Chapter Text
"Who's bright idea was this anyways?" Ann asks as she stands watch outside of the old building while Ryuji does his best to get them inside.
"Um…a little bit of all of ours," Futaba pipes up from where she crouches near the overgrown, unkempt bushes. She pulls at the hem of her frog costume nervously. It’s Halloween night and all of them have come out here together for one reason or another.
"I never said you had to come," Ryuji reminds her, pushing his skull mask up so that he could see better, before looking over his shoulder and waving for Yusuke to come closer with the flashlight.
"And miss you guys make giant fools of yourself? Nu-uh!" Futaba shoots back at him.
"None of us should be here!" Makoto groans, holding her head in her hands, and carefully turns so the spikes of her biker costume don't hurt Haru who places a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Trespassing aside. This place is condemned. It's an accident waiting to happen."
"You can stay outside. If you'd like," Haru says, glancing up, as Ryuji finally gets the door to budge. The loud squeal of rusty hinges sending a flock of resting birds scattering from a tree nearby.
The sudden noise startles Makoto into a shout that she quickly covers her mouth from. "Nope. Nope. I'm staying with you guys." She follows up the tail end of the group as they gather around the door. It only gives halfway and so it's a single file line to squeeze inside.
Ann is about to close the door behind them when a skittering solid black creature darts in after them. "Aw kitty, are you here for some spooky fun too?" She asks as she kneels down to pet it but the black cat is too fast, running further into the building. "Be careful!" She calls after it, making Ryuji roll his eyes.
"Crap, now we gotta make sure the stray can get out when we leave." He sighs.
"We should crack a window," Futaba supplies helpfully as she examines the place.
It's a small cottage. A house converted into a museum, converted into an abandoned shed. Most of the cobwebs are the real deal but a few provide a cottony glow-in-the-dark cover over some of the faker looking displays in the room. Full of clutter the years have not been nice to.
"Tell me again what lonesome story is haunting this place?" Yusuke asks, pulling the tail of his fox costume out of a patch of dust and grooming the dirt off of it with enough care one might think it was real.
"Oh, let me!" Ann pipes up. She goes around Ryuji to examine a glass case, peering inside of it after she wipes some dust away. "The legend says that on a night just like this the wicked witch that lived in this prefecture centuries ago will rise again!"
"On Halloween?" Makoto asks with a skeptical air. "How convenient."
"Hey, that's not all! Tell 'em the rest of the story! The good stuff!" Ryuji urges as he digs through a box of things stacked up against the wall. An album of photos and newspaper clippings he flips through without much interest.
"I was getting to that!" Ann huffs at him before theatrically pulling a folded table cloth around herself to make a cape. "As I was saying… Long ago there lived a wicked witch that preyed on the young children of the prefecture! They say by sucking the souls out of children they could achieve eternal life!"
Haru gives a chuckle from where she is. "She must not be a very good witch then, being dead and all now."
"Or he," Yusuke chips in, "Witch is a gender neutral term, after all."
Ann sighs and lifts her arms, fingers wiggling in an effort to be spooky. "That's because before they were caught for their crimes they cast a powerful spell to assure they would return!"
Futaba sneaks up underneath Ann's arm to the shelter of her cape and joins in. "Oh my turn, my turn! Let me take it from here."
Ann slips out of the cloth letting Futaba take up the story telling mantle with much more flare. The smaller girl hunches over and speaks with a gravelly voice. "That spell says that on an All Hallow’s Eve night a virgin will light the black flame candle that will bring them back to life~."
"I see." Yusuke hums as if the topic is a serious discussion. "We have all the components then?"
"No, silly fox! We need to find the candle that's what we're here for!" Futaba elbows him.
As if on cue, Ryuji lets out a triumphant shout, opening another box and pulling out a large decorative candle the length of his arm. It’s situated on a raised pedestal, colored in black and white wax that swirls up the length of it in stripes. "This has got to be it, right? I mean, it just screams magic witch candle."
