Aya stood taller as she realized what she had to do. She took out the Magic Water Ogre had gifted her with and said, "I have to save father."
Aya's mother moved a little away from her when she saw the Magic Water. "A-Aya? What are you doing?"
"…I'm sorry, mom…" She said as the water began to light up in her hands.
"Stop, Aya!" She screamed as Aya threw the Magic Water at her. "…I'm… fading?... my body… is disappearing…"
"Mom!" Aya screamed.
"A…ya.....A..ya… Aya."
"N-No! Don't go!" Aya reached for her but she was already gone. Then everything went black.
Aya stirred as she woke soon after. "Ngh… Where am I? Huh? Father!" She said as she crawled over to him and shook him. "Father!"
"…Oogh…" Her father coughed as he sat up. "Hm? Was I… saved? Aya?"
Aya wrapped her arms around her father as she began crying. "Father!"
"I'm sorry, Aya… I worried you so…" He said patting her head.
"Father… Mom…"
Her father paused. "Yes, I know. She must have been lonely. We'll visit her grave tomorrow so her spirit won't be." He smiled as Aya looked up at him.
"…O-okay." Aya sniffed.
Aya's mother appeared behind the two as they hugged one another. "…Aya… I didn't want you to know the truth. But with the last of my power…" She moved forward and disappeared into Aya's back.
Aya was suddenly alone again and she was standing in her father's lab. "…What?" She asked herself, looking down at her hands and seeing that they were faded and she could see the floor through them. She heard footsteps and looked up to see her father and Maria both in the lab in the basement.
Her father walked over to an examining table and laid a red chainsaw gently on the table. Its blade had the thick, red liquid dripping off of it, but he seemed to ignore that fact and walked over to his helper, Maria. She turned around as he got closer.
"A fine sample." He concluded.
"I shall dispose of the remaining materials myself…" Maria offered.
"That can wait…" He insisted. "Come, Maria…" He said, opening his arms.
"Doctor…" She blushed, walking into the hug. "Doctor…" Maria whispered. "She's aware of our…relationship…"
"…Hm? What does it matter?" He replied, looking at her through his thin glasses.
"I…I don't believe she's very…fond of me…that is a problem…" She said, trying not to meet the doctor's eyes.
"The girl will be 11 soon. It's a troublesome age. To be sure…be kind to her, please. Make sure she is never harmed. She is my most precious… doll of them all." He said softly in Maria's ear.
Aya stared. "…huh? A doll? Me?... F-Father?"
Suddenly she was in the basement hallway outside of the lab. "Was that… Huh? This is… now what?" She asked when she realized she was still transparent. Aya then heard some footsteps coming from her left. She turned to see her mother, alive and well, walking towards the lab. Aya gasped happily. "Mom!"
Her mother didn't notice and walked right through her, talking to herself. "He's always spending all his time down in the basement… don't tell me he's with that girl again…" She pressed her back against the wall next to the lab door and listened in.
"Doctor. Mistress Aya has become rather ladylike.. and to think, she always used to tease you and bother you…" Maria's voice came from inside.
Her father's voice chuckled. "Indeed. Just a little more until she's ripe. I want to make her into the most beautiful doll I can."
Her mother stepped back from the door. "What… was that?"
"She shall be the masterpiece of all the dolls I've made." Her father's voice said.
"…Dolls?" Aya said.
Suddenly, Aya's mother stepped out from the wall. "What? Make her into a doll?"
"Mom? What is this?" Aya asked her, trying to tug on her arm, but her own arms went right through her.
"I shall clean up the unnecessary materials." Maria's voice said from inside.
"Please do." The sound of another door could be heard as Maria left.
"…I-I'll never forgive you…" Her mother stammered angerly. "You'll never make our precious daughter into one of your test subjects!" Aya mother then opened the lab door and stormed in.
Aya peeked around the door frame as her mother confronted her father. "You! What's the meaning of this?! Are you planning to experiment on her?!"
"So you overheard…" Her father said calmly.
Her mother became even angrier. "What are you thinking?! She's our one and only treasure!"
Her father's eyes sparkled under his glasses. "Exactly! She's a wondrous daughter! I want to make her eternally so! And yet… she… will someday be dirtied. That, I cannot bear to think! So I will make her a doll!" He reasoned.
"I don't believe this!" She huffed. "I'll never let you do that! I'm leaving!" She began to walk towards the door.
"What are you saying?" Her father asked.
"…if you want a doll of her so bad, just make a replica!" Her mother yelled, almost out the door.
