So yeah...I'll try to update weekly (usually on Sundays).

More slight GerIta moments together.

Chapter 3: Spirits

Feliciano finally calmed down as Ludwig stroked his brown hair, the two sitting on the German's bed. He wiped the tears from his swollen eyes vigorously, flushing red.

"Feeling better?"

He nodded.

"Alright, then tell me what happened; why did you suddenly run downstairs then back up in a panic?" he asked slowly and carefully, making sure the Italian could answer as calmly as he can. "Take your time." Feliciano took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It seemed to have work.

"Well, I wanted to look around the house but then I heard…something being thrown downstairs. At first, I thought it was the others but I remembered that they went to their rooms to unpack their luggage. So I decided to go downstairs—"

"Wait, you actually went downstairs to investigate? You should learn a few things from Vash and Lily," Ludwig sighed in exasperation. "Don't you know that you shouldn't investigate something suspicious unarmed?"

"That's not it! I mean—wait…" Feliciano looked around the room, pulling away from Ludwig.

"…Feli?"

"...Ludwig...doesn't it seem...cold in here?" Now that he mentioned it, the room did indeed feel unusually cold. Strange, it's summer and it was quite humid outside before. Ludwig turned to look at the window. It was closed. He walked towards it, holding his hand up in front of it to see if there was a draft coming from the crevice. There wasn't. Suddenly, he felt uneasy.

"Ludwig..." Feliciano held his hands. He was shivering in fear, "Something is really wrong in this room."

"I hate to agree but I think you're right," Ludwig said. Then, out of nowhere, there was a large pounding sound coming from the closet. Feliciano squeaked, huddling closer to Ludwig in explicit fear. Ludwig brought the Italian's head to his chest as he looked at the closet. The cacophony continued for a few seconds before abruptly stopping. They looked at the door, alert and on their feet.

"...Stay here," Ludwig said, leaving Feliciano standing as the Italian looked at Ludwig with a worried expression, holding his hands close to his chest. The German slowly walked up to the closet and stood in front of it. He carefully grabbed the door to slide it open slowly. There, right in front of him were two glowing piercing white orbs glaring at him, suspended in midair of the darkness in the small confine closet. The sliding door burst open, a large shadow staring at the two. Feliciano screamed as it launched towards him. Ludwig quickly kicked it, only to see that his attack went right through the shadow. It stood erected, jerking about, and looked at Ludwig. It didn't have any characteristics aside from a large shadowy silhouette and bright white eyes that spelled trouble. It obviously wasn't human—it might not even be from this world.

Ludwig hid Feliciano behind him as they were about to be pinned to the wall from backing up. He quickly looked around the room and saw his lone pistol on the desk. If he ran for it now, he would be leaving Feliciano open to whatever is in front of them. If he doesn't act now, who knows what will happen to them?

"Ludwig!" Feliciano cried out to him as he ran pass the shadow and grabbing the gun. Without thinking, without hesitation, he quickly loaded the pistol and a shot rang out at the shadow. Just then, there was a sudden image flashing in his head.

The bullet rang out of the gun, the shadow turning towards the direction of the sound. It went right past the shadow's body. Ludwig's eyes widened in horror as on the other side of the shadow was Feliciano.

The shadow let out a distorted cry as its abdomen blew up. It writhed in pain, glaring at Ludwig as he stared in surprise. It dropped down to the ground, a large black puddle of shadowy substance staining the floor. The German let out a sigh of relief as he saw Feliciano was safe and sound. The Italian carefully went around the puddle, eyeing it as if it would come back to life.

As Feliciano stared at the puddle, bubbles started to form at the surface and it sprang back up, cloaking the defenseless Italian as Ludwig ran towards him.

He mentally shook his head from the strange image, heading towards Ludwig.

"...If this happened to us, do you think it might have happened to the others?" Feliciano asked, still staring at the substance. Ludwig pursed his lips.

"Probably but I sure hope not," he said, grabbing the Italian's hand, "C'mon, let's go check if everyone is alright." Feliciano nodded as the two left the room, the Italian looking over his shoulder at the disturbing shadow. Just as they left, he was sure he saw it moving.

The two walked downstairs and heard what it seems to be a door opening. Suspicious, they headed towards the source of the sound: the backyard door near the kitchen. They looked around the area, Ludwig looking at the glass door. There was a small crack on its surface. Feliciano, on the other hand, was wandering around in the kitchen.

"I wonder if they have any pasta here..." he muttered to himself. Ludwig gave him a look.

"...Out of all the things to think about, you think about your carbohydrates?" Ludwig rose a brow. Feliciano pouted, his cheeks becoming slightly rosy from embarrassment.

"I can't help it! If I don't have pasta at least once a day, I—" he stopped mid-sentence. Whenever the teen became silent, it made Ludwig feel uneasy, especially under these strange circumstances now. The Italian walked pass Ludwig, staring at the glass door leading to the vast backyard. He touched the crack that was on its surface. Surprisingly, it was warm.

"Hey Ludwig, touch this crack here," he beckoned him over. Ludwig sighed but complied, walking towards the door and placed his hand over the splinter. His blue eyes widened in surprise.

"...It's warm," he drew his hand away, "Maybe something cool was on it then it was heated? No...then what's the motive?" Ludwig continued to contemplate, mumbling to himself as the curious Italian peered outside the glass. He grabbed the handle and tugged it open, the wood creaking from age. Suddenly, a strong scent punched Feliciano in the stomach. He reeled back in the kitchen, covering half of his face with both hands.

