Gahh-this chapter is a tad bit shorter than it's originally suppose to be.

Sorry... x A x;;

Chapter 4: The Necklace

Feliciano turned towards the familiar voice, his eyes widening as tears formed at the corners. He ran towards the young man that looked similar to him, hugging him as he cried in relief.

"G-get off of me!" the other Italian protested, prying the younger one off.

"B-but you're okay, fratello!" Feliciano sobbed. Another man behind the Italian walked up, smiling.

"C'mon, Lovi, don't tell me you're not happy to see your younger brother!" the Spaniard walked up to the three, placing his hand on Lovino.

"I'm not happy," he bluntly retorted, pushing Feliciano away.

"Er...well I'm glad you guys are safe and sound," Antonio chuckled nervously, looking at Feliciano and Ludwig. The two looked at each other, then at the Spaniard.

"So you've seen it too?" Feliciano asked.

"Yeah, especially on the fourth floor," Lovino was glaring at the German next to his brother, "You haven't done anything strange to him, have you?" Ludwig blinked. Of course, Feliciano's brother didn't like the German at all but when he said that, there was animosity dripping in each word.

"No..." Ludwig raised a brow, sighing while crossing his arms. Lovino continued to stare at him before clicking his tongue. Antonio looked at Lovino as the Italian was eyeing the two.

"Anyways, we should probably head to the library—its the only safe place in this house," Antonio beckoned them to follow. As they walked about in the mansion, Lovino looked over his shoulder at his brother.

"What were you guys doing down there anyways?" he asked, curious.

"Eh? We found a key outside in the backyard, then we went back inside after seeing those shadow thingies, and we saw a girl in white walking towards the wall that was actually a door," Feliciano was contemplating, pressing a finger upon his lips. Lovino and Antonio stopped walking and looked at them, surprised.

"Wait...a girl in white?" Antonio then looked at Lovino.

"...We saw one too, just on the fourth floor—and that's where Alfred and Arthur's room is," Lovino said. They stood in the corridor silently before walking again towards a large double door, Antonio producing a key from his pocket and unlocking the door. The library was vast and spacious, bookshelves towering up to the ceiling, covering the walls, aisle by aisle. The marble floor was covered by a thick crimson carpet where a large battle ax was lying on the floor next to a large sleeping bag beside the large mosaic window.

"Well, this is it," Antonio gestured them towards their belongings with his usual carefree smile.

"Why is your sleeping bag and...weapon here in the first place?" Ludwig questioned.

"After we saw that girl near Alfred and Arthur's room, we decided that it wasn't safe to stay in our own room. As we were heading out, some weird black shadow thing got in our way and chased us around the mansion for a while until we got to the library," Antonio briefly explained.

"Right, and for some reason, once we passed the door of the library, it left us alone," Lovino added. He then sighed, "But we can't stay in here forever."

"I agree, nothing good will happen if we stay here," Ludwig nodded, "But how should we proceed? We're basically fighting against the paranormal."

"You haven't noticed it yet?" Antonio tilted his head in confusion. The others looked at him, bewildered. "Normal physical attacks don't work on them."

"...Now that you mention it, when we first encountered one of those shadows, I tried kicking it but my leg just went pass through it. The weird thing is, my gun works fine against it," Ludwig inquired, checking his gun. Only a few bullets left. Antonio chuckled.

"It's because of Feli over there," he smiled towards the boy. Feliciano blinked.

"M-me?" Feliciano was confused.

"You're wearing it, aren't you?" Lovino asked. Feliciano gasped and digged beneath his scarf to produce a necklace resembling a Baroque cross. Lovino did exactly as his brother, showing the same cross around his neck.

"Just as I thought, the necklace seems to have some sort of...'holy' attribute to it," Antonio said, "I guess it's what makes our attacks work—but only if we're at a close distance." Lovino crossed his arms. He looked around the library, the vast room filled with bookshelves surrounding them.

"Anyways, we took a little look around here but didn't find anything interesting—"

"Except this," Antonio produced an old parchment from his coat pocket, handing it to Ludwig as the German took it into his hands. Feliciano looked over his shoulder as he unfolded the paper, crackling noises from age echoed in the library. Their eyes widened.

