Revive 「Act I」

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The castle had always been cold, but tonight was different. It wasn't just the cold that left her feeling anxious. It was the emptiness. The castle was hollow. Despite the usual terribleness and feeling of being watched, there was still something missing.

Bellatrix chewed on her bottom lip and closed her eyes tight.

Goddamn it.

What should she do?

Stay?

Explore?

**** if it really mattered.



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Alexandria opened her eyes. A nap, merely, that was what she had - or she thought so, it was still night out. It wasn't particularly strange, she supposed, but she had felt like she had been sleeping for quite some time . . . The dark-haired young woman arose from bed, slightly weary from her long sleep, or so it felt. She wore a long silk nightgown that had its sleeves hanging off the shoulders, and fell down to the floor nearly. She pulled a sort of night wrap around her shoulders after shivering slightly.

She was restless, now that she was awake, and although her room was quite big, Alexandria felt a little cramped, and it was unpleasant. It would be nice to leave her room for a little while and explore the house. It was a very nice house after all, and it looked like it had many secrets that she'd love to find out. She was a bit of a curious person, but normally kept her nose down and didn't ask questions. But it was nighttime, and it seemed the house was asleep - she hoped the lord wouldn't mind if she did happen to run into him.

The first thing she did though, was grab her knife, the one she had brought into the house with her. Perhaps it was a bad idea that she brought it, but it saved her from going into the kitchen of the house and taking one of theirs . . . She sighed as she ran her lithe fingers over the tip of the blade, sighing.

Quietly, Alexandria opened her door and looked up and down the hallway carefully; no one was there, lovely.

She decided to go look for the library.​

 

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Nothing ever did matter.

She just laid there, staring blankly at the ceiling above her. Her eyes glazed over and her thoughts began to swirl.

This place was actually kind of beautiful. In any other circumstance, she would have loved to get away and stay somewhere like this for a weekend. ...Or a month. Somewhere deep inside, she remembered the bustling city. There was always something to be done. Usually, the things that kept you so busy were things you didn't really want to be doing. It was in pursuit of something.

You would work; and most people were told that the harder you did, the easier things would become later on down the road. In reality, it wasn't like that at all. Most people who ever got to a point of consistent happiness were those who were born into it. Those who worked eventually died and left their children to keep working. Maybe one of the kids would be lucky. Maybe they would be born male, white, attractive and talented. Sadly, as soon as any human climbed their way out of the misery, they would never come back for the rest. They were desperate and selfish. At least, that's what Bellatrix remembered of it.

Silly.

She brought her fingers to her forehead and brushed away some pale strands of hair with a sigh. She had been in this slump for far too long. Trying to remember was simply driving her to forget the role she was meant to play. She wasn't like Dona. She was no authoritative figure and she didn't particularly want any form of power, but there was still a place for her.

She pulled herself up from the bed and took a deep breath, bright eyes locking onto the mirror near the doorway to the chamber. Her bear feet were cool against the spotless wooded floorboards as she moved her way towards the exit. The first step would be figuring out what was going on in the castle. Then she would, maybe, check on the human girl.

Bellatrix was beyond ready to escape the sadness she had recently been swallowed into. Somewhere down the road she had lost her will to fight completely. For a moment, she wondered if any one else in the mansion felt the same.

With another deep breath, her fingers were wrapped around the handle of the door.
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<ooc: N|A >

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"Hehe, nope!"

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As soon as her palm made contact with the doorknob, Bellatrix froze. Her eyes shot open wide, mouth gaping. Before she could completely register it, her knees had buckled beneath her, sending her crashing forward into the door with her full weight. Her fingers moved like spiders, frantically clawing and curling; first against the wood beneath her, then to the heavy door before her. Her hands made contact with a thick, warm liquid that dripped between her fingers and she trembled.

Her throat felt tight, unnaturally so, and when she had finally found her voice, all she could muster up was a pathetic groan laced with desperation. Her thoughts raced and pulsed so quickly she thought her head might explode. She knew she didn't have more than a few seconds to think of a retaliation so, out of fear, her body scrambled back from the door. Her palms were flat against the floorboards now in an attempt to push herself upwards, but she had waited too long.

She screamed. It wasn't a girlish scream either. It was a growl of a scream. An absolutely terrified, primal, animalistic, monstrous shriek.

"How PATHETIC."

Something that she couldn't see wrapped around her throat and the scream was cut short. Her eyes rolled back, tears that had little to no actual emotion behind them streamed down her bloodied cheeks. Her nails dug hysterically into her neck, itching at the invisible wire. It was burning her, and she could hear her flesh bubbling. She couldn't breathe, or think.

