|| 𝐴𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 || [𝙆𝙖𝙧𝙡 𝙃𝙚𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙜]

Part 7

Aless skittered out of the house, giggling.
She slowed down as the Manor faded out of view. The sound of crunching snow under her feet echoed softly throughout the forest.
She passed the forest, and went onto a path the map said led to the manor.
Oh my god.
The map was shitty. It was scribbly and badly drawn, which made Aless laugh.

///

But it was good enough for her to understand where to go.
Entering the mist, she exhaled. It was a bit warmer out today, luckily. The calling crows flew overhead as she walked.
She reached a gravestone, decorated with dolls lying about.
She read the head of the gravestone.
Claudia Beneviento
Aless admired the dolls that were sitting atop it. They were beautifully crafted, with intricate designs on fabrics sewn into their dresses.
She got up, and continued walking, waving goodbye to the dolls.
Suddenly, she heard crunching. Somebody was following her.
She spun around, only to find nobody there.
"Hmm."
She turned back around. Heisenberg was standing in front of her, grinning.
"K-Karl? When did-"
Karl laughed. "Shh, darling. Follow me."
Aless's cheeks flushed a bit when he called her darling.
"Wait!-"
He walked ahead of her, fading into the mist.
"Karl?"
"Uh huh?" A young voice said behind her.
She whipped her head around. It was still Karl, but.. only younger. The Karl she once knew.
"K-Karl?"
Am I hallucinating?
"Go, Aless!" He shooed her, persuading her to keep going. "You're almost there!!"
He, too, ran ahead.
Aless clutched her chest.
She gulped, and kept going.
Am I.. dreaming?? This.. this can't be real..

She saw the bridge. Approaching, she saw a figure go across it, which she assumed was Heisenberg, although unsure if it was really him or not.
She put one foot on the bridge. It swayed from side to side. Aless gulped again and held her breath.
Terrified of falling, she placed another foot. She guided herself slowly across the bridge, careful not to tip it over.

Finally, she reached the other side. She exhaled, relieved to not be dead.
She went up to the house. It was on the side of the cliff, by the rushing waterfall. The sight was absolutely beautiful. It left her astounded.
She admired the view for a while more, then pushed herself to go to the door. She rang the doorbell.
Nothing.
She rang it again.
Still nothing.
She lifted her hand to ring it again, when the door swung right open, startling Aless.
"Heeheheheee! What do we have heeere?" A childlike voice giggled.

///

Aless looked left, right, then down. The doll she saw before, during the meeting, stood below her.
"Y-y-you-"
"I can talk!!!" The doll finished her sentence.
Aless looked at the doll in fear.
"Come in!!" The doll cried.
It skittered away as Aless slowly stepped through the door. The parlour was absolutely gorgeous, and smelled faintly of pine.
A rocking chair sat by a desk in front of her. Stairs behind it led up to the second floor. In the chair, the woman in black sat.
A picture of a woman and the doll was hung up above the stairs on the right, which Aless assumed was the woman herself.
The doll hopped up on the woman's lap. "What business do you have here?"
It took Aless to finally come out of her shock of seeing a talking doll, although it didn't shock her as much as she thought it would. Considering that Heisenberg can lift metal with his mind, and Lady Dimitrescu was immeasurably tall, which she forgot to ask Karl about.
"Um.. Ka- er, Heisenberg told me to come over here, he said you would have new, clean clothes."

The doll groaned. "Ohh, that lazy bum. Of course he did. He aaalways comes to Donna whenever he doesn't have time to do his clothes." The doll looked up at the woman, who Aless suddenly recognized as Lady Beneviento.
The doll went back down. Lady Beneviento stood up.
She motioned for Aless to follow her.
The three went up the stairs and went into a sewing room down the hall. Lady Beneviento opened a wooden closet standing by one of the windows. Aless looked around. Dresses and men's clothes were scattered around the room.
The Lady pulled out a few shirts and pants and gave it to Aless.
"There, is that all?" The doll asked, as if she was the one who gave the clothes to Aless.
"Um, yes, I think so."
The room smelled musty and old.
The doll squealed. "O-kay!"
Aless turned around to leave, when the doll yelped.
"Wait!! Lady Donna wants to know if you want to stay for some tea."
She looked back. Lady Beneviento clasped her hands together in front of her politely.
Aless thought for a second.
"Yeah, sure! Why not?" She agreed, to which the doll cheered.
Aless followed the two downstairs and into the dining room. Lady Beneviento picked up the doll. "Stay," the doll said as the two went into the kitchen.