Ann runs over to the box at Ryuji's feet and leans over to get a better look inside of it. “This is the jackpot! All this stuff looks ancient," she says, pulling out a water stained leather bound book. The cover is wrinkled from damage but still shows what appears to be two protruding horn like decorations.
That is the moment the black cat decides to make another run through the room. This time jumping down from a shelf into the box they are looking through. It bats its claws at both of their hands until they retract them.
"Hey! Furball, knock it off!" Ryuji hisses as a claw digs into his finger until he has to place the large candlestick down onto one of the tables.
Yusuke walls over to make sure Ryuji isn't injured too badly while Futaba kneels down next to the box to calm the cat with equal care. "Poor thing is probably just scared. You remind me of Mona back home." She tells the cat, booping it on the nose with her finger.
"So who's doing the honors?" Ann asks as she tosses the large book back down into the box. She glances around the group and when most of them refuse to meet her eyes she groans. "Come on now. We all know we're all virgins."
"She dared us to come here." Ryuji saves her from digging that conversation deeper than Ann wants to have by pointing to Makoto.
"I didn't dare you to do anything. I just said it wasn't real," Makoto snaps back.
"If it's not real then why don't you do it? Go on, light the candle!" Ryuji fishes out the lighter he brought from his pocket and tosses it at her.
She fumbles it and it scatters to the floor where it hits Haru’s foot. The girl gracefully leans over to retrieve it, flicking the flint wheel on it to bring a flicker of light to life.
"I'll do it," Haru offers seemingly unbothered.
The group falls quiet as she steps over to where Ryuji has put down the candle, pushing up onto her tiptoes to reach the top where the old burnt wick is hiding. It takes a moment for fire to catch, flickering to life in a dark glow that does indeed make the flame look black.
Haru pushes her face close to inspect it with a wide eyed interest. “How interesting. I wonder how they managed to make it do that."
The sound of tiny claws on cardboard breaks the eerie focus and Futaba tries in vain to comfort the feline who seems to have gotten stuck in the box, fighting at the flaps of it trying desperately to get out.
"Hold on, mister! Lemme just… there!" Futaba tips the box with a heave and the contents of it roll across the floor in old glass jars and papers as the stray cat leaps to freedom. It zooms between them and jumps up onto the table where it headbutts the candlestick hard enough that it wobbles threateningly.
Yusuke catches it, adjusting it just so before framing the object with his fingers and tilting his head. "This would make an interesting still life piece."
"See? Nothing happened guys. It's just a prop probably. Not even really that old." Makoto lets out a sigh of relief, fanning herself with her hand. "Can we go now?"
Ryuji looks immensely disappointed and Ann has to rub his shoulder as his whole body seems to deflate. "Come on, if we leave now we can probably still catch that big party going on. We didn't get all dressed up for nothing, right?"
The group gathers and with much less caution than they entered with, start to head for the exit. All except for Futaba, who is trying to wrangle the stray cat still as he rubs up against the candlestick. "We should put it out before it gets knocked over."
"Or worse, the place catches fire. That would be just our luck," Ann agrees letting the others go on ahead as she assists the youngest member of their group by leaning to blow the candle out.
Or tries to at least, the flame flickers but stubbornly refuses to die out even after a second stronger puff of breath.
"What the-"
The loud slam of the old wooden door makes everyone jump, freeze or stumble back into one another. It spurs on a flurry of commotion as Haru tries to open the now shut tight door.
"Just the wind."
"Guys…"
"The wind doesn't blow from inside!"
"Guys! Look!"
A flash of fiery red shoots across the room and Ann barely gets out of the way in time as it bounces wildly from floor to table and wall. It leaves in its wake more lit candles and the strong smell of acrid sulfur. "Is that...that creepy book?"
Futaba hisses as the black cat forces it’s way out of her arms, scratching her palm with a hind claw as it jumps off after the book like it's hunting for a bird to catch. Both disappear down a set of basement steps that had been covered until just a moment ago. The old latch on it has been blown wide open.