"You know, it's WITCHES like you that make us look terrible. You think because you look human, ****, even smell human, you are one? AHAHA!! Your memories are nothing! How STUPPPID! What an IDIOT!" "

She couldn't feel anymore. Her hands fell to her side, her head dropping.

"But I'm no monster, Bellatrixie. "

She was near-motionless, but she could still see. She could still hear, too. Her eyes were wide and her body was paralyzed. She could feel her blood pooling around her head, dripping into her ears. Her mouth drooled a mixture of blood and saliva. Somewhere in the struggle, she had almost bitten off her own tongue. She was convulsing--and then she felt an indescribable warmth engulf her.



"Now, now... Shall I teach you? The true CRUELTY of a witch?"

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Music was playing. Down the corridor where dear the dear little victim was heading, music filled ever nook and cranny. It was beautiful music, like a lullaby to send you off to sleep. A door was open invitingly, light streaming out from within and clearly the room was the source of the music. 'Come in, dear guest, come in', the room just seemed to say. Inside could be seen a music room, full of soothing colours and instruments. But who is playing the grand piano ever so gracefully? The veiw is obscured and they cannot see from out there. 'Come in and let the music simply carry you away. Join in the dance.'


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Music.

Alexandria had been wandering the halls of the castle-like mansion for some time when she had first heard it. For a long time now, she had problems with figuring out which music played in her head and which music actually played.

After just a little while of listening to the music, Alexandria decided that it was actually sounding and it wasn't in her head. It was beautiful, very slow and soft, seemingly lulling her towards its source. For a moment, she contemplated going back to her room and laying back down to drift back into sleep because the music was so soothing and lullaby-like, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she decided to continue.

As she moved along, the melody grew louder and richer, filling every bit of space around her. After traversing down many corridors, ascending and descending stairwells and cases, Alexandria turned down one hall and found a singular door at the end of it. It appeared to be the source of the music. She stood in her place for a bit, contemplating whether or not to continue. If there was music sounding, didn't that mean that someone else was up? It wasn't that she was afraid of - well actually, she was a bit afraid of meeting someone in the night, as mentioned before, she didn't do very well with people . . .

Come in, dear guest, come in,

She finally decided to continue, the music was too tempting for her to leave behind.

Alexandria carefully tread into the room, peeking for any other life first. Once she deemed the room empty except for the music, she creeped in. The music was an intense now, yet still relaxing, filling her body with melody. Instruments were littered everywhere, from all families, the woodwinds, strings, the brass, oboes, harps, violins, a piano, there were so many different kinds of instruments and of the colors around her were incredibly soothing. She considered dancing.

Come in and let the music simply carry you away. Join in the dance.

She began to sway​

 

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<ooc: N|A >​

◊ BGM ◊ ​

The Coordinator sat alone as always in her room of white, legs crossed and eyes narrowed in thought. The ruffles of her dress tickled at her knees as she shifted. Lazily, one arm hung over the edge of her golden throne, fingers barely twitching in a successful attempt at manifesting some tea. Her head leaned back, dark eyes staring up through the ceiling while her fingertips fluttered and danced subtly. ​

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She preferred honey to sugar and cream to milk, and would mix the ingredients together first (sometimes in the air, sometimes in a tiny pitcher) before adding the concoction to her beverage. The scent of mint and vanilla mixed and relaxed her, as did the sight of steam twisting and spinning through the air before eventually dissolving.​

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On another, more relevant subject, she had wanted to kill her.​

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Bellatrix was one of the pieces who hadn't done very much to progress the story. That, paired with the fact that she was the only Witch representative, and had become comparable to a human...pissed her off. She was bland and depressing and she wanted her off the game board. She couldn't do it, though. She felt it would be much more interesting to do things this way and give her another chance. ​

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The Coordinator had given her a brief taste of death, saved her, and then she had given her a purpose. Another role. Instead of remaining the weak-minded, passive Witch she was used to being, she would become vital. Maybe she would before the human girl. How she would go about it was up to her. If she failed to prove herself a cruel witch, The Coordinator would end her. ​

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She had wanted to kill him, too. The Butler. Instead she settled on erasing him from existence. It was so dull and expected that a declaration wasn't necessary. Ugh, how sad.​

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The young Witch took a sip of her tea and stared off into space. The silence burned her ears, so she softly tapped a foot against the clear flooring. Something had stirred below, but she didn't quite understand it. The Lord of the manor had both intrigued and annoyed her since the beginning of the game. There was something different about Dona. So much so that it nearly tempted her to play a bit more intimately with him. However, that was dangerous. The Coordinator knew she was safe, up here, above it all. She was like a goddess in these circumstances, and she would remain such until one of them f i g u r e d o u t h e r n a m e.​

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With another gulp of tea, she decided she would calmly await his attempt. ​

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"Tch."​

 

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Tucked against the wall, a grandfather clock with a golden face ticked away, its sound lost in the music.

