Orion glanced behind him, as his eyes were wide. "No! Stay back!" He yelled at them, turning to face Hoxac. He could see Hoxac thinking, about all the possibilities. He cringed a bit, when Hoxac put his hands behind his back.

Hoxac pressed his lips together, as he stepped forward towards Orion. "..My dear nephew," he started, taking his hands out and revealing a long, gleaming knife. He ran his fingers up and down the knife, smirking a bit. "You know I wouldn't kill you.. but.. there is an exception." Hoxac stopped, glaring at the group. "You are much more worthy of dying in their place, seeing.. you know our little secret, and I can't have you spill it, can I?" Hoxac shook his head, as he stepped closer to Orion. "..Plus. We.. would all.. be passed on. Me, my lovely wife, my three darling children.. my.. brother.. and sister-in-law. Your parents," Hoxac finished, spreading his arms wide, revealing two figures. An attractive but young-looking young man, with dark hair and dark eyes was holding tight to a lady next to him. The young-looking woman stood still, she had flowing light brown hair and light chocolate-brown eyes. Hoxac bit his lip, as he moved to stand infront of the image. In a flash, they were gone.

Orion whimpered again, stretching out his arms, trying to reach for his parents. He didn't say anything, only looking hurt and confused.

Hoxac sighed, then shook his head. "I'm very sorry, my dear boy. But.. you know why I have to do this, right?" He stopped, then held the knife high, bringing it down on Orion about 5 times. He stopped after a moment, as Orion was breathing heavily on the ground, then stabbed him again, leaving the knife in Orion. With that, he vanished.

Orion was laying curled, the knife in his side, in a pool of blood. Tears were stained on his face, but his eyes were closed as his breathing slowed.

"Orion..." Nicholas whispered, breathlessly. He simply stood there in shock for a moment until it hit him, he had just witnessed a murder. "Orion!" He said louder this time, bending down on his knees to check his pulse. After a long pause full of double-checking and disbelieving, he looked up at the group, a given-up expression on his face. "He's..."

Nicholas hung his head low. He knew what the word was...but it was difficult to get it out. It kept getting caught in his throat until finally. "dead."

Roma ran to where Orion was stabbed, tears spilling out of her eyes. She knelt down next to him. "Orion. Don't die. We...need you." As stupid as it had sounded, she meant every word of it. Orion was a tough loss. He had lead them through this whole mansion and most of them were alive, which meant he had done a good job protecting them. She looked at him and quickly looked away sobbing.

Ooc: Aw.. I'm gonna miss this thread.. -sob-

Another flash of light appeared, this time, different colors. As it was, Ophelia, Keon and Laila were huddled together near Orion's body, staring out the doors. All of their eyes were opened, as if in fright and curiousity, as a figure came through the door. Annabella. She stared at her two children, tears streaming down her face, as she stepped forward, her arms outstretched. She kept repeating a phrase over and over, which sounded like, "..I'm sorry.. so sorry..." Laila was the first to run into her arms. As the two hugged, Keon stepped forward, then Ophelia. "..It's okay, mommy," Laila chirped, through her tears.

With another flash, three figures were huddled together. Blaire, Almira...and..Orion. Orion was looking happier, as he had his arm over his mother's shoulder. He gave a whoop, as he saw his cousins, grinning brightly as he ran over to them. Hoxac was no where to be seen, as Orion turned towards the doorway. "..Where's Uncle," he asked loudly, glancing around. He seemed to notice the group, then blinked. "..Roma.. Nicholas.. Jakob.. Elizabeth?" He asked, glancing at them. He glanced back, at the six people, with the exceptions of Hoxac, then began quickly, "..Hoxac.. still must be angry," he said, as he nodded towards the clicking doors. "..The doors are unlocking. He's still losing power, which means we're going." Orion sounded sad and happy at the same time, as he glanced back again. He turned towards them again, then gave them instructions. "..Go now. Before you're locked in again. Thsi place will blow any minute. Ever since we got here, I've noticed gases in the air. Once you guys are gone, go to the Professors house. I gave you his address and phone number. He'll help you.." Orion trailed off as he began walking back towards the glowing light and the six people. "...I'm...sorry..." he said, as the light engulfed them all. There was one last voice though, which sounded like Orion, that asked, "..What will happen to the treasure?" Leaving the bare and deathly quiet ballroom behind, there was nothing else except a low rumble sound, the smell of smoke and gases, and the clicking of the unlocking doors.

