Is This Fate or Misfortune?

Her Acquaintance, The End Part 2

December

A dusty room was the first thing that greeted you once you had opened your eyes. Slowly picking yourself up from the ground and wincing at the moment, you focused your blurry eyesight on where you were. It was a basement that you stood in, a familiar basement at that and without having to fully examine the room, you knew that you stood in the basement of your parents house. Who knows how much time had passed since you had been here, but it had sure enough been a lengthy amount with the cobwebs and dust that coated the room.

Taking a step forward, you stumbled and you grabbed onto the side of a table to prevent you from tumbling to the ground. Although your body was aching, it wasn't as painful as you would have expected it to be. The sleep that you had gotten earlier must have done some good, but it didn't stop the throbbing headache nor the blood the trickled its way from your nose.

Wiping away the blood, you straightened up and slowly glanced around the basement. Everything about it was familiar. From the large dusty bookshelves that were stacked with books to the large table that was placed directly in the middle of the room. There was nothing much to the room itself and seeing this, you walked over to the stairs, heading your way up them.

Your hands curled at your sides as you walked, a cold feeling blooming from within the closer you reached the top of the staircase. You were back once again. Back to where your parents had first died and when you had decided to leave this world for another.

At the top of the staircase you froze, hands pressed onto the trapdoor above. You knew you had to head through in order to find Malcom, but deep down you didn't want to go. Not after everything that had happened in this house.

But with a heavy heart, you gathered your resolve and pushed the trapdoor open, climbing out from the basement and into the main section of the house.

Familiar, yet foreign. That was how you would describe it. The house haunted you with memories of the past, happy yet melancholic memories along with those that you wished never to remember. It didn't help that once hidden secrets plagued those memories, making them seem all the more unpleasant.

Everything was where it once stood when you had left... Or that was what you would have said. Furniture was strewn across the rooms, each broken and bruised that you knew was a result of the AMA when they had broken in those years prior. A carpet of dust had also settled over all of the rooms, the air thick with dust particles and in the corners of the walls were large cobwebs.

The floorboards creaked underneath your feet as you walked further into the house, taking the time to refamiliarize yourself with all that was there. There was a bittersweet feeling at being here once again and slowly you trailed around the rooms before finding yourself in the kitchen.

It amazed you to think about how much time had passed since you had been at the house. Back then you had been nothing but a child. Throughout your time living at the Phantomhive Manor you had matured, not only in your magic, but you as a person.

Something caught your gaze from the corner of your eyes and you diverted your attention over to a paper that was directly in the middle of the dining table. With the lack of marks on the paper, it was clear that it had been recently placed and you knew without having to look that it had been left by Malcom.

Slowly you approached the table and reached down to pick up the paper, bringing it closer so that you could read it.

If you wish to uncover the remaining secrets,
Be sure to revisit the past in order to heal your lingering grievances.

"Great, more fucking riddles," you mumbled underneath your breath, dropping the paper and letting it sink to the floor.

There was nothing left in the house, even you could see this and knowing that Malcom was laying in wait somewhere else, you headed to the door that would lead you back to the outside world. Your footsteps were loud as you exited the kitchen, stepping into the main hall that led to the front door.