Better Left Forgotten

Noctis picked up the lamp on her bedside night table, and chucked it at the monster's head before dashing toward her door, and trying to get out of her room.

At the same time, Mortal slips into a pair of sneakers, and rushes from her room to Noct's.

--

"W-wait, wait, wait!" Gabe quickly stammered out, before cursing as she was hung up on. Panicking a bit more, Gabe dials Sab's number. As she does she flips through the paper to see if there is anything else she may have missed.

--

Sab frowned, "Uh, give us a few minutes to get ready then, I guess. I mean, unless it is too urgent to wait for us to get out of our P-JAYS!" Sab put a hand on her heart, the sudden noise of her phone ringing quickening her pulse.

Sab let out a small sigh, and walked over to where her phone was charging. "Its Gabe. I'll let her know we should meet up," She said, picking up the phone and answering with a, "Hello."

*Roatha pushes his way in, locking the door, snatching the phone from her hand, & turning it off. They can see that he is wearing gloves.*

R"All lines are currently down."

A"Wh--what are you doing? You're acting strange."

*Aroma takes a couple steps back, trying to slide her hand covertly into her pocket. Roatha pockets Sab's phone & points at her with his other hand.*

R"A, touch that phone & I'll break your wrist. B, am I, or do you just not know me as well as you think you do? Do you know where I was on the night you were attacked? Or after I was 'taken' by the Shadow?"
=============================
<I'm sorry, but all we can do now is discuss the...final arrangements. Did they have a will? Or an attorney?>
=============================
E"We didn't, someone snuck in, but we don't see anyone here. Yeah, come in. See you in a sec."

*She hangs up, turning away from Taiyo.*

E"There's something else in here. Something rigid, taking up most of the envelope."

*Shielding it from Taiyo's sight, she pulls it out & dusts the ash off back into the envelope, which she puts on the bedside table. She then turns back, holding a DVD. With the same writing, in the same marker, "ORIGIN STORY" is written in letters circumscribing the top of the disc.*
=================================
*There is nothing else. Senthose calls back soon after Sab hangs up on her with only a "Hello."*
=================================
*The monster bats it aside before it can impact & makes its way across the room. As she's opening the door, & Mortal is nearing the room from the other side, it leaps at her. They can also hear footsteps running down the hall outside the dorm.*

Astarte spent a few moments calming down and then got out of bed to go out into the living room, hesitating and flinching at every turn on the way.

Eduj also got up out of his bed and went to his own living room.

*Eve enters the room, then sits on the corner of the bed*

<Origin Story? This should be good.>
===
*Tirea wipes her eyes, trying to clam down a bit*

<Uh...yeah...>

*Tirea gives them the necessary information*
===
*Cameron gets dressed then calls Eduj*

Taiyo: "Do we have to watch it?"

Presumably Azuma & Mimiru arrive, knocking on the door.

Sab steps between Aroma and Roatha, putting her hand out to distance the two. "Please, don't hurt her. Just, please leave, you're scaring me," She tried to sound assertive, but her voice began to break as she continued.

--

"S-Sab?" Gabe paced a bit, "Sab are you there?" Fearing the worst, Gabe grabbed her keys, then answered her phone, "Sen-Senthose, I think Sab and Aroma might be in trouble!" She rushed out her door, and began making her way to Sabroma's dorm.

--

Noctis, in such a rush, put her shoulder into the door as she tried to open it. That, along with being tackled, caused Noctis to come tumbling out of her room with a monster on top of her. Reacting solely on muscle memory, she pushed against the monster with her hands. More importantly, she brought her legs up, and planted her feet where she guessed the creature's stomach or chest would be, then used the floor as leverage to push the creature away with her legs.

Her panic, and terror was so absolute she didn't even notice Mortal grabbing and, trying to pull her away by her arm, with one hand, and using her other to try and force the monster off of her.

Both called out in fear, shouting a random assortment of pleas for help, and threats to get off.

R"Oh, I'm gonna do worse than that."