Then Aya's father stopped her by grabbing her wrist. "Wait. Are you planning to take her away? That, I cannot allow…"
Her mother began to struggle against his grip. "Ngh! Let go!" She screamed.
"I won't let you do what you will with her!" He screeched, breaking a nearby cabinet with his free hand and grabbing a shard of glass, which he then stabbed into her heart.
"Ah…..ah…" She then collapsed to the ground, her life fading fast as Aya's father stood over her.
Aya stared. "M….Mom?... N-No…" Aya then screamed and began crying.
Maria then came back from disposing of materials and her eyes widened and she gasped at the scene. "M-Milady!" She ran over and tried to coax her into staying awake. "Milady! Stay with us!... Doctor! Why did you do this?!" She asked, panicked.
Aya's father turned away from his wife's corpse and responded, "It had to be done… for Aya's future."
Maria stood up. "B-But! Milady…"
"Do not speak of this to Aya." Aya's father ordered.
Maria looked shocked. "But-
"She was already feeble. Say she passed away from a fit."
Maria looked down at the floor, tears threatening to break forth. "I… can't tell her." She turned towards him.
"Are you refusing my order?" The doctor asked, his voice a little angry.
Maria backed away a little, scared. "N-No! That not what..." Maia wiped her eyes and smiled. "…whatever happens, I am loyal to you, Doctor…"
Aya's father cupped her cheek with his hand as he spoke, "Because you are my assistant." Maria blushed before he moved away. "Now… how shall we dispose of the body?... Naturally, Aya must not see it…" He looked away thoughtfully.
Maria then turned back around and looked at his wife's corpse.
Then suddenly, the two were gone, leaving only Aya and her mother's corpse in the room. "…Mom…" Aya stood up and walked over, then sat in front of her dead mother. "…Is this a dream…?" Aya asked. "Am I… just having a bad dream?"
Her mother's corpse shook as she spoke. "It's no dream." Suddenly, she was standing up, towering over Aya. "This is reality…" Aya's mother than sank down, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Aya. Your mother… still loves your father even now. So I didn't kill him… But… I should have…."
Aya rubbed her eyes. "D-Don't say that!"
Her mother looked up at her little girl. "…run away… away from him…"
Suddenly, Aya was back with her father in the lab. She let go of him and slowly backed away.
"Aya? What's wrong?" Her father asked as he rose to his feet. "Why do you look so afraid of your father?"
Aya kept backing away until she accidentally bumped into the covered glass tube, the blanket falling off and revealing what was inside: her mother.
Aya stared. "No… mo…mother?
Her father stepped closer to Aya, saying her name.
"What I just saw… was it the truth?" Aya asked. "Father…you…" She turned to face him.
Her father stayed until he kneeled down. "…Very well."
Aya backed away again. "Fath-"
"Well, Aya? Don't you think your mother's beautiful?" He asked gleefully as he reached out to touch Aya's shoulder
Aya ran from his reach and stared at him.
"…I suppose it is a bit much to take in…" He concluded as he rose back to his feet. "…I wanted a little more time, but…" He stepped closer.
"Father… you're going to make me into a doll?" Aya asked, her back pressing into the glass.
Her father smiled. "Don't be sad, Aya. By making you a doll, your beauty can last forever!" He walked over to the dolls adorning the north wall. "Look at these children! Beautiful, yes?" He asked. "Preserved just as they were when alive! This is the fruit of my research!" His eyes were sparkling as he talked.
But none of them are moving… Am I going to be like that?!
"You can hardly even tell they're dolls, can you?" Her father continued. "But their heads, eyes, torsos, hands, legs… they were all gathered from a wide array of people!" He moved over to a doll with a dog's head. "I find it quite fascinating! Combine a dog with a human if you so desire! Isn't that incredible?... What would you like to be, Aya?" He asked. But before Aya could respond, he cut it. "Alas, I can't make many changes while preserving your lovliness…"
"…Father… stop…" Aya pleaded.
"Ah, yes. Perhaps I'll dress you up finely! Tell me whatever you wish to wear!"
"Noo!" Aya screamed as she ran for the door.
Her father turned around sharply. "Aya! Where are you going? Come! Be by your father!"
Aya reached for the doorknob. "No…!" She said softly.
"Are you refusing your father?" He asked.
"Aya turned towards the door. "… I'm sorry… But I… I don't want to be a doll!" She screamed as she ran away.
She ran into a really small hallway with another mannequin and crow. When she stepped in, the mannequin covered up the door, giving her temporary safety. Then she tried opening the door on the south wall, but it was stuck. She kept trying and didn't fail to hear her father calling out her name plus the sound of a chainsaw being revved up a few moments later. "Open the door, Aya!"
