The Corpse Groom || l.s.

Six.

It was a giant building almost in the outskirts of the underground town. Or.. Is it even considered a town? Louis suspects a town is one thing that is described with living people in it but there was none besides him that was actually still breathing with a functioning beating heart. However, there's no other way to describe it.

Harry led him into the large stone building, walking up countless flights of stairs that seemed to wrap around the entire building as a whole. He didnt know where they were going or why they were going anywhere at this point. But.. Maybe it was somewhere that he can actually find his way home from. Its worth at least a smidge of a shot.

Once they made it to the top, Scraps went running ahead, jumping over piles of books scattered around. It was covered in cobwebs and crows were perched up on the broken glass of a ceiling where it probably looked very lovely in a past life. Decades, maybe.

"Elder Gutknecht.." Harry's voice echoed through the room. It brought a new found eerieness to the situation even though Louis believed it couldn't get more eery. he was talking with dead people and he found his dead dog. It wasn't the most happiest or loveliest of situations. "Are you there?"

Louis stumbled up the rest of the stairs behind Harry, hand gripping onto the railing. His eyes were wide as he glanced around. There was already so many surprises, he didnt want to be caught in another.

"Hello? Is anyone home? Hello?" Harry kept calling out, walking forward and maneuvering around the book piles. They would have fit on the shelves lining the walls but for some reason, no one seems to put them back. Or care enough to pick them up and make an easier pathway.

Louis, however, was having a bit of a difficult time getting around them since he wasn't familiar with the set up. His eyes were looking around while his hips kept bumping into everything before him. Because of this, Louis bumped into a particularly loose pile that toppled over with a clattering noise onto the floor. It made him jump with a gasp and look back down at the scattered books. The crows started to cry at the commotion and started to push off of the ceiling and flying down in divebombs, making the situation even worse. Scraps eventually started to bark, to matters worse and to make Louis' heart beat more erratically in his chest. He looked over at Scraps before he heard a clanking sound. He glanced over again and just gasped, standing straight. A bony hand had reached up to stop a lamp from swinging from the ceiling. As Louis' eyes trailed down more, he saw what the arm was attached to. It was a complete skeleton and if he wasn't mistaken, it was from an old man who once lived. He was hunched over a book and had a very long beard connected to his jaw. Or maybe it was just cobwebs because how could hair grow on a skeleton?

The skeleton shakily reached up and placed glasses onto his face before he just started to speak. "Oh.. Oh, my dear, there you are." His voice was raspy and creaky like an elder would speak if they were in their eighties.

"I've brought my husband." Harry spoke up and motioned a hand over towards Louis as if needing to point out who she was talking about. "Louis."

"What's that?" The elder spoke, leaning over the book a bit more seeing as he was higher up than them and needed a better look at who was before him. "Husband?"

Louis shifted a bit on his feet before he reached a hand up to his mouth, cupping it to make sure his voice grew loud. "Pleasure to meet you sir!"

Harry just dismissed him. "We um.. We need to go... Upstairs? To visit the land of the living." He stated, nodding his head with certainty.

The elder just reached up and scratched at his head a moment. Then he placed it back down onto the book. "Land of the living?" He asked before he just shook his head and turned to stumbled his way towards the small set of stairs, slowly walking down them. He held onto stacks of books as he did so and that made sense. Thats probably why there were so many around.

"Please, Elder.." Harry clasped his hands together.

"Now why would you want to go up there while people are dying to get down here?" The elder spoke again.

"Sir, I beg of you." Louis spoke up again. He knew this just be the man that can help them. This is what he needs. He can't stay here any longer. "It would mean so much to me.." His eyes glanced to the side at Harry, the boy turning and giving him a sweet smile. "Us."

The elder reached up once again to scratch at the top of his head, turning his head down. "I don't know.. Its just not natural." As he was scratching his head, there was a crack in his skull that he made worse, half of his skull practically detaching with every scratch.

Harry reached over and gently grabbed for the elders hand, pulling it away from his head. "Please, Elder Gutknecht... Surely, there must be something you can do.."

The elder just gave a small him, reaching his free hand up to encompass Harry's hand in his own. Well.. It was all just bones. It wasn't the hand with actual flesh left on Harry. "Let me see what I can do.. Where did I put that book?"

~

With four bottles being picked up and a large red book being red by the elder, they seemed to be going off to a good start. He was going to make a Ukrainian haunting spell for them because to him, it was just perfect for quick trips like the one he knows that Louis and Harry are planning on having. To say Louis was nervous was probably the worlds worst understatement of the century.

Harry slowly got closer to Louis' side, fiddling with his hands in front of him. "I'm excited that I had ever thought of this." He whispered to Louis, looking over at him with genuine glee. Louis only chuckled nervously.

"Me too.."

They both watched up at the elder as he mixed two bottles of liquid together, a pinch of some odd dust from another, and a crows feather picked off of one of the birds. It bubbled up for a few moments before there was a pop of red smoke coming out of it, dissolving in the air. The elder held the glass up into the air, making Louis feel shivers going down his spine. But.. Then the elder opened his mouth and drank the liquid, it dropping directly down to the floor since he had nothing to hold it in.

"Now then." He continued, making Louis frown. What just happened? "Where were we?"

"Ukrainian haunting spell." Harry spoke up, smiling up at him.

"Ah.." The elder nodded before grabbing a crow by its neck. He squeezed it for a moment before there was an egg that popped out from it which caused him to let it go and let it fly off. Then he leaned forward again. "Here we are.. Ready?"

Louis and Harry both subconsciously leaned forward.

"Just remember... When you want to come back, say 'hopscotch'." The elder spoke, making Harry excitedly repeat the word back. Louis only stared in disbelief up at the elder. 'Thats it.." He trailed off, cracking the egg on his book before lifting it in the air, using both hands to crack it open.

As much as Louis was expecting it to be filled with yolk and egg whites, it was instead giving out a puff of golden, glittery dust that trailed ever so slowly down to the pair of them. Louis' eyes just glanced all around at the dust, unsure of what to make from it. Everything down here seemed like a terrible night terror where nothing was impossible and where absolutely anything could happen, with a twist.

As the dust covered his sight and his body, his vision went black. Everything was dark and cold until the glitter slowly started to fade away. As it did, Louis' eyes widened and he just looked around frantically. It was the forest. It was the forest he had first found danger in. He never thought he would be happier to see such a sight. He was home, finally.