It was shocking, but we didn't have any nightmares whatsoever and we were awake at the same time after we'd had a good rest, which I was definitely surprised by, but I tried to not show it.
"Okay, now time to get some clothes on Isaac from Ben... everyone, be careful, because if Ben sees me first, he might not be so kind," I said, them nodding at me as I then hit the button and the elevator went down to the next level, the shaking definitely spooking poor Isaac, but I hugged him tight so he wouldn't cry... he only made a few sobs.
"It's okay, Isaac... I'm going to shield you on our way through," I said, us then going through to the next room, me seeing that it was the orange-walled rooms of the next levels of the mansion, us going through at least ten floors before we then found the area that looked like a Zelda dungeon, us seeing the architecture on the wall, the creepy lighting, and us then discovering that some of the doors were actually illusionary.
"Okay, this is freaky... I don't know much about this, but this feels like Zelda..." Cynthia said with concern.
"Yeah, I don't know why, but Ben insisted that his room looked like this. No idea why, though, it always felt off to me," Spooky said, me then gulping at that. I had a reason to think that this Ben might be more based on Ben Drowned than I thought, especially after I read the notes in the place. The story had changed from the humble merchant to the creepypasta of Ben Drowned, but it still involving puppets. And the Ben in question was a teenager, who drowned trying to save his puppets when a bunch of horrible teachers wanted to get rid of them. And he came back and started to get back at the teachers via turning both the teachers and the bullies of the school into puppets.
"Creepy..." I said to myself as I then got the keys we needed to get and, after going through the final illusion wall, we then saw a giant door with a skull and crossbone on it. "Okay, how are we going to do this?" I asked, Cynthia gulping at that.
"Um... I'll go in first... if he does anything nasty, I'll scream," she said, me nodding as she then went through, me then putting my ear to the door and hearing a voice on the other side.
"Oh?... A child in this mansion? What are you doing here, little one?" the voice of Ben spoke, me now knowing that he could talk.
"I uh... I was killed a year ago... and then a nice man actually revived me... it was so weird..." she admitted.
"Oh? And who was this man who revived a sweet child as you? It wouldn't happen to be one of the other creatures of this mansion, would it?"
"No... it was one of the challengers... his name is Matthias, and he's um... part angel, apparently? He also revived Ringu and Spooky into humans, too," she said, me then hearing Ben speak again.
"Really? So, where are they, then? I wish to speak to this man as well as my former colleagues," he said, me then speaking from my side of the door.
"Um, other side of the door, sir... I'm going to come through now... please do not hurt us," I said, me then opening it and seeing the sight for myself. It was the sight of Ben, but it was a mixture of the Ben Drowned version of Link mixed with the happy Mask Salesman, which I kind of expected. He looked just like what Ben Drowned would if he were mixed with the specimen in the game.
"Ah, so you're an adult... and one that has compassion on children... but you do realize that the three children by your side have done horrible things, correct?" he asked, his face turning into a grimace for the last part of the sentence.
"It's not like they were wanting to do it. Ringu was doing it because she was cursed to be hungry all the time by her abuser scientists, Isaac was cursed to go insane from his own delirium... and Spooky? Well, for her, if it weren't for her father, then none of us would be here at all," I said, Ben frowning and nodding.
"Indeed... and as for your slime girl? What does she have to say?" Ben asked.
"I have no shame in admitting I've hurt people in the past. You know how hunger makes me not think right," she said with a frown.
"So, let me guess. You wish for me to join your journey from here on out, do you not?" he asked, me then frowning.
"Only if you promise not to attack anything unless I give the go-ahead," I said.
"Very well, that I can agree to. But as for me, I shall follow from a distance... I can sense concern and fear in the children, so I shall pop in when you call my name," he said, him then going through the ceiling without moving an inch of his body!
"Whoa... that was even freakier than seeing him in person..." Cynthia gulped. We then gawked at how, right in front of where he was, a pair of small clothes appeared, me then putting Isaac down and him then putting them on, it being in the form of a pair of brown shorts and a purple shirt, which I smiled at how it made him look like the salesman from the games in the process.
