A/N: Finally another chapter! I started writing this chapter again earlier today, and I 'fell through the hole in the page' (Misery by Stephen King quote) and got going. I finished writing the chapter, a whole half of it I finished in the last couple of hours. Enjoy! By the way, Constant Reader, you may notice a few references in here to some of my other works, if you've read osme of my other stories then you will most likely pick up on them.

CHAPTER 5: The Answer & Night 2

By 6 o'clock everyone was at the dining table, sitting in their seats. Everyone was looking around, waiting for the 'Master' to arrive. The same question ran through their minds. Jacob Renfeild stood beside the throne at the head of the table.

Suddenly the man dressed completely in black, that same black top hat blocking his face from view, entered the room and sat down at the head of the table. Jacob Renfeild bowed and walked from the room, off towards the kitchen where the meal would be prepared.

No one spoke for a few moments, before the 'Master' broke the silence.

"Hello children, I trust you've been enjoying your time?" the 'Master' asked.

No one answered for a few moments, and then Aemi spoke up.

"Kayako's gone missing…" Aemi softly said, looking at the 'Master', who did not seem surprised by the question at all.

"Ah, I was waiting for one of you to speak up about that. Kayako has left the game, and therefore will not be eligible for the prize money" the 'Master' said coolly.

"But why'd she leave?" Serina asked from across the table, feeling better but still uneasy.

"Ah, all in due time Serina, all your questions will be answered soon. But for now, we eat. You all look famished" the 'Master' said, and as soon as he finished his sentence the kitchen doors opened and Jacob Renfeild came through, pushing the trolley from the first night which was piled high with food once again.

A plate with food piled on it was placed in front of every person, including the 'Master'. Everyone began to eat, except for the 'Master' and Jacob.

"Hey, Mr. Renfeild, why don't you sit down and eat with us?" Serina asked kindly.

"I have other things to attend to Miss Mazaki" Jacob answered.

"Are you sure?" Aemi asked.

"Yes, the house won't clean itself. Now I must be off, have a nice meal" Jacob answered. He bowed to the 'Master' and left the room.

There were a few moments silence, everyone eating, except of course the 'Master' who just watched the teens from under his dark hat. Daisuke and Seiryuu scoffed down their food, clearing half their plate in the moments of silence.

"Excuse me" Serina said to the 'Master', who was already looking at her, "Last night you said you were especially glad I was here, what did you mean?"

The 'Master' chuckled, his face still hidden in shadows.

"You ask too many questions. Everything will make sense soon enough. Now eat, Mr. Renfeild made this especially for you all, he would feel hurt if you didn't eat it all up" the 'Master' said cheerfully.

Despite what he just said, he still did not so much as pick up a fork, his plate was left untouched. The others ate, no more questions asked.

Small conversations started and ended as the last plate was cleared, and Jacob reappeared. He picked up each of the plates, piling them up, and put the still un-finished plate in front of the 'Master' on the very top. It was only 6:30.

"The competition is just beginning children. Who will last the week? Who will win the money? I bid you goodnight children, and farewell until dinner tomorrow" the 'Master' spoke, his voice sending unexpected chills down the spines of the teens assembled in the room.

The 'Master' stood up and walked from the room, everyone's eyes following him as he walked out the door.

Slowly everyone else began to leave, most headed for the lounge room where a movie was sure to begin. Katsumi, Serina, and Hiro went back up to their rooms.

Serina quickly got dressed in her bikini, ready to go swimming, while Hiro got dressed in his trunks in the bathroom. When he came out Serina was waiting with a smile on her face.

"Ready to go?" Serina asked.

Hiro put his arms around her waist and answered, "You know it."

He kissed her on the lips, and suddenly their door opened.

"Come on, stop making out and let's go already!" Katsumi laughed, and walked off towards the stairs.

Serina and Hiro laughed, and walked out holding hands.

They were cheerful now, but soon they would see the horror that was stalking them all.

Aemi was one of the people who sat in the lounge room while Daisuke looked through the movies, looking for the one they would watch. He read out names, and Seiryuu commented on them before saying 'choose another'. The others there were Genji, with Yuki leaning against him and his arms around her, and Mitsuhiko who seemed eager to watch yet another gory movie,

"Umm… Evil Slips Through?" Daisuke asked, picking out a random horror movie.

"Never even heard of that, what's it about?" Seiryuu asked.