*The Shadow then phases through the door. Roatha turns around & spreads his arms, as if about to hug it. Aroma gapes up at it, frozen in fear.*

R"Hey, ya made it! Glad you decided to help me with this. I didn't get the chance to knock them out from behind, like I planned."

*It holds its hand in Roatha's face, wriggling its shadow fingers. Roatha puts his arms down & turns back to Sabroma.*

R"...Yeah, I don't know what that means. Sometimes, even I don't know why it does the things it does."
================================
*The monster proves to be surprisingly strong. They can't pull it off, but the do keep its flailing claws away from their skin. Just barely. It hisses at Mortal, opening its jaws & jabbing at her with its proboscis.*

T"(How can no one hear that?!)"

L"(Don't!)"

*They hear something collide with their door outside.*

L"(Know!)"

*The door rattles from another collision.*
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S"They aren't the only ones. If you hadn't woken me up, one of those Shadows would have killed me."
=============================
E"I don't see this ending if we don't follow whatever lead we can get. We don't all have to watch it, though."

*Hearing the knock, she hands the DVD to Eve. On her way to check it, she stops by her backpack to pull out the hunting knife.*
=============================
<Thank you. They'll be calling you with the details of their final arrangements. Once again, I'm very sorry.>

Taiyo: "It should be Mimi and Azuma."

Assuming Euryale opens the door, brandishing this knife she should see it is indeed them.

Azuma: "Good morning to you too."

Astarte just sat in the living room all alone, looking out of a window at the neighbour's garden.

Eduj answered while heading into the kitchen to make coffee, "Hello?"

*If there is not a DVD player in the room, Eve goes to grab her laptop and brings it back in, then puts the DVD in*
===
{Y-yeah...}

*Tirea hangs up and collapses into her aunt's arms*
===
{Morning. Still alive?}

"Yes," Eduj nodded. "As are you. Is there something wrong?"

E"Well, sorry, but someone already broke in here once. Or some thing. Seemed to have come through our bedroom window. Well, come on in, then."

*She puts the knife away & heads back to the bedroom, where Eve is apparently loading the DVD into her laptop. The screen blinks a few times like the system is going to crash, & then her preferred video viewer opens to an obvious Power Point slide, white text on a black background.*

Haven't seen me in a while? I've seen you just fine.

*A smaller, embedded video appears, playing the archived footage of Taiyo & Euryale having sex. The text changes.*

You haven't performed for me in a while. Why is that?

E"I've said it before, I'll say it again: I am going to kill him."

*The embedded video vanishes & the text changes before they can react much more.*

You will soon meet an ally(?)
She will tell you all about our arrangement

*Seeing a shape moving in the darkness of the screen, a shape with a distinct hat, Euryale whirls around, thinking that it might be reflected on the screen. Apparently, though, it was just part of the video. By the time she turns back, another line of text appears.*

Better you hear it from me.

*The text changes again, this time to, "You remember what It remembers." Another embedded video opens. First, it plays a first person video from the perspective of the masked man as he's on top of Monu, pounding his face into the pavement. It eventually cuts to Grimm walking around his church, & then to Hector yelling at something offscreen, shot from outside of the old cabin window. Finally, it cuts to the archived footage of the Shadow picking up a knife in Sab's & Aroma's dorm room.*

*Eve looks away at the sex scenes, but focuses on the rest*

<"An ally"? Interesting...>

Taiyo buried her head in her knees, not wanting to see anything.

Mimiru: "That's all you have to say?"

Azuma: "We'll be meeting Vanessa again?"

*The text is altered in a burst of static.*

I have known It for many many years....

*The word "many" begins appearing elsewhere on the screen, overlapping until the screen is all white. Then black text with a red outline gradually fades in.*

I CAN DO SO MUCH MORE

*An excised clip of Gabe saying, "It can possess people?" is played. Another embedded video pops up, this time with sound. Shot through the trees with night vision, it displays Euryale confronting a blur of static in the shape of the Shadow, near the cabin with the others. A thin tendril strikes out from the Shadow, hitting Euryale in the chest. As she flips over & tries to scramble away, the text changes to "It can...but not for long." The video keeps playing as Euryale begins coughing up blood. It then changes to security camera style footage done in the same way--night vision with the Shadow represented as a blur of static--depicting it as it grabs Mortal's neck & lifts her above its head. As she is pulled free, the camera zooms in on her neck, showing the bleeding burns. The screen goes black again, with lines of text fading in one after the other.*

I don't have that limitation.
I can possess anyone.
But I can only tell them things.
It is up to them to listen.
With one exception....

