Well, I've been very lazy on progressing on this thing for a bit too long.

I've been so bent on wrapping up Scattered Hearts and getting a start on Tron that I almost lost track of this (shame on me). But hey, it's sometimes tough to juggle your projects.

But anyways, I hope this will be sufficient for a while. Hope you enjoy!

I own nothing but my OCs.

Read, leave a review, but no flames allowed.

Chapter 8: Looking Around Again

When morning came around again, Mary emerged from her bedroom – fully dressed – to find a note on her door, apparently meant for her. She plucked it from the door and saw that the message explained: it read that Xemnas and the rest of the staff will be out on a hunting trip, and will not be back until sunset; in the meantime, the sisters have free reign to look around the castle except the following places – the dungeon and the cemetery. The last bit, though, puzzled her; for what reason would those places be restricted, and for that matter, where could those prohibited places be?

Her questions were answered when she discovered a map attached to the note and examined it to see what is present. The map presented the whole layout of Hollow Bastion and the written names of the rooms available within the castle, and it also marked two particular locations with an X, which meant that the places had to be the dungeon and the cemetery mentioned in the note. Well, at the very least, she knows what locations she shouldn't look into just yet; maybe she can do it when her sisters aren't with her.

Speaking of which, she decided that she needed to find her other sisters and let them know of the message she was given; besides, she didn't want a repeat of what happened yesterday. Fortunately for her, she didn't have to look very far when her elder sister Jane came looking for her.

"Oh, Mary, you're awake already? What are you doing?" she asked.

"I just found a note on my door, and was looking over it to know what was up," Mary replied, "Not only that, but I also found a map attached with the note with two specific places that are marked for prohibition. I was about to meet up with all of you to talk about the matter, but since you're here, that means Caroline and Mina need to be updated at once."

Mary nodded in agreement as she and her sister went off to rendezvous with their other sisters; but luckily for them, they didn't have to look too far when they found Mina talking with Caroline – and apparently it was concerning the latter's problems.

"That Xaldin person didn't do anything extreme to you, did he?" Mina asked in concern.

"Well, it sure looked like he was going to do something sick on me, but I was able to make him back off long enough to let me get away from him," Caroline replied as she rubbed her arms, "It still doesn't change the fact, though, that he was a sick pervert who has no sense of respect to women."

Mina sighed deeply at this. "I certainly hope you haven't made an enemy when you spurned him…"

Mary, puzzled at what she was hearing, couldn't help stepping in. "Did I miss something here? Did something happen that I need to know about?"

"You want to know something? I'll tell you, alright. While I was looking around the castle last night, I was harassed by that creeper called Xaldin," Caroline answered with irritation. "You wouldn't believe what he was trying to do to me."

"I wouldn't blame her for feeling invaded. I experienced a similar situation when I had an unexpected encounter with Marluxia," Jane added, "He acted as though he wanted to get intimate with me, but…if I was to have a shred of honesty…I felt rather uncomfortable around him for some odd reason. I didn't know why. All I knew was that if Caroline hadn't returned to our room, who knows what he might've done without anyone knowing?"

Am I hearing this correctly? Are my sisters already being pursued by the residents of Hollow Bastion? Something's really wrong here, Mary thought as she heard all this, I dread to think of what opinions on me and Mina are.

"That reminds me, I've had a meeting with Xemnas last night. I spoke with him for a bit, mainly about what I saw the other day when we explored the castle," Mina said, "He seemed to be rather…I don't know how to describe it…distant. I don't know what he was thinking at that moment, but I'm starting to believe that he might be interested in being around me. Isn't that strange?"

Jane turned to their sister with a confused look. "You had a meeting with Xemnas? And he was interested in you? What brought this on, pray tell?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking that he might be fascinated being around me," Mina replied as she shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't care how anyone around this place acts around us. I just want to know if there's any other way to get out of the castle and leave for Twilight Town," Caroline interrupted impatiently.