"This is..." Feliciano started.

"...A map of the mansion?" Ludwig looked up at the two as Antonio picked up his battle ax off the floor, swinging it over his shoulders. He nodded and tossed Ludwig a box, the insides clattering with a familiar sound. Bullets. He looked up in bewilderment.

"Lovino found it lying around the mansion and thought we should keep it even though none of us has a gun with them—except you and possibly that childish American," the Spaniard smiled.

"Then shall we go?" Lovino suggested.

"Ah, are you guys going back out there?" Feliciano was worried. Lovino smirked.

"Like Macho said, nothing good will happen if we stay here." Feliciano frowned, looking to the sides. He then nodded.

"Then we'll go too, right Ludwig?" Feliciano turned towards him. Ludwig seemed speechless at Feliciano's bravery but chuckled quietly, nodding in response.

"Ja, we're going."

"We should check if Fuzzy Brows and Fatass are okay then since that's where the girl was last seen," Antonio said, waiting near the door. They all headed towards the door as the Spaniard opened it. Lovino peered out, looking left to right.

"Alright, the coast is clear." They left the library, carefully closing the large doors behind them. The group headed towards the stairs to the third floor, only to abruptly stop to see two shadows near the next flight of stairs.

"Should we just fuck them up or what?" Lovino stared at the silhouettes as they stood there, inhuman moans coming from them.

"Wait," Feliciano pulled on his brother's shirt, "Look." He pointed towards an open door.

"Maybe we can lure them in there?" the younger suggested. Lovino didn't say anything. He looked around to see a small plank of wood near his feet. Picking it up into his hand, he tossed it up in the air lightly and then looked at the open door. Quickly, he threw the wood at the open door, the piece bouncing into the empty room. Startled by the sound, the shadowy silhouettes quickly went to investigate, eager growls filling the air. They ran towards the door and slammed it shut, Antonio and Ludwig pushing the sofa from the corridor to barricade it.

"If they were able to break a thick glass door, who knows if they can break through this..." Ludwig backed up from the loud pounds. He grabbed Feliciano's hand as they were about to run upstairs until they saw one of the doors down the hall open by itself. On closer inspections, there was a name plaque on it—Francis. Antonio motioned them to follow him as they inched closer to the door. Instantly, an agile shadow sprung from the room, running towards the group. Feliciano let out a silent scream, caressing his head in his hands. Ludwig aimed his gun at the shadow and let out a shot. It missed. It was much faster than the previous ones as it was already behind Lovino before he even realized it. He gasped, turning around to see it about to engulf him in the dark body until Antonio came out of nowhere. The Spaniard slammed his ax down the shadow, splitting it in half. In the puddle of darkness, there laid a shiny golden key. Ludwig picked it up as Feliciano was behind him, looking at the liquid with a doubtful expression. Strangely enough, the key had a sunflower engraved on it. He mentally shrugged and shoved it in his pocket. Antonio was the first to go in Francis' room to find it a mess, everything was ripped to shreds, the walls showing evident claw marks.

"...There's no way he could have survived this..." Lovino clicked his tongue. His brother on the other hand looked around the room. Ripped up curtains fluttered in the broken window's breeze. He walked towards the window, examining it.

"What? Do you think he jumped out the window?" Lovino was behind his brother.

"Well, we're on the third floor right? That's kind of suicidal. Also, look," he pointed down to their feet. There were dozens of broken glass shrapnel from the broken window.

"...What are you getting at?" his brother asked.

"Ah...nice observation Feli," Antonio knelt down, staring at the shards. He carefully picked one up and held it up to the light. "Judging by the numbers of glass in here, I'm assuming that the window was broken from the outside."

"Which crosses out that Francis jumped out the window," Ludwig added. "The question is, where is he?" Then, there was a muffled scratching noise coming from the closet from across the room. Everyone stared in horror. Lovino hastily got a large fragment off the floor, defensively using it as a weapon. Feliciano then tilted his head.

"...Wait...do you hear that?"