Nicholas put his arm over his eyes to shield him from the light. Once Orion left...it was as if there was nothing left to say. He let his arms hang loosely at his side, turning to face Roma, Jakob, and Elizabeth. They were the only ones left. "We should go." He said silently. The room had gone completely quiet.

Roma looked up at Nichlas, tears still down her face, and slowly began to stand. "Yeah," she said in a barely audible voice. It was very silent. Nothing but the gases could be smelled, though. Time was running out for this place to blow up. They needed to move fast. "Does anyone know the way out?" Orion was the one who had led them up here so there was really no way to get back down without him.

Nicholas shook his head. "I think there's a staircase somewhere near here. All i know is we need to go down and out." First thing was first...they had to get out of there. He walked out the door, holding it open for the rest of them to follow. "I guess we'll just have to figure it out." He said, sighing.

The smoke smell was getting stronger, as a whistling started to sound. It was like the whistling when the tea-kettle you put on the fire is done, and it gets too hot, so it whistles. The clicking was done, as all the doors were unlocked. It seemed like just like the time when Orion went unconcious --- it seemed as if Orion held the doors locking from his mind, not knowing that he was preventing them from leaving. Of course.. now.. that.. he was dead... he couldn't prevent them anymore.

ooc: deng, I always miss the crucial parts...

Stillness, quietness, void... all enveloped his mind as he had to witness the one scene he feared the most. Orion was gone now and there was nothing he could do, not a muscle of his was moved in any attempt to save him - or to destroy Hoxac. In the end, the murderer had turned out stronger than all of them, and this, apart from the dreadful loss of a friend he had just recovered, threatened to marr Jakob's perspective.
He listened not to any word uttered after that, and a solitary tear streamed across his face as he saw Orion reunite with his parents. Maybe it would have been better for him to share the same fate - a selfish thought intervened - at least that way Jakob would have had his own family once again. All these things and blurred visions surrounded his head, and he rested opposite one of the walls, or else he couldn't stand on account of his own strength.
"It's over... it's all over and we lost." his voice babbled, and was perceived as a soft echo amid the whistling sound.

Roma cleared her throat and wiped the tears off her face. "We didn't lose. We won. It's just that...one of our own didn't survive. But I'm sure that it he were here, he would be wanting us to get out of this place as soon as possible. I think we should go now." She was the first one who began to move towards the door, stopping for a brief second to wait for everyone else.

"I won nothing. Only lost what I had gained here." Jakob frowned, not moving from his place. He was pretty certain he would never be able to exit this place and turn his back. Not really... and what about Orion? He can't be gone for good... Jakob hoped, rubbing his sour eyes with his hands.
He followed Roma with his glance, though, and felt his heart torn in two. Leaving or staying would have meant the same: one half would be shred to pieces.

Roma could tell that Jakob was a little hesitant about leaving and wondered why. They were in grave danger here. But she soon realized why after a moment of thought. They had been in this mansion for what seemed like a lifetime. It almost was a new, not very good, home. "Jakob, it's either we stay here and die or leave and help Orion with what he had been trying to do all along. I'd prefer it for you to come, but it's up to you," she replied, taking his hand and looking into his eyes for an answer.

An intermittent shiver wavered through his body as he lowered his head, feeling a little ashamed. He figured that maybe Roma thought he was being mental again, but in fact he faced one of his worst moments yet. The mentioning of helping Orion and her eyes gliding into his opened new horizons, however.
"We can still help him... but how, he's... gone." He couldn't pull himself together to admit and utter the word 'dead'. It involved a finality he couldn't grip.

"I know," she whispered, tears in her eyes again. She looked away from Jakob's eyes quickly, not being able to stand the man's painful gaze. It was hard to admit to herself that Orion was finally gone. She kept expecting him to walk into the room with more bad news, as he was known for. He had lead them through all of this, and never once hesitated at his duty to protect them. The man was a hero that neither of the remaining search party crew could ever forget.