"Unfortunately, we don't know the layout of the castle," Jane reminded her, "so we don't know if there are any possible ways to leave the place, much less be able to find all the rooms we're looking for."

Mary couldn't deny Jane's point on having little knowledge of the castle, even though they have looked around the place; but they did so without a map, which had consequences on Caroline and almost got all of them into trouble if Xemnas hadn't allowed them to explain their reasons for wandering around the place. On the other hand, now that they do have one they can use without fear of getting lost, it could be possible to look around again and find out more about Hollow Bastion and what the castle holds within its walls.

Then, an idea began to form within her mind…

"I just had a thought: since we have a map in our possession, why don't we make use of it and explore the castle again?" Mary suggested, "But this time, we'll go together. How does that sound?"

Caroline eagerly jumped at the idea. "That sounds fantastic! Maybe we can find a way to leave the castle by looking together as sisters should be."

"Well, since you're the one with the map, Mary, you can take the lead," Jane agreed, pointing out the obvious.

The eldest sister frowned at this, but nobody paid any mind as Mary opened up the map and took a look at the layout.

"Well, let's see…If I'm reading this map right, we're in the hallway with the set of doors to the bedrooms," Mary analyzed the layout, "Perhaps we could start by looking upstairs."

"That sounds like a good place to start," Mina agreed with perked curiosity.

"Alright, then just follow me and don't wander too far off, okay?" Mary said as she led the way through the hall.

With the map to guide them around the castle halls, Mary led the group as she shifted her eyes between the old paper and her surroundings, examining every room they could find and seeing what there is to offer. However, everywhere they went, the most they could find – as per the usual – was either an empty room with nothing but dust and cobwebs or filled with furniture that has been covered in dust and webs. Sure, there were a few places they did revisit – such as the library and the studio – but other than that, there wasn't much present that would catch their attention.

In the early afternoon, thankfully, they did make a detour to the kitchen and were able to fix themselves a little appetizer to whet their hunger before proceeding into other places within Hollow Bastion.

Afterwards, the sisters continued searching through the castle to investigate what else there is to find in the enormous place. As they did, though, it became pretty clear that for every room they found, there was always an empty atmosphere that nearly unnerves them every moment they peek inside. It certainly did make them wonder whether or not the castle is as haunted as the residents claim it is; or for that matter, what manner of dark secrets could be hidden within the dismal halls.

"Well, it seems to me as though there isn't much to offer within Hollow Bastion," Jane sighed.

"I'm starting to think the same thing," Mary agreed as she took her eyes off the map, "I've seen my fair share of mansions and plantations that suffered neglect, but not on a scale like this castle appears to be."

Then Caroline suggested the unthinkable. "Hey, since we've pretty much looked around the entire building, why don't we look into the cemetery or the dungeon?"

Mina was shocked at this. "Caroline, have you lost your mind? Mary said that those two locations were prohibited."

"Hey, as far as I'm concerned, we should be allowed to go anywhere we please. Those men that gave us the map shouldn't have to restrict so much," Caroline insisted impatiently, "especially if they do intend to keep guests at the castle so badly. Come on, surely you'd want to know more about this place by going even further than anyone has ever dared to do, don't you?"

"But Caroline, what if we find something in the cemetery that we cannot handle?" Jane tried to reason with her.

Unfortunately, the eldest sister was having none of it. Her mind was made up, and she wasn't going to give up on it anytime soon.

"If we're not going to look in the cemetery, then I'm not going anywhere!" Caroline demanded.

Mary groaned in displeasure; she thought it was bad enough when her sister wanted to explore behind that old door down the stairs, but this? It was getting completely out of hand.

"Fine, but when we find it, we are not going inside the cemetery," Mary reluctantly complied with a hard warning, "I don't want any of us getting into trouble if we trifle with whatever might be in there, you hear me?"