*A faint image of a pedigree chart appears in the background, with the camera jerkily following it down & down into infinity, picking up speed as it goes. The text vanishes, & more text reappears, again line-by-line.*

I can make someone do anything that I want
As long as he is a blood relative.
But who is this relative? And who am I? What do I want? What will happen to you?
Find out the answers to these questions & more...
Right now.

*The screen changes to a webcam of the man in the mask sitting in front of a computer in a dorm room. He bows his head & takes off the mask with his right hand, smoothing out his brown hair with the left. After pocketing the mask, Roatha looks up at them & smiles.*

*Eve grabs her phone and dials Roatha's number. She puts the phone on speaker phone*

<Oh...my...god...>

Azuma: "He won't answer."

R"Hey, this is Roatha Arelaz. I can't pick up the phone right now, so leave a message after the tone."

*Tone.*

R"Now, for the...slow members of the audience, this--"

*Roatha points to himself with both thumbs.*

R"Is not ME. THIS is my great-great-something or other-great grand nephew."

*He puts his hands down, drumming the table with his fingers.*

R"It's a long story, & I don't want to bore you with the details, but basically, I offered to deliver the Shadow's victims personally, far away from prying eyes. In return, my flesh was scoured away so that I could live forever. Ah, but that still doesn't tell you who I am, does it? Call me, "Ira." It is the name that I took once I was born again, based on the fondest memories of my old life, & the most important messages of the Good Book."

*He claps his hands, rubbing them together with excitement.*

R"Great! Now that the foreplay is done, on to business!"

{Roatha, call me back as soon as possible. Thanks.}

*Eve hangs up, then looks to the others and shakes her head*
===
{I just got a video message of someone strangling Tirea, so I thought maybe other people had gotten messages.}

"I have gotten no messages," Eduj said. "Have you tried to contact Tirea?"

Astarte eventually took her phone and called Noct.

Azuma: "Don't expect him to call back."

*Roatha leans back & steeples his hands.*

R"You figured out more than I wanted you to at this point. So I've decided that there will be a purge. Based on what I know & your GPAs, I've compiled a list of which of you I think are the smartest, & thus the deadest. Some of you I've probably killed already. If you're NOT dead, & you want to know if you're still on the list...you know what? If you're so fucking smart, YOU figure it out."

*He begins rocking back & forth, grimacing as though he's just eaten a lemon.*

R"I've also taken this opportunity to come after those among you that I personally despise. And boy is THAT a list. Whores, fops, queers, foreigners, heathens...& I think one of you is some kinda negress. You know, it's true what they say, your generation really has lost its moral standards. I bet God's thankful to me, this time around."

*He leans forward, finger over the computer's power button.*

R"Game's on, little girls. But you're pieces, not players. Your only hope, if you want to call it that, is that the monsters get you before I do."

*The screen goes dark. Eventually, the window closes & the DVD ejects. Euryale lets out a breath that she didn't know she was holding & flops down onto the bed next to Taiyo. She stares at the ceiling until rubbing her eyes with her right hand.*

E"..How could this be...? I mean...HOW? He was right there with us when th--this Ira guy came after Taiyo. How could they be the same person?"

Eve:<Maybe he was processing another blood relative. Anyway, we need to have a group meeting.>
===
{Yeah. Her aunt said she was alright. Have you heard from anyone else?}

Azuma: "Is there even a group left? Has anyone heard from the others?"

Eve:<I don't know. Hopefully.>

*She takes the DVD out, then leaves the room for a second, returning with a case for it*

<I think everyone should see this.>