"Thanks, mister Ben... l-let's keep going... I guess..." Isaac said with a shiver as we then moved through the next forty rooms and down the next elevator, not resting at all and going down the elevator and into the next part of our journey at room 310, where we passed through the threshold of consciousness at the same time and, when we did, we then saw the giant clock in the background and the little pink cat on the ground, me seeing it was a mix of a Sphynx and a tabby.
"Well, hello there. Are you lost, little ones?" she asked with her mind, me frowning at her.
"I want to speak with Alma Wade, like, immediately," I said, which made the cat look at me in surprise as some of her hair on her backside stood up.
"I see... before that, you must know she is very impatient with those that have killed before... have you killed before?" she asked.
"Only one person, and it was self-defense against a criminal. It was either him trying to kill my parents, or me killing him before he could pull the trigger," I said, which the cat nodded at.
"Very well, as for your other allies, don't worry about them... well, aside from Bella," she said as the cat then sent out some weird-looking things out of her head and we then saw that the sight of the younger version of Alma appeared, her looking at us with a frown and then at me.
"I've been expecting you all," she said, me nodding at her, knowing to choose my words carefully, especially considering that she was able to blow us up just by thinking about it. "I've heard from afar that you know of where my father is. May you tell me, so I can finally get some revenge?" she asked, me then speaking the truth to her.
"Just know this. His fate was painful and resulted in his death," I said, which made Alma gasp. "Harlem Wade, who had changed his name after the incident that happened to you, was working at the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. And then, the tower he worked in was attacked by a hijacked airplane controlled by terrorists. He ended up becoming burnt, his lungs filled with soot, and by the time they got him out of the building, he was barely able to move without any pain, and could hardly get any air at all," I said, Alma then sighing and looking down at her cat as I continued to speak. "He was in this well-deserved state for almost a whole month before he finally died. And trust me, he's most certainly in hell for what he did to you," I said, Alma then speaking after.
"I saw all of your thoughts... and it's all true... I feel so at ease now... he's finally gotten what was coming to him... now, tell me, what should I do with Bella?" she asked, which made the former spook concerned as she hid behind Bubblegum.
"She is also a victim, just like you were. None of us would be in this situation if it weren't for her father. Sound familiar?" I asked, which Alma then glared and turned into her adult, emaciated form and then went to me and grabbed me with her arm, me then frowning at her, not feeling afraid at all.
"You know nothing about the pain I endured!" she growled, me then frowning.
"I do, though. Your whole story is chronicled in a game called F-E-A-R, three games total, all talking of the horrible treatment you went through, all presented as fiction," I said, that making her gasp at that before then shrinking to her child form and backing up to her cat friend.
"That... was truthful?... You know exactly what happened, every small detail?... Or was some of it embellished?" she asked.
"It had you taking control of a clone army at the facility and absolutely demolishing most of the military that tried to defeat you, and by the time the end of the series came, the entire facility had been burnt to the ground," I explained.
"That part was embellished, but a good number of army people were killed by me before I finally escaped... I then was approached by these people who were in psychic-proof outfits and they said that I'd be a good fit for a fellow ghost, who wanted allies to help get back at those who did horrible things to innocent people... and then I met Bella for real, and saw she was hoping to do that, but also kill enough people to make a ghost army," she said, me then seeing that Bella was holding her head in pain after.
"Stop it, Alma. Don't hurt her," I said, Alma then frowning as Bella then recovered.
"What do you propose I do, then?" she growled.
"I have one of two options. One, help us get down to the bottom of this mansion and defeat the Hellgate that summoned most of the other specimens to this world and, upon doing so, you can go to the other side. Or option two, if you want to test it out, I can bring you back to life with my newfound angel powers, but only if you want to," I said, her then looking at me in confusion before then approaching me and poking my face... and when she did, she then fell to the ground and I saw that, for her specifically, she had been sent back to the mortal coil, but only halfway. She was now half human and half spirit, able to breathe, but also could hover in the air as she could do in her spirit form.
"Hagh... hrgh... this feels weird... you're half angel, that much I can tell... it didn't work the whole way..." she sighed in a bit of pain in her lungs.
"It might be because of your insane psychic powers. Maybe it only worked halfway because of you being so strong a telepath?" Bubblegum asked, which Alma sighed in response.