When Caroline was finally appeased, Mary reluctantly led her sisters through the halls once more and started to follow the directions until at last they had found what their elder sister wanted to know about: the cemetery. But what they found there was rather unsettling. It was a wide open ground surrounding by an iron fence with vines and ivy growing around it, and the number of tombstones that littered the place were too few; most of the burial places didn't even have a marker to indicate who was buried there. To make the situation even more unnerving than it already is, they could stone statues of gargoyles watching the grounds with piercing eyes that look like they could see into your soul and know who is disturbing their duties as guardians.

In fact, Mina already began to shiver as she looked around the place. "Girls…I have a feeling that we shouldn't be here. We should just leave right now."

"I couldn't agree more on that. Come, we'd best leave this area at once," Jane agreed as she began to back away.

"And not find something in that place?" Caroline complained.

"Stop being so pushy, Caroline. Mina and Jane are getting scared, can't you tell?" Mary scolded her, "Come on, we'd better get away from here and look for something else before the sun sets."

As much as the eldest sister wanted to protest at this, Mary's harsh glare and the reality of the other sisters managed to sink in just enough to convince her not to argue any longer. At full haste, all four of them fled the hall leading to the cemetery and chose to look around more to see what else they could find. By the time they returned to the main hall where they had first entered after being brought to Hollow Bastion in the first place, Mary could see from one of the windows that the sun was already starting to set.

"Night is almost approaching. We'd better head back to our rooms as soon as possible," Mary said with unease.

"If there's nothing else to look at, then it would be a good idea," Jane agreed.

"So long as we can avoid speaking about that dreadful part of the castle, I am quite fine with that idea," Mina seconded the notion.

"Wait…what about that door we saw before, Mary? Shouldn't we look into that one more time while we're still here?" Caroline protested.

All three sisters looked at her like she's gone insane at her foolish suggestions.

"Are you still bent on knowing what's beyond that door?" Mary questioned harshly.

Mina got confused for a moment. "What door is she talking about? What did Jane and I miss yesterday?"

Mary sighed deeply before she explained, "A long story short: when Caroline and I were searching for the library, she saw an old door down a stairway that seemed to be stuck tight. I didn't want to know what was in there since it didn't seem inviting, so we turned back and kept on going – although it was not so simple dissuading Caroline from trying to break it open by herself, considering there was no knowing how old the door was."

Caroline gave off an exasperated sigh. "Really, Mary, why do you have to be so pessimistic like that? Can't you be a little more daring for once in your life? I'm sure you've wanted to know what's behind the door as much as I do. So, come on, let's go find it and see if we can get it open this time around."

With that, Caroline hurried off to find that very door she spoke about, determined to do what she had wanted to do ever since she saw it. Not wanting her to get hurt – or in trouble, for that matter – the sisters hurried after her, hoping that, if at all possible, they could try and either stop her or keep her out of trouble. But none of them would ever realize that what they'd find would mean much more than trouble...

When they found the door that Caroline spoke about before, it could definitely be seen that there was something very uncanny about it, and it wasn't just because of its age. Though it remained as it was before, something completely different was immediately spotted: in fact, it could be seen that small streams of dark red liquid seeping along the cracks within the stony floor, giving off the nauseating smell close to rust mixed with salt.

"Mary…do you think we shouldn't be here?" Mina questioned nervously.

"I'm starting to think we should turn back as well," Mary agreed as she started to back away.

"Oh, stop it! This is the one place we haven't gotten into, and we don't want it to go overlooked," Caroline snapped as she reached for the door and tried to open it yet again, "There has to be something in there that might be of significance, and we don't want to overlook it, now don't we?"

"Caroline, if you don't stop pressing to get in, there's no telling what might…" Mary was about to warn her.

But it was too late; with enough pressure in an attempt to force it open, the door abruptly opened wide while give off a loud creaking sound. In the process, Caroline fell to the floor since she didn't get a chance to back away…only to find herself face-to-face with the last thing she wanted to see.