According to the hands, it was almost midnight.​

SOON​

 

"Tonight's the night. And it's going to happen again, and again. It has to happen."​

An unnatural gust of warm air brushed against Elizabeth’s bare skin, she let out an almost pleasurable sigh. It had begun. The ascending and descending music was beautiful, lulling everyone and everything that heard it to the source. By now, the dear little guest would’ve heard it. Yes. She would be swaying, almost dancing.

Elizabeth turned and stepped down many halls, following the music. She stopped, peering down from the upper floor staircase hanging over the magnificently varnished banister. Her fingers began tapping against the craved wood in time to the music. Tap, tap, tap. A small mysterious smile spread across her lips as she watched Alexandria.

Soon.

 

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<ooc: N|A >
◊ BGM ◊

Spoiler: //

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There are a few things I would like to make very clear, if I may.

While I am not your friend, I am here to help you... for now. You may trust me, in this instance.

Five out of eight of you remain, and that number will not cease it's decreasing if you keep up whatever it is you think you're doing. This doesn't necessarily apply to all of you, but... no matter.

The lot of you are under the impression that the game ends when you reach a final conclusion -- wrong. The game ends when she gets bored of you and deems you too annoying to deal with.

Remember that you are all individuals. This game is unpredictable and free-reign. None of you have to be doing what you're doing. None of you have to be doing anything. Our fake Coordinator is too easily amused, nothing bad will come of you challenging her authority. It seems one of you has already done so...?

What she said was true. You may not have the ability to challenge the declarations of the Coordinator, but she is not the Coordinator, now is she? How amusing would it be if I didn't go through with one of her requests?

On the gameboard, you'll hold no memory of this specific encounter, but I hold confidence that you'll retain these four things.

1. The Coordinator is a {l i e} -- this world is a lie. The true Victim lies outside of it.
2. Her {n a m e} is hidden outside of the manor -- Destroy her. Find her name and speak it allowed. I will guide those of you interested.
3. The Demoness Crestatia is the {h o s t}. She alone holds full authority. Any declarations made by 'The Coordinator' will only be allowed if Crestatia decides to allow them.
4. Those of you worthy will proceed to the next chapter. There is {true power} to be bestowed upon you.

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The music swirled around her as she entered, rising and falling smoothly, memorising her. The door quietly shut to as this happened and locked. However the music was far too good to let a little thing like that bother her. It gradually intensified and rose to a crescendo before stopping without warning.

The lights went out. Darkness filled the room, not a single speck of light anywhere. The silence was louder than any sound could have been and the darkness all consuming. It stripped the poor little victim of all her senses to leave her with nothing. This was a place where it was all too easy to lose yourself. She was just a little girl all alone in the night.

Red light filled the room, breaking through the darkness to reveal a shocking new addition to the room. Hanging from a noose, in the centre of the room, was a dead girl. Yet this wasn't just any dead girl, Alexandria was looking at herself. It was undeniably her; the only difference being their skin was pale and lifeless. Their eyes were shut and their body hung limp, was this a vision of what was to come?

Darkness. The room was black once more but this time only for a moment. The lights came back fully to reveal the body was gone. It was almost as if nothing had happened were it not for the fact that the now empty noose remained. There was also now a little stool beneath it to help her get up to reach it, inviting her to hang herself. The clock on the wall started ticking loudly, marking every second that passed by. Time was running out.
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"You'll be dying to join us~"​

Unheard and unseen by human senses, a full on conversation was in progress as this occurs. 'I must say a brilliant plan as usual, dear brother. You know you've really got to bring the instruments to life more often, they play themselves wonderfully. Great idea about the hanging too but did you really have to make the noose so tight? It hurts my neck.' Aliyah though to her brother as she hung lifelessly from the ceiling. Her body was limp and pale, not a single sign of life about her.