With the ending of the whistling sound, an explosion soon followed. Explosion after explosion, shaking the whole mansion, it seemed. The smoke was heavy, as if a bomb had gone off and set fire to things. The Mansion continued to echo with exploding noises, as some of the ceiling in the ballroom started collasping. Dirt and sand and other unexplainable things were falling from the ceiling, looking about to cave in any second.

Jakob woke up from the contemplation, as if spiked up from a dream. Quickly he grabbed Roma's hand, motioning Nicholas and Elizabeth as well.
"We have to get out! I won't allow you to die as well!" he yelled through bits and pieces of dust, storming out desperately. What an end to this journey they had to undertake...

Roma ran as fast as her legs could carry her with Jakob. They went down so many hallways, back from dead-ends, until they had finally reached the main staircase. It seemed like the Enterance Hall was going to crumble down at any second as they ran down the stairs. She opened the door and they ran outside, getting as far away from the mansion as possible. Stopping to catch her breath, she looked onto the crumbling mansion, and then back to the group. "Does anyone know where the proffessor lives?"

"Yeah, I have his address." Jakob managed to utter, in pained tones. His eyes were glued on the decaying image of the mansion where so much of their effort had gone crumbling down, pretty much like those old walls. It felt weird to be outside, like a different world had been opened once they had stepped through that threshold, a gateway to another earth. The realm of Hoxac... Jakob gritted his teeth. He hadn't taken his revenge - instead the gruesome owner of the mansion had taken Orion from their ranks.
He turned his back to both the building and Roma, not wanting any of them to see him shed tears of grievance, of nerves, of everything...

Roma looked at Jakob as he turned away from them. She walked around to face him and noticed that he was crying. It was a terrible sight to see. He hadn't cried once on their entire exploration - except in the memory of his parents dying, but that was an exception. He remained very strong - until now. It was hard on them all. They had just lost someone who felt like a close friend after only a few days with him. She pulled Jakob into a warm hug, not only to try to comfort him, but comfort herself as well.

With the last loud explosion, the balcony above the front doorway collasped, landing diagonally across the doorway, as if not wanting anyone to enter ever again. Even though the walls were left standing, parts of the roof fell in, as smoke lifted up into the air. The air around them was kind of cold, since it was autumn, almost winter.

Jakob hated himself for letting her see him like that. He figured he must have looked like a mess, apart from acting like one.
"I'm sorry. I'm only letting you down again... I've tried to be strong, but..." he stopped talking and simply looked into Roma's eyes. Tears still trickled down his cheeks, but he wiped them away, and none followed. For a minute, he lay perfectly still, reassured by her presence. Then the balcony collapsed, and Jakob wanted to see no more of that mansion.
"We should go see what is up with this Professor... maybe he can unravel the mystery." the lad said coldly. He couldn't help but curse himself for not being able to do that himself.

"You look like the same Jakob you always were to me," Roma replied, smiling a bit. "Just as long as you don't turn into the old Jakob that you were when you used to hang out with Orion. You were a jerk back then." She recalled the memory perfectly in her head of the night when he had lost his parents. The setting of the scene may have been destroyed, but she knew that the memory itself would always be burned into their minds for the rest of eternity. "Lead the way to the proffessor's place," she said retrieving from her hug.

"Oh..." Jakob said, looking at her with surprise. "Erm...thank you?" he softly joked, pondering whether he had been a jerk or not. He may have, but at least he was a jerk alongside Orion. Again, the thought beseeched him to focus on their task in-hand.
"Well, we most certainly need some means of transportation, but... I don't think I have any money on me." he spoke, searching his pockets, who were now miraculously empty.

"Can't we just apparate?" she asked, knowing she hadn't used magic in the longest time. It would have been nice to use it again. "Oh wait! You can't. I forgot." She grinned. She remembered that on their first meeting, he admitted that he was very bad at apparating, but that felt like long ago. She stopped to think about a way they could get to the proffessor's. "Errrr...could we walk? I remember Orion saying it wasn't that far away."

"I can too!" Jakob countered, smiling slightly. "Only it rarely works. There is a difference." it felt good to joke a little, it reminded him of the beginning, when omens were yet to come about.
"I guess we could walk. I just thought you might want something different. I know I'm tired... but I'll manage." Jakob furthered, dusting off his clothes and inspecting the piece of paper that had the address written on it.