"It's about a guy being plagued by the ghost of a long-dead student. It's supposedly filled with realistic gore and heart-stopping scares" Daisuke said, reading bits from the back of the case.

"Do we have to watch a scary movie? Can't we watch a comedy or something?" Aemi asked, still feeling uneasy and worried about Kayako.

"As I said last night, we have to watch horror movies; it's the rules of camps and holidays" Daisuke answered, "So do you want to watch Evil Slips Through?"

"See what else there is first" Seiryuu answered, "There might be something better."

"Can we please watch something other than horror?" Aemi pleaded, her worry becoming more obvious.

"Why don't we watch Shaun of the Dead? That way everyone's satisfied, it's a horror and a comedy" Daisuke asked, trying to calm Aemi down as well as pick a horror movie.

"Alright, but it better have good gore!" Seiryuu answered, and Aemi smiled a little at Daisuke.

"It's got some good gore, very realistic at times" Mitsuhiko said as the DVD was put into the DVD player, "There's a great scene where one of the main characters gets his insides ripped out and eaten!"

"You're twisted Mitsuhiko" Daisuke told him, chuckling, as he sat down on the couch.

Hiro ran up to the pool and did a front flip, ending it in a dive straight into the water. Serina and Katsumi who were already in the pool applauded and cheered, laughing all the while. Hiro popped his head back out of the water and let a smile spread across his face. He moved over to Serina and wrapped his arms around her waist, while she put hers around his neck. Katsumi floated on her back staring up at the full moon high in the sky.

Suddenly a drop of water landed on her nose, and she stopped floating, standing on the bottom instead.

More drops fell soon after as it began to pour. They quickly got out of the pool and wrapped their towels around themselves, feeling the cold chill of the night air.

"It's been raining a lot during our time here" Serina pointed out, looking at the water's surface which was dotted with the ripples caused by the rain drops, "Oh well, I guess we just have to go back inside, I think everyone's watching a movie right now, and knowing Daisuke it's probably a horror."

"You always see the best in things don't you?" Katsumi asked, laughing.

"That's why I love her" Hiro said, and kissed Serina again.

"I thought it was just her good looks" Katsumi joked.

"That too" Hiro said, and they all laughed.

Then they walked back inside, headed towards the lounge room.

Only five minutes into the movie Daisuke heard rain begin to fall, the small soothing sound of the drops bouncing off the roof. Soon after that everyone else heard it, looking up for a second before looking back at the screen.

Daisuke hoped the power wouldn't go out, he liked this movie. He looked out the lounge room door and saw Serina, Hiro and Katsumi walking towards them, and he waved. They waved back and entered the lounge room, sitting down to watch the movie.

"What are we watching?" Serina whispered loudly to Daisuke.

"Shaun of the Dead, it's a Zombedy!" Daisuke answered, and they laughed.

While everyone was watching the movie, Mitsuhiko slipped out of the room, pulling a flashlight he had hidden in his pocket. He went straight to the trap-door which led down to the basement, and opened it up. It creaked lightly as it opened, and Mitsuhiko made sure that it didn't slam into the ground.

He walked down the stairs into the dark depths of the basement, closing the trap-door behind him and making the darkness complete. He clicked his flashlight on and scanned the room with it, seeing nothing unusual. He got to the bottom of the stairs and began to walk into the room, slowly and carefully moving around whatever was in his way.

He got to the end of the room, and still he saw nothing. Suddenly he felt extremely uneasy, and turned around and began walking back to the stairs. He started moving faster when he heard a creak behind him, and was running when he got to the stairs. He threw open the trap door and spun around as he walked out.

Down in the basement he saw nothing, no shadow, no person, no murderer, no creatures, nothing. He still felt that uneasiness though, and wondered why he had gotten so scared. Nothing ever scared him. But he loved the feeling; it was like an adrenaline rush. He wanted to go back down, go down there and get himself scared again, but this time stay there until he found the source of his fear.

But before he could go back down the door behind him opened and Daisuke popped his head in.

"Dude, I thought you wanted to watch the movie" Daisuke pointed out, not seeing the open trap-door.

Mitsuhiko sighed and closed the trap-door with his foot, and turned and left the room with Daisuke, headed back towards the lounge room. He didn't want Daisuke, or anyone else, to know what he was doing. It just wasn't what he wanted his horror movie experience to be like, if others knew there was something down there then they would all try to escape, and they would probably achieve that. He decided to not mention it again until something else happened, the next fatality, then hopefully he would feel the rush of fear again.