"Ow! That hurt!" Futaba cries.
Ann grabs her by the arm and hauls her towards the door, where Ryuji has managed to wedge it open with a crowbar he's found. "Come on! We've gotta move!"
Ryuji is holding the door open for them against what appears to be another powerful gust of wind. Yusuke and Makoto slip out, Ann follows suit hauling Futaba behind her. Haru and Ryuji are the last to bring up the rear when there is a loud commotion from inside the house they just escaped. Growling like that of a large beast follows the unmistakable yowling of a smaller feline.
"A...feral dog?" Makoto asks, not sounding entirely convinced with her own words.
"Doesn't sound like any dog I've ever heard." Ryuji agrees warily, hunching down with the rest of them into the tall grass around the house to hide as they listen to the crashing of glass and the thud of other things from inside. A hush falls over them as if scared to attract the attention of whatever was inside.
At least most of them.
"Futaba? Where are you going!?" Ann whispers after the girl who is running around to the other side of the house.
"The window! We left it open!"
Haru places a hand on Ann's shoulder to keep her from springing up to go after the other girl. "I've got it. Stay here," she tells her in a gentle hushed voice as she silently moves after Futaba.
She catches up with her at the window, climbing up onto a stump beneath it to try and get a better look inside. Futaba waves for her to come look too when she notices her there and together they stay close to one another peering at the chaos inside.
The animalistic sounds continue rising from the stairs to the basement but there is also now an accompanying glow, like a dying blue ember. Two figures emerge through it, one going backwards while facing another that seems to be pursuing with some kind of a blade drawn threateningly.
"Surprised you had the guts to stick around all this time Ren. Were you hoping I'd come back to finish the job and put you out of your misery?" The figure with the white hot blade speaks, his voice rough and dry. Some sort of cape flowing behind him in the unnatural wind. All dark stripped leather and polished buckles. He backs the other man into a corner and sticks the weapon's tip underneath their chin.
The other man, Ren by the sound of it, moves strangely. Bent over and low to the ground. His clothes are ragged and dirty and almost ancient looking and that's not even what stands out the most. No, the oddest part is the sleek black tail at his waist and the twitching feline ears popping out of a pile of curly black hair on his head. He makes a rumble like an angry lion in the back of his throat, it rolls into a coughing fit that he spits the reply out of, "You're too much of a coward to finish what you started."
The sword rears back and strikes into the wood of one of the walls as Ren slinks out of the way of a swing earned from his goading.
While the caped man is trying to retrieve his weapon, Ren takes the chance to put some space between them. Darting around the room on all fours with a speedy bounce as he tries to navigate the mess of the place towards an exit. He gets to the door and scratches at it with his nails when it won't open with a tug. Not having long to linger to try anything else as a red streak of light gets hurled his way from the fingertips of his pursuer and he has to keep moving.
"Did you see that?! He threw fire from his hand! There's a burn mark on the wall!" Futaba whispers into Haru’s ear from where she is peeking over the ledge of the open window.
Haru’s reaction is more reserved as she narrows her eyes following the scene closely. "There must be a reason..."
"The reason is he's the witch! We've gotta do something!"
At the sound of voices Ren's head turns in their direction, the ears on top of his head tilting to hear better. Futaba lets out a yelp and Haru tries to pull them down out of view but it's already too late. They've been seen.
Ren on the other hand is all smiles now. He perks up and glances around the house, dodging another ball of fire that whizzes past his head as he leaps over to where the horn clad book has been left on the ground.
The object itself seems to somehow be scooting itself along the floor, cracked open and using it’s frayed pages like fingers to crawl in the direction of the witch.
"Oh no you don't!" Ren quips as he scoops it up, fighting it closed as it flaps like an angry bird in his grasp.
This seems to renew the witch's anger as the table between him and Ren gets sliced in half from his finally retrieved sword. Storming through the carnage of it towards Ren.
