"Take a seat my dear" Hesitantly Cheza obliged and sat at a small wooden table decorated with a simple white table cloth. A bowl of soup was soon pushed in front of her, "You look hungry dear. I just finished cooking dinner, how about you stay and keep this old women some company"
Cheza stared down at the soup, was the soup poisoned? Cheza's eyes fell upon the old women once more, she looked like a typical grandmother. Surely there was no way this women had any intention of hurting her. " I..I guess I could stay for a while" came Cheza's response. A smile lit up the old women's face as she pulled on a set of oven mitts, " I made a fresh batch of cookies for desert!" Cheza examined her surroundings as the old women removed the tray of cookies from the oven. She frowned as she studied the pot her soup had been poured from, it looked an awful lot like a cauldron. Tearing her eyes away from it she scanned the floor, a pair of old raggedy looking dolls lay carelessly on the ground along with a half-eaten lollipop and few other toys. "Oh, so you have children! Where are they!? I would love to meet them" Cheza exclaimed. The old women jerked her head up instantly at her comment, " I do not have any children, they have all perished" Cheza cringed at the harshness emitting from the old women's voice. "I'm sorry ..its just I noticed all those toys on the ground and I thought.."
"No children have ever entered this house since the death of my own, DO NOT bring the topic up again" the old hen practically growled. Cheza frowned, clearly children HAD been here very recently. All the toys and the half eaten lollipop were enough of an indication, why was she lying about such a thing? The women placed a plate of cookies in front of Cheza and smiled sweetly, "I apologize dear, its just ..I don't like to be reminded of my childrens deaths." Cheza was beginning to feel more and more uneasy by the second, "I..I understand". "Eat up dear, you need to put some meat on those bones!" the old women exclaimed eagerly while pushing the bowl of soup closer to Cheza.
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"What did you do to them!? Where's Kurama and Cheza!?" Kuwabara practically screamed while clinching his fists. Aztharoth hit his staff against the ground five times, an old tattered book with no title appeared, hovering over his staff. "Whats that?" Kuwabara asked while glancing between the book and the warlock. "It's a book full of fairy tales" Kuwabara frowned, "What the heck does that have to do with anything!?" Aztharoth grinned, "This isn't just any book. Its magical and can seal souls inside. Those who are unfortunate enough to become trapped are forced to continuously relive the fairy tales that are written inside" Kuronue moved forward snatching the book from the air, "are you saying they are trapped in this book!? I thought you came here to help them!?" Aztharoth nodded, "I am." Snapping his fingers the book swung open and began flipping through various pages until it landed on one story in particular, "Hansel and Gretal."
Kuwabara jumped back and pointed to the book, "That's..thats Cheza!" A black and gray moving picture of Cheza and an old women is what had startled the ginger.
Aztharoth nodded, "Yes it is" Kuronue frowned, "so tell me, how is this helping them?" Aztharoth snapped his finger once more causing the book to again flip pages until it came to the very back of the book.
"There's nothing here, just a blank page" Aztharoth nodded, "Exactly. I plan to trap "IT" in this book on this very page." Yukina moved from behind Kuwabara to examine the book, "How can you trap "IT" inside when there is no story to trap "IT" in?" Aztharoth turned his attention to the soft spoken ruby eyed women, " I have a story in mind, one I plan to write very soon actually"
Yukina stared down at the blank page as Aztharoth began speaking once more. " If things go as planned, the two will meet up in this final story along with "IT" . I have found a way to release their souls while trapping "IT" inside. Thus the creature will never again come after me or them and its offspring will die as well" Kuwabara looked up from the book, "How?"
Once again the warlock slammed his staff into the ground, a glowing yellow halo appeared. "I'm sure at least one of you have heard about these" Yukina and Kuwabara shook their heads no, but Kuronue nodded. "binding rings" Aztharoth nodded, "Correct. The two should have collected one each by now, they will need a total of 7 for this to work properly" Kuronue grabbed the halo from the air and examined it, " I see, you plan to use these to trap "IT" while Kurama and Cheza escape" Kuronue commented. " I will be able to open a portal for a short period of time. The binding rings will not keep the creature trapped for long, they will have to move fast if they want to escape"
"So the binding rings will keep the creature at bay long enough for them to escape, what if it doesn't work!? What if this creepy shadow thing escapes instead of them!?" Aztharoth grabbed the book from Kuwabara's hands, " I will be forced to face off with "IT" then, we can only hope it doesn't come to that. I shall return shortly, I have a fairytale to write" Before anyone could reply the warlock vanished in a poof of purple smoke.
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"I…I appreciate your hospitality, but I'm fine really" Cheza commented as the old women pushed her forward into a building outside of the candy house. This building was made of wood instead of various candies. "A shower will do you good my dear! " "But..I..I won't have any clean clothes to wear" The old women grinned, "Oh, you won't have to worry about that". The old women's words were creeping Cheza out a bit, but the women was holding her ground and clearly wasn't going to take no for an answer. "O..okay, but I really must be going soon" Cheza replied. "Hurry and get in while the water is still hot, I will return in a minute with some soap" Cheza nodded and hesitantly began to undress. Entering the cauldron looking bathtub her muscles began to relax, maybe she was worrying to much. Closing her eyes she continued to relax, eventually dozing off.
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Cheza awoke to find herself still in the bathtub. She frowned, the water felt extremely hot. She stiffened noticing her hands and feet were tied, she couldn't move! Panic washed over her and she began to struggle to undue the ties as the temperature of the water continued to rise. She screamed as loud as she could, knowing it was pointless. The door to the room slid open revealing the old women, only she looked different. Her skin was now a sickly green color, her nose more elongated and hooked, her eyes glowed red. This old lady was really a witch!
"Well well well, you've woken up. Thank you for making this so much easier for me, I did not think you would fall asleep" The witch grinned evilly, " You should be cooked thoroughly within a few hours, then I will be able to make a whole new batch of cookies" Cheza's eyes widened, thankfully she had not eaten any of her cookies. The heat continued to rise, tears began to stream down her face. " You will make a tasty meal" the witch turned to leave and when she did she was met with a surprise. Cheza watched wide-eyed as the witch began to scream in agony and melt before her very eyes until she was nothing but a green goo. Her eyes fell upon the door, "KURAMA!" The fox was instantly be her side and in a matter of seconds she was free from the now boiling water. Ripping her bindings off he placed her red hoodie on her and the two embraced in a hug. "I'm so glad to see you" she whispered while holding onto him even more tightly. Kurama pulled away and glanced down at her pocket, where the halo she had picked up earlier lay glowing. " You have one too"
Cheza pulled the halo from her pocket, "I killed this creepy Youko clone and it just appeared out of nowhere" Kurama pulled a halo from his pocket as well, "I was involved in a similar incident" The fox turned his attention to the pile of green goo. Making his way to it he began to rummage through the goo. " What are you doing!?" Kurama pulled a halo from the green slimy mess, "This makes three"
"What are they?" Kurama placed the halo in the water removing the green goo that remained attached to it, "binding rings"
The house began to rattle as the ground suddenly began to shake violently, Kurama held onto Cheza tightly as darkness engulfed them."Whats happening!?" Cheza screamed frantically. "I believe we are being sent to yet another fairytale. I have a theory, if we hold onto each other we will be sent to to the same place" Kurama replied.
Cheza nodded and the two held each other tightly, soon they found themselves standing together in a graveyard , a full moon lighting up the area around them revealing hundreds of tombstones….