Jordan chuckled to himself silently, watching the victim react to his sister's performance, 'Well, we've got to be realistic now, can't have her seeing through us, can we? So don't complain and be dead. Lights off in five...four...three...two..one..GO'


The transition was effortless and Aliyah was back hidden with plenty of time to spare. Lights went back on but that was when it happened. The message was heard. 'Was I imagining that or did I just hear when I think I did? Because if I didn't imagine it, what do we do? Is it real?' She frowned as she thought about it, it did make a bit of sense to her, and she had felt things be quite off lately. It just seemed to fit.


'You didn't imagine it. I heard it too. And I'm not sure; maybe we should ignore it and just continue with our plans. At least actually consider it before rushing off and doing something without thinking' He said, the message worried him and he was afraid his sister would use this as an excuse to rush into something not so good. He watched the victim carefully; he was beginning to warm to the idea that it might not be so bad after all. For all his scepticism, he wasn't sure if this was the opportunity he was looking for or not.
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For a while, she had swayed to the music. The music that calmed her, numbed her senses, gave her a piece of serenity. She had hardly noticed anything when it first began to change. Became more intense. Crescendoed [lol made up words] She had grown right along with it, her thoughts jumbling, mixing, growing restless. She was . . . becoming slightly unstable, nearly to the point where she could no longer control her actions.

Please, no . . .

And then it all stopped. The lights failed. Alexandria grew rigid. Someone had found her in the night. In the blackness, her hand flew to her cleavage, quickly reaching for the handle of her knife, which had or hadn't nearly stabbed her abdomen in her near insanity. Silence. Silence. Screaming silence. It was loud, strange. Strangely loud silence. Could silence be loud? This silence was? Why? Why so loud?

Stop it, stop it, stop it . . . !

Her mind grew incredibly dull. All of her senses suddenly began to fail her. That's when a red light, a disgustingly red light illuminated the room. Alexandria slowly looked around, or so it felt slow, to her mentality. Then she spotted it. Then she spotted the girl. More specifically, she spotted herself. Hanging. A noose. No scream left her. Was she scared? She didn't know . . . The only thing Alexandria knew was that she wasn't dead. Still alive. Still alive. Alive. Barely.

A flickering of the lights later, and the body was gone, as was the red light. She hadn't imagined that, had she? No. She wasn't that crazy - although some would say that was up for debate.

She should leave. She had seen the stool. The set-up. She could. It wasn't as if she had anything to continue living for. Returning home? Well . . . maybe. But what else was there? She wasn't sure.

And so Alexandria turned around and left the room. The garden - surely they had one here?

The dark-haired girl weaved the halls once again, leaving the music room far behind her. She wouldn't return there. It seemed that she no longer had a real perception of time, because before she had known it, she was standing on cold cobblestone, staring up at the moon. And looked, and look . . .

My head . . . I'm a little dizzy.​

 

"Tonight's the night. And it's going to happen again, and again. It has to happen."​

Elizabeth’s normally calm and pleasant demeanour slowly changed and her face contorted in an all - consuming anger; her nostrils flaring, her eyes flashing and closing into slits, her mouth quivering.

How dare that little brat. How dare she walk away unfazed. She was expecting a show, something that’ll amuse her, entertain her. But no, she had walked away unaffected, or so it seemed. Her fingers moved furiously fast against banister. Think, think, think. This wasn’t the Master’s plan. No, she had failed him. That was what annoyed her. She stopped tapping and all was quiet. She breathed in and out, in and out. Her usual expression, unplagued by human emotion. She was a person who constantly seemed to drift to places of the unknown, within her own mind. But oh no, she was almost constantly planning away and observing every little detail that she could see.

A smile spread across her face. The Victim hadn’t gone away completely unaffected. The way she walked and the way she seemed almost uneven hinted this, she was dizzy. Elizabeth was satisfied. Now what to do? Follow her? Or would she lost within the winding halls? She decided it wasn’t worth following; the twins would be hot on her tail, sure enough. Elizabeth brushed her fingers through the right side of her hair, giving it extra volume; it seemed to bounce before slightly settling down. What to do? What to do? The somewhat loud clunk of her knife dropping to the floor had brought her attention back from her thoughts. Had her trusty blade always been there? Floating by her side? She didn’t know, perhaps it had been. She bent down and picked it up, clutching it within her palm. She decided to carry it; it could go better undetected that way if she ever needed to use it.

What to do? She asked herself again. She sighed as she made up her mind. Normal duties. She made her steps dramatic and loud as she walked out the lavish steps. She wondered if the Master would be needing her, probably not. Stay hidden until you are called.. Yes, that was plan. She jumped the last step and onto the floor, turning on her heels toward the Kitchen.

 

The End. \\ Ending will be expanded on in Act II.