"Loki! Give him back you vermin!"
"Not a chance," Ren answers just as quickly making his move of tossing the book hard towards the open window. "Catch!"
Futaba ducks as the book comes sailing over her head.
Haru is quicker, managing to snag it by the cover to keep it from practically flying away. She swings her arm slamming it into the ground and stepping on it to keep it in place. She turns her head to look back for the others. "A bag! Does anyone have a bag?" The need for quiet has long since passed.
"Here!" Yusuke offers, holding open a satchel from his shoulder, already full of paint brushes and canvas.
"Really man? Were you planning on painting tonight? I thought we were going to fill it full of candy." Ryuji complains as he runs over to help Haru with the unruly book, holding it closed while she slides it snugly into place among the art supplies.
Once the bag is zipped secure with its new addition, causing it to bulge at the sides with the odd angle of the book's horns, they all make quick work of trying to distance themselves from the old house that is now roaring with the sounds of an angry witch.
"So, uh, what are we supposed to do now? Just run!?" Futaba asks as she breaks into just that, a run sprinting to keep up with the group as they flee back down to the streets. The glow of the lights on the electric posts somehow feels like safety.
They stop to catch their breath once they hit the paved streets where the older greenery filled area hits the edge of the city. Before anyone can answer her question properly however another loud sound behind them has everyone jumping in fright.
They look behind them to see exploding splinters of wood scattering in every direction just where they had come from. The open window of the old house is now more of a gaping hole in the side of the building. Debris littering the ground like an explosion had rocked the place from within.
Futaba gasps and before she can even say anything Haru is there with an arm around her, "I'm sure the...catman is fine."
As if her words pull forth the proof not a moment later does Ren leap out of the house's new opening, leaning hard into a run and heading straight towards them. "Let's move! He's not gonna be down for long!"
A ripple of commotion runs through the group but they all seem to come to the conclusion that it's best to move first, ask questions later. Ren sprints around them trying to herd them faster down the street. "The safest place for you to be is a shrine. He can't set foot there. Come on!" He explains through a breathless voice leading them on.
The group of friends, led by the mysterious cat, disappear into the distance.
Back in the old house, the witch unburies himself for the second time that evening. Instead of climbing out of a dirt grave in his basement, this time he's tossing planks of wood and other fallen items off of the heap that's fallen on him. Nevermind that it's half his fault for casting that explosion spell.
He coughs up a puff of dust and dry dirt from his lungs and uses a sleeve to wipe at his face but it doesn't do any good, only leaving streaks behind on his skin.
Ah, but it's good to have skin again. To be alive and know that his plan has worked. Those wretched idiots can’t put him down so easily. Now he's free to get his revenge...well, almost free. It looks like a certain man has put a hitch in his plan. How very like Ren it is, to go butting into his plans.
A good witch always finishes a spell he starts though. He will see to it. but first he needs to find his familiar. Most of his spells are stored in the grimoire and Ren has been smart enough to separate it from him before he can put him down for good.
"Loki...as if I can't tell where you are." The witch mutters to himself as he pats the worst of the cobwebs from his clothes. Some strange cottony green ones stubbornly sticking to his fingers. Odd. Must be some kind of spell or new kind of magic spider that has moved in while he was buried. He will need to clean out the place well once he is settled again. Rebuild his life...
He fights his way over to the closet, kicking it open and digging through the contents of it for what he'll need. From the direction he's sensing Loki in, he assumes Ren has brought the group of intruders to the local Shrine and joint graveyard on its grounds. He'll need something to fly on.
He is instantly annoyed to find all his brooms gone, all his precious hand carved brooms. The only thing remotely resembling one he finds smells heavily of cinnamon spice and doesn't look like it could hardly hold his weight. He doesn't have time to be making a new one from scratch dammit.
"I can't believe I'm going to need help..." The witch heaves a heavy sigh at the very idea, tossing the useless broom aside and heading for the door instead.
"Ah, but I know a few sisters who still owe me..."