As they approached, the silhouette came to life.
It was an old manor, cold and crooked, the windows were smashed in, and the large oak door was blackened with grime and moss. The scent of wet wood seeped from the walls, thick with age; it looked almost abandoned. Long vines curled over the stone like veins feeding a long-dead heart.
"What is this place?" Remy asked, eyeing the stagnant pond in front of them. Carp floated at the surface, lifeless. One was black with a white underbelly, while the other was white with a black underbelly. They drifted in slow circles, as if locked in an eternal dance even in death.
"Why don't we take those for food?" Remy muttered. He'd learned never to waste a meal, no matter its source.
"Pfft… do that, and Kat might kill us," Tear laughed, striding toward the door.
But instead of opening it, Tear moved to a side wall, brushing away a strand of ivy to reveal the brickwork.
He began counting softly. "One… two… three… seven."
"Ah.. yes, this is it."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He rapped sharply on a brick.
"What the hell is he doing?" Remy thought, already beginning to regret following him.
"Shh." Tear pressed a finger to his lips, silencing an invisible source.
He knocked a few more times, then paused at a hollow-sounding stone that rang like a muted chime. With a sly smile, he pressed it inward.
The stone clicked, revealing a small lever. Tear pulled it, then stepped back as a series of heavy clanks echoed from within the door—hidden locks shifting one by one.
At the final clang, the door's handle twisted into place, revealing a smaller, more intricate one. Tear reached into his coat, producing a tiny key.
"Ohh, ohh." He fumbled the key, catching it at the last moment before it touched the ground.
"Almost made a blunder there." He chuckled, facing away from Remy.
He slipped it into the keyhole, turned it three times, and a deep metallic snap resounded.
The door eased backwards a fraction.
"Welcome to our humble abode," Tear said, gesturing with the exaggerated grace of a butler.
Remy hesitated, then stepped inside.
"Why would you even lock an old building like this?" he thought, but then.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
His eyes strained, but he couldn't see anything ahead.
The door closed behind them with a thud, and the last trace of light vanished.
A chill ran the length of his spine.
"F*ck. I might have just walked into a trap, haven't I."
Almost instantly, a hand settled on his shoulder.
"If you don't want to wander these passages endlessly," Tear whispered, "do not let go of me."
"Wait—what?" But Tear was already moving.
Instinctively, Remy caught the hem of his coat.
"Ahhh… hmmm…"
As they moved, the darkness breathed with sound—groans, low and ragged, as though the walls themselves were in pain.
"Ahhhhh," a voice echoed within the passages.
Shapes shifted in the black, their movements brushing the edge of hearing. Remy couldn't tell if they walked for minutes or hours. The air was damp, and every step felt like wading deeper into something alive.
Still, he did not cower.
Fear would not change the outcome—it was only a wasted thought.
"Ouch," Remy rubbed his head as he bumped into Tear's back.
"Here we are," Tear said at last, pushing open a door.
Warm light washed over them as Remy's eyes tried to adjust.
"Tear!" A blur of motion struck him, arms wrapping tight around his middle.
You're back, we didn't hear anything from you for a while!"
"Oh, come now, Kat," Tear chuckled, returning the embrace. "You are not a little girl anymore, and I wasn't gone that long, was I?"
The Blur was a young girl with blonde hair tied into high pigtails, a sprinkling of freckles over light skin, and bright green eyes. A short velvet dress and long white socks ended in heavy black boots.
His sister? Remy guessed.