"Roxas, come back to me!" A voice called out, as Roxas looked around and felt his heart rate rising. He could see a wooden gate covered in vines, and decay. His breath hazy and visible as the snowy village howled in the moonlight, he had to move forwards, his body was screaming to return to the castle, but his heart demanded him to venture forth and resolve the nightmares he had been suffering for a week.
He knew that he should have brought Axel, and Xion, but it felt like something only he could do as the black and blue-haired teen opened the old-looking gate and the ruler of the domain's name lingered on his lips, a name that was crawling along his spine and burning itself to misery into his brain. He had to see the manor that loomed in fog, the darkness that made his eyes shut in terror, and the voice that haunted him even though he was in a different world bathed in Twilight and love.
"Beneviento! Today, I finally broke free of your nightmares and forgot about this pain. The organization can't have me suffer like this. Axel and Xion can't keep seeing me like this, crying in the night, screaming in your dark halls with the gaze of a child scared to look around the corner." Roxas whispered, as he walked into the forest that led to the dark house of Beneviento.
—--
The forest was like a cruel fairy tale, as black boots crunched through the thick snow and dead tree branches. He wanted to summon a portal of darkness and just be at the mansion by now. But for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do it. It was like he had to see the horrors of this land from start to finish, as he stopped for a second to tighten his hood, knowing that the snow was getting stronger, and the wind was blowing faster.
"Why did this happen to me? What did I do to warrant this pain? I've only been alive for a week, what gives you the right to torment me daily?" Roxas shouted, as his words got lost in the wind, as the faint echoes of footsteps crept behind him, until Roxas felt the presence of somebody behind him. Roxas quickly turned around, expecting Xion to have followed him to this cold, dark village. However, it wasn't Xion, or Axel, instead it was a boy as old as him. Roxas was silent, as his eyes lingered at the mysterious figure. They were dressed in a mourning veil and outfit like a funeral was happening, and he didn't want to know who was going to die or had died. The next thing he could see was that faint dripping of blood coming from the stump of where the teen's left arm should have been, causing Roxas to run away from the teen.
He had to get away from these horrific things, as his vision grew blurry for a moment, as he ran past tombstones, and trees littered with priceless jewels and hanging dolls. As the teen's voice echoed in the back of his mind, making him want to vomit as those words grew louder in his head.
"Because you exist!" The voice cried out as Roxas felt hot tears rolling down his face, he quickly summoned his key blade ready to bash the teen away if they got near him again, as he ran over an old rope bridge not thinking about the idea that the bridge could fall, and possibly kill him by sending him into freezing waters below.
"What do you mean because I exist, how can my life hate you so, I don't know anything about you or what I've done to anger you, because I doubt that simply existing would lead to this level of bullshit?" Roxas whispered, as the teen suddenly appeared in front of him, causing Roxas to swing his key blade at the figure, only for his blade to be blocked by a key blade shrouded in darkness.
"You exist! You exist! I want to exist again!" The teen shouted, casting a blizzard spell at Roxas forcing the nobody to block the attack and send a fire spell right back at the teen, only for the attack to go through and into the snowy grounds in front of him. Roxas didn't stop, he ran deeper into the grounds noticing an old garden in the distance, he must be near the mansion.
Roxas gazed around the old abandoned garden, his skin was crawling, and he could almost feel his eyes ready to pop out of his skull, as he wondered what happened to this place. The first old building had looked like it had been exploded, and burnt to the ground, while the second was blasted down the middle, as several pieces of debris and gold flowers littered the surrounding area, like a horrible grave to the people who had once cared for the garden, as the smell of dead flowers engulfed the area.
The next thing Roxas noticed was a giant hill of graves, and a massive coffin that had been ripped open, as Roxas took a few steps to the coffin, feeling his heart skip a beat upon the grizzly sight before him. In the massive coffin laid three bodies, one was already bones, while the others were still in the process of rotting and wasting away, one was of a woman with black hair wearing an outfit similar to the mysterious teen, however when Roxas took a closer look as he poured light into his key blade, did the grave go from horrific to sad. The dead skeleton was wrapped in the cloaked figure, but she wasn't human, none of the two were. They were simply dolls made of porcelain, made to look like a black haired woman and a blue haired woman. Surrounding them were more flowers and piles of mold, it was a ghastly sight and yet very tragic to the teen as he wondered who buried them, and how did this happen?