Suddenly the mannequin at the door had a chainsaw cut through its torso and was thrown aside. Her father made his appearance. He laughed maniacally before calling out her name again.
Aya pushed as hard as she could on the door and finally got it open before her father could intercept her.
"No!" She screamed over the chainsaw. She ran through another door to another hallway to find that that door was locked.
"Ayaaaa.~" Her father called from behind her.
Aya looked behind her at the mannequin as it blocked the door. Thanks… I suppose.
Suddenly, the mannequin's torso had a chainsaw cut through it and it was thrown aside as her father entered, laughing maniacally.
"Ayaaa!" He called again.
Aya stepped back and began to jiggle the door handle and push against the door until she finally got it open. She hurt her shoulder and stumbled when the door opened abruptly but she recovered quickly and ran through another hallway, her father chasing her.
Aya entered another hallway similar to the one before, but the door at the end was locked. I'm trapped?! She thought frantically. As she searched for some sort of key.
Suddenly her father was standing over her, his chainsaw at the ready. He laughed as he swung, but missed his target.
Aya ducked her head, then noticed a lever on the far wall, so she ducked under his legs and ran. She pulled the lever down and dodged her father on the way there and ran through the doorway.
"….ngh….." Maria said as she woke on a cold stone floor. She sat up. "..Where… is this? Was I returned?..." She gasped and stood up. "Doctor! Is he alright?!" Suddenly she felt someone bump into her back. She turned sharply to be met with Aya, who was out of breath. "Mistress!"
Aya's father came into the room. "Maria! Don't let Aya escape!"
Aya turned to look before bolting past Maria.
"Wait!" Maria called after her.
Aya sprinted into a hallway that split in two and looked both ways, trying to catch her breath before choosing a path. What do I do? She looked back and forth again and choose left, going into a room with a bunch of tables with bodies covered up on them. She tried the door. Won't open?!
Tears began to well in the corners of her eyes, but she wiped them away as she observed the room. She saw an empty table with a blood stained body cover. …I could hide here… She thought as she cautiously climbed up and covered herself. She barely breathed as she heard the door open and someone walk in.
Maria walked into a room with several tables with covered bodies on them. "Mistress, where….?" She trailed off as she searched for Aya. She heard the sound of a waiting chainsaw behind her and turned to see the doctor walking in. "Where did Aya go?" He asked.
Maria nodded her head. "I apologize… I lost sight of her."
"What?" The doctor said, becoming angry and beginning to advance on his assistant.
Maria backed away slowly. "I-I'm terribly sorry! I-I am certain that she could not be far… let us search elsewhere-"
"You useless!" The doctor lifted his chainsaw and swung at Maria, cutting open her torso and arm, then running past her and cutting through the door that wouldn't open for Aya, calling out for his daughter.
Aya sat up and uncovered herself and gasped when she saw the state Maria was in. She rushed over to hear Maria groaning. She stayed silent, until she heard the faint voice of her father still calling her name from the broken door. He's still looking…! He rose to her feet and exited the door she had come from, but not before looking back at Maria one more time.
She exited and climbed over some sandbags that had been knocked over and cut open. She then quickly ran down the right hallway and went through several hallways until came to a small room.
"I found you!~" Her father said behind her as he ran through the door she'd come from.
Aya screamed and ran into the chapel, but then something grabbed her ankle from under the alter and she fell. "Huh?!" She said as she looked down at her leg.
"Hehehheeehe…" The doll said as she held on to Aya's leg and stared her in the face. "Come be with us…" She said.
"No!" Aya screamed, struggling against the doll's surprising grip strength.
"That's enough of our little game of tag, Aya. I have to keep you still, don't I?" He said as he stood on the alter with a grin.
"Let go!" She cried at the doll.
Her father jumped down. "I didn't want to hurt you, Aya… it's a shame, really."
Aya looked up at him. "No.. stop, father, please…"
Her father's smile grew. "But I can cover your legs with a skirt easily enough, so it should be fine.
Aya began to struggle again. "I don't want this…! I wanted to stay with you… I love you, father! Please… stop this…" She pleaded.
He blinked. "Aya… don't worry! Father and Aya will always be together now!" He raised his chainsaw. "Aya… I love you." Everything blacked out.
Aya's father stood in the throne room with his new masterpiece completely finished. He smiled. "Aya, your new dress looks wonderful on you!" He stood in front of her, admiring. "…well, I think it's about time to sleep." He kissed her forehead before heading to the door and turning off the light. "…Good night, Aya." He said softly as he closed the door.