Mario The Music Box (Fanfiction)

Chapter 37: The Execution Grounds

                    "Exe...cution Grounds? You mean....." Riba nodded.

                    "Yeah. This is where people who broke clergy laws were executed." Mario studied the landscape. The area was surrounded by gray walls, about six feet tall, which created a square-shaped setting. The ground was made of cobblestone, with some weeds growing out from the cracks. There was a small shed to the right of where they were right now, which had about four large crosses laying nearby. There was also a guillotine located to the upper middle of the entire place, which was old and out of use. To the left, there was a set of doors, which led to the other side. He looked behind him and could see a cave-like entrance, made of rock, where they had just come from. Mario then asked,

                   "Did you.... ever hold any executions here?" Riba answered,

                   "Yeah....." Mario nodded with a grim expression, then frowned. He looked around, a bit perplexed. He then asked,

                   "Hang on..... if this is an execution site, where are all the spirits that died here?" Riba replied,

                   "Good question. It actually took me a while to figure it out. People are usually executed here, but we dump their bodies in a different setting." Riba then pointed to the doors on the left. 

                   "All the spirits that were executed here are probably somewhere else on the other side. Your spirit usually appears right next to your body, when you die. Or, at least, that's my guess." Mario nodded with an "oh". Riba then sighed, saying,

                   "I'm going to go now. You seem to be doing well on your own." Mario widened his eyes and asked,

                  "You- you're going? Now? But you said the spirits-"

                  "Don't worry," Riba then raised his machete.

                  "I'll manage. You coming with?" Mario then answered,

                  "No, I'll stay for a while to wait for Alice to come to." Riba nodded and thought,

                  'I need to get back to those spirits too. I don't want them getting anxious or anything like that. Also, I can't kill him here like this, not alone at least. He could turn into a malicious spirit and plan revenge on me. I'll need the spirits to help protect me after I kill him......' Mario then said,

                  "Well, then I can't stop you....." Mario then walked up to Riba. He then looked up at him and smiled, saying,

                  "Thanks Riba, for everything." He then looked down.

                  "I just wish I could repay you back with getting rid of this curse. I haven't gotten anywhere..... even with my investigation, I've barely gotten anything....." Riba then placed his hand on Mario's bandaged shoulder and responded,

                  "Mario, don't worry about all that right now, okay? I'll be fine. Promise." Mario widened his eyes and smiled, nodding. Riba nodded as well and walked off, waving his hand and calling out,

                  "Take care of yourself!"

                  "You too!" Mario sighed thought,

                  'Riba does seem nice, and I think he wants to change, but..... the way he just casually talked about the executions here..... why was there even a need for an Execution Grounds? Can't you just keep them in jail or something? Why do you have to kill them......?' He then looked back at Alice. He set Alice on the ground, and leaned her against the wall. She had a head injury, with a few blood streaks on the side of her face. He thought,