"I won't let you take them from me again, I will kill you for taking me from them! Mom, Madre, I will make him pay!" The teen whispered, as Roxas looked up, noticing the teen walking near him, he was walking through the graves, and tombstones, his blade glowing brightly as a bolt of thunder magic blasted the area around Roxas, forcing the teen to run deeper into the pitch black night. He didn't stop until he found an old elevator, rapidly tapping the buttons, occasionally looking behind him as the teen grew closer, as a bell rang, signaling Roxas to run into the elevator, ascending to the mansion, hoping that the veiled figure wouldn't find him instead.
—--
Roxas ran out of the elevator, not stopping, not noticing the screams of the waterfall that loomed behind the silent manor, as the teen ran through the door, slamming it shut, as he silently took a breath, feeling a moment of peace.
"Ok, time to understand what is going on, and why that psycho is hell-bent on chasing me!" Roxas whispered, as he looked around the entrance to House Beneviento. The house was almost silent, with the only sounds being the waterfall behind him, and a record player in the distance. As the teen crept through the mansion, something caught his eye, as a giant painting that hung above the stairs leading to the upper floor of the mansion called out to him. Roxas could feel his heart starting to ache as his eyes started to cry, as he looked at the painting. It was of a group of people that must have lived in the mansion before things went bad for them. The black-haired woman was holding onto a boy with blue and black hair, besides them was the blue haired woman who was planting a kiss of the black haired woman's face, while a doll laid in the young boy's arms, dressed in a wedding dress, and was definitely ugly. They seemed happy, and it made Roxas wonder if this was what Axel meant by feeling happy and family.
"I wonder if Xion feels the same way towards me as that woman feels towards the other one?" Roxas let out, feeling a small blush rise on his cheeks, as he descended back down the stairs, and headed deeper into the mansion, as the sounds of the record player grew stronger.
The next room was large, lit by fire, and seemed more comfortable as the record player was playing a soft tune that was easy to listen to. The room was littered with countless dolls, making Roxas walk out of the room. He could feel their eyes and their unwavering gaze upon him, as he quickly began to run throughout of the living room and down a hallway where another elevator was open, like someone was expecting him to head down to the lower level of the mansion, Roxas sighed as he entered and pushed the button ready to venture forth in the unknown basement of House Beneviento.
—--
By the time Roxas arrived in the basement, he could feel an uneasy feeling begin to grow in his stomach, as the teen exited in the elevator.
"Alright, house, show me what you've got!" Roxas whispered, as the lights that brightened the hallway started to flicker, causing Roxas to give a nervous laugh. Knowing that the power would probably go out soon, he didn't want to be stuck in the dark manor alone, or worse, if that cloaked teen was Inside with him. Roxas crept through the hallway, doors shook but never opened, as if he were being funneled through the hallway. As a door loomed in the distance, he quickly ran through it, as the room quickly took his breath away.
The room was dark with hanging doll limbs dangling from the ceiling, a dark table covered in blood hauntingly stood in the middle of the room, as the faint light of a nearby medical room loomed in the distance, and a familiar looking doll was sitting in a chair next to the table, with two cups of tea sat waiting for someone to drink them, as Roxas began to wonder who placed the tea on the table and why his throat was starting to hurt? He could feel his arms reaching for the tea, he was craving it like it was the only liquid left in the whole village.
Roxas could feel his body jolt as he grabbed hold of the cold cup of tea, chugging the disgusting-tasting liquid, doing his best to hold back the need to vomit all over the creepy-looking doll as he began to pant, feeling his throat slowly feeling better, but the lingering dread that surrounded him still held him down, as he looked around, finding a nearby table next to a desk with a typewriter, deciding to sit across from the creepy looking doll, as he stared into its eyes, as he began to wonder what the dolls name was, and if it was the same familiar doll that was in the painting upstairs? The more he looked at the doll, the more the disturbed he felt as his eyes grew tired, and his nerves began to take over, as the sounds of footsteps echoed in the distance. Roxas was unaware of whoever loomed behind him, as his body was overtaken by sleep, the only thing he could remember was the sounds of laughter akin to nails being dragged across a chalkboard assaulting his ears, as the young nobody quickly passed out on the table.
"Soon, Angie, everything will be perfect again! Their voices will return to us, and then we can be together again. Oh Roxas, how your existence hurts me, but don't worry, soon you'll be ready to leave this nightmare and find peace in the next life!" The voice whispered, as the veiled teen flicked in and out of reality, the sounds of chains dangling across the floor, as a nearby door slammed, as a deep growling sound could be heard coming from the deepest part of the basement, as unknown horrors loomed in the darkness, ready to erupt into the light.