Chapter 18: Cold Chills

Riba made his way to the kitchen. It was just how he had left it. Food that had long since decomposed into mere remains of what it once was. Every last rolling pin, cutting board, and bloodbag had been left strewn out across the floor.

"Why are we here?" Marie asked. "Everything here is too decomposed to eat."

Riba didn't answer. He remembered when Alice told him that she lured Rae Aduraice into the freezer in this very kitchen, promising a sweet frozen treat. Instead, she threw her in and shut the door. She described to him in great detail her cries and screams, the pounding on the door, the pleading for Alice to let her out. She had just left her to freeze.

Rae's spirit had been trapped in there ever since. And it was time for Rae to come out. Riba reached into his seemingly endless knapsack and brought out a scarf and a warm jacket. He put them on. "Riba, you surely can't be thinking of going inside!" Marie shouted.

"I have to," Riba replied, turning back to face her. "I said I was going to save everyone. I'm going to live up to that."

Riba opened the doors, and walked inside. "I want you to keep the door open for me," Riba instructed Marie. "Do you think you can do that?"

"I think so, yeah," Marie answered.

Riba walked in, after ensuring that Marie was holding the door. There was no handle or anything on the other side of the door. Meaning once it shut, you could only be let out by someone from the other side.

Riba explored the freezer. It was surprisingly large. He didn't remember it being this large last time he had to go in here. He chalked it up to the house rearranging itself to make him confused. Every time he took a breath, it came out shivery and visible to the eye. It was freezing in here, even with his already warm clothes along with the extra padding he had on. Freezing may have been an exaggeration, but it was still chilling him to the bone.

"Hm..." Riba sighed to himself after searching for Rae for a few minutes. "Looks like a dead end. I'll just turn back and---" Riba felt the floor under him come loose. He then fell, into deeper darkness.

Riba came to, in a strange area. It was even colder here than in the freezer. By the way... where was he? He definitely hadn't fallen into the basement or the sewer under the house. He held his head, as he got up and looked around. It looked like he was in an ice cavern of some kind. Had this always been under the house?

Riba looked up. The hole was rather deep, and he wasn't athletic enough to wall jump like Mario could. "I guess there's no way to go but forward," Riba stated. "I need to find a way out of here before I freeze."

Riba continued forward, with nothing to guide him through the caverns. He didn't have any way to tell where he was going. This place was like a maze. He figured he'd eventually find a way out, if he didn't die trying. It was dark down there, and very easy to get lost. He found himself trekking through the same parts of the caverns that he had already went through.

He was almost at his rope's end, after many hours in the cave. He figured Marie probably left him behind. There was no way she'd stay there holding that door for this long, especially not for Riba. He was going to die down there. He had his arms huddled up together, and he shivered from fear, sorrow, and the burning cold. He was hesitant to accept that he would never make it out of here. But at this point, did he really have a choice whether or not to accept it? It's not like he had much to go back to anyways. He may as well just die.

That's when he realized. Len's cloak had saved her from the Ice Age, because it had a magical spell on it to make whoever wore it very warm. And Riba had it. He wasn't sure if it would fit very well. Would it even work if it didn't cover his whole body? Regardless, he reached into his knapsack. And pulled out the cloak.

He then heard frantic scuttling from the tunnel beside him. He jumped, and tried to figure out which way it had gone. It didn't sound like it was going any specific direction. Rather all of them. He then heard more running around him. He was surrounded. Was this Rae?

"Rae!" Riba shouted, purposefully calling attention to himself. "Come here! I'm here to rescue you!" Riba heard no response. "Please! I'm sorry for what I told Alice to do before. Come out of there. We're family, remember?"

Rae appeared at the end of a long natural corridor, as red as the other spirits. Her skin was frosty, and ill. Her hair covered her eyes. She was wearing the same clothes she had on the day of her death. "You are not my family," Rae spoke, with an ice cold voice. "You made a grave mistake coming here, Riba,"

Riba hadn't put on the cloak yet. He was worried that if he was distracted, Rae would sneak up and kill him. However, he also had to consider that he was in the process of freezing. If he didn't do something soon, he would die either way. Then, Rae brushed her hair out of the way of her eyes.

"What is that?" Rae asked from afar. She slowly inched forward, not walking, just appearing. Riba then realized what she was going to do. She was going to take the cloak for herself. Riba couldn't let her do that. This was part of the precious little he had left of Len.

Riba held the cloak away as Rae appeared right in front of him, reaching for it. Rae grasped at thin air. Rae then looked down to her clammy hands. They were empty. She looked back to Riba.

