Down the Fox's Hole [Horror Au]

Why so Serious?

Vin was so lost in admiring the magnificent sword, that she didn't notice the slight sound of gears moving underneath the planks she was standing on. Only after she heard the floor crack, she snapped out of it, but it was too late already. A few planks lifted diagonally and made her slide all the way back, shoving her into a closet which quickly opened. As soon as she was in it, a trapdoor in its middle opened widely and caused her to fall through the second, then first floor from trapdoor to trapdoor, until she fell straight into a rocky hole. She yelped as she fell into the darkness, and all the trap doors above her closed as if nothing had even opened. She fell for some meters, not having a clue about where she was falling, and ended up in cold water. She took a fw seconds before emerging and panting heavily, but was relieved to see the sword at the bottom of that small lake. After grabbing it and crawling out of the water, she noticed a few torches. Soon enough, Vin realised she ended up in a cave. She took her time to catch her breath and made her way to the torches, dragging the precious sword along. She grabbed a torch to make herself some light and gave a quick look around the tunnels. "This is just great... but there must be a way out." She stated to herself, before deciding to explore those old caves. Alex clenched her fists and, now slightly weaker from the blood loss from her shoulder and the fall she had, she just felt even more motivated to kill all of them than she was before. She stood, and made her way through the halls as she dragged her good hand on the wooden walls, even letting some trails of blood. She didn't know what was going on inside her mind, but she still let out somewhat a creepy laugh that echoed through most of the rooms inside the mansion due to the silence. She roughly ripped a curtain and used that old piece of cloth to stop the blood dropping from her shoulder, wrapping it tightly around her own arm; hissing and yet smiling widely at the pain. As soon as Kris and Luna heard her laughter, they flinched and held each other closely in fear. "W-we have to find Hiba and Vin before she comes back for us!" Luna gulped. "Maybe they're just looking for help?" Kris tried to reassure her "Or MAYBE they're gone for good!" Luna responded desperately. "Maybe if we go outside..." Another thunder striking nearby made Kris immediately doubt her idea "NEVERMIND!" She whined in fear, only for Luna to bring a hand on her mouth and shut her up "Shh! Are you nuts?? She'll find us right away if you don't keep quiet!" She whispered as Kris looked up to her with a sorry look. Hiba was still sitting in the car as the rain hit its surface loudly. She curled up on her set and slowly hugged her knees; of course she felt bad about leaving the others all alone in the mansion, but what could she even do if she was stuck there with them? She knew they would have most likely ended up dying, so all she could do was sit there and wait for help, or to receive an answer from the radio. She sighed and laid her head against her own legs, only listening to the rain all around her. All of sudden, she heard the sound of a branch breaking; enough to make her lift her head and for her heart to race quickly. After very few seconds, she heard another one, this time closer. She sat properly and clanged onto the seats of the car "A-Alex... Please, don't-" She whispered under breath, knowing so surely her turn was finally coming. She shifted back towards the other side of the car and shivered at the thought of her own death, as yet more steps could be heard approaching her. She was assured of that when she heard the sound of a blade dragging on the ground. The sound of the door opening made her heart skip a beat, but it did even more when she was the silhouette at the door. Hiba closed her eyes tightly and brought a hand in front of her face in defence, waiting for what should have happened to happen. The door opened. "...Hiba?" Vin's quiet and shaky voice asked as she looked towards the scared girl. Hearing a totally different voice from the one she expected, she lowered her arm and opened her eyes slowly. She had never felt so relieved. "V-Vin! Thank God!" She said, jolting up and crawling out of the car. Vin smiled brightly "O-Oh gosh, I'm glad you're okay! We've been dead worried about you! Have you been here the whole time?" She asked. Hiba nodded slowly "Y-yes... but I found some helpful things. I managed to contact the police by radio, but I'm not quite sure if they managed to understand, the signal was really bad..." She explained, the brought her attention to the sword "...And? Where did you get that?" "Long story short, I accidentally stumbled across an hidden room. I found this, but I believed it activated a trap mechanism? So... I fell into some caves. It took a while to get out, but I found myself outside and I saw someone in the car from far." She smiled and tilted her head "Are you hurt?" "N-Not really... just scared. But where's Alex?" She must be still inside with Kris and Luna... Now that I found you, we need to go back to them. She had already locked Kris in the freezing cell... I hope she's fine now." Although she hesitated at first, Hiba quickly nodded "Right, let's hurry before someone else ends up hurt..." "Kris! We're safer outside, there's no doubt she'll get us!" Luna tried to convince her friend, but Kris was still doubting "B-but I'm scared of storms!" "I /know/, but it's just some rain! Or would you rather be stabbed again and again?" She said in an attempt to make her reason. Arguing after arguing, Kris had to eventually give up "F-Fine! Whatever...!" She pouted, as Luna smiled satisfiedly and pulled her by her arm outside. They ran all the way to the first floor, but the moment they were a few steps in front of the door and checked behind their shoulders to see if Alex was following, they bumped against someone. "AAH!" They all yelped. Vin tightened the grip on the sword, Hiba impulsively grabbed the gun, while Luna stood in front of Kris protectively, who was holding a stick. They all stared at each other for long moments before relaxing and smiling. "Y-you're okay!" Luna smiled in relief, but Vin and Hiba looked at them in concern "I- wish I could say the same about you..." "W-what happened?" They commented. "No time to explain... A-All we have to do now is find a safe place and, just stay away from that freak!" Luna answered. "We could trap her!" Kris suggested, but Hiba shook her head "If anything, she'll most likely trap us... She knows this mansion too well!" "She's right..." Vin sighed. "...Where is she even?" Kris suddenly asked, a question which made everyone turn pale. They felt a high tension rising as they heard her giggle from somewhere very,very near. She had been listening the whole time. Everyone immediately took a step back, but while the others looked around, Vin wasn't in time to do so that she was roughly grabbed from behind and pulled back so hardly, that she had to drop her sword. She yelped for a moment and struggled, trying to look behind her shoulders, towards Alex, who was blocking her and holding the blade of the knife right against her neck. "You've have enough fun, and now... I'm very, VERY tired... of all of you." The killer said, laughing irritatedly, then looked down to Vin "You were...a quite hard prey, I'll admit..." She snickered "What a pleasure you have! Dying first..." "ENOUGH!" Luna interrupted her and clenched her fists "Alex, release her now or I-I swear, I'll- I'll BEAT you up!". That made Alex snort and laugh "You're stupid, but entertaining! I like that..." "HEY! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, ALEX?!" Kris shouted angrily, but the murderer shook her head and rolled her eyes "You're just annoying." After saying that, she brought her attention to Hiba, hearing the sound of a gun having its safety lock removed. "G-get away from her, Alex..." She mumbled, having the gun pointed right at her. She smiled fondly "Your hands are shaking... Do you really think you could shoot? Besides..." All of sudden, she brought the knife to Vin's cheek and started cutting from it down to her lips, drawing a smile as the girl screamed in pain "The more you'll come closer, the more she'll smile... And when her smile ends up being SO wide, the knife will go straight into her neck! Aha! Fun,right?" Alex chuckled in enjoyment at the thought. "Just shoot her!" Vin said in that moment of pain. "I'd like to see her try..." Alex smiled brightly as she glared down to the girl she was holding, then up to Hiba. Kris and Luna also looked at her worriedly "H-Hiba, you have to- She'll kill us too if she kills Vin!". Hiba tightened the grip on the gun and laid a finger on the trigger, pressure overwhelming her. Right when she was about to shoot, she closed her eyes tightly and looked away "I-I can't shoot her cold blood! Guys, i-it's still Alex!" "Yes, and she's trying to MURDER US!" Luna tried to make her reason. Alex bursted out laughing as she fully cut a smile on Vin, making her tear up as well. Then she brought the knife to the girl's neck and was about to stab it right into her skin. Luna widened her eyes and rushed to Hiba, trying to grab the gun out of her hands and causing it to shoot a bullet towards Alex and Vin, but without hitting any of them. The shot made Alex let go of Vin, who at first fell on the ground bleeding badly from her face. Alex growled and lifted her knife going straight for Luna as Kris went to Vin to help her up, but Hiba was paralysed and frozen still. They fought for the gun until Alex lost her knife and a shot went towards Kris, hitting her leg. But the killer clinched her fist and impulsively punched Luna before she shot again, making her hold her face since it hurt even more than usual. As soon as the killer got a hold of the gun, she kicked it all the way across the hall, far from all of them. She then turned towards Hiba with an unrecognizable smile across her face, pushing her against the wall and tightening her neck with all her strength. "I'm taking you down! All of you! You will NEVER leave this place!" She laughed at the scene of Hiba losing her breath within each second passing. She clenched her teeth into an even wider smile, but all of sudden, it faded away and her eyes widened. Her grip on Hiba got weaker and weaker until she dropped her to the ground and stood there numbly, slowly bringing her stare down to her own chest, only to see the blade of a sword across her chest.