"That sounds as good an excuse as any... regardless, I'll assist from here on out... but know this. Some specimens will be more dangerous than you can think of, those including 8, 10, and all the beasts from the hospital especially... for the latter ones, you'll need to resort to slaying them with your angelic sword... that goddamn cow will try to overtake your mind the moment you find it, as it has done to all who came before," she said, me then shuddering at that.
"Understood. Of all the monsters down here, that cow is definitely the most dangerous, that much I already know," I said.
"Cow as in a cow monster? Or cow as in an ugly woman?" Isaac asked, me smiling at that.
"The first one. It's able to force you to do things you don't want to do, via an infection of mad cow disease, but for humans. When we go to that hospital, it won't be able to do anything to us until we get to its haunting grounds, the isolation chamber," I frowned.
"Correct... but in order to make it so that monster stays there, you must keep Specimen 11 alive. Mister Huggles's magic is the only thing keeping the mad cow in solitary confinement," Alma spoke.
"And how do you know this when I forgot all about that hospital?" Bella asked with concern.
"Because that cow made everyone forget about the things that happened in that hospital. Only Huggles and I still know of it, as I am a strong psychic and Huggles is partially linked to it to make it stay in isolation," Alma spoke.
"I'm not going to lie... that sounds the scariest thing we'll be going up against..." Mitsuri admitted as she held my hand.
"Regardless, in order to escape this monstrous mansion, we need to get there and go past that stupid cow," I said, us then going through to the next rooms, as we passed the next threshold of consciousness into the regular mansion, where we happened to find, what else, the arcade room... which was more accurately a room for computers with the one being out of order, but I then saw we could still type things into it.
"Hey, Spooky? I think I'm going to try and get into this computer here," I said.
"Good luck. That one there is my mother's computer. Only she knew of the 5-number code to get into it," Bella frowned, me nodding as I then thought and wondered... could it be this easy?
"Hmm... 83114?" I asked as I then managed to actually get into the computer! "On one try? I didn't expect it to be your name in number form, eheh..." I smiled before then proceeded to look through the files. And, get this, I managed to see the numerous numbers of the different subjects of the monsters in the hospital, the names of all the children that had been turned into dolls for the experiments, and that Bella's soul was partially tied to doll number 192... as for the other dolls, number 100 was Frenzy, 123 was Woormy Charles, 144 was Clicky, and number 167 was the Hooked Doll. As for the names that I was most surprised by, it all was in the names of the four special dolls.
Frenzy was originally Homer Lemay, who was said to have gone missing when he was only 6 years old in 1920. Charles was Clayton Kratz, who was last known as being a prisoner of war in Russia before being transferred to GL Labs for slavery... and he was 21 when turned into Woormy Charles! Clicky was originally a 19-year-old woman called Alice Corbett, who was thought to have been killed after having been missing in 1925 in Massachusetts, her fate now being turned into a tiny doll that clicked in order to communicate... maybe she knew morse code? Maybe I could speak to her?
And finally, the fate of the Hooked Doll was a little girl of 10 years of age named, get this, Muriel Gilligan! And that name made me shocked, as she was actually a missing family member from my family history, her being my great-great aunt, who was supposedly 'missing' after a trip to a log cabin in the 1930s. I had no idea that her fate from being abused was because of my extended family being from a cult! And said cult was said to abuse children in order to have them become their child-bearers at an age as young as 10! Obviously, Muriel was a fighter, because the cult said that, if the child didn't want to have a child at that young an age, they were to be sent into a pit and abandoned.
Instead, Muriel was discovered by GL Lab assistants, who took her out of the frying pan and into the fire by turning her into the Hooked Doll, who needed to be contained in the root cellar with hooks attached to the wall so she wouldn't kill them for all the pain she'd endured! And after finding out that everyone from my father's extended family was this messed up? It made me realize that something bad went down for my dad to have escaped that family life and to make them go to jail before I was even born!
"Wow... not at all what I expected..." I admitted.
"What? What is it? Please tell us," Cynthia said with anxiousness, me then explaining everything as we proceeded through to the next elevator. I had to make sure that all of these children and even young adults who were turned into dolls could either get a happy ending, or that I finally end their suffering.
