I ended up needing to carry Mitsuri the whole way through to the next elevator until she was finally able to walk on her own again, but it would've been a lot quicker to reach it had I not been through three different rooms that were the same stupid guessing hallways.

"Ding! Ding! Bubum..." the sound made each time, me groaning at it each time we went through and for my little girl allies to be just as annoyed. But after the jerky elevator ride down, I hesitated to open the door and asked the current owner of GL Labs a serious question.

"Bella? Before we encounter Delirium, I must ask how it works when attacking us?" I said, her then frowning at me.

"Delirium will force you to relive your past trauma, experiencing every bad instance you've had in your past. But if it's a group of people that encounter Delirium, then the monster will always target the strongest of the group first. You would be that strongest. If you can manage to survive that trauma going into your head all at once, then all of us will be safe from harm. But there's a reason that most groups don't last against it. The torment is horrible. And if you can't stand up to it, you end up needing to fight him to the death. Nobody has ever succeeded against its might, and I doubt even you could," Spooky said, me nodding as we then finally moved through the door and, as expected, we didn't see anything particularly different... at first. That is, until we went through to room 205, where we gawked at how the place started to become super red, with the floors feeling more flesh-like than normal.

"Well, here we go. No turning back... welcome to Delirium's domain, the Void of Trauma... once in here, the only way out is to beat your own trauma... or, if failing that, defeat Delirium itself. Stay strong, Mathias. If you lose, all of us do as well, me especially," Bella sighed, me nodding as the other children stayed close together, being protected by me and Slimegirl until we then went into the next room, where I then saw the sight of the giant monster himself, appearing in its giant head form which was its version of Hush. And when he saw me, I then... I felt it. Horrible memories, the fears, the pain from all of my injuries in my past, even the nightmares and anger I felt towards others! All of them bombarded me at once!

I felt overwhelmed at all of this coming at me at once, but I simply sung a song to myself that I kept to myself, as it was my personal anthem of feeling better.

"~The winner takes allll...
it's the thrill
of one more kill...
the last one to faaaalll...
Will never sacrifice their will...~ I sung before then feeling the pain leave me as I shouted out in song with the next part.

"~Don't ever look back!
On the world closing in!
Be on the attack!
With your wings in the wiiiind!
Oh, the games will begiiiiin!~" I sung even louder as Delirium then looked at me with a look of fear on his face and I saw that little Cynthia joined in for the next bit.

"~Cause it's SWEET! SWEET! SWEET VICTORY, YEAH!
And it's ALL FOR THE TAKING!
IT'S ALL FOR THE FIGHT!
AND IT'S SWEET! SWEET! SWEET VICTORY! YEAH!
AND THE ONE WHO'S LAST TO FAAAAAAAALLLLLL! ! !~" We both sung out loud, me being surprised at how our song of courage from Spongebob not only made Delirium scared, but the monster actually screeched a soft cry of pain before it then folded in on itself and then, out of nowhere, we gawked at how the form of Delirium changed to be... a little boy of only 7 years old... one that I recognized INSTANTLY with his giant eyes that were instantly filled with tears!

"Isaac?" I asked, him then sniffing and staying on the ground as Bella looked on in surprise.

"Um... Delirium was a child this whole time?" she asked as I then went to the scared child and proceeded to give him my hand, which I placed on his back, him then breathing in and out easier, as I saw he was panicking.

"I... I... t-thank you..." he sobbed, me smiling at him happily as I then gave him a small hug, him sniffing at that and for him to look at the girls behind me in confusion.

"U-Um... where am I?... I don't remember much... except my name... and my shame... tons of shame..." he said with sorrow, me smiling at him.

"You're uh... your shame was so great, it caused you to turn into a monster fueled by Delirium... and I'm not even sure why you're here, because, in your world of origin, you had a panic attack and died in a crate that you hid yourself in... you blamed yourself for your parents' divorce and went mad from it... but I'd be willing to help you through it, Isaac. And to get a happy ending," I smiled, him sniffing at me.

"I... I don't really deserve it... I hurt a lot of people... mom... my neighbors... my pets... and all the people I killed in this world... I'm... I'm so scared..." he admitted, me smiling at him as best as I could.

"I know, but as a great man once said, it takes a man to forgive someone. It takes an even better man to forgive the unforgivable... and I forgive you for anything you did," I said, him sniffing again and then hugging me tighter, his tears coating my entire jacket in the process as the girls looked on with tears in some of their eyes.

"I-I'm not gonna cry... I'm not gonna..." Bubblegum sniffed, me smiling at her.

"How's about we keep going, Isaac? We need to get through this whole place, but to do so, we need to go through a whole lot more creatures and beasts. You aren't the only one that had to be kept here against your will. There are definitely more in this place that could be reasoned with, I'm sure, right, Bella?" I asked, her smirking at me.

"Well? At first, I didn't really think you'd last this long... but if you could reform Delirium into a little boy? If we don't get out of this mess, I'd be surprised by that," she admitted.