It was 8:29 when the movie finished, and everyone was about to go their separate ways to do their own things, but Aemi spoke up before anyone left.

"We should do something else together, not another movie but something else…" she pondered what they could do for a few moments.

"Swimming?" Seiryuu asked, not wanting to go swimming but hoping he'd get a look at the girls in their bikinis.

"Not in the rain, it was freezing out there" Serina answered, shivering.

"What about truth or dare?" Aemi asked with a mischievous sparkle in her eye.

"Yeah, let's play that!" Serina agreed, smiling eagerly.

No one disagreed, so they all sat back down making a rough circle. Half of them sat on the couches, and half on the ground. The circle went in this order: Aemi, Serina, Hiro, Katsumi, Mitsuhiko, Daisuke, Genji, Yuki and finally Seiryuu.

"Who asks who first?" Aemi asked eagerly.

"We'll go in a circle, whoever's turn it is can ask anyone truth or dare" Serina answered, just as eager to begin as Aemi.

"Ok, umm… Daisuke!" Aemi chose, and Daisuke groaned unenthusiastically.

"Just had to choose me first…" Daisuke said under his breath.

"Who do you like?" Aemi asked, giggling.

Daisuke sighed and asked, "Is that what this whole thing is gonna be? Asking everyone who they like?"

"No, just answer the question!" Aemi pushed, giggling again.

"Fine then…" Daisuke grumbled, then after a short pause said, "Kayako."

"Oh my god! How coincidental…" Aemi said slyly, and giggled again.

Daisuke stared at her quizzically, as did most of the others. Aemi just shook her head and giggled again, and the game went on. Serina asked Mitsuhiko truth or dare, to which he answered, "Dare."

"I dare you to…" Serina started, thinking of what she could make him do, "dance with Aemi!"

Mitsuhiko was quiet for a few moments, and then asked, "What?"

"Dance with Aemi!" Serina said again, a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes.

After another long pause Mitsuhiko said, "Not gonna happen."

"Why not?" Serina complained, giggling. Aemi sat next to her giggling as well.

"I am not gonna dance, with anyone" Mitsuhiko answered simply.

"Fine then, we'll skip you then" Serina said, disappointed.

The game went on, secrets being revealed and humiliating dares being pulled off. Long into the night they played, by the end it was nearly half past ten. But the final dare put everyone off a little.

"I choose dare" Serina stated, giggling a little.

"I dare you to spend the night in the basement, alone" Mitsuhiko dared, a smile slowly creeping onto his face.

"Umm... Down there?" Serina asked, quite afraid.

"Don't worry, I'll go with you" Hiro assured her.

"No, she has to go alone, without anyone else, and spend the night there" Mitsuhiko argued, "I'll show her where the trapdoor is but that's as far as any of us go." He spoke as if this was a mission of great importance, as if one slight screw up would jeopardize their fate.

"Better to play by the rules Hiro" Daisuke stated, leaning back against the couch behind him.

"I'll be okay, I'm sure there's nothing down there except a lot of old, dusty stuff. Maybe a few spiders, nothing to worry about" Serina reassured herself, getting to her feet like the rest of the group.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, there was definitely something down there when I went down, something bigger than a spider" Mitsuhiko warned with a sly smile now on his face.

A few minutes later Serina stood at the entrance to the basement, the trapdoor was lying open. She stared down into the inky blackness and regretted choosing dare. She found herself thinking of the truths she could've been asked, all the easier and less confronting outcomes she could've come to if she hadn't chosen dare.

"Come on, we haven't got all night" Mitsuhiko rushed her, pushing her lightly towards the stairs.

Serina waited only a second longer, before walking down the stairs, into the darkness, alone. As the shadows surrounded her and the trapdoor behind her was closed, she felt isolated, despite her friends being only a few meters away.

Seiryuu lay on his bed, watching the TV where a DVD was playing.

"What is this show?" Daisuke asked, confused.

Daisuke was sitting on his own bed, leaning against a pillow on the wall. Mitsuhiko sat on the couch, which was closer to the TV than both of the others.

"It's Critters, it's really funny, reminds me a little of South Park" Seiryuu answered, turning up the volume on the TV slightly.