///

Aless sat down on one of the chairs. Old photos and paintings were hung up amongst the walls. There were dolls standing around, decorating the room.
Soon, Lady Beneviento and the doll came back, with a few steaming hot cups of tea, and placed them on the table.
"Sugar?" The doll asked politely.
Aless nodded. "Please."
The doll put sugar into the drink and Lady Beneviento stirred it for her and placed it back in front of Aless.
The doll giggled while the Lady sipped the tea from underneath the veil.
"Ahhh, it's been such a long time since we've had a real tea party!"
Aless smiled politely and sipped her tea as well. It stung her mouth, but it was better to drink it still hot than let it get cold. It was delicious, the amazing scent filled her nose.
"What's your name?" The doll asked.
"Aless"
"Mine's Angie! This is my best friend, Donna!" The doll, Angie introduced. "She doesn't like to talk though, so I speak for her"
"Ah, I see."
The three of them sat in silence for a bit, before Aless finally broke it.
"So, why do you have so many dolls?"
"Donna is a dollmaker. She makes all kinds of doll friends. That one there," Angie pointed to a brunette doll standing by the fireplace, "That's Bernadetta. That one, that's Missy." Angie continued, pointing to another sitting on the shelf by the table.
"Oh, wow. You made those??" Aless said to Lady Beneviento, shocked.
The Lady nodded.
The two chatted together (or, well, Angie and Aless) until it was time for Aless to go. She picked the clothes back up, and went on her way.
She waved goodbye. "Bye!!! I hope I can see you two again soon!!"
"Buh-bye! Buh-bye!!" Angie squealed happily, rapidly shaking her hand goodbye. As Aless faded out of view, Angie turned to Donna.
"Well! Isn't she nice! I'm so happy we made a new friend, Donna!" She exclaimed.
Donna took off her veil, revealing a scar on the left side of her face. It was bubbled and scarred over. Pieces of her black hair tied up in a bun fell over her face as her mouth turned into a sweet, genuine smile.
"Me too, Angie." She said, her voice smooth and calm.

///

Aless walked back up to the Heisenberg Manor. She reached for the door, until someone grabbed her and pinned her back to the wall.
"Holy shit." Heisenberg said, a worried expression on his face "Where the hell have you been?!?"
"U-um, at the Beneviento house. Lady Beneviento gave me the clothes you were asking for." She squeaked, startled. Heisenberg swatted the clothes to the ground, looked her up and down, and looked at her hands and arms.
"Jesus Christ. I thought the lycans got you."
He let her go slowly, still analyzing her face for any scratches or cuts or bruises.
"What's the matter with you?" Aless asked, picking the clothes back up.
"What's the matter with me?? What's the matter with you! Why the hell were you gone for so long?? Where did you go?" He exclaimed angrily but worriedly.
Aless looked at him, narrowing her eyes.
"Oh. I see what's going on here."
"Oh, do you now?" Heisenberg growled.
Aless grinned and walked up to him and gently held his scraggly, whisker-covered chin.
"You're worried about me."

Heisenberg's eyes widened.
He took a small step back, flustered.
"Wh-what the fuck?? No I'm not, I expected you to be back by-"

"Yes, you totally are! Look at you, getting all flustered. You even got scared that the lycans killed me."
Heisenberg's cheeks went a little red.
"I was making sure that those little bastards didn't act up, that's all-"

"Yeah right," Aless teased. "Oh, come on," she said gently, putting a hand on his shoulder, making him a little tense. She smiled. She loved teasing him even when they were little.
"There's no shame in being concerned about someone. No need to be embarrassed."
Heisenberg looked away and softly took her hand off his shoulder.
"We're going to the factory." He said flatly.
Aless giggled as he began going down the steps.
"Awe. Look at the big tough metal man, all embarrassed."
Karl shot her a dirty look.
"What? It's cute."
He rolled his eyes as they made their way into the factory.
"Oh, by the way.. you are not a very good artist." Aless added.
Karl couldn't help but snort.