"Well, we need to get moving. We still have a good 790 floors of the main mansion, the cursed hospital underneath - with monsters that I KNOW will be more dangeorus than anything we've gone up agianst already - and your old house at the bottom... which I can say will have the most depressingly sad monsters we'll find," I said, which made some of my group confused.

"You mean you know what to expect?" Cynthia asked, me nodding at her.

"Yes, because, despite some changes to the enemies, everything we've come across thus far was part of a game. Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion... the only thing that's changed thus far is some of the specimens being from other video games, such as Bubblegum and Isaac, here," I smiled.

"Um... a video game?... What's that?... Is that how you know so much about me?" Isaac asked, me nodding at him.

"Yes. It's basically a television show, but your controller can move one or more characters in the show and have them do things like fight bad guys and save the world... as for you?... I'll only tell you the full story of your world when we get out of this mess... and get you some new clothes," I smiled, Isaac smiling at that.

"But where would we get him some? We don't have anymore clothes on hand unless you want to go shirtless," Bella smiled at me.

"Ooh, I'd like to see that," Bubblegum giggled.

"We have someone up ahead that might have clothes we can wear... but he's uh... I don't know what he'll be like, or if he's even able to talk. I do know that, if we stop looking at him directly, he'll use his puppet strings to appear behind us and poke our eyes out," I frowned.

"Yeah, if you're talking about Ben, he refuses to attack children. He only attacked and turned the children of his village into puppets to get back at their parents for throwing his own puppets into the river... and also him drowning to save the puppets," Bella spoke. "Me, on the other hand, he might try to harm. But he won't be doing the standing still all creepy thing if we have the other kids on our side. He loves kids no matter who they are... but he might be more angry to see you, Mathias, as you are an adult," Bella frowned at me.

"Well, creepy or not, we need to get Isaac some clothes and we need to ask if he'd like to join us to get out of this place," I said.

"The second thing is unlikely. Like myself, he was tied to this mansion for a very long time. If the mansion were to die, he'd have to die with it. The thing he wants the most is to move on, but he can't do that with the mansion being around us," Spooky frowned. "But getting Ben on our good side is not a bad idea. Sure, he wouldn't like me or you one bit, but he has a soft spot for R-.. Mitsuri and Bubblegum. And, also, as I said, children."

But what she said first made me surprised. More monsters tied to the mansion that weren't Spooky? "How many more are tied to the mansion besides you and Ben?" I asked, which Spooky frowned at.

"To my knowledge, the ones tied to this mansion besides me and Ben are Mr Huggles, Deer Lord, and Tirsiak. The former is because he's a monster from his world of origin, so the Hellgate had to tie his essence to the mansion so he'd survive. And Deer Lord and Tirsiak were brought here at the same time, them being two sides of the same coin, with the former being the negative side and the latter being the positive," she explained.

"Okay... and what about Specimen 7?"

"That is one that I don't know what you'll see. If you have serious trauma and psychological issues, it'll go crazy and try to kill you as soon as possible, with its' conscience, the psychic cat, trying to warn you about what to expect," Spooky said, me nodding at that.

"So, in a sense, it'd be probably okay for me, since the most I'd have was a debilitating fear of this one enemy in this specific game, which isn't even in this adventure. But everyone else here? Everyone minus Bubblegum has horrible memories," I said, which made the group frown and nod.

"For me, it's because I've been trapped here in my body for years, unable to move onto the afterlife, but seeing everyone else as they passed me by on that stupid elevator..." Cynthia said with a sigh.

"We don't even need to discuss mine or Isaac's, as we've already explained in full," Mitsuri said with a sigh, me nodding at that.

"And for me, it's because of my past history with my father... he brought me here from heaven, expecting me to be happy. But I wasn't. I was furious at him," Bella said with a sigh as we then proceeded forward through the next few rooms and we spoke on the way. "I'll get this off my chest, since almost every one of us will be targeted by 7... AKA, Alma Wade," she said, me then halting us in the process.

"Wait... Alma Wade? A psychic ghost that could kill us just by thinking about it? THAT Alma Wade?" I asked, her then nodding.

"I didn't wish to say anything, and I kept it hidden from everyone... mainly because I felt she was the one that related to me the most... she and I were secret partners when we discovered we were both tested on by our fathers and turned into ghosts... for her, she wanted to murder, so she happily became a specimen... she came from Area 51 and I discovered her with my scientist lackeys, which I have many working the globe over to find more monsters summoned by the Hellgate... Alma wasn't from another world, though. She was from this one, just like me," Bella sighed, me frowning at her.

"I know exactly what she went through, and it was at least 1000 times worse than what you went through, Bella," I said, her looking at me with confusion. "Beatings, cattle prods, waterboarding, forced coma, forced incubation of humans at an age as young as 12, and being killed by the scientists when they discovered she was killing people while she was in her coma, as she is a psychic. And when she died, her fury made her stay, all so she could get revenge on all of those scientists. And eventually, her father, who sold her into that slavery for money only," I said in disgust.