"Dude, do you think Serina's going to cope down there?" Seiryuu asked randomly, no real worry in his voice.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, she's stronger than she looks, mentally anyway" Daisuke answered, no worry in his voice either.

"Unless that thing is still down there" Mitsuhiko stated, forgetting about not mentioning what he saw.

"Thing?" both Seiryuu and Daisuke asked.

"There was something down there last time I went in there. I don't know what it was, but it could've been anything. It looked humanoid though..."

"Dude, you're such a liar" Daisuke laughed.

"No, really, there's something down there."

"Then why did you send her into the basement?" Seiryuu asked.

Mitsuhiko was silent, then answered, "It always happens this way, first there's a disappearance, then someone is dared to go somewhere potentially dangerous or spooky."

"Dude, you're such a horror nerd" Daisuke laughed once again, "Nothing is going to happen to her, she'll be fine. There's nothing down there save a few rats and spiders."

"There was something down there, and at some point it'll make itself known to us."

"Whatever dude..." Daisuke unenthusiastically stated, turning back to the screen.

Genji sat on the couch in his room, flicking through the many channels to see if any weren't static. Yuki was in the shower at that point, and he was waiting for her to get out so he could take one.

He worried about Serina, being all alone in the basement, especially after their discovery to do with Kayako. Unfortunately there wasn't really anything he could do about it. He could go down there, sure, but she'd want to see the dare through to the end. She'd somehow think of an upside to staying down there, that's just who she is. He'd just have to wait until the morning and hope nothing goes wrong.

He heard the shower turn off and got up, hoping the hot water would wash away his worries.

Hiro sat in the lounge room, listening to the rain but not really focusing on anything. Katsumi lay on a different couch, also listening to the rain. She knew she could turn on the TV, but she preferred to wander in her own thoughts. Aemi was also there, but she had fallen asleep in the armchair.

She wondered what Serina was doing, if she was coping alright down in the basement. She felt a weird feeling, a feeling of dread, a feeling that told her something bad was about to happen. She knew that was ridiculous, that there was nothing to worry about, but the feeling persisted. She came to the conclusion that ignoring it for now would be best; dwelling on bad feelings never led anywhere good.

The darkness around Serina was, at first, complete. After a few minutes she began to recognize different shades of black, and after a few more minutes she could make out the shapes of the objects around her. She spent a good half hour searching for a light switch to no avail.

She found something which looked like a box, but in the situation she was in it could've been any number of things. She dusted off the top with her hand, feeling a cloth as she slid her hand over it. As soon as she had pushed the dust off, she sat gingerly on top of it. As she did she knocked something, which fell to the ground and shattered, the noise like an explosion in the dead of night.

She winced as whatever it was shattered all over the floor, bits of glass scattering over the floor and the sound of metal clunking on the ground. A scream was on her lips, but she didn't let it escape.

She leant down and picked up the remains of whatever it was she had knocked off. She was careful not to touch any of the glass, but as soon as she grabbed whatever this object was she felt a sharp bit of glass dig into the side of her finger.

Despite the sharp pain she picked the heavy thing up, staring at it as she adjusted the placement of her fingers to avoid remains of glass sticking out of it. It looked like an old hand held lantern, but she couldn't be sure.

At the top of her view, just for a second, she saw something move. Even though the darkness around her seemed as dark as it could get, this moving thing was even deeper, darker than the depths of black inside the basement. This fleeting image disappeared from her site as fast and as sudden as it had entered. She looked up, setting the lantern down beside her. Fear touched her mind as she wondered what could be down here.

So she sat on that box, trying to press herself comfortably into the corner, and tried to keep her eyes open.

When Genji got out of the shower he said goodnight to Yuki, gave her a kiss, and they both went to sleep. He fell asleep surprisingly fast, despite the uneasiness he was feeling. As he slept, he had no dreams.

Suddenly he felt a hand cover his mouth, bringing him from the darkness of his sleep. At first he thought it was Yuki's, but it didn't feel like hers. Then he felt piercing pain as a knife was driven down through his eye. Only a split second he felt pain, but the pain he felt was truly unimaginable. When the knife ripped into his brain all life inside him ceased to exist.

The dark shadow above him, his murderer, then pulled the knife from his skull, a small squelch sound emitting from it. The shadow person's head snapped around after pulling the knife out, staring at Yuki sleeping soundlessly. She didn't stir, so the shadow went about the difficult business of cleaning up the mess.

The shadows are well and truly among us.