"H-Hah... Funny...!" She said with her breath almost missing, a weak smile yet reappearing on her face as she badly coughed up blood which dropped on the floor, in front of Hiba's eyes, which immediately crawled back against the wall in disgust and surprise. Vin let go of the handle of the sword as soon as Hiba was out of the way, causing Alex to fall first on her knees, and then with her chest on the floor, making the sword move back into her insides just before she went completely numb, and dead silent. They all stared down at the door before taking some steps back for distance, as a puddle of blood coming from her body traced the lines of the dark planks. Then they faced each other, and without saying much, they held one and in the other in a warm group hug.
Not much time later, police cars were all around the house: they did needed time to correctly analyse the signal , but in the end they did find them and brought all of them safely to an hospital to have their wounds treated.
The process lasted a few days, and although their wounds were closed, the marks were still clearly there. They hoped to move on with time, and yet the damage was not only physical, but even psychological.
Years passed, and after months of avoiding dialogues, Hiba had proposed ,by sending an email to all of them, to have some time together since it was better to talk their experience out instead of being haunted by it all alone. The plan was to go for a travel somewhere nice during the summer holidays , and they established they'd all meet at the train station.
Hiba was the first one to arrive and sit there, tapping her fingers on the table which was between the four seats as she scrolled on her phone. Soon enough, Vin reached her and sat in front of the girl "What are you looking at?" She asked with a smile. Hiba widened her eyes and lifted her head, only to see how her friend had grown up "Vin! You came! My, it's been so long!" She said laughing, and the other nodded in agreement "It has! How... how have you been?" Vin asked. "Well... Honestly? I don't know about you, but the whole thing about Alex has been buzzing in my head this whole time." She admitted. "Ah, it's totally understandable... I've been feeling the same. But..."
"But?"
Vin smiled shyly "I-I've been trying to move on, in a way...!"
"Say what now?" Hiba smiled slightly and tilted her head.
"Yeah... let's say, I found someone who can make me think about something else. Uhm... basically, I-I've been going out with this Rebekah and-"
Hiba gasped softly "Dawhhh! You got a girlfriend?~" She teased, only causing her friend to blush softly.
"And she's not the only one!" Another voice interrupted them, making both turn towards it and smile at the sight of Luna. "Hey! There you are!" Vin chuckled.
"You too Luna?" Hiba asked still with a soft smile, but she shook her head "No, not me... but Kris over there is going fine with Clay~" she laughed, as Kris reached her after a few seconds "It's LAY." Kris frowned. "Yeah, him" They all laughed as the new guests took a seat, Luna next to Vin and Kris next to Hiba.
Chatting after chatting, eventually the train started moving. They came across the good and bad things of their life, and time seemed to drift away so quickly as they shared memories and news.
While the others kept talking, Hiba had stopped for a moment to listen, just smiling and peeking towards the central hall of the train for a moment. But before she looked back at the others, her attention was drawn by a familiar figure. A figure that had been smiling and staring right towards them the whole time, from the right row of seats of the train. A head with shorter, black hair and an also wounded face. That figure had her elbows on the table and a smile from cheek to cheek as she made eye contact with Hiba for long seconds. She was wearing a black jacket and a white shirt underneath it. Hiba felt her heart racing all of sudden, she didn't know if who she was seeing was who she thought it was , or even real.
She realised she wasn't dreaming when the figure smiled even more widely and brought a hand to her own mouth, signing her silence with a finger.
"Shh..." Alex chuckled lowly from her seat while looking towards those preys she never, ever had stopped stalking.

The game never ended.