"And that man, Harlem Wade, is very sneaky and hard to find. My scientists have been trying to locate him for decades and still can't track him down. The last known location he had was in a place called New York City, where he worked at a place called the World Trade Center," she said, me then being surprised at that. I then immediately brought out my cell phone as we got to the next elevator and was shocked at how I was able to use a Wifi here, which I then asked Bella the question.

"Wifi password, please? I need to check something," I said, her nodding.

"It's my birthday, followed by my favorite scary monster, followed by the birth year. October10Vampire1979. October and Vampire are capitalized," she said, me nodding as I then put the password through and then smirked at how the speed was immediate! I then did the search of the websites, and soon found my answer. It took at least five pages-worth of digging, but I eventually found the information I desired.

"I knew it! The moment I heard World Trade Center, I knew that I'd get something if I looked hard enough. Have you ever heard of 9/11/2001?" I asked, which Spooky frowned and shook her head no.

"No, I haven't."

"It's a day when terrorists hijacked planes and proceeded to slam three different airlines filled with passengers into three different important government buildings. The first two were the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the third the Pentagon, and a fourth was retaken by the passengers and was commandeered to a field in Pennsylvania. If they hadn't done so, that one would've hit the White House," I said.

"Wait... the World Trade Center was destroyed?" Bella asked.

"And among the different casualties on the list, exists a man called Harlem Mason, who changed his last name to avoid being involved with his job at, get this, Area 51. Guess what his last name originally was," I said, which the Spooky girl gawked at.

"Harlem Wade... is dead?" she asked.

"He survived the attack, but he suffered tons of burns, had soot filling his lungs, and he was taken to a hospital to try and recover. That never happened. He died 30 days later after being unable to move, talk, or even drink anything at all. He got his payback for his unjust actions. Sure, not by Alma, but I'm sure she'll be happy that he suffered before death," I said with a frown.

"Um... I don't like hearing about that stuff... I know she suffered, but did her dad deserve it?" Cynthia asked, me sighing at that.

"He sold her to be a slave, suffering things that no little girl should ever suffer... have you ever seen those old cartoons, where someone would get zapped by electricity, and they'd be shown in a skeleton?" I asked, her nodding at that. "That's the kind of pain that Alma had to go through. Especially the part of her being forced to have a child at an age where she was unable to do so," I said with a gag.

"So... when do children get to be able to have a kid?" Spooky asked. "I'm only asking because I need to know how painful it was for Alma," she asked.

"The correct age that it would be able to happen with the least pain imaginable starts at age 18, when your body has fully developed. Anything younger than that will have massive complications, and it won't even develop those areas into maturity until age 13, where the changes finally start to happen for a woman. Anything younger than that? It won't even be able to result in anything but absolute pain, as you wouldn't even be able to have it come out," I said, which made Spooky less so and more disgusted... so even ended up dry heaving at it.

"Ugh... yeah... that's worse... than anything I went through..." she said, me seeing that Isaac (who I was still holding in my arms) had since fallen asleep, him looking quite peaceful when he slept in my arms, which I smiled at it.

"By the way, Cynthia?" I asked, her looking at me in confusion. "When I reunite you with your parents, not if, I want you to explain everything that happened. Every single detail of what happened here... that this is all real and that we need to make laws to forbid the use of experimenting on the dead," I said, her nodding at that.

"I agree completely... I don't want anyone to go through this again... but what of all the people who died and turned into ghosts? What do we do for them?" she asked, me looking at Spooky, which she sighed at.

"There is only one way, but none of us will like it. We need to destroy the Hellgate completely and then, once it's destroyed, we need to get the mansion to enter self-destruct. And then, after that, we book it the heck out of this place. But it will be extremely impressive if we not only make it out of here, but also with a larger group than we already have," Bella smiled.

"See? There's some positivity," I smiled as we then finally reached the elevator and we decided to have a walking break, us sitting on the ground and having a rest, me then sharing another juice pouch with the girls that needed a drink (not Mitsuri, as she wasn't thirsty) and only then did Isaac wake up in my grasp.

"Huh?... What kind of place are we at now?" he asked, me smiling at him.

"A very jerky elevator. We're taking a rest stop so we can get prepared for the next couple specimens we'll be encountering... but speaking of which, why is there a psychic kitty along with Alma?" I asked, which Bella smiled at.

"When I found Alma, she was searching for her father in a city and having a cat be her eyes and ears. This cat shares her same psychic mind, being able to talk with her mind as well. The cat is a good person and tries to help those before they enter the chase with Alma herself, where she's able to manipulate everything in the room to fit the fears of her opponents. And given she's a psychic, she can see your thoughts. If she sees that you've killed before, she doesn't hesitate and immediately goes for the kill."

"Welp, good thing I'm not on the list... but what about you? Or Isaac for that matter?"

"She may not go after Isaac. Much like Ben, she would never harm a child... but if she saw I was human again? I don't know how she'll respond... maybe ask to be human herself with that fancy katana, maybe not, who knows?"

"Well, I say that, after a quick nap, we get back on the road," I said, everyone agreeing and us then having a small, slightly uncomfortable nap on the ground of the elevator, which was very tough. We needed to, but I just had to hope that a certain bovine wouldn't invade our minds as we slept.