapter. Expect a gore fest coming your way next time. Also, if anyone is interested, I made a discord specifically for Blazblue fanworks, so check out the link in my profile if you're interested in joining.