Everyone was quiet. Silence.

"I don't here any—" Ludwig retorted.

"Shh...There!"

"...elp...Help, sil vous plait!"

The younger Italian rushed towards the closet, pulling it open to reveal Francis dropping out. The Frenchman blinked, then looked up at his rescue team.

"So that's what happened...You hid in your closet when you saw those...things from the window?" Antonio asked. Francis nodded.

"Oui, those monsters were lurking around outside and saw me. I didn't know what to do but hide in the closet," he sheepishly admitted. "But before I went back to my room, I was walking around the maison a bit and saw something strange." The others leaned in, listening intently.

"While I was on the fourth floor, I saw...une petite fille walking towards Alfred and Arthur's room."

"...Translation? We don't speak French," Lovino bluntly stated. Antonio chuckled nervously at the Italian's attitude.

"But I think we know what he's talking about. You saw a girl in white, didn't you?" Antonio asked. Francis nodded.

"Oui, mon ami—and what's really worrying me is that Jeanne is missing." Everyone blinked. "She went up to the fourth floor to check if Alfred and Arthur finished unpacking but never came back."

"Well that's just fucking great, we basically have to find everybody in this damn mansion," Lovino threw his arms behind his head, huffing. He then froze. His green eyes flashed towards the door, as did his brother's.

"There's..." Feliciano started.

"...Something there," Lovino ended. From outside, incoherent mumbles can be heard, accompanied by hungry growls that sent shivers down everybody's spine. Ludwig ran towards the doorway, grabbing the handle and slamming the door shut. Though he was thinking that it was useless, he ended up locking the door. Ravish poundings echoed from the other side of the door as the group inched back in fear. Suddenly, it all stopped. There was silence. Dead silence. The brothers seemed to have relaxed.

"...They're gone," Feliciano stated, holding onto his necklace.

"...Alright, we better find everyone first—then we have to find a way to get the hell out of here," Ludwig said. "I think one of us should lead Francis back to the library for safety while the other looks for the others."

"We'll bring Francis back then," Antonio stated. Ludwig nodded.

"Then Feliciano and I will look for Alfred and Arthur first."

"Ah, wait a second." Francis was digging through his slack's pockets. He produced a red key. Engraved on it was a familiar flower. A lycoris. "That key can open the door if its locked." Ludwig nodded and looked at Feliciano. The Italian seemed terrified at the whole situation but nodded with his usual cheerful smile.

Right outside the door, Ludwig tried opening it. It was locked. He got out the lycoris key that Francis had given him previously and unlocked the door, slowly opening it. The room seemed fine, everything was still intact. Opening the door further, they saw that the couple were nowhere to be found. As they walked in, investigating, the door suddenly slammed shut behind them. Feliciano tried to wring it open but it felt as if something was on the other side, holding it shut. Then, he heard a giggle. And it was close.

Slowly turning his head, he saw big gray eyes staring at him. He let out a scream, falling to the floor as the girl walked towards him with a maniacal smile. Her pallid face was contorted with insanity as she let out a spine chilling laughter. A shot rang out, hitting her in the head. She didn't move as the bullet seemed to have done nothing to her. The girl turned towards Ludwig, walking towards him. He let out another round. It hit her but something was wrong. It didn't do anything to her. Feliciano stared in shock and horror. The bullet didn't go pass her like a ghost. What is she?

"Get down!"

Immediately, Ludwig crouched down to the floor as he saw a blinding neon green light flash over his head towards the girl. She let out a high pitched shriek as the room was engulfed in a white light. Removing his arm away from his eyes, Ludwig saw that the girl was gone. He rushed towards Feliciano who seemed to be transfixed in fear.

"Feli...Feli!" he shook his shoulders. The Italian blinked, staring briefly at Ludwig before hugging him, burying his face in the German's chest. He sighed in relief, stroking the soft brown hair. He then looked over to see Arthur and Alfred standing about, a tome in Arthur's hand. The Briton sighed, snapping the book shut.

"C'mon, we should get out of here before she appears again."

Sigh.

I might upload more to it...if I feel like it.

OTL

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