"Give it to me," Rae ordered. She held out her hand. "Or you die."

Riba looked to Rae. He clenched his teeth together, but he wasn't angry. He was in sorrow. He didn't want to die, but he also didn't want to give up this piece of Len. It was his to keep. He would never give it up.

Yet... he couldn't help but have a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. When you die in the house, you feel the pain of your death for all of eternity. He said he would save the spirits. And that meant taking away their suffering. If only this one. "You want it?" Riba asked, unclenching his teeth, pushing the words out of his mouth. "You can have it."

"Wait... really?" Rae asked, as Riba held the cloak forward. "I didn't expect you to--- I mean..." Rae took the cloak, and started buckling it around herself.

"Think of it like a present from a friend you've never met," Riba said, kneeling down. "As I said, I'm here to save you, bud. I feel really bad for what I did before." Rae finished buckling on the cloak. "Is it warm?"

"Kinda..." Rae whimpered. Riba smiled.

"It fits perfectly!" Riba shuddered, his body starting to collapse. He fell off of the one knee he was on, but caught himself on his hands and looked up at Rae. "I think... it looks nice on you. I think...I think..." Riba fell onto the floor. His body was out of energy. He fell into a comatose-like state.

"Hmph..." Rae grunted. She grabbed Riba by the shirt collar. She teleported to the freezer, high above the caverns. She didn't know why, but she now had a desire to extend Riba's life, if only for a little bit.

There, she saw a person holding the door open. Waiting patiently. It was...! "Auntie Marie!" Rae cried. She took a step out of the freezer, and finally felt the cold wash away a little. It was relieving. But she cared more about finally seeing her real aunt at this time.

"Rae!" Marie screamed. She embraced Rae close. "I thought I'd never see you again, I thought you passed on!"

"I didn't!" Rae giggled. Marie laughed. But her laughter died down when she noticed Riba wasn't opening his eyes.

"Riba, dear?" Marie asked. She cast Rae to the side, and checked up on Riba. She supposed she owed it to Riba to check in on him, as he was the one who had gotten Rae warm again. "Riba, wake up! Riba, dear!"

She felt an intense hunger come over her as she walked over. Riba was unconscious. This could very well be her first and last chance in a while to have a meal. But she resisted. She couldn't kill Riba now that he was on this quest to save her loved ones. The lord knew she was powerless to do so. She didn't even watch Rae turn away into the darkness and disappear once she was out of sight.

Marie brought him to the fireplace in the right wing. The place where poor little Aria's spirit was set free of her chains to this mortal realm, and allowed into the heavens. She never did return. But that wasn't what was worrying her right now. She had time to move on from the situation herself.

She tried her best to start the fire in the fireplace, to help Riba warm up. Not that she was going to cook him, dear lord no. She liked her human meat raw, anyways. She was doing this in an act of kindness, to help him awaken. She wrapped him in a blanket she found on one of the beds in Anna and Serina's room, and placed him close enough to the fire to warm up, but not enough to burn. She felt the need to protect this living being.

"Ungh..." Riba groaned, eventually. Marie looked over, her anticipation paying off. Good. He wasn't dead. "Mario? Where are you?" Riba asked, groggily and in a daze. He still had his eyes shut.

"Riba, what are you mumbling about, hon?" Marie asked. "Who's Mario?"

Riba opened his eyes, and gasped. "Oh, Marie... it's just you," Riba sighed. "What are we doing here? Where's Rae?"

"I've been wondering that too," Marie half-answered. "She must have ran off back in the kitchen. I thought I would try and find her, but I had to stay here and take care of you while you warmed up."

"Thanks," Riba said, showing his gratitude. "Why, though?"

"More than... one reason..." Marie answered, looking away. She then looked back at Riba, awaiting his approval. When he looked confused, her gaze cracked under the pressure of the moment. "I mean, two reasons!" She exclaimed, trying to save face. "You know where to find food, and you're trying to save my family. I won't just let you die."

"I guess that makes sense," Riba stated. He got up, and felt a cold shiver run down his spine. "Where to next?" Riba asked.

"We should find Leo," Marie requested. "He has to be somewhere around here. I tried approaching him before, but he wouldn't even look at me. Maybe when he knows we saved Rae, he'll help us find my sister, Mercy."

"That sounds like a good idea!" Riba agreed. "C'mon. We should go." He walked off, still holding the blanket around him. Marie splashed some dirty water on the fire, extinguishing it and following Riba.