Alice made her way down to Arden's room, ever since Jiahao had left only hours before, Alice had been feeling something unfamiliar grow in the pit of her stomach. Without knocking, she walked into Arden's room.
Arden didn't bother to acknowledge Alice's presence, keeping their attention on their books.
"Arden, I let Jiahao leave." Alice spoke as if this was a huge, dramatic reveal.
Arden only nodded, they knew Jiahao wouldn't be staying here for long. Whether or not she figured out how to leave, or if Alice let her leave didn't matter to Arden, they knew a human wouldn't be staying within these walls for all too long.
"I'm feeling odd…" Alice mumbled, hoping Arden would provide some insight.
"I think the word you're looking for is 'guilt,' or maybe even 'lonely.'" Arden deadpanned, their attention still focused on the book in front of them.
Alice didn't respond, instead she stared straight at the wall in front of her.
"You do know what guilt is, right?" Arden asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Yes. I know what guilt is, I'm not daft." Alice scoffed.
"Oh, could've convinced me." Arden mumbled.
"For what reason do I feel guilty?" Alice asked this question as if Arden could read her mind, they couldn't.
"I don't know, maybe because you trapped an innocent person here for the better part of two, maybe three, weeks." Arden was clearly agitated, Alice should be able to understand her own emotions. She was over two hundred years old, equivalent to a human in their twenties, most adults knew how to understand their own emotions.
"I do feel bad about doing that…" Alice muttered, not happy to admit that Arden had a point.
"Then go wallow in your sorrows, and leave me alone." Arden's response was curt.
They had been dealing with Alice's emotional baggage for God knows how long, eventually these small outbursts became annoying.
Alice went to leave Arden's bedroom, before the shorter of the two spoke up once more. "Also have you seen one of my notebooks, it went missing awhile ago, and I can't find it anywhere?"
"Keep better track of your things, and maybe they won't disappear so often." Alice's tone was laced with anger, but she wasn't really angry at Arden, more so she was angry at herself.
Alice wandered the manor for a bit, just thinking away to herself, she wasn't sure what to do. She didn't know how to rid herself of this guilt, so she just wandered, and wandered around the familiar halls of her little cage.
Days passed like this, Alice and Jiahao living their own respective lives, at opposite ends of the town.
Jiahao found herself wondering more, and more about Alice as a person. About small things she had said, things Jiahao didn't fully understand.
Plus there was the underlying thought of the twins not being human at all, as much as she tried to shake this feeling off, it wouldn't go away. As they say, curiosity killed the cat, and this curiosity would be the death of Jiahao if she didn't get answers.
She tried to press May for more information about the book she had stolen from the manor with no luck. May would just reiterate that most of it was completely illegible, with the parts she could read seeming like pure nonsense.
Jiahao knew the only way she'd get the answers she wanted was by returning to the manor, with the twins in tow.
She sat the group down, and for the first time in forever, she had to convince them to go along with her stupid idea, instead of it being the other way around.
"I want to go back to the manor." Her opening statement was blunt, probably too blunt. Damien's face said everything, he was clearly thinking 'bitch, what?'
Max was visibly distressed by this idea, but May kept her usual straight face.
"Why?" Was all she said.
"I have questions, don't you?" Jiahao raised an eyebrow, her approach was simple, if she could make the twins curious about their own identities, surely they would agree to come with her.
Damien snapped out of his initial shock, and finally spoke, "Are you fucking crazy?"
Everyone ignored him, he stood up, trying to make his presence known. "That crazy fuck in there tried to kill you, and that other thing very nearly killed me! And you want to go back? Have you actually lost it?!" Damien felt like he was going crazy, he never imagined a universe where he would be more logical, more sane, than Jiahao.
Max nodded as Damien spoke, agreeing with him, but this conversation seemed like it was purely between the women in the room.
"I have questions, but they could go unanswered." May responded to Jiahao's question bluntly.
"Could they? You, and Max might not be human at all! How could you live your life without knowing the truth?" Jiahao doubled down.
"The same way I've spent the last eighteen years, in ignorant bliss. How do you know we can even trust anything the two of them would say? They don't exactly seem very honest, and trustworthy." May remained firm, while Max, and Damien just accepted that anything they had to say would be ignored.
Jiahao hadn't even considered that Alice wasn't trustworthy, but to her, it felt like Alice could never really lie, and when she did, Jiahao saw straight through it. Or at least she thought she did.
"I trust Alice, isn't that enough for you?" May looked at Jiahao as if she had lost her mind.
"Y'know, they call that insanity! She kidnapped you, held you hostage, do I need to keep going?" May massaged her brow bone, she felt like she was going insane.
"Finally one of you starts speaking some sense," Damien muttered.
To nobody's surprise, he was ignored once again.
"I'll go back either way, I have questions." Jiahao's voice was full of conviction.
"Jia, you have to realise how crazy you sound right now." May's words were stern.
"Okay, well maybe I am crazy, but what about you two? What if you really aren't human? This is the only way we'll find out."
"Jia, you don't get to decide these things for us." May was clearly becoming more, and more frustrated.
Max began to speak, "May, I think Jia has a point…" His voice was quiet, like he was scared of being screamed at for sharing his opinion. May snapped around to look at him, her face said it all.
Max looked back at her with pleading eyes.
Damien felt like everyone around him had gone crazy, and he couldn't do anything.
Without looking back at Jiahao, May spoke once more, "We'll think about it."
"What is there to even think about?!" Damien groaned, why was nobody but him seeing sense.
Alas, he was ignored, nobody cared for his input in this situation, and he couldn't do anything to get anyone to see his side of this.
A long silence rang throughout the room, May and Max were in the corner whispering to each other, as Damien watched, bewildered by this behaviour. Jiahao busied herself with anything she could find, washing the small amount of dishware they had, dusting off the countertops.
Night fell without anyone besides Max, and May exchanging words, eventually May cleared her throat, loudly. Getting everyone's attention, "We'll go, but any funny business we're running, we barely made it out of there the last two times. I don't fancy trying our luck a third time."
Jiahao nodded, she wasn't sure what Max had said to really convince her, but she was thankful nonetheless.
"We'll go tomorrow morning. Damien, you're coming." Jiahao announced, and Damien wanted to bash his head against the wall.
"One, I'm hurt, two, I'm the only one with a bit of fucking sense we should not go back!" He huffed.
"And stop ignoring me, I'm a person too." He quickly added on once he realised he wasn't getting a response.
"Ginger people don't have souls." May and Max said at the same time.
"Yeah, and neither of you are even human, shut it." Damien crossed his arms like a petulant child.
×End of Arc 1×