"What's wrong?" Ludwig finally noticed his curious partner.

"This smell..." Feliciano looked down at the patio. There was a small dark red puddle right in front of the door. Ludwig held Feliciano's hand as they walked outside to the garden, closing the door behind them. The German veteran soldier knelt down and examined the small pool of crimson liquid.

"No doubt about it, this is blood. And judging by the looks of it, it's fresh," he noted. "Question is, who does it belong to?" He then shivered. Hopefully it wasn't one of the others. Feliciano pursed his lips, brows furrowing together as a worried expression was written across his face. There was a faint sense of dread in the air but it quickly heightened, making Feliciano uneasy. He gulped, trying to get the lump out of his throat. He immediately looked up when they heard a loud pounding sound coming from the door. Looking up, they saw multiple shadows crowding at the door, the glass exploding as the creatures burst out towards them. Ludwig got out his pistol, making sure Feliciano was behind him. He shot the shadow as it dropped to the ground, another shadow behind it. Feliciano let out a shriek as it came closer. It seemed to have aggravated the shadow as it lurched towards them with a bellowing cry. Ludwig grabbed Feliciano's hand and ran to the sides, shooting at it. The shadow ducked and swayed to the side, dodging the bullets. Ludwig quickly got out a small cartage of ammunition, reloading the gun as Feliciano tugged on his jacket, the shadow coming closer to them.

"Ludwig—!" Feliciano screamed as it was right in front of them, its arms about to wrap around the two. A shot rang out as Ludwig had the pistol in front of him, aiming it right at the shadow's head. The red eyes started to fade to black as the shadow melted into a puddle on the ground, Ludwig letting out a sigh of relief. He looked at Feliciano who seemed relieved as well...though he was still shaking.

"You okay?" Ludwig asked. The Italian nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine...I think." Feliciano then noticed something on the grass. He walked towards it, avoiding the black puddle, and knelt down. Picking it up, he held it up to the sun. "It's a...key?" It was obviously old, the rust made it look like it would break any moment. What made Feliciano's eyes widen in shock was that there was dried blood all over it. Was it linked to the pool of blood near the door?

"Since when was there a key there?" Ludwig was suspicious.

"...Maybe that thing dropped it?" Feliciano suggested, "I mean, look, it's covered in blood."

"It's not like we can conduct an analysis on the blood right now and compare it to the one at the door. The only thing I'm wondering is if that was holding the key, why did it have it in the first place?"

"Maybe it leads somewhere?" Feliciano looked around the backyard. The greenery seemed calm and serene but at the same time, there was an uneasy feeling of paranoia as it was completely dead silent outside. Not even a single bird's chirp to brighten up the mood. Ludwig sighed.

"Ja, that's the most logical and obvious answer," he retorted, crossing his arms, "There doesn't seem to be anything out here, so we might as well head back inside."

"Okay!" Feliciano smiled. Ludwig couldn't help but smile back faintly. Despite all the things that has happened, it was nice to see the Italian smile.

"I wonder where this key would lead to," Feliciano said, staring at the key in Ludwig's hand, both of them looking at it. Ludwig shrugged.

"Who knows. We should probably look for Francis or Jeanne and ask them—wait...what is that?" Ludwig halted. Feliciano tilted his head in confusion and looked up to where Ludwig was looking. There, just a few feet in front of them near the mansion's entrance, a young girl slowly walked towards the wall and disappeared within it.

"W-w-was—was that...a ghost?" Feliciano stuttered.

"T-there's no such thing as ghost! ...Then again, from what we've been seeing, anything could be plausible. What strikes me curious is if she was a ghost, why go through a wall just like that?"

"...S-should we check it out?" Feliciano was shivering. Ludwig nodded. The Italian let out a small inaudible whimper. Why does he have to be such a masochist? As the two headed towards the wall, Ludwig noticed something off about it. He stared at the pattern of the wallpaper intently. Something was wrong but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"...Huh? There's a slight..." Feliciano noticed that the faint stripes on the wall weren't aligned horizontal correctly. A whole section was off by an inch up. Leave it to the artist to notice a small mistake.

"Oh! Look!" he pointed at the wall. Ludwig looked and saw a small hole—a keyhole. He then backed up, scrutinizing the wall. He noticed that there was a very faint rectangular line—a door; the handle of the door being camouflaged by the wallpaper. Feliciano looked at the key in Ludwig's hand, then at the keyhole, then back.

"...Maybe the key opens it?" Feliciano suggested.

"...It's worth a shot." He placed the key inside and turned it. A small click echoed out. Ludwig slid the door open, much to their surprise as all they saw in front of them were stone stairs leading to a spiral darkness. Feliciano grabbed Ludwig's hand as the German lead the way, heading down the stairs. It seemed as if it was an eternity, the stairwell seemed to go on forever. Just then, Feliciano stopped, Ludwig looking behind to see him. Even though it was dark, he knew something was wrong.

"...Feli?"

"...We should head back...now."

"...Why—?"

"Just...we should just head back...something feels really bad down here..." Feliciano's palm grew sweaty. Ludwig hesitated but nodded. Just as they left, a faint sound could be heard—the sound of a girl giggling.

The two managed to find there way back to the entrance, the light hurting there eyes from the darkness.

"There you guys are! Cazzo, we were looking everywhere for you, freaking fratello!"

Gasp! Who could that be at the last line? (It should be pretty obvious)

I'm really sorry if they seem out of character...kinda hard to keep them in character when typing this kind of story.

OTL

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