Haunted House (Magik x Kamen)

[Magikazaam]

What a stupid assignment. That was the thought constantly running through Natalie's mind as she walked down the street. What kind of teacher would give people in their final year of High School an assignment on local occult and paranormal legends? What could the point of it be? Still, it wasn't like she could just blow the assignment off, that'd cause even more trouble than having to go out and actually do it, the teacher was a complete ass and just not bothering would likely lead to her landing in detention every single day until graduation. So here she was, walking down an empty street, the sun setting on the horizon behind her, towards what was supposedly a local haunted house. She'd done some research on the internet and found several old newspaper articles about this place, strange reports of noises and lights, odd rumours that had persisted for years. Oh sure, Natalie didn't believe a word of it, but if she at least went to the house, took a few pictures with her phone, maybe did a little writing about the inside...that should be more than enough to get her through this.

The girl stopped infront of the house, looking up at it and raising an eyebrow. It was bigger than she'd been expecting...she'd never even noticed this house in town before, weird. Then again this was a part of town she didn't exactly frequent. "Let's just get this over with" She headed through the open gates, up towards the door. She had no idea if anyone actually lived here or not...if there was and they wouldn't let her in then at least she could say she tried right? Stopping at the door Natalie reached up, giving a few solid knocks. "Hello? Anybody even living here?" She waited a few moments, then reached for the handle. If it really was abandoned there was no point just waiting around outside for nobody that would ever come.
Surprisingly the door opened quite easily, she'd expected to at least have to shove it a little. "Hello?" Natalie called out as she stepped inside, taking a few steps into the entry hall as the door slowly fell closed behind her. "Anybody here? I'm not a burglar or anything, I'll leave if you want me to. Hello?"

 

[KamenKyoryu]

The house was old and dusty as one would expect. Worn out paintings decorated the walls as old vintage furniture was still covered layer of dust. Looked like no one lived here for decades. However there was an odd eerie to it. Right as the door closed, an eerie aura was emanating from the frame, almost threatening whomever dared to open it again. Suddenly blue flames began to light up the hallway. "Aaaa guuuuuuuuueeeeeessssst haaaaaaaaas arrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiivvvvveeeeeed..." An eerie cracked voice echoed through the house.

It seemed like the rumors… may have been true. Suddenly a bright circle shined from the ground as a girlish figure began to emerge. With a blue body, purple hair and a purple turtleneck.. For a moment the girl looked menacing… evil looking. However her face soon smiled looking over at Natalie. “Hiya! Welcome to my place!”

“Natalie do we have a helper for the evening!” A voice called out as a small 3 foot skeleton ran through the halls wearing what looked like a typical butler outfit.

“Oh Oswald. Looks like it. Hold on.” The ghost said before looking back at Natalie. “Hi there. Welcome to the Sheisal estate. My name is Alice. What’s yours?”

 

[Magikazaam]

Natalie looked around at the house as she seemed to get no response to calling out. The dust everywhere seemed to indicate that it was indeed abandoned and had been for a very long time. It even looked as if nobody had ever been in here, it made her wonder where the rumours had come from if nobody had even come into the house. Maybe it was just the creepy looking exterior that had spurred people's imaginations. She shivered slightly, glancing back at the doorway for a moment, it suddenly seemed rather more foreboding than it had a moment ago, though a sudden light snapped her attention back forwards. "What the?" She gasped as blue flames suddenly sprang up, then squeaked as there was a noise...wait...was that a voice?!

"Wh-who's there?!" Natalie called out, looking around, then yelped as a circle began to glow on the floor. She took a step back, eyes going wide as some kind of figure began to rise out of the floor. No way...no way! Was that...was this an actual ghost?! It looked terrifying! It looked evil! It looked....suddenly rather happy and bubbly? "Uhhh...." Natalie blinked several times, clearly confused, unsure how to respond to the sudden friendly welcome.

"Who...what..." Natalie yelped again as the skeleton ran into the halls. Wait...was that skeleton dressed as a butler? Her attention snapped back to the ghost when it spoke again, just staring for a few moments, her brain trying to process how she should respond. Eventually, it seemed to settle on nothing else besides just answering the question. "I'm...Natalie" She blinked. "You're....a ghost...?" She took another step back towards the door, though for some reason that made her feel even worse than where she was. Her mind was screaming at her to just turn and run but...something seemed to be almost stopping her from doing so.

 

[KamenKyoryu]

"Hi Natalie. Nice to meet you. And yeah i'm a ghost. Been one for about Thirty Years." The ghost smiled as she floated around Alice to get a good look at her. "Oswald we got a good one tonight! Wapow!" Alice smirked giving a goofy pose towards the skeleton. With a giggle she looked back towards Natalie and cleared her throat... ghost throat... thing. "As I said, I am Alice Von Sheisal. I run this mansion. Currently it's used to house the dead so they can pass on to the other side every Full Moon. It's kinda like a cool party."

As Alice explained, Oswald had conjured a weird looking notepad and stared at the door for a moment. "Ms. Alice. IT would appear that the doors have been sealed for the night. Meaning our last living guest has arrived."

"Cool! And we still got time before the moon rises. Meaning I can explain." Alice smirked and looked over "Every full moon, I invite some of my friends over to help me collect Essence from spirits so that they can pass on. Though now and then a human tends to show up. don't worry you won't be hurt. But we do need your help." With that she smiled reaching out a hand for Natalie to hold "Come on! I'll show ya what you need to do."

 

[Magikazaam]

Natalie just stared as Alice floated around her slowly, still trying to process exactly what the hell was going on here. "You...run this mansion? Uhh...I thought it was totally abandoned...this place doesn't look like anyone has been here in a long long time..." She glanced between the ghost and the skeleton a few times as they seemed to speak to one another. "House the dead...so they can pass on at the full moon...?" Now she mentioned it Natalie realised it was a full moon tonight wasn't it?

"Huh?" She looked over to the skeleton as it mentioned the doors, her eyes widening. "Ehhh? S-sealed? What? You mean I'm stuck here? I can't get out?" Natalie looked back to the door, about to take a step towards it, but something seemed to be stopping her. Not a wall, but just....an incredibly ominous feeling that kept her from getting any closer to it, leaving her unable to do anything but look back to the ghost. "Need my help? Wait...need my help for what? This...collect essence thing?" Natalie had no idea what that meant...she had no idea what it possibly could mean. She looked down at the offered hand and was rather sceptical. This girl was a ghost right? Could she even hold hands? Well, only one way to find out right? Natalie reached out slowly to take Alice's hand. It wasn't like she had much choice in the matter